Susan J. Tweit in conversation with David B. Williams — 'Earthbound'

A guide to revitalizing one's innate bond with nature through weekly devotionals and mindfulness practices for all seasons

Third Place Books welcomes to our Lake Forest Park store to discuss her new book, Earthbound: A Year of Mindful Connection in Nature. An inspirational gift book, Earthbound invites readers to rekindle their innate bond with the earth and its web of lives through weekly devotionals and mindfulness practices. Author David B. Williams joins in conversation.

This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!

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This event is free to attend. Registration is recommended in advance.

About the Earthbound. . .

We are not individuals but ecosystems, yet as we have drifted farther from what Thoreau called “the actual world,” our physical, emotional, and spiritual health suffer.

A growing body of research shows that simple “nature exposure,” time spent outdoors, can ease ailments ranging from high blood pressure and ADHD to depression and a loss of empathy. Rekindling this cell-deep bond with Earth’s living community is essential to the health of both humanity and the planet. In Earthbound, author Susan J Tweit invites us to heal and revitalize our frenetic modern lives, and the planet itself, by restoring human wholeness through terraphilia: our innate connection to, and affection for, Earth and its web of life. Earthbound is a devotional that guides readers through the seasons, offering simple yet profound practices, gorgeous nature photography, and haiku to orient us to the natural cycles of the year. In so doing, she reminds us that to be human is to be part of nature.

The practice of terraphilia is neither difficult nor distant. It requires no special equipment or wilderness trek. The invitation lives in a nearby tree, the coo of city pigeons, or a single star piercing the night sky. As Earthbound teaches, a practice of daily, mindful connection to nature restores wonder, belonging, compassion, and purpose. Earthbound calls readers home to their essential humanity, and to a living Earth that depends on their return.

Susan J. Tweit, a plant ecologist by training, traded fieldwork for writing when she realized she loved telling the stories in the data. Her thirteen books of creative non-fiction range from memoir to travel are united by the idea of “re-storying” the human-nature bond. Her writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers as diverse as Audubon, Popular Mechanics and the Los Angeles Times, and in Best American Nature Writing along with two dozen other anthologies. Her work has won awards including the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year, Sarton Women’s Books Award and the Colorado Book Award. She writes the popular “Cultivating Terraphilia” Substack newsletter, is an active and passionate public speaker, and has taught workshops across the country. A plant-geek and self-titled “camera slut”, she lives on Colorado’s rural West Slope, where big sagebrush perfumes the air. Terraphilia is her love language. Plants are her people. Cultivating Terraphilia, her Substack newsletter, is read in all 50 states and 55 countries.

David B. Williams writes about science and history. His many books include Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound; Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle's Topography; Stories in Stone: Travels through Urban Geology; and In the Range of Fire and Ice: A Human and Natural History of Washington's Cascades. Williams writes a free weekly newsletter, The Street Smart Naturalist.

About Third Place Books

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events