Findings: Essays on the Natural and Unnatural World
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Jamie, Kathleen, PUBLISHER: Graywolf Press, "A book of unparalleled beauty, sharpness of observation, wit, delicacy, strength of vision ong>andong> rare exactness of language." --"ong>Theong> Daily Telegraph" "I had noticed, more than noticed, ong>theong> cobwebs, ong>andong> ong>theong> shoaling light, ong>andong> ong>theong> way ong>theong> doctor listened, ong>andong> ong>theong> flecked tweed of her skirt, ong>andong> ong>theong> speckled bird ong>andong> ong>theong> sickle-cell man's slim feet. Isn't that a kind of prayer? ong>Theong> care ong>andong> maintenance of ong>theong> web of our noticing, ong>theong> paying heed?" During her husbong>andong>'s hospital stay for a life-threatening illness, Kathleen Jamie didn't pray, but she did find herself paying very close attention to ong>theong> world around her. In "Findings," she shares her direct, uncluttered observations of ong>theong> natural ong>andong> unnatural world--seen from her kitchen window, on ong>theong> streets of Edinburgh, in hospital corridors, in ong>theong> Outer Hebrides. What she finds: an awe-inspiring salmon run that turns out to have been reengineered so that no salmon can possibly reach ong>theong> top of ong>theong> falls. A disembodied doll head, caught with ong>theong> carcass of a whale on a remote islong>andong>, where crofters once combed for driftwood. She wonders "if durability is still a virtue, when we have invented plastic." "Findings" received resounding praise on publication in ong>theong> United Kingdom. John Berger named it his favorite book of , "because it finds without disturbing ong>theong> found. ong>Andong> this takes courage ong>andong> delicacy" ("ong>Theong> Guardian").