lauren_endnotes's review against another edition
4.0
May our cities be redesigned to include more trees and windows providing a greater sense of sunrise, sunset, and seasons.
May playing in nature not be regarded as idle.
May our health plans cover green holidays to parks and wildernesses as some Scandinavian plans already do.
May our schools teach us to marvel at our humble origins and the minute stuff of the cosmos, and the fascinating life forms we have nonetheless become.
May many people have the opportunity to behold the planet from space, and return with a fuller sense of what 'home' means.
At least once, may madcap roosters serenade us at dawn.
...
As a teenager, I discovered Ackerman's [b:A Natural History of the Senses|76611|A Natural History of the Senses|Diane Ackerman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1367463778s/76611.jpg|1224437] at a used bookstore - since that time years ago, I have returned to Ackerman's lyrical prose again and again (luckily, she keeps writing!) Dawn Light came at an interesting time - one where I was truly experiencing these precious pre-dawn and dawn hours in the beautiful city of Vancouver, BC. Daily walks back and forth between locations gave me "time on the ground" in the urban wilderness.
damiec's review against another edition
3.0
I suspect this would have been a 4 or 5 star book had I read it vs listened. No fault of the reader, but with a writer as nuanced and poetic as Ackerman, I need to go at the pace of my eyes rather than my ears.
rdebner's review against another edition
4.0
Each chapter is its own reflection on some aspect of dawn and/or reflections on the natural world. The book is also broken up into four sections, based on the seasons, with reflections fitting to each season. This was a lovely book to read as we approach the darkest time of the year.
richardwells's review against another edition
5.0
I was raised a Catholic, left the church at 14, played around with atheism/agnosticism riddled with teen angst, kept circling 'round the church trying to catch the scent of something meaningful until religious nostalgia became the driver. Somewhere in there I joined Rick in Casablanca and changed my nationality to "...drunkard. That makes Rick a citizen of the world." Eventually hooked up with the hippies, drugs and new age nonsense, catching glimmers. Danced with the Sufis, chanted with the Buddhists, converted to Judaism, returned to Catholicism, threw my hands up in the air, got sober, and a little centered. I thought the mysteries were in some sort of supernatural realm, but I was confusing mysteries with fiction. Lately I've come back around to a non-theistic Buddhism, and a real attraction to the world as it is.
Diane Ackerman writes about the world as it is, she's a naturalist with a poetic bent, and though that bent is a little florid it's easy to wince through and get on with the wonder she sees, feels, and communicates about the world around us.
Dawn Light, is a series of morning meditations broken out into the seasons, and is a wonderful way to start the day. Filled with ah-ha's, laced with humor, and hugely, hugely enjoyable. One of those cosmologists, it's been attributed to a few, said, "The universe is not only stranger than you imagine, it's stranger than you can imagine." Amen. Diane Ackerman gives us the natural, the strange, the territory between, and reminds me that the natural is supernatural enough.
Diane Ackerman writes about the world as it is, she's a naturalist with a poetic bent, and though that bent is a little florid it's easy to wince through and get on with the wonder she sees, feels, and communicates about the world around us.
Dawn Light, is a series of morning meditations broken out into the seasons, and is a wonderful way to start the day. Filled with ah-ha's, laced with humor, and hugely, hugely enjoyable. One of those cosmologists, it's been attributed to a few, said, "The universe is not only stranger than you imagine, it's stranger than you can imagine." Amen. Diane Ackerman gives us the natural, the strange, the territory between, and reminds me that the natural is supernatural enough.
canadianbookworm's review
4.0
This is a book to take your time reading. From her two homes in Ithaca, New York and Palm Beach, Florida, Ackerman looks at her own experiences and observances of dawn through the seasons. Paying attention to birds, from cranes to hummingbirds, starlings to owls, she includes their actions and her reactions. Talking about art, from Monet to Hokusai and how they portrayed the natural world. Insects from bees to spiders are observed carefully and commented on. All of her writing connects one thing with another, in a way that you know is well thought out and yet somehow still feels like a stream of consciousness.
This book makes you sit back, take a deep breath and pay attention to what the world is doing around you. Which is something we all need to do more often.
This book makes you sit back, take a deep breath and pay attention to what the world is doing around you. Which is something we all need to do more often.
More...