Book Review: Wild woman, empowering stories from women who work in nature by Philippa Forrester

I recently finished reading Wild Women- Empowering Stories From Women Who Work in Nature by Philippa Forrester. And I could not wait to review it, because I loved it and I really hope to persuade you to read it too. This is not just a book for ecologists or conservationists. But for all women, I recommended this book to my mum.

Some may recognise Philippa Forrester, from Blue Peter. She is a familiar voice. She has also written other books (which I will adding to my book list ASAP). I hadn't realised how much I had in common with Philippa, in terms of our degrees and interests subsequently.

The book...

I thoroughly enjoyed Philippa's writing style. I 'quaffed' this book, I couldn't wait to pick up, extremely easy to fall into, it is not always the case with books in this genre which I often can't read before bed or to relax, but this book I couldn't wait to read. I related hard to certain aspects, I too have been told I was 'too blonde' to be a conservationist, so there were points I was cheering audibly with a 'me too'.

It touches on an enormous variety of topics, would love more detail in all of them. I think at times it can feel a bit disjointed, this might be due to the various topics covered. Topics covered include feminism (obviously), indigenous conservation, our connection to nature, the role of women, menopause, safety of women in the field, rewilding and more. I enjoyed the variety personally, but again I was wanting more in depth coverage in these topics, I would have read this book if it was twice the size. Sometimes the brief touch onto a topic didn't feel like it did the important, hugely broad topics justice, they were raised as an issue and then not discussed in the depth they needed.

There were also some really challenging aspects of the book. Some of the interviewees weren't overly likeable. An extremely important caveat to this is that we can read things from people that doesn't quite gel, that we don't agree with, that isn't presented how we would, that might even oppose things we think and we can read, 'listen' to their point, digest and move on. In fact it's very important to do that. In these sections, I did also feel conflicted about the use of long tracts of in quote conversation from the interviewees. This felt a bit odd, I felt I would have preferred Philippa's overview of the conversation, but at the same time it is quite refreshing to read verbatim from the speaker. One part though that I personally disagreed heavily on, is a quote from Glynis Ridley on page 144 regarding sexual assault and botanist Jeanne Baret. Her achievements were significant DESPITE all she endured at the hands of men, NOT because of what men made her endure... A small but extremely important distinction to me, that has stuck with me since and has been discussed at dinner parties since.

At times I also felt it was a little bit 'in the footsteps of men' needlessly, as many women have been original innovators. I don't feel we need a constant comparison or in competition with male achievements to showcase women. Of course, the context of male domination in many fields of ecology is needed, and I absolutely agree that some areas of conservation have been extremely masculine, but it felt like an amazing opportunity to celebrate and discuss all the wonderful things women do, again, despite, the context. How women flourish and bring things to conservation.

Considering the points above, my points hopefully show not how I didn't enjoy this book, but how much I did. I started writing these book reviews as I wanted a space to talk about books that have lit me on fire, that I wanted to share and promote. And this is absolutely one of those books. Perhaps the variety of content will make it relatable to a lot more people? I know some of the conversations in this book I have had many times, with female colleagues I've met all over the world. Sometimes sat on a silent beach in the middle of the night waiting for turtles in Malaysia, discussing safety of women working in The Philippines or even driving to a site in the UK. This is the book many of us wanted, this is the discussion. I think there is so much scope for a bigger, longer conversation about this. I am hungry for more. I want to hear more stories, written by Philippa including more stories from women in the UK doing conservation work.

Thank you Philippa!