'A guide on living your best life' Longford author John Connell hoping for a bestseller

​Ten years in the making and worth every minute. ‘The Wisdom of Farmers’, the latest book from Longford author John Connell, has hit the shelves of bookshops, online and offline.

​Travelling far and wide, both at home and internationally, when researching for his book, John captured the knowledge from those closest to nature and carrying out the work of one of the oldest jobs in the world, farming.

The Wisdom to Farmers, John explains, “is a guide on how to live your best life and to take lessons from the ancient job of agriculture and to impart that in your life.

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A book designed for urban and rural people, the response following its release saw it jump straight onto the bestseller list.

John’s book launch, which took place in Longford’s Backstage Theatre recently, was an equally successful affair with a large crowd in attendance for John’s on stage conversation with former news anchor Bryan Dobson.

Speaking to the Longford Leader following the launch, John said, “We had a great turnout and a very engaged audience and of course we had Bryan Dobson doing the interview, which was just wonderful.

"It was a lovely night and it was great to see the people of Longford come out, but also people from other counties from as far away as Limerick came to attend. It was a wonderful night. I'm so thankful to everybody for coming out and supporting the book.

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John’s lightbulb moment for ‘The Wisdom of Farmers’ was certainly a serendipitous one.

He recalls, “Three years ago, my wife and I were in Sydney with our newborn son and I was sitting in my brother-in-law's office - he’s a banker - and he had a lot of business and self-help books. I was waiting for a Zoom call to start, when I noticed them. Afterwards I had a chat with him and I said, these are great books but there's nothing here from a rural perspective.

"He said, no, I've never come across that. I said there could be a book here to which he replied, ‘well, if there was one, I would buy it and I know other people would.’ That's kind of the genesis of it.”

John adds, “It's the culmination of 10 years of travel and research. I worked with migrant farm workers in America, I talked to drought stricken farmers in Australia, looked at stories of ancient Ireland in the Céidi Fields in Mayo with the archaeologist who discovered them, so it’s a combination of ten years.

"I'm also 10 years at home, so it's a combination of 10 years being back on the family farm and immersed in this world.”

John is already a number one bestselling author thanks to his massively popular award-winning book ‘The Cow Book’ followed by his second top seller, ‘12 Sheep’. ‘The Wisdom of Farmers’ now completes the holy trinity of literary success.

“We're in the charts and it's just a wonderful feeling,” he says, “People are obviously connecting with it. It's something that’s very positive; it’s a celebration and it's a happy book. It's a book full of hope.”

With there being so much that readers can take from the book, it’s interesting to find out the personal favourite of the man who wrote it.

“One of my favourites is the first chapter, which is the ‘slow down’,” John says.

“We live in a very busy world, and there's a lot to be gained from slowing down our lives, our minds and engaging with nature which is a great teacher. If we could have five minutes in nature every day, we'd be doing ourselves a great service.

"I talk in the book about the land philosophy, which is the school of thought that I've come up with and ‘slow down’ is a central part of that. We're all in such a hurry that we forget nature is the most important thing.”

‘The Wisdom of Farmers’ is now available nationwide in Ireland and the UK. Fans of John’s work in Australia and New Zealand will be pleased to hear they too can expect to see the book adorning the shelves down under in the near future. An international release is also planned.