The Nature of Seeing

One of my favourite nature writers. The Nature of Seeing will transform how you view the world around us. This fascinating book draws on years of Mark Cocker’s own illuminating observations during what he calls a “lifelong loving affair” with nature. Just one encounter with an ant in his bath inspires a meditation on the future of humankind! – Martha Kearney
There can be no better companion for anybody interested in and concerned about the living world than Mark Cocker. In The Nature of Seeing… there is simply knowledge, experience and a rare integrity – Jim Crace, author of Harvest
A lifetime of looking informs every page of Mark Cocker’s book. Through his eyes, the natural world appears more layered, more diverse, more wonderful - a place revealed not just by knowledge and deep immersion, but by love – Philip Marsden, author of Rising Ground
There’s no one better than Mark Cocker to reveal what it is to be a naturalist and to visit the living world through a real naturalist’s eyes – Peter Marren, author of Bugs Britannia
The Nature Of Seeing elegantly and urgently communicates our desperate need to reconnect with the awe-inspiring, sensory and emotional vibrancy of our natural world… For anyone who doubts whether the British Isles offer wilderness and nature to inspire wonder, love and action, this book holds the answer – Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, author of Our Oaken Bones
A treasure trove of a book, packed with jewelled descriptions and piercing insights. A wonder to keep returning to. Mark Cocker is one of Britain’s greatest writers – Ben Rawlence, author of The Treeline
Cocker knows and shows how to pay attention to the dazzling world in and around us. You’ll put down his luminous book regretting all the living you’ve missed out on by not reading it earlier, but relieved that you’ve found it before it’s too late – Charles Foster, author of The Edges of the World
Few are as capable as distilling the observed moment (the daily miracle) into such vital and enthralling prose. Moment by moment, the Nature of Seeing fuses the wider context of nature and its philosophical and ecological resonances into an exquisitely synthesised whole – Karen Lloyd, author of The Gathering Tide
Everyone tuned into nature knows about “wow!” Only Mark Cocker would think to ask “why?” – Simon Barnes, author of How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher

Mark Cocker is an author and naturalist whose fourteen books include works of biography, history, literary criticism and memoir. Crow Country was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2008 and won the New Angle Prize for Literature in 2009. A Claxton Diary won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2019, and his most recent book, One Midsummer’s Day, was shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies Award 2023.

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