John A. Love was born and brought up in Inverness. He studied at Aberdeen University for ah Honours degree in Zoology, followed by three years postgraduate research before going to live on the Isle of Rum National Nature Reserve in 1975 before taking up a position with Scottish Natural Heritage as Area Officer for Uist, Barra and St Kilda. He lives on South Uist and retired in 2006 to concentrate on writing, drawing and lecturing. He has written a number of books including Rum: A Landscape Without Figures, also published by Birlinn.