After lockdown, there will be a great need for books like this. Books that help you reframe and re-engage with the outside world.
It isn't a serious book. Not like many other books that write about the natural world. So don't pick this up thinking it is a heavy read meant to provoke. It is a simple book that simply nudges you, suggests rather than prescribes. Hidden in its joyful and slightly quirky frame is a message of real importance. Of recognising the healing effects that the natural world provides. The stress relief. The exercise. The ideas and inspiration.
This book is sharing that spirit of childhood exploration. It's playful. The narrative style is conversational. A style that is very welcome after the lack of conversation during the long period of isolation. It sets you up for returning to the world in a way that allows you to draw more sustenance from it than you did before. Or, more than most of us did. I know, from my own interaction with the outside world, that nature was very much a background aspect of my life.
Rewild Yourself makes you aware and I think that awareness is precious. We don't know if we will be forced to return indoors at a future stage. For that reason alone, it should be important to try to suck the marrow out of a walk. To notice more. To discover more.
It is a short read, well structured into bitesize 'spells'. This initially put me off. More new age nonsense. But no, I prefer to think of them as experiments. Challenges. It's reference to magic is just the everyday, exceptional and thrilling magic of the natural world. Not actually jazzed up with spiritual stuff, but laid bare as an acknowledgement of how miraculous nature can be.
It's funny. Engaging. Descriptive. Educational. A good read for children, as well as adults.
Simon Barnes asks you to look at the world around you for a little longer. To look a little closer. To explore a little deeper. And for that reason, I highly recommend this book as a tonic for the post-lockdown person.
Save yourself some time as well. Buy some binoculars now. I didn't order them until I was halfway through reading it and I wish I'd gotten them straight away!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Rating - 4.5)
Comentários