Robert Finch (1)Recensioni

The True Message of NATURE is, unless they are asking for help in some way,
to simply LEAVE THE ANIMALS ALONE!

Three of the best reasons to keep reading the 908 many exciting and informative pages
are Barry Lopez (excluding the hunting) and The Narwal,
Gilbert White and his Timothy Turtle,
and the inspiration of Robert Michael Pyle.

Oddly, the chronology opens on a sad note with felling an ancient Oak and the death of its raven.

It would be welcome to see this gone...
And just start with Timothy the Tortoise and earthworms so critical to soil and Life!

Vivid description of Ivory Billed Woodpecker follows, along with The Marten and the Hedgehog.

Horrors of collection for dissection are covered, as well murdering, "Struggling in mortal agony" for sport.
Thanks again, Audubon and Washington Irving and John Clare and Catlin's dying herds and hateful men.
and William Bartram's strange journey, plus fly fishing ( Fish have feelings, non?) and woodchuck murdering.

It would be great to add Charles Lyell's influential Principles of Geology.

This series is informative, with excellent, often spectacular, photography.

Common ground, a naturalist's Cape Cod by Finch_ Robert
We visit the area every 5 years or so and have enjoyed our stays.
Essays of interesting subjects: snowy white owls, beach erosion and things found on the seashores. It's about the same where we live in RI, down the coast a bit.
Loved hearing of the 1978 blizzard as we got married that weekend in RI and shut down our state for over a week so to hear the damage on the cape is meaningful to me.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

I've never been to Cape Cod, but author [a:Robert Finch|161775|Robert Finch|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] makes it a magical spit of land begging me to follow to see one-horned bison, fearless chickadees, and rescued whales. He describes a land of natural beauty, now being spoiled by the ever encroaching humans who destroy herring ponds and frighten frogs, all in the name of "progress".

So it is with blackberries. If you pull too hard, you may get the berry but you will lose the sweetness of it. On the other hand, if you leave it, it may be gone the next time you come by. Each person must find this point of equilibrium for himself.

Whether comparing a little bird's legs to his own child's or describing a stealthy spider enclosing its prey, Finch is attuned to nature and how we are destroying it by loving it a bit too much.

How fragile we all really are.

Book Season = Autumn (East Coast is always autumn, isn't it)

I lived in Newfoundland for sixteen months while stationed at the Argentia Naval Air Base on the Avalon Peninsula. I worked with Newfoundlanders on a daily basis and came to know some of them during this short period. Robert Finch has traveled extensively in Newfoundland and writes well of his times there.

I would want to add my experiences to his. On language, he has recounted many words and expressions unique to Newfoundland, most of which I have forgotten from 45 years ago. But, I do remember that their intonation was quite a bit different to what I had heard. Many people pitched there voices quite high in the first 3/4 of a sentence and then drop it at the end, speaking moderately fast.

I loved the fact that Newfoundlanders had their own music and poetry. And this Finch recounts quite well. The name of the book is a take off from the expression a person used in talking to Finch and shows that the formation of poetry is certainly intentional on their part.

Towards the end of the book, the sailing ship he is on comes to the port of Argentia. In my day, it was busier than he saw, but not really busy in the sense he might have imagined it to have been. There was ship that came in maybe weekly after stopping all along the south coast of Newfoundland. It was met by a mixed train that would take freight and passengers to St. John's. This train perhaps average 19 miles per hour, and I am sorry I never rode it. I did take the major train across the island, officially named the Caribou, but jokingly referred to as the Newfie Bullet. I was not and am still not sure how perjorative a term Newfie is.

The fishing of cod and other species was king when I was there and now this is mostly all gone, the so-called Moratorium to rebuild the stocks, and this is taking a long time. This underlays a lot of what has happened.

One thing I found in Newfoundland was the dominance of religion in people's lives. Finch did not find quite the same thing that I remember. I was struck by how Anglican the south coast of Newfoundland was, and Finch did not observe this, and maybe it's no longer true. I'll have to do research on this. The Canadian Census does record religious affiliation. Much to of the Avalon Peninsula beyond St. John's was very Roman Catholic, but I'm sure the observance levels are way down from a half century ago.

This is a great book to read about an island seldom visited. And I would like to own the book.½

Maxine Hong Kingston's "A City Person Encountering Nature" in the Norton Book of Nature Writing is one of the loveliest essays I've ever read.

Good intro to Newfoundland. Well written and accessible.