Land

How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World

De: Simon Winchester

Narrado por: Simon Winchester

“In many ways, Land combines bits and pieces of many of Winchester’s previous books into a satisfying, globe-trotting whole.... Winchester is, once again, a consummate guide.” (Boston Globe)

The author of The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, and The Perfectionists explores the notion of property - bought, earned, or received; in Europe, Africa, North America, or the South Pacific - through human history, how it has shaped us and what it will mean for our future.

Land - whether meadow or mountainside, desert or peat bog, parkland or pasture, suburb or city - is central to our existence. It quite literally underlies and underpins everything. Employing the keen intellect, insatiable curiosity, and narrative verve that are the foundations of his previous bestselling works, Simon Winchester examines what we human beings are doing - and have done - with the billions of acres that together make up the solid surface of our planet.

Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World examines in depth how we acquire land, how we steward it, how and why we fight over it, and finally, how we can, and on occasion do, come to share it. Ultimately, Winchester confronts the essential question: who actually owns the world’s land - and why does it matter?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2021 Simon Winchester (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Very good but not great

Numerous interesting chapters about different historical cultures but some dragged on. Worthwhile despite not being gripping.

Amazing

I’ve read 7 or 8 of Winchester’s books and always enjoy them immensely. Listening to this audio book, narrated by the author, enriched the experience.

As always, Winchester finds incredibly fascinating tales to tell that support his larger narrative.

A poignant and timely examination of the cultural concept of land ownership

Simon Winchester’s clever narrative examines the historical and geographical concept of land ownership and its many discontents. Often times challenging, but ultimately rewarding.

Should authors read their own books?

Simon Winchester is an awesome narrator. I’ve listened to three or four of his books.

More fascinating than the title might imply

Historian/ geologist/journalist Winchester examines hidden stories from all over the world, concerning the many ways humans have stolen land from each other and the fewer ways humans protect the land and the people who have lived on it.

Much to learn

This is a large topic to tackle, but Simon Winchester managed it well. I appreciate his details and how much history I learned. This expanded my horizons in all the senses of that metaphor.

Another Great Book

Simon Winchester has put together another great read. Spanning continents and centuries, it is interesting and educational. Highly recommend.

How much land does a man need?

This is the question that Simon Winchester sets out to answer in this sweeping exploration of the history of private ownership of the habitable portions of the earth’s surface. The narrative challenges the reader, to reconsider the entire framework under which so much of the habitable land on each continent has fallen under private ownership. In unwinding the long and complicated history by which what was once wild land owned by no individual but shared by the indigenous bands and tribes of people came to fall under the control of private parties, governments, and corporations. After documenting through examples of how, concurrently with the industrial revolution, much of the globe came to be dominated by European colonists and other hegemonic cultures, the author takes us to the few places around the world where this process is being reversed. In the Nordic countries and Scotland, recent statutory changes have opened up much private land to public use. In the United States and Great Britain, the nascent conservation easement movement has set aside tracts of private land in a few places to be held in trust for the use of all humankind. The book culminates with a wry and surprising answer answer to the question “how much land does a man need?“ penned near the end of the 19th century by Leo Tolstoy. The overall message of this fascinating story is the transient nature of private ownership, Readers will view both the natural and built environments differently completing this fascinating narrative.

A great book!

A great book that unfolds many different stories around land, history, and politics.
I love that the author also narrates the book. I can listen to him for hours.

Great story/information, didn't love narration

I really enjoyed the content of the book, but I do think that a different narrator would have improved the overall audiobook experience.