Synopses & Reviews
In
Catch and Release, philosopher Mark Kingwell has written a book about fishing, or more accurately, about thinking about fishing that is unlike any book ever penned about this most unique and challenging of sports. This vibrant blend of memoir, travelogue, reflection, and discussion of the finer points of the art is framed around an annual fishing trip that he and his father and two brothers take each year to British Columbia.
Between the drinking, cigars, and the piloting of a small dingy, Kingwell, previously of the belief that fishing is stupid, finds that the sport does allow for one important thingquite a bit of time to just think, allowing thoughts to wander and new vistas to open up. This realizationa kind of felicitous meandering and suspension in the delights of the momentleads Kingwell through everything from falconry, male bonding, and procrastination to golf, cooking, and the relationship between reflection and actionnot to mention the relative benefits of wet versus dry flies, the cast, and the ethics of fishing. Ultimately, and as this book engagingly shows, fishing is worth thinking about because of the thinking that fishing allows. Especially when the trout arent biting.
Synopsis
- To be published just in time for Father's Day
About the Author
Mark Kingwell, a philosopher and critic, is the author of six previous books. Currently professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, he is a contributing editor of Harpers Magazine, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Readers Digest, and Utne Reader, among others.