Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
Book Review: Love it and so important for parents to read
Summary: 5 Stars
I agree with the author, kids need outside time (more than TV, WII or any other kind of video game). It is one of the best gift we can give them. Book Review: A Highly Recommended Gift
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this book as a gift for a seventh grade teacher.
It was highly recommended to me by a wildlife rescue aquaintance.
Book Review: A far from coherent attempt at an important issue
Summary: 2 Stars
Having bought Last Child in the Woods on the basis of the title without checking as deeply as I might have, I found myself finishing six other books while I was struggling through this, mostly on (southern) summer holidays at a camping ground surrounded by nature where I've seen three generations of youngsters growing.
The topic is clearly worthy and important (so 1.5 points) and Louv does add the further point about youngsters needing outdoor space for its own sake (another 0.5 points) but a poorly structured melding of anecdotes and research results soon had me wondering just where he was going. Being strongly convinced by Judith Rich Harris's The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do (and Harris's clear use of anecdote and research results) I was also thrown by Louv's preoccupation with the role of parents and even more so his repeated identification with the fear epidemic.
It wasn't until chapter 22 of 24 started to unambiguously invoke religion that I took another look at Louv's short bio on the back flap and spotted its admission that his livelihood is generated by the child advocacy scam which put to rest any hopes I might have still had for an outbreak of rationality.
In the finish it became clear that his meandering was always driven by his too cute four year old's question whether God was married to Mother Nature or they were just good friends.
If this book is to be of any value it will be in flashing yet another feel good topic at the attention threshold of those caught up in fear based memeplex that brings us child advocacy and American Christianity. It has no value to anybody looking for a coherent argument about the importance of reconnecting children with the reality of nature outside fanciful human notions of justice (let alone the more recent reinterpretation that justice equals revenge).
If you want a strong story at the intersection of humanity and the natural world, I'd recommend Gabrielle Walker's Snowball Earth: The Story of a Maverick Scientist and His Theory of the Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life As We Know It which I read in one pass during a break from Louv (and looking across a stream at a cliff rich with strata and life). And just let the kids explore. It's their life, not yours.
Book Review: Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent - makes a strong case for children to wonder and wander. Strategies to make that happen will be our challengeBook Review: A Timely Book
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an interesting and timely book. I happen to be the parent of a 17 year old who is lucky enough to live on a large tract of land, but might as well be living in a New York high-rise for all the good it does him. When he seeks entertainment, it's usually electronic in nature--TV, computer, video games. When I was growing up, the outdoors was our entertainment and we didn't have all those modern distractions. Louv states his case eloquently and passionately: "Not only can nature teach kids science and nurture their creativity, but nature needs its children: where else will its future stewards come from?" One of the fourth graders he interviewed said "I like to play indoors better, 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are." That's scary.