Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters Book

Every time I read Annie Dillard I become more responsible. In general. Her words are purposeful, she addresses sorrow, beauty and terror with nouns and adjectives that, if you aren't careful, look like every other noun and adjective you have ever read. But this isn't so. There is not a wasted syllable. Read about the Deer at Provenance, a story about a young fawn tied to a tree, resigning to the despair of its own death, and the people that circle around, quietly, and watch. And then read how she balances words like 'slender' with 'violence'. Ah! And then Expedition to the Pole! Never has absurdity and wisdom come together so well in American essay than here. The images and thoughts on church, human folly, polar bears and the unknown spin like a fever dream and burn like postmodern prophecy. Woo!