Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape

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This sees her engage with the Ehrlichs and the Scrantons of this world who believe it is already too late, that the geological forces put into motion will run their course no matter what, and that the best we can do is brace for impact. Abandoned places are like magnets to a certain group of people, yet the underground world of urban explorers does not feature in this book. She talks to the people who pass through or make their home here, sometimes by choice, but more often by misfortune.

Author and journalist Cal Flyn explores thirteen such locations and here reports their sights, sounds, and smells.These abandoned sites offer many case studies of how our actions affect evolution in animals and plants. Exploring extraordinary places where humans no longer live – or survive in tiny, precarious numbers – Islands of Abandonment give us a glimpse of what nature gets up to when we’re not there to see it.

The author brings so much insight and perspective to the abandoned areas discussed, it's incredibly moving. That's what we as humans find very difficult to think about and that we can often be very impatient when we have conservation projects because we want to see results now. Devoid of self-indulgence or decadent ruin porn, I instead found Islands of Abandonment a thoughtfully written and utterly spellbinding book.In this time, nature has been left to work unfettered – offering a glimpse of how abandoned land, even the most polluted regions of the world, might offer our best opportunities for environmental recovery.

There is no fury or gnashing of teeth here; instead, her calmly hypnotic tones chime with the richly descriptive and atmospheric nature of her prose.

She has studied the scientific literature (carefully referenced in endnotes) and acknowledges the input of two scientists. This is far from a grand tour of the world’s beauty spots; some of Flyn’s destinations are the most damaged on Earth. I was very pleased (though I am, of course, biased) to see her discuss evolution this much—and get it right. As far as I can tell, Flyn has no background in biology, yet Islands of Abandonment is surprisingly rich in biological and ecological details that she gets right. Flyn wields the pen of a poet but never loses sight of the importance of getting the biological details right.