Gaia Reading Challenge 2023: I Know This to be True – Greta Thunberg

" People always tell us that they are hopeful. They are hopeful that the young people are going to save the world. But we are not. There is simply not enough time to wait for us to grow up and become the ones in charge." Greta Thunberg Greta Thunberg hardly needs any introduction. As a …

Gaia 2022: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

The Triffids:… horrible alien things which some of us had somehow created and which the rest of us in our careless greed had cultured all over the world. …somehow they had been bred….(and they) seemed able to profit and flourish on our disaster… The Day of the Triffids was first published in 1951 and adapted …

A Reader’s Life: Looking Back at 2022 and Ahead for 2023

It’s that time of year again when readers like to conduct their annual reading review. This is where we look back over the previous reading year, analyse our data (for those of us who keep stats) and think about our reading goals for the coming year. Goal setting and data analysis sound like serious business. …

Gaia 2022: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

“If a thing is right it can be done, and if it is wrong it can be done without; and a good man will find a way” Anna Sewell, Black Beauty (1877) In this beloved classic by Anna Sewell, strong, handsome and free-spirited Black Beauty narrates the story of his life. Born to his mother …

Gaia Challenge 2022: The Good Earth

Image by Sasin Tipchai - Pixabay Out of the land we came and into it we must go. Pearl S Buck - The Good Earth (1931) The Good Earth, written by Pearl S Buck and first published in 1931, is a surprising candidate for the Gaia Challenge. Set in China, the book traces the life …

Gaia 2022: The Yield by Tara June Winch

Yield itself is a funny word - yield in English is the reaping, the things that man can take from the land, the thing he’s waited for and gets to claim. A wheat yield. In my language it’s the things you give to, the movement, the space between things. (The Yield - Tara June Winch) Profoundly …

Phosphorescence by Julia Baird

"How do we continue to glow when the lights turn out? All we can do really is keep placing one foot on the earth, then the other, to seek out ancient paths and forests, certain in the knowledge that others have endured before us. We must love. And we must look outwards and upwards at …

2021 – A Reading Year in Review

The first days of the New Year are a time for reflection. We look back on the year that has been and look towards the year that has opened. We might take stock of the state of our health, family life and working prospects. We might identify some new life or career goals. Or perhaps …

Gaia Reading Challenge – Diary of a Young Naturalist

“I have the heart of a naturalist, the head of a would-be scientist, and bones of someone who is already wearied by the apathy and destruction wielded against the natural world.” Dara McAnulty,2020 From Goodreads... Diary of a Young Naturalist chronicles the turning of 15-year-old Dara McAnulty’s world. From spring and through a year in …

World Wildlife Day

It’s surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth. David Attenborough World Wildlife Day is a celebration of the incredible diversity evident in our world’s plant and animal life and the theme for this year is …