This is a book about reconnecting to nature wherever we find ourselves living and the personal benefits that can ensue. It explores how we can appreciate the natural world on our doorstep in line with the latest research from a range of disciplines, including ecology, outdoor and environmental education, learning for sustainability and mindfulness studies. It does so by means of a blend of encounter-based photography, connection with nature and reading the landscape.

There has been a tendency for people to lose contact with nature.  The industrial growth society generated  a catalogue of ecological disasters including acid rain, the hole in the ozone layer, the sixth mass extinction and climate collapse. Slowly, we are waking up to the fact that this society is fundamentally extractive and exploitative and the burden of costs has shifted onto the environment and future generations.

In appreciating and understanding the enormity of this crisis, we risk compounding it with the mental health crisis that is sweeping the globe. Healing that relationship requires us to slow down and to seek reconnection with nature which can help revitalise and sustain us. Life passes by all too fast when we are oblivious to nature’s presence and are unable to be fully involved in nature.

Wild Places, Wild Encounters provides the means to break this cycle. The book’s essence is essentially about reconnecting with and learning to relate to nature as explored in these wanderings through the green heart of Scotland’s capital city and the wild nature reserves of the Lothians. Nature is still there, all around us.

This will be of immense appeal to anyone, locals and visitors alike, who wish to explore, discover and reconnect with nature across Edinburgh and the Lothians.

'...it is important to give time to reconnect with nature and appreciate what is on the doorstep. ...the ideal book to start the process in a place he loves. ...features carefully researched nature walks in and around Scotland's capital, but also provides rich ecological and historical detail to help the reader learn the landscape'. Our Man on the Ground Travel and Lifestyle

'...an inspirational book, one of those all-too-rare books that leave you wanting to go out and explore what you've learned from on the ground: to experience for real what you've read about... ...is beautifully produced and a real pleasure to handle and to read'.. Undiscovered Scotland

'It is this sublime experience of reconnection with nature ... that Glen's book celebrates. ...Glen shows us it is a city that is filled with nature. It is rich and wondrous'. Journal of Biophilic Design

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