A review by allysonwbrunette
Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life by Richard Louv

5.0

I read Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder back in 2018 when our library was constructing a device-free natural play area inspired by Louv's work and I wanted to better understand the research behind our development project. Vitamin N was a wonderful hands-on guide (targeted toward parents or educators) on how to immerse yourself in nature more regularly, a lifestyle that goes against the tide of our device-filled ones. Louv features ideas from parents, teachers, and passionate nature lovers on how they find budget-friendly ways to engage young people in the outdoors, as well as recommendations on how to civically engage to resist moves that look at play as a liability. While I'm not a parent, this book was a huge reminder to me of my fortune in being a free-range child playing outdoors and inspired me to find ways to inject more nature into my day-to-day life. I listened to this book, but I'd recommend reading an electronic or physical copy of it as many of the suggestions are given in list form in the book. Overall, I thought this book was an excellent look at how to form a stronger sense of community through immersion in nature.