The Sense of Wonder

In continuation of my relentless search for better understanding of perceptual sensitivity & sensory acuity, I am very glad to be able to lay my hands on this wonderful book. To me, I have found it to be an excellent companion to another good book - 'Everyday Wonders: Encountering with the Astonishing World Around Us' - which I have reviewed earlier. Trust me: Once you have read this timeless volume, you will be really inspired, and not only that, you will never be the same again in looking at the world around you.

We live by the sea and I bought this book with my grandsons (eldest 4) in mind. The photos are excellent and the text is inspiring, but written with an adult reader (parents) in mind. The book has inspired us to try and show our grandchildren more of nature's wonders both on the beach and in the woods, fields and our garden. However they will be a little older before they can appreciate the book for themselves.

I loved this book. Not only was Carson's essay wonderfully thought-provoking, but it was poetic as well. Her message is simple, if you love nature, share that love with a young person...so that they, too, might one day pass it along. By sharing your love of nature, you help carry hope that we will begin to take a little better care of our mother earth. The book includes photographs which compliment Carson's words. Thank you for reminding us to share our love of the natural world.This would be a wonderful gift for a new parent or new grandparent.

This book was recommended to me by a friend some years ago. She told me that she had read this book in her youth and it had changed her life. At the time, the book was still out of print, but I managed to find a well-read copy through inter-library loan. After reading it, I can well understand how this little book can transform a person's way of thinking. In a very personal and lyrical remembrance, Rachel Carson shares her vision of the natural world and the wonder it inspires. "A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood," Rachel Carson writes. And this book, filled with its sage and poetic insight, and illustrated with luscious photographs of the natural world is a first step toward rediscovering that amazing sense of wonder within. I particularly love her thoughts about one starry summer night when she muses, "if this (the starry sky) were a sight that could be seen only once in a century...this little headland would be thronged with spectators. But it can be seen many scores of nights in any year, and so the lights burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night, perhaps they will never see it." This wisdom is both a gift to the young and the old alike. I only wish I had read it sooner. When I found the book in print again, I promptly bought it, and have read it over and over. It is a treasure that will be enjoyed for years.

Few people in English speaking countries do not know the name, Rachel Carson, the author of "Silent Spring", which shocked the world and made her a pioneer of environmental protection in the 1960's.@You may find her name on the White House official home page, where vice-president Gore warns of environmental crisis, quoting extracts from Carson, and notes her important contributions in this connection.@ She already knew of her coming death from cancer while writing the book.@"The Sense of Wonder" is an unfinished essay dedicated to her orphaned nephew Roger, and written while struggling with her deadly illness.@In contrast to Silent Spring, which has been translated into many languages and is a best seller throughout the world, this essay has been out of print for a long time, even in the United States. I think it is meaningful to publish this essay again at this point in history.@More than 35 years have passed since "Silent Spring", however, I wonder if we've listened to her warnings.@There has been a massive increase in the effects of garbage, air pollution, global warming, and chemicals which markedly affect our eco-system, including the human beings.@ This essay is a gift for the future, for the next generation of people who will have to discover their human nature in a world where nature has been diminished and degraded.