What do you think?
Rate this book
The Sense of Wonder
First published more than three decades ago, this reissue of Rachel Carson's award-winning classic brings her unique vision to a new generation of readers. Stunning new photographs by Nick Kelsh beautifully complement Carson's intimate account of adventures with her young nephew, Roger, as they enjoy walks along the rocky coast of Maine and through dense forests and open fields, observing wildlife, strange plants, moonlight and storm clouds, and listening to the "living music" of insects in the underbrush. "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder." Writes Carson, "he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." The Sense of Wonder is a refreshing antidote to indifference and a guide to capturing the simple power of discovery that Carson views as essential to life.
In her insightful new introduction, Linda Lear remembers Rachel Carson's groundbreaking achievements in the context of the legendary environmentalist's personal commitment to introducing young and old to the miracles of nature.
Kelsh's lush photographs inspire sensual, tactile reactions: masses of leaves floating in a puddle are just waiting to be scooped up and examined more closely. An image of a narrow path through the trees evokes the earthy scent of the woods after a summer rain. Close-ups of mosses and miniature lichen fantasy-lands will spark innocent'as well as more jaded'imaginations. Like a curious child studying things underfoot and within reach, Kelsh's camera is drawn to patterns in nature that too often elude hurried adults'a stand of beech trees in the springtime, patches of melting snow and the ripples from a pebble tossed into a slow-moving stream.
The Sense of Wonder is a timeless volume that will be passed on from children to grandchildren, as treasured as the memory of an early-morning walk when the song of a whippoorwill was heard as if for the first time.
In her insightful new introduction, Linda Lear remembers Rachel Carson's groundbreaking achievements in the context of the legendary environmentalist's personal commitment to introducing young and old to the miracles of nature.
Kelsh's lush photographs inspire sensual, tactile reactions: masses of leaves floating in a puddle are just waiting to be scooped up and examined more closely. An image of a narrow path through the trees evokes the earthy scent of the woods after a summer rain. Close-ups of mosses and miniature lichen fantasy-lands will spark innocent'as well as more jaded'imaginations. Like a curious child studying things underfoot and within reach, Kelsh's camera is drawn to patterns in nature that too often elude hurried adults'a stand of beech trees in the springtime, patches of melting snow and the ripples from a pebble tossed into a slow-moving stream.
The Sense of Wonder is a timeless volume that will be passed on from children to grandchildren, as treasured as the memory of an early-morning walk when the song of a whippoorwill was heard as if for the first time.
112 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1965
About the author
Rachel Carson
58 books1,435 followersRachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.
Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award, recognition as a gifted writer, and financial security. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind, were also bestsellers. This sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths.
Late in the 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the American people. Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides, and it inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A variety of groups ranging from government institutions to environmental and conservation organizations to scholarly societies have celebrated Carson's life and work since her death. Perhaps most significantly, on June 9, 1980, Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. A 17¢ Great Americans series postage stamp was issued in her honor the following year; several other countries have since issued Carson postage as well.
Carson's birthplace and childhood home in Springdale, Pennsylvania — now known as the Rachel Carson Homestead—became a National Register of Historic Places site, and the nonprofit Rachel Carson Homestead Association was created in 1975 to manage it. Her home in Colesville, Maryland where she wrote Silent Spring was named a National Historic Landmark in 1991. Near Pittsburgh, a 35.7 miles (57 km) hiking trail, maintained by the Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy, was dedicated to Carson in 1975. A Pittsburgh bridge was also renamed in Carson's honor as the Rachel Carson Bridge. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection State Office Building in Harrisburg is named in her honor. Elementary schools in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Maryland, Sammamish, Washington and San Jose, California were named in her honor, as were middle schools in Beaverton, Oregon and Herndon, Virginia (Rachel Carson Middle School), and a high school in Brooklyn, New York.
Between 1964 and 1990, 650 acres (3 km2) near Brookeville in Montgomery County, Maryland were acquired and set aside as the Rachel Carson Conservation Park, administered by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. In 1969, the Coastal Maine National Wildlife Refuge became the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge; expansions will bring the size of the refuge to about 9,125 acres (37 km2). In 1985, North Carolina renamed one of its estuarine reserves in honor of Carson, in Beaufort.
Carson is also a frequent namesake for prizes awarded by philanthropic, educational and scholarly institutions. The Rachel Carson Prize, founded in Stavanger, Norway in 1991, is awarded to women who have made a contribution in the field of environmental protection. The American Society for Environmental History has awarded the Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation since 1993. Since 1998, the Society for Social Studies of Science has awarded an annual Rachel Carson Book Prize for "a book length work of social or political relevance in the area of science and technology studies."
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_C...
Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award, recognition as a gifted writer, and financial security. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind, were also bestsellers. This sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths.
Late in the 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the American people. Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides, and it inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A variety of groups ranging from government institutions to environmental and conservation organizations to scholarly societies have celebrated Carson's life and work since her death. Perhaps most significantly, on June 9, 1980, Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. A 17¢ Great Americans series postage stamp was issued in her honor the following year; several other countries have since issued Carson postage as well.
Carson's birthplace and childhood home in Springdale, Pennsylvania — now known as the Rachel Carson Homestead—became a National Register of Historic Places site, and the nonprofit Rachel Carson Homestead Association was created in 1975 to manage it. Her home in Colesville, Maryland where she wrote Silent Spring was named a National Historic Landmark in 1991. Near Pittsburgh, a 35.7 miles (57 km) hiking trail, maintained by the Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy, was dedicated to Carson in 1975. A Pittsburgh bridge was also renamed in Carson's honor as the Rachel Carson Bridge. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection State Office Building in Harrisburg is named in her honor. Elementary schools in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Maryland, Sammamish, Washington and San Jose, California were named in her honor, as were middle schools in Beaverton, Oregon and Herndon, Virginia (Rachel Carson Middle School), and a high school in Brooklyn, New York.
Between 1964 and 1990, 650 acres (3 km2) near Brookeville in Montgomery County, Maryland were acquired and set aside as the Rachel Carson Conservation Park, administered by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. In 1969, the Coastal Maine National Wildlife Refuge became the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge; expansions will bring the size of the refuge to about 9,125 acres (37 km2). In 1985, North Carolina renamed one of its estuarine reserves in honor of Carson, in Beaufort.
Carson is also a frequent namesake for prizes awarded by philanthropic, educational and scholarly institutions. The Rachel Carson Prize, founded in Stavanger, Norway in 1991, is awarded to women who have made a contribution in the field of environmental protection. The American Society for Environmental History has awarded the Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation since 1993. Since 1998, the Society for Social Studies of Science has awarded an annual Rachel Carson Book Prize for "a book length work of social or political relevance in the area of science and technology studies."
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_C...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 443 reviews
January 16, 2020
A description of how adults and parents can awake the fascination, love and interest for nature in kids and how mindfulness and sustainability can be taught to the smallest that will grow to the decision-makers of the future.
As I like to say, this is a positive example of "Give them to us when they are young and they belong to us forever." and what lies closer, what is more logical, natural and self-explaining than to go outside in the wilderness and just be, examine, walk, hike, wander and absorb all those impressions, smells and unique panoramas and settings. Go, in contrast, in anything manmade, clinical, cold and empty and there is nothing, just the space filled with inanimate objects.
The research of the future will show how strong and important the environments we used to live in since just a few hundred years ago were for our health and how the lack of nature around us influences our mind, body, soul and evolution, what senses we lose and which one we might get. For kids, who are much more sensitive and openminded and live in the ever bigger and faster-growing cities, it might have consequences we don´t even consider yet. We already know much about the general health benefits and the ones for recovering patients, but nothing about the long term health and mental effects of a lack of nature, besides allergies and a much higher rate of psychological problems in cities.
Greening cities, new city planning concepts that include vast amounts of trees and bushes to fight overheating, air pollution and other consequences of climate change, is a great step in the right direction. Could be combined with including animals in those areas and an infrastructure and net of more conservation areas, national parks and city parks so that nature doesn´t have to stay an abstract something one has to drive hours to for a short visit or a holiday, but something omnipresent referring to the fact that we came from there and are nothing without out.
And it hasn´t to be focused just on kids, nobody is too old to learn to love the planet and each individuum whose mind has been opened is a strengthening of the civil society that has to promote a change to an eco-social focus in all regards.
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conserv...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environ...
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
As I like to say, this is a positive example of "Give them to us when they are young and they belong to us forever." and what lies closer, what is more logical, natural and self-explaining than to go outside in the wilderness and just be, examine, walk, hike, wander and absorb all those impressions, smells and unique panoramas and settings. Go, in contrast, in anything manmade, clinical, cold and empty and there is nothing, just the space filled with inanimate objects.
The research of the future will show how strong and important the environments we used to live in since just a few hundred years ago were for our health and how the lack of nature around us influences our mind, body, soul and evolution, what senses we lose and which one we might get. For kids, who are much more sensitive and openminded and live in the ever bigger and faster-growing cities, it might have consequences we don´t even consider yet. We already know much about the general health benefits and the ones for recovering patients, but nothing about the long term health and mental effects of a lack of nature, besides allergies and a much higher rate of psychological problems in cities.
Greening cities, new city planning concepts that include vast amounts of trees and bushes to fight overheating, air pollution and other consequences of climate change, is a great step in the right direction. Could be combined with including animals in those areas and an infrastructure and net of more conservation areas, national parks and city parks so that nature doesn´t have to stay an abstract something one has to drive hours to for a short visit or a holiday, but something omnipresent referring to the fact that we came from there and are nothing without out.
And it hasn´t to be focused just on kids, nobody is too old to learn to love the planet and each individuum whose mind has been opened is a strengthening of the civil society that has to promote a change to an eco-social focus in all regards.
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conserv...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environ...
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
May 27, 2021
Happy birthday, Rachel Carson!! Mother earth, champion of the environment.
"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."- Rachel Carson
"If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life."—Rachel Carson
"It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility"―-Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder
Van Morrison’s “A Sense of Wonder”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhMk_...
The lyrics to that song, if you have trouble following Van ☺:
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/vanmo...
I’ve read this Carson (the author also of Silent Spring) essay many times but am thinking of the environment more these weeks as the bath-water-warm seas intensify the angry-hurricane season in this early fall, 2017, so I listened to a reading of this short essay on the importance of having a sense of wonder (especially with respect to nature) as one grows up. She has adults in mind here, as keepers of the Earth, making sure we “teach our children well.”
The point in teaching about the earth, Carson says, is not facts and figures but feeling, love, passion, commitment to protect and preserve. Take a child for a walk in the woods and stop when she asks questions and listen and join in as she observes, smells, tastes.
I thought of Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much With Us” as I listened to this essay:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...
Here’s a short excerpt of The Sense of Wonder:
https://web.utk.edu/~ctmelear/ossabaw...
"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."- Rachel Carson
"If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life."—Rachel Carson
"It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility"―-Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder
Van Morrison’s “A Sense of Wonder”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhMk_...
The lyrics to that song, if you have trouble following Van ☺:
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/vanmo...
I’ve read this Carson (the author also of Silent Spring) essay many times but am thinking of the environment more these weeks as the bath-water-warm seas intensify the angry-hurricane season in this early fall, 2017, so I listened to a reading of this short essay on the importance of having a sense of wonder (especially with respect to nature) as one grows up. She has adults in mind here, as keepers of the Earth, making sure we “teach our children well.”
The point in teaching about the earth, Carson says, is not facts and figures but feeling, love, passion, commitment to protect and preserve. Take a child for a walk in the woods and stop when she asks questions and listen and join in as she observes, smells, tastes.
I thought of Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much With Us” as I listened to this essay:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...
Here’s a short excerpt of The Sense of Wonder:
https://web.utk.edu/~ctmelear/ossabaw...
July 2, 2021
How f-ing awesome would it be to have Rachel Carson as your doting aunt? -and to have her introduce you to the tide pools of Maine? -and the forests of New England? -and the birds of North America? Roger, you are one fortunate sonofabitch.
August 2, 2022
The Sense of Wonder was first published as a magazine article in a 1956s Woman’s Home Companion under the title “Help Your Child to Wonder”. She intended to expand the essay into a book, and spent much of 1959 collecting material for the expansion, but then Silent Spring was published to the massive interest of the the general public and the great hysteria of the pesticide companies, so she never managed to complete the work on the expanded edition of her article. In 1965, a year after her death, the article was published as a book.
It’s a book about kids, nature and wonder. It’s about letting children explore nature, wonder how it all works, allowing them to notice the insects, the plants, the animals, the stars, the rocks, and the world itself. It is a book about love. Love for the world around us. For our home.
One can’t help think about what this book might have been if she had had the time to finish it. She was a great writer, and a science communicator, so I’m sure the outcome would have been worth reading. As it stands, it is a short, but beautiful book on the subject. The book is illustrated with photographs by Nick Kelch. They are quite beautiful in their own right, and add a dimension to the project.
Still, it is Rachel Carson’s text that carries it. She has such a passionate voice when it comes to nature, such enthusiasm, that it is hard not to be swept along with her. And I think her idea, that we need to allow, and encourage kids to explore their surrounds, the nature, the animals, the seasons, and the life around them, is quite correct. Basically, I like this book very much.
It’s a book about kids, nature and wonder. It’s about letting children explore nature, wonder how it all works, allowing them to notice the insects, the plants, the animals, the stars, the rocks, and the world itself. It is a book about love. Love for the world around us. For our home.
One can’t help think about what this book might have been if she had had the time to finish it. She was a great writer, and a science communicator, so I’m sure the outcome would have been worth reading. As it stands, it is a short, but beautiful book on the subject. The book is illustrated with photographs by Nick Kelch. They are quite beautiful in their own right, and add a dimension to the project.
Still, it is Rachel Carson’s text that carries it. She has such a passionate voice when it comes to nature, such enthusiasm, that it is hard not to be swept along with her. And I think her idea, that we need to allow, and encourage kids to explore their surrounds, the nature, the animals, the seasons, and the life around them, is quite correct. Basically, I like this book very much.
January 7, 2019
This is my first book read this year. On an unseasonably warm winter's day, after a walk in the arboretum, I sat in their library and read this book from cover to cover. This is a re-read and I was reminded of how much I loved her writing. She evokes a sense of wonder at the natural world that I feel each time I take a walk outside but I wish I could write like her.
She writes about the wonder of lichen, moss, shrubs and trees and the beauty of time passing. How naming things can help but nature is more than names and no matter what the stage of one's life one can still seek joy and receive it from a simple walk outside. A lovely read to begin the new year.
She writes about the wonder of lichen, moss, shrubs and trees and the beauty of time passing. How naming things can help but nature is more than names and no matter what the stage of one's life one can still seek joy and receive it from a simple walk outside. A lovely read to begin the new year.
February 9, 2014
This is written to/about her nephew & the sense of wonder she enjoyed with him exploring nature when he was a child. According to the forward, she intended to expand on it, but I'm glad she didn't. She repeated herself a bit as it was. Excellent advice on introducing a child to nature, though. Something every adult who guides a child should read.
July 19, 2019
I encountered the work of Rachel Carson when I was 16 years old. I was both moved and inspired by her book,Silent Spring, that explored issues of the toxic impact of man-made chemicals within the human environment. In the Sense of Wonder the reader encounters a uniquely poetic side of this forward thinking and spot on 20th century scientist....
August 1, 2022
This is my favorite book in any genre and I will never tire of reading and rereading it. Thank you, scientist and poet Rachel Carson.
(4/5/21: This has to be my 10th reread at least and I could read it a thousand times more and not grow tired of it.)
(4/5/21: This has to be my 10th reread at least and I could read it a thousand times more and not grow tired of it.)
December 5, 2020
Magnífico !!!! Increíble cómo se puede conectar a los niños con nosotros y la naturaleza a través de prácticas sencillas. Para aquellos que creemos en una educación diferente y más equilibrada y completa.
January 28, 2019
A very short memoir that Ms Carson intended to expand but death came before she could. She describes her days and weeks on the Maine seashore and the wonder she felt examining rocks, sand, crabs, stars, clouds. She tries to instill in the reader the responsibility adults have to help children discover the wonder around them. I wish I had read it as a young father. This book is hard to find, but, Amazon has it a paper back and Kindle.
February 11, 2019
Creo que es una de las obras más bellas que he leído en toda mi vida. Me da igual que la pretensión de la señora Carson fuera ampliar el ensayo. Esas lágrimas que he derramado mientras leía sobre la naturaleza de Nueva Inglaterra, y de su forma de sentirla, eran más reales que yo. Estoy logrando leer más ensayos, y da la casualidad de que todos versan sobre cosas relacionadas con Nueva Inglaterra. Junto con Rusia y España, es mi lugar favorito de la tierra. Así que estoy conforme con el tema.
El sentido del asombro fue escrito por la ecologista Rachel Carson para una revista en los años cincuenta, la Woman’s Home Companion. La idea de Carson, como ya he dicho, era ampliar este pequeño ensayo en un futuro, tras la publicación de Primavera Silenciosa. Pero el impacto que tuvo su ensayo contra los insecticidas sintéticos, la prensa que la acechaba constantemente y el cáncer de mama que terminó quitándole la vida en 1964 imposibilitó que el proyecto saliera adelante. Para empezar, hay que saber que Rachel Carson jamás quiso ser famosa. Ella amaba la naturaleza de una forma muy especial, y los conocimientos que tenía sobre ésta los compartía con los demás como nosotros ideas y vivencias en conversaciones con nuestros mejores amigos. Era una mujer sensible, cercana y optimista. Su vínculo con todo lo que nos rodea era único. Fue algo que ya noté en su ensayo más renombrado, pero esta obra, tan personal, es donde más patente se hace.
Al igual que en Primavera Silenciosa utiliza diversos ejemplos para ilustrarnos la idea principal: debemos lograr que los niños experimenten el sentido del asombro mediante la observación de la naturaleza. El sentido del asombro (sense of wonder) nace de una mezcla de fascinación y entendimiento de una idea o, en este caso, de aquel mundo natural que hasta el momento no habíamos apreciado. Cuando Rachel Carson habló de los “cangrejos fantasma”, al principio del ensayo, recordé cuando iba a cazar cangrejos de río con mi padre. Nos los cazábamos para comerlos, sino para que nuestro estanque estuviera más limpio. Además, me parecían tan bonitos que solo quería mirarlos durante horas. Por supuesto, yo no sabía que existían estos animales. No se parecen a los cangrejos marinos. Son semejantes a langostas o bogavantes marinos, pero en miniatura. También su coloración es distinta a la de sus primos, los cangrejos de río son grisáceos o caquis para que los depredadores no los vean. El recuerdo de los cangrejos de río es uno de los recuerdos más bonitos que tengo de mi infancia, aunque en casi todos mis recuerdos bonitos de la infancia hay animales.
Este libro aclara porque los niños agradecen más ciertas excursiones por la naturaleza que objetos materiales. Roger, el sobrino de la autora y coprotagonista de este ensayo, agradece a su tía las aventuras vividas. Sé que no es algo que se haya inventado la autora porque yo también he sentido esa gratitud. ¿Cómo no sentirla? Antes de la excursión no veías nada, y ahora empiezas a ver lo que te rodea. Vale, tal vez has olvidado la mitad de los nombres de las plantas o animales, ¡ya habrá tiempo de aprenderlos! Lo que importa es que sabes que esa planta o animal EXISTE.
¿Puede un adulto empezar a asombrarse? Creo que siempre se puede comenzar. Es mejor tarde que nunca. Por eso creo que, aunque este libro que va dirigido a los padres, tutores o docentes que quieren formar a sus hijos, sirve en realidad para todo el mundo que quiera empezar a apreciar la naturaleza
Gracias, Rachel Carson.
El sentido del asombro fue escrito por la ecologista Rachel Carson para una revista en los años cincuenta, la Woman’s Home Companion. La idea de Carson, como ya he dicho, era ampliar este pequeño ensayo en un futuro, tras la publicación de Primavera Silenciosa. Pero el impacto que tuvo su ensayo contra los insecticidas sintéticos, la prensa que la acechaba constantemente y el cáncer de mama que terminó quitándole la vida en 1964 imposibilitó que el proyecto saliera adelante. Para empezar, hay que saber que Rachel Carson jamás quiso ser famosa. Ella amaba la naturaleza de una forma muy especial, y los conocimientos que tenía sobre ésta los compartía con los demás como nosotros ideas y vivencias en conversaciones con nuestros mejores amigos. Era una mujer sensible, cercana y optimista. Su vínculo con todo lo que nos rodea era único. Fue algo que ya noté en su ensayo más renombrado, pero esta obra, tan personal, es donde más patente se hace.
Al igual que en Primavera Silenciosa utiliza diversos ejemplos para ilustrarnos la idea principal: debemos lograr que los niños experimenten el sentido del asombro mediante la observación de la naturaleza. El sentido del asombro (sense of wonder) nace de una mezcla de fascinación y entendimiento de una idea o, en este caso, de aquel mundo natural que hasta el momento no habíamos apreciado. Cuando Rachel Carson habló de los “cangrejos fantasma”, al principio del ensayo, recordé cuando iba a cazar cangrejos de río con mi padre. Nos los cazábamos para comerlos, sino para que nuestro estanque estuviera más limpio. Además, me parecían tan bonitos que solo quería mirarlos durante horas. Por supuesto, yo no sabía que existían estos animales. No se parecen a los cangrejos marinos. Son semejantes a langostas o bogavantes marinos, pero en miniatura. También su coloración es distinta a la de sus primos, los cangrejos de río son grisáceos o caquis para que los depredadores no los vean. El recuerdo de los cangrejos de río es uno de los recuerdos más bonitos que tengo de mi infancia, aunque en casi todos mis recuerdos bonitos de la infancia hay animales.
Este libro aclara porque los niños agradecen más ciertas excursiones por la naturaleza que objetos materiales. Roger, el sobrino de la autora y coprotagonista de este ensayo, agradece a su tía las aventuras vividas. Sé que no es algo que se haya inventado la autora porque yo también he sentido esa gratitud. ¿Cómo no sentirla? Antes de la excursión no veías nada, y ahora empiezas a ver lo que te rodea. Vale, tal vez has olvidado la mitad de los nombres de las plantas o animales, ¡ya habrá tiempo de aprenderlos! Lo que importa es que sabes que esa planta o animal EXISTE.
¿Puede un adulto empezar a asombrarse? Creo que siempre se puede comenzar. Es mejor tarde que nunca. Por eso creo que, aunque este libro que va dirigido a los padres, tutores o docentes que quieren formar a sus hijos, sirve en realidad para todo el mundo que quiera empezar a apreciar la naturaleza
Gracias, Rachel Carson.
April 9, 2024
Tiny quick cute read
“One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, “What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”
“One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, “What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”
March 30, 2023
As an environmental educator, biologist and also an aunt who used to bring her nephew - just a baby back then - to the garden so we could look at the plants, this book touched me in every possible way. It's important to never lose the sense of wonder.
Made me realize I probably learned more from children than what they learned from me.
Made me realize I probably learned more from children than what they learned from me.
August 19, 2019
Beautiful photos & wonderful writing.
February 20, 2021
This is an essay (accompanied by beautiful pictures) about instilling in young children a sense of wonder regarding the natural world. Here are two of my favorite bits:
“I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parents seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood or the time to prepare the soil. Once the emotions have been aroused - a sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new and the unknown, a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration or love - then we wish for knowledge about the object of our emotional response. Once found, it has lasting meaning. It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate.”
“Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexations or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night and spring after the winter.”
“I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parents seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood or the time to prepare the soil. Once the emotions have been aroused - a sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new and the unknown, a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration or love - then we wish for knowledge about the object of our emotional response. Once found, it has lasting meaning. It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate.”
“Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexations or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night and spring after the winter.”
February 14, 2022
De courts essais ainsi que des extraits de livres, de correspondance et de discours écrits par une célèbre biologiste marine américaine, pionnière du mouvement écologiste! J'ai particulièrement aimé les textes plus "nature writing", qui parlent de son amour de l'océan, de ses explorations sylvestres ou des habitudes de vie de certains animaux. Les textes plus militants, sur l'agriculture intensive et l'usage des pesticides, sont intéressants d'un point de vue historique, mais ne sont plus tellement à jour si l'on désire s'informer sur la cause environnementale. La plume de Carson est très agréable, à la fois savante et sensible, et ses réflexions sont justes.
Visitez mon blog : https://chroniquesbookaddict.wixsite....
Suivez-moi sur Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Les-chroniqu...
Visitez mon blog : https://chroniquesbookaddict.wixsite....
Suivez-moi sur Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Les-chroniqu...
March 20, 2023
In May, our son will be born. My husband and I have talked extensively about what is important to us in how he experiences the world, and his relationship to nature and the outdoors has been a predominant piece. As a scientist, I am very caught up in the facts, the names, the lifecycles, and the learning of nature…it’s just how I’m programmed . Carson’s essay is a wonderful reminder that for a child, the focus should be wonder first. The rest will come when they are engaged and interested.
April 4, 2019
This pretty much sums it up: “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
February 13, 2017
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS.
September 27, 2020
3.75 stars (liked it)
A lovely short book about encouraging a child's sense of wonder in nature. Would make a nice baby shower gift for new parents.
A lovely short book about encouraging a child's sense of wonder in nature. Would make a nice baby shower gift for new parents.
August 6, 2021
This was a lovely little book to listen to for various reasons. I can't do audiobooks for novels, but for super short nonfiction (this is 33 minutes on regular speed) it works well for me because it feels more like a podcast. I don't need to retain every detail to enjoy the experience, whereas with a novel, that's more important.
I also really liked the narrator's voice--it's very melodic and soothing, and along with the detailed descriptions, really helped put me in the scenes around Carson's home, the forests and shoreline and such. Made me really nostalgic for the brief period when my parents lived on the coast up north in Mendocino County, where I also lived with them for a few months between situations. It's the opposite side of the country from Carson, but the two feel very similar in feeling and environment. I loved the descriptions of the scents in the air and the sounds, the way the ground feels underfoot, all the different growths and fauna you come across. It was just so peaceful, and listening to this gave me a moment of that again.
I definitely agree with the author about the importance of enjoying and engaging with the natural world, of cultivating the wonder she references in the title in children and retaining it throughout adulthood and into older years. I wish I were still able to experience it beyond watching the birds in the tree outside my window.
Very enjoyable quick listen if you want something to give you a few moments of serenity.
I also really liked the narrator's voice--it's very melodic and soothing, and along with the detailed descriptions, really helped put me in the scenes around Carson's home, the forests and shoreline and such. Made me really nostalgic for the brief period when my parents lived on the coast up north in Mendocino County, where I also lived with them for a few months between situations. It's the opposite side of the country from Carson, but the two feel very similar in feeling and environment. I loved the descriptions of the scents in the air and the sounds, the way the ground feels underfoot, all the different growths and fauna you come across. It was just so peaceful, and listening to this gave me a moment of that again.
I definitely agree with the author about the importance of enjoying and engaging with the natural world, of cultivating the wonder she references in the title in children and retaining it throughout adulthood and into older years. I wish I were still able to experience it beyond watching the birds in the tree outside my window.
Very enjoyable quick listen if you want something to give you a few moments of serenity.
September 16, 2019
A smooth read aloud to my daughter and myself. Enjoyed and rediscovered a sense of awe that I remember experiencing in wide open natural places. I’d say this is a must-read for every parent-child. The celebration of the shore, the temperate forest, the rain, the reindeer lichen and the way it feels to stand over it when it’s dry and it’s resilience when wet from rain, the smells, sounds and the feel of the outdoors; the wonder of discovering crickets in the dark and the sound of water and the staring at the moon...the whistle of the winds and the drizzle of rain....a wonderful read (aloud). One day I hope my daughter will experience the awe I did as I read it aloud to her...
March 31, 2023
Rachel Carson is a treasure. She captures the essence of wonder well in this short gem, which is also filled with lovely photos.
March 11, 2022
I picked this up thanks to Brene Brown. Poetry and nature is akin to the wisest of minds and theories. I found a little peace and plenty of inner child curiosity reminders.
March 31, 2024
Not a book but an essay that I think any parent to kids should read it. Or actually, maybe just anybody should read it.
Man, reading anything by Rachel Carson will have you wanting to go take a hike.
Man, reading anything by Rachel Carson will have you wanting to go take a hike.
April 29, 2021
"A maioría de nós coñecemos o mundo fundamentalmente a través da vista, mais miramos derredor con ollos tan pitoños que en realidade estamos medio cegos. Un xeito de abrirmos os ollos a esa beleza inadvertida é preguntarnos «que pasaría se nunca antes vise isto?, que pasaría se soubese que non o había volver ver nunca máis?»."
March 30, 2024
Audiobook - really awesome and quick story and parenting and nature…right up my alley. Shout out Nate for the recommendation
September 12, 2021
Libro corto que describe cómo los niños y los adultos pueden disfrutar juntos de la naturaleza y fomentar su sentido del asombro. Ojalá nunca perdiéramos la capacidad de sorprendernos que tienen los niños
October 10, 2019
The Sense of Wonder is a short essay written by Rachel Carson and published in 1965, a year after her death. The essay exhorts parents to help their children experience the "...lasting pleasures of contact with the natural world". Good advice, but one suspects many kids today might find the allure of a pine cone somewhat less enticing than Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
Carson lays it on pretty thick … marveling at the smell of the sea, the lichens on the forest floor, the song of the whippoorwill, etc. I have a deep abiding passion for nature and have spent many hundreds of days outdoors but have to say that this kind of sentimental romanticization of the natural world falls completely flat for me. Folks in this camp are always talking about sunsets and butterflies, the smell of a pine forest, mountain peaks and the twinkle of stars in the night sky. They neglect the really cool stuff like the Glyptapanteles wasp who inject their eggs into living caterpillars, where the larvae feed on the caterpillar’s fluids before gnawing their way out.
Anyway, it’s a good message … delivered in saccharine prose.
Carson lays it on pretty thick … marveling at the smell of the sea, the lichens on the forest floor, the song of the whippoorwill, etc. I have a deep abiding passion for nature and have spent many hundreds of days outdoors but have to say that this kind of sentimental romanticization of the natural world falls completely flat for me. Folks in this camp are always talking about sunsets and butterflies, the smell of a pine forest, mountain peaks and the twinkle of stars in the night sky. They neglect the really cool stuff like the Glyptapanteles wasp who inject their eggs into living caterpillars, where the larvae feed on the caterpillar’s fluids before gnawing their way out.
Anyway, it’s a good message … delivered in saccharine prose.
February 25, 2015
Chills of Delight
Rachel Carson is a master of capturing the reader's attention and holding it while filling them with a yearning for a deep relationship with the natural world. Her writing is simple, unassuming and accessible to a young and open mind as well as an older steadfast hardened reader.
As she strives to instill a lifelong love affair for discovery into young Rodger, she does likewise for the reader fortunate enough to tag along.
A short and simple work worthy of any reader's time.
Rachel Carson is a master of capturing the reader's attention and holding it while filling them with a yearning for a deep relationship with the natural world. Her writing is simple, unassuming and accessible to a young and open mind as well as an older steadfast hardened reader.
As she strives to instill a lifelong love affair for discovery into young Rodger, she does likewise for the reader fortunate enough to tag along.
A short and simple work worthy of any reader's time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 443 reviews