by Hugh Thomson
A Walk Through England.
Näively judging this book by its cover (and title), I assumed it would be about walking through woods, waxing lyrical about trees, and so forth. Although trees do crop up in The Green Road Through the Trees, they are mainly incidental. This is a book about following the ancient Icknield Way from the south coast of England near Dorset to the north coast of Norfolk.
As might be expected from the route Thomson chose to follow, ancient Stone-, Bronze- and Iron-Age monuments feature a lot in this book: Stonehenge, the White Horse of Uffington, hillforts, Woodhenge, and much more. The former undergraduate archaeologist in me really enjoyed this running theme. The former undergraduate physicist in me, however, would like to have heard a bit more about Thomson's scientific pedigree: both of his grandfathers, and both of their fathers, we learn in passing, won the Nobel Prize for Physics; one of his great-grandfathers' being none other than J.J. Thomson, the discoverer of the electron.
During his journey, Thomson encounters numerous interesting characters, including assorted New Agers, bird enthusiasts and farmers. His journey is illustrated with a number of uncredited black and white drawings, which I assume are by Thomson itself.
An enjoyable book.
