Boglands (Hardback)

The Hidden World of Earth's Most Extraordinary Ecosystems

Merritt Turetsky

A world-leading ecologist's grand tour of the strangest and least understood of all Earth's landscapes

Bogs form from an overabundance of death, organic matter breaking down to form layer upon layer of peat. That peat gives rise to lifeforms that challenge our understanding of biology itself: amphibian-eating plants and acid-flinging mosses, plant clones that span thousands of square miles and subterranean 'zombie' fires which smoulder under peat for years at a time. These fecund, sumptuous places have an ecology like nowhere else.

Ranging from Greece, home to the world's oldest bog, to Antarctica's proto-bogs, Merritt Turetsky guides us through these dark, vertical landscapes which archive millennia of Earth's history and shelter some of Earth's rarest and most precious organisms. A glorious marriage of nature and science, Boglands will irrevocably change the way you see the natural world.

Publication date: September 17, 2026

£20.00

ISBN: 9781805221401

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: Climate & the Environment, Travel & Nature

Boglands (Ebook)

The Hidden World of Earth's Most Extraordinary Ecosystems

Merritt Turetsky

Preorder from

A world-leading ecologist's grand tour of the strangest and least understood of all Earth's landscapes

Bogs form from an overabundance of death, organic matter breaking down to form layer upon layer of peat. That peat gives rise to lifeforms that challenge our understanding of biology itself: amphibian-eating plants and acid-flinging mosses, plant clones that span thousands of square miles and subterranean 'zombie' fires which smoulder under peat for years at a time. These fecund, sumptuous places have an ecology like nowhere else.

Ranging from Greece, home to the world's oldest bog, to Antarctica's proto-bogs, Merritt Turetsky guides us through these dark, vertical landscapes which archive millennia of Earth's history and shelter some of Earth's rarest and most precious organisms. A glorious marriage of nature and science, Boglands will irrevocably change the way you see the natural world.

Publication date: September 17, 2026

£19.99

ISBN: 9781805221425

ISBN 10 / ASIN: B0G67LTTVV

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: Climate & the Environment, Travel & Nature

Boglands (Audiobook)

The Hidden World of Earth's Most Extraordinary Ecosystems

Merritt Turetsky

Preorder from

A world-leading ecologist's grand tour of the strangest and least understood of all Earth's landscapes

Bogs form from an overabundance of death, organic matter breaking down to form layer upon layer of peat. That peat gives rise to lifeforms that challenge our understanding of biology itself: amphibian-eating plants and acid-flinging mosses, plant clones that span thousands of square miles and subterranean 'zombie' fires which smoulder under peat for years at a time. These fecund, sumptuous places have an ecology like nowhere else.

Ranging from Greece, home to the world's oldest bog, to Antarctica's proto-bogs, Merritt Turetsky guides us through these dark, vertical landscapes which archive millennia of Earth's history and shelter some of Earth's rarest and most precious organisms. A glorious marriage of nature and science, Boglands will irrevocably change the way you see the natural world.

Publication date: September 17, 2026

£24.99

ISBN: 9781805228288

ISBN 10 / ASIN: B0GWJ7WZY6

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: Climate & the Environment, Travel & Nature

Reviews for Boglands

'Merritt Turetsky is so enraptured by bogs, so full of wide-eyed passion for them, and so skilled at recasting them as the magical wonderlands that they secretly are, that you cannot help but be swept away'

Ed Yong, author of AN IMMENSE WORLD and I CONTAIN MULTITUDES 

'Boglands is one of those rare and exciting books that can change bad situations. A rich and loving appreciation of the world-wide kingdom of sphagnum bogs. Turetsky asks readers to help her support and rescue the world's endangered boglands. If you enjoy breathing, you should answer the call'

Annie Proulx, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of FEN, BOG AND SWAMP 

'A beautiful ode to one of Earth's most overlooked environments, Merritt Turetsky reveals the rich histories and ecological wonders buried in bogs around the world'

Laura Poppick, author of STRATA 

'Writing with a love and intimacy born from decades of immersion in these undervalued landscapes, Merritt Turetsky takes readers deep into boglands to witness the surprising beauty of peat: its mystery, its plants and animals, its crucial role in the future of Earth's climate'

Anna Chilvers, co-editor of THE BOOK OF BOGS 

Merritt Turetsky

Merritt Turetsky

Dr Merritt Turetsky is an internationally acclaimed climate scientist, renowned for her research and teaching on bogs. She's published hundreds of scientific articles on bogs' importance to global climate and provides counsel to governments, northern communities, and professional networks from around the world to better understand the importance of bogs to the global climate. Turetsky is a founding member and advisory board member of the international Permafrost Carbon Network, an advisor to NASA's Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment, and from 2020-2022 she was named a Web of Science's Highly Cited Researcher. In addition to her published academic research, Dr Turetsky serves as the science advisor to the magazine EOS, has written for The Conversation, and regularly appears on TV including on CNN, PBS Newshour, BBC, and her own science program on Canada's CTV.