Linda Akeson McGurk

n The Open-Air Life, Linda McGurk introduces readers to a wide array of Nordic customs and practices that focus on slowing down and spending more of one’s time outdoors. An outdoorsy cousin of hygge, friluftsliv is what Nordic people do outside all day before they cozy up in front of the fireplace with their wool socks on and a cup of hot cocoa. For country and city lovers alike, this book will serve as an essential guide to slowing down in this modern, fast-paced society and connecting with the natural world.

I am all for slowing down and getting outdoors and have always enjoyed hiking.

For many people who hike there's nothing like hiking to a place where you're completely surrounded by natural beauty.… (mais)

While I wholeheartedly agree with the primary concept of this book - let the kids play outside as much as possible, this book was a letdown. It was boring and recycled the same ideas over and over. There were a couple of interesting anecdotes. Honestly, if you have really never heard anything about the Scandinavian approach to raising resilient kids by allowing them to play outside, you'd do yourself a favour reading a blog post somewhere online with a similar title. I guess the author tried to capitalize on the whole "hygge" trend, which is ok, but this book did not deliver anything new.

That being said, I found it comforting that once again I can confirm that Canadians do it differently and the approach here where I live is a lot more Scandinavian than American (at least as described in this book, hence anecdotal, but still...).… (mais)

Swedish-born and raised Linda McGurk moved to small-town Indiana with her American husband in order to start their family. She quickly realized that the outdoors lifestyle she embraced as both a child and adult was not normal. After being fined for allowing her kids to play in a creek, she set out to explore the differing cultural approaches to the great outdoors. With her father facing a health crisis in her native Sweden, she and her two girls plan to spend six months there. What they experienced became the basis for this memoir. McGurk looks deeply at how Scandinavian culture values the outdoors and the benefits that are felt as a result. This book is an eye-opening look at just how much our culture needs to embrace the outdoors, not just for ourselves but for society as a whole.… (mais)