Dawn Light, Diane Ackerman
Dawn Light, Diane Ackerman
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Dawn Light
Dancing with Cranes and Other Ways to Start the Day

Author: Diane Ackerman

Narrator: Laural Merlington

Unabridged: 6 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/12/2009


Synopsis

In an eye-opening sequence of personal meditations through the cycle of seasons, Diane Ackerman awakens us to the world at dawn—drawing on sources as diverse as meteorology, world religion, etymology, art history, poetry, organic farming, and beekeeping. As a patient and learned observer of animal and human physiology and behavior, she introduces us to varieties of bird music and other signs of avian intelligence, while she herself "migrates" from winter in Florida to spring, summer, and fall in upstate New York.

Humans might luxuriate in the idea of being "in" nature, Ackerman points out, but we often forget that we are nature—for "no facet of nature is as unlikely as we, the tiny bipeds with the giant dreams." Joining science's devotion to detail with religion's appreciation of the sublime, Dawn Light is an impassioned celebration of the miracles of evolution—especially human consciousness of our numbered days on a turning earth.

About Diane Ackerman

Diane Ackerman is the bestselling author of many nonfiction books, including A Natural History of the Senses, An Alchemy of Mind, Cultivating Delight, A Natural History of Love, and The Zookeeper's Wife, winner of the 2008 Orion Book Award. In addition, she has had her poetry published in leading literary journals and in the books Origami Bridges, I Praise My Destroyer, Jaguar of Sweet Laughter, and others. Diane has received many prizes and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a John Burroughs Nature Award. She has taught at a variety of universities, including Columbia, the University of Richmond, and Cornell. Her essays about nature and human nature have appeared in the New York Times, the Smithsonian, Parade, the New Yorker, and National Geographic, and she hosted a five-hour PBS television series inspired by A Natural History of the Senses.


Reviews

Wow wow wow! Everybody should read this! I feel like yelling to the whole world about this book. How do I even explain it? It's almost as if Ackerman takes science and decorates it with metaphors. Oh her language is beautiful. "Troubadours" is one of the finest pieces I have ever read. I also adored......more

Goodreads review by Tracy

Dawn Light resonates strongly with me, covering a multi-faceted swath of interests, and amplifying the ideas underlying my Moments in the Park project. In a series of essays, mostly revolving around the early morning hours, Ackerman ranges widely over philosophy, art, science, and culture, all in lo......more