
The Well-Gardened Mind
The Restorative Power of Nature
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Narrated by:
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Sue Stuart-Smith
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By:
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Sue Stuart-Smith
About this listen
A distinguished psychiatrist and avid gardener presents “a truly uplifting book on the power of gardening - and how it can change people’s lives” (Stylist, UK).
The garden is often seen as a refuge, a place to forget worldly cares, removed from the “real” life that lies outside. When we get our hands in the Earth we connect with the cycle of life in nature through which destruction and decay are followed by regrowth and renewal. Gardening is one of the quintessential nurturing activities and yet we understand so little about it. The Well-Gardened Mind provides a new perspective on the power of gardening to change people’s lives. Here, Sue Stuart-Smith investigates the many ways in which mind and garden can interact and explores how the process of tending a plot can be a way of sustaining an innermost self.
Stuart-Smith’s own love of gardening developed as she studied to become a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. From her grandfather’s return from World War I to Freud’s obsession with flowers to case histories with her own patients to progressive gardening programs in such places as Rikers Island prison in New York City, Stuart-Smith weaves thoughtful yet powerful examples to argue that gardening is much more important to our cognition than we think. Recent research is showing how green nature has direct antidepressant effects on humans. “The most original gardening book ever [that] combines observation, horticulture, literature and history” (Sunday Times, UK), The Well-Gardened Mind is a book for gardeners and non-gardeners alike, and the perfect solace for people seeking healthier mental lives.
©2020 Sue Stuart-Smith. Originally published in Great Britain in 2020 by William Collins. Excerpt from “The Garden” in Chapter 9 is reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown Group Ltd, London, on behalf of The Beneficiaries of the Estate of Vita Sackville-West. © Vita Sackville-West 1946. Excerpt from “Hold out your arms” in Chapter 10 is reproduced with permission. Helen Dunmore, Counting Backwards: Poems 1975–2017 (Bloodaxe Books, 2019). © Helen Dunmore 2017. (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Penelope Lively takes up her key themes of time and memory, and her lifelong passions for art, literature, and gardening in this philosophical and poetic memoir. From the courtyards of her childhood home in Cairo to a family cottage in Somerset, to her own gardens in Oxford and London, Lively conducts an expert tour, taking us from Eden to Sissinghurst and into her own backyard, traversing the lives of writers like Virginia Woolf and Philip Larkin while imparting her own sly and spare wisdom. Now in her 84th year, Lively writes, "To garden is to elide past, present, and future; it is a defiance of time."
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Enjoyable Read
- By Figgs on 03-31-21
By: Penelope Lively
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The Light Eaters
- How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
- By: Zoë Schlanger
- Narrated by: Zoë Schlanger
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system.
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Entertaining perhaps but not science.
- By Jerry Miller on 07-31-24
By: Zoë Schlanger
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The Botany of Desire
- A Plant's-Eye View of the World
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1637, one Dutchman paid as much for a single tulip bulb as the going price of a town house in Amsterdam. Three and a half centuries later, Amsterdam is once again the mecca for people who care passionately about one particular plant—though this time the obsessions revolves around the intoxicating effects of marijuana rather than the visual beauty of the tulip. How could flowers, of all things, become such objects of desire that they can drive men to financial ruin?
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"The Botany of Desire" – A Fascinating Fusion of History, Science, and Philosophy
- By Rich N. Jester on 07-05-23
By: Michael Pollan
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The Serviceberry
- By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 1 hr and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity.
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Engaging and optimistic
- By Steve on 12-18-24
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The Body
- A Guide for Occupants
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body - how it functions, its remarkable ability to heal itself, and (unfortunately) the ways it can fail. Full of extraordinary facts (your body made a million red blood cells since you started reading this) and irresistible Bryson-esque anecdotes, The Body will lead you to a deeper understanding of the miracle that is life in general and you in particular. As Bill Bryson writes, "We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted."
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Must Read for the Sheer Fun of It
- By J.B. on 10-16-19
By: Bill Bryson
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The Hidden Life of Trees
- What They Feel, How They Communicate - Discoveries from a Secret World
- By: Peter Wohlleben
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings? Research is now suggesting trees are capable of much more than we have ever known. In The Hidden Life of Trees, forester Peter Wohlleben puts groundbreaking scientific discoveries into a language everyone can relate to.
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Tree Hugger
- By Darwin8u on 04-18-19
By: Peter Wohlleben
truly loved it!
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Loved it!
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Amazing!
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The stories, success, and insight along with the excellent narration, made the book more than anticipated. I highly recommend this book.
Tremendous insight into the power of gardening
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I strongly recommend to everyone who wants to heal yourself and why not other people's minds.
The Well-Gardened Mind
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I cannot praise this book enough. I hope the author sees this and knows how powerful a work she has brought onto this world.
Nourishment for self care and cognitive growth
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Great View if Gardening From a Mental Perspective
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A Worthy Read for a Lifetime of Reading
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Loved it! Great integration of gardening, healing trauma, and literature.
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The author writes about the men in WWI who were stuck for long periods of time at the front lines. Some of them grew flowers or vegetables when they had the chance. It was something to help them keep a hold on their sanity.
It turns out that both Freud and Jung enjoyed being outdoors and working in a garden. Freud was very fond of orchids.
I was very interested in the discussion of prehistoric gardening. Researchers believe that some very ancient gardening was intended to produce especially desirable foods, such as figs. They also believe that ancient people grew gourds simply to make them into musical instruments. In other words, our remote ancestors enjoyed growing things. It wasn't all the drudgery of survival.
If you feel restored and energized by gardening, you will find much that explains the value of it in this book.
Wonderful Book for Gardeners
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