Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder | Richard Louv

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder | Richard Louv | it works

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Last Child in the ...

	Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder Richard Louv Algonquin Books, 2008 - 390 pages average customer review:based on 80 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

TEN Star Great book!!!!

Cannot recommend this book enough whether you live in a city, suburb or rural area.

Nature is all around you as the book says, and sadly to many children have no idea what trees are in their neighborhood, or what that flower called a dandelion is growing thru the crack in the sidewalk.

If nothing else I hope the book will make parents/adults and children simply stop and look around and see what is growing or living around them. Would make a GREAT gift for any parent. So turn off the computer, tv and cell phone and get outside.

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My wife and I played in the woods; we taught our kids to play in the woods; one is an environmental educator; one is an environmental biologist.

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Inspiring and enlightening

From the first chapter, this book has had a tangible impact on my life. I grew up in a rural area but now live in NYC and had sensed, but did not fully realize how important being in nature is for my physical, spiritual and mental health. This book has re-opened my senses to the truth that I am a part of nature and even though I live in a city, I have the obligation to care for the nature around me. I also work with children and am newly inspired to incorporate nature into all aspects of education.

The only critique I have is that at times it feels like Louv is repetitive, and the directives about what can be done are sometimes broad, but the overall effect has been to inspire me to get out and DO something about the problem.

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Persuasive and impassioned, though with some evidentiary gaps

Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods
This book makes a convincing case that many of our children are suffering from a deficit of nature in their lives. He connects this nature deficit to a variety of modern plagues, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, stress, depression, anxiety disorders, and childhood obesity. The evidence tends to be more anecdotal than systematic or experimental, but the cumulation of such evidence becomes persuasive.

He attributes this deficit to many causes, including a loss of public spaces, the testing climate in public schools reducing recesses, the growth of organized youth activities at the expense of just messing around in vacant lots, parents' fears for safety, fears of litigation making cities reduce parks and playgrounds, electronic games and television, and various other ills. The causal links here are even more speculative but again, the story coheres well from an accumulation of circumstantial evidence.

Louv's solutions seem to address symptoms, not underlying causes. Many are wishful thinking - - with so many social and economic pressures taking our kids away from nature, we need a significant restructuring to get them back. I'm not sure how to do this, but this important book certainly does a good job raising the issues.

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Excellent Book. . . Now Go Outside!

Louv claims that children spend less and less time outdoors because of parental fears, electronic toys and a variety of other reasons. He explains what the implications are for children and adults: attention problems, disconnectedness with the world, lower productivity. Louv makes the case for why and how parents, teachers and others should help children connect with nature. I really liked the book overall, although I felt like some of the chapters could have been more concise. The second addition has an appendix with a concise practical list of things parents can do.

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