By Janet Perry: podcaster, blogger, nonfiction book lover
4.9
3838 ratings
The podcast currently has 281 episodes available.
Richard Louv, co-founder of the San Diego-based Children & Nature Network, author Richard Louv adds Vitamin N to his growing list of books encouraging us to get outside. Aimed especially at families eager to share nature with their kids, Louv’s practical guidebook offers "500 Ways to Enrich the Health & Happiness of Your Family & Community." All are appropriate for Earth Day, but they're also fitting throughout the year.
Through his 2008 landmark book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, Louv brought international attention to a backyard crisis. We are unnaturally detached from our natural surroundings. A decade later, this clarion call to parents, policymakers, and pediatricians continues to resonate. Sadly, society still suffers from obesity, attention disorders, and depression. Fortunately, however, Louv’s message has galvanized an international back-to-nature campaign to “Leave No Child Inside.”
City folks inclined to develop an adversarial relationship with nature find Louv's ideas comforting. For instance, dirt can strengthen immune systems; sticks are perhaps the world’s oldest toys; sunshine and water are for our use and pleasure. Louv invites these urbanites to step beyond their world of concrete and hand sanitizer, and, instead, gather courage as they build resilience and new outdoor skills.
Following Louv’s charge to return to nature, adults report regaining their own sense of wonder. Those stepping outside are feeling a greater sense of work-life balance and freedom from frenzied family schedules. (For more ideas aimed at adults, see The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age by Richard Louv.)
Just how much "Vitamin N" do we need? Louv believes “Some is good, and more is better.”
BUY Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life
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Check out other titles by Richard Louv:
Read our blog about Frederick Law Olmsted, creator of New York’s Central Park.
Listen to Angela Hanscom (Episode 104) talk about her book, Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children, then buy the book.
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Amanda Ellison, a leading neuroscientist and physiologist at Durham University in the UK, explains head pain in her book Splitting: The Inside Story of Headaches.
What is the point of pain, especially the kind we suffer from headaches? Ellison addresses this age-old question and, combining humor with wide-ranging research, she also defines all kinds of headaches—from a “brain freeze” to much more serious cluster headaches—and their possible remedies.
Those with a science background will not be disappointed. Ellison serves up loads of research and technical terms (enough to give the less scientific a headache) to explain how different parts of the brain talk to each other. Best of all, her book is packed with practical advice and information any headache sufferer can use. Learn what causes migraines, how sinus pain happens, and whether to reach for the painkillers or try some other remedy.
QUOTES FROM ELLISON
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Avoid headaches by lightening up and getting (back) in touch with your fun side!
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In her latest book, Thrivers, child psychologist Dr. Michele Borba identifies seven teachable strengths that can safeguard kids for now and the future. To find these traits, Dr. Borba combed scientific studies on resilience, spoke to dozens of researchers and experts in the field, and interviewed more than 100 young people from all walks of life.
Each strength is like a superpower that helps protect kids against the depression and anxiety that threatens to derail them. Better yet, when the superpowers are combined, they become even more potent, creating a Multiplier Effect that prepares children to succeed in our fast-paced, ever-changing world. And the best news of all: these strengths aren’t inborn. They can be taught – and Dr. Borba shows parents and educators how to do it so kids cope today and thrive tomorrow. Unlike raising strivers set on top test scores and other resume-packing accolades, parents can learn how to raise thrivers—young people who flourish in a rapidly changing, anxiety-driven, uncertain world.
Thrivers is a mix of keen cultural analysis of modern stresses and practical “how-to” strategies and everyday activities that build up kids’ mental strength, resilience, happiness, and success.
BUY Thrivers: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine by Dr. Michele Borba
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As a Forbes Next 1000 entrepreneur and founder of the mentorship program Etre, Illana Raia connects girls directly to the leaders they want to meet and encourages them to ask the questions that are really on their minds. The result is The Epic Mentor Guide, a treasure trove of never-before-seen work/life advice from 180 boss women, each successful in her own sphere of influence.
Raia’s book includes advice from female astronauts, news anchors, CEOs, surgeons, engineers, Olympians, Wall Street wizards, world-renowned chefs, fashion designers, award-winning film directors, and more.
QUOTES FROM RAIA
BUY The Epic Mentor Guide: Insider Advice for Girls Eyeing the Workforce from 180 Boss Women Who Know by Illana Raia
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For a great companion book for women, read Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think) by Reshma Saujani.
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Urban economist Dr. Matthew Kahn in his latest book, “GOING REMOTE: How the Flexible Work Economy Can Improve Our Lives and our Cities,” shows us how the urban landscape is shifting in our favor. Whether we’re working from home, in person, or in a hybrid fashion, Kahn explains how the pandemic has created opportunities for everyone to have more freedom.
In fact, according to Kahn, the rise of remote work presents especially valuable chances for flexibility and equity in the lives of women, minorities, and young people. Working from home can significantly improve the standard of living for millions of people by changing the arc of how we live, work, and play.
For more, see the Nonfiction4Life website.
BUY Going Remote: How the Flexible Work Economy Can Improve Our Lives and our Cities by Matthew E. Kahn.
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Compare Robert Putnam’s revised and updated book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.
On a dare from his son, author A.J. Jacobs set out to thank everyone who contributed to bringing him a cup of coffee. The result is his book, “Thanks A Thousand,” and a TEDTalk viewed by more than a million people.
Jacobs’s “Gratitude Journey,” a timely exploration of our interconnectedness, illustrates our need to eschew tribalism and recognize the staggering number of people who make our everyday lives wonderful.
Read more on our website.
BUY Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey (TED Books)
Watch A.J. Jacobs deliver his now-famous TEDTalk with over 1 million views!
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SUMMARY
In "WE GATHER TOGETHER: A Nation Divided, A President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace," beloved bestselling author Denise Kiernan turns her passion for history and unparalleled research to a topic that couldn’t be timelier: gratitude.
Spanning centuries, "WE GATHER TOGETHER" is anchored amid the strife of the Civil War and driven by the fascinating story of Sarah Josepha Hale, a widowed mother with no formal schooling who became one of the 19th century’s most influential tastemakers. Despite personal tragedy and ongoing political conflict, she campaigned for decades to make real an annual day of thanks.
For more, see the Show Notes on the Nonfiction4Life website.
BUY We Gather Together: A Nation Divided, a President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace
How have some businesses managed to thrive during the Covid-19 pandemic? New York Times #1 bestselling author Joseph Michelli scours 140-plus businesses worldwide to collect lessons in his latest book, Stronger Through Adversity: World-Class Leaders Share Pandemic-Tested Lessons on Thriving During the Toughest Challenges. With his own life as “proof that you can become stronger through adversity,” Michelli identifies 20 ways organizations have managed to turn breakdowns into breakthroughs during these trying times.
Listening with empathy, using a sense of humor, and admitting errors are just a few ways leaders today are moving ahead with success, creating a new normal at work. “There is a link between growth and resistance...Leaders must push through habits and emotional resistance to grow themselves and their teams,” says Michelli.
BUY Stronger Through Adversity: World-Class Leaders Share Pandemic-Tested Lessons on Thriving During the Toughest Challenges
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SUMMARY
Dr. Fred Luskin, author of the bestselling book Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness, founded and currently serves as Director of the Stanford University Forgiveness Projects.
His forgiveness work has been applied the world over in veteran’s hospitals, churches, in resolving legal disputes, with cancer patients as psychoeducation, and in psychotherapy. Luskin has had extraordinary success helping people recover from the murder of their family members as a result of political violence in Northern Ireland, as an aftermath of the attacks on 911, in Sierra Leone after their civil war, and in artic Canada where native populations deal with the loss of their ancestral lands.
LESSONS FROM LUSKIN
How do grudges start?
What stops us from forgiving?
What is forgiveness?
Why should we forgive?
BUY Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness
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SUMMARY
Harvard-trained geriatrician and award-winning author Louis Aronson introduces a revolutionary perspective on growing old in her book, “ELDERHOOD: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life.” Sharing stories from her personal and professional life, and drawing from history, Aronson offers clarity and understanding about “elderhood,” the third and final stage of life after childhood and adulthood and a period that can span up to 40 years or more.
With new insights into aging, medicine, and humanity itself, Aronson teaches us how to move beyond wrinkles and baldness and reframe these later decades of elderhood so we can better prepare for and thrive during our final years.
QUOTES FROM ARONSON
BUY Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life
RECOMMENDATIONS
Enjoy watching a TEDTalk of a mother and son’s tender photographic journey through dementia.
For a practical guide to living out the final years with joy and resilience, BUY Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives by Daniel J. Levitin.
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The podcast currently has 281 episodes available.