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A review by lotties_library_at_underwoods
Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes by Alastair Humphreys
5.0
Wow! This isn't the kind of book that I'd usually choose to read at all and yet when my husband mentioned it yesterday (having been discussed on Radio Four I believe) somewhere my imagination was captured. It arrived today and frankly, what's not to love? It is a beautiful thing that I will bedelighted to have on my bookshelves. It feels nice to hold, it contains nothing but gorgeous photographs of the great outdoors, many with Alistair in the frame too, and the text has a modern and edgy look to it.
What we have here is a man who likes to have adventures - and who has had at least his fair share. He talks about some microadventures he has had and that he recommends we all go out and try. These are the kind of things that one might do with a bit of imagination and if feeling a bit hem med in by everyday life. The kind of thing one could do of a weekend or even after work. The author is quick and clear to say, and repeat, that he knows we all have lives, jobs, commitments, financial restraints and families, and yet he is urging us to find our own microadventures, to find the time and make it work. He is pretty clear that the book he has written is intended to inspire - some people will want to imitate him, others will just take the idea and run with it.
The bottom line is that I feel entirely uplifted and motivated. Anyone who knows me will categorically say that I am not really the micro (or macro) adventure sort. Indeed my teenage daughters think that I have almost certainly lost the plot having spent most of the afternoon either reading the book or scouring the internet for tents and campsites. What this book has done for me is to highlight that even though I have four children, and two of them definitely too young to sleep outside or walk far, I can still take them outside and away to have adventures. We will be starting small, we will be camping on a site - which we have never done - but we will be starting somewhere. I know there will be those reading this who say I have missed the point, I am supposed to want to walk 20 miles with nothing but a sleeping bag and set up camp overlooking a lake, but I am not able to. What I am able to do though is make a start, to get the children into having microadventures so that as they grow our adventure potential will too.
This is great book, I will be enjoying it for some time to come.
What we have here is a man who likes to have adventures - and who has had at least his fair share. He talks about some microadventures he has had and that he recommends we all go out and try. These are the kind of things that one might do with a bit of imagination and if feeling a bit hem med in by everyday life. The kind of thing one could do of a weekend or even after work. The author is quick and clear to say, and repeat, that he knows we all have lives, jobs, commitments, financial restraints and families, and yet he is urging us to find our own microadventures, to find the time and make it work. He is pretty clear that the book he has written is intended to inspire - some people will want to imitate him, others will just take the idea and run with it.
The bottom line is that I feel entirely uplifted and motivated. Anyone who knows me will categorically say that I am not really the micro (or macro) adventure sort. Indeed my teenage daughters think that I have almost certainly lost the plot having spent most of the afternoon either reading the book or scouring the internet for tents and campsites. What this book has done for me is to highlight that even though I have four children, and two of them definitely too young to sleep outside or walk far, I can still take them outside and away to have adventures. We will be starting small, we will be camping on a site - which we have never done - but we will be starting somewhere. I know there will be those reading this who say I have missed the point, I am supposed to want to walk 20 miles with nothing but a sleeping bag and set up camp overlooking a lake, but I am not able to. What I am able to do though is make a start, to get the children into having microadventures so that as they grow our adventure potential will too.
This is great book, I will be enjoying it for some time to come.