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Burn

A Story of Fire, Woods and Healing

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About this listen

A frank and inspiring memoir about letting go of what we're told to want, risking everything to find happiness and the brutal salve of nature.

Ben Short has a successful career in advertising, a flat in a trendy part of London, a flashy motorbike. But after years of suffering with anxiety, he's a wreck. A drastic change is needed.

For a time, he finds solace working with a forester, then as an apprentice to a Gypsy woodman, setting up home in a dilapidated wagon with just a rescue dog for company. However, it is not until he feels the call of the furnace, a glowing charcoal kiln in the Dorset woods, that he can truly re-forge his thoughts, put the years of suffering behind him, and start afresh by immersing himself in the old ways of woods and fire.

Exquisitely written and deeply honest, Burn is a hopeful story of transformation, a celebration of manual work and craft, and a love letter to the English countryside.

©2022 Ben Short (P)2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Ecosystems & Habitats Environmentalists & Naturalists Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Professionals & Academics Science Inspiring Heartfelt Thought-Provoking
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Just so in depth if not just the mental side to life but the way he speaks about charcoal burning I myself burn charcoal and relate so much to this! Wish to meet Ben one day!

Awesome!

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From a fellow woodland escapee. Burn is fantastic and should be read by all.

Personal, honest, and beautifully written

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I spend a lot of time in the woods and have never heard it exsplained so well as this book did. Well worth a listen.

Best read of 2023

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A natural storyteller weaving spellbinding, bittersweet tales of an existence most people will never understand. Ben is a beacon for rural folk throughout the land and his narration propels an already excellent book to new heights.

The Best

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Very well written, not a type of book I’d normally listen to but was so glad I purchased it.

Really enjoyable listen

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