Just five days ago I wrote a post called Your Brain on Nature; which is the title of this amazing book I recently finished reading. If you can’t tell from the title the book is about the impact that time spent in nature has on your brain; and how that time influences your life’s health, happiness and vitality. At the end of that post I had asked if there were any other great books out there about nature that I should read. And while I don’t have hundreds of followers here and don’t always get comments on my posts this time the universe was listening and decided to respond.
Just four days after writing that post I get a newsletter from Forest Bathing Central (forestbathingcentral.com) and can you guess what her topic was?! Top 15 books for your forest bathing library! I mean what are the chances of that? I write an article on Friday asking for book suggestions and on Monday, 15 of them show up in my inbox. Sometimes wishes really do come true 🙂
So anyway, what are her top 15 you ask? She breaks them down into four categories: nature literature, nature and science, field guides and non-fiction novels.
Nature Literature:
1) Forest Bathing, by Dr. Qing Li
2) Your Guide to Forest Bathing, by Amos Clifford
3) Forest Therapy, by Sarah Ivens
4) Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
5) Nature Writing, by John Muir
6) Nature and Selected Essays, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
7) A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold
8) The Singing Wilderness, by Sigurd Olson
Nature and Science:
9) Your Brain on Nature, by Selhub and Logan
10) Vitamin N, by Richard Louv
11) The Nature Fix, by Florence Williams
Field Guides:
12) Trees from the Discovery Channel
13) Kaufman Field Guide to Nature of the Midwest
Non-Fiction Novels:
14) A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson
15) The Forest Unseen, by David George Haskell
Of the first category I have not read any of those books although I was previously aware of both Dr. Li’s and Mr. Clifford’s. Dr. Qing Li is THE lead researcher when it comes to forest bathing. He knows it all, see for yourself in this YouTube video. I can’t imagine his book being anything but amazing. Amos Clifford is the founder of the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs, he’s the guy who gets you certified in forest therapy. So he also really knows what he’s talking about. Both of these books are definitely on my “to be read soon list”. Very happy to see Your Brain on Nature made the list as it was the subject of my original post. If you haven’t read the post, I loved that book; absolutely fascinating read. I also own Vitamin N by Richard Louv, it’s good but I preferred his Last Child in the Woods. If it was my list of top 15 books I would have put in Balanced and Barefoot by Angela Hanscom over either book by Mr. Louv.
Lastly, A Walk in the Woods is a book I picked up by chance years ago at a second hand store while looking for something to read on vacation. It’s been years since I read it, I’d actually forgotten the title until now but I still remember it as being very entertaining with vivid imagery. Funny that I should be reintroduced to it here.
And there you have it, a whole shwack of new “green” reading material. I know I’ll be reading a few of them for sure. I hope that you will feel inspired to give at least one of the mentioned books a read, and take a minute to learn what a little time in nature can do for you. Happy reading 🙂
naturessence 