Narrative Non-fiction · Hardback

The Secret Life of the City

Norwegian title: Byens hemmelige liv

Hanna Bjørgaas

Hanna Bjørgaas is a biologist who spends her days among the penguins and whales in the Antarctic, one of the world’s most dramatic landscapes. The tourists she guides pay immense sums to travel there and encounter nature as they will never experience it anywhere else in the world. Or will they?

Here is the starting-point for her project: to walk out of her door and take a non-judgemental interest in the nature she encounters over the course of a year. Can she experience nature in the city? The majority of Europe’s population live in towns or densely populated areas, and city nature is the nature most people will encounter. In this book, Bjørgaas tracks down the most fascinating specialist knowledge available to us about the species and nature in cities. But the book is also a declaration of love to the biologists and experts who share their knowledge with commitment and enthusiasm.