Richard Mabey

Nature Cure

In 1999 Richard Mabey developed a severe depression. He found it difficult to work, and had to leave the house he had lived in since his childhood. Nature Cure tells of how his friends helped him, giving him a room in a remote part of East Anglia, where he gradually regained his love of life and the natural world.

This is not a 'back to nature' book though, since Mabey, author of plenty of books on natural history and life in the countryside, had never left it. Rather it's a story of how he fared when transplanted from a life which had become too comfortable to one in which he had to start anew, exploring the countryside around him in a fresh light. Mabey has plenty to say on how our society interacts with nature, highlighting the contradiction between trying to protect the natural world, and having somewhere which we can think of as wilderness, untouched by human hand. I felt he was rather overly critical sometimes, as if to say that although he couldn't solve this conundrum, everyone else should be able to. But mostly the book shows his new appreciation of the livng things which surround him. The combination of nature notes and the story of his cure works well, adding interest for those readers who might not want to read about either topic on its own. I'd recommend the book to anyone who wants a relaxing read which also gives new insights into our relationship with nature.

Amazon.com info

Hardcover 242 pages
ISBN: 0813926211
Salesrank: 427957
Weight:0.95 lbs

Published: 2007 University of Virginia Press

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Amazon.co.uk info

Paperback 240 pages
ISBN: 1844130967
Salesrank: 18783
Weight:0.4 lbs

Published: 2006 Pimlico

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Amazon.ca info

Paperback 240 pages
ISBN: 1844130967
Salesrank: 273987
Weight:0.4 lbs

Published: 2006 Pimlico

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Product Description
Early in Nature Cure Richard Mabey returns continually to the swift, who in its spectacular migration may not touch down for well over a year. In Ted Hughes's phrase, the reappearance of the swifts tells us that "the globe's still working." When we encounter the author in the opening pages of this powerful memoir, his corner of the globe is decidedly not working. A deep depression has left him alienated from his work and his family, financially insecure, and has cost him the Chiltern home in which he has lived his entire life. The open flatlands of his new home in East Anglia--an area now dominated by agriculture, and once so desolate that it harbored an inland lighthouse--could not be more different from the dense Chiltern woods he is leaving behind. Mabey wonders frankly if this move is a crucial part of his becoming, finally, a true adult, or if it is just the latest step in the wrong direction his life has mysteriously taken. Mabey fears that he, like the swift, may be too specialized--given to an intensely specific way of life which, when threatened, leaves him with nowhere to turn. A life spent observing nature has taught him that any creature, even an entire species, might be made suddenly obsolete by the shifts of the world. Just how adaptable is he? He leaves the Chilterns with a near-complete set of the works of John Clare and an antique microscope, but without a frying pan. From now on he will have to think about a complete life, not just those bases he touched as a writer following his calling. It is through this escape to another life, this "flitting," that his healing begins, in often unexpected ways. Mabey's despair stems from an inability to connect with his writing and with the nature that inspires it; the book's power lies in the way he relates this distance from nature to a larger problem in modern life--and in the remarkable process by which his reengagement with nature leads Mabey out of his depression and back to passion and wonder.

Product Description

Early in Nature Cure Richard Mabey returns continually to the swift, who in its spectacular migration may not touch down for well over a year. In Ted Hughes's phrase, the reappearance of the swifts tells us that "the globe's still working." When we encounter the author in the opening pages of this powerful memoir, his corner of the globe is decidedly not working. A deep depression has left him alienated from his work and his family, financially insecure, and has cost him the Chiltern home in which he has lived his entire life. The open flatlands of his new home in East Anglia--an area now dominated by agriculture, and once so desolate that it harbored an inland lighthouse--could not be more different from the dense Chiltern woods he is leaving behind. Mabey wonders frankly if this move is a crucial part of his becoming, finally, a true adult, or if it is just the latest step in the wrong direction his life has mysteriously taken.

Mabey fears that he, like the swift, may be too specialized--given to an intensely specific way of life which, when threatened, leaves him with nowhere to turn. A life spent observing nature has taught him that any creature, even an entire species, might be made suddenly obsolete by the shifts of the world. Just how adaptable is he? He leaves the Chilterns with a near-complete set of the works of John Clare and an antique microscope, but without a frying pan. From now on he will have to think about a complete life, not just those bases he touched as a writer following his calling.

It is through this escape to another life, this "flitting," that his healing begins, in often unexpected ways. Mabey's despair stems from an inability to connect with his writing and with the nature that inspires it; the book's power lies in the way he relates this distance from nature to a larger problem in modern life--and in the remarkable process by which his reengagement with nature leads Mabey out of his depression and back to passion and wonder.

Doesn't 'do what it says on the tin' ***
I really wanted to love this book. Depression is a vile, destructive thing, and also something of a mystery, and any tale of its defeat should be both inspiring and informative. Add to this the location, the East Anglian countryside, this book looked (to me) irresistible. And then there were all the fulsome comments from national newspapers on the cover... However, in the end I was disappointed. I learnt little about depression, its causes and cures - or about the real inner life of the author. I got little sense of the horror of depression at the start, of an eventful and bumpy journey in the middle, of any interest in the psychological forces at work as we travelled, or of a real cure at the end. Behind a veil of lyricism, the author is really rather reticent. For example, part of his healing process came via a relationship, but we are offered no insight into this at all - no doubt tactful to the lady involved, but it makes dull reading. Of course, there are good things about this book. Mabey writes with poetry and elegance about the environment, and his love of nature shines through (`It was the kind of day that makes one feel like saying grace for a blade of grass'). Were it marketed as a series of essays on rural life, ecology etc., or just a literary diary of a year in rural East Anglia, it would be very pleasant. But it purports to be something more, and to me it does not deliver on this promise.

Doesn't 'do what it says on the tin' ***

I really wanted to love this book. Depression is a vile, destructive thing, and also something of a mystery, and any tale of its defeat should be both inspiring and informative. Add to this the location, the East Anglian countryside, this book looked (to me) irresistible. And then there were all the fulsome comments from national newspapers on the cover...

However, in the end I was disappointed. I learnt little about depression, its causes and cures - or about the real inner life of the author. I got little sense of the horror of depression at the start, of an eventful and bumpy journey in the middle, of any interest in the psychological forces at work as we travelled, or of a real cure at the end.

Behind a veil of lyricism, the author is really rather reticent. For example, part of his healing process came via a relationship, but we are offered no insight into this at all - no doubt tactful to the lady involved, but it makes dull reading.

Of course, there are good things about this book. Mabey writes with poetry and elegance about the environment, and his love of nature shines through (`It was the kind of day that makes one feel like saying grace for a blade of grass'). Were it marketed as a series of essays on rural life, ecology etc., or just a literary diary of a year in rural East Anglia, it would be very pleasant. But it purports to be something more, and to me it does not deliver on this promise.

A marmite - Love it or hate it!! **
There is no denying that Richard Mabey is a talented author and naturalist, so its no surprise that the combination of these two qualities produce a book that is both eloquent and imaginative, and will for some people be the epitome of what a thought-provoking 'nature book' should be. However I was first introduced to Nature Cure through Mabey's column in BBC Wildlife of the same name, and found it to be not only pessimistic but also somewhat dismissive of efforts to aid the natural world. So upon embarking on the book I was prepared for much more of the same, and I wasn't disappointed. From the word go Mabey seems intent on reminding us of what we have lost rather than what we still have and what it can do for us. Although he describes swift sightings and deer encounters with heart-warming enthusiasm, it is always followed by a lengthy account of how out of tune we have become with nature, or a depressing metaphor for mankind's fall from grace! Even the title is somewhat misleading. I expected the theme of Nature Cure to be a description of how the power of the natural world helped Mabey overcome depression. However it begins with Mabey already recovered, with barely a glimpse back into his life before recovery. As such the book meanders its way through what can only be described as a rather uneventful 'recuperation' period. Mabey's talent for describing natural events kept me interested enough to see it through to the end but it did become a chore and left me far from inspired. There are some people who will find the book wonderful. There are beautiful descriptions and evocative thoughts which will make the more romantic nature lover's day. But for the more practical wildlife enthusiasts (like me) who like to learn and experience, it was rather disappointing. For me Nature Cure was not an exhilarating literary venture in the way Mabey's Flora Britannica was, but it is something a little different, and for that reason is both refreshing and worth a try.

A marmite - Love it or hate it!! **

There is no denying that Richard Mabey is a talented author and naturalist, so its no surprise that the combination of these two qualities produce a book that is both eloquent and imaginative, and will for some people be the epitome of what a thought-provoking 'nature book' should be.

However I was first introduced to Nature Cure through Mabey's column in BBC Wildlife of the same name, and found it to be not only pessimistic but also somewhat dismissive of efforts to aid the natural world. So upon embarking on the book I was prepared for much more of the same, and I wasn't disappointed.

From the word go Mabey seems intent on reminding us of what we have lost rather than what we still have and what it can do for us. Although he describes swift sightings and deer encounters with heart-warming enthusiasm, it is always followed by a lengthy account of how out of tune we have become with nature, or a depressing metaphor for mankind's fall from grace!

Even the title is somewhat misleading. I expected the theme of Nature Cure to be a description of how the power of the natural world helped Mabey overcome depression. However it begins with Mabey already recovered, with barely a glimpse back into his life before recovery. As such the book meanders its way through what can only be described as a rather uneventful 'recuperation' period. Mabey's talent for describing natural events kept me interested enough to see it through to the end but it did become a chore and left me far from inspired.

There are some people who will find the book wonderful. There are beautiful descriptions and evocative thoughts which will make the more romantic nature lover's day. But for the more practical wildlife enthusiasts (like me) who like to learn and experience, it was rather disappointing.
For me Nature Cure was not an exhilarating literary venture in the way Mabey's Flora Britannica was, but it is something a little different, and for that reason is both refreshing and worth a try.

Ignore the title, just enjoy the contents ***
You can imagine the scene. One of Britains most respected and brilliant nature writers having recovered from a bout of severe depression turns up for a meeting with his publishers with his latest work. "How are we going to market this book, Richard? What title shall we give it?" Nature Cure. But, despite the fact that this book is up to Richards usual high standard, there's precious little on how he came back from the brink and the part that reconnecting with nature played. And this is the real disappointment. Much has been done and written in the scientific community, for example by Professor Roger Ulrich amongst others, on the effects of exposure to the natural world on patients. But this is dry academic stuff and I was really hoping that someone with Richards power of prose could present a more cogent and lucid understanding of the role nature can play in restoring the mind. If that publishers conference had decided that this was really a book about upping sticks from your home in the Chilterns and moving to and re-discovering the East Anglian landscape then I expect it wouldn't have been so attractive or compelling even if it was more honest. So ignore the title, don't have too many expectations and just enjoy Richards evocative writing. I certainly did.

Ignore the title, just enjoy the contents ***

You can imagine the scene. One of Britains most respected and brilliant nature writers having recovered from a bout of severe depression turns up for a meeting with his publishers with his latest work. "How are we going to market this book, Richard? What title shall we give it?" Nature Cure.
But, despite the fact that this book is up to Richards usual high standard, there's precious little on how he came back from the brink and the part that reconnecting with nature played. And this is the real disappointment. Much has been done and written in the scientific community, for example by Professor Roger Ulrich amongst others, on the effects of exposure to the natural world on patients.
But this is dry academic stuff and I was really hoping that someone with Richards power of prose could present a more cogent and lucid understanding of the role nature can play in restoring the mind.
If that publishers conference had decided that this was really a book about upping sticks from your home in the Chilterns and moving to and re-discovering the East Anglian landscape then I expect it wouldn't have been so attractive or compelling even if it was more honest.
So ignore the title, don't have too many expectations and just enjoy Richards evocative writing. I certainly did.

Courageous and thought provoking *****
I enjoyed this book immensely. The author's emotional and physical journey from one beloved and known landscape, through pain and loss, to the renewing strength of another quite different place, is expressed with courage and a disarming honesty that utterly convinces. I learnt much from the author's thought-provoking meditations on nature and even more about what it is to be human. Thank you Richard Mabey!

Courageous and thought provoking *****

I enjoyed this book immensely. The author's emotional and physical journey from one beloved and known landscape, through pain and loss, to the renewing strength of another quite different place, is expressed with courage and a disarming honesty that utterly convinces.
I learnt much from the author's thought-provoking meditations on nature and even more about what it is to be human. Thank you Richard Mabey!

Disappointing *
The author is a repected naturalist and nature writer of long standing, so maybe I should have guessed in advance that this book would not quite offer what the title and blurb seemed (to me) to promise. I was hoping that this would be a story of the revelatory/restorative powers of discovering and/or reconnecting with nature, even if all that is meant by that is getting more in touch with the British countryside. What I read was instead a rather mundane account of one person's descent into depression and subsequent recovery, where that person just happened to have the rather agreeable job of spending all his time thinking and writing about the natural world, and reading (and citing, extensively) the works of other authors' accounts of nature in prose and in poetry. In a nutshell, this is an introspective autobiographical fragment that can reasonably be summarised as "bloke who spends all his time thinking and writing about nature gets depressed; spends some time being depressed; eventually stops being depressed and gets back into thinking and writing about nature" -- to me, it's really not a particularly compelling tale. If it had been "urban bloke who works in factory/office and spends no time in countryside gets depressed; discovers nature; is lifted from depression by new-found love of nature; finds new meaning to life, etc" then it would be; but as it is, the caricature/precis of this book can be shortened to "bloke has a job; bloke gets depressed and can't work; bloke gets better and goes back to old job". Oh, and he moves house too. The publicity for this book (see the Synopsis on Amazon) makes a deal of the fact that Mabey "...found the courage..." to move home from the Chilterns (where he had lived in the house of his parents from his birth right through to his middle-age) to East Anglia, where the countryside is a bit different. While reading this book, I found it hard to avoid the conclusion that Mr Mabey seems to live a somewhat other-worldly Gentleman Naturalist lifestyle of a type that I thought had fallen into extinction sometime in the first quarter of the 20th Century. Frankly, if you want to read a tale of courage, odds-overcome, and depression defeated, then there are countless much better ones than this. And if you want to read a book on the joys of nature/countryside/wilderness, there are also very many better books to choose from. So, I can't think who would benefit from being recommended this book. Maybe this would be interesting to someone who could be filled with wonder admiration and awe at the thought of a person moving their home from Chiltern countryside eastward by a couple of hundred miles to the flat fens of Norfolk and then noticing the differences; but maybe not.

Disappointing *

The author is a repected naturalist and nature writer of long standing, so maybe I should have guessed in advance that this book would not quite offer what the title and blurb seemed (to me) to promise. I was hoping that this would be a story of the revelatory/restorative powers of discovering and/or reconnecting with nature, even if all that is meant by that is getting more in touch with the British countryside. What I read was instead a rather mundane account of one person's descent into depression and subsequent recovery, where that person just happened to have the rather agreeable job of spending all his time thinking and writing about the natural world, and reading (and citing, extensively) the works of other authors' accounts of nature in prose and in poetry.

In a nutshell, this is an introspective autobiographical fragment that can reasonably be summarised as "bloke who spends all his time thinking and writing about nature gets depressed; spends some time being depressed; eventually stops being depressed and gets back into thinking and writing about nature" -- to me, it's really not a particularly compelling tale. If it had been "urban bloke who works in factory/office and spends no time in countryside gets depressed; discovers nature; is lifted from depression by new-found love of nature; finds new meaning to life, etc" then it would be; but as it is, the caricature/precis of this book can be shortened to "bloke has a job; bloke gets depressed and can't work; bloke gets better and goes back to old job". Oh, and he moves house too.

The publicity for this book (see the Synopsis on Amazon) makes a deal of the fact that Mabey "...found the courage..." to move home from the Chilterns (where he had lived in the house of his parents from his birth right through to his middle-age) to East Anglia, where the countryside is a bit different. While reading this book, I found it hard to avoid the conclusion that Mr Mabey seems to live a somewhat other-worldly Gentleman Naturalist lifestyle of a type that I thought had fallen into extinction sometime in the first quarter of the 20th Century. Frankly, if you want to read a tale of courage, odds-overcome, and depression defeated, then there are countless much better ones than this. And if you want to read a book on the joys of nature/countryside/wilderness, there are also very many better books to choose from. So, I can't think who would benefit from being recommended this book. Maybe this would be interesting to someone who could be filled with wonder admiration and awe at the thought of a person moving their home from Chiltern countryside eastward by a couple of hundred miles to the flat fens of Norfolk and then noticing the differences; but maybe not.