Chris Salisbury - Wild nights out : the magic of exploring the outdoors after dark

PRAISE FORWILD NIGHTS OUT

So inspiring! Reading Wild Nights Out is like being given an invitation to a whole new dimension of life. Exploring and nature spotting dont need to stop when the sun goes down. For grown-ups, children, and anyone in between, this book offers guidance, ideas, challenges to try and games to play in the dusk and dark. But, more than anything else, it encourages us to cross a threshold into a new world and go on a nocturnal ramble to look and listen for where the wild things are.

Simon Reeve, author and broadcaster

If you are a creature intrigued about the dimpsy hours and its goings-on, this is the perfect companion for your adventures. As the planet spins us away from the sun, a world less explored is to be found a time of new creatures, celestial bodies, new sights, sounds and smells. This book gently holds your hand and guides you into the mysterious folds of the darkness, helping you get the most out of the night. Nocturnal empowerment for the curious.

Nick Baker, naturalist, TV presenter and author

If you once wished the days to never end, with Chriss glorious and concise re-enchantment of the night, you too will soon become a nocturnal convert, willing your children to stay up and out as late as possible. Wild Nights Out isnt so much about conquering the fear of the dark but redeeming this realm through ancient and intrepid means of befriending it, inspiring wonderful ways to play beyond the reach of electricitys falsifying security.

Sam Lee, folk singer, Radio 4 presenter,
and Mercury Prizenominated artist

Chris Salisbury knows of what he speaks. This storyteller has been thoroughly drubbed in natures mood swings and come up the wiser for it. Wild Nights Out is an inventive mapping of that accumulated knowledge. Long before it was even vaguely fashionable, Chris was walking the roads of wildness and story, and this book is a lovely testament to his devotion. Both pragmatic and poetic, Wild Nights Out will be a worthy companion for anyone who yearns for a fresh and unexpected relationship to the living world. There are big, powerful energies out there in the dark, and a few have slipped into this book, chewing on its edges.

Dr Martin Shaw, author of Smoke Hole and Courting the Wild Twin

A fantastic mix of usefulness and imagination, of practical experience and love for the living world.

Jay Griffiths, author of Kith and Wild: An Elemental Journey

Wild Nights Out is the nights song, seducing us like a siren on a rock, beckoning us to dive deep into an enchanted world. Chris Salisbury has collated a hundred reasons to step over this threshold and explore, perhaps for the first time, the wonder of the wild night. Stars, stories, songs and games come out of his wizards hat to reacquaint us with the mysteries of nocturnal nature. As an educator and parent, Im so glad this book has been offered to a world hungry for meaning and connection.

Charlotte Church, singer and broadcaster;
founder, Awen Project

In his wonderful book, Wild Nights Out, Chris Salisbury reminds us of so many things forgotten. The night is truly fully half of our lives. Yet today we live as if we only experience the day. Through his wonderful stories, lore, science and accessible activities, Chris helps us remember that we are, as humans, at least half darkness. Through the journey of Wild Nights Out, we are remembering the part of us that has been hidden in recent times, and its like meeting a long-lost relative that we truly love.

Jon Young, author of Coyotes Guide to
Connecting with Nature and What the Robin Knows

Wild Nights Out is a masterful guide for night walks. Chock-full of engaging games and fascinating information, this book makes leading night-time excursions a joy. Chris Salisbury has created a magnificent and comprehensive resource for anyone who loves the night.

Joseph Bharat Cornell, author of Sharing Nature,
Deep Nature Play, and Flow Learning

Chris Salisbury is a consummate guide to the night and its chrysalis-like capacity to convert us from sailors of safe harbors to celebrants of uncharted seas wanderers amidst nocturnal creatures (like owls, bats, and badgers) or the existential conundrums that the night sky elicits (like Why are we here?). Chris doesnt resolve the frights and riddles of the dark, but deftly draws us in, supporting us to make our own dazzling discoveries and to be shape-shifted by our night-walk odysseys. Wild Nights Out: dont go into the dark without it.

Bill Plotkin, PhD, author of Soulcraft and The Journey of Soul Initiation

Wild Nights Out is neatly book ended with the question why is it dark? and takes the practitioner on a journey exploring this and many other questions about the shady side of the planet. It is not just Chriss inimitable poetry that make this such a great read, it is the enticing experiences and journeys into the night that Chris takes us on that we can easily replicate, adapt and conduct with our groups of learners which will help relate to and answer those questions of the night. This book is packed full of activities for immersing learners in the world of dusk to dawn that can be adapted for any age and gives the all-important health and safety tips to help people feel comfortable and yet still feel the nervous anticipation, excitement and beauty of the darkened hours. There are poems and stories, ways to use stories around the campfire, lots of natural history and tuning in activities and titbits, journeys into different habitats from the river to the seashore, and of course ways of magically interacting with the night sky.

Jon Cree, founding chair, Forest School Association;
coauthor of The Essential Guide to Forest School and Nature Pedagogy;
veteran educator and nature connection trainer

Chris Salisbury is without doubt one of the worlds foremost outdoor ecological educators. In this marvellously well-written book, Chris shares his decades of wisdom and experience about how to bring children into the presence of the night as a living being, with her sounds, sights, smells, depths and imaginings. Even if you dont use this book with children specifically in mind, like me, youll be enchanted from start to finish by its capacity to introduce you and people of all ages to the wonders of the night. Youll feel a powerful urge to go out into the night yourself with Chris and his book as guides to wake up your forgotten childs vivid perceptions of nature.

Dr Stephan Harding, Deep Ecology Research Fellow,
senior lecturer in Holistic Science, Schumacher College, Dartington, UK

Chris Salisbury piques curiosity in such a way that brings people beyond knowledge and information, and into meaningful and real connection and relationship. As a storyteller and educator, his ability to weave together natural history, science, story, poetry, and myth in a graceful and compelling way is evident among these pages. I see it as critical to provide educators, and people in general, not just with good information, natural history, and science, but also with brilliant strategies for bringing people along for the ride in a way that is fun, creative, and artistic. Advocates for the human right to deeply connect to place could well use a guide that helps us find narratives that weave together in a soulful approach to the lifelong journey of falling in love with the earth. Wild Nights Out helps us do that.

Marcus Reynerson, adult immersion program manager
and lead instructor, Wilderness Awareness School

I cannot think of a better all-round book to enchant your familys evening walk or an enthralling night-time adventure with groups of children or adults. It offers a wealth of nature-connecting ideas, stories and games. All convey Chris Salisburys deep involvement with the creation of fabulous darkness experiences in the outdoors. The book belongs in every family home and library. Buy it.