Extraordinarily Good Books on Nature
A Year in the Woods is the story of a Norwegian writer, who spent a whole year taking a little time away each month, to spend alone in the woods.
He leaves the city after work one day each month to camp near the same tiny pond in a forest, then returns to work the next day.
Being alone is something that many people used to do a lot anyway. Getting away from the rat race does not have to mean becoming a hermit, but being a hermit for just a little while is good! The ritual is far from rigorous and never perfect.
One evening, Ekelund grows so cold in his tent, that he hikes out before daybreak (it’s Norway!)
As Torbjørn greets the same trees and boulders each month, he appreciates the sameness alongside their quiet beauty. He wonders how long they have stood silently in this place, and reflects on his own short existence .
The book asks us to reconsider our relationship with nature. Are we anxious wanderers or mindful observers? Do we honour seasons, or let them pass by? The perfect book for anyone who longs to connect with nature.
Maybe it is not true at all, that when you go alone into the woods, your head fills with great thoughts. Maybe it is the opposite? Maybe your head is then simply emptied of great thoughts.
And what is precisely what seems liberating to us. Because the thoughts that arise in the woods are always very primitive. Warm, cold. Easy, hard. Wet, dry. Happy, sad. Hungry, full. Tired, awake.
Author Torbjørn Ekelund writes for a daily newspaper, and is co-editor of a small independent book publishing house. He is also co-founder of the online magazine Harvest, where he writes on adventures in the wilderness, and the relationship between humans and nature. He lives in Oslo, Norway.
In Praise of Paths (how they shape landscapes)
Also read Torbjørn’s other book In Praise of Paths. This tells the story of how he took up hiking, when an epileptic fit prevented him from driving. He began to venture more into nature, and walks with shoes and Torbjørn Ekelund started to walk everywhere, and the more he ventured out into nature, and walks through forest creeks and across urban streets.
Contemplating the early tracks made by ancient snails and traces the wanderings of Romantic poets, amongst other musings. He asks ‘What do we lose in an era of car travel and navigation apps? And what will we gain from taking to paths once again?’
The Waterlands (follow a raindrop from source to sea)
The Waterlands has been described as ‘a masterpiece’, as the author explores how water falls to the earth from the sky as raindrops, and splashes into hillsides to merge with rivers, to reach the sea.
This is the story of one of the world’s most miraculous substances: water. Follow a raindrop as it flows through diverse landscapes:
- River sources in the upland moors
- Saltmarsh-flanked firths and estuaries
- Serene and spectacular lochs
- Crystal-clear chalk streams
- Blanket bogs and peat
On this epic journey, you’ll join the raindrop to discover how water shapes the land and shapes our lives – and how we shape it in return. Beautifully blending geography, ecology, climate writing and social history, this is an urgent call to protect our planet’s most essential resource.
You’ll never look at a raindrop the same way again!
This is a book that leaves you looking at rain, rivers and land itself with fresh wonder and responsibility. Ruby Free (conservation biologist)
In an age of floods, droughts, polluted rivers and shrinking lakes, this imaginative retelling of the water cycle beautifully illuminates the vital importance of water and wetlands to all life on earth. Julian Hoffman
Heartening evidence of how quickly our wetlands can start to bounce back, once left to their own devices. Birds and insects return, grass grows longer and trees take root. Financial Times
Stephen Rutt is a writer and book reviewer, who lives in Scotland.
Connections with Nature (meeting the wild)
Connections with Nature is a wonderful read, by one of our favourite wildlife bloggers and campaigners. Kate has a first-class English degree, and has used her writing skills for 15 years to help all animals.
She’s made friends with everyone from Sir David Attenborough and Chris Packham to wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan and Queen guitarist Brian May (who campaigns to save badgers).
This is basically an anthology by 50 members of her ‘wildlife crowd’, on a journey to meet the wild. From wondering at the moon (rather than stare at a screen), studying the details of a barn owl feather (along with a 7-year old!) and watching the ‘moorland fairground’ at dusk.
This book shows how entwined we are with the natural world. And you’ll be hooked, once you visit her upbeat and interesting blog.
Kate is a conservationist and campaigner for animal welfare, who is passionate on educating future generations. She was the youngest trustee of Born Free and head of communications at Whitley Fund for Nature.
Wild Pavements (exploring cities with an urban naturalist)
Wild Pavements is a unique book, where a naturalist shares her delight on the overlooked and under-appreciated wildlife in England’s cities. She also meets people who care for urban wildlife, and explores what current thinking on ecology and conservation means for the future of urban nature.
Join Amanda as she explores London (from the city to the suburbs) and also visits Liverpool and Sheffield. And ventures over the border to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Cardiff and Belfast. Exploring the diversity of urban nature.
From wild bees living in canal banks to black redstarts nesting in London’s Oxford Street, she also finds rare plants in pavement cracks and even fish struggling to survive in trolley-filled urban rivers. Noticing the wild world around you, may just change the way you think about our cities for good.
Learn how to help your local wildlife rescue.
Amanda Tuke is one of the most talented of a new generation of urban nature writers. Most important, she reaches out to a new cohort of readers who love plants and animals around them. By providing really helpful advice in beautifully written prose, she makes nature writing more accessible. Stephen Moss
Tuke shares her knowledge from the history of parks to environmental planning. Stay in your city. Walk. Carry this book with you. Watch, listen, observe, enjoy. Esther Woolfson
Amanda Tuke is an urban naturalist, botanist and nature writer, and associate lecturer for the MA in Nature & Travel Writing at Bath Spa University. She was also nature-writer-in-residence for London Wildlife Trust a few years ago.
Wild Woman (empowering stories from nature)
Wild Woman is an engaging blend of conservation stories and personal humorous anecdotes by TV presenter Philippa Forrester who has chosen to live and work in the wild (wildlife fans will know her from programmes filming otters with her husband Charlie Hamilton-Jones).
In this book, she studies and celebrates women who have chosen to live and work in wild and challenging landscapes.
Relating some of her own experiences (she has a degree in ecology & conservation) from 30 years of travelling to some of the wildest places on earth, she looks how at how women benefit from a life spent in the wilderness, and considers what the natural world gains from them.
And as she explores our relationship with the wild, Philippa contemplates what we expect and need from nature, and ponders why we still feel a pull towards it.
For six years, Philippa lived in Wyoming, encountering wolves, grizzly bears, moose and the odd cowboy. But after returning to live here in summer 2020, she is rediscovering her own patch of wilderness and the joys of the English countryside (especially her favourite wild animal – otters!)
When I see a fox run by, my immediate thought is ‘What’s he up to? Where’s he going?’ Journeys are so much of life.
Philippa Forrester is a TV and radio presenter, producer and writer. She has a degree in ecology and conservation, and works with several wildlife organisations, to promote their work.
