Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature

I keep finding myself saying to myself, "This is the best book I have ever read!" Perhaps this is hyperbole, but adding the words "one of the best" surely ranks it in my lifetime of reading.Moore's insight into the details of the natural world she inhabits and explores, enhanced by her ability to describe and express it in words, truly astound. It's like she renders me a video camera, observing everything she sees, including a zoom lens and time lapse photography to watch nature unfold in my imagination. I can see the multicolored feather she picks out of the windrow on the beach to preserve in her pocket for the dark days of winter.Moore's powers of observation become deep meditations inside the natural world, augmented by her ability to transfer that meditation to corollaries deep within human nature in a profoundly illuminating way - yes, full of light!This book brings to mind Rumi's poem, "I Have Such a Teacher":Last night my teacher taught me the lesson poverty, having nothing and wanting nothing.I am nakedstanding inside a mine of rubies,clothed in red silk.I absorb the shining,and now I see the ocean,billions of simultaneousmotions moving in me.A circle of lovely, quiet peoplebecomes a ring on my finger.Then the wind and thunderof rain on the way.I have such a teacher.

As someone whose contact to nature is seeing a squirrel, oh, a couple of times a month, I can confirm that Wild Comfort opens the urban reader up to a new and wonderful world. Moore is an absolutely exquisite observer of not just creatures and plants but the sky and seas, too. (And she's not squeamish; the opening essay on snakes attests to that.) I respected the author's physicality--kayaking, a nightime hike as a heavy fog rolls in, snow-shoeing in the forest. And, as the title suggests, how she connects events of the (non-human) natural world to cycles and events of her life is most touching and wise. Yes, sometimes there's a touch of piety, and maybe the book didn't need quite so many lists of unheard of (to me) animals and plants--hip-snaps and green wittles (OK, I made those two up). Ah, and lichen apparently is a large part of the world outside of cities. Seriously, though, these were very touching essays and I'm very inclined toward going back and reading her other books.

This book is a series of short essays on what Moore calls the “secular sacred” that can be found in the wild environments she explores while trying to make sense of the deaths of loved ones. The essays are lyrically written with vivid, beautiful descriptions of the scenery Moore encounters. From the arid deserts of Mexico to the fecund forests of Oregon, Wild Comfort resounds with the wonder and awe Moore experiences, and rewards the reader with the spiritual nuggets she gathers along her journeys--insights that provide wild comfort.

I read this book when my brother died, and it consoled me. I don't remember if someone gave it to me as a gift or whether I bought it. It was on the shelf when my brother died, and I picked it up. It was just what I needed at the time.I find consolation, inspiration, and my (only) "spirituality" in nature and am an avid outdoorsperson. This was just up my ally when I needed to unwind from all the tasks related to putting a loved one to "rest" and consoling others. I can recommend it for anyone who loves nature, who is recovering from a loss, or for a gift to someone who has lost a loved one. That's just about everyone.

I wanted to like this book. A friend recommended it, offering towering praise, for her it was inspiring. Maybe my mistake was getting the audio book, the voice undoubtedly played a large part in my dislike. There were awkward pauses as the narrator stumbled through some of the words, the writing never seemed to roll naturally off the tongue. Overall, it just wasn't for me. I found it rambling and repetitive. I would recommend skipping the audio book and just reading it, that would probably allow for a better experience.

I have become a huge Kathleen Dean Moore fan over the past year or so, and have found this book to be one of her best. I began reading her while providing around the clock care for a family member with dementia, and this, along with other of her books, helped keep me afloat throughout that experience. What a source of comfort, solace and inspiration! Locating and ordering books through Amazon during this time has been so helpful. My mother-in-law and I were mostly housebound during the past twenty months, so the ability to shop and have books and music promptly delivered through this on-line service has truly been a blessing. Thank you!

I don't like books like this. Really. There is no plot, no real characters conjured from an active imagination. Nature seems to move so slowly, or at least most descriptions of it do.But this author has gorgeous poetic writing; the real adventure of time spent observing nature; a soothing voice of speculation on the state of things. So I fell in love with Moore's experiences in nature, even the violent ones. I saved reading this book until bedtime when her calming voice put me in a frame of mind receptive to reflection and relaxation.

There are sections of this book that are so beautifully written, so heartfelt, and so genuine, that I didn't want to turn the page. There's one passage that I have almost memorized.I'm an English teacher, and I read a lot. I'll admit that I have several Shakespearean scenes almost completely memorized, and there are passages in several of the books I teach which touch my heart. But if I were stranded on a deserted island, this is the one book I'd want to have with me.

Utter drivel, I'm surprised it was ever published.

This is one of the most exquisitely beautiful, breath-taking, sublime books I have ever read. Her powers of description and her depth of thought and feeling makes reading this more than a pleasure, it is a gift, an act of ecstatic joy. If you have time to read only one book let it be this one. I do not know the author, and I have not been to the places of which she writes, but she shares herself and what she sees and experiences with such clarity I feel I am beside her. This is a glorious book.

Because the author writes this book after the death of a number of close friends, I found myself absorbing her grief for the first half of the book. I had to put it down for a while and re-group a bit, then was able to finish the rest and appreciate how she processed and managed her grief through her writings. KD Moore is an incredibly colourful and descriptive writer. This book if chuck full of new and interesting ways to describe life and nature. Her intense love of nature comes through in every word. Although it may not have been her intention, she definitely makes a solid case for allowing yourself to heal through the gifts of nature. This is not a book to be read from cover to cover like a novel, but more as a meditative sort of reading. Take it slow, let it sink in....I read this book because it was a choice made by our women's book club. All of us loved it, although some did find it difficult at the beginning. Definitely recommended reading!

Wild Comfort is a memoir of gentle reflections on the author's experiences in the wild with people she has cherished and subsequently lost. The book is full of beautiful, close observations of the wildlife in the places she visits. As a philosopher, she questions the suffering of all life and finds hope and solace in the natural world about her.

Fast delivery - Can't wait to read it