Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions a

by Annie Dillard

Teaching a Stone to Talk:...

by
Annie Dillard

book data

849 ratings, 4.20 average rating, 90 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		42%
4		37%
3		16%
2		1%
1		0%

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published

October 30th 1983 by HarperCollins Publishers (first published 1983)

details

Paperback, 177 pages

isbn

0060910720 (isbn13: 9780060910723)

description

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

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1,162)

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Jan 24, 2010

Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in January, 2010

Not my favorite, though there are wonderful moments here. She seems in "An Expedition to the Pole" to get wrong what she gets so right in For the Time Being. In the latter, she lays her examinations--internal and external--side-by-side and leaves us to connect. They resonate against one another and flare out into unexpected meanings. Here, she smashes her examinations of the lives of arctic explorers together with her impressions of a largely mundane Catholic service in a surreal m...more

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Dec 30, 2008

Stephen rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in December, 2008

It’s always good to visit with Annie.

“Teaching a Stone to Talk” is a collection of what Annie calls occasional pieces “such as a writer brings out to supplement his real work; instead this is my real work” from the early 1980s. It's bits and pieces, really. In the signature essay she visits a man who is trying to teach a stone—dark gray, beach cobble—to speak, not sentences but just simple words, an interesting scenario that leads to the lament that nature has gone silen...more

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Sep 13, 2009

John rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in July, 2009

This is another wonderful collection of essays from Annie Dillard--carefully observed, primarily oriented around nature, and at times, surprisingly poignant. One of the things I like most about Dillard is her ability to see the mystery in all things. She realizes through her observations of the world that there's more going on than just what we see on the surface. The creature or created thing echo and reflect their Creator.

The earliest essays in this collection are the best, with Li...more

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Jan 06, 2009

Tricia rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in January, 2009

This is a book of essays: some reflective, mostly descriptive. Sometimes I was reading and thinking, "What the hell is she talking about?" But, it's worth it to keep reading because there are phrases and paragraphs that are just golden:

From "Total Eclipse": "The mind—the culture—has two little tools, grammar and lexicon: a decorated sand bucket and a matching shovel."

From "An Expedition to the Pole": "It all seems a pit at ...more

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Dec 13, 2008

Shannonpresler rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

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 sh...more

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Feb 23, 2009

Steve Gallup rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in March, 2009

I remember the last time I read Annie Dillard. It was Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, which was making a sensation at the time (1974). Her prose was strong, I thought, and her observations trenchant. But her tendency to go overboard in making a point felt like someone trying too hard. The only passage to stick in my mind from that long-ago reading concerned her amazement at the unthinkable speeds with which the Earth is simultaneously rotating on its axis, orbiting the Sun, and moving with the rest of ...more I remember the last time I read Annie Dillard. It was Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, which was making a sensation at the time (1974). Her prose was strong, I thought, and her observations trenchant. But her tendency to go overboard in making a point felt like someone trying too hard. The only passage to stick in my mind from that long-ago reading concerned her amazement at the unthinkable speeds with which the Earth is simultaneously rotating on its axis, orbiting the Sun, and moving with the rest of the galaxy through space. Dillard claimed to be lying flat on the ground and holding on for dear life, which just struck me as silly.

Thirty-plus years later, I’ve given her another shot with Teaching a Stone to Talk, and must acknowledge that this volume contains almost the same comment about planetary motion. But of course there’s a lot more as well, so much in fact that focusing on this one tic of hers seems unfair.

The opening piece, in which she describes a total eclipse, is so well drawn I feel as if I had been there. Whatever else may have been written on the subject, this surely stands as the benchmark.

The next piece juxtaposes exceedingly banal scenes at small churches, where mediocrity seems to reign, with the record of various mostly failed polar expeditions. It’s hard to imagine anyone else coming up with the connection she sees, but a compelling meditation results. In both cases, people are setting out ill-prepared for a journey toward something that is almost impossible to attain. Any hope of success depends on being able to give up things by which one defines oneself. Thus, members of a disastrous trek into Antarctica had no business thinking they could reach the Pole while dining from sterling silver tableware, and likewise congregants looking for a closer walk with God cannot afford to feel superior toward amateur musicians and bumbling clergy. The following passage is precisely what I mean about the conclusions she reaches:

I do not find Christians ... sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday ...

Well, my focus may well be unfair, and it may be driven by the same defect she’s talking about, but I find her hyperbole a distraction from what is otherwise keen insight and tireless mental exploration.

On the other hand, I envy her the kind of life she has apparently led in the process.
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Nov 11, 2009

Janet rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

bookshelves: essay-general-nonfic, memoir-bio, writing

Read in December, 2009

It's only appropriate that my favorite in these essays of expeditions and encounters by another of my beloved writers (raised in Pittsburgh as was I), "Total Eclipse," takes place in the Yakima valley of Washington, where Raymond Carver spent his early years. In this essay, Dillard magnificently details the adventure she and her husband had travelling from their home on the coast to watch the mystery of one celestial object move into the shadow of another. Afterward, over breakfast in...more

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Mar 14, 2009

Maggie rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in May, 2007

This was the first Annie Dillard book I read. I fell in love immediately! Dillard has a way with words which will entrance, mesmerize, amuse, intrigue, and capture the reader. Her vast knowledge and relentless curiosity about this world and the universe empower the reader with a sense of awe and wonder. I dogeared so many pages and underlined so many passages that I might as well have just underlined and dogeared the entire thing! I shall revisit Teaching A Stone To Talk and Pilgrim At Tinker...more

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Oct 06, 2008

David rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in October, 2007

"Now we are no longer primitive. Now the whole world seems not holy.....We as a people have moved from pantheism to pan-atheism...It is difficult to undo our own damage and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave. It is hard to desecrate a grove and change your mind. We doused the burning bush and cannot rekindle it. We are lighting matches in vain under every green tree. Did the wind used to cry and hills shout forth praise? Now speech has perished from among the ...more

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Apr 30, 2008

Peter Sakievich rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: Anyone

On my second round through this book, so I suppose it may be worth others' time. It's a compelling series of mostly disconnected articles about the author's experiences at various places and times of her life and what meaning she sees in them.

I think there are a couple quotes that overall define the general theme of the collection.

The first comes from the chapter Total Eclipse:

"The mind wants to live forever, or to learn a very good reason why not. The mi...more

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Dec 09, 2008

Julia rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in January, 1997

recommends it for: lovers of nature and writing

I've read most of Dillard's work, but this thin volume of essays and PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK are the only ones that have stayed with me. The short essays in this book once again show the power Dillard has to weave language--as a former English teacher, I'm in awe just at her sentence structure! More important is how her awe about nature shines through--"Total Eclipse" gives me goosebumps, and the title essay is one of the best I've ever read.

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Oct 21, 2008

Robertisenberg rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Annie Dillard is, unquestionably, one of the greatest nonfiction writers ever to live, and this, so far as I can tell, is one of her greatest books. I actually enjoyed it more than "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek," perhaps because the essays are a little more manageable, like relaxedly eating a bunch of your favorite cookies instead of an entire Black Forest Cake. The opening essay, about a total eclipse of the sun, remains my favorite, because it demonstrates Dillard's style through her most...more

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Jun 03, 2007

Leah rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in June, 2007

recommends it for: naturalist, Dillard fans, non-fiction writers

More global in span than Dillard's other famous works( Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, An American Childhood), yet still incredibly personal, Teaching a Stone to Talk is a worthy member of this incredible writer's body of work.

The book is made up of a series of shorts covering a range of places and topics including the Amazon, Artic Expeditions, Puget Sound and a cabin in the woods. It is in the essays closer to home, particularly the titular piece and "Aces and Eights," that I ...more

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Apr 16, 2009

Taylor rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in May, 2009

Annie Dillard has an interesting way of interpreting the details of life. Her observations are thought-provoking, insightful, and sometimes very funny.

This book was a little too heavy on the life philosophy at times, but that's more of a reflection of my current state of mind (overstimulated by school and work) than the author. I definitely think I could get more out of this at another stage in life, especially a pronounced period of self-reflection.

I also recommend Dil...more

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Nov 25, 2009

Roberto rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

bookshelves: essays

This is a book of short personal essays by Annie Dillard. It really blurs the line between poetry and non-fiction and is a good example of the art of an essayist. Her descriptions of the north pole and Galapogos are amazing. Her style seems to meander but always returns full circle and the journey is as wonderful as her destinations.

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May 28, 2008

Nate rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in June, 2008

Never thought I'd give an Annie Dillard less than 5 (or 6 or 7) stars, but this one didn't speak to me quite as much as Pilgrim at Tinker Creek or Holy the Firm or even The Maytrees. Perhaps it's because I'm still in my twenties and see the world from an awestruck perspective (a la Pilgrim) while Dillard has moved on to contemplating her own mortality and the swift passage of time. She also seems out of her element writing about her time in the Amazon and the Galapagos Islands. She just writes b...more

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Jan 05, 2009

Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

bookshelves: annie-dillard, my-favorites

Read in January, 1988

My FAVORITE gift to give to introduce people to Annie Dillard. Her writing is detrenched in thoughtfulness that evokes a rich visual feast and a sense of personal responsibility to live life more awake. This book sits on my guest nightstand next to Anis Nin.....gotta give your guests a diverse choice of ways to fall asleep.

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Mar 22, 2009

Brandy rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in April, 2009

I really loved this book, much more than Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (which I also liked). It is short stories, which is a new genre for me, and I'm thinking I'm going to have to read more. Similar to Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, the general theme centers on the natural world. My favorite story was Total Eclipse about her experience watching a total solar eclipse. Amazing! I won't do it justice here, you just need to read it. I've made it a life goal to see one at some point.

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Mar 17, 2008

Ruth rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in February, 2008

Annie Dillard is a great essayist. When I read the first essay in this book, which was about a solar eclipse, I was all ready to give it five stars. It was amazing. But there was a kind of lull in the essays in the middle of the book, the ones about the Galapagos. I'm interested in the Galapagos, but the essays somehow weren't as magical as the earlier ones. The last essay regained my interest, though, so overall, the book is recommended. This author has a way of mixing observations of nat...more

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Oct 21, 2009

Shirari rated it:

(review of isbn 0060915412)

Read in November, 2009

recommended to Shirari by: given to me by karen phillips
recommends it for: poets, buddhists, people who like animals and nature and history

This is so, so lovely. I came to Annie Dillard ignorant of her awesomeness and now I really like her. She's not terribly vegan-friendly but she has a very cool relationship with animals and nature.

Her anecdotes and narratives about natural history, exploration, animals, and geography wind together and blend effortlessly with observations about spirituality and the very nature of civilization. And yet her voice is very personal and reflective, even poetic and at times experimental - y...more

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