Rating: 4 out of 5

I found this to be quite hard going. In retrospect I read it in the wrong way for me. I read it as my main book. I should have read it as a research book and given time to it in longer sittings. Reading a few pages at a time didn’t suit this.

I’m not even sure how to categorise this. Memoir? It definitely has aspects of that. Science? It definitely has quite a bit of that tucked into the various chapters. Manifesto? The final chapter definitely feels like that.

This confused categorisation is why I read it as my main book. I often read memoirs and have no problem reading them a few pages at a time before bedtime. This has so much more going on.

The final two chapters, which were read in one sitting, were excellent. Fascinating to learn about soil and what it can do for us given half a chance. And the final chapter covers a lot of what my other Nature research has already covered - benefits to mental state, threats due to children not encountering nature in any real way.

A book on a theme in increasingly interested in. Well worth reading, but worth reading when you can give it space. I suspect if I had then this would have been a 5 star experience.

Originally posted to my Goodreads account