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Title: Cultivating Delight : A Natural History of My Garden by Diane Ackerman ISBN: 0-06-050536-2 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.95 (19 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: A Natural History of Diane Ackerman
Comment: Well this is going to make me feel like a curmudgeon, since I can see that Diane Ackerman has a devoted following. However, having just tried and failed to get through my second Diane Ackerman book, I have to tell you that I find them boring and unreadable. She doesn't write much about natural history; she writes poetic meditations on natural history. There is a big difference. Her books are about her responses to the natural world, and she can be quite self-absorbed.
For example, in one essay she begins by describing her feelings upon seeing a sick raccoon stagger across her yard in broad daylight. She calls the local animal welfare people to look into it. Then she turns to describing her feelings and reactions to the other elements of her garden. I was left wondering what happened to the raccoon. She never told me.
If you are looking for Diane Ackerman's personal reactions to nature, this may be for you. But I was looking for some good winter reading about nature itself, for when I miss my garden. At the same time I ordered this book, I also ordered a book by Sy Montgomery called "The Curious Naturalist: Nature's Everyday Mysteries". I just chose it by searching for such books on Amazon[.com]. It turns out that Sy Montgomery was the nature columnist for the Boston Globe, and her essays are delightful, concise, amazing and informative. I didn't learn much about the interior life of the author, but I learned the most amazing things about the nature all around me. I read about the messages that singing insects send in the autumn evenings and how they create their songs; the messages in spider webs; the peculiar life-giving structure of water; the way sound travels over snow in winter. Most delightful of all, the author describes ways of interacting with our animal brothers and sisters. I learned how easy it is to teach wild birds to eat from your hand, and how to use a flashlight in the grass to flirt with fireflies and get them to hit on you. This is the book I was really looking for when I bought Ackerman's book. Once I started The Curious Naturalist, I couldn't put it down. If you are looking for the same type of reading that I was, you will like the Montgomery book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Peace, Humor and Delight in the Garden
Comment: Poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman loves her garden. It must be a fairly untidy, eclectic garden as she enjoys many weeds, welcomes deer and generally works hard to let nature have its way. Running through the span of seasons, this wonderful book allows many discursive, delightful riffs on such topics as John Muir, tagging squirels, the passing of time, moon and bird watching, and sick houses. It would be a great fun to spend time with her: deadheading asters, learning the different scents of her 100+ roses, and flowering arranging every spring and summer morning. But failing that opportunity, spending time with this garden book that's not a garden book, poem that is not a poem, essay on natural history that's certainly not an essay is almost as fun!
Rating: 4
Summary: Stop and Smell the Words
Comment: Previous reviewers, grumps and rhapsodics both, are pretty accurate in their review of this work. If you're looking for a lot of how-tos about gardening, you won't find them here. What you will find is someone who LOVES her garden, and loves reflecting on it. While the "hard labor" of gardening is something she is glad to hire other people to do for her, she revels in it's lovely blossoms and the wildlife who visit it. My husband was put off by her hiring out the hard work too, but all I could think was, "If I could afford it, I'd hire out the nasty stuff too"
I really don't think it is the author's intent to instruct us on how to garden, what she does is inform us, through her example, that delight can be found in many aspects of gardening. It is a zen-like philosophy; focus lovingly and intently on what you do.
While there are no earth shattering revelations here, Ms Ackerman's musings reminded me of poems I had forgotten, books I'd been meaning to read, and, yes, plants I'd been meaning to plant. While some may have a problem with this as an overall book, I can't imagine anyone objecting to it page-by-page. This may be one of those books to be read just a few pages at a time. Savor each page as you would a rose blossom, enjoy the loveliness of it, then move on.
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Title: A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman ISBN: 0679735666 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 10 September, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Deep Play by Diane Ackerman ISBN: 0679771352 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 08 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: A Natural History of Love : Author of the National Bestseller A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman ISBN: 0679761837 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 21 February, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: I Praise My Destroyer : Poems by Diane Ackerman ISBN: 0679771344 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 10 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Curious Naturalist: Nature's Everyday Mysteries by Sy Montgomery ISBN: 0892725109 Publisher: Down East Books Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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