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Summary: The best book I ever read!
Review: I think that it doesn't matter if you are an ap student or not. I am a student and I absolutely love this book. The way she describes all the fascinating things she talks about is asome.
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Summary: Your backgarden as a teacher of cosmology
Review: One might think that someone who is a pilgrim have an opposite personality to that person who is sedentary. However, Ms Dillard proves such belief wrong. This is an odd book, because you can read it in any order that your fancy takes you. At the end it does not make any difference if you start in a paragraph in page 80 to continue then on another on page 24. Seems like a summary of observations and thoughts. The funny thing is that in this pilgrimage to the farthest reaches of the universe, the purpose of nature, the existence of beauty and other mind breaking topics, she hardly moves a mile from her home. For me it is a clear statement that to understand the nature of self and the inherent truth of creation you do not need to travel further that your backyard. Just stop and see. Nature talks to you if you care to listen. Nonetheless, bear in mind that its speech will always surprise you.
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Summary: don't read
Review: This book has no plot and if you have trouble reading stuff this book is hard. you would rather read a ditionary
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Summary: Playing Seriously, Living Lightly, Beautifully Writing
Review: I read this book every ten years or so. It may well be my favorite; it's right up there, anyway. (At my age, picking a favorite book is dangerous: I've probably forgotten about half the strong candidates.) It is, if you will, a connected series of "nature" essays. Each one is strong, and can stand alone, but all are bound by many threads into a larger whole.
Annie Dillard moved to Tinker Creek, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, in her mid-twenties (or, at any rate, this book achieved final published form when she was twenty-nine). Like Thoreau, she came to the woods to "keep a meteorological journal of the mind". Indeed, "Walden" is the model: a person of reflective tendency steps out of the stream of life, as it were, to go to the woods, just to see what he or she can see. It turns out that one's own mind is a large part of the scenery when one gets away from the rough-and-tumble of society. Big mysteries are at stake here; it is somehow appropriate that looking with all attention at minute creatures and giving oneself over momentarily to ephemeral events provide clues. Why is nature cruel? Why is there beauty? Could these be related? I put it baldly, but these and other questions are more the expression on her writing's face than the subject of it. There are details, and funny descriptions, and a rifling through the wonders of her library of naturalists. But, always, there is a person doing all this: walking, having a sandwich, creeping up on a copperhead for a closer look (after patting her pocket to make sure the snakebite kit is there), or just lying in bed remembering a horrifying or glorious experience of that particular day, in the woods, on the banks of Tinker Creek. Have I mentioned the quality of the writing? It's glorious. Part of its appeal is her special mix of jokiness and vernacular combined with high-toned thinking and literary reference, her gee-whiz attitude toward outrageous natural facts always butting in. Part of it comes from her sheer likeability. But all that aside, words do her bidding, and always I find myself pausing and smiling at her mastery. She wonders about beauty, and reacts to beauty. She also, here, has created it. "Nature is, above all, profligate. Don't believe them when they tell you how economical and thrifty nature is, whose leaves return to the soil. Wouldn't it be cheaper to leave them on the tree in the first place? This deciduous business alone is a radical scheme, the brainchild of a deranged manic-depressive with limitless capital. Extravagance! Nature will try anything once...No form is too gruesome, no behavior too grotesque. If you're dealing with organic compounds, then let them combine. If it works, if it quickens, then set it clacking in the grass; there's always room for one more; you ain't so handsome yourself. This is a spendthrift economy; though nothing is lost, all is spent." (chapter 4)
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Summary: Beautiful descriptions of nature......
Review: .....coupled with Annie Dillard's thoughful ponderings. Annie, a "pilgrim at Tinker Creek" describes her immediate natural world around her as she discovers it - often in precious, minute detail. She sees the things that most of us so often overlook in our daily, rushed lives. Her encounters bring us into her world and we are privileged to experience it along with her. The reader is simply transported to her exact place. She then offers her thoughts on each experience and often compares and contrasts each with other encounters she has had in her life. I enjoy this type of reading and consider it most worthwhile.
However, note that there is no real "plot" in this book. It is not a story but rather an opening into a world of seemingly endless discovery. Although I treasure this book, I can see some people yawning after the first page. This is not a criticism of the reader or author, but merely a reflection of different tastes.
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Summary: Lets have a bonfire with this book.
Review: I, along with many, many unfortunate ap students, was forced to read this book for summer reading. I found it pointless, annoying, and a complete waste of time and money. My grandma LOVES reading long, colorful books, much like this. However she couldnt stand it and either could anyone else I know. If you like to learn about how a river makes a person think about tennis balls, then i must recommend this book to you. So please burn this book. Well, I guess a lesson we could learn form this book would to not BURN it but to "recycle" it.
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Summary: In a word HORRIBLE
Review: I'm one of the many poor AP English students who has been forced to read this book. Brevity is obviously not Ms. Dillards strong suit, since her point of noticing the world around you would have been conveyed just as well (and perhaps better) had she left out all the detail, that often made me wonder if I had mistakenly started reading a biology text book. I honestly belive this book would fall quickly into obscurity if it were not required reading.
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Summary: Rich, Spiritual, Profound
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Summary: Slow down long enough to read the whole book!
Review: I first read the famous chapter "Seeing" from this book about 15 years ago. it was, literally, an eye-opening experience. When I finally got around to reading the entire book, it was more of the same. a beautiful, classic book. Tinker's writing requires patience on the reader's part. she has an extraordinary eye for detail, and a very appealing voice. Some readers may tire of chapter after chapter of detailed description of the minutiae she observes in the woods around her house. But reading the entire book is its own reward. Writing like this is not to be rushed through. after all, the great lesson from this book is to SLOW DOWN and look around. it's worth it.
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Summary: one of the best books i have ever read
Review: This is a terrific book. It is about exploring spirituality and self through nature.(among other things). If you are intelligent and even slightly mature you will find this book to be beautiful...in fact it won a pulitzer prize. A book full of rich imagery, beautiful metaphors, and anecdotal events that Ms. Dillard encounters on her adventures in the area near her home on Tinker Creek. Anyone who doesn't like this book has spent too much time watching TV.
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