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235 reviews for:
Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive
Eliot Stein
4.27 AVERAGE
235 reviews for:
Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive
Eliot Stein
4.27 AVERAGE
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Some stories were entertaining while the others were a bit too dry. Overall an enjoyable read that taught me new customs.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
informative
fast-paced
This collection goes far beyond the highlights of obscure practices. It's not just a display of oddities. Each encounter, each practice, is showcased in full encompassing not only the basics of the topic but deep dives into the history prevalent to the practice, the place, and even the very people who are being presented as the keepers of these treasures. The author pulls you into the context of which these things exist now and in the past. Only after examining all of these things along side what they personally have witnessed does to author venture to suggest the potential place we have now and in the future for these things.
What really makes this special, beyond just a solid piece of cultural anthropology, is how earnest and heartfelt the author is. He finds something deeply intriguing, personal, or relatable in every encounter. He reaches out for the soul of the practice, seeks out the pure love each of these keepers have, and does the best he can to immerse himself in the elements of the region and current culture these people and practice are a part of. It is so very clear how much the author cares, how much respect he has. The passion and commitment are always the goal of the story.
It is also a very global story. Most of the continents are traverse. This amplifies the sense of connectivity that I so admired. The author isn't just seeking to immortalize, preserve, these practices. He's attempting to get the reader to see their value. When you're taken across such a span and see the very human element at play it takes away the exoticism we associate with 'far away' places. It makes the world feel more like a community.
This book was an absolute delight. It was restorative. To see such beautiful things, such sentiments and dedication, still exist in our world was a balm when there is so much destruction in it as well. I hope that in the hands such as the keepers and authors who have poured so much of themselves into these things that somehow if the trajectory we're currently on can't be reversed that at least this record will show what a misery it is to have lost such wonders.
What really makes this special, beyond just a solid piece of cultural anthropology, is how earnest and heartfelt the author is. He finds something deeply intriguing, personal, or relatable in every encounter. He reaches out for the soul of the practice, seeks out the pure love each of these keepers have, and does the best he can to immerse himself in the elements of the region and current culture these people and practice are a part of. It is so very clear how much the author cares, how much respect he has. The passion and commitment are always the goal of the story.
It is also a very global story. Most of the continents are traverse. This amplifies the sense of connectivity that I so admired. The author isn't just seeking to immortalize, preserve, these practices. He's attempting to get the reader to see their value. When you're taken across such a span and see the very human element at play it takes away the exoticism we associate with 'far away' places. It makes the world feel more like a community.
This book was an absolute delight. It was restorative. To see such beautiful things, such sentiments and dedication, still exist in our world was a balm when there is so much destruction in it as well. I hope that in the hands such as the keepers and authors who have poured so much of themselves into these things that somehow if the trajectory we're currently on can't be reversed that at least this record will show what a misery it is to have lost such wonders.