Thanks to “Ol’ Man River,” the Broadway show tune made famous by Paul Robeson, many of us grew up thinking of the Mississippi River not merely as a piece of geography but a giant personality. That idea resonates with special meaning in Louisiana, where the river defines the landscape.

Is it really true, though, that rivers live in this way? Robert Macfarlane explores the question in “Is a River Alive?,” his new book about the essence of waterways around the world. There’s no question that healthy rivers hum with life: fish and plants, birds and wildlife, the pulse of people coming and going. But Macfarlane, a celebrated British naturalist, wonders if rivers are such a complex presence that they might be regarded as fellow beings.

At the very least, he suggests, rivers look alive, as ev

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