Take a photo of a barcode or cover
240 reviews for:
Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive
Eliot Stein
4.26 AVERAGE
240 reviews for:
Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive
Eliot Stein
4.26 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
This book was more fascinating than it really had any right to be. I mean the description it gives is that it looks at the people keeping arts that are about to be lost alive. And that sounds mildly interesting, enough to pick it up, but not enough to think it's going to be a 5 star book. But then, then! The author segues from each artist into tangentially related histories of their countries that were absolutely fascinating. I mean basically these lost arts are the glue that kept together a book about so much more than that. We get into "big history" of world conflicts and "small history" of a tree that people write to to find love, and it works, many couples have met through this tree and gotten married. My favorite chapter was the one on what makes a Cuban Cigar a Cuban Cigar and why they can't grow equivalent cigars in any nearby countries. We get there through a woman who is paid to read news and novels aloud to the rollers as they roll their tobacco, and it is absolutely fascinating. This book was truly brilliant.
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
The idea of speaking to bees made me want to cry. I loved the respect the author paid to each artisan and story, this was a very human examination of tradition and the world and I enjoyed it immensely.