Wild Places

Beautifully illustrated and written guide to the world's wildest places - some well-known, some that were new to me. If you want a book to whet the appetite, help with bucket list planning this is the ideal book to dip into.

With thanks to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing for an ARC.

Sarah Baxter’s Wild Places is a beautiful little book with vivid illustrations by Amy Grimes. In Wild Places, Sarah describes around 25 locations that can aptly be described as wild. Some of them you’ve probably heard of like the Galapagos Islands, while others like Raja Ampat you may not have.

Each location has a brief but poetically described and informative write up, telling about any ancient mythology, the original inhabitants, the landscape, and the types of wildlife that could be found there. I learned a lot. In fact, I also Googled a lot while I was reading to see and learn more. It’s just that kind of book.

The places that struck my fancy were Bhutan because I know next to nothing about it and loved the fact that the people of Bhutan are nature-oriented and spiritual. I have a very large place in my heart for people who love nature and wish to preserve it as much as I do. Also, I never knew that the Green Belt in Germany existed nor that it came about after the fall of the Wall and was once the barrier between the East and West but is now being taken over by native species. It would probably suffice to say that there were not too many places that didn’t strike my fancy.

Amy Grimes illustrations are bold and beautiful, worthy of framing, and add an extra layer of magic to an already magical book.

The only thing I wished for were maps for each location. While Sarah does tell where the areas are, I wished I could see on a map where they were—thus, I did Google the locations for many of these places.

This book is for anyone who loves nature and places that, despite “progress,” are still wild.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Attention arm chair travelers and adventurers: I am pretty sure that you might like to give this beautiful book a look. Both the illustrations and the text are enticing. I adored the paintings that encouraged me to dream.

Some of the many destinations include Ennerdale, England; st. Kilda, Scotland; Carmargue, France; Wadden Sea, The Netherlands; Coa Valley, Portugal; Er Chigaga, Morocco; Wilpena Pound, Australia and many others. Each has interest for the reader.

The book begins with an introduction that acknowledges people’s need for the breadth, scale and drama of the wild. For one thing, the wilds offer perspective and a source of wonder. The author also notes that each of the places selected has a human story to tell. Dive in and learn more about them.

Many thanks to Quarto publishing and NetGalley for this title that I highly recommend. All opinions are my own.

Following the success of the other Inspired Travel Guide Series (Hidden Places, Spiritual Places) Quarto publishes a book that speaks to the desire in all of us to reconnect with the natural world. Traveling the globe to some of the most remote and beautiful places in the world like Lapland and the “Galapagos Island” of Mexico, readers learn all about these fragile, wondrous places. Accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by Amy Grimes, this book will earn a place on your bookshelf and in your heart

I’ve loved all of Sarah Baxter’s books about places I’ve never been. Books a beautiful illustrations inspire me to travel. I highly suggest purchasing this new book!

Happy Publication Day! I just got the advance review copy in time too from the publishers, Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion. Thank you.

I am absolutely in love with the cover and the contents. It's like entering a perfect dream world of amazing art and nature made picture perfect just for you!

The book will not take up much of your time but I cannot guarantee that you will not get lost in a page for hours! You will know what I mean when you open up this book.

Kudos to the artists! You deserve all the love and support. All the efforts and the talent. You are a blessing to all of us. (I am going crazy over the illustrations.....)

Another beautifully illustrated book by Sarah Baxter. This time around, she examines "Wild Places", reaching all around the globe on each continent. These collection of "Places" would make an excellent to any travel-lovers home library. Great for the armchair traveler or the traveler who is trying to decide - Where Next?

This book is more than just fantastic stories of special locations around the world. It is a bucket list of the most beautiful, unspoilt spots worthy of visiting if your desire is to get back to nature and experience the soul-soothing balm such places possess. Sarah Baxter's descriptions of each location makes the reader feel as if he/she is there with her. She has such a gift for teasing out the smallest detail and turning it into magic. A great little book, beautifully illustrated, as well, and worth your time if you want ideas on places to go or just appreciate the majesty from the comfort of your own home.

A perfect book for an armchair explorer: gorgeous illustrations and interesting text.
I loved it and it made me travel to places.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is a lovely book for any nature and/or book lover, just a gorgeous artifact to own and handle and display. As well as being so physically attractive it is also a fantastic read - Sarah Baxter's writing is lively and quirky and full of joy, passion and enthusiasm for her subject. The vibrant language is matched perfectly with the bold and beautiful artwork of Amy Grimes - the illustrations are simply stunning, so colourful, so full of charming detail, just a delight. Together these two talented people bring the wild places they describe to life in your mind's eye and it's a lovely experience.
A lovely book to own or to give as a gift, to read in one go or dip into now and then. Recommended.

A little surprisingly, yet also a little reassuringly, this book starts looking at the world's lesser-tamed places by going to that completely remote and uninhabited island country called England. Yes, I know. And then Wales and Scotland follow – not them in total, you understand, just a tiny, rarefied corner of each. But if an author who knows her stuff to the extent I click 'download' to check out all her volumes, even if they have such a recurringly familiar style, thinks wilderness and the best isolation nature can bring starts in the Lake District, who am I to quibble?

There was a Punch magazine cartoon decades ago, featuring two uncouth slobs looking over a sylvan landscape in a rainbow of gorgeous colours. The text with it was one of them saying to the other something along the lines of "God, what a dump!". Us readers of this will not be those slobs, and will admire mountainous regions of China hiding giant pandas in their grasp, idyllic riverways that are home to copious endemic critters – or rare prehistoric rock engravings. These are the Raja Ampats of the world, not the armpits. And it's all well-judged; the bits of Australia that could be said to qualify are as big as India; the little visit to the Himalayas goes to a nicely-chosen corner.

As such then the case can definitely be made that this is pictorial in the wrong way – however artistic and however true-to-life the artworks may be they might always have been photos, and they do take up a lot of space here. But that's expected now from this range of books, which are still really quite wonderful for the armchair traveller. That said, the smallest room might be the better place to absorb these bitty little patches of perfection, in this little volume of pleasures. Finally, if you remain too worried about the state of the world's nature to contemplate places we've yet to ruin, bear in mind a lot of these entries have the history and the lore of humanity at said sites – many have managed to get along fine in their own sweet and wild way.