Craig Foster (Thorsons)
My Octopus Teacher won the 2021 Oscar for best documentary and struck a nerve with audiences worldwide. Gently immersing viewers in the underwater world of a golden kelp forest off the coast of South Africa鈥檚 Western Cape, directors Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed told the story of Craig Foster, a South African film-maker who developed an emotional connection with an octopus, which helped lift him out of a period of depression and burnout.
Foster鈥檚 new book, Amphibious Soul: Finding the wild in a tame world, is part memoir and part manifesto. It expands on the film鈥檚 central idea that humans have lost their sense of connection to plants, other animals and the environment. This is to the detriment of our physical and mental health. 鈥淔or 300,000 years of human history,鈥� he writes, 鈥渨e lived in accord with nature, as free as any other animal.鈥� But the past 10,000 years of settled life, increasingly indoors and separate from each other and nature, was bad for us, leaving 鈥渙ur wild intuition鈥� deeply buried inside鈥�.
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Foster seems to be an obsessive character. Early on, he admits he is a workaholic, with 16-hour stints in the editing suite costing him his first marriage and threatening his second. While My Octopus Teacher suggested a man working through a mid-life crisis, Amphibious Soul hints at a longer-running malaise, as Foster seeks solace in nature, even swimming into a crocodile鈥檚 lair to get a 鈥渉it鈥� of wildness.
He is a firm believer in the restorative powers of cold water, not just swimming and freediving without a wetsuit in cold Atlantic waters, but sinking himself in iced water in his freezer, even though it sometimes makes him ill. Despite the debate about the long-term benefits and dangers, Foster is evangelical: daily exposure to cold water and wild animals 鈥渓ets the primal mind know it鈥檚 alive, stimulating and strengthening the immune system鈥�.
Inspired by the San hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari desert, Foster also writes about 鈥渢谤补肠办颈苍驳鈥�, a process of looking closely at a landscape and learning to read the signs left by wild animals. He calls himself a nature 鈥渄etective鈥�, identifying questions or mysteries, then trying to solve them.
He observes a giant clingfish above the ocean surface moving up towards a limpet clamped onto a rock. 鈥淚n a fraction of a second, as a large wave cannoned up the rock, the fish grabbed hold of the limpet in its large teeth and twisted its muscular body about a hundred degrees. The clingfish surfed down the rock and in one gulp of its massive mouth swallowed the limpet, shell and all,鈥� he writes. 鈥淚鈥檇 been a witness to the secret behavior of an air-breathing, wave-surfing superpredator!鈥�
As well as including his own 鈥渢谤补肠办颈苍驳鈥� photographs in the book and a QR code linking to video clips he has made of his encounters with wildlife, Foster鈥檚 final chapter helps us explore our local environments. We can, he says, reconnect with nature by revisiting the same spot 鈥� whether it is a pond behind our home, a nearby park or a hiking trail 鈥� and recording what we see.
Enthusiasm aside, there are flaws. I would have appreciated more context and deeper exploration of the subjects that Foster raises beyond his personal experiences, such as rising levels of anxiety, stress and depression in modern societies, the pitfalls of technology and the benefits of spending time in nature.
Science-minded folks will also raise an eyebrow at Foster鈥檚 belief that the San can merge their minds and bodies with the animals they track. When his friend and colleague Ehrlich reports she once experienced being inside the consciousness of a southern rock agama lizard, Foster writes: 鈥淚 knew this was an authentic experience.鈥� I am more sceptical. Foster鈥檚 references to 鈥渢he wild god within鈥� and our 鈥渙riginal mother鈥� also have a whiff of woo-woo about them.
But he is right to argue that our detachment from the natural world is leading us to destroy wildlife and our planet. There is a compelling message at the heart of the book about the benefits of keeping 鈥渙ur curiosity bubbling鈥� and connecting with nature, one likely to prompt readers to consider how to get more wildness into their own lives.
Graeme Green is a writer based聽in聽Derbyshire, UK
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