I believe Americans have such a great deal to learn about ourselves and how we relate to the natural world; If I ran the world, this book would be required reading! :) ( )

The idea was decent, but it was incredibly repetitive and boring. Get an editor. ( )

Louv's book discusses a 'nature-deficit disorder' and ways to counteract it. He cites a 2002 British study which reported that eight-year-olds could identify Pokémon characters far more easily than they could name "otter, beetle, and oak tree." Gathering thoughts from parents, teachers, researchers, environmentalists and other concerned parties, Louv argues for a return to an awareness of and appreciation for the natural world.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (Psalm 19:1 NIV)

"In my first counseling job, I took children with AIDS to the mountains who had never been out of their urban neighborhoods. One night, a nine year-old woke me up. She had to go to the bathroom. We stepped outside the tent and she looked up. She gasped and grabbed my leg. She had never seen the stars before." --Madhu Narayan

"I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are." --San Diego 4th grader

Something has went wrong. Something very deep & fundamental, states Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods.

Children in America have largely lost nature and wilderness. Their knowledge of it, their connection to it, their love of it.

Louv passionately pleads that immersion in God's creation is not just a "nice thing" for our children, but something vital for their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual development. He goes so far as to give society's current state a name-- "nature-deficit disorder."

So, is this just one more idea, one more book, or is this something real?

I agree with Louv. I think both Scripture and experience tell us that God constructed both our bodies and our souls to exist in the rich, beautiful world that he created. God intended for us to be blessed, as Louv would put it, "biologically, cognitively, and spiritually--through positive physical connection to nature." That "time in nature is not leisure time; it's an essential investment in our children's health."
This is not some flower-child nature worship-- it's just an honest realization of how God made us. We were not made to be holed up in caves of wood and concrete and steel; we were made to live in God's creation. Louv says "in our bones we need the natural curves of hills, the scent of chaparral, the whisper of pines, the possibility of wildness."

His conclusion? Alienation from God's creation, just as alienation from the God Who made it, has deleterious effects on our body and soul. As Louv quotes Luther Standing Bear, "Man's heart, away from nature, becomes hard."

His solution? A realization of the importance of living in nature, and then a restoration of that life, both on a personal level, a community level, and a societal level, both in practical steps for today and visionary plans for the future.
I loved this book. I loved the careful thought that went into it. I loved all the peppery quotes, like "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing" (author Norman Maclean referring about his father, a Presbyterian pastor) and "God communicates to us (nowhere) with such texture and forcefulness in detail and grace and joy, as through creation...this is what connects humanity, this is what we have in common. It's not the internet, it's the oceans." (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.).

I loved what this book did to my soul, turning it to God's creation and its importance for both my children and me. I loved how it encouraged me to more actively involve my kids in contact with and appreciation of God's creation.

So what about the spiritual content? Louv writes very broadly and generically about spirituality, interviewing many people from many religious views. The whole area of our relationship with God's creation has long been primarily, if not exclusively, the domain of "liberals" and people far from a conservative Christian viewpoint. It is sad that in the book he could find no voice from a reformed theological tradition that could have forcefully and articulately praised his ideas while grounding them solidly in a Biblical worldview. I see some seeds of change within evangelical Christianity regarding a right view and right embracing of God's gift of His creation. Hopefully readers of this book can plant some of those seeds in their own lives and in the lives of others in their spheres of influence. ( )

Amazingly insightful. ( )