Books on How Nature Is Good Medicine
Land Beneath the Waves is a moving and honest memoir of a nature writer, who lives with chronic illness. In this book he looks at how our relationship with the natural world affects us.
She begins by researching the history of her local landscape and wildlife, realising her affinity with the wild, as a way to cope, growing up with a mother who also had a debilitating chronic illness.
Now in her 40s (and struggling with mental and physical health herself), the author revisits her childhood to trace the natural world on her life.
And as she grapples with revelations from the past, the boundaries between self and land become increasingly porous, and the lure of the wetlands around her home, threaten to engulf her.
Can Nic find the strength to face the waves of chronic illness (past and present) and learn to reach for steady ground?
This book inspires us to develop a meaningful bond with our local natural spaces and landscapes, illuminating a hopeful path towards a better future for human and non-human life. Benedict Macdonald
A deeply honest account of a life blighted by ill-health. Yet redeemed by a profound connection with nature. A delight to read. Stephen Moss
A brutally honest story that demonstrates why nature keeps us afloat. Her debut is an unstoppable tide, washing over the reader with pain, but always with joy and kindness. Jack Wallington
Nic Wilson is a writer and Guardian country diarist. She taught A-level English before working freelance for a gardening magazine.
How the Natural World Saved Gordon’s Life
In the Hide is the autobiography of popular TV wildlife presenter Gordon Buchanan. The title refers to how as a child, he would long to be invisible, so that he could simply be ‘in the hide’ to be with the world’s most elusive creatures, rather than spend time with humans.
A lot of us know how he feels!
Born in Scotland, on an estate built on land claimed from fields, he grew up on the edge of wild countryside, that he longed to walk as his own sanctuary.
Today, Gordon travels the world, living close by to polar bears in Svalbard, snow wolf packs in Ellesmere, leopards in Mumbai and wild horses in Mongolia, having filmed wildlife in the world’s most remote places for over 30 years.
For weeks at a time, Gordon often lives inside a cramped camera hide, in poor living conditions and without much sleep, all to film one extraordinary shot. He is now possibly the most revered natural history cameraman, that the BBC has ever recruited.
But this account of his challenging childhood, shows that dangerous animals were not just what Gordon was hiding from. And how once he escaped to the real wild places, he found resilience in the face of hardship, and developed into one of the bold new voices in nature writing.
Gordon is a natural storyteller, with a unique passion for his subject and compelling backstory. By studying nature, he has become an expert in the field, instinctively knowing what an animal will do. Steve Backshall
Gordon is a genuine force for good in this beautiful, flawed world of ours. The time I spent with him in the Hebrides was truly life-changing, and has given me a far greater appreciation of the beauty and simplicity of the world we live in. This is a glorious love letter to that world. Dermot O’Leary
Gordon Buchanan is an award-winning presenter and wildlife cameraman, who has worked on Planet Earth and Frozen Planet. He lives in Glasgow, Scotland.
A Book on How Nature Helps Genetic Illness
Some Of Us Just Fall is a unique book by a gifted writer, on how people with genetic illness can use nature to feel better. This book traces a remarkable journey through illness – from misdiagnosis to wild swimming in the Lake District.
Polly examines her genetic inheritance, her place in the natural world future in her body. After not getting results from doctors or her own body, she finally found some relief in nature.
The Lake District is famous for its rain. The wettest inhabited valley in England lies only 10 miles over the fells from my home.
This summer, while most of England dessicated under drought conditions, we dissolved in rain. This is weather pushed to the extremes of itself.
It’s a book more on living with and accepting certain illnesses. After years of unexplained health issues, the author’s understanding of her body had become disjointed, until she began to piece the history (fractures, dislocations, exhaustion and medical disregard) when finally diagnosed with two chronic conditions in her 30s.
A stunning book about chronic illness that will stay with you. It’s a rallying cry for society to stand up for those too exhausted from struggling to be believed, by the medical establishment. Catherine Renton
Defiant and dazzling! I was submerged in Atkin’s life and its characters: the grey wagtail, her partner waiting in the shade of a tree, the nurses, the heron by the river. By sharing her relationship with water, she has changed mine. Her prose is a beautiful gift. Freya Bromley
Polly Atkin is an award-winning writer and poet who lives in the Cumbrian town where Wordsworth lived (she wrote a biography on his sister’s later life and illness).
She co-founded the Open Mountain Initiative, which seeks to centre voices on the margins for outdoor, mountain and nature writing.
How Earth’s Wisdom Helps to Endure Life’s Storms
Weathering is a book by a qualified psychotherapist, exploring our connection to the rocks and mountains that have withstood aeons of life on our planet – gradually eroding, shifting, solidifying and weathering.
We might spend a little less time on earth, but we are also weathering – evolving and changing due to the shifting climates of our lives.
So what might these ancient natural forms have to teach us on resilience and change? In a stunning exploration of our own connection to nature, the author takes us on a journey through deep time and ancient landscapes, showing how geology can offer a new way of thinking on grief, change and boundaries.
In a world shaken by physical, political and medical disasters, the book argues for a deeper understanding of the ground beneath our feet, to better serve ourselves and the world we live in.
Originally trained as a geologist, Ruth Allen PhD has a doctorate in Himalayan mountain-building, and now teaches a unique woodland-based educational programme for teenage girls in northern England, when not exploring mountains.
