Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"It's easy to live in the moment when you're immersed in Ackerman's glorious prose, studded with arresting phrases and breathtakingly beautiful images." ---The Washington Post
Synopsis
Celebrated storyteller-poet-naturalist Diane Ackerman, author of the bestseller The Zookeeper's Wife, explores a year of dawns in her most personal book to date.
Synopsis
Celebrated storyteller-poet-naturalist Diane Ackerman, author of the bestseller The Zookeeper's Wife, explores a year of dawns in her most personal book to date.
About the Author
Poet, essayist, and naturalist, Diane Ackerman is the author of many highly acclaimed works of nonfiction, including "A Natural History of the Senses" -- a book beloved by readers all over the worldand the volumes "Deep Play, A Slender Thread, The Rarest of the Rare, A Natural History of Love, The Moon by Whale Light, " and a memoir on flying, "On Extended Wings."
Her poetry has been collected into six volumes, among them "Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems" and, most recently, "Praise My Destroyer."
Ms. Ackerman has received many prizes and awards, including the John Burroughs Nature Award and the Lavan Poetry Prize. A Visiting Professor at the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University, she was the National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Professor at the University of Richmond. Ms. Ackerman also has the unusual distinction of having had a molecule named after her -- dianeackerone. She lives in upstate New York.Laural Merlington has performed and directed for 30 years in regional theaters throughout the country. She has recorded over 100 audiobooks, including many by Fern Michaels, and is the recipient of several AudioFile Magazine Earphone Awards. In addition to her extensive theater and voiceover work, Laural teaches college in her home state of Michigan.