-
Pastoral Song
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: History, Europe
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $27.37
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Shepherd's Life
- Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape
- By: James Rebanks
- Narrated by: Bryan Dick
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some people's lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks' isn't. He's the first son of a shepherd who was the first son of a shepherd himself; his family have lived and worked in the Lake District of Northern England for generations, further back than recorded history. It's a part of the world known mainly for its romantic descriptions by Wordsworth and the much-loved illustrated children's books of Beatrix Potter. But James' world is quite different. His way of life is ordered by the seasons and the work they demand.
-
-
A Glimpse into a Different World
- By anonymous on 06-05-19
By: James Rebanks
-
My Remarkable Journey
- A Memoir
- By: Katherine Johnson, Joylette Hylick, Katherine Moore
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The remarkable woman at heart of the smash New York Times best seller and Oscar-winning film Hidden Figures tells the full story of her life, including what it took to work at NASA, help land the first man on the moon, and live through a century of turmoil and change.
-
-
Amazing Woman, Interesting Life
- By Grace on 08-20-21
By: Katherine Johnson, and others
-
The Alchemy of Us
- How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another
- By: Ainissa Ramirez
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines eight inventions - clocks, steel rails, copper communication cables, photographic film, light bulbs, hard disks, scientific labware, and silicon chips - and reveals how they shaped the human experience. Ramirez tells the stories of the woman who sold time, the inventor who inspired Edison, and the hotheaded undertaker whose invention pointed the way to the computer.
-
-
Excellent Content, Horrible Narration
- By F. AHMAD on 05-01-21
By: Ainissa Ramirez
-
All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days
- The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler
- By: Rebecca Donner
- Narrated by: Rebecca Donner
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Mildred Harnack was twenty-six when she enrolled in a PhD program in Germany and witnessed the meteoric rise of the Nazi party. In 1932, she began holding secret meetings in her apartment—a small band of political activists that by 1940 had grown into the largest underground resistance group in Berlin. She recruited working-class Germans into the resistance, helped Jews escape, plotted acts of sabotage, and collaborated in writing leaflets that denounced Hitler and called for revolution.
-
-
Riveting narrative non fiction
- By Sarah Q on 10-22-21
By: Rebecca Donner
-
A Single Swallow
- By: Zhang Ling, Shelly Bryant - translator
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Adam Verner, Tanya Eby, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the day of the historic 1945 Jewel Voice Broadcast - in which Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender to the Allied forces, bringing an end to World War II - three men, flush with jubilation, made a pact. After their deaths, each year on the anniversary of the broadcast, their souls would return to the Chinese village of their younger days. Now, seventy years later, the pledge is being fulfilled by American missionary Pastor Billy, brash gunner’s mate Ian Ferguson, and local soldier Liu Zhaohu. All that’s missing is Ah Yan - also known as Swallow.
-
-
A Must-Read
- By 20eagle16 on 05-13-21
By: Zhang Ling, and others
-
The Joy of x
- A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity
- By: Steven Strogatz
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many people take math in high school and promptly forget much of it. But math plays a part in all of our lives all of the time, whether we know it or not. In The Joy of x, Steven Strogatz expands on his hit New York Times series to explain the big ideas of math gently and clearly, with wit, and insight.
-
-
Great listen
- By cameron on 08-16-19
By: Steven Strogatz
-
The Shepherd's Life
- Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape
- By: James Rebanks
- Narrated by: Bryan Dick
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some people's lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks' isn't. He's the first son of a shepherd who was the first son of a shepherd himself; his family have lived and worked in the Lake District of Northern England for generations, further back than recorded history. It's a part of the world known mainly for its romantic descriptions by Wordsworth and the much-loved illustrated children's books of Beatrix Potter. But James' world is quite different. His way of life is ordered by the seasons and the work they demand.
-
-
A Glimpse into a Different World
- By anonymous on 06-05-19
By: James Rebanks
-
My Remarkable Journey
- A Memoir
- By: Katherine Johnson, Joylette Hylick, Katherine Moore
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The remarkable woman at heart of the smash New York Times best seller and Oscar-winning film Hidden Figures tells the full story of her life, including what it took to work at NASA, help land the first man on the moon, and live through a century of turmoil and change.
-
-
Amazing Woman, Interesting Life
- By Grace on 08-20-21
By: Katherine Johnson, and others
-
The Alchemy of Us
- How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another
- By: Ainissa Ramirez
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines eight inventions - clocks, steel rails, copper communication cables, photographic film, light bulbs, hard disks, scientific labware, and silicon chips - and reveals how they shaped the human experience. Ramirez tells the stories of the woman who sold time, the inventor who inspired Edison, and the hotheaded undertaker whose invention pointed the way to the computer.
-
-
Excellent Content, Horrible Narration
- By F. AHMAD on 05-01-21
By: Ainissa Ramirez
-
All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days
- The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler
- By: Rebecca Donner
- Narrated by: Rebecca Donner
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Mildred Harnack was twenty-six when she enrolled in a PhD program in Germany and witnessed the meteoric rise of the Nazi party. In 1932, she began holding secret meetings in her apartment—a small band of political activists that by 1940 had grown into the largest underground resistance group in Berlin. She recruited working-class Germans into the resistance, helped Jews escape, plotted acts of sabotage, and collaborated in writing leaflets that denounced Hitler and called for revolution.
-
-
Riveting narrative non fiction
- By Sarah Q on 10-22-21
By: Rebecca Donner
-
A Single Swallow
- By: Zhang Ling, Shelly Bryant - translator
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Adam Verner, Tanya Eby, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the day of the historic 1945 Jewel Voice Broadcast - in which Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender to the Allied forces, bringing an end to World War II - three men, flush with jubilation, made a pact. After their deaths, each year on the anniversary of the broadcast, their souls would return to the Chinese village of their younger days. Now, seventy years later, the pledge is being fulfilled by American missionary Pastor Billy, brash gunner’s mate Ian Ferguson, and local soldier Liu Zhaohu. All that’s missing is Ah Yan - also known as Swallow.
-
-
A Must-Read
- By 20eagle16 on 05-13-21
By: Zhang Ling, and others
-
The Joy of x
- A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity
- By: Steven Strogatz
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many people take math in high school and promptly forget much of it. But math plays a part in all of our lives all of the time, whether we know it or not. In The Joy of x, Steven Strogatz expands on his hit New York Times series to explain the big ideas of math gently and clearly, with wit, and insight.
-
-
Great listen
- By cameron on 08-16-19
By: Steven Strogatz
-
Money
- The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
- By: Jacob Goldstein
- Narrated by: Jacob Goldstein
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The cohost of the popular NPR podcast Planet Money provides a well-researched, entertaining, somewhat irreverent look at how money is a made-up thing that has evolved over time to suit humanity's changing needs.
-
-
well researched and written but,
- By C&S on 09-29-20
By: Jacob Goldstein
-
North by Shakespeare
- A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work
- By: Michael Blanding
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A work of gripping nonfiction, North by Shakespeare presents the twinning narratives of rogue scholar Dennis McCarthy, called "the Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community", and Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier whom McCarthy believes to be the undiscovered source for Shakespeare's plays.
-
-
An exciting investigative adventure
- By Derek Hunter on 10-29-21
By: Michael Blanding
-
The Fortnight in September
- By: R.C. Sherriff
- Narrated by: Jilly Bond
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet the Stevens family as they prepare to embark on their yearly holiday to the coast of England. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens first made the trip to Bognor Regis on their honeymoon, and the tradition has continued ever since. They stay in the same guesthouse and follow the same carefully honed schedule - now accompanied by their three children, 20-year-old Mary, 17-year-old Dick, and little brother Ernie.
-
-
life-affirming and magical
- By Victoria on 11-23-21
By: R.C. Sherriff
-
Funny Farm
- My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals
- By: Laurie Zaleski
- Narrated by: Erin Moon
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Laurie Zaleski never aspired to run an animal rescue; that was her mother Annie’s dream. But from girlhood, Laurie was determined to make the dream come true. Thirty years later as a successful businesswoman, she did it, buying a 15-acre farm deep in the Pinelands of South Jersey. She was planning to relocate Annie and her caravan of ragtag rescues - horses and goats, dogs and cats, chickens and pigs - when Annie died, just two weeks before moving day. In her heartbreak, Laurie resolved to make her mother’s dream her own.
-
-
Heartwarming
- By Debra Dixon on 04-13-22
By: Laurie Zaleski
-
Braiding Sweetgrass
- Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
- By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.
-
-
Finally, Words
- By Donovan P Malley on 06-30-19
-
The Warmth of Other Suns
- The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
-
-
WOW! Thank you....
- By bryan on 05-21-13
By: Isabel Wilkerson
-
Folks, This Ain't Normal
- A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World
- By: Joel Salatin
- Narrated by: Joel Salatin
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From farmer Joel Salatin's point of view, life in the 21st century just ain't normal. In Folks, This Ain't Normal, he discusses how far removed we are from the simple, sustainable joy that comes from living close to the land and the people we love.
-
-
Awakened me from my ingnorance
- By matthew on 05-27-12
By: Joel Salatin
-
The Pioneers
- The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The number one New York Times best seller by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that's "as resonant today as ever" (The Wall Street Journal) - the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country.
-
-
Left me wanting more!
- By Sandra on 05-16-19
By: David McCullough
-
Dirt to Soil
- One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture
- By: Gabe Brown
- Narrated by: Gabe Brown
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Dirt to Soil, Gabe Brown tells the story of his ranch's amazing journey and offers a wealth of innovative solutions to our most pressing and complex contemporary agricultural challenge - restoring the soil. The Brown’s Ranch model, developed over 20 years of experimentation and refinement, focuses on regenerating resources by continuously enhancing the living biology in the soil.
-
-
loved it.
- By Amazon Customer on 01-29-19
By: Gabe Brown
-
Barracoon
- The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 3 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama, just outside Mobile, to interview 86-year-old Cudjo Lewis. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America as slaves, Cudjo was then the only person alive to tell the story of this integral part of the nation's history. Hurston was there to record Cudjo's firsthand account of the raid that led to his capture and bondage 50 years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in the United States. In 1931, Hurston returned to Plateau, the African-centric community three miles from Mobile.
-
-
A "must hear"
- By D. Welch on 05-09-18
-
Walden
- Life in the Woods
- By: Henry David Thoreau
- Narrated by: Alec Sand
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thoreau's classic account of the solitary life, describing his attempts to simplify his life and sort out his priorities by living alone in a cabin beside Walden Pond for nearly two years, is one of the most influential books ever written. The bible of the environmental movement, Walden vividly portrays Thoreau's reverence for nature, and his understanding of the idea that nature is made up of crucially interrelated parts.
-
-
Energetic but choppy presentation
- By Dan Jensen on 03-17-10
-
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
- A Year of Food Life
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp, Camille Kingsolver
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Barbara Kingsolver and her family move from suburban Arizona to rural Appalachia, they take on a new challenge: to spend a year on a locally-produced diet, paying close attention to the provenance of all they consume. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle follows the family through the first year of their experiment.
-
-
Eye opening
- By Sydney on 11-12-07
Publisher's Summary
The acclaimed chronicle of the regeneration of one family's traditional English farm
National Best Seller
Winner of the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing * Named "Nature Book of the Year" by the Sunday Times * New York Times Editors' Choice * Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize * A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Sunday Times, Financial Times, New Statesman, Independent, Telegraph, Observer, and Daily Mail
"Superbly written and deeply insightful, the book captivates the reader until the journey’s end.” (Wall Street Journal)
The New York Times best-selling author of The Shepherd’s Life profiles his family’s farm across three generations, revealing through this intimate lens the profound global transformation of agriculture and of the human relationship to the land.
As a boy, James Rebanks's grandfather taught him to work the land the old way. Their family farm in England's Lake District hills was part of an ancient agricultural landscape: a patchwork of crops and meadows, of pastures grazed with livestock, and hedgerows teeming with wildlife. And yet, by the time James inherited the farm, it was barely recognizable. The men and women had vanished from the fields; the old stone barns had crumbled; the skies had emptied of birds and their wind-blown song.
Hailed as "a brilliant, beautiful book" by the Sunday Times (London), Pastoral Song (published in the United Kingdom under the title English Pastoral) is the story of an inheritance: one that affects us all. It tells of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, and the age-old rhythms of work, weather, community and wild things were lost. And yet this elegy from the northern fells is also a song of hope: of how, guided by the past, one farmer began to salvage a tiny corner of England that was now his, doing his best to restore the life that had vanished and to leave a legacy for the future.
This is a book about what it means to have love and pride in a place, and how, against all the odds, it may still be possible to build a new pastoral: not a utopia, but somewhere decent for us all.
[Published in the United Kingdom as English Pastoral.]
More from the same
What listeners say about Pastoral Song
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sarah clayton
- 08-18-21
Peter Noble's narration ruined this book for me.
The choice of Peter Noble as narrator of this book was such a poor one. His reading ruined the book for me. Such a huge disappointment.
Sarah
28 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- James Saturn
- 09-03-21
A Clarion Call to Sustainable Farming
The book is true to its title. Although “pastoral” is defined by the dictionary as keeping sheep or cattle, it’s an all-around English farm life that the author “sings” about. Starting from learning farming as a young boy from his grandfather, seeing it with his own father’s work, and finally teaching it in practice to his own children, the author weaves his story.
Many fragmented parcels in older England have been aggregated into bigger pieces over time for efficiency. This is what British farming has strived for over time. Currently it’s working with, or trying to make sense of, industrial farming as practiced by huge agribusinesses in the States. Though steeped in chemicals and machinery, it does seem hard to argue against its resultant cheap supermarket food prices. After all, isn’t that what it’s mainly about? True, if the environmental cost is ignored. However, it has to be paid ultimately as fields become barren from chemicals. The agronomists’ solution ironically is to steal from plants grown in rural, non-industrial—not unusually—poorer countries. However, payment must ultimately be made to the piper. The big question is whether consumers will willingly pay more for their food in order to let industrial farming wither away and bring about sustainable farming that the earth can accept.
Perhaps a bit surprisingly, the author does not advocate total rejection of change. He sees good farming to be respectful of nature while still accepting of any new and useful but sustainable improvements.
Ironically it’s the poor farmers in underdeveloped or developing countries who are holding up a more sustainable agriculture globally. The author mentions some figure of 80%. (Unfortunately, this reviewer finds it difficult to find again the particular track for the specifics.)
Lucy from a river conservation charity induced the author—contributing partial financing as a sweetener—to reroute the river running through his land back somewhat to its old meandering route. There are so many possible ways to align with nature. This particular avenue struck this reader as rather refreshing.
Incidentally, it’s worth noting that the audio’s reader was soothing and conducive to get the listener immersed in the story.
It is said that emotions, rather than reason, compels action. The author seems to rely much on the first to motivate the reader in opting for sustainable farming. This is a good book that calls one to action.
27 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 09-07-21
Wrong choice of reader
This wonderful book is absolutely ruined by a reader who overdoes his delivery and sounds like he thinks he is reading to idiot children.
Just read normally for goodness sake!
24 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sam
- 08-09-21
In the Tradition of John Seymour
As a retired sustainable enterprise professional, my dream has been to retire early to small scale market farm steading. This I have done, for the last 5 years. The difficulty in having one foot in the market economy, trying to make a profit, and the other, in seeking a sustainable lifestyle, cannot be overstated. Mr Rebanks has done a wonderful job bringing us up to date with where John Seymour left off in the 1970s and describing his journey towards a pastoral farming life. It is a good narrative, well performed, and I came away with some new ideas.
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Allie
- 12-19-21
Vivid and Moving
This story of how a farmer became enlightened over time as he realized what it means to grow crops while sustaining the land for future generations is beautifully and powerfully told. We looked forward to each new chapter as we joined McBride on his life’s journey.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Claudia Y Fox
- 09-23-21
A Masterpiece
An absolutely stunningly beautiful book. This one will stay with me forever. I’m so grateful I stumbled across it. And I thought the narrator was perfect.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jacob E Kristophel
- 10-30-21
wonderful for farmers and food eaters
what a wonderful author and book I loved his previous book the shepherds life. recommend both
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Daniel Austin Taber
- 12-11-21
Wonderful story as can be expected from Rebanks
Nobles narration was calm, collected and poetic. will be searching for more titles narrated by him
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Retired Mike
- 09-12-21
Read it slowly, and think.
You will be rewarded, and inspired. A farmer’s, old school farmer’s, common sense hopeful view of the present and future.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eleanor gardner
- 09-29-21
Love James Rebanks
This is great writing. If you are a nature lover, you will eat up every word. Wish there were more new in this book. After A Shepherd’s Life, I was hoping for more.
2 people found this helpful