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Ancient Wonderings
- Journeys into Prehistoric Britain
- Narrated by: James Canton
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
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Ancient Wonderings
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Summary
Take a journey into our ancient past. Explore a long-lost landscape and gradually discover the minds, beliefs and cultural practices of those souls who lived on these lands thousands of years before you.
Travelling the length and breadth of Britain, James Canton pursues his obsession with the physical traces of the ancient world: stone circles, flint arrowheads, sacred stones, gold, and a lost Roman road. He ponders the features of the natural world that occupied ancient minds: the night sky, shooting stars, the rising and setting sun. Wandering to the farthest reaches of the islands, he finds an undeciphered standing stone north of Aberdeen and follows the first footsteps on the edge of a long-lost Ice Age land in the North Sea.
As Canton walks the modern terrain, slowly understanding the ancient signs that lie within and beneath it, he weaves a gentle tale of discovery, showing how, beyond the superficial differences of lifestyle and culture, the ancient inhabitants of the British Isles were much closer to the present-day ones than we might imagine.
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Critic reviews
"Intensely alive to the landscape; its pasts, people and creatures." (Robert Macfarlane)
Praise for James Canton's Out of Essex:
"Some landscapes are silent, others as eager to communicate as the shades in Homer's underworld. But not everyone has the gift of hearing what they are saying. James Canton's involvement with Essex is long and deep, and in this book of walking, remembering, and reflecting, he picks up echoes from many writers who are connected to its villages, towns and surrounding countryside.... His pilgrimage to the past is full of surprises and always enjoyable, as he reinvigorates the familiar scene and recovers unfamiliar associations." (Marina Warner, chair of the Man Booker International Prize 2015)
"Canton...is a stalker of literary ghosts, following traces across the Essex countryside that might lead him to the writers who might have lived and worked among these landscapes." (Times Literary Supplement)
What listeners say about Ancient Wonderings
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Beatrix
- 25-06-19
Fantastic journey into ancient Britain
Really enjoyed the listen! His voice is very calming. The stories reminded me of places I had visited myself in the UK. I'd recommend this to anyone who is interested or has visited some of the Neolithic and bronze age sites across the UK.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- mazc
- 07-01-18
Ups and Downs like the paths he walks
What did you like best about this story?
The range and breadth of how he writes about finds and facts, e.g. how it impacts him personally, the characters involved, the stories that go along with it all.
What about James Canton’s performance did you like?
He has a very delicate approach which matches what in some parts is quite a whimsical take on the author's experiences.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Exploring and Experience
Any additional comments?
I really liked this book, but it seemed a bit up and down in terms of how it took my interest. Some bits were really impressive and most was very interesting, but a few bits sunk into wiffle waffle and lacked the 'grounding' -- pun intended! -- in terms of his take on his experiences which the majority of the book conveys.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sian
- 06-10-20
very interesting read
I really enjoyed the book it's a little slower paced but enjoyable I find I learned alot from this book as well as the author's life and I performed well just want I wanted a relaxing but informative read
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Terry Webber
- 27-06-23
Making the mystical tangible
The reader and author wove the story of our Island into a fabric that brings to life the stages of our advance through the ages. He has revealed the progression of culture and that the speedy sharing of culture aided the people of these isles.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- e.john
- 11-07-23
A Beautiful Find
Been looking for something like this for many months. I can relate to the journeys and the need to discover more about Neolithic Britain. Just the right blend of fact and narrative. Narration was just like listening to a friend tell you all about their trip. A beautiful find.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Craig Worrall
- 24-09-23
inflection issue
fantastic book that transports you to the ancient landscape. only issue I have is the question like inflection at the end of many sentences, if not a question please don't perform the sentence with a question inflection at the end of each sentence.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- roge allan webb
- 22-04-18
Enjoyable
Good to chill out to and an overall worth while listen to if your into this period of time of the British Isles.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- mrmalaya
- 23-04-18
Painful plodding through the past
This potentially could have worked. No, it would have worked but for the author's reading style.
There are some interesting notions, but the combination of unqualified musings and surging vocal style make the whole thing very painful to listen too. The book itself is probably easier to work with, but I can't help but feel that the whole experience would have been transformed with a reading containing more gravitas than whimsy.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- K-Diddy
- 25-05-19
Excrutiating, but also oddly pleasant
Do you enjoy loooong, labourious descriptions of nothing? This is the book for you!
Let's take, for instance, the classic scene where the writer goes into painful depth about setting up an exhibition at a village flower show - yes, please do tell us about blu-tacking items to a wall, and just how colourful is your presentation again?
This book is all the more frustrating because the Author clearly has a love for prehistoric and early history, but those are just loose maguffins on which he's hung hours of rambling.
There are a some decently researched insights into prehistoric Britain. But these come few and far between and rarely go into any satisfying depth.
Once again, I cant say how frustrating this is because the author writes well and with passion, but they really have the wrong ratio of meandering and self-indulgent biography to historical storytelling.
Plus notes - There are bright moments of rich descriptions of the British countryside and I find the author's voice rather soothing.
So... In conclusion - if you're looking for insightful prehistory, or a discussion of ancient stones, you might find yourself dissapointed. Looking for a slow paced, relaxing book on countryside walks and introspection? This one's for you.
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10 people found this helpful