Forest School for Grown-Ups

I love this book! Forest School For Grown ups by Richard Irvine is such a wonderful guide for interacting with the forest. This book provides useful information on each season in the forest, beautiful photographs, and even how to read the clouds for signs of weather. It also provides tips on survival skills with illustrated pictures to really help the reader apply the knowledge in real life. I love that the survival skills are everything from how to make string to building and starting a fire. This book also has fun and creative project ideas as well as how to navigate through a forest and even how to find sources of food. This is a wonderful guide that I will also read to my children. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing this wonderful book.

A fun mix of practical advice and whimsical tales. It reminded me a little of a boy or girl scout handbook in the basic skills it covered. I enjoyed the folklore that was included.

Very cool book with a lot of different things to consider. Highly recommend for anyone who likes the great outdoors

Forest School for Grown-Ups by Richard Irvine was a beautiful book full of great survival tips and tricks. There are beautiful and helpful illustrations to help guide you through survivalism. The cover art is absolutely stunning, and I am proud to add this to my book shelves! This book is for anyone who wants to learn how to survive in emergency situations – and for all those who thinks they know how to survive – this book offers lessons for anyone and everyone. But my favorite parts were the facts and history bits on tree lore and mythology from around the world. Very interesting!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Forest School for Grown-Ups is a thorough guide on everything from basic survival skills to craft projects using nature. A helpful collection of diagrams and illustrations are included in each section. Some additional resources are also listed at the end of the book.

This book is extremely useful whether someone is a first-timer or a veteran forest enthusiast. The section I found most beneficial was “essential tools” in the Survival Skills section. This gives a basic list of essentials recommended for a day in the woods.

I also enjoyed the folklore and superstitions content added in with each section.

I love everything about this book. The way the chapters are laid out, the illustrations and of course the content. Young and old alike will delight in the Forest School for Grownups.

Thank you to Chronicle Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Forest School for Grown-Ups by Richard Irvine is a nonfiction guidebook to surviving in the woods and basically anything that you've ever wanted to know about the woods. The guide includes sections for starting a fire, foraging for food, and even random sections of forest mythology. According to the description, this book will teach people "how to make a rope sing, go forest bathing, read flowers, build a campfire, and make a forest potion."

Overall, Forest School for Grown-Ups is a beautiful book that would make the perfect gift for the tree-lover in your life. One highlight of this book is the nice artwork. The book has a nice, woodsy feel, which makes it pleasant to look at and read. Another highlight of this book is the copious amount of information in the book. It's clear that a lot of research went into making this book. If you're intrigued by the description, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in May!

This is a wonderful book that is packed with interesting information. I plan to buy a physical copy when it is published, because it’s the kind of book that is good to browse through or use as a reference. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wish we had Forest School when I was I was a kid, and as an adult longing for summer camp days in the middle of winter - this book is the next best thing. I was hooked from the Table of Contents listings for chapter sub-sections like Forest Spells and Curses, Mythical Forest Beings, and Forest Fairy Tales. Alongside the mythology and folklore, Forest School for Grown-Ups explores the science of our seasons; delves into dendrology in educational yet accessible ways; dispels weather myths; and imparts new skills in activities like foraging, navigating forests, tree-reading, wilderness survival; geocaching, stone skipping, and natural craft-making. The Forest In Mind chapter offers insight backed with research into the ways that our forests can strengthen mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellness. Overall, this book has so much teach us about appreciating and being better stewards of our forests - and how to have oodles of fun while doing it.

I received a digital pre-publication copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and I'll be including it in a TBR round-up for National Great Outdoors Month in June. I will also be adding a hardcover edition to my permanent collection upon its May 2022 release.

This was a very fascinating book with both helpfull hints and forest lore. Fun and educational read. This book is packed with interesting information. I fell anyone looking for some handy tips would enjoy this book.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

While I like the concept of this book it overall wasn't what I expected.

The book starts by season talking about what animals are doing in various areas. There's then alternating between fictional woodland creatures and real-life nature advice. There's information on how to tell how old a tree is, how to fish, and other practical information interspersed with stories and information about plants and trees. The information given is pretty high level and isn't applicable to a lot of places - when talking about fishing, hunting, starting fires, etc. there is high level information about how to do each thing with a line about check your local restrictions, but those restrictions, licensing, and requirements are so varying the information given isn't necessarily super helpful. I was also surprised to see so much fictional information included in the story.

The book also seems to lump all Native People in North America in on group - there are references to Native Americans like they're a homogenous group instead of recognizing individual tribes and cultures, even when the author talks about there being overarching themes between creation stories.

Overall not the helpful read I was expecting.

This is a very helpful guide to anyone wanting to learn more about the outdoors and feel closer to nature.

I’m a fan of hiking and gardening, and I found this book to be extremely interesting and I enjoyed the focus on so many various aspects of the outdoors (finding food, navigating, reading the weather signs, etc…).

There are a plethora of pictures and illustrations which make the book easy to understand and regardless of your level of outdoor love I’m sure any reader would find helpful tips within these pages.

I recommend this one to anyone who enjoyed the outdoors and wants to learn more about the woods themselves and how we relate to them.

I also really enjoyed the touch of mysticism thrown in through stories of fae and other natural myths.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully illustrated and a wonderful guide to the outdoors. I loved all the fun facts about animals and things that you can make from the beautiful world around us. The digital version was beautiful so I imagine the physical book will be even more amazing.

Forest School for Grown-ups is an entertaining blend of helpful advice and whimsical stories. I appreciated the lore that this book included.

Forest School for Grown-Ups was fantastic! Packed full of useful information and beautiful photos, this book covers everything from survival skills to forest folklore and mythology to engaging nature crafts, and it does it all wonderfully!

This is a great overall nature forest information book for city folk like me. I like its geared towards survival but doesn't go "THE FOREST IS DANGEROUS" but gives the ups and downs of forest beauty and safety.

Fans of Forest School will love this book.
I recommend for anyone interested in natural living. bush craft. or just wanting to get back to nature in a gentle and fun way.

I wish more of the figures in this book depicted women. I wish any of the figures in the book depicted people of color. They are small criticisms, maybe, but forest skill-building has long been available to white boys and men. For a book that claims to seek a broadening of forest school, these small criticisms seem noteworthy. Thanks for access to the ARC.

The perfect book for fans of nature and those who want to become fans!
My kids and I have participated in Free Forest School. I am a big fan of the principles and core values upheld in forest school. When I saw this book was forest school for adults, I knew I HAD to read it. I was not disappointed.
This book is a treasure trove of information on things like wilderness survival, forest lore and extending your connection to nature. It is a must own book for people who spend time outdoors in any capacity. I found this book to be helpful, well organized and interesting to read. I will definitely be purchasing it for myself and most likely for a friend or two!

Interesting forest facts, useful tools /survival information and fascinating information of mythical forest beings and other forest folk. Great resource for many traditional outdoor tools, crafts and information.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! This book was a fascinating dive into forest ecology. I learned a lot about ecology, and also about observing the world around me. The activities presented were interesting and didn't feel too much like science camp for middle schoolers - rather it encouraged the adult reminder that we can still explore no matter the age. The split between what the forest teaches us, and then the next sections was a great choice. The first section honed in on being in the forest and how to experience and appreciate it, while the remaining section focuses on how to use the forest as a resource, and the final section brought it all back to the self and the forest. I like this approach as it doesn't frame the forest as something to exploit first, but instead to appreciate. I loved the little asides that spoke more about folklore and people's interactions with the forest than direct science.

1) Nice, simple drawings, careful but easy to follow steps
2) Fun little stories interspersed between the wilderness skills
3) The pictures were blurry and not the most appealing to look at
4) Some interesting experiments (especially the leaf chromatography)
5) Cool fun facts - although it might've been better to stick to one continent, as it gets pretty vague/general sometimes
6) Definitely some activities to keep in mind to try at some point, although some of these get a bit extravagant, especially if you don't have your own acreage

As suspected, this is a great book to take on my frequent and isolated camping adventures. The book includes a wide range of topics to from survival to crafting, identifying plants, mushrooms, tracks and scat, making rope swings, baskets, shelters and traps…..you name it. Thank you #netgalley for allowing me to read and review #ForestSchoolForGrown-Ups. I look forward to trying some of these ideas out this camping season

As someone not very wise to the ways of the wild I was *thrilled* to read this book!
Divided into 8 sections It starts off going over the seasons and what to expect from them. Definitely don't skip
this part - there's lots of nuggets of useful information in it.
Even the basic survival skills - such as making fire - was more than I already knew how to do.
This section also covers how to find shelter, filter water and reading the weather amongst
other helpful tips to learn should you ever encounter yourself lost in the woods.
Part 3 covers how to find food in the forest - such as safe to eat plants, setting up live traps - there's even pages on how to make coffee, tea and chai from forest flora.
Part 4 covers navigation - how to read a map and compass and to tell which way is north using the sun or stars
to guide you.
In part 5 you will learn about trees and their many uses - how to whittle, carve and make baskets.
Part 6 is full of projects you can do - like build a simple stool and much, much more.
In part 7 the author talks about our connection to the forest, or how we can connect if we're at a loss of where to start.
The 8th, and final section, is about things you can do for fun while out in the woods - fossil hunting,
geocatching, forest games- even dye making.
I will definitely be purchasing this gem and keeping it handy to refer back to.

I found this to just be an okay book. While there are some good tidbits of information, overall this book feels a bit incoherent and not sure of its purpose. There's certainly some good information contained within, though.

Some of the information included is very (almost too) basic, while some of it seems to be a bit more challenging for someone venturing out into the woods for the first time. And the geographical hopscotch is a bit confusing. I do think the authors should have either divided things geographically (where appropriate) or been more general. I'm not a fan of the stylized photos that have been processed to look like drawings. I think straight photos would be more useful in a book such as this.

I like the inclusion of myths/lore throughout, as it adds a bit of context to the way humans and nature have interacted over the millennia and how humans tried to make sense of the things they encountered in the wild.

This book has a lot of information to provide! While there are cute illustrations almost every page is filled from top to bottom with a wealth of information. A great book to learn a lot but it is definitely not a book to be finished in one sitting.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you to Chronicle Books ​and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.
What an absolutely wonderful book. Irvine provides a variety of useful tips and intriguing folklore. The illustrations are lovely. Extremely useful whether someone is a first-timer or a veteran forest enthusiast. I'll definitely purchase a tangible copy for our home.

Forest School for Grown-Ups is a great book for learning all things nature and survival. It is filled with so much wonderful information. The book goes into great detail about each topic and is easy to understand.

Thank you NetGalley and Chronicle Books for this ARC!

The perfect companion for those who are most at home in the woods, with surprisingly in-depth explanation of why that tree looks so funky and lovely, old-world illustration. .

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I love the concept of this book. My favorite was the first chapter which described what’s happening in nature and offered good ideas of things to look out for based on the season. I kind of wish the whole book was more of that! The other subject matter was less relevant to me, like the survival tips, but obviously that’s still great info to have. If you like nature and want to get out in it more, and especially if you never had any basic outdoors training as a child, this is worth a read.

Forest School for Grown-ups is a fun combination of useful, practical instruction and whimsical stories.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you're looking to go out into nature and learn more, this is the book for you. It's not just for forests but it has so much rich information!

My local botanical garden boasts a beautiful forest. It serves as a place of peace and refuge for me. So, I was very pleased to receive an ARC on the wisdom to be found in the woods.

This title includes much that is of interest. For example, a year in the forest is described. There are then chapters on survival skills, foods, navigation, woodland skills, forest projects and more. Throughout, there are lovely line drawings and photos. There is so much packed into this 200 plus page book.

If you love the outdoors, give this title a look. It will teach you a great deal. I may never do some of these projects, like felling a tree, but it was fascinating to learn about them.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Forest School for Grown-Ups is a useful and accessible collection of tutorials and tips on wildcrafting and self sufficiency in the wilds written and curated by Richard Irvine. Due out 10th May 2022 from Chronicle Books, it's 160 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is a fun and information rich guide for adults (and older kids) which contains tips and tutorials for engaging and learning activities outdoors. The chapters are grouped thematically: survival, foraging, navigation, forest skills, projects, meditative/emotion, and play and creativity boosting. The activities are appropriate for a wide age range and the number of suggested participants as well as safety considerations are provided by the authors along with alternatives and related activities.

Many of the activities are appropriate for all ages. Tutorials are presented with info on setting, learning goals, tools and supplies, and optional activities. The step by step instructions which follow are well written and specific. I really liked that the authors had a mostly hands-off style of engagement, suggesting to facilitators that they provide the minimum of intervention and only then in regard to safety.

The graphics and illustrations are woodsy and really suit the style of the book. The text and layout are high contrast and easy to read with simple line drawn illustrations and well rendered stock photography throughout.

Although it's aimed at kids, there is a quite surprising amount of bushcraft and practical survival advice contained here. There are also a lot of fun activities (rendering the pigments in leaves, making spore prints, navigating, and acquiring food for example) which hide lots of practical skills.

Five stars. This is a -very- well written and presented book. It would make a superlative choice for public or school library acquisition, makers' groups, youth activity groups, smallholders, and similar.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This was a gorgeous book to read and look at! I will certainly be purchasing a copy for my bookshelf to mark up and highlight. So much good information and perfect for beginners and people who have never left the city!

This book is so cool! I regret that I don't have time to read in depth before it's published. When I picked it up I didn't notice I only had a few days.

I love the way that interspersed between sections the author put folk stories and beliefs about nature. It gave a almost whimsy to a "survivalist" type book I've never encountered before.

The art and diagrams we're really pleasing to look at and I loved that there was color throughout. Often times wilderness books come across as textbooks that are easy to lose interest in.

I was so impressed by this book, I am pretty sure I'll be picking up a copy just so I can have more time with it. My family are big on camping and crafting and live a semi homestead lifestyle so this really is right up my alley!

So I thought Forest School for Grown-Ups would be a very rudimentary book geared towards city folks who have never been in nature. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is so much more than that! Disclaimer: I have several friends who run a forest school for children in Faulkner's Woods in North Mississippi. I have seen what they teach and learn, and was holding this book to those standards. I will say that after reading Irvine's book, I will be recommending this title to even their teachers, and to anyone who is equally entranced by the photos and activities they highlight daily. Forest School for Grown-Ups teaches practical skills to anyone who is interested in going outdoors to witness the wild and beautiful world we have available at our fingertips. It teaches us how to leave no harmful imprints on that world, how to be responsible visitors, and how to safely interact with nature. It teaches a respect for the world around us. There is just such a breadth of practical knowledge here, I will likely be purchasing this book for everyone I know. As summer approaches and the urge to go outdoors increases, I want to put this book in the hands of everyone who has been trapped inside for the last few years. Whether you have your own forest to explore, or a park or yard or any area of nature, Richard Irvine has something to teach you. Highly recommended reading, thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy. I absolutely will be buying this one as soon as it is released!

Now, more than ever, people are seeing the importance of a relationship with the great out doors. This is the book for anyone looking to take a step outside their comfort zone and do so comfortably. 'Forest School' a wealth of knowledge ranging from navigation and fire starting to crafting and cooking with everything in between.
It's great jumping off point for anyone looking to spend valuable time in nature, especially those with zero experience outside, but is also a thorough refresher for anyone with a background in camping or scouting looking to brush up on their survival skills. Get to know the Forest and all it's inhabitants, as well as best practices for exploring and respecting your surroundings, all from one delightfully illustrated book.
Thank you to Netgalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy.