Markus Torgeby

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Frida Torgeby

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A guide for living outdoors and communing with the natural world—under the open skies. "I believe in sleeping outdoors, surrounded by tall fir trees, darkness and cold. Lying on my back and looking up at the stars, watching my breath form thin clouds." Under the Open Skies is one man’s perspective-shifting, immersive journey into the wilds of northern Sweden and into his own soul. For four years, Markus Torgeby lived alone in a hut he built with his hands in the Jämtland forest on the northern tip of Sweden, reconnecting with nature, and healing from the stress and strain of urban life and an athletic career derailed by injury. For Markus, living in the forest provided something concrete—cool winter air on his face, a cotton canvas of clouds overhead, wet clothes drying over the fire. Free from the constraints of modernity, his only responsibilities were the basics of survival—shelter, heat, food. Rooted on the ground under a bed of leaves, with his head finally aligned with his body, Markus found the solitude and silence he needed to be reborn. In this moving elegy, Markus offers lessons both practical—how to make fire, how to craft an outdoor bed, how to tap trees for water—and profound—what it means to become one with the natural world, to live authentically, to reconnect with yourself and your surroundings. Illustrated with 75 beautiful full-color photographs taken by his wife, Frida, Under the Open Skies is as invigorating as a long hike on a brisk morning and as sublime as a bowl of cinnamon porridge at the end of a long day. It is an invitation—to the stressed, disconnected, and lonely, to all who yearn to unplug and slow down, to those who wonder how life got so complicated—to come home to nature, to open the mind and heart to the wide-open sky.

Finding Peace and Health in Nature

Under the Open Skies

ghid practic despre cum să trăieşti în natură

Sub cerul liber

'The most beautiful book I ever read.' – Rune Larsson, ultra-distance runner Markus Torgeby was just 20 years old when he headed off into the remote Swedish forest to live as a recluse and dedicate himself to his one true passion: running. He lived in a tent in the wilderness, braving the harsh Swedish winters – for four years. This is his story. An international bestseller, this extraordinary book is a powerful exploration of running, resilience, loss, and self-discovery. A talented long-distance runner in his teens, Markus Torgeby excelled in training, but often failed inexplicably in competition. Pressurised by his coach and consumed by the suffering of his MS-afflicted mother, he chose to do something that most of us only dream of: escape the modern world. In his stripped-back lifestyle in the woods, surviving with the bare minimum of supplies and enduring extreme cold, he found salvation and ultimately his true direction in life.

Four Years Living and Running in the Wilderness

The Runner

Im Freien schlafen, umgeben von Bäumen, Dunkelheit und angenehmer Kälte. Dabei hoch zu den Sternen blicken und sehen, wie sich die Atemluft wie eine feine Wolke vor den Augen kräuselt. Vielleicht verpassen wir ja etwas, wenn wir immer nur in temperierten Räumen mit vier Wänden und einer Decke liegen. Markus Torgeby war ein erfolgreicher Langstreckenläufer, als er der Zivilisation den Rücken kehrte, in den Wald zog und fortan unter freiem Himmel schlief. Eine Erfahrung, die sein Leben und seinen Blick auf die Welt veränderte.

Eine Anleitung für ein Leben in der Natur

Unter freiem Himmel

In the vein of Erling Kagge’s Silence and Lars Mytting’s Norwegian Wood, Under the Open Skies: A Practical Guide to Living Close to Nature combines escapism and adventure with a love of nature and the desire for a simpler life. Twenty years ago, Markus Torgeby traded his hectic urban lifestyle for a small hut in the forests of northern Sweden. He ended up living there for four years, in perfect solitude and in harmony with nature. Today, he and his wife Frida and their three children live in a house he built with his own hands, near the site where he once survived on nothing but oatmeal, river water and the forest’s own pantry. Framed with stunning photographs taken by Frida, Under the Open Skies is the story of Markus’s journey from broken youth, to living alone in the forest, to a self-healed family man. Torgeby is proof of the restorative powers of the outdoors and his descriptions of living close to nature combine everyday philosophy and inspirational insights with helpful advice as he shares how to make fire, the best techniques for chopping logs and how best to forage for food. Part practical guide to how to live in the wild, part a meditation on the human need for a connection with the natural world, Under the Open Skies is the beguiling and timely portrait of how the desire for a simpler existence helped one man find contentment and connection with the world around him, and how we can all learn from his experience.

Markus Torgeby

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