Read more
''Deeply personal and poignant'' BBC Countryfile An engaging blend of conservation stories and humorous, personal anecdotes from Philippa Forrester about women who, like her, choose to live and work in the wild. In Wild Woman , Philippa Forrester considers the grit and determination required for women to maintain connections to wildlife and succeed in the traditionally male-dominated fields of conservation and environmental biology. She shares stories of female conservation heroes and other extraordinary wild women working in nature and investigates the ways in which the natural world is a vital ''medicine'' for our mental health. Talking to women from around the world, Philippa studies and celebrates what it means to be a wild woman. From the sixteenth-century botanist who was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe to modern-day women responding to bear attacks in Yellowstone, working to rewild reserves in South Africa, photographing Caribou in the Arctic and more, Philippa examines how these women benefit from a life spent in the wilderness and also considers what the natural world gains from them. Relating some of her own experiences from three decades spent travelling around the world and working in some of the wildest places on Earth, Philippa asks: what does it take for a woman to live or work in the wild?
List of contents
Prologue: A Tsunami of the Soul
Chapter 1: The True Power of a Machete
Chapter 2: What Really is a Wild Woman, then?
Chapter 3: Memories - Scrambled Brain Anyone?
Chapter 4: Spekboom to Rebloom
Chapter 5: What I Can Do
Chapter 6: Perseverance
Chapter 7: The Groundwork
Chapter 8: Clearing the Way
Chapter 9: Woodswoman
Chapter 10: It isn't Just Tree Hugging
Chapter 11: A Visit to the Zoo
Chapter 12: Decades On
Chapter 13: Looking Back Again
Chapter 14: A Rewrite?
Chapter 15: A Fascination for Plants
Chapter 16: Knowing My Place
Chapter 17: Surviving Motherhood
Chapter 18: When Doing What it Takes Doesn't Work
Chapter 19: I Don't Believe in Signs
Chapter 20: Creation
Chapter 21: From Stick to Chick
Chapter 22: This Place is Buzzing
Chapter 23: Out of the Depths
Chapter 24: An Enduring Theme
Chapter 25: Acceptance
Chapter 26: Letting Go
Chapter 27: The Killer Menopause
Chapter 28: A State of Awe
Epilogue: Hugging the Bloody Tree
Notes
Acknowledgements
Index
About the author
Philippa Forrester’s broadcasting career spans three decades of primetime TV including Robot Wars and Tomorrow’s World. With her husband, she has also written and produced a string of award-winning science and nature documentaries for the BBC, Animal Planet and Discovery. Philippa has written three books, and has degrees in English literature and Ecology and Conservation.
For six years, Philippa lived and worked in Wyoming encountering wolves, grizzly bears, moose and the odd cowboy. She returned to live in the UK in the summer of 2020. Back home, she is rediscovering her own patch of wilderness and the joys of the English countryside, especially her favourite wild animal: otters.
