Learning from the Lasses

Walter Stephen and a bevy of Modern Geddesians investigate the women who had an influence on, or were influenced by, the Scottish thinker, Patrick Geddes. Ranging from his mother to an Indian nun, his wife to a suffragette, this volume crosses the globe, highlighting the far-reaching influence of Geddes and the range of very different women who were linked to him in one way or another.

Starting out with his family in Scotland and giving a detailed insight into life in historic Edinburgh and the rest of the country, the text is of interest to anybody living in Scotland.

Walter Stephen

Walter Stephen could not proceed beyond Geology I at Edinburgh University due to colour blindness – the analysis of crystals and subtle maps were hidden worlds for him. Degrees in Geography, Economic History and Education qualified him as an academic jack-of-all-trades with a lifelong devotion to environmental awareness and understanding. One of his achievements was the establishment and operation for twenty years of Castlehill Urban Studies Centre, the first successful Urban Studies Centre in Britain.

A former Chairman of the Sir Patrick Geddes Memorial Trust, he has been responsible for Learning from the Lasses, A Vigorous Institution and Think Global, Act Local, collections of essays on Patrick Geddes. In his introduction to the new edition of A Herd of Red Deer he brought out the importance of Frank Fraser Darling as the founder of ecology and forerunner of David Attenborough. In The Evolution of Evolution Walter Stephen sets Darwin at the centre of a circle of Interesting Victorians. All six books, plus his biography of Willie Park Junior: The Man who took Golf to the World and Walter’s Wiggles were published by Luath Press.