About the Book: Robert Macfarlane’s Is a River Alive? is a powerful exploration of rivers as living beings deserving recognition in both law and human imagination. Travelling from the threatened rivers of Ecuador’s cloud forests and southern India to Quebec’s wild Mutehekau (Magpie) River, Macfarlane examines environmental destruction, river rights and humanity’s relationship with nature. Blending travel writing, ecology, politics and philosophy, this thought-provoking book challenges the idea that rivers exist simply for human use. A deeply personal and urgent work, Is a River Alive? reveals how the future of humanity is inseparably connected to the health and survival of our rivers.