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lafita17's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
ladyofnorthfarm's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
lauren_endnotes's review against another edition
5.0
Re-read thoughts /5/16/2015:
Came back to this book nearly four years after the initial reading, and after a long trip where I spent a lot of time with some wild trees. I still found it beautiful and touching and wonderful. I also found some sections that challenged me (and that I didn't particularly remember from the first time around.) and that I didn't quite agree with as wholeheartedly as I did when I first read it - but I think that is a good thing! I still recommend this essay fully to anyone and everyone interested in nature and human existence.
...
This book is profoundly beautiful. I bought my own copy of this in paperback after reading a library copy. That alone should tell you how much this book moved me - I don't like to hold on to books, but this one is an exception. This book will travel with me and I will read it over and over.
While the entire essay is not more than 100 pages (in the 30th anniversary reprint edition), there are three sections: the first contrasts Fowles and his father and their views on nature, order, and chaos. The second part is a treatise on nature as art and science, but also a criticism on how nature is seen and "encapsulated" by humans. This was my favorite part of the book because it had so much substance. Nature philosophy and transcendence. The book ends with a walk around the English moors and meditations.
A small book, but so heavy in content. Initially I read the book cover to cover, and now I want to re-read and take it in chunks. It needs to be pondered. That's why I bought my own physical copy - which doesn't happen much anymore. It is just that good.
Came back to this book nearly four years after the initial reading, and after a long trip where I spent a lot of time with some wild trees. I still found it beautiful and touching and wonderful. I also found some sections that challenged me (and that I didn't particularly remember from the first time around.) and that I didn't quite agree with as wholeheartedly as I did when I first read it - but I think that is a good thing! I still recommend this essay fully to anyone and everyone interested in nature and human existence.
...
This book is profoundly beautiful. I bought my own copy of this in paperback after reading a library copy. That alone should tell you how much this book moved me - I don't like to hold on to books, but this one is an exception. This book will travel with me and I will read it over and over.
While the entire essay is not more than 100 pages (in the 30th anniversary reprint edition), there are three sections: the first contrasts Fowles and his father and their views on nature, order, and chaos. The second part is a treatise on nature as art and science, but also a criticism on how nature is seen and "encapsulated" by humans. This was my favorite part of the book because it had so much substance. Nature philosophy and transcendence. The book ends with a walk around the English moors and meditations.
A small book, but so heavy in content. Initially I read the book cover to cover, and now I want to re-read and take it in chunks. It needs to be pondered. That's why I bought my own physical copy - which doesn't happen much anymore. It is just that good.
dancarey_404's review against another edition
4.0
Had I highlighted the thought-provoking and important passages in this book as I read it, it would be almost fully colored. But in a way, that works against itself: there's too much worth remembering to remember much at all. So this will bear re-reading someday. (Fortunately, it is a slim volume.)
The other thing that makes it so hard to summon up the crystals of philosophy is Fowles prose. It weaves and writhes like a honeysuckle vine. I had to read almost every sentence multiple times, dropping out parenthetical clauses, in order to firmly connect subject to predicate to object. Whether this is a feature or a bug, I am unsure.
The other thing that makes it so hard to summon up the crystals of philosophy is Fowles prose. It weaves and writhes like a honeysuckle vine. I had to read almost every sentence multiple times, dropping out parenthetical clauses, in order to firmly connect subject to predicate to object. Whether this is a feature or a bug, I am unsure.