In Arthur Schopenhauer’s The World as Will and Representation, he remarks that the
permanence of a mountain seems to structure our understanding of the natural world, thereby conditioning the eye for worldly beauty. But what does it mean when the mountain begins to disappear?

On its surface, Nick Hunt’s Outlandish offers a consolation for the apparent loss of this
permanence—but it’s a much more nuanced consolation than that. While he does spend a
significant amount of time on the effects of climate change, for much of the book he laments the erosion of our signs on the world, by which meaning—civic, geographical, existential—can be wrought. At the core of Hunt’s journey lies the observation that our aging planet, no longer structured by the sets of categories once applicable to it, is becoming comprehensible only in terms of the abstract. In Scotland he discovers a tundra, which he needs the concept of an exclave to explain. In Poland, he finds himself swallowed up within a jungle, finding his bearings by first tapping into the history of the trees, which grow in and among the story of the people. And in the badlands of Spain, he seems to transcend time altogether, an opportunity afforded by the desert’s unique ability to sustain life outside of its featureless terrain. Throughout his every twist and turn, each jaunt across a hand-drawn map, Hunt is surrounded by the slippages of a changing world, which nonetheless suggest something more permanent down below.

What Hunt pinpoints is that it’s not just our landscapes and biomes that threaten to shift
to the polar margins, but it’s also our ways of understanding them, and in turn, ourselves. What is a desert, he asks, once its definition is outpaced by the very thing it was written to define? In place of indexable knowledge, Hunt instead offers up the observation that a desert is only a desert once it’s already been deserted—by plants, by animals, by the understanding. In its way, Hunt’s Outlandish is reminiscent of Jean Baudrillard’s America, in which another wandering European finds himself in a desert of signs where he feels out of place—America. In the book, Baudrillard details a continent rendered obsolete by the sheer profusion of its signs—a world which has become, as it were, a desert of meaning.

Yet things operate a little differently in Outlandish. There is still meaning to be found,
fluttering flirtatiously at the horizon. Hunt even gives us the rule of thumb that, on level ground, that horizon is just about three miles away. However untenable, meaning in Outlandish is never exhausted completely, and it’s the endurance of life against difficulty—an endurance which Hunt himself demonstrates time over time—which gives meaning its strength. Whether it’s the inverse presence of Nazi symbols in Hungary—cutting directly through history to put the darkest hour in the same moment as our own; or it’s the spaghetti western sets of Spain’s Texas Hollywood, marking the theme park as both its own destination and origin; it’s the pregnant remnants of civilization which allow Hunt to reimagine his relationship with his changing planet, and in turn give himself purpose.

Outlandish isn’t so much a consolation for a meaningful world as it is for a world which
sustains us as we furnish its meaning. While the future is dark, it’s the only place left to
go—facing backward, gazing forever toward the past. The problem is that what’s behind us has grown difficult to recognize. Before a new nature, and without the proper tools to approach it, it’s this very pivot toward the brink on which Hunt turns. What is this place? he asks. Outlandish answers: “It has lost its name.”

Review by Lake Markham

Outlandish is a beautifully written account of expeditions through four “Outlands” of Europe — locations that seem ripped away from their natural locales. Tundra in Scotland, Jungle in Poland/Belarus, Desert in Spain, and Steppe in Hungary.

I found the Tundra and Desert chapters most compelling, perhaps because of the deep connections to climate change, one disappearing, the other encroaching further and further. Hunt really has a way with storytelling in all four chapters though, I’m not sure there could be a better introduction to these four areas than to read this book.

What drew my attention to this book initially was the cover and the title. I think that the cover is modern and eye-catching; The title is intriguing. I looked up 'Outlandish' and saw two meanings for it: 'of or relating to another country' and 'strikingly out of the ordinary' and these seems very appropriate for the book. The introduction to the book describes an area I am reasonably familiar with at Dungeness which the author explains has been described as a dessert, although he goes on to explain it may not meet the accepted criteria to really be a dessert. What is clear however is that it is an unusual landscape for this country and that really sets the scene for the book. The author has selected four landscapes in Europe that you would normally expect to find in other parts of the world, and he visits them, explaining that they present an opportunity to see these landscapes without needing air travel. The author visits a patch of Arctic tundra in Scotland; the continent's largest surviving remnant of primeval forest in Poland and Belarus; Europe's only true desert in Spain; and the grassland steppes of Hungary. For each one the author describes his experiences there, the people he meets, the geological history, history of the people who live there, and something of the mythology and religion. In each case he talks a lot about the impact of man and climate change on these areas the details of which are as concerning as you would expect. It is in my view an unusual travelog. Whether it was the mood I was in, or the way it was written, but to me there does not seem to be much joy in the authors exposure to these landscapes - regardless of their future I would expect more obvious pleasure in seeing them now. Even describing his arrival in Budapest, a city I really want to visit, he talks about a sense of dread on arrival. The experiences of visiting them also don't seem to be pleasant overall. In at least two occasions (travelling through a snowstorm in Scotland and trekking out through the dessert in Spain with insufficient water on one occasion) it sounds as if he could quite easily not have survived. Nowhere in the book do I really get an idea of why the author is doing this - we don’t learn much about his background, who is waiting back at home, how he prepared for the trips, what he does when not travelling etc, so it lacks some sort of purpose and connection with the reader. There is no explanation given about why he wants to spend several days alone in the dessert. The mythology of the regions is not an area of particular interest to me, and on several occasions the author relates experiences he has to that mythology (e.g. hearing another person whilst in the snowstorm) and that did not really work for me. I was slightly irritated by the authors decisions occasionally to ignore the rules about where he should and shouldn’t go without considering why those rules might be there. All in all, the book seems to be well researched, describes landscapes that I was unaware of and would be very interested to visit and some of the threats that they now face. If I do visit however, it would not be because of the authors experiences described here that do not seem to me to be a great advert for the areas as somewhere perhaps stunning, enjoyable and outlandish to visit.

I've been reading a lot of Patrick Leigh Fermor and this makes a lot of sense as a modern Murray publication. Hunt takes the reader to extreme environments, talking about climate change, cultural interactions with the natural environment, I especially enjoyed the section on Eastern Europe. I would gift this to an environmentally conscious friend.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book! I was excited to read it from the description and it didn't disappoint. This book also really made me want to start going on long walks and hikes alone. If you are like me and enjoy books about long walks/adventures in the outdoors (such as Wild by Cheryl Strayed), then you would love this too. I also really felt it was a similar writing style to Robert Macfarlane's Underland, full of both a play-by-play of the actual adventure, facts about the environment around him, and poetic prose. However, I found Robert Macafarlane's writing a bit too poetic and dreamy, while Nick Hunt's writing is definitely purely nonfiction- which I loved much more.

I actually don't think I have a favorite chapter, and the author's stories about each European wilderness were equally lovely to read. From snowy reindeer encounters in Cairngorm National Park in Scotland, to exploring the primeval Białowieża forest in Poland and Belarus, to walking through the Spanish desert and old Western film sets during a dangerous heatwave, to riding around the vast Hungarian steppe among an unexpected mixture of East, West, nationalism, and conservation- I learned so much about these places and it felt like I was walking right there with the author. Definitely recommend!

This is some of the smartest travel writing I have ever read. It's also impeccably copy edited; there's not so much as a typo.
When I started reading this book, I didn't realize the author was involved in the Dark Mountain Project, writing that has helped me think more deeply about climate disruption and about how to feel in the absence of any likely control of the coming rise in temperatures and sea levels. In an age when people can naturally feel quite conflicted about taking a long-haul flight, writing like this becomes essential to give us a clear idea of place and the feeling that we were there appreciating it too.
There is a lot to learn here, about exclaves and the parts of Europe in which they are found. But above all there is a lot to enjoy in this book: awe at the world's natural beauty, about how that beauty informed the mythology and folklore handed down to us from the people who lived in these exclaves, who perhaps initially set out from elsewhere, perhaps even as part of ancient climate migrations of their own. And about the very natural grief we can feel as we see animals, trees and snows disappear from the landscape. Even from a language perspective (my professional area of expertise), the book is comprehensively researched. I won't forget anytime soon how the name "Poland" derives from an ancient word for clearing.
Above all, this book is generous and credits the reader with keen intelligence and understanding. Nothing is oversimplified. Any rereading I did of sentences or paragraphs wasn't because they were overly complex but because of the pleasure I took in reading them.
I have already mentioned this book in class (even though I teach French!) and look forward to reading more of this author's work.

I could really envision a journey around Europe while reading Outlandish by Nick Hunt. Visiting these unfamiliar areas with landscape features that are so different from what you think the region should look like as a whole. Reading about a desert in Spain and a patch of arctic tundra in Scotland along with other unexpected natural environments and wildlife heightened my sense of wanderlust . I really enjoyed this unique take on travel writing and am even more ready to explore different parts of the world now. Thank you to Nick Hunt, NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Reading this felt like reading Tolkien, it evokes wonder but because of the length, it's very much in danger of boring the reader. This could've been better if there were pictures.. I mean, with such a vibrant book cover and a book about travel, I was expecting it to have a lot of colored pictures.

I have never seen Scotland's arctic or the ancient forests of Poland. But after joining Nick Hunt on this handpainted tour of Europe's rarest landscapes, I can imagine.

Outlandish is the sort of niche travelogue that just begs for adjectives. Words like profound, evocative, exquisite, humbling, urgent, and flowing come to mind. Not for a casual reader, Outlandish is what you'd get if you crossed ecotourism with literature with a capital L.

Traveling to these endangered environments was clearly an emotional experience for the author. The ultra-descriptive narrative sometimes veers melancholic when the author realizes he's savoring the last morsels of these unique places. Climate catastrophe looms large.

For the armchair traveler who wants to get the full image of the landscape -- from the color of the sky to the depth of the trees to the texture of the ground -- this writing style is fully immersive. There are long flowing passages of description, and this is definitely not the kind of reading you can pick at here and there. No, Outlandish is the kind of reading that requires you to set aside a full afternoon to allow your imagination to run wild. You really have to indulge in the full Narnia-like experience to understand.

This style won't appeal to all readers, but the landscapes surely will.

A note about this ARC: I did struggle quite a bit with formatting. The copyright warnings infringed on the actual text, making it almost unreadable. In the NetGalley app, I was able to read the pdf, but the kindle version was atrocious.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Walking. I like walking and observing the surroundings and people. This book is essentially about that and has a tinge of environmental and climate change awareness. Very timely released, well researched book. I have to say I love that this is not just another "travel" book. It has a good chunk of political, social and even natural history in it - all the relevant (to the places authors walk in) bits and bobs. It's not dry, vivid, full of honest emotion - good and bad, honest and true experiences (and a lot of them are quite humble). The idea to pick outlandish places across the Europe is absolutely amazing and I would encourage to do more of that, because there are more places like that and that is truly interesting topic.
The only thing I think is missing - some quality pictures. No, not amateur snaps, that social media is full of, but good quality imagery to go with it. I ended up googling some things, just to help my imagination out.. I have to say, I'm very visual, being photographer myself and apprecate quality imagery along the text.

In Outlandish, travel writer Nick Hunt, in an effort to avoid climate-damaging air travel, explores nearer-by islands of geography within the United Kingdom and Europe which almost seem to be inclusions - parts of other continents or latitudes. An intrepid foot traveler, Hunt seamlessly weaves informed and often unexpected history into his narrative as he ventures through remains of an arctic universe in Scotland, a remnant ancient forest in Poland, Spain’s (and Europe’s) only desert, and grassy plains in Hungary which might as easily be Mongolian steppe lands. Always, he travels rough and talks with local people.
For readers like me, who have spent much of the last two years cooped up, Outlandish provides a finely-written and satisfying armchair adventure. But it is more, for Hunt’s narrated observations factor in concerns over a potential bleak planetary future due to climate change. Without preaching, Outlandish succeeds at combining compelling individual adventure with eyes-wide-open commentary about the uncertain outlook for the planet and its wild places.

I’ve tried downloading this copy a few times but every time it’s peppered with ‘copyright’, ‘publishing’, ‘sale distribution’ , ‘Brearley’ which makes it impossible for me to read. A shame because I love nature books and travel writing but the formatting is terrible!!

A travel writer is challenged by the impacts of flying around the globe to limit his adventures to Europe, but still wants to explore some of the world's more extreme and unique kind of landscape - but finds the tundra, the steppe, the desert and primeval forest can be closer than you think. UK-based Nick Hunt confines himself to Europe in this exploration of four kinds of terrain: in the Cairngorms in Scotland, Białowieża Forest in Poland, the Tabernas desert in Spain, and the Hungarian plains. The first chapter was the least interesting to me - I live in Scotland and have read a lot of ecoliterature based here, and aside from the increasing sense of foreboding on climate change's impact on places like the Cairngorms, Hunt's walk in Scottish tundra was enjoyable but much like anything written about a landscape without any people to spoil the view. His discussion of the forest and conflicts of Białowieża was much more compelling to me, and politically insightful, with vivid descriptions of the place and the people he met there. The following chapters on Spain and Hungary were similarly interesting, although by this point it started to bother me that all the voices featured on all four places were fellow visitors or incomers - the people 'of' the place were either absent or antagonists. There is a lot of discussion of the respective landscapes' contested but crucial place in the nationalist psyches of Poland and Hungary, but this was lacking in relation to Scotland and Spain, and I also wonder if Hunt missed a trick by not pulling together how extreme landscapes and issues of dwelling, migration and (de)peopling speaks to wider relation between land and people in Europe. A very engaging and thought-provoking book.

Nick Hunt takes us on a fascinating journey around Europe visiting areas with landscape features more in keeping with other areas of the world. We are told of a patch of arctic tundra in Scotland, desert in Spain and other unexpected natural environments along with the wildlife they support. Quite a unique take on travel writing and I really enjoyed it. Thank you to Nick Hunt, NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful travel stories, set in unique landscapes in Europe. I absolutely love the places the author chose for this book. These are not just travel stories, but also incorporated are history and climate problems. It's very well written, flowing and easy to read. I loved the first story the most, about the Arctic-like areas in Scotland. I've been reading a lot of travel memoirs lately, but this really stands out as one of the best I've read.

In the past, I haven't reviewed books that I haven't read. But, I have changed my mind. Firstly, I think that the fact that I couldn't finish a book is a valid criticism, and this is where we give feedback to the publisher. Secondly, I need to get my score up. I will not post this anywhere else but here. My rating will be based on what other people would think about this work.

I think I have read too many of these books this year. Therefore, I had trouble getting motivated to read this work. However, I think it would make a great read for nature lovers with an interest in identity

I loved this nature book with a twist - the history was fascinating. I really enjoy when an author brings the landscapes they describe into context, and Nick Hunt does this brilliantly - blending history and science with the wonders of nature. I also found the writing really enjoyable - accessible but precise, well-researched and well-written.

Travel writing on Europe’s extraordinary wildernesses.

Outlandish visits the arctic tundra of Scotland, a jungle in Poland, a true desert in Spain, and the steppes of Hungary. It covers climate change and the anthropological effects on wilderness, and local folklore.

Hunt’s adjective-rich prose has a self-conscious literary style, with overworked similes and metaphors, and fails to put the reader in place. However, if like me you are fascinated by the meaning of words, his love of etymology is engaging and informative.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Nicholas Brealey for the ARC.

Outlandish is Nick Hunts experiences of unique and out of the ordinary locations. With detailed observations of the choices made and the landscape, it's pure escapism.
I would certainly recommend this to anyone who's interests lay in unique locations, nature & travel..
You can tell it is well researched from the detail.
My thanks go to the publisher, author and Netgalley in providing this arc in return for a honest review.

I found this book to be quite interesting. The landscapes were not ones that I would have expected so that added an extra element of enticement to the book. I thought the book seemed very well researched and laid out in its chapters. There was a dimension to the approach that will appeal to different type of readers.