Losing Eden

5/10

Fascinating topic and well-researched, let down by excessive personal anecdotes and an uninspired and banal conclusion.

It was really interesting to see some things articulated that I intrinsically knew – that increasing disconnection with nature means that each generation can name fewer plants and flowers than that which came before it or “referring to pigs as ‘pork’ or cows as ‘beef’ emphasizes our alienation and disconnection from the land and other living creatures”. There were some interesting facts and figures, e.g., that microbes outnumber human cells in the body by about three to one and the strong link between vitamin D and depression. Interestingly, Sheffield got several shout outs as “…one of Britain’s greenest cities”. Sadly, though, it is a place where green spaces are being destroyed and the protest activities of angry locals were detailed, up to and including 2018, against a “Sheffield tree massacre”. Contrastingly, the text also describes activity groups in Sheffield for young people with psychotic illnesses in the Peak District or well-being events in the moors. It’s just a shame the text contained excessive digressions about the author’s years as an alco, confessions that are far too personal for this sort of book (“I am hugely grateful to antidepressants. I’ve taken one sort or another for most of the last decade”) and terminates with a tired, trite, and predictable warning to readers as consumers in a manner that provides them with no meaningful guidance or direction.