01 November 2012

Treasured Books, Vol. 1: An Almanac for Moderns



This post is the beginning of a new series in which I'll share some of my treasured books. As you will see, my favorite books from a sort of interrelated web of ideas. Given the change of seasons, an appropriate place to start is with An Almanac for Moderns, by Donald Culross Peattie. Born in Chicago in 1898, Peattie studied poetry at the University of Chicago and then botany at Harvard.

In 1935, he published An Almanac for Moderns. I was first introduced to this book by one of my favorite essayists, Clifton Fadiman (more on Clifton later) in his excellent "Reading I've Liked." Here's what Mr. Fadiman had to say about Peattie's Almanac:

"Though not of their stature, Mr. Peattie has in him the spirit of Thoreau and Huxley. He makes tadpole and ants exciting, celebrates the charms of springhouses, pays judicious tributes to the great naturalists who preceded him, comments upon the fact that Edward Lear at twenty was the perfect painter of parrots, ascends to poetry in his comparisons ("the warning cries of herons, like the drop of an old chain on its own coils"), and yet, with all this warmth, never departs from "the scientific frame of mind which does not humanize or sweeten what it must report."

Fadiman continues, " I recommend this book for your spring reading, and, for that matter, for summer, autumn and winter. An eye that, without losing its sense for the human and the transitory, trains itself on such constants as the nuclei of our cells, the death of stars, and the silent multiplication of bacteria can never record observations that are merely seasonable. It reveals, in this case, the very poetry of biology."

"An Almanac for Moderns" is one of the books which I keep always at hand, and no matter how many copies I have at any given time, I always search used bookstore shelves for another to be given as a special gift. It's not a book that needs to be read through in one or two sittings, although I have done many times with great pleasure. But my preferred method is to follow Peattie through the subtle changes in the seasons by reading only one passage per day, enjoying Peattie's elaborations on chitin, or slime mold or Aristotle. It makes me more alert and conscious of the passage of time, and to the world's rhythms.

Donald Culross Peattie. Interestingly, his home in Illinois featured a stained glass circle on the large leaded glass window in the main room. This circle is placed in such a way that the moon appears encircled here on the vernal equinox in the spring and autumnal equinox in the fall--how appropriate for this scientist-poet!


A passage from the "Almanac for Moderns":

"OCTOBER TWENTY-FIFTH

The keynote of spring is growth amongst the plants, reproduction amongst the animals. In summer, it is the reverse; it is the plants that reproduce, the animals that grow. But autumn is the time of fattening. Now the beech nuts ripen their oily kernels; the walnut swells its rich meat through black wooden labyrinths; the wild rice stands high in the marshes, and the woods are filled with their jolly harvest of berries, blue buckthorn, and scarlet bittersweet, black catbrier, holly and mistletoe and honeysuckle. The great green cannonballs of the osage orange drop from the prickly hedges with a thud; under the hawthorns a perfect windfall of scarlet pomes lies drifted, and in the sun the bitter little wild crabs reach their one instant of winy, tangy, astringent perfection.

"This is the moment of abundance for all our brother animals. The harvest mouse is now a wealthy little miser; squirrels can afford the bad investments they make. Opossums paw over persimmons and pawpaws, picking only the tastiest, and like a cloud the cowbirds and grackles and bobolinks wing southward over the wild rice fields, so fat and lazy that the fowler makes an easy harvest of them. Everywhere, on frail bird bones, under the hides of chipmunk and skunk and all four-footed things, fat, the animal's own larder and reserve, is stored away against the bitter months, against lean hunger and long sleep."

Autumn, the season for fattening, indeed!
This fellow is (obviously) a frequent visitor to our feeder, well prepared for the winter.


14 comments:

  1. Dear Erika,

    Thank you for introducing me to Donald Culross Peattie. I enjoyed the excerpt that you chose, and that you were able to illustrate it with what surely must be the most obese squirrel on record! I look forward to knowing the other books on your list of favorites . . .

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    1. Dear Mark,
      Thank your for your message-- I'm quite sure that you'd enjoy the "Almanac"-- it's wonderful to have it around and just read Peattie's entry for the day (for today: small migrating birds and their songs...). That squirrel is indeed spherical, one of many Fox Squirrels we have at our feeder. Amazingly, as fat as they get, by the spring they're back to their normal size. Its hugely entertaining to see them in all their chubby glory, though!
      Warm regards,
      Erika

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  2. Dear Erika,
    This sounds like an interesting book. I had not heard of Donald Peattie before but your excerpt give us a glimpse into his style which is somewhat poetic.
    I like that. . .
    . . . and just like Mark, I am looking forward to seeing what's on the list of your other favourite books!
    Bye for now
    Kirk

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    1. Dear Kirk,
      Thank you for your kind words-- I am very pleased to have found an author whose work is new and interesting for you. For me, the cross between science and poetry is a fascinating one,and, sadly, very rare. Later, I'll introduce another author, a kindred spirit to Peattie that I think you'll enjoy.
      Warm regards,
      Erika

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  3. Hello Erika, Donald Peattie is indeed a charming and observant nature writer, and I will add this volume to my shopping list of books. He obviously had a wide-ranging mind and a gift for exposition.

    One small issue--he refers to crabapples' "instant" of perfection. I consider this favorite to possess a regular season, and might even rescue some of those haws.

    It's interesting that he calls his book "for Moderns". I find his writing rather old-fashioned; it even calls to mind the pioneers that lived among nature and observed it up close. Perhaps his message is that people have gotten away from this. I am looking forward to reading this belletrist so that I can find out.
    --Road to Parnassus

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    1. Dear Jim,
      Thank you for your message-- I'm so glad that you enjoyed this taste of Peattie's writing. His style is, I agree, old-fashioned, but in the best possible way. I imagine him as a man of great depth, interested in beauty and the workings of the world around him--a great inspiration. He was a belletrist, absolutely, a lover of words and nature both.
      Best regards,
      Erika

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  4. Dear Erika - Donald Culross Peattie paints a canvas with his words, even from the short passage that you have quoted it is possible to conjure up the images he is portraying. However, it would be impossible to imagine such a chunky fat squirrel if you had not shown him to us. I seem to recall you saying that you get through a 100 pounds of nuts a month - this one appears to be over indulging!!!

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    1. Dear Rosemary,
      I'm so pleased that you enjoyed this post and Peattie's writing: he is a great pleasure to read. I confess, when I was choosing an autumn passage, I couldn't resist including an image of one of our Fox Squirrels-- the perfect mascot for the season! Amazingly, this breed of squirrel will grow to these rotund proportions now, stay fatty fat fat throughout the winter, and be completely back to their svelte selves by the spring...incredible and hugely entertaining to watch.
      Warm regards,
      Erika

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  5. Hello Erika:
    What an absolute treat this post is for in it you have introduced us to a previously unknown writer and clearly one who, as a keen observer of nature, and a diarist too, deserves to be more widely read. The excerpt which you include here is a delight and if representative, which we are certain that it is, makes us hunger for more.

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    1. Dear Jane and Lance,
      Thank you for your kind words-- I am so pleased to have found a writer who is new to you--what an honor to introduce him! Peattie's "Almanac" is full of sensitively but not sentimentally observed passages on everything from birds, to chitin to slime-molds... And, to his credit, all are fascinating and enjoyable! I do hope that you'll be able to find this book-- it really is wonderful to have a bit of science and poetry through the year...
      Best regards,
      Erika

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  6. I think apologies are in order to Mr. Fox Squirrel - sorry

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    1. Dear Rosemary,
      No apologies necessary: I think these creatures revel in their roundness, as do we!
      Warm regards from cold Michigan,
      Erika

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  7. Hello, Erika - Thank you for introducing us to Donald Culross Peattie. A poet and botanist....fascinating combination! He clearly has a flair for words as well as a scientific mind. I love what he said about growth and reproduction. So true, and yet, I've never thought much about it. And btw, I look a bit like your squirrel friend: stocking up for winter. Too much leftover candy from Halloween :)
    Cheers,
    Loi

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    1. Dear Loi,
      Thank you for your kind message--(I hope Sandy wasn't too hard on you and your community!!!) I'm so glad you enjoyed meeting Mr. Peattie! I would think, that as you are such an accomplished and thoughtful gardener, you may enjoy having a copy of the "Almanac" at hand-great fun. I think, like you, that I've been over-indulging a bit: perhaps it's our residual "caveman brain" prompting us to crave roasts and sweets in preparation for the winter??? Yes, that sounds right--let's blame it on the caveman.
      Cozy regards,
      Erika

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