Take Me Outside

Colin's journey across the expansive and glorious Canadian landscape reminds us of the importance of putting down our screens, getting off the couch and stepping outside. Nature heals, it has the power to bring clarity to the things we lose track of in our hyperstimulated environments. The most important things are often the simple things: fresh snow on an evergreen, fallen leaves on a forest path, the laughter of friends around a campfire.

Colin Harris has an important message: people, not just kids, need to get off their screens and get outside more often. He's so passionate about it that he ran across Canada to help raise awareness, and then wrote a book about the endeavour.

The very idea of running across a country as big as Canada is in itself inspiring. Harris writes about it with such humility that you almost catch yourself thinking that running 40+ kilometres in a day is actually doable for most people. It isn't. This is the upside and the downside of this book for me. Colin is a relatable and likeable narrator. He asks the questions that we're all often asking and verbalizes his doubts along the way. He doesn't toot his own horn. Yet he writes about incredible distances with such a nonchalant attitude that at times it left me wanting to know more. Being a non-runner, I think I wanted more of a window into what it takes to pound out that many kilometres in a day, day after day, for months.

Another area that gets glossed over for me is the conversations that he's having with Canadians and educators along the way. More dialogue might have cracked the window open further, so when he reflects on them later, the reader is in on it, too. All the same, he does a phenomenal job of reeling his readers into his feelings about these conversations, so you can understand the depth of them even if you don't know the contents.

Those items aside, I couldn't put this book down, which is a good sign. Early on in the book, we know he gets to the other end of the country, yet we're still drawn to follow his entire journey. Harris is a natural writer and he's funny in all the right places. If inspiring people to get outside was his primary aim, I think he achieved that with this book.

When I picked up a copy of TMO, I expected to feel inspired by the author’s incredible journey across Canada and by the important cause that encourages all of us to spend more time outdoors. I was surprised at how difficult it was to put down and how this was the kind of storytelling that made me laugh out loud and tear up at the same time. It’s not just about our beautiful country, history and strength but a story about family, complexities of friendship, and discovery. This book deserves to be on summer reading lists everywhere (despite the less than summer-worthy weather often faced by the author).

Everyone from educators, parents and students to new Canadians, politicians and farmers can find a place in these pages. Colin artfully recounts the experience of running from East to West and still finds space for raw, authentic and vulnerable exploration of what it means to be connected to place. It is from this place of humility that Colin invites a place for the Natural World into each and everyone's life; wherever that may be and whoever we may be. With Colin, we come to understand outside as a tangible requisite to learning.

There is something for everyone in this book, I highly recommend it!