Product Description

Robert Finch, Cape Cod naturalist and author of Common Ground (Godine, 1981) and The Primal Place, returns to the Outer Beach and to the fragile peninsula he's made his own.



On fog-shrouded barrier island or deep in winter woods, Robert Finch is a vivid witness to our participation, whether as individuals or as communities, in the mysteries of natural experience.



There are moments in Outlands where this investment of self in the land is dramatic and even risk-laden, as when the author isolates himself - almost without knowing why - from the mainland, on a spit of sand across a storm-bred, rushing cut of ocean water. Or when he finds himself, on a winter walk in search of seals along a stretch of the Outer Beach, "standing between a pack of agitated marine carnivores and an icy harbor, miles from the nearest human."



But, as Finch explains, deep acquaintance provides even the most common encounters with singular rewards: "One of the primary reasons this place yields so much to me so consistently is that I have invested so much of myself into it, physically, mentally, and emotionally . . . a thousand simple, repeated, physical acts have given this landscape a texture for me so that even its most casual aspect is filled, not with slick charm or abstract nostalgia, but with living, tactile memory."



In Outlands, Finch demonstrates once again his profound willingness to ask essential questions. These essays recognize our need for both the human and the nonhuman in our lives; they probe the ambiguities in our response to the terror and beauty of the natural world and the love and aggression we struggle with in our associations with one another. Robert Finch's remarkable prose offers high entertainment, but also gives us new sympathies for and understanding of both nature and ourselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #516965 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
Besides being an important book, it's also a graceful pleasure to read. --Boston Globe

Customer Reviews

Another under-appreciated classic by Robert Finch
If Amazon sales ranking and number of user reviews are indicators of how a book is received and appreciated, then it is sad that not many people read or appreciate this book by Robert Finch.

I consider myself to be among the lucky ones who have stumbled across this gem. This is the second book by Robert Finch that I have read (the first being "Common Ground"), and I find it to have the same consistency and quality as the first book. Some essays, such as "Cutting in" (about beached pilot whales), "A Swallow Summer" are unsentimental narratives of natural phenomena, in which I find myself always struck by the clarity of his writing and the accuracy of the descriptions. Some essays have more of a human touch, such as "An Alewife Lesson" and "A Summer Place"; indeed, although they can undoubtedly be considered nature writings, one can argue that the natural phenomena in them have to take a backseat -- they are more about people and their behavior in nature. "What the Stones Said" has a mythical tinge, keenly reminding one of Thoreau's writings. "North Beach Journal" is the longest essay in the book, and it is an intimate account of one's journey into and out of solitude (at least that is how I read it).

I do not always agree with Mr. Finch's behavior. For example, in "The Seals of Jeremy Point", he described how he charged toward a group of sunning seals -- but at least he is honest to tell us the story. I think I understand why he did it though, for he said in the book "... it is not our impulses that are bad, but the manner and scale on which we have chosen to express them". Yes, the problem is scale, we eventually will crowd out everything else, and perhaps ourselves in the end.