Losing Eden - Lucy Jones

A TIMES AND TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR

'Beautifully written, movingly told and meticulously researched ... a
convincing plea for a wilder, richer world' Isabella Tree, author of
Wilding

'By the time I'd read the first chapter, I'd resolved to take my son into the woods every afternoon over winter. By the time I'd read the sixth, I
was wanting to break prisoners out of cells and onto the mossy moors. Losing Eden
rigorously and convincingly tells of the value of the natural universe
to our human hearts' Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun

Today many of us live indoor lives, disconnected from the natural world
as never before. And yet nature remains deeply ingrained in our
language, culture and consciousness. For centuries, we have acted on an
intuitive sense that we need communion with the wild to feel well. Now,
in the moment of our great migration away from the rest of nature, more
and more scientific evidence is emerging to confirm its place at the
heart of our psychological wellbeing. So what happens, asks acclaimed
journalist Lucy Jones, as we lose our bond with the natural world-might
we also be losing part of ourselves?

Delicately observed and rigorously researched, Losing Eden
is an enthralling journey through this new research, exploring how and
why connecting with the living world can so drastically affect our
health. Travelling from forest schools in East London to the Svalbard
Global Seed Vault via primeval woodlands, Californian laboratories and
ecotherapists' couches, Jones takes us to the cutting edge of human
biology, neuroscience and psychology, and discovers new ways of
understanding our increasingly dysfunctional relationship with the
earth.

Urgent and uplifting, Losing Eden is a rallying
cry for a wilder way of life - for finding asylum in the soil and joy in
the trees - which might just help us to save the living planet, as well
as ourselves.