This magnificent book,ranging from the ice age to the present, considers the influence on the countryside and cities of climate, or geology and a long history of immigrationAround 12000 years ago Britain was still connected to the mainland of Europe. Glaciers covered much of the north while the south was an arid wind-blasted tundra with grasses,mosses and low shrubs. Around 9700 BC, it became a microscopic warmer, and that’s where Nicholas Crane’s fable begins. As he argues in this ambitious,magnificent book, Britain’s destiny was shaped to a surprising degree by the sun and by southerners. It’s a tale of stops and starts – devastating at times, and uplifting at others.
As temperatures rose,the ice melted, greenhouse gases surged and Britain became greener. Crane, and an explorer and geographer,writes evocatively approximately this changing landscape. “Relieved of its burden, the Earth’s crust sprang slowly upward in the far north, and ” while the coastline of the south was reconfigured by rising sea levels. River courses altered,trees grew taller and animals such as deer and boars arrived.
When the Roman emperor Claudius invaded Britain in AD 43, he came with an army of psychopathic buildersRailway fever moved more earth than any previous construction scheme: hills were crop, and tunnels dug,embankments builtContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com