Just Finished Reading: The Weather Detective – Rediscovering Nature’s Secret Signs by Peter Wohlleben (FP: 2012) [161pp] 

We Brits LOVE talking about, thinking about and complaining about the weather. Anyone who has lived here for any length of time can appreciate why: because we have SO much of it. Experiencing all four seasons in a single day hardly deserves a comment, while moving just a few miles in any direction can feel like climatic time travel. Just today I heard a radio announcer say that people are wearing flip-flops in the Southeast and flippers in Scotland where some areas had two weeks' worth of usual October rain in just 8 hours. So, you can probably imagine how much I was looking forward to reading this slim volume – the only problem is that it wasn’t really about the weather. 

Although I wouldn’t classify the title or the blurb as 100% misleading, I think it was the high 80’s. The author did indeed mention the weather (and indeed climate) reasonable often and even, as per the blur/title, showed how observing nature can inform us (or at least indicate) as to what the weather is doing, about to do, or has recent done. But the overwhelming majority of this book is about a different subject entirely – gardening! Now, I’ll be the very first to admit that I am not a natural gardener. My idea of gardening is generally cutting back the growth enough to see my back fence and stopping any of my plants annoying the neighbours – the less said about me dropping a small tree I had just cut down into my rather shocked neighbours' garden the better here! 

So, did I hate this book? Surprisingly, no I didn’t. For one thing I really liked the author's style. It felt as if I was a young kid who had almost unthinkingly offered to help my Grandpa on his allotment and, as we wandered around the plot, weeding here and digging there, he and his friend's discussed nature, climate change, local animals, birds and insects and, yes, the weather. It was a very ‘chatty’ and honestly lovely to read kind of book – just not on the subject I was hoping for. So, this is definitely not a bad book. If you’re interested in gardening – specifically in Northern Europe – and like hearing advice from people who certainly know what they’re talking about this could definitely be the book for you. It’s a cosy, warm hearted, chatty, pleasant read that will leave you feeling somewhat more informed and just a little bit closer to nature. Recommended – especially for the gardeners out there!    

Translated from the German by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp 

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