Thank you to everyone who joined us live for the Nature Connections Book Club.
For anyone who couldn’t join us, a summary of our discussions and details of our next meetup are below.
Your Thoughts on... Reason for Hope by Jane Goodall.
Our group praised this captivating and insightful book. We were fascinated to read about Goodall’s spiritual journey and groundbreaking research through her work in Gombe and across her life. We were particularly interested in Goodall’s approach to research. One of our members likened it to a dance class; if you want to understand a dance class you have to get involved. Goodall certainly jumped straight into life in Gombe and became part of the lives of the chimpanzees in order to understand them.
We discussed the spiritual content of the book and recognised the unusual approach that Goodall takes in choosing to openly share her spiritual experiences. We acknowledged that this is often avoided in the scientific community but Goodall’s writing clearly communicates how her research is intertwined with her spiritual beliefs. Her conviction in her beliefs (both spiritual and moral) really shine in this book.
Goodall’s writing clearly communicates how her research is intertwined with her spiritual beliefs. Her conviction in her beliefs (both spiritual and moral) really shine in this book.
We discussed intelligence and what that means. Goodall provides examples of intelligence in chimpanzees seen through her research such as tool use. We talked about how limiting intelligence to one form such as problem solving and tool use misses the bigger picture. Goodall touches on this too, sharing examples of other forms of intelligence from the chimpanzees such as emotional intelligence. We discussed the fact that humans are often viewed as the most intelligent species but our ability to understand others is limited. In some cases we wondered if animals can understand us better than we can understand them and we asked are they (animals) unintelligent for living in a different way, or are we (humans) unintelligent for not understanding?
We discussed the fact that humans are often viewed as the most intelligent species but our ability to understand others is limited.
Finally we drew parallels with some of our other book choices. Jane Goodall faces scepticism from the science community about her research as does one of the characters in our previous book, The Overstory.
Taking Your Book into Nature
This book club is about building a connection to Nature through literature. In one part of Goodall’s book, she shared the conversations she would have with the landscape as she explored the forests and followed the chimps.
“I named them and greeted them as friends. “Good morning, Peak,” I would say as I arrived there each morning; “Hello, Stream” when I collected my water; “Oh, Wind, for Heaven's sake, calm down” as it howled overhead, ruining my chance of locating the chimps.”
I would challenge you to have a little conversation with Nature the next time you head out. This could be out loud or in your head, Nature can hear you either way. So go ahead and greet the trees on your street, scold the breeze for messing up your hair and shush the birds when you’re trying to think. How do you feel casually connecting with Nature in this way?
We can’t thank everyone enough who came along and contributed to this session. If you’d like to join the discussion you can share your thoughts with us at learning@treesisters.org or join our next book club meet-up through the link below.
Our Next Book:
Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard
When: Wednesday 22nd January, 7pm GMT, 2pm EST & 11am PST.
Tickets are £3 and available now via the button below.
If you know of a great book and would like to suggest it for a future book club, please let us know using our book suggestion form.