A meditative but rousing reflection on a life devoted to hunting that will surely appeal to those with similar enthusiasms.
by Eyad Yehyawi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 11, 2017
A writer recounts his experiences bowhunting—his pastime and passion—in this assemblage of brief anecdotes.
Debut author Yehyawi grew up in rural Iowa and was always drawn to the outdoors, though the genesis of his infatuation is mysterious since it was not inherited from his parents. During his freshman year in high school, he was introduced to bowhunting, and he was immediately transfixed by what would become a calling for the next quarter century. His adventures, chronicled in a lucid prose style that unabashedly communicates his enthusiasm for the sport, took him all over the world. He stalked caribou in Quebec, alligators in Florida, bull moose in Alaska, and gemsbok in South Africa. Some of his targets were notably dangerous, like cougars in Utah, the nearly invisible “phantoms of the forest,” and black bears in the northern tier of Alberta—he only successfully hunted one in his life. The author candidly recounts his failures as well as his triumphs—his first helicopter ride was the result of being nabbed by game wardens for hunting without a license on his person. Yehyawi’s memoir is dominated by tales of tracking prey, though he does occasionally share more personal details—for example, he suffered a sudden stroke as the result of a congenital heart defect. Nevertheless, even the hunting stories, conveyed with palpable emotion, seem almost confessional and intimate, and he often philosophically ponders life’s mysteries: “The secret to life is an age-old question, one whose answer is anything but universal. My response to that riddle has always been passion, for it’s the one attribute that keeps us going, the ingredient that fuels our fire and gives us hope.” Yehyawi’s remembrances can be grippingly dramatic—he once thought he was being shadowed by hungry grizzly bears, and on another expedition he came face-to-face with a lynx, a moment captured beautifully on film. (The book is filled with gorgeous photography by the author and others showing the impressive animals and stunning landscapes.) He communicates his adoration of bowhunting and the wilderness with an effusive, infectious love that can be moving: “One day, I know these memories will fade like the embers of a flame. But as I sit here now, almost thirty years later, I can still remember that chilly, October morning as if it were yesterday. More importantly, I remember the people and places that made it possible.” The author delves deeply into the technical aspects of the sport—decoys, grunt tubes, and rattling antlers—and these excursions into granular details will only captivate those with comparable expertise. But the central theme of the book remains the pursuit of a fiery lodestar, a clarion call that provides a lifetime of excitement. One can feel Yehyawi’s dedication to bowhunting, particularly in his descriptions of the way he started to introduce his son Z.J. to it. Especially for outdoors fans, this is a thoughtful and affecting collection of reminiscences.
A meditative but rousing reflection on a life devoted to hunting that will surely appeal to those with similar enthusiasms.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4575-5599-2
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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by William Strunk & E.B. White ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1972
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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by Bob Thiele with Bob Golden ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1995
Noted jazz and pop record producer Thiele offers a chatty autobiography. Aided by record-business colleague Golden, Thiele traces his career from his start as a ``pubescent, novice jazz record producer'' in the 1940s through the '50s, when he headed Coral, Dot, and Roulette Records, and the '60s, when he worked for ABC and ran the famous Impulse! jazz label. At Coral, Thiele championed the work of ``hillbilly'' singer Buddy Holly, although the only sessions he produced with Holly were marred by saccharine strings. The producer specialized in more mainstream popsters like the irrepressibly perky Teresa Brewer (who later became his fourth wife) and the bubble-machine muzak-meister Lawrence Welk. At Dot, Thiele was instrumental in recording Jack Kerouac's famous beat- generation ramblings to jazz accompaniment (recordings that Dot's president found ``pornographic''), while also overseeing a steady stream of pop hits. He then moved to the Mafia-controlled Roulette label, where he observed the ``silk-suited, pinky-ringed'' entourage who frequented the label's offices. Incredibly, however, Thiele remembers the famously hard-nosed Morris Levy, who ran the label and was eventually convicted of extortion, as ``one of the kindest, most warm-hearted, and classiest music men I have ever known.'' At ABC/Impulse!, Thiele oversaw the classic recordings of John Coltrane, although he is the first to admit that Coltrane essentially produced his own sessions. Like many producers of the day, Thiele participated in the ownership of publishing rights to some of the songs he recorded; he makes no apology for this practice, which he calls ``entirely appropriate and without any ethical conflicts.'' A pleasant, if not exactly riveting, memoir that will be of most interest to those with a thirst for cocktail-hour stories of the record biz. (25 halftones, not seen)
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-508629-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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