MaytreeBooks

Every book we sell we have read, loved, & personally recommend. Online sales support our nomadic bookstall sharing inspiring green books at events across Britain, and 10% goes to independent bookshops to help keep them afloat despite Billionaire Bezos. uk.bookshop.org/shop/maytree…

#BookReview - Britains's lost rainforests – rich in ferns, lichens, pine martens & more – once covered up to a fifth of the island, but have largely vanished from both our landscape & memory. In this inspiring book @guyshrubsole journeys from the Western Highlands to Cornwall, revealing their history, ecology and cultural importance, while making an urgent case for their restoration before they disappear forever. #ecologicalrestoration #rewilding

#BookReview - Based on her own witness, in 'Ancient Futures', Helena Norberg-Hodge vividly contrasts Ladakh’s sustainable, largely egalitarian culture with the disruptive impacts of Western consumerism. Ladakhis thrived in a harsh Himalayan environment through frugality, cooperation, and #ecological wisdom. The recent arrival of “development” brought pollution, inequality, and social discord. This landmark #environmental book calls on us to learn from Ladakh’s traditions to create kinder, #sustainable futures. #Ladakh #India #DevelopmentStudies #DalaiLama #Buddhism #LittleTibet

#BookReview - 'The Allotment' by David Crouch & Colin Ward explores #allotments as sanctuaries for personal growth, community, & connection with the land. Tracing their origins to 17th-century resistance to enclosure, this classic study blends oral narratives describing pigeon-fancying & leek competitions, with the history of British #land struggles. Olivia Laing's excellent introduction in the new edition published by @LittleToller underscores its relevance today. #GardeningTwitter #permaculture #landscapehistory #growyourown #BookTwitter

#BookReview - Gary Snyder’s 'The Practice of the Wild' (@CounterpointLLC) offers nine thoughtful and beautifully crafted essays exploring our connection (and disconnection) to the wild, and why it matters. Snyder, now 95, was a leading member of the Beat Generation of 1950s American authors. His writing is strongly informed by a nature-reverent stream of Zen #Buddhism, and this collection has been highly influential in #DeepEcology movements world-wide. Includes some very practical wisdom, and reads best in a mossy wood.

BOOK REVIEW: First published in 1991, #ForestGardening (@Green_Books) is a pioneering guide to creating sustainable, low-maintenance ecosystems inspired by natural woodlands. It details designing vertical layers of fruit trees, perennial herbs, & vegetables that require minimal weeding or pest control. Hart offers practical advice & species recommendations for various climates. Grain-based agriculture is wrecking the planet, and ever since Mesopotamia it has been the essential foundation of unfree societies. In contrast, indigenous forest based horticultures are often highly sustainable and produce freer lives - as well as bounties of food - for those that garden them. Hart's book, and lived experiment, shows that this model is viable not just in far away rainforests, but in the chilly valleys of Britain too. #permaculture #allotments #OrganicFarming #OrganicLifestyle #TransionTowns #Totnes

BOOK REVIEW: For the last half century, probably no one has done more to protect ocean life than @CaptPaulWatson. In 'Interview with a Pirate' (published by @FireflyBooks), tales from his amazing life are intertwined with clear guidance for what we can all do to defend threatened marine ecologies. At age 18 Watson co-founded Greenpeace, and spent much of the 70s spearheading it's environmental actions. Then, in 1977 he founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, using non-violent direct action to stop whaling, seal-clubing, and other attacks on ocean wildlife. He now leads the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, and at 74-years old shows no sign of slowing down. For some a controversial figure, Watson's reply to his critics is: "Find us a whale who disapproves of our actions and we promise to give up!" Whilst the book is titled 'Captain Paul Watson: Interview with a Pirate', the interviewer is by no means silent. In fact, much of its vitality comes from it being a set of conversations between Watson and the similarly inspiring @LamyaEssemlali (president of @SeaShepherdFran). If you want to understand the full reality of the environmental crisis AND be inspired to take meaningful action, this book is essential reading. #PaulWatsonFoundation #Whales #Oceans #Ecoaction

BOOK REVIEW: How can we turn the tide on domestication and set out to rewild land, sea, and human life? Informed by decades of global travel and environmental journalism, @GeorgeMonbiot seeks to answer this from one of the most ecologically denuded lands on earth, the British Isles. This inspiring and intensely personal book introduces the reader to a growing tendency within conservation to let go of management and leave nature to restore itself. Rejecting false divisions, Monbiot also calls for us to heal our estrangement from our wild selves in the process. #rewilding