Teaching a Stone to Talk

"A collection of meditations like polished stones — painstakingly worded, tough-minded, yet partial to mystery, and peerless when it comes to injecting larger resonances into the natural world." — Kirkus Reviews

Here, in this compelling assembly of writings, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard explores the world of natural facts and human meanings.

Veering away from the long, meditative studies of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek or Holy the Firm, this collection of literary nonfiction explores and celebrates moments of spirituality, dipping into descriptions of encounters with flora and fauna, stars, and more, from Ecuador to Miami. There is no writer quite like Dillard when it comes to the mysteries and wonder of the natural world.

What happens when a mind as keen as a microscope turns its attention to the raw, unspeaking world?

• Spiritual Essays: A total solar eclipse that feels like the end of the world, a trip to the Galápagos that reveals the planet’s strange beginnings, and other encounters where the natural world touches the divine.
• Literary Nature Writing: From the headwaters of the Amazon to the backwoods of Virginia, Dillard observes the world with a poet’s eye and a naturalist’s precision.
• Philosophical Reflections: Profound meditations on what it means to be alive, whether you are a wild weasel, a silent stone, or a human being trying to make sense of it all.
• The Art of Seeing: Discover how to look at the world with fresh eyes, finding wonder, terror, and unexpected meaning in everything from a passing weasel to the silence of an empty field.