Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being

A 2026 Nautilus Book Award Winner

From the acclaimed founder of environmental neuroscience, Dr. Marc Berman, comes a groundbreaking guide that reveals how interacting with nature can be the secret to improved mental and physical health.

Dr. Marc Berman, the pioneering creator of the field of environmental neuroscience, has discovered the surprising connection between mind, body, and environment, with a special emphasis on the natural environment. He has devoted his life to studying it. If you sometimes feel drained, distracted, or depressed, Dr. Berman has identified the elements of a “nature prescription” that can boost your energy, sharpen your focus, change your mood, and improve your mental and physical health. He also reveals how central attention is to all of these functions, and how interactions with nature can restore it. Nature and the Mind is both an introduction to a revolutionary new scientific field and a helpful guide to better living.

In these pages, he draws on his original research and research from others and shares life-altering findings such as:
-Just eleven more trees on your street can decrease cardio-metabolic disorders like stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.
-A short walk in nature can improve attention by almost twenty percent, decrease depression symptoms, and make people feel more spiritual and self-reflective.
-More greenspace around schools and homes is related to better school performance, reduced crime, and improved working memory.
-Many of these effects can be achieved even if you don’t like nature.

With an engaging and approachable style, Dr. Berman offers the nature prescription for physical health, mental health, and social health. Importantly, you don’t have to pack up your house and move to the country to participate. The nature prescription includes practical ways to bring the outside indoors and to “naturize” our spaces, no matter where you live. The positive effects of nature don’t just end at the individual; contact with nature can make people more caring towards one another, promote economic and racial justice, encourage people to care more for the environment, and more.

This groundbreaking guide explains why and how nature is good for our brains and bodies and gives us a window into fundamental aspects of our psychology and physiology that can be improved through interactions with nature.

Dr. Marc Berman is the world’s leading environmental neuroscientist, and founder and director of the Environmental Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Chicago. He is the winner of the Association for Psychological Science Early Career Research Award and the American Psychological Association Early Career Award. He is professor and chair of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago as well as codirector of the Masters of Computational Social Science program. His work has been featured on CNN, NPR, and in many popular publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, VICE, Newsweek, National Geographic, and USA TODAY.