Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

 This is a classic of the genre, with the good and the bad that implies.     Title: The Singing Wilderness Author :Sigurd F. Olson. Illustrated by Francis Lee Jaques Publication info :Kindle edition, Knopf 2017. Originally published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1956. 244 pages. Publisher's Blurb (per Goodreads): Sigurd F. Olson was for more than thirty years a wilderness guide in the Quetico-Superior country, and no one knew with the same intimacy the mysteries of the lakes and forests of that magnificent primitive area. To the many out-of-doorsmen who canoed and portaged with him through this wilderness, he was known honorifically as the Bourgeois--as the voyageurs of old called their trusted leaders through this same region. My Review: As is common with classics of nature and the outdoors, this book has both aged well, and aged poorly. There is no question that it is a beautiful paeon to the author's home, the lakes and streams on the boundary between Canada and the US on...

Another in my series of books about nature, walking, and much more. Title : In Praise of Paths: Walking Through Time and Nature Author : Torbjørn Ekelund. English translation by Becky L. Crook. Publication info: Greystone Books 2020, 240 pages. Source : library Publisher’s Blurb: An ode to paths and the journeys we take through nature, as told by a gifted writer who stopped driving and rediscovered the joys of traveling by foot.  Torbjørn Ekelund started to walk--everywhere--after an epilepsy diagnosis affected his ability to drive. The more he ventured out, the more he came to love the act of walking, and an interest in paths emerged. In this poignant, meandering book, Ekelund interweaves the literature and history of paths with his own stories from the trail. As he walks with shoes on and barefoot, through forest creeks and across urban streets, he contemplates the early tracks made by ancient snails and traces the wanderings of Romantic poets, amongst other musings. If we still...

Another in my long list of books about being in or traveling in the wilderness, Boyd Varty's memoir is a little different.   Title: Cathedral of the Wild: An African Journey Home Author: Boyd Varty. Audiobook narrated by the author. Publication info: Random House Audio, 2014. 9 hours. Hardback Random House 2014, 304 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: When Nelson Mandela was released after twenty-seven years of imprisonment, he needed a place to recover and adjust to his new life. He went to Londolozi Game Reserve. Founded over eighty years ago by Boyd Varty's great-grandfather, Londolozi started as a hunting safari. But in 1973, Boyd's visionary father, Dave, transformed it into a nature reserve, creating a blueprint for modern-day conservation. This transformation is the backdrop of Boyd's family history and his own personal odyssey. Alongside his feisty, daring sister, Bronwyn, Boyd grows up learning to track lions, raise leopard cubs, and pilot L...

This was my 3rd book by Katherine May. I definitely wasn't as touched by this as by of The Electricity of Every Living Thing and especially by Wintering . There was good stuff here, though, as you'll see.   Title:  Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age Author: Katherine May Publication Info: 2023, Riverhead Books. 212 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: Many of us feel trapped in a grind of constant change: rolling news cycles, the chatter of social media, our families split along partisan lines. We feel fearful and tired, on edge in our bodies, not quite knowing what has us perpetually depleted. For Katherine May, this low hum of fatigue and anxiety made her wonder what she was missing. Could there be a different way to relate to the world, one that would allow her to feel more rested and at ease, even as seismic changes unfold on the planet? Might there be a way for all of us to move through life with curiosity and tenderness, sensitized to the s...

A few weeks ago I reviewed a book in the spirit of Thoreau, which ended up irritating me a great deal. This book felt like the antidote.   Title: Nature Beyond Solitude: Notes from the Field Author: John Seibert Farnsworth Publication Info: Blackstone Audio, 2020. 8hrs 50 min. Original hardback Comstock Publishing, 2020. 216 pages. Source: library Publisher's Blurb: John Seibert Farnsworth's delightful notes are not only about nature, but from nature as well. In Nature Beyond Solitude, he lets us peer over his shoulder as he takes his notes. We follow him to a series of field stations where he teams up with scientists, citizen scientists, rangers, stewards, and grad students engaged in long-term ecological study, all the while scribbling down what he sees, hears, and feels in the moment. With humor and insight, Farnsworth explores how communal experiences of nature might ultimately provide greater depths of appreciation for the natural world. In the course of his travel...

  Title: The Wild Silence Author: Raynor Winn Publication Info: 2020, Michael Joseph. 280 pages. Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Blurb: Nature holds the answers for Raynor and her husband Moth. After walking 630 homeless miles along The Salt Path, living on the windswept and wild English coastline; the cliffs, the sky and the chalky earth now feel like their home. Moth has a terminal diagnosis, but against all medical odds, he seems revitalized in nature. Together on the wild coastal path, with their feet firmly rooted outdoors, they discover that anything is possible. Now, life beyond The Salt Path awaits and they come back to four walls, but the sense of home is illusive and returning to normality is proving difficult - until an incredible gesture by someone who reads their story changes everything. A chance to breathe life back into a beautiful farmhouse nestled deep in the Cornish hills; rewilding the land and returning nature to its hedgerows becomes...