From spring’s meteor showers to the fleeting shadow-play of summer skies, the bestselling author of How to Read a Tree and The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs returns with an illuminating guide to the natural seasonal wonders most of us overlook.

“When we know what to look for and what it means, seasonal moments that were once hidden shine brightly.”

In The Hidden Seasons, Tristan Gooley teaches us how to decode the subtle signals offered by the sun and moon, the stars, plants, fungi, weather, water and wildlife, signs that are all around us, yet so often missed simply because we don’t know where or how to look.

Spring becomes a season rich with wildflower signatures, distinctive cloud formations and unexpected animal behaviours. Summer reveals coastal indicators, astronomical extremes and the secretive patterns traced across grasslands. Autumn invites us to interpret leaves, understand shifting scents and investigate the world of fungi. Winter, meanwhile, offers lessons in reading snow, deepening our knowledge of the stars and uncovering clues hidden in surprising places, even indoors.

As with Gooley’s acclaimed The Walker’s Guide, How to Read Water and How to Read a Tree, this book encourages us to seek these signs for ourselves. It offers a wealth of insight into the turning year, teaching us to anticipate, and truly appreciate, daily changes that most people pass by.

After reading The Hidden Seasons, the world around you will never look, sound or smell quite the same again.