All the Strange Hours: The Excavation of a LifeA 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 heøconducted 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. |
Contents
The Rat That Danced | 3 |
The Life Machine | 13 |
The Running Man | 22 |
The Desert | 33 |
The Trap | 45 |
Toads and Men | 53 |
The Most Perfect Day in the World | 61 |
The Laughing Puppet | 73 |
A Small Death | 139 |
Willy | 150 |
The Letter | 159 |
The Ghost World | 172 |
The Dancers in the Ring | 181 |
The Spectral War | 196 |
The Palmist | 206 |
The Blue Worm | 217 |
The Badlands and the School | 82 |
The Crevice and the Eye | 94 |
The Growing Shadow | 106 |
When the Trouble Comes | 117 |
Madeline | 128 |
The Talking Cat | 227 |
The Coming of the Giant Wasps | 236 |
The Time Traders | 248 |
The Other Player | 258 |
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Common terms and phrases
animal asked autumn began beneath brain century child childhood creature dark Darwin dead death desert desperately dice door dream Edward Blyth Eiseley Eiseley's Eustachian tubes eyes face father finally Frank Speck G. K. Chesterton ghost world giant glass gone hand head hear Herbert Winlock hidden human ice age James Breasted Jimmy Dawes knew later learned light listen lived long ago longer looked Loren Loren Eiseley lost machismo Maddy memory middens mind mother nature Nelson never Night Country once one's outwash fan pack rats passed Perhaps play Player remember silence sleep slowly snow someone sometimes Sphex stones stood story Strange Hours street tell things thought tion toad town train turned vanished voice waited walked wandered wasps watched words write young