Open Spaces Sacred Places: Stories of How Nature Heals and Unifies »

Tom Stoner is a cofounder of the TKF Foundation. He has served as chairman of the board of trustees of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and as cofounder of the Conflict Resolution Clinic associated with George Mason University. He also cofounded American Radio Systems. Tom lives in Annapolis, Maryland and Stowe, Vermont.

Carolyn Rapp is a writer, storyteller, and avid gardener. She is author of Garden Voices: Stories of Women and Their Gardens (2005). Carolyn lives in McLean, Virginia and Frisco, Colorado.

Open Spaces Sacred Places is a book that dramatically demonstrates how nature has the power to heal and unify in our increasingly frenetic 21st-century world. It is a series of inspirational stories told through the voices of "firesouls," those passionate and persistent people who have brought communities together to create public areas of respite.

The book depicts a wide variety of sacred places, including a meditation garden inside the walls of a prison, a sculpture garden built by at-risk youth in the inner city, and a therapeutic healing garden at a rehabilitation hospital. These public green spaces are places of peace and refreshment, where people can tap into their own deep wisdom and find an antidote for the stressful, divisive, and isolating effects of life in today's complex world.

While each of the profiled spaces has its own unique focus and character, they all have one common element a bench with a journal attached where each visitor has the opportunity to anonymously reveal private thoughts and feelings. The journal entries, collected over 12 years, reinforce the essential human need to take time out in nature. Open Spaces Sacred Places also contains more than 200 beautifully photographed images that bring these spaces to life.

With a foreword by G. Martin Moeller, Jr., Open Spaces Sacred Places provides helpful information for those who have the desire to become active firesouls by spearheading community efforts to create public green spaces.

The New York Times - Dominique Browning

This book is a testament to the power that can be generated when generous hearts and wise minds are brought to the garden.