{ "item_title" : "Good Nature", "item_author" : [" Kathy Willis "], "item_description" : "A Next Big Idea Club must-read selection An Amazon Editor's Pick for Best Nonfiction Book A ground-breaking investigation into newly discovered evidence showing that remarkable things happen to our bodies and our minds when our senses connect with the natural world. We all take for granted the idea that being in nature makes us feel better. But if you were a skeptical scientist--or indeed any kind of skeptic--who wanted hard scientific evidence for this idea, where would you look? And how would that evidence be gathered? It wasn't until Dr. Kathy Willis was asked to contribute to an international project looking for the societal benefits we gain from plants that she stumbled across a study that radically changed the way she saw the natural world. In the study there was clear proof that patients recovering from gall bladder operations recovered more quickly if they were looking at trees. In fact, in the last decade there has been an explosion of proof that incredible things happen to our bodies and our minds when our senses interact with the natural world. In Good Nature, Kathy Willis takes the reader on a journey with her to dig out all the experiments around the world that are looking for this evidence--experiments made easier by the new kinds of data being collected from satellites and big-data biobanks. Having a vase of roses on your desk or a green wall in your office makes a measurable difference to your well-being; certain scents in room diffusers genuinely can boost your immune system; and, in a chapter that Kathy calls Hidden Sense, we learn that touching organic soil has a significant effect on the healthiness of your microbiome. What is remarkable about this book is how its revelations should be commonsense--schools should let children play in nature to improve their health and concentration; urban streets should have trees--and yet it reveals just how difficult it is to prove this to businesses and governments. As Kathy Willis says in her narrative, We now know enough to self-prescribe in our homes, offices or working spaces, gardens, and when out walking. However small these individual actions might be, overall they have the potential to provide a large number of health benefits. And we need to be encouraging others to do the same. Nature is far more than just something that is useful for our health. It is not a dispensable commodity. It is an inherent part of us.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers2.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/1/63/936/764/1639367640_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "29.95", "online_price" : "29.95", "our_price" : "29.95", "club_price" : "29.95", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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Acclaimed scientist Kathy Willis trained as a paleoecologist, a fact, she notes, “that can stop the conversation dead at parties, since not many people know what it is (never mind how to spell it).” In fact, her field of study is fascinating: Willis and her peers study the fossilized remains of plants to reconstruct how vegetation has changed over time in response to climatic changes and human impact. While you might expect someone who studies plants for a living to also be a keen gardener, Willis admits it wasn’t until she served as director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in 2013 that she found herself looking up from her microscope to enjoy the vast array of plants around her. And not just the plants, but also the garden visitors who “stopped to inhale their fragrances, bask in their shade, or reach out to touch leaves or stroke bark.” She became intrigued by the question of the positive health impact of plants on humans. While the notion that spending time in nature has physiological or psychological benefits is not new, Willis shows an exceptional ability to weave together science, history and personal experience in her engaging Good Nature: Why Seeing, Smelling, Hearing and Touching Plants Is Good for Our Health. Fans of the BBC program Gardeners’ World and its coverage of the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show will be especially delighted to read the chapter titled “Flower Power,” in which Willis provides research-based (and highly entertaining) information about the positive effects of flowers. We learn about the evolutionary history of flowers, the calming impact of a vase of pink roses on workers’ desks, and research that suggests yellow flowers may make us more creative. Elsewhere, she details the benefits of nature sounds, plant scents, “digging for health” and even “the proven health benefits of tree hugging.” “We cannot survive without a diverse nature around us,” Willis writes. Good Nature convincingly argues that we must protect plants and make them a priority in built environments. After all, she concludes, “We need nature more than it needs us.”