Outdoor Immersion and Reason:
Finding a Way Out
written and illustrated by Stuart Thompson, PhD
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The scientific evidence for the critical importance of outdoor immersion for all of us is now overwhelming. This evidence has been piling up for decades. Outdoor immersion—from dedicated gardening to distance hiking—has been shown to enhance thinking skills, creative aptitude, curiosity building, and self esteem.
Juxtapose, now, this highly positive, individual and society enhancing activity with the wish thinking associated with religious belief systems. Can outdoor immersion provide a refuge from the irrational? Can outdoor immersion strengthen the thoughtful and humane individual as he or she runs the gauntlet of the unfounded and absurd?
Divided into three parts, the book looks: (1) at the hard, scientific evidence for the value of outdoor involvement; (2) at some common—and actual—instances of religious missteps and; (3) at a resolution of the two.
Paperback: 206 pages
Illustrated with 19 black and white images painted by the author
© 2017 Hairy Eyeballs Press
ISBN: 978-0-9851082-2-9
Product dimensions: 5½ x 8½ inches
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To My Daughter:
Stuff I’ve Learned While Playing Outside
written and illustrated by Stuart Thompson, PhD
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To My Daughter: Stuff I’ve Learned While Playing Outside realizes some truths learned while doing outdoor activities—hiking, cycling, rock climbing and canoeing. This letter to a grown daughter becomes now an open letter, a collection of short stories. The stories have a clear, unmistakable relationship to all of us. Encountered are scenes from the Appalachian Trail, the Grand Canyon, Arches National Park and other outdoor settings. Always encountered is the familiar made a bit more meaningful.
The book stands as a contribution to outdoor education and, by extension, experiential education. There is stuff to be discovered—by all of us—by playing outside. Thompson embarrasses himself with the telling of some of the stories. So be it, he sighs. Sometimes it’s important to laugh at one’s own foibles.
Download a free sample chapter (600 KB pdf)
Hard cover and paperback editions: 296 pages
Illustrated with 21 black and white images painted by the author
© 2012 Hairy Eyeballs Press
ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-9851082-0-5
ISBN (paperback): 978-0-9851082-1-2
Product dimensions: 5½ x 8½ inches