Oh I loved this!
I enjoyed getting to experience weather (and different hikes and walks) with the author, this book is really a perfect one to get through little bit by little bit every day with a good warm drink


Thank you NetGalley and Eliott & Thompson for the opportunity to read this ARC.

'Life needs to be grabbed with both hands. Because to experience weather, to see and feel hotly its patterns change, is to notice the rhythms of the planet, to see how the different facets of the word interconnect.'

Walking in a rainstorm may sound counterintuitive, but @mattgaw opens his beautiful new book by doing exactly that. It's not even that he's wrapping up in full waterproofs with wellies; Gaw is actually aiming to *feel* the weather, and to become part of it. This whole book feels very much like an exercise in embracing the weather and living in, rather than with it.

The book is laid out almost as a journal, beginning at the end of that endlessly oppresively hot summer in 2022. As the year progresses, the journal continues through rain of all sorts, fog, snow, ice, wind, whatever comes along, in fact. But Gaw is not just walking in the weather, he's also swimming and tree-climbing; there's skating and playing too. I absolutely loved the way that each new weather event provided another opportunity to feel, hear, see and smell everything in a new way.

As well as sharing all the incredible sensations that come from embracing the weather, there is plenty of detail about the environment and a good smattering of science. Interesting meteorological processes are also helpfully explained in a way that just helped me get a bit more out of the book.

It's hard to pick a favourite part in this book, as it's so very readable and the excitement is so apparent, but I really loved the encounter with the skaters and the trip to the moor in search of wuthering winds. I also loved that we were invited to share the experience of the author's family on several of his adventures. I love the broad-minded approach that children take to the weather, and I'm sure we could all benefit from finding the fun in strong winds and snow again!

Be warned that Matt Gaw's enthusiasm is infectious. He persuasively puts across that it's not as mad as it seems to head out in all weathers, and I'm prett much convinced that it's probably time to change my mindset and get out there, too!

Thanks to @elliottandthompson and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

"In All Weathers" is a quiet yet precise contemplates by Matt Gaw which focusses on different types of weather in different types of chapters using different hikes and places all over the UK. Having swum in the icy fairy pools myself more than a decade ago for the first time, the chapter on snow and ice was my favourite. I read this book when I couldn't sleep and it gave me a sense of calm: 4 stars

It’s a really good premise. The author sets out to intentionally experience what is often considered ’bad’ British weather - rain, fog, snow & ice and rain. Where this really worked was where he was meeting other people- the fenland skaters section was fantastic!

And it has made me want to consciously appreciate some of our more trying weather. But I wasn’t always keen on the more personal/descriptive passages (it’s not the first weather book I’ve had this issue with!), and I just wanted a little more, I guess.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Elliott & Thompson for the chance to read and review this title. ‘In All Weathers’ will be published on 28th March 2024.