One of the most original living theorists ... He challenges not only Einstein's relativity, but also the very notion of natural laws as immutable truths

Brilliant and persuasive

Provocative and stimulating ... Smolin reconceives the universe

A David Attenborough of the acoustic realm, whose knowledge is unimpeachable yet worn lightly, whose language is vivid yet without indulgence

Sonic Wonderland by Trevor Cox is one of those books that require a "this book will change your life" sticker

Sonic Wonderland, a delightfully instructive book, will make you want to listen to the world anew and with beatifically attuned ears

Captivating book... This book does not call for quiet, but for good sound over bad... Reading this revelatory book, it is impossible not to be converted to his cause. He syringes his readers’ ears and the effect is delightful

If there's one man who could give you an informed account of one-hand clapping, it's Trevor Cox. Fascinating …. Thought-provoking

Cox explores a dazzling variety of fascinating sounds... When we actively listen rather than merely hear, the world becomes a richer and fuller place, and Cox's book is the perfect primer for retraining your ears

It's a joy as a reader to follow [Cox's] captivating forays into this "sonic wonderland" that surrounds us all. His enthusiasm is palpable and I challenge anybody to read this book and not want to experience for themselves at least one of the subjects described. This really is a perfect book for anyone with an interest in sound

Compellingly original... Fluent and engaging, the book's lapses into scientific jargon are leavened by Cox's boyish enthusiasm and earnest desire that the world's sonic wonders should not fall on deaf ears

Delightful and informative

An infectiously enthusiastic study

[An] intriguing book

Cox’s strengths are founded in joyful ardour – a love of unusual sound events – and the scientific knowledge and communicative skills to analyse each of these events as he encounters them on his travels

Fascinating

You'll never hear the same again

A charming and romantic book

Wonderful

A fascinating book... Cox writes wonderfully, alternating between lyricism, expert testimony and self-deprecating humour

Makes you think... There is lots to pique our interest in this lively book by an adept science communicator

The pace and breathless enthusiasm of this book initially seems at odds with the idea of simply stopping for a moment to listen. It’s a whirlwind trip around the world with an expert guide, allowing us to listen to a vast range of unusual sound phenomena, from the tiniest click to the loudest roar

Excellent

[Cox’s] sense of adventure transforms field trips into Indiana Jones-esque romps

Trevor Cox takes the reader on a fascinating journey of the acoustic wonders of the world

I loved this book. It is definitely worth the price, and even if it seems strange to read about sound instead of listening to it, Sonic Wonderland is the perfect arrangement

A technological travelogue conducted by an expert tour guide, bursting with aural arcana that adds just the right amount of tech-savvy detail, Sonic Wonderland brings into relief a world often obscured in our image-heavy existence. Even as we follow Cox to the ends of the Earth, what makes his book a real rush is that it's ultimately an ear-buzzing journey to the center of our minds.

This small encyclopedia of strange sounds reveals how much art there is in the act of listening. Reading it made my ears more mindful

Poetic, imaginative and richly persuasive prose. Macdonald’s sensitivity to English weather, landscape and natural habitat is extraordinary; she is a word-painter of the subtlest palette and an audio recorder of peerless quality.

Macdonald makes nature writing new.

Extraordinary… A searing study of bereavement and a meditation on man’s place in the natural world… Written with vigour, leavened with humour, it doesn’t just sing, it flies.

Unusual and incredibly moving.

A masterpiece.

Very rarely does a book reach out to its readers in such an immediate and engaging manner… A page-turning saga full of profound reflection… A truly remarkable achievement… This book transcends nature writing. Its quality of distinction is apparent before any exercise of critical faculty.

Macdonald is her father’s daughter; she takes photographs, but with words, brilliant ones. H is for Helen… G is for good.

Strange and beautiful… An incredible achievement.

It is in her descriptions of nature that Macdonald really excels… And…it’s the hawks themselves…which really come alive.

Never has the eye of a raptor assumed such fearful, beautiful meaning.

Big-hearted, joyful and blazing with gorgeous descriptions of nature, H is for Hawk is an unusual but very special memoir.

Lyrical, headlong, humourous.

As phenomenal, unusual, moving and agile as a fearsome bird of prey.

Helen’s skill is to cover so much beneath the camouflage of ‘nature writing’ – with perceptive, far-reaching and rather beautiful results.

An elegant, disturbing and heart-warming book.

A brilliantly beautiful evocation which interweaves her experiences as an austringer, a grieving daughter, an academic and simply a human being.

Destined to be a nature classic.

It is moving and personal in a way that few books of this kind are.

H is for Hawk is a mature, accomplished work: a touchstone for future memoirs, bibliomemoirs, and writing that deals with the natural environment and the self.

Beautifully written and interposed with literary references, it will captivate book lovers and bird lovers alike.

Likely to leave a lasting impression.

This is an encounter with a bird many of us only dream of seeing in the wild, so read this and fill a void.

You won’t find a better nature book this year.

This part-memoir, part-history, part-nature combination could have gone dreadfully wrong but it doesn’t. In fact, like Mabel, it flies.

Somehow the book had rattled me so much that, even after finishing it, I couldn’t let it go.

Helen Macdonald’s book is a worthy and unusual winner; it’s part grief-memoir, part history of falconry.

H is for Hawk deserves its acclaim as a classic of its kind.

A great read.

Macdonald’s unusual approach and her resonant natural descriptions make it an outstanding book.

H is for Hawk…is the most “A for Amazing” book I've read in a long while.

The deserved winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, this is one of the most original works you’ll read this year.

The passion and conviction with which Macdonald tells an extraordinary story transcends any fear that this will be another “nature story”. Instead it is fascinating, moving and gripping throughout.

Winner of 2014’s Samuel Johnson prize, this is a captivating nature book as well as a moving elegy on love and life.

The book is almost faultless in its exploration of the relationship with one’s own consciousness as well as that of an animal.

I’ve never read anything like it before… The last lines brought tears to my eyes.

I must agree with the judges of the Samuel Johnson prize. Helen Macdonald’s incredible H Is for Hawk…is a truly original mixture… It is, as the flyleaf predicts, destined to become a classic of nature writing.

H is for Hawk is an extraordinary achievement – and a salutary reminder that animals are not symbols, but co-tenants of our living landscape.

Helen Macdonald’s prose streams on to the page with absolute clarity in this extraordinary book.

It really has been a privilege to read this book.

Although grief is the engine of the story, its most exceptional aspect is the beauty and force of its descriptions of birds and landscape, and its real star is the goshawk.

The winner of this year's Samuel Johnson Prize is one of the most captivating books I've read.

It is in no way a misery memoir. It is uplifting, poetic, exhilarating.

What makes the book outstanding is the beauty of her prose. It rightly won the prize.

Combining nature writing of the highest order…with a deeply affecting meditation on bereavement, this looks set to become a classic.

One of the most all-consumingly wonderful books I’ve read in ages.

Emphatically my book of the year.

I’ve read excerpts from this book and it sounds wild and strange and haunting.

It’s worthy winner most in that it shows how diverse non-fiction can be in itself.

It’s a treat – a truly original, if slightly mad, book.

I have never read anything that evokes the strange and broken landscape of bereavement more accurately.

Ultimately uplifting about the power of life, this has to be one of the best books of the year.

It is a timeless classic that leaves you wondering how you did without it before.

Wonderful.

The book is unforgettable.

Her book is so good that, at times, it hurt me to read it. It draws blood, in ways that seem curative.

To categorize this work as merely memoir, nature writing or spiritual writing would understate [Macdonald’s] achievement

Captivating and beautifully written, it’s a meditation on the bond between beasts and humans and the pain and beauty of being alive

To come across writing this good…is like spotting a swooping bird of prey on a woodland walk; it’s unexpected and thrilling, and the experience stays with you

It’s completely original

Macdonald writes poignantly but avoids sentimentality on taking her reader on this journey of discovery and ultimately of liberation

Both sad and beautiful

Macdonald’s nature writing is truly breathtaking… H is for Hawk is a work that beautifully explores the natural in the midst of the very personal

probably one of the most unusual non-fictions books I’ve read, but… one of the most heartfelt and intriguing ones

poetic and intriguing

H is for Hawk, her memoir of loss, writing, recovery and nature, drawing ingeniously on the life and work of T.H. White, covered this territory with ferocious honesty and eloquence

Combines lyrical nature writing with moving introspection.

Fiercely, grippingly brilliant.

Exceptionally well researched and written… It’s a wonderful book, it made me cry.

Macdonald's is a book about grief, the churlish indifference of the natural world to human emotions and the solitude of failure, but it is also about a "return from this strange hedgerow ontology to more ordinary humanity". It is heartbreaking and affirming at the same time.

A lyrical, moving probe into both the process of mourning and our relationship with the natural world.

One of the decade’s most arresting nature books