Mindfulness & the Natural World: Bringing our Awareness Back to Nature Paperback – 28 Oct. 2013

This is a lovely book to handle; its faux retro woodcut illustrations and Trust grey binding speak of the love and understanding that Claire has for the natural world. It's the kind of how-to book I like which I have to put down at regular intervals in order to go outside and learn about nature around me. I hope it has the same effect on other readers.Claire is at her best in describing her inspiring encounters with nature and she clearly knows her science and avoids the all-too-prevalent overstatement of the benefits of nature study. Her meditations are valuable and reminiscent of Ferrucci's dis-identifying  What We May Be: Techniques for Psychological and Spiritual Growth  and Shakti Gawain's Creative Visualization  Creative Visualization I'm witholding one star because the audience for the book is not clear to me. Claire's frequent use of the pronoun "we" set me wondering. Who is she addressing? I'm already a convert. Novelists rarely use 'we' because it presumes to summarise the views and feelings of many people at once. Its use carries the risk of overlooking diversity and spreading banality.A reliance on intuition and a call to a return to nature is familiar from the Romantic writers of the 18th and 19th century, Byron and Shelley, for instance, whose achievements and faults have been well documented by writers such as Daisy Hay  Young Romantics: The Shelleys, Byron and Other Tangled Lives . Mary Shelley's Frankenstein can be seen a warning of the dangers of the romantic pursuit of curiosity. Henry David Thoreau, ascetic hermit, comes in for much praise for recognising the power of being in nature.So overall, read it, lend it out but don't fall for the e-book!

If the idea of getting into nature sounds too vague, and too big a task to know where to begin, this is the book for you. For the practical minded, it has many practices that you can try out and weave into your daily life. Some, you may already be doing anyway, but there's a sense that reading through it here puts things into sharper focus.I found some of the ideas gradually seeped into my daily life, even if it's just staring out of the window at the neighbourhood's black squirrel, and watching it with more wonder.Certainly one for the lockdown, when the buildings we've made of off limits and only the fresh air and trees and birds beckon!

A lovely book but there seemed to be one important thing missing in the discussion about kindness and compassion towards animals. The author never explicitly suggested that we refrain from killing them for food or exploiting them for commercial products. Maybe it was too obvious to mention...

I live in the English countryside, but this book made me realise how little notice I pay to what is around me. I would recommend it to anyone, wherever they live. Are we really all 'too busy' to stop once in a while and smell the flowers?

Excellent read

I discovered what is mindfulness by reading this book and I am converted! Simple, easy-readable, full of examples and personal stories, I was captivated by this book from the first to the last pages! A excellent introduction to the subject and to nature conservation!

Lovely book.

Great book