Beginner's Faith in Things Unseen

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

His approaching 80th birthday turns the author to reflecting on his reverence for nature. Hay (The Great Beach) first reminisces about his childhood in New Hampshire and Manhattan (he sees the latter as a spaceship). He writes of the rocky shores of Maine and the wind on the sands of Cape Cod, the decline of fisheries, the Grass Dance of the Lakota Sioux. Hay is profoundly affected as he watches pilot whales stranded on Cape Cod. Observing the transformation of a pond to a bog, he likens its rhythmic change to the beat of a human heart. Hay's essay about a journey to the Arizona desert is especially revealing of his spiritual sensitivity to his surroundings. From the Grand Old Man of nature writing, this is an eloquent valedictory. (Jan.)

Library Journal

Hay, who turns 80 this year, has established a reputation as a nature writer with such works as The Great Beach (LJ 11/15/63), winner of the John Burroughs Medal. In the present collection of essays, Hay returns to childhood experiences of nature, since, he writes, "First enchantments outlive all later judgments we make about the world." The essays suggest that we need to look at the world once again with the eyes of a child. Each piece combines memory, observation, philosophy, and anecdote. "Listening to the Wind," for example, leaps from storms to birds to the Grass Dance of the Plains Indians, from excitement at the beauty of geese flying overhead to a lament for a civilization that is "speeding everywhere and nowhere." Hay's enthusiasm for the natural world and its beauty is evident throughout. Some of these essays have been published previously in a different form. Intended as an "end-of-career" work, this collection will be of interest to both public and academic libraries.-Nancy Shires, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, N.C.

Booknews

Hay's essays on the natural world touch on topics such as boyhood memories of Manhattan and the New Hampshire woods, New England wildlife, and Native American beliefs and ceremonies. Lacks an index and a bibliography. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)