We all know that spending time in nature is good for us—it can help boost our mood, as well as lower our stress levels. But with the fast pace of modern-day life (and our addiction to our phones), many of us don’t prioritize being outside as much as we should. Here, Vogue picks out the best nature books that’ll help you to reconnect with Mother Earth.
As a top London barrister, Sarah Langford thought she would always be a city dweller—until a series of events forced her to move to Suffolk with her family in 2017, the beginning of a journey that would see her discover regenerative agronomy and travel around Britain meeting farmers who are reimagining the dominant model for agriculture. “I never expected, or wanted, to live a life on the land,” writes Langford in the introduction to Rooted, which is both poetically written and filled with compelling data about modern-day farming. “But then fate took me there and taught me lessons I never knew I needed to learn.”
When Isabella Tree and her husband inherited a 3,000-acre farm in West Sussex, England, it wasn’t long before they had to rethink the unsustainable farming practices that were running the health of their land, quite literally, into the ground—along with their finances. It was only when they decided to radically rethink traditions and “rewild” their land that something wonderful happened: Not only did the wildlife come back, but biodiversity and soil health flourished. The aptly named Tree sees rewilding as the missing link that will guarantee the future of our ecosystems—a fascinating read.
In his self-styled love letter to the natural world, the renowned peace activist and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh shares why the happiness and health of our planet is intricately related to the happiness of the human mind. Key to that is encouraging the practice of mindfulness and inculcating a spiritual awareness of the world around you, so that you ultimately let go of the concept of “the environment” and embrace the notion that human life is not a separate entity. Only then, Hanh argues, can we begin to repair our relationship with our natural world and fight the destruction being wrought by climate change.
Written by a Native American botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer, whose lineage is of the Potawatomi people, this book is an essential introduction to the opportunities of environmental regeneration. By weaving the wisdom passed down from elders, who believe that nature is our greatest teacher, with Kimmerer’s scientific studies as a professor of environmental and forest biology, it offers us tangible lessons we can learn when we turn our focus to the plant kingdom.
Agroecologist Nicole Masters’s central thesis revolvess around how the future of our natural ecosystems, wildlife, and man’s food production systems depend upon the health and care of our soil. As intensive farming, pesticides, and chemical pollution wreak havoc worldwide, the natural world, as we all know, is paying the price. This book presents strategies for regeneration in the race against time and proves that soil should no longer be seen as dirt, but rather a vital source of nutrients and nourishment.
This illustrated guide to the healing properties of plants offers a comprehensive botanical directory featuring over 270 plants and their traditional uses and medicinal properties, many of which are the source and inspiration of modern medicine as we know it today. Even better, with 24 step-by-step home recipes for natural teas, creams, and oils, now you can benefit from your newfound knowledge with immediate effect.
The Gaia hypothesis is a theory named after the ancient Greek for “earth,” and coined by the scientist and environmentalist James Lovelock in the 1960s. His theory proposes that all life on Earth exists and functions as an interconnected and self-regulatory system. Having faced challenges through the years, it acts as a warning: If we continue to destroy the equilibrium of the earth, Gaia will survive, but the human race ultimately will not.
As scientific studies increasingly confirm, nature is at the very core of our psychological wellbeing. Lucy Jones’s research-packed tome calls us to find sanctuary in the soil and the trees, bringing human biology, neuroscience, and psychology to the pages of a book that begins with her own mental anguish, documenting the solace she finds in the Walthamstow marshes. The result is a highly convincing paean to nature’s positive influence on our biological and mental state.
This book explores the roles trees play alone and in a forest, how they are interconnected, their abilities to communicate and support one another, as well as their effect on the human body. You may not know, for instance, that trees have a tangible biological effect on the body, lowering blood pressure and stabilizing our mood as a result. This is a fascinating look at something we may take for granted, emphasizing how much we still have to learn.
In a similar vein to The Hidden Life of Trees, ecologist Suzanne Simard’s memoir Finding the Mother Tree documents her love of trees—and, in particular, her discovery that they are connected by a vast network of fungal roots, allowing them to share resources. Her book has become so popular that it’s set to be made into a film, starring Amy Adams as Simard.
Adventurer and philosopher Erling Kagge was the first explorer to complete the Three Poles Challenge on foot (that’s trekking to the North Pole, the South Pole and the top of Mount Everest, for the uninitiated). Walking explores the meditative benefits of walking while also acting as a manifesto for exploration as a radical step towards understanding the human experience on this earth. One chapter in and you’ll be pulling on your walking boots.
Exploring how we can build a closer connection with nature via both our food and our clothes, fashion designer and sustainability advocate Bella Gonshorovitz shares how she began cooking with the produce she’d grown in her own community garden, before using the leftovers to create wonderful natural dyes. Broken down into five crops that you can grow or forage, the book is a handy guide for those who want to give it a go themselves.
