The Sense of Wonder

By: Rachel Carson

Narrated by: Kaiulani Lee

Length: 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." -Rachel Carson

First published more than 50 years ago, this award-winning classic brings Rachel Carson's unique vision to a new generation of listeners. The Sense of Wonder is Carson's intimate account of adventures with her young nephew, Roger, as they enjoy walks along the rocky coast of Maine and through dense forests and open fields, observing wildlife, strange plants, moonlight, and storm clouds, and listening to the "living music" of insects in the underbrush. It is a refreshing antidote to indifference and a guide to capturing the simple power of discovery that Carson views as essential to life.

The Sense of Wonder is a timeless volume that will be passed on from children to grandchildren, as treasured as the memory of an early-morning walk when the song of a whippoorwill was heard as if for the first time.

©1956 Rachel L. Carson (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

The Pleasure and Wonder of the Natural World

After finishing Stephen King's post-apocalypse epic fantasy The Stand, I needed something beautiful, uplifting, healthy, delightful, and short--something like Rachel Carson's The Sense of Wonder. As she remembers her rambles along the Maine coast and woods with her young nephew Roger, Carson writes a paean to the beauty of the world, to the magic of nature, and to the wonder of life. She writes a down to earth and ethereal manual that inspires you to open your eyes, ears, nostrils, and hands with the clear senses and enthusiastic mind of a child.

It's a poignant audiobook. I'm happy without children of my own, but listening to Carson sharing with her nephew the pleasure and wonder of things like booming and froth-throwing ocean waves at night, "sand-colored, fleet-legged" ghost crabs on the beach, "deep and springy" lichens in the rainy woods, and migrating birds flying "from darkness into darkness" across the moon, moved me to tears of joy and longing.

The Sense of Wonder is filled with beautiful and vivid descriptions, as when Carson and Roger find the source of some "living music: a creature of palest green, with wings as white and insubstantial as moonlight." The most important thing is not to know the names of what we find in the earth, sea, and sky, but rather to feel everything fully. The 32 minutes of The Sense of Wonder have more of the richness of life than do the 48 hours of The Stand.

Kaiulani Lee reads Carson's words like an ideal warm and wise aunt or grandmother.

If you have kids, The Sense of Wonder will inspire you to nurture and participate in the tingling awareness they have of the natural world. If you have no kids, The Sense of Wonder will remind you of your childhood's vast and pure perception of that world. The audiobook is like the "fairy bell ringer," the secretive insect whose "inexpressibly clear and silvery" song, "so faint, so barely-to-be-heard that you hold your breath as you bend closer," so thrilled Carson to hear and not to find.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Wonderful thoughts

I should have noticed that this was barely 30 minute long reading. I was so much hoping for more for the price.
Still, it's a gem.