“I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are,” reports a fourth grader. But it’s not only computers, television, and video games that are keeping kids inside. It’s also their parents’ fears of traffic, strangers, Lyme disease, and West Nile virus; their schools’ emphasis on more and more homework; their structured schedules; and their lack of access to natural areas. Local governments, neighborhood associations, and even organizations devoted to the outdoors are placing legal and regulatory constraints on many wild spaces, sometimes making natural play a crime.

As children’s connections to nature diminish and the social, psychological, and spiritual implications become apparent, new research shows that nature can offer powerful therapy for such maladies as depression, obesity, and attentiondeficit disorder. Environment-based education dramatically improves standardized test scores and grade-point averages and develops skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that childhood experiences in nature stimulate creativity.

In Last Child in the Woods , Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers, and environmentalists who recognize the threat and offer solutions. Louv shows us an alternative future, one in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply—and find the joy of family connectedness in the process. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

知名儿童权益宣导人，是资深记者，也是畅销作家，长期关注并投身于自然，家庭和社区领域的事务。现任儿童与自然网络主席，该组织旨在发起国际性的儿童与自然连结的运动。他同时是美国国家儿童与自然论坛的荣誉共同主席，该论坛由保育基金会赞助，长期为全美各地鼓励儿童走出户外的计画提供资金。他目前也是克莱姆森大学的访问学人。

长期在“纽约时报”，“华盛顿邮报”等报章杂志发表文章，1984年至2007年间，为“圣地牙哥联合论坛报”专栏作家，也是“家长”杂志的编辑顾问委员会成员，美国国家儿童发展科学评议会顾问，以及福特基金会“改变世界的领导力”奖项顾问。他亦活跃于媒体，经常在全美及世界各地发表演说，是“哥伦比亚广播公司晨间秀”，“早安美国“，”今日“，”哥伦比亚广播公司夜间新闻“，”全国广播公司晚间新闻“，”国事论衡“等电视广播节目的常客。长期致力于公领域的他获奖无数，2008年，更获得了美国奥杜邦奖的肯定，奥杜邦协会是全球最大且最具行动力及公信力的环保团体。已是两个男孩的父亲的他，正努力催生第八本书的出版，不过他说，比起来，他仍热爱钓鱼胜过写作。