Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
House of Anansi Press (2011), Edition: 1st Edition, 272 pages
Description
"A taste for winter, a love of winter--'a mind for winter'--is for many a part of the modern condition. International bestselling author Adam Gopnik takes us on an intimate tour of the artists, poets, composers, writers, explorers, scientists, and thinkers who helped shape a new and modern idea of winter. Here we learn how a poem by William Cowper heralds the arrival of the middle class; how snow science leads to existential questions of God and our place in the world; how the race to the poles makes the human drive to imprint meaning on a blank space. Gopnik's kaleidoscopic work ends in the present day, when he traverses the underground city in Montreal, pondering the future of northern culture."--Back cover.
User reviews
LibraryThing member ParadisePorch
I chose to read this collection of Massey Lectures broadcast on CBC Radio to satisfy the Keyword Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader’s Block. I also thought that with some insight on this frigid season, I could learn to dislike it a little less.
The five windows or views of winter that Gopnik
This book is a fascinating mix of history, art, science, religion, popular culture, and philosophy and flows like a great lecture should. I highly recommend it.
Read this if: you’re a fellow winter-survivor and want to have ‘warmer’ feelings about this difficult season; you’re one of that unusual specie – a winterphile and want factoids to dazzle and convince your friends that you’re not insane; or you’re a lucky warm-weather inhabitant and want a taste of what the big chill is all about. 4½ stars
Thanks to Buried in Print who first tipped me to this book.
The five windows or views of winter that Gopnik
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considers are: Romantic Winter, Radical Winter, Recuperative Winter, Recreational Winter, and Remembering Winter.This book is a fascinating mix of history, art, science, religion, popular culture, and philosophy and flows like a great lecture should. I highly recommend it.
Read this if: you’re a fellow winter-survivor and want to have ‘warmer’ feelings about this difficult season; you’re one of that unusual specie – a winterphile and want factoids to dazzle and convince your friends that you’re not insane; or you’re a lucky warm-weather inhabitant and want a taste of what the big chill is all about. 4½ stars
Thanks to Buried in Print who first tipped me to this book.
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LibraryThing member literateowl
....he tells the story of winter in five parts: Romantic Winter, Radical Winter, Recuperative Winter, Recreational Winter, and Remembering Winter. In this stunningly beautiful meditation, Gopnik touches on a kaleidoscope of subjects, from the German romantic landscape to the politics of polar
Wondrous essays that read like literary stories. His homage to winter, to learned Canadians, might remind them of Morley Callaghan and his delightful thoughts on snow.
You might love the audio lecture found on CBC
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exploration to the science of ice. And in the end, he pays homage to what could be a lost season — and thus, a lost collective cultural history....Wondrous essays that read like literary stories. His homage to winter, to learned Canadians, might remind them of Morley Callaghan and his delightful thoughts on snow.
You might love the audio lecture found on CBC
Show Less
Awards
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (Nonfiction — 2011)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011
Physical description
288 p.; 6.38 inches
ISBN
0887849741 / 9780887849749