Each year, since 2006, a book is selected and freely distributed through public libraries as a "national reading experience". In 2019, this book consisted of a selection of the writings of Jan Wolkers. It consists of a number of letters, pieces of prose and a full version of Groeten van Rottumerplaat. The work of
Wolkers is preceded by two introductions, a general introduction by Ronald Giphart and a more specific introduction to the work by the Wolkers biographer Onno Blom. There are a few small contributions by other writers.

The general introduction by Giphart is peculiar in the sense that he suggests these fragments were chosen to fit the overall theme of sustainability. This is really stretching the point, because none of Wolkers's writings are about sustainability of conservation. Giphart also calls Wolkers one of the best Dutch writers about nature and natural history, and this is obviously not true. Why else would the editors have so much difficulty to put together such a thin volume of just over a hundred pages?

It is true that Wolkers has a eye for the natural environment, and includes some detail about plants and animals that other writers might miss, but Wolkers is no great naturalist. Then, too, Wolkers studied biology or intended to study Biology as a young man, and in his final years, after having retired from writing he lived close to nature, painting and drawing and contributing small publications about his garden and his cats, but to suggest that he is one of the greatest writers about nature is really far-fetched. ( )

Wel wat leuke natuurbeschrijvingen maar over het algemeen niet erg boeiend. Het laatste verhaal "De schuimspaan van de tijd" is echt wel een aanrader ( )