{"product_id":"world-of-wonders-in-praise-of-fireflies-whale-sharks-and-other-astonishments","title":"World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-padding-small\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003eWithin two pages, nature writing feels different and fresh and new. Nezhukumatathil has written a timely story about love, identity and belonging ... We are losing the language and the ability to see and understand the wondrous things around us. And our lives are impoverished by this process ... This book demands we find the eyes to see and the heart to love such things once more. It is a very fine book indeed, truly full of wonder. -- James Rebanks ― \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn unusual and captivating memoir ... Nezhukumatathil exudes a rare zest for life, and her inherent love for the natural world shines through. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWorld of Wonders\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a thing of wonder, the book that most took me by surprise this year -- Jini Reddy, Wainwright Prize-shortlisted author of Wanderland\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA restless search for identity and belonging finds a warm welcome in nature's details. Nezhukumatathil's writing is like coming home. -- Gillian Burke, biologist and presenter of BBC2's Springwatch and Winterwatch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAimee Nezhukumatathil's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWorld of Wonders\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the first book to make me feel like a firefly as much as it reminds me I'm still a black boy playing in Central Mississippi woods. The book walks. It sprints. It leaps. Most importantly, the book lingers in a world where power, people, and the literal outside wrestle painfully, beautifully. This book is a world of wonders. This book is about to shake the Earth. -- Kiese Laymon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAimee Nezhukumatathil gives us the world in technicolour. Astonishing nature burgeons all around her as she shows what it means to find wonder in a wilfully dull world -- Katherine May\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSometimes we need teachers who remind us how to be flabbergasted and gobsmacked and flummoxed and enswooned by the wonders of this earth. How to be in stupefied and devotional love to the wonders of this earth. How to be in love with this, our beloved earth. Aimee Nezhukumatathil's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWorld of Wonders\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is as good and generous a teacher as one could ever ask for. This book enraptures with its own astonishments and reveries while showing us how to be enraptured, how to revere. Which, again, is showing us how to be in love. I can think of nothing more important. Or wonderful. -- Ross Gay, author of The Book of Delights\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom its gorgeous illustrations to its unusual combination of lyrical nature writing and memoir, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWorld of Wonders\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is hands-down one of the most beautiful books of the year. -- NPR \"Best Books of 2020\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn thirty bewitching essays, Nezhukumatathil spotlights natural astonishments raining from monsoon season in India to clusters of fireflies in western New York, each one a microcosm of joy and amazement. With her ecstatic prose and her rapturous powers of insight, Nezhukumatathil proves herself a worthy spiritual successor to the likes of Mary Oliver and Annie Dillard, setting the bar high for a new generation of nature writers. ― \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eEsquire\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShould the wonderful David Attenborough ever retire, my hope is someone at BBC has read the work of Aimee Nezhukumatathil ... What a lovely book this is, gentle in its pacing, well-illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, and quietly subversive in the way she channels its gusts of joy. ― \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNezhukumatathil's investigations, enhanced by Nakamura's vividly rendered full-color illustrations, range across the world, from a rapturous rendering of monsoon season in her father's native India to her formative years in Iowa, Kansas, and Arizona, where she learned from the native flora and fauna that it was common to be different ... The writing dazzles with the marvel of being fully alive. -- Starred Review ― \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn unusual and beguiling blend of cultural memoir and Nature writing ... [Nezhukumatathil's] irrepressible spirit and zest for life shine throughout ― \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eResurgence \u0026amp; Ecologist Magazine\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese are the praise songs of a poet working brilliantly in prose. Each essay compresses a great deal of art and truth into a small space, whether about fireflies or flamingos, monkeys or monsoons, childhood or motherhood, or the trials and triumphs of living with brown skin in a dominant white world. You will not find a more elegant, exuberant braiding of natural and personal history. -- Scott Russell Sanders, author of The Way of Imagination\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe nature writing we have been exposed to has been overwhelmingly male and white, which is just one reason that Aimee Nezhukumatathil's latest essay collection, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWorld of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a breath of fresh air ... What makes her work shine is its joyful embrace of difference, revealing that true beauty resides only in diversity. ― \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWorld of Wonders\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a stunning union of biography, poetry, philosophy, and science; it is imbued with a love for her readers and for the natural world, and with a hope that people of color will feel more seen in nature writing . . . With a sense of amazement for the creatures around us, Aimee makes an ardent and artistic case for a compassionate ethics grounded in a deeper understanding?and love?of nature. ― \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Rumpus\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReading \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWorld of Wonders\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, it's clear that Nezhukumatathil is a poet. These essays sing with joy and longing?each focusing on a different natural wonder, all connected by the thread of Nezhukumatathil's curiosity and her identification with the world's beautiful oddities ... It's a heartwarming, poignant, and often funny collection, enlivened by Fumi Nakamura's dreamy illustrations. ― \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBuzzFeed\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAimee Nezhukumatathil's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWorld of Wonders\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a gorgeous collection of essays that ruminate on flora, fauna, and what they can teach us about life itself. Moving between vignettes from Nezhukumatathil's life and her ponderings on nature, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWorld of Wonders\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a one-of-a-kind book you won't want to miss this year. ― \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBustle\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNezhukumatathil applies her skill as a poet to a scintillating series of short essays on nature. She takes up topics that fascinate her - the bizarre-looking potoo birds of Central and South America; corpse flowers, with their rich colors and acrid odor - and connects them to her own experience of the world ... Throughout, she vividly describes sounds, smells, and color - the myriad hues of a 'sea of saris' from India - and folds in touches of poetry. Fumi Nakamura's lush illustrations add to the book's appeal. Readers of Terry Tempest Williams and Annie Dillard will appreciate Nezhukumatathil's lyrical look at nature. ― \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBook Description\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-padding-small\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAn award-winning poet's nonfiction debut: a collection essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support and inspire us - beautifully illustrated in full colour throughout\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"true\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-extend-content a-expander-content-expanded\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-padding-small\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAimee Nezhukumatathil\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the author of four collections of poems, including, most recently, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eOceanic\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award. Other awards for her writing include fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and MacDowell. Her writing appears in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ePoetry\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times Magazine\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eand \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eTin House\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. She serves as poetry faculty for the Writing Workshops in Greece and is professor of English and creative writing in the University of Mississippi's MFA program.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFumi Mini Nakamura is an artist and illustrator based in New York, and is represented by Thinkspace Art Projects in Los Angeles. She has been commissioned to produce original work for numerous commercial clients including Harper's Magazine, Puma, GAP, Dior, Urban Outfitters, and the Cornucopia Institute.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Gloria Dew","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":53355324965202,"sku":null,"price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":53355324997970,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1072\/6522\/9138\/files\/A14AfPtJ3rL._SY522.jpg?v=1778136498","url":"https:\/\/belltell.co.uk\/products\/world-of-wonders-in-praise-of-fireflies-whale-sharks-and-other-astonishments","provider":"Gloria Dew","version":"1.0","type":"link"}