A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week

'A profound meditation on the human need for connection with nature' Peter Wohlleben

James Canton spent two years sitting with and studying the Honywood Oak. A colossus of a tree, it would have been a sapling when Magna Carta was signed. Inevitably he needs to slow down in order to appreciate it fully, to tune in to its slower time frame, to connect with the ecosystem that lives around it, inside it and beneath it. He examines our long-standing dependency on oak trees, and how that has developed and morphed into myth and legend. We no longer build our houses and boats from them or grind their acorns into flour in times of famine; physically we don't need them in the same way now. Or do we?

The Oak Papers is a stunning, meditative and healing book about the lessons we can learn from the natural world, if only we slow down enough to listen.

"In the same way that Canton immersed himself in the attentive activity of observing the oak, this is a book to return to again and again. As Canton found solace through spending time with nature, through the pages of The Oak Papers you see more and more, then you forget yourself, then you find out who you are" - * Daily Telegraph *

"An enchanting piece of nature writing and a meditation on finding connection in a disconnected world" - * Independent *

"An uplifting example of nature writing" - * Daily Mail *

"James Canton's book contemplating humanity's connection to the mighty oak tree has arrived at the perfect time . . . at the heart of the book lies ponderings on human connectivity with nature - the calm and stillness reflected onto us by our living world . . . Above all, the book examines how nature is a place away from the anxieties, pressures and noise of daily life" - * Daily Gazette *

"[An] ode to nature . . . In such turbulent times, Canton's meditation on the life of an oak and the wider natural world is a reminder to stop, take a breath and take note of our surroundings" - * Radio Times *

"A tribute to the power and history of the oak" - * Daily Telegraph *