dhopkin1's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
tatumcoconate's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
rwaringcrane's review against another edition
4.0
I've read Dillard's essay "Living Like Weasels," and am excited about finally owning and reading a copy of this award-winning title.
lifesaverscandyofficial's review against another edition
masterpiece! chomp or fast! I agree!
karlycay's review against another edition
4.0
This book was recommended as a source for inspiration from a science writer. I've heard it's required reading in some schools. But Dillard doesn't look at nature the way a scientist does, but as a poet does. In fact, some passages remind me of Mary Oliver's poems. It is a year's worth of observations by Tinker Creek. She wrote this book when she was 27 and that fact makes me want to die.
People think that once they know how a magic trick works, the magic is gone. But "knowledge does not vanquish mystery, or obscure its distant lights," Dillard writes. Even though she knows a lot about the natural world around Tinker Creek, still she stares at it with wonder. She explains the behavior of many animals and insects, contemplates evolution, the food chain, and enforcing morals on an immoral world.
This book can certainly be overwrought at times. It took me almost a year to finish it. Can she really be this affected by a mosquito biting a snake? Other times the prose grips me: my copy is dog-eared, highlighted, and scribbled in. I feel more curious about nature and satisfied it's still a mystery. Doesn't that make a good book?
People think that once they know how a magic trick works, the magic is gone. But "knowledge does not vanquish mystery, or obscure its distant lights," Dillard writes. Even though she knows a lot about the natural world around Tinker Creek, still she stares at it with wonder. She explains the behavior of many animals and insects, contemplates evolution, the food chain, and enforcing morals on an immoral world.
This book can certainly be overwrought at times. It took me almost a year to finish it. Can she really be this affected by a mosquito biting a snake? Other times the prose grips me: my copy is dog-eared, highlighted, and scribbled in. I feel more curious about nature and satisfied it's still a mystery. Doesn't that make a good book?
miss_granger07's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.5
alexis_baldwin92's review against another edition
I want to annotate this one. It’s beautiful and I want to spend more time with it