What have I just read?

As noted a combination of work commitments and broadband difficulties means that I wont be able to update this blog until around 16th. I have also changed the 'Comment' setting so that they wont be added until my return (this is after having over 60 spam adverts added last time). But I have scheduled a couple of blogs in my absence so it will not be all quiet here. Here's the first:

First the book I enjoyed immensely: Nature Cure by Richard Mabey - In 1999, Richard Mabey, Britain’s foremost nature writer, fell into a severe depression. Worst of all, the natural world - previously a source of inspiration and joy for him -became meaningless. This great book charts his gradual return from sickness to health and happiness through his re-awakened love of nature and through falling in love. Along the way he reflects on the wonders of nature and tells many fascinating tales. He shows how the British countryside increased his understanding of what really matters and restored his sense of delight. This was his ‘nature cure’. See The Independent review here.

The second book was more of a ramble - Retrieved from the Future by John Seymour - this book anticipates another English civil war after the collapse of oil supplies and the pricking of the global economic bubble. All too possible when one reads the forecasts around Peak Oil. In my view this is not his best writing but others seemed to have enjoyed - it is in a similar vein to Survivors which I enjoyed lots - something wonderfully quaint about that original series - I understand it has been remade and is reshowing....anyhow John Seymour is also author of the 'green bible': The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency - he died some 4 years ago - see more here.

Order books from Stroud Bookshop online here.