Led by the Land: Landscapes

(Hardback)

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An updated and expanded edition of Kim Wilkie's classic work, widely acclaimed as a major contribution to the literature on landscape, sustainability, regeneration and design. 'A revelatory story of how landscapes in human hands can become inhabited works of art, written by one of the most gifted of today's landscape architects' Sir David Attenborough 'If you want to make a landmark, do not grow gentians. Get Wilkie to shape the myths of your dreams.' Robin Lane Fox, Financial Times 'Full of enticing photography and thoughtful narrative, this is a powerful book that brings to life man's relationship with the land and his ability to thoughtfully enhance it . . . as informative as it is stimulating.' 'Kim Wilkie has a deep love and understanding of the human landscape: the symbiosis between people and nature that has created some of the most beautiful and ecologically rich places on our planet . . . Wilkie's work reconnects us to the idea that we are not admiring observers, but an essential part of the landscape we love.' In addition to the many private and public landscape designs described in the first edition of Led by the Land, this revised edition includes new projects, among them Kim Wilkie's thought-provoking designs for the grounds of London's Natural History Museum, tracing 'the passage from deep time to the present [and] to the future . . . exploring where we go next and how we can continue to survive in the narrow bands of atmosphere and topsoil that make life possible in the thin biosphere of the planet'.

Reviews

"A revelatory survey of how landscapes in human hands can become moving, inhabited works of art, written by one of the most gifted of today's landscape architects."

-- Sir David Attenborough

"For landscape designers of the 1970s and 1980s, Geoffrey and Susan Jellicoe'sThe Landscape of Man was a touchstone. Many have since tried to reproduce something of its profundity, and Kim Wilkie comes close withLed by the Land."

-- Tim Richardson * Gardens Illustrated *

"The complex challenges of designing a garden thats at one with the natural landscape is the subject of British landscape architect Kim WilkiesLed by the Land. First published in 2012 and considered a garden classic, [this is] an updated, expanded version featuring some of Wilkies recent design projects as well as his musings on farming and settlement.

* Irish Times Gardening Books of the Year *

"Wilkies book ruminates on our species place in the environment, the way past masters have fashioned it and the hopes for our future fruitful connections. It is in many ways an inspirational book, leading us gently into a greater understanding of our landscape and our place in it. It offers not only a rich account of an unusual talent but also an optimistic vision of our future."

* Reckless Gardener *

Author Bio

Kim Wilkiehad an intense introduction to landscape. He grew up in the Malaysian jungle and the Iraqi desert before being sent to school in southern England. Having studied history at Oxford and environmental design at the University of California, Berkeley, he set up his landscape studio in London in 1989. He is fascinated by the link between land and culture and between memory and imagination. He continues to teach and lecture in North America, writes optimistically about land and place and is involved in various national committees on landscape and environmental policy in the UK. He lives in Hampshire.

Dieter Helm is Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of New College Oxford, Chairman of the Natural Capital Committee and author of many books includingGreen and Prosperous Land: A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside (William Collins, 2019),Burn Out: The Endgame for Fossil Fuels(Yale University Press, 2018) andNatural Capital: Valuing the Planet(Yale University Press, 2015).