Nature Writer and Cambridge Professor Robert Macfarlane - Is a River Alive?

Nature Writer and Cambridge Professor Robert Macfarlane - Is a River Alive?

Author: How To Academy May 13, 2025 Duration: 1:06:41
Our greatest living nature writer, Robert Macfarlane shares with Horatio Clare a single, transformative idea: are rivers alive? Robert Macfarlane is both the author of prize-winning bestsellers including Underland, Landmarks, and The Old Ways, and an artistic polymath whose collaborators include many of the most distinguished artists, musicians, and poets of our time, including Olafur Eliasson, Johnny Flynn, and Jackie Morris. Inspired by the activists, artists and lawmakers of the young ‘Rights of Nature’ movement, Macfarlane takes us on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept. Transporting us from the miraculous cloud-forests of Northern Ecuador to the wounded rivers and lagoons of Southern India; and from north-eastern Quebec, where a spectacular wild river – the Mutehekau or Magpie – is being defended from death by damming in a riverrights campaign, to the fragile chalk stream that rises a mile from his house and flows through his years and days, this is a magical and radical listen that will make you rethink what you think you know about rivers and about the nature of life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every other week, the How To Academy Podcast opens a door into conversations that reshape how we see the world. Stemming from London's vibrant hub for big ideas, this series brings you extended, thoughtful dialogues with the very minds shaping contemporary thought. You'll hear from laureates and prize-winners, yes, but more importantly, you'll get the substance behind their headlines. These aren't quick soundbites; each episode allows for a deep, meandering exploration of topics that span society, culture, and the latest scientific discoveries, all with an eye toward practical understanding and personal growth. Tuning in is like securing a front-row seat to a private lecture, where the goal is always to leave you with something tangible-a new perspective, a clearer question, or a genuine sense of possibility. It’s for anyone who believes that ideas, when given enough space to breathe, can genuinely change us from the inside out. This podcast draws directly from the How To Academy's mission, transforming their stage into an intimate audio experience that connects global thinking to your daily life.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

How To Academy Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Rutger Bregman Meets George Monbiot - How to Change the World [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:43
Global sensation Rutger Bregman joins George Monbiot to show how small groups of committed individuals changed the course of history – and how you can, too. The average full-time worker will spend 80,000 hours at their j…
Amy Jeffs – Stories of Love and Death From Traditional Ballads [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:22
In this episode of the podcast, Amy Jeffs reveals the spellbinding world behind Old Songs, her exploration of traditional British ballads and the stories that have carried human fears, desires, and wonder across centurie…
Sam Conniff and Katherine Templar-Lewis –The Uncertainty Toolkit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:28
It’s the ‘Do you have five minutes?’ message from your boss. The ‘We need to chat’ from a loved one. Those spiralling thoughts at 3 a.m. and the buzz of yet another breaking news alert. The potential coming waves of AI,…
Mark Galeotti - How Crime Organises the World [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:10
Far from being distant and peripheral, organised crime shapes our everyday lives, from the materials used to construct our homes to the illicit funds that quietly circulate through financial institutions. Global security…
Paul Davies - The New Quantum Revolution [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:14
100 years on from Schrödinger’s equation, we’re on the cusp of the second Quantum revolution. Everything is about to change again – but how? Theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist Paul Davies investigates…
RF Kuang - To Hell with Love [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:19
Bestselling novelist Rebecca F. Kuang returns to How To Academy in conversation with Hannah MacInnes to dive into her new novel, Katabasis, inviting us on a journey to the underworld and back. From the literal and metaph…
Ingrid Clayton – Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:58
Do you avoid conflict? Do you tend to take the blame? Do you take care of others at the expense of yourself? Do you live in a state of hypervigilance? Fawning can appear in a plethora of different ways, it can be visible…
Karl Ove Knausgaard – The School of Night [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:28
Widely heralded as the most provocative Norwegian writer since Ibsen and simply ‘one of the finest writers alive’ by the New York Times, Karl Ove Knausgaard’s five-part autobiographical novel sequence My Struggle sent hi…