All the Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Life

by Loren Eiseley, Kathleen A. Boardman

Overview

A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Loren Eiseley began his lifelong exploration of nature in the salt flats and ponds around his hometown and in the mammoth bone collection hoarded in the old red brick museum at the University of Nebraska, where he conducted his studies in anthropology. It was in pursuit of this interest, and in the expression of his natural curiosity and wonder, that Eiseley sprang to national fame with the publication of such works as The Immense Journey and The Firmament of Time.

In All the Strange Hours, Eiseley turns his considerable powers of reflection and discovery on his own life to weave a compelling story, related with the modesty, grace, and keen eye for a telling anecdote that distinguish his work. His story begins with his childhood experiences as a sickly afterthought, weighed down by the loveless union of his parents. From there he traces the odyssey that led to his search for early postglacial man-and into inspiriting philosophical territory-culminating in his uneasy achievement of world renown. Eiseley crafts an absorbing self-portrait of a man who has thought deeply about his place in society as well as humanity's place in the natural world.

Loren Eiseley's many works include The Night Country, The Invisible Pyramid, and The Firmament of Time, all available in Bison Books editions. Introducer Kathleen A. Boardman is director of the Core Writing Program at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803267411
Publisher:	UNP - Bison Books
Publication date:	05/01/2000
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Loren Eiseley’s many works include The Night Country, The Invisible Pyramid, and The Firmament of Time, all available in Bison Books editions. Introducer Kathleen A. Boardman is director of the Core Writing Program at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Editorial Reviews

"There can be no question that Loren Eiseley maintains a place of eminence among nature writers. His extended explorations of human life and mind, set against the backdrop of our own and other universes are like those to be found in every book of nature writing currently available. . . . We now routinely expect our nature writers to leap across the chasm between science, natural history, and poetry with grace and ease. Eiseley made the leap at a time when science was science, and literature was, well, literature. . . . His writing delivered science to nonscientists in the lyrical language of earthly metaphor, irony, simile, and narrative, all paced like a good mystery."—Bloomsbury Review

Bloomsbury Review