Farmacology – Total Health from the Ground Up
By Daphne Miller, MD
Evan says: One of my favorite books on soil ecology and connecting the dots between skin health and soil health. Dr. Miller asks the question “Is there a connection between microbes in the soil and in our bodies?” This book details her direct experience of visiting and working on farms, where she interviews family farmers, and ultimately describes this important connection from a physician’s position.
The Unsettling of America – Culture and Agriculture
By Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry is a writer, an activist and a sixth-generation farmer.
“….our bodies are moving particles of the earth, joined inextricably both to the soil and to the bodies of other living creatures….it is hardly surprising then, that there should be some profound resemblances between out treatment of our bodies and our treatment of the earth.”
The Hidden Life of Trees – What They Feel, How they Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World
By Peter Wohlleben
Evan says: I loved listening to this book, I have it on Audible. Trees are social beings, their roots connect them to one small plot of earth for their entire lives and the lives of their ancestors and children. They communicate through exhaled gases; they share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and warn their forest brethren of impending dangers. Forests are constantly changing but because they grow so slowly it’s hard for us to see it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this both romantic and leisurely book, and I have never looked at a stand of trees the same again.
1. The Last Child in the Woods –
Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder
2. The Nature Principle –
Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age
Both Books by Richare Louv
Evan says: “Nature Deficit Disorder” was a term coined by this author. It is the idea that human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors and that this change results in a wide range of behavioral problems. I have read both of these books, finding them eye-opening on many levels. First and foremost, it underscored just how important nature is in our lives, and how easy it is to connect to nature through our own senses. The sense of touch is my area of expertise: natural skincare. Scents and ingredients, especially a few sprays of Hydrosols can easily uplift our spirits and calm disordered nervous systems. It’s obvious that the more high tech we become, the more we need to experience the natural world through all our senses: to see, feel, taste, smell and touch.
The Body’s Edge – Our Cultural Obsession with Skin
By Marc Lappé, PhD
“Our skin covers us in a mantle no thicker than this line of type separating us from the outside by the thinnest of margins…”
Evan says: I have read and reread this book over the years. It supplied me with information that I wasn’t finding anywhere else. It discusses the permeability of the skin and how potentially harmful chemicals penetrate the skin. “…There is a real and symbolic boundary between ourselves and the external world.”
The acid mantle of the skin’s outmost layer is an effective solution to the most passive bacterial invasions. In today’s climate of fighting a global pandemic, this book most importantly tells us how we can reinforce what the skin provides naturally, and maintain our edge against viral invasions.
The Man Who Planted Trees
By Jean Giono
Evan says: I included this beautiful gem of a book for many reasons, not the least of which is its wood cut illustrations (1995), and its simple, yet legendary allegorical truths. It has been on my list of relevant books for many years.
Jean Giono wrote this book in the 1950’s, and as the message on the back of the book says, its message was ahead of its time…"inspiring readers to rediscover the harmonies if the countryside and prevent its willful destruction.”
This is a story of a man who, choosing to live alone, walks the countryside. With pockets full of acorns he transforms the barren countryside into verdant green hills and forests of trees.
“Giono’s hope was to set in motion a worldwide reforestation programme that would rejuvenate the earth….The Man who Planted Trees is a hymn to creation…and the integrity of the human spirit in man’s ability to “change his, and indeed the world’s…lot.”
Power of the Seed – Your Guide to Oils for Health and Beauty
By Susan M. Parker
Evan says: This guide is a compendium of information for the professional as well as the beginner. Self-reliance is what happens during times of stress and illness. No matter who may be in your life to assist you, we are ultimately required to take care of ourselves.
You may have noticed that most of many skin care formulas contain seed oils as a primary ingredient. What makes seeds so important?
Seeds are many things. Quite literally, they are the carriers of life energy, or life force.
“Seeds are many things. Above all else, they are a way of survival of their species. They are a way by which embryonic life can be almost suspended and then revived to new development, even years after the parents are dead and gone. Seeds protect and sustain life. They are highly organized fortresses, well stocked with special supplies of food against long siege. Seeds are vehicles for the spread of new life from place to place by the elements and by animals and people. Seeds are food for man and animals and other living things…” ~ Victor R. Boswell, What Seeds Are and Do – An Introduction
The Japanese Art and Science of Shinrin-Yoku
Forest Bathing - How Trees Can Help You find Health and Happiness
By Dr. Qing Li – Chairman of the Japanese Society for Forest Medicine
Evan says: What a beautiful and timely book this is. Healing oneself during times of global pandemics ultimately encourages us to rely on the healing that only the natural world can give us. Enter Shinrin-Yoku. It is the Japanese word for the healing magic that happens as you meander aimlessly in a forest with no set plan in mind. In fact, hopefully, with your mind completely disengaged in the thinking process, you will have a guide to properly accomplish. Yet just action of getting outside, into the wilderness, a wooded area, or forest accomplishes the goal of calming the nervous system, inhaling clear air, and placing the thinking mind aside for a period of time.
It is said, forest bathing can reduce stress levels and blood pressure, strengthen your immune and cardiovascular systems, boost your energy and mood, and creativity.
Silent Spring
Rachel Carson - 1962
Evan: Finally, no book list about climate change, and the global pandemic of a novel virus is complete without Rachel Carson’s classic, Silent Spring. Written in 1962 Carson starts with two remarkable quotes, one by Albert Schweitzer who said: “Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth”
And the second by Keats: “The sedge is wither’d from the lake, And no birds sing”
Homeostasis. I speak about the skin as being in a constant state of homeostasis. Our skin is constantly changing, adapting us to our environment.
“The balance of nature is not a status quo; it is fluid, ever shifting in a constant state of adjustment…” -Rachel Carson
~ Evan Healy
