Interesting ideas and information but felt very limited and superficial. I wish I had enjoyed reading it more.

This is a very difficult book to review. It seemed to me to be a mishmash of different genres, or a dumbing down of a scientific topic for the masses.

A very quick read being a short 160 pages. We live in a high stress world, everything happening right now. We're well along the way to losing our sense of perspective. Yes, we can stop and smell the roses. If this particular rose is fragrant it might distract us for a moment. Maybe we take a picture and post it on social media. But then it's gone and we find ourselves taking the next picture.

Tristan Gooley's How to Read Nature bring us to the point of our picture and has us stop to think about what this brief moment with nature is telling us. Take for example the Acacia Tree in Africa. It's just a tree that Giraffe's love to feast upon. We may even stop seeing the tree because we find the Giraffe more interesting. Then we notice that the Giraffe's aren't eating very long from any tree, why? Then we notice that they are walking by trees to get to others, why? If we are reading nature and do a bit of investigation we will find out that the Acacia is releasing chemicals that make the leaves bitter to the Giraffe. They are also releasing pheromones that warn other Acacia's, but only downwind. So the Giraffes have learned to walk up wind. Now we know which way the wind is blowing.

He points out that everything is undergoing constant change. You now look at the world differently because of what we know. We begin to change ourselves by acquiring new insights.

Tristan Gooley as made this interesting, readable, and informative.

I wish to Thank Tristan Gooley, the Publisher, and NetGalley for my review copy

This is a amazing read for all of us that love and interact with nature.
New York Times–bestselling author and navigator Tristan Gooley teaches us when he goes for a walk, he uses all five senses to “read” everything nature has to offer. He shows us how to engage all five senses to immerse ourselves in nature.
Gooley introduces readers to his techniques and teaches us how to embrace our nature experiences and appreciate all nature has to offer. If you are a hiker, a advocate for nature, a backpacker or just someone who loves nature, you will embrace this book and all the author teaches us. I found it well researched, and a enjoyable reading experience. The exercises are easy to follow to incorporate into your daily walks. The descriptions of nature's glory are truly beautiful and reminiscent of the teachings of the great Thoreau.

Something about this book's tone rubbed me the wrong way, each time I tried reading it I found myself not enjoying it and having to put it down for later. This surprised me since I am a naturalist and I am always looking for ways to expand my appreciation for the natural world. Even though this book was not at all for me, I can say it was very well written and organized, though maybe if you wish to read it or give it as a gift, be the kind of person who is only getting into nature appreciation rather than a trained naturalist.

Wonderful resource for those looking to be more mindful and reconnect with nature.

Have you ever seen Wall-E? Do yo remember when they arrived on the planet and needed a crash course about life on Earth and how to crawl out of the spaceship?. I think you know where I am heading with this. How to Read Nature aims to help you notice your natural surroundings and awaken to a more nature-mindful you. It is a spark, an introductory approach to nature and how you can understand and interact with it through natural navigation. What the book is not, is a specialized guide for those who already have a fair understanding of the subject and desire more in-depth content. Hint: check other books by the author.

What I specially liked was Gooley's sense of humor and easy to follow exercises, almost as if he was giving me a remote course. If this book succeeds and gets you interested about nature, you can find a lengthy list of literature for further reading curated by the author. It is organized matching the chapters of the book and includes a brief description for each title. If Thoreau was still alive, he would probably give 5 stars as well.

As an avid birder, sailor and hiker, I find Tristan Gooley's book "How to Read Nature" to be helpful in ever aspect of my outdoor life. It has helped me gain a better understanding for the natural world around me and how it influences and intersects with wind conditions, likely and unlike birds and finding my way home when i've become too distracted by the beauty at hand.

i had high hopes for this book but was disappointed. it seemed more like rambling musings of someone rather than a "how to". the only thing i took away was how to tell which way is south from a crescent moon. i was looking for more practical advice than to "pay attention but everything changes anyway." The constant emphasis on how things change constantly was a bit annoying because it made it seem like nothing was ever helpful. Also being that the author was British all the references were lost to me and it made it hard to understand.

A good introductory text on how to read and become aware of nature. Short, and therefore limited in scope, hopping from topic to topic, which acts well to pique interest and would easily lead off into reading in more detail for those interested. UK-based, so not directly translatable to other countries, but the lessons could still be applied to other landscapes.

My thanks to NetGalley and The Experiment for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

This is a very difficult book to review. It seemed to me to be a mishmash of different genres, or a dumbing down of a scientific topic for the masses.

What makes me say this is that at times it feels rather memoir-y and personal to the author, which was fine, no complaints. But other parts were more of what I expected, nature and some science behind it. Only the science didn't really blow me away. No citations, no notes (please note this was an ARC that I read, the finished copy may have these things) and the bibliography was rather scanty. Granted, the book was not that long, but I expected more in the way of expanding my TBR.

Also, the author stated quite a few things very absolutely. But no proof to back him up. The point in question was if plants hear or not. He's pretty emphatic in his "no", but there is not ONE shred of evidence that he uses to back this up. Now, that is a topic that interests me, so I have read articles, papers, etc. about how plants DO react to different types of music, whether it is ail and do poorly or move towards the speakers, to the point of wrapping themselves around said speakers. No, I don't have the paper citation for you, but this is a book review, not a book where a citation is needed. I can get that info for you, if interested. I think a simple Google search will do it.

So the fact that he is all "nope. nope, nopity nope" about it and the lack of ANY citations moved this down a star for me.

The mash-up of genres and the somewhat lowest common denominator feel of this book also lowered it one star. It's not a bad book, but it is just a quick dip into the pond as it were. I was expecting a more thorough lesson in nature and how to understand it. This was for a severe novice, though to be fair, you HAVE to start at the very beginning and master those skills before you can move on to more advanced concepts.

This was not what I was expecting at all. The book itself isn't bad and it is clear that the author knows his stuff, I just don't feel like he shared much of his knowledge in this particular book. I do own his book on how to read water and plan to read it soon. I admit to being rather apprehensive about it now, but like I said, he knows his stuff. The book won't be fluff, but it may not be as in-depth as I would like.

3.5 stars, rounded down because this book was not a four to me. I felt that there could have been more to it. I am frustrated in that regard. Not a bad book, a good book for beginners in observation. Worth a look.

How to Read Nature is a fantastic book for any nature lover or city dweller alike.

Though it's not very in depth, this is a good introduction to the different ways we can get back to nature and use the signs that our great-grandparents used for weather forecasting and such. It will be good in our nature study / botany class coming up next semester.