For those living outside Scandinavia, the Viking Age effectively began in 793 with an attack on the monastery at Lindisfarne, a characteristically violent harbinger of what was in store for Britain and much of Europe for the next 300 years. This is Robert Ferguson's account of those tumultuous days.

Why do we spend so much time indoors, which is not our natural habitat? Why have trends such as forest-bathing become so popular? The answer to the last question lies in the proven benefits we obtain from our connection with nature - from increased productivity to feelings of happiness and an enhanced sense of wellbeing. For millions of years, humans developed in natural environments, in close contact with sunlight, vegetation and fresh air. But most of us spend 80-90% of our time indoors far from the environments for which we are naturally suited and in which we evolved....