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Loading... The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Skyby Ellen Meloy
None. A lovely, to be savored read about how color (naturally she focuses on turquoise) and light affect culture. She has a wonderful way with words and I enjoyed the memoir-essay-musing feel of this natural history book. I experienced many emotions while reading this and isn't that a good enough reason to read anything?? (  ) jlparent | Apr 6, 2011 |  I love writers who can write eloquently of place. Think Barry Lopez or John McPhee. Ellen Meloy can be put in the same category, with the added bonus of living and writing about the desert southwest United States that I grew up in and know a little about. Her turns of phase, her thinking about ordinary things in extraordinary ways, her love of language and the land around her, make her an absolute delight to read and savor. This is one of those books that earn a place on a special shelf next to my bed, where it can be read over and over again. (  ) co_coyote | Jun 4, 2010 | Student Resource: High School Author Synopsis: It's a look at how color and light inform human behavior, and in particular, the color turquoise, which ties together cultures from the American Southwest to ancient Persia and Afghanistan. Reviews: “Exquisitely rendered. . . . Meloy’s gem-studded collection calls us to be mindful of the physical world, to see it—really see it—with fresh eyes.” —Los Angeles Times. DenrLibrary | Jul 8, 2009 | Beautifully written by a cranky, bitchy woman who is probably right to be living far from her neighbors in the desert. I do identify with her POV about the wretched waste and excess of American culture. Best read in small doses, otherwise my attention wandered. I quoted her in my handwritten List Of Books I've Read: "Stories are the binding agent of culture." KaterinaBead | Jul 15, 2008 | no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0375708138, Paperback)In this invigorating mix of natural history and adventure, artist-naturalist Ellen Meloy uses turquoise—the color and the gem—to probe deeper into our profound human attachment to landscape.From the Sierra Nevada, the Mojave Desert, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the Bahamas to her home ground on the high plateaus and deep canyons of the Southwest, we journey with Meloy through vistas of both great beauty and great desecration. Her keen vision makes us look anew at ancestral mountains, turquoise seas, and even motel swimming pools. She introduces us to Navajo “velvet grandmothers” whose attire and aesthetics absorb the vivid palette of their homeland, as well as to Persians who consider turquoise the life-saving equivalent of a bullet-proof vest. Throughout, Meloy invites us to appreciate along with her the endless surprises in all of life and celebrates the seduction to be found in our visual surroundings. (retrieved from Amazon Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:59:42 -0500) No library descriptions found. |
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