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REVIEW BY GERALD PONTING
The subtitle of this book is ‘A Guide to the Standing Stones’, but it is not a conventional guide-book. A detailed and considered tour of each part of Calanais – centre stone; circle; chambered cairn; east, west, and south stone rows; northern avenue; and the nearby natural rock formation – occupies around half the book.
Prior to this, McHardy sets the scene with an introduction to the Neolithic archaeology of the Isle of Lewis. With plenty of academic references (and a five-page bibliography) this is likely to be of great interest to readers of CA, perhaps less so to the average tourist. Two appendices deal with folklore of the site and with astronomical considerations.
The book contains useful drawings and diagrams, with some excellent photography. Sadly, there are also photographs that add nothing to the interest or attractiveness of the book.
While there is a section called ‘Conclusions’, the author invites readers to make up their own minds. ‘There is not, nor has there ever been, one simple explanation’.
Contemplating Calanais: A Guide to the Standing Stones
Ian McHardy
The Islands Book Trust, £12
ISBN 978-1907443862
