“The Edge of Memory uses a familiar premise – that memory is shaped by cultural norms – to draw readers into an unexpectedly rich consideration of how preliterate societies likely used oral history as a defense against catastrophic destruction … As an environmental geographer, Nunn thinks in millennia, which makes him particularly attuned to a potentially fundamental difference between literate and preliterate – historic and prehistoric – societies …
Overall, The Edge of Memory has the feel of a well-crafted nature documentary in which Nunn plays the role of David Attenborough, humanizing the non-human scale of natural phenomena … Nunn foregrounds both the otherness and the integrity of the distant past with contagious enthusiasm, inviting readers to reimagine ancient societies, marvel at human ingenuity, and reconsider cultural blunders … (Kimberley Redding, The Oral History Review, 2020)
“.. if you’ve ever wondered just how old some of the world’s legends are, you’ll want to read Patrick Nunn’s engaging, authoritative and often astonishing ‘The Edge of Memory’” (Greer Gamble, Editor Group)
“Go forth and read it!” (Amanda O’Neill, Ancient History School)
“As in Bruce Pascoe’s ‘Dark Emu’, Patrick Nunn’s research looks more closely at the culture and practices of Aboriginal people offering a depth of knowledge that could have implications for the future of us all” (Kara Nicholson, Readings online).
“The long human memory of change is the topic of ‘The Edge of Memory’. Patrick Nunn argues that in a literate culture we underestimate the power of oral cultures, but they can pass on memories for extraordinary lengths of time” (Nick Mattiske, JourneyOnline)
“Nunn’s hypothesis—that ‘human memories can remain alive for many millennia’ through oral tradition—deserves consideration by earth scientists, folklore scholars, and interested nonspecialists” (Publishers Weekly)
“Nunn’s writing is great, and he does a superb job when explaining the finer points of the geology involved in sea level rises and melting ice sheets … The idea of legends and myths referring to past events is fascinating. Nunn thinks that we are unjustly denigrating oral stories, choosing to only trust the written word” (The Inquisitive Biologist)
“’Literacy is tyrannical,’ writes Patrick Nunn, ‘for it encourages us to undervalue our pasts – the knowledge amassed by those countless ancestors of ours who could neither read nor write.’ It’s a punchy, feisty start, and one that is difficult to disagree with. While the modern world is addicted to information-sharing through the written word, the majority of human history has been communicated orally, reinterpreted and embellished, as stories have passed from generation to generation by firelight. Stories of fantastical gods and monsters might seem far-fetched, but that was often necessary to ensure they – and the vital messages those stories contained – were passed on to the next generations … a strong introduction to an area of study which will likely be taken increasingly seriously as the complexity and detail of knowledge retained by non-literate societies becomes apparent.” (Chris Fitch, Geographical).
“A surprisingly, well-supported perspective on Earth’s distant past” (Kirkus Reviews)
“An important look at how traditional and indigenous folk stories and knowledge are full of valuable science about floods, shifting coastlines and other changing environments–in other words, information that can help us learn to adapt to future threats.” (EcoWatch)
“The Edge of Memory is an important book that explores the wider implications for our knowledge of how human society has developed through the millennia” (Fahrenheit: A Pop Science Book Club – Most Anticipated January Reads)
“Nunn finds that ancient folktales from nonliterate cultures have valuable information about massive climate changes—a surprising, perceptive take on how (and why) we know what we know—and how we could know more” (Literary Hub, Every Day is Earth Day: 365 Books to Start Your Climate Change Library )
“In this sweeping, masterful volume, Nunn stitches together evidence from geology, anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, history and geography to bring to our collective attention the many durable myths and legends of Indigenous oral traditions. If you care about the future of the planet, and our survival on it, ‘The Edge of Memory’ is a must-read book” (Chris Gibson, Editor-in-Chief, Australian Geographer, and Professor of Geography, University of Wollongong, Australia)
“Nunn’s book is the newest jewel in the recent chain of research showing, through geological verification, that human oral traditions often record real events back 10,000 years and more. He shows that such ancient fact-bearing stories, usually dismissed as ‘just myths’, occur the world around. The book is an engagingly written must-read: I couldn’t put it down” (Elizabeth Wayland Barber, co-author of When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth)
“A very important book that shows how non-literate people preserved their observations of memorable events for as much as ten millennia, and their recollections can also help us to face the challenges of environmental changes today” (Rita Compatangelo-Soussignan, Professor of Ancient History at Le Mans University, France)
“That myths can encode relevant information is not simply a conceit of science fiction writers. In ‘The Edge of Memory’, the geologist Patrick Nunn demonstrates that some myths record actual events of as long as multiple millennia ago. He surveys global tales of floods, volcanic eruptions, meteorite impacts and reports of now-extinct animals, correlating their descriptions with empirical evidence to determine their factual bases. Other scholars have explored this ‘euhemerist’ theme, but Nunn’s carefully argued book is distinguished by his focus on the astonishing match between Australian Aboriginal flood narratives and the dramatic rise of the seas following the end of the last Ice Age” (Michael Saler, Times Literary Supplement)
“Most exciting, perhaps, for oral historians is Nunn’s affirmation of the spoken word and his challenge to the dominance of the written. Ignorance of the depth and scale of human memory is a function of blind adherence to written texts alone, he argues. If we acknowledged the oral, humanity’s self-understanding and understanding of our planet would be all the richer … that a geographer exhorts us to pay attention to oral memory suggests a new appreciation for oral knowledge is seizing the collective imagination. That is reason to celebrate” (Laura Rademaker, Oral History Australia Journal)
“Nunn leads us to ‘The Edge of Memory’ in seven enthralling chapters … masterfully explained … a staggeringly descriptive narrative.
Some have said they couldn’t put this book down. So profound are some of the concepts and insights, that these words need savouring, appreciating. Nunn is helping extend our awareness of the true scale of our retention as intellectual beings, as it were, to the edge of memory (Leigh Franks, Geoscience Australia Book of the Month, October 2020)
“In privileging western science, post-enlightenment philosophy and the written word as the repository of all human knowledge, we appear to be no more than the sort of know-it-all, ten second experts who, unchecked, render any workplace or social function unendurable. According to author, Patrick Nunn, this tyranny of literacy not only risks making us bores, it handicaps our capacity to understand deep time and respond to the climate change all but the most obdurate denialists witness around us” (Fleurieu Living Magazine)
“The stories presented offer compelling insight into the dramatic climate changes on earth. Nunn is critical of scientists who are too quick to dismiss such stories rather than see them as significant observations of a time in our geological history” (Peta Turner, Ivanhoe Grammar School, Interaction, Geography Teachers’ Association of Victoria)