Hal Borland's Book of Days

by Hal Borland

Oftentimes the answers to life’s biggest questions can be found by searching for them at the smallest scales. In Book of Days , beloved nature writer Hal Borland (1900–1978) takes readers on an eye-opening day-by-day journey through a year of the outdoor world around us. Originally published in The New York Times as “daily reflections,” these short reports and observations convey Borland’s inspiring thoughts about the world around him and the creatures he shared it with. He also muses about the changes in weather and climate through the seasons, reflects on our traditions and habits, and ponders fundamental questions about what it all means. Writing in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold, and with the inquisitiveness of a philosopher and the perceptive wit of a wise old New England farmer, Borland portrays with simple clarity the elements of change and permanence in the untamed world around us. Neither calendar nor almanac, this delightful natural history “daybook” of mini essays features a treasure trove of fascinating philosophical insights and environmental wonders. Book of Days can be read straight through or savored one day at a time.Be sure to also read Hal Borland's other bestselling classics published by Echo Point Books— Hal Borland's Twelve Moons of the Year and Sundial of the Seasons .

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Harold Glen Borland was a nature journalist. During World War II he wrote radio programs for the government and served as special magazine correspondent. He had written several documentary movies, two volumes of poetry, a volume of essays, has collaborated on a play, and has contributed many non-fiction articles, short stories and novelettes to leading magazines here and abroad.

Mr. Borland was graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism. He also attended the University of Colorado and received a Litt.D. from there in 1944.

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my daily reading of Hal Borland for 2021. Happy to see that his books are being released. I have read and reread Twelve Moons of the Year, which I received from my Father, and is an original publication of that book. I purchased Book of Days and Sundial of the Seasons at the beginning of the month. I now have three of his daily nature meditations to rotate through the coming years.

[Dixie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hal Borland was a friend of my aunt & uncle, and he sent me an autographed copy of this book through them. I have read it several times, starting on January 1 and reading each day's entry in bed at the end of that day. Really good stuff.

[Jim Kownacki · Rating 3 out of 5]

The diary pages of life on the farm are interesting to read but I didn't like when he when off on a c.tangent on a specific topi

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I didn't enjoy this one as much as Hal Borland's Twelve Moons of the Year, it has a similar structure to the other book, laid out diary-style, with one entry per day. Instead of rhapsodizing about how nature changes during the revolving seasons, this time around, Borland considers life in general, and man's place in the world.

There is beautiful writing here, with the most poignant entries coming near the year's conclusion:

12/26 - . . . to walk abroad now is to walk in the midst of infinity. There are no limits to time or distance, except as man himself may make them. I have only to touch the wind to know these things, for the wind itself is full of starlight, even as the frozen earth underfoot, starlight and endless time and exalted wonder.

12/27 - I am a complex organism, subject to pain and worry and hurt and disappointment and disease, but also capable of joy and love and satisfaction.

I am an entity, a fraction of life privileged to be aware of my surroundings, to know, to love, to cherish a mate and a family, to be a part of the living community of sentient beings.

Words of encouragement for troubling times:

12/31 - Year-end, now . . .

The headlines in the morning's news are not encouraging. Man still cannot be trusted to save himself from his own folly. The greatness and the glory seems all to be in the past. Perhaps it was always thus - greatness and glory are hard to recognize in the glare of today, any today. And yet there is that about which to dream as well as the lure of visions. And forever there is change, the one constant. Change.

And words that I want read at my funeral:

5/14 - We all have our summation days, when we draw a figurative line and tot up both the year and the years. I am not summarizing today, however. I am thinking how fortunate I am, how much any child of mid-May has to be thankful for. When he is young he can say: "The robin sings for me, and the oriole, and the lilac blooms today. The trout are eager in the brook. Summer is not yet here, but close at hand. My years begin with song."

When he comes to middle-age he can say: "Another winter is over and gone, and the earth resumes its vigor. My years are like the season, at their flowering, new growth on old stems and the strength of maturity in the trunk."

And when the years amount to age he can say: "I have seen the season turn with the sun, all my days, and each year I feel the growing warmth as my world turns green. My years are spring, all of them, spring returning like a promise and a fragrant fulfillment."

To you, my Goodreads friends, my strongest wishes for joyful times in the coming year/s.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that has become like a dear friend. Full of information and beautiful, wise observations. A companion to my own writing.