Book picks similar to
The Things Trees Know by Douglas Wood


inspirational
nature-writing
outdoors
teaching-resources

The Dynamic Laws of Prayer


Catherine Ponder - 1987
    DeVorss & Company; 2nd Revised edition (May 1, 1987)

Kabbalah: The Power to Change Everything


Yehuda Berg - 2009
    Positing that our collective abdication of responsibility — in every facet of our lives, including business and the economy, the environment, government and politics, healthcare, education, and religion — has contributed to the problems and challenges we face, Berg asserts that taking responsibility for our actions (or lack thereof) and their consequences is the key to achieving change for the better. Berg urges readers to access the power within each of us, using the principles of Kabbalah, in order to create the consciousness shift required for lasting positive change.

A Book of Bees: And How to Keep Them


Sue Hubbell - 1988
    This book is, like its author, a unique achievement. Weaving a vivid portrait of her own life and her bees' lives through the seasons, Hubbell writes "about bees to be sure, but also about other things: the important difference between loneliness and solitude . . . the accommodating of oneself to nature" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

The Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West


Nate Blakeslee - 2017
    Before humans ruled the earth, there were wolves. Once abundant in North America, these majestic creatures were hunted to near extinction in the lower 48 states by the 1920s. But in recent decades, conservationists have brought wolves back to the Rockies, igniting a battle over the very soul of the West.With novelistic detail, Nate Blakeslee tells the gripping story of one of these wolves, O-Six, a charismatic alpha female named for the year of her birth. Uncommonly powerful, with gray fur and faint black ovals around each eye, O-Six is a kind and merciful leader, a fiercely intelligent fighter, and a doting mother. She is beloved by wolf watchers, particularly renowned naturalist Rick McIntyre, and becomes something of a social media star, with followers around the world.But as she raises her pups and protects her pack, O-Six is challenged on all fronts: by hunters, who compete with wolves for the elk they both prize; by cattle ranchers who are losing livestock and have the ear of politicians; and by other Yellowstone wolves who are vying for control of the park’s stunningly beautiful Lamar Valley.These forces collide in American Wolf, a riveting multi-generational saga of hardship and triumph that tells a larger story about the ongoing cultural clash in the West—between those fighting for a vanishing way of life and those committed to restoring one of the country’s most iconic landscapes.

The Beauty in the Beast: Britain's Favourite Creatures and the People Who Love Them


Hugh Warwick - 2012
    They are all amazing characters who manage to carry a deep knowledge of their chosen species within a distinctly quirky shell. Other animals making an appearance include otters , house sparrows, robins , owls, bats, badgers, dolphins, toads, dragonflies, moths, foxes and adders.Hugh Warwick, animal enthusiast and hedgehog fanatic, writes a series of affectionate and quirky homages to the animals of the British Isles, composed of fieldwork and interviews with the people who love and conserve them.

Dude Making a Difference: Bamboo Bikes, Dumpster Dives and Other Extreme Adventures Across America


Rob Greenfield - 2015
    But not if you're Rob Greenfield. Then it sounds like a pretty amazing way to bring your message to as many people as possible, and to have a great time doing it. Dude Making a Difference is Rob's first-person account of his incredible adventure in radical sustainability. Join him as he pedals from coast to coast in three and a half months while:Creating only 2 pounds of trash Using just 160 gallons of water Eating 284 pounds of food from grocery store dumpstersThis one-of-a-kind travelogue will inspire you to reexamine your relationship with the earth's resources. Rob's captivating stories of life on the low-impact road are rounded out by practical guides to help you reduce your personal ecological footprint and plan your own larger-than-life adventures. Author's proceeds from the sale of Dude Making a Difference will be donated to 1% for the Planet.Rob Greenfield is an adventurer and environmental activist whose creative campaigns educate and inspire. He's crossed the US twice on a bamboo bicycle, gone a year without showering, and dived into over one thousand dumpsters, all to wake people up to the impact of their daily actions and  to instigate social change.

A Fistful of Love


Om Swami - 2015
    After a couple of drinks, he asked his friends, "Do you love me?" "Of course, we do," they replied. "So do you know what I need?" No one answered. "If you don't know what I need then how can you say you love me?" To love and to be loved is the most basic human need. No wonder we are attracted to people who give us attention, care about us, and love us. Yet, love also remains the greatest challenge in most relationships. Why? A Fistful of Love is a collection of insightful, thought-provoking nuggets of wisdom appreciated by millions around the world. This book is full of humour and narratives most beautifully woven into learnings of life that will make you stop and think. A must read. Om Swami is a mystic living in the Himalayan foothills. He has a bachelor's degree in business and an MBA from Sydney, Australia. Prior to renunciation, he founded and ran a multi-million dollar software company successfully. He is the author of the best-seller If Truth Be Told: A Monk's Memoir, and a soon-to-be-released book on Kundalini.

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude


Ross Gay - 2015
    That is, this is a book that studies the wisdom of the garden and orchard, those places where all—death, sorrow, loss—is converted into what might, with patience, nourish us.

Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea and Human Life


George Monbiot - 2013
    Making use of remarkable scientific discoveries that transform our understanding of how natural systems work, George Monbiot explores a new, positive environmentalism that shows how damaged ecosystems on land and at sea can be restored, and how this restoration can revitalize and enrich our lives. Challenging what he calls his “ecological boredom,” Monbiot weaves together a beautiful and riveting tale of wild places, wildlife, and wild people. Roaming the hills of Britain and the forests of Europe, kayaking off the coast of Wales with dolphins and seabirds, he seeks out the places that still possess something of the untamed spirit he would like to resurrect.He meets people trying to restore lost forests and bring back missing species—such as wolves, lynx, wolverines, wild boar, and gray whales—and explores astonishing evidence that certain species, not just humans, have the power to shape the physical landscape. This process of rewilding, Monbiot argues, offers an alternative to a silent spring: the chance of a raucous summer in which ecological processes resume and humans draw closer to the natural world.

Your Guide to Forest Bathing: Experience the Healing Power of Nature


M. Amos Clifford - 2018
    Simply being present with all of our senses, in a forest or other wild area, can produce mental, emotional, and physical health benefits. It is a simple, accessible antidote to our nature-starved lives and can inspire us to become advocates for healing our relationships with the more-than-human world. This book is both an invitation to take up the practice of forest bathing and an inspiration to connect with nature as a way to help heal both the planet and humanity.Forest Therapy is a research-based framework for supporting healing and wellness through immersion in forests and other natural environments. In Japan, forest bathing is known as shinrin-yoku. Studies there have demonstrated a wide variety of health benefits, especially in the cardiovascular and immune systems, and for stabilizing and improving mood and cognition.In Your Guide to Forest Bathing, Amos Clifford draws on four decades of wilderness experience to introduce readers to the medicine of being in the forest. Learn about the roots of the practice, how to deepen your relationship to nature, and how to begin a practice of your own. Practical matters such as finding a suitable trail and what to bring are also included.

The Snow Leopard


Peter Matthiessen - 1978
    This is a radiant and deeply moving account of a "true pilgrimage, a journey of the heart."

A Spell in the Wild: A Year (and Six Centuries) of Magic


Alice Tarbuck - 2020
    We can see them, emerging shadowy, from the corners of the past: mad, glamorous, difficult, strange. They haunt the footnotes of history - from medieval witches burning at the stake to the lurid glamour of the 1970s witchcraft revival.But they are moving out of history, too. Witches are back. They’re feminist, independent, invested in self-care and care for the world.They are here, because they must be needed…‘In A Spell in the Wild, Alice Tarbuck explores what it means to be a witch today. Where ‘witch’ was once a dangerous - and often deadly - accusation, it is now a proud self-definition. And as the world becomes ever more complicated and we face ecological, political, social and global health crises, witchcraft is experiencing a resurgence.Magic is back. Alice describes what she practises as ‘intersectional, accessible’ witchcraft - it’s about the magic you can find in an overgrown snicket or a sixth floor stairwell; whatever your gender; whether you’re able to climb a mountain or can’t leave the house. Month by month, Alice walks us through everyday magic for extraordinary times.

Emeralds of Oz: Life Lessons from Over the Rainbow


Peter Guzzardi - 2019
    Yet everything he’d learned from working with them felt oddly familiar. One day it suddenly became clear: all that wisdom had its roots in a film he’d loved as a child, The Wizard of Oz.In Emeralds of Oz: Life Lessons From Over the Rainbow we discover what the most-watched film in history has to teach us. Moving seamlessly between the entertaining and profound Guzzardi invites us all to consider the value of compassion, fear, faith in ourselves, home, compassion, and more, as we each face our own heroic journey through life. With that knowledge we become free to embark on our own walk down the yellow brick road, having activated the magical power we possessed all along.Written with the grace and insight of It’s Not Easy Being Green or The World According to Mister Rogers, Emeralds of Oz is an instant classic, sure to change the way we think about this legendary movie—and our own lives.

Surfer's Code: Twelve Simple Lessons For Riding Through Life


Shaun Tomson - 2006
    For Tomson, surfing is a hobby, a sport, a religion, an obsession and more-it is a way of life. Tomson's life lessons have guided his career to the top of both professional competition and the world of business. Now, he shares these powerful lessons, born on the world's best swells, with all people-including those who might never step on a surfboard. These lessons are born of the collective wisdom of the surf community and are a powerful source of inspiration in the face of extraordinary challenges of every day life. "I tell people that I didn't develop or create the code. I simply wrote down what was out there all the time in my heart and in the hearts of many surfers, always there but sometimes overlooked. I like to think the code was always there, a part of every surfer's life, unspoken maybe, but in our hearts, ever since the ancient Polynesians started surfing so many thousands of years ago." -Shaun TomsonJust a few of the lessons shared in Tomson's Surfer's Code:I Will Never Turn My Back on the OceanI Will Take the Drop with CommitmentI Will Never Fight a Rip TideI Will Always Paddle Back OutI Will Watch Out For Other SurfersThere Will Always Be Another WaveI Will Catch a Wave Every Day All Surfers Are Connected By One Ocean

Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World


Marcia Bjornerud - 2018
    The passage of nine days, which is how long a drop of water typically stays in Earth's atmosphere, is something we can easily grasp. But spans of hundreds of years--the time a molecule of carbon dioxide resides in the atmosphere--approach the limits of our comprehension. Our everyday lives are shaped by processes that vastly predate us, and our habits will in turn have consequences that will outlast us by generations. Timefulness reveals how knowing the rhythms of Earth's deep past and conceiving of time as a geologist does can give us the perspective we need for a more sustainable future.Marcia Bjornerud shows how geologists chart the planet's past, explaining how we can determine the pace of solid Earth processes such as mountain building and erosion and comparing them with the more unstable rhythms of the oceans and atmosphere. These overlapping rates of change in the Earth system--some fast, some slow--demand a poly-temporal worldview, one that Bjornerud calls "timefulness." She explains why timefulness is vital in the Anthropocene, this human epoch of accelerating planetary change, and proposes sensible solutions for building a more time-literate society.This compelling book presents a new way of thinking about our place in time, enabling us to make decisions on multigenerational timescales. The lifespan of Earth may seem unfathomable compared to the brevity of human existence, but this view of time denies our deep roots in Earth's history--and the magnitude of our effects on the planet.