Hi, this is NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Kia Miyaka-Natis.

When was the last time you felt awe? Like that jaw-dropping sense of wonder with a teeny tiny

pinch of fear, or in the very least, that overwhelming sense that something much bigger is

happening beyond your understanding. Author Catherine May was seeking that feeling after struggling

with the anxiety, overwhelm, and isolation brought on by the pandemic. Her new book,

Enchantment is about her journey to

reconnect with nature and that sense of awe and wonder that enchantment can bring. Here's May

with NPR's Rachel Martin. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app

or wherever you get your podcasts.

What does it mean to you to be enchanted?

Enchantment for me was this project to find ways to feel my connection with the world around me again

and to reignite a sense of fascination with it,

of awe, the kind of awe that I felt as a child that came so easily to me, which I really had

lost contact with. Catherine May remembers being enchanted easily as a child.

I used to spend a lot of time sitting in my back garden smashing rocks open with a hammer.

I mean, we didn't have iPads in those days.

Like, life was hard.

...