What a disappointing book! The premise, that ancient myths reflected in archaeological remains in our modern landscape have something valuable to tell us, and how this comes together in an Irish context, was exciting. The delivery on the other hand, was very poor. The book is really disorganised, with facts and stories blended in a mishmash with no logic to them. It often presumes a level of existing expertise by the reader, but even Irish readers may not remember what exactly the Táin Bó Cuailgne is. Explanations are only sporadic and partial. As I have a deep kinship with Ireland this book certainly touched me on many levels. The author has a way of opening your mind and heart to the beauties of the land and deeper still, to what lies beneath. Our ancestors developed a uniquely nature-focused society, centred on esteemed poets, seers, monks, healers and wise women who were immersed in the land. They used this deep connection to the cycles of the natural world – from which we are increasingly dissociated – as an animating force in their lives.

Listen to the Land Speak Gill Books - Irish Gift - Listen to the Land Speak

In this illuminating new book, Manchán Magan sets out on a journey, through bogs, across rivers and over mountains, to trace these ancestor’s footsteps. He uncovers the ancient myths that have shaped our national identity and are embedded in the strata of land that have endured through millennia – from ice ages through to famines and floods. In 2019, once I finished university I seemingly started learning Irish for no reason, or at least the reason for learning it has been lost on me, and from that I started learning more about the history both actively out of my own curiosity having left unionism behind me years ago, and passively as my social circle expanded southbound online and my friends and mutual acquaintances shared tidbits of their cultural identity, and through the anger they have toward the current political climate in Ireland where the government plans to erase, evict and gentrify anything that doesn’t make money.Manchán Magan is a writer and documentary-maker. He has written books in Irish and English on his travels in Africa, India and South America. His most recent books are Thirty-Two Words for Field, which explores the insights the Irish language offers into the landscape, psyche and heritage of Ireland; and Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and Other Irish Words for Nature, an illustrated book that delves into Irish words for nature. He writes occasionally for the Irish Times and presents The Almanac of Ireland podcast about the heritage and culture of Ireland for RTÉ Radio 1. He has presented scores of television documentaries on history and culture. If there were more people like Magan around Ireland, and for that matter the world would be a better place. His latest book, Listen to the Land Speak, Manchán Magan takes a look at the Irish landscape and what it can tell us about who we are and were as a people. He says his childhood, some of which he spent in the West Kerry Gaeltacht, allowed him to meet with those who lived on the islands and witness their connection not only with the land but with the mythic elements of our culture. Only criticism is that it can be a bit much at times, and without some basic prior knowledge of certain mythological aspects/places it can make you lost. Writer and broadcaster Manchán Magan, joined Kieran to discuss his new book, ‘Listen to the Land Speak’, a book that sets out to trace our ancestors, uncovering myths that have defined the Irish identity...

land around us - RTÉ Manchán on the legacy of the land around us - RTÉ

Pléann leabhar Mhanchán le aibhneacha, bailte, logainmeacha agus an cheangail atá idir béaloideas agus miotaseolaíocht na tíre seo.Solid book looking at the relationship between cultural traditions, people, and the land to which we’re connected. Machán does a great job of putting in his own personal experiences and linking it to a greater discussion of how we relate to the natural world and each other.

Listen to the Land Speak - Manchán Magan - €19.99 - Castle Books Listen to the Land Speak - Manchán Magan - €19.99 - Castle Books

Low the sun; short its course”: Tracing the Celtic ritual cycle through music, manuscript and performance The best parts of this book are Magan's brief encounters with the fascinating and understudied fields of geomythology and archaeomythology - the study of myths as possible records of real geological and historical events, such as comet impacts, the end of the Ice Age, or the disappearance of landmasses and even civilisations (perhaps the most famous example of which is Atlantis). For example, he establishes that the archaeological evidence pointing to the date of Lough Neagh's flooding closely matches the date given in the lake's mythological origin story down through the oral tradition. Unfortunately, he makes only cursory references to these ideas and explores none of them in any detail. He explicitly chooses to ignore the discovery of a 33,000-year-old carved reindeer bone in Ireland, which demolishes the accepted theory that the island has only been inhabited for 6,000 years, because he does not know what to make of it. He also makes no reference whatsoever to the extraordinary fact, mentioned in his previous book, that the people who built Newgrange have been found to be genetically discontinuous with the modern Irish population, strongly suggesting that not only is the structure much older than previously thought but that there may have been waves of settlers as yet unaccounted for in the historical record. The potential implications of these and other findings are enormous and there was a much more interesting book which could have (and still should be) written about these things, offering us a new understanding of our past and a new significance to our present. Much of Manchán Magan’s work is concerned with loss and the retention of precious remnants. In his Tamagotchi projects, Magan sought to preserve Irish words slipping from the lexicon. In 32 Words for Field (2020), which began as a cult hit, becoming one of the most talked-about Irish books in recent times, the focus was on the wealth of beauty within the Irish language and how it connects us to place, spirituality, nature and each other.

Having been brought up in Dublin, with long periods spent in the West Kerry Gaeltacht of Corca Dhuibhne, Manchán now lives near Lough Lene, Co. Westmeath, surrounded by oak trees. Bestselling writer and documentary-maker Manchán Magan presents a lecture entitled “ Listen to the Land Speak: Lost Wisdom of the Land and Language of Ireland,” based on his recently published book of the same title. Inspired by language, landscape and mythology, Magan explores the insight and hidden wisdom native Irish culture offers to the people of Ireland and the world. Introduced by Visiting Leonard L. Milberg ’53 Professor in Irish Letters and Chair of the Fund for Irish Studies Fintan O’Toole. Photo courtesy Manchán Magan Magan weaves his narrative around the land as we go through the centuries each chapter leading onto the next, meeting goddesses, hero’s and kings. Until we are hit with the reality of the famine, or the great hunger as it should be know. He is right that you cannot talk about the land and what it says to us without speaking about the effect this tragic time in history had on the land and it’s people and the effects that are still being felt, and as British person i can only apologise for the atrocities my country did to Ireland and many other places. Ireland's ancestors developed a uniquely nature-focused society, centred on esteemed poets, seers, monks, healers and wise women who were deeply connected to the land. They used this connection to the cycles of the natural world – from which we are increasingly dissociated – as an animating force in their lives. Get directions and find venue information for the James Stewart Film Theater at 185 Nassau Street. COVID-19 Guidance + Updates

Listen to the Land Speak - Booktopia Listen to the Land Speak - Booktopia

Per Princeton University policy, all guests must either be fully vaccinated, or have recently tested negative (via PCR within 72 hours or via rapid antigen test within 8 hours of the scheduled visit) and be prepared to show proof if asked, or wear a face covering when indoors and around others. AccessibilityFor some this will be disorientating because Irish history and myth often fuse and merge meaning that literal and symbolic truths become entangled. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. Speaking about why rivers and important places were often feminine nouns despite surviving in a patriarchal society, Manchán suggests that when he scratched the surface of Irish myths and legends that he found women were often in a place of power. In Listen to the Land Speak, he offers a fractal version of Ireland, where myth overlaps with history, the fantastical with the practical, the superstitious with the scientific. “Just as a fractal can be limited to a finite area and yet is infinitely magnifiable,” he writes, “so too is Ireland host to an infinity of wisdom and wonder.”