Books I Read In July

I travelled a lot last month – from London to Melbourne to Adelaide, then back to Melbourne. Amongst packing up one home and trying to make another, I found solace in reading about nature, adventure, creativity, and travel. Here are the books I read in July 2022.

Earth’s Wild Music: Celebrating and Defending the Songs of the Natural World by Kathleen Dean Moore

Moore is a philosopher whose work has primarily focussed on environmental issues. In recent years, she has concentrated on the challenges of climate change. In this collection of essays, Moore pays close attention to the music of nature, the sounds and songs that fill natural habitats, and how human activity is overpowering the world’s natural music. This is beautiful nature writing, rich in detail, and surprising in the careful observation of the life that fills our earth. Exquisite and melancholy, this book makes you want to slow down and be more curious about the sounds you hear and the creatures that make those sounds.

Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be by Steven Pressfield

In popular media, Pressfield is best known for writing The Legend of Bagger Vance. But in creative circles, Pressfield has garnered something of a cult following for his book The War of Art, which tackles the question of writer’s block and the idea of “resistance”, a kind of internal struggle that holds us back from creating. Since then, Pressfield has written several books exploring this theme, and this is the latest in that line. Here, Pressfield tackles ego and self-sabotage with the kind of straightforward explanations and advice his fans have come to love. If you’re familiar with Pressfield, then you know what to expect. This book delivers the requisite moments of discomfortingly familiar failings and inspiring calls to embrace your creative freedom.

Silence: In the Age of Noise by Erling Kagge (trans Becky L. Crook)

Norwegian explorer Kagge was the first person to reach the North Pole, the South Pole, and the summit of Everest on foot. So he knows something about getting away from it all, and it’s not surprising that, for Kagge, silence takes on a metaphysical and mystical character. He believes modern life affords few opportunities to enjoy silence, and as a result our experience of life is less rich than it should be. In Kagge’s experience, adventure, silence, and making meaning of life are intertwined. A unique book.

Revenants by Adam Aitken

This collection of poems starts with a homage to the poet’s father, who lived and worked in Asia during the dying years of European colonialism. It then moves on to reflect on the poet’s experiences in France and Hawai’i. What we observe and how we are observed are recurring themes throughout an uneven collection that holds just enough ideas and engaging details to maintain the reader’s attention.

Other Books I’ve Read In 2022

Rather than use some other app or service I’ve chosen to collect all my reading here on the blog from now on. You can see my reading lists from other months here.
Books I Read In June 2022
Books I Read In May 2022
Books I Read In April 2022
Books I Read In March 2022
Books I Read In February 2022
Books I Read In January 2022