I received this amazing book from my son Duncan who knows my passion for ancient sites. Check out the author’s websites and current work in podcasts and films.
Review
Standing with Stones: A Photographic Journey through Megalithic Britain and Ireland
Author: Rupert Soskin
Category: Megalithic Sites / Photography
The Prehistory Guys’ website: https://theprehistoryguys.uk/
The Prehistory Guys on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theprehistoryguys
Standing with Stones (Full Movie): FULL MOVIE: Standing with Stones – a journey through prehistoric Britain & Ireland.
The West Country & Dartmoor, Part 1: The West Country & Dartmoor | Part 1 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Southern England, Part 2: Southern England | Part 2 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Wales, Part 3: Wales | Part 3 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Ireland, Part 4: Ireland | Part 4 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Isle of Man & Northern England, Part 5: Isle of Man & Northern England | Part 5 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Scotland, Part 6: Scotland | Part 6 of ‘Standing with Stones’
The Scottish Isles, Part 7: The Scottish Isles | Part 7 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Tip of the iceberg.
This stunning book by renowned photographer Rupert Soskin lays out a visual sampling of the thousands of prehistoric sites covering the British Isles. It was made as a companion to the film of the same name the author produced with Michael Bott.
The book is not intended to be a thorough scholarly text on the subject of stone circles. It is instead a tantalizing selection of sites large and small all over Britain and Ireland, accompanied by brief descriptions of each construct and location, and of course, brilliant images. I was glued to the book cover to cover and found myself constantly jumping back to the map at the beginning to keep track of where the sites are. Much to my delight, I came across a good number of sites I have visited myself, but soon realized my experiences barely scratch the surface of a fascinating lost world.
By providing this brief glimpse into the vast network of purposefully-built sites, it made me realize how little any of us really know about the personalities and thinking of the culture that created them. As Nigel Tufnel put it, “No one knows who they were or what they were doing,” but we come a little closer through the eyes of the author. He takes us far beyond the famous sites of Stonehenge, Avebury, and Newgrange. He shows us the unusual constructs of Men An Tol, Trethevy Quoits, and Cothiemuir Wood, the fascinating stone rows of Assycombe, Drizzlecombe, and Merrivale, the spectacle sites of Arbor Low and Stanton Drew, and the elegant grandeur of Moel ty Uchaf, Castlerigg, Callanish, and the Ring of Brodgar.
As I studied the images and text, what struck me most was the broad scope of constructs covering the landscape, stones and layouts that had meaning, function, and purpose for the people who designed and built them. How strange to share a planet with minds that were far from simple or primitive. If we could just slip through the mists and walk among the builders and their stones, what kind of reality would we find?
For folks in Britain, this book will be a treasure trove of new places to explore. My personal bucket list of sites across the globe I feel compelled to visit has just become quite a bit longer. Many thanks, Mr. Soskin, for the gift of your talented vision!
Erin MacMichael is a visionary science fiction author and artist, creator of the T'nari Renegades series of novellas, novels, covers, and artwork. Her lifelong quest has been to explore past the boundaries of conventional thinking and figure out what really has transpired on this planet. She has traveled extensively throughout the world and lives in the Pacific Northwest with her marvelous offspring.
2 Comments
I received this amazing book from my son Duncan who knows my passion for ancient sites. Check out the author’s websites and current work in podcasts and films.
Review
Standing with Stones: A Photographic Journey through Megalithic Britain and Ireland
Author: Rupert Soskin
Category: Megalithic Sites / Photography
The Prehistory Guys’ website: https://theprehistoryguys.uk/
The Prehistory Guys on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theprehistoryguys
Standing with Stones (Full Movie): FULL MOVIE: Standing with Stones – a journey through prehistoric Britain & Ireland.
The West Country & Dartmoor, Part 1: The West Country & Dartmoor | Part 1 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Southern England, Part 2: Southern England | Part 2 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Wales, Part 3: Wales | Part 3 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Ireland, Part 4: Ireland | Part 4 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Isle of Man & Northern England, Part 5: Isle of Man & Northern England | Part 5 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Scotland, Part 6: Scotland | Part 6 of ‘Standing with Stones’
The Scottish Isles, Part 7: The Scottish Isles | Part 7 of ‘Standing with Stones’
Tip of the iceberg.
This stunning book by renowned photographer Rupert Soskin lays out a visual sampling of the thousands of prehistoric sites covering the British Isles. It was made as a companion to the film of the same name the author produced with Michael Bott.
The book is not intended to be a thorough scholarly text on the subject of stone circles. It is instead a tantalizing selection of sites large and small all over Britain and Ireland, accompanied by brief descriptions of each construct and location, and of course, brilliant images. I was glued to the book cover to cover and found myself constantly jumping back to the map at the beginning to keep track of where the sites are. Much to my delight, I came across a good number of sites I have visited myself, but soon realized my experiences barely scratch the surface of a fascinating lost world.
By providing this brief glimpse into the vast network of purposefully-built sites, it made me realize how little any of us really know about the personalities and thinking of the culture that created them. As Nigel Tufnel put it, “No one knows who they were or what they were doing,” but we come a little closer through the eyes of the author. He takes us far beyond the famous sites of Stonehenge, Avebury, and Newgrange. He shows us the unusual constructs of Men An Tol, Trethevy Quoits, and Cothiemuir Wood, the fascinating stone rows of Assycombe, Drizzlecombe, and Merrivale, the spectacle sites of Arbor Low and Stanton Drew, and the elegant grandeur of Moel ty Uchaf, Castlerigg, Callanish, and the Ring of Brodgar.
As I studied the images and text, what struck me most was the broad scope of constructs covering the landscape, stones and layouts that had meaning, function, and purpose for the people who designed and built them. How strange to share a planet with minds that were far from simple or primitive. If we could just slip through the mists and walk among the builders and their stones, what kind of reality would we find?
For folks in Britain, this book will be a treasure trove of new places to explore. My personal bucket list of sites across the globe I feel compelled to visit has just become quite a bit longer. Many thanks, Mr. Soskin, for the gift of your talented vision!
Erin MacMichael is a visionary science fiction author and artist, creator of the T'nari Renegades series of novellas, novels, covers, and artwork. Her lifelong quest has been to explore past the boundaries of conventional thinking and figure out what really has transpired on this planet. She has traveled extensively throughout the world and lives in the Pacific Northwest with her marvelous offspring.
Erin MacMichael is a visionary science fiction author and artist, creator of the T'nari Renegades series of novellas, novels, covers, and artwork. Her lifelong quest has been to explore past the boundaries of conventional thinking and figure out what really has transpired on this planet. She has traveled extensively throughout the world and lives in the Pacific Northwest with her marvelous offspring.
2 Comments
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Barbara Underwood on June 1, 2020 at 7:52 pm
Great post, and a great book, by the sounds of it! Megalithic sites have always fascinated me, too. There are so many of them, all over the world, but they are hardly known at all. We still have so much to learn!
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Erin MacMichael on June 1, 2020 at 7:57 pm
You are absolutely right, Barbara. We could learn a lot from the cultures that built these amazing sites. Thanks for the comment – I had a feeling you’d like this one. 😉
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Great post, and a great book, by the sounds of it! Megalithic sites have always fascinated me, too. There are so many of them, all over the world, but they are hardly known at all. We still have so much to learn!
You are absolutely right, Barbara. We could learn a lot from the cultures that built these amazing sites. Thanks for the comment – I had a feeling you’d like this one. 😉