Flint

'Joanne Bourne writes beautifully and convincingly. I liked it very much and learned a lot' - Liz Trenow

'If you like walking through the English countryside and the deep history of these isles, you will adore this vivid, personal, upbeat book about the hundred varieties of flint gleaming just under our feet. It's an archaeologist's love letter to a landscape trampled by prehistoric elephants, bears, boars, Romans, Saxons, Romanies and modern picnickers. Joanne Bourne makes the reader feel her happiness as she spots in a wood or on a chalk beach yet another shape or colour of the ancient stone that obsesses her, or as a Red Admiral butterfly curls its tongue for the salt on her arm' - Maggie Gee

'Flint is a beautifully written love letter to the history and mystique of a stone that has shaped human civilisation for millennia. Joanne Bourne's enchanting narrative and personal anecdotes bring to life the magic and enduring significance of flint in a way that is both educational and deeply heartfelt' Alastair Humphreys

'A unique, well-informed and enjoyable read that puts a new slant on this wondrous material from prehistory to the modern day' Nick Card, director of the Ness of Brodgar

‘Publishing once gave us a well-regarded history of the pencil. There has been a good book devoted to the tulip. Even the colour mauve has been given its own tome. This quirky, enchanting ramble around the flintscapes of south-east England belongs in the same niche, where authors tell you about a single thing that turns out to contain multitudes’ Jasper Rees, Daily Telegraph

‘A hymn to just one rock type in many of its forms, this is the most readable book, new or old, on the earth sciences that I have met in 2024. Unusual, entertaining and informative, I shall keep Flint on the shelf so that I can read it again when I need to be uplifted and inspired. I give it my highest recommendation’ Geology Today