Books by Annie Dillard
“I love reading books and read loads of them. But to be honest, quite often they tend to go in one ear and out the other. I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek when I was cycling through Siberia in the middle of winter, 20 years ago, and it’s one of the few books that’s completely stuck with me. She lives in a little cottage somewhere near this little creek called Tinker Creek, and she goes out and walks down by the river, over a period of time and comes home, and is astonished about it. It’s borderline theological. She’s wondering a lot about God and where we fit in with creation. There’s overlap between not religion exactly, but spirituality and science. And she writes very beautifully. She just writes about the awe and the terror and the brutality of the universe, but also the incredible beauty and gentleness of it all. There’s a scene in there — I think it was a dragonfly eating its mate’s head or something. I can’t remember the details, but it viscerally stuck with me. She’s just calling on everyone to throw themselves down on their knees and be astonished.” Read more...
The best books on Local Adventures
Alastair Humphreys, Travel Writer
Interviews where books by Annie Dillard were recommended
The best books on Local Adventures, recommended by Alastair Humphreys
Wonderful as it would be to climb Mount Everest or row across the Atlantic, not all of us will get the chance to go on an epic adventure. But that doesn’t mean we can’t go exploring. Alastair Humphreys, the British adventurer, explains the concept of ‘local adventure’ and recommends books that give a feel for what it’s about and why it’s worth pursuing.
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1
The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod
by Henry Beston -
2
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
by Annie Dillard -
3
Findings
by Kathleen Jamie -
4
Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australians and the Birth of Agriculture
by Bruce Pascoe -
5
A Natural History of the Future: What the Laws of Biology Tell Us about the Destiny of the Human Species
by Rob Dunn
The best books on Natural History, recommended by David George Haskell
The best books on Natural History, recommended by David George Haskell
Natural history can offer a “portal into wonder and astonishment,” says David George Haskell, the biologist and award-winning author of nonfiction works including Sounds Wild and Broken and The Forest Unseen. But natural history books, in the past, have also been guilty of reinforcing prejudices. Here he recommends five natural history books that celebrate the diversity of life.
The Best Henry David Thoreau Books, recommended by Laura Dassow Walls
Again and again we return to the question: how should we live? To Henry David Thoreau, the 19th-century author, philosopher and naturalist, the answer was simplicity itself. Here his biographer Laura Dassow Walls selects five key texts that explore the Thoreauvian way of thinking.
The best books on Silence, recommended by Sara Maitland
Modern Western societies often seem to be intolerant of silence. Why should this be? And is there any alternative? The author of “A Book of Silence” explains
