Reviews for Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J. R. R. Tolkien

The average rating for Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J. R. R. Tolkien based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-01-21 00:00:00 Eric Cidade This book was a Christmas gift from some friends of mine. It was a very good read about how J.R.R.Tolkien's philosophy on human beings being stewards of the earth is embedded in his fascinating mythology. Reading this book was a very important reminder of striving to exude goodness in daily life in our own Shire.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-02-19 00:00:00 Roch Garand It took me two tries before I could finish LOTR, and it took two attempts before I really got into this book - rather fitting, don't you think? Ents, Elves, and Eriador focuses on the environmental vision of J.R.R. Tolkien, which is another way of saying that the authors read LOTR and associated works, Leaf by Niggle, Farmer Giles of Ham, and other works and analysed what Tolkien's feelings towards the environment might have been. The book goes into lots of wonderful detail, but in sum, they hypothesise that Tolkien believed that: The created world is good because it has been created Stewardship over the earth means taking care of the earth, not exploiting it, and hence Small farms that have a stake in the earth (and don't have acres to waste) are better than big agri-businesses. In terms of structure, the book starts with the value of the earth, and then zooms in into how the various people of Middle Earth treat the land (there are individual chapters for the hobbits, ents, and elves), before looking at the environment in other Tolkien works. With a view of how Tolkien built his world (and what that might say about his attitude towards ours), the book goes on to look at Modor and the consequences of environmental destruction. As I mentioned in the start, this book took some time for me to warm up to it. It's pretty academic in nature and I just did not understand what was going on until I finished Notes from the Underground and The Double, and then suddenly my brain had gotten used to more complex sentences and I found myself enjoying the book. If you're already a huge Tolkien fan, however, you might have an easier time with this one. Since I've only read a couple of Tolkien's works, I enjoyed learning about all the other stories that Tolkien wrote. Leaf by Niggle, for example, sounds charming and I've added that to the TBR list. For books that I have read, like LOTR, this book made me realise that I had overlooked so much and made me want to reread them. Given the academic tone of this book, I don't think the casual Tolkien fan is going to pick this up. But if you're really into Tolkien analysis or you're interested in how Tolkien built his world/viewed ours, this is a book that you're going to want to read. This review was first posted at Eustea Reads