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Chronicles the annual migration of the alewives, beginning in the spring when these members of the herring family leave the ocean and come inland to spawn and following their journey through streams to freshwater ponds on Cape Cod
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Review:
In a book first published in 1959 and now reissued in an anniversary edition, John Hay, the nature-writing laureate of Cape Cod, ponders one of the great curiosities of nature in those parts. The mystery in question is the annual migration of the alewife, a kind of herring that behaves in this respect much like the salmon, moving at infancy from the freshwater lakes of New England into the cold Atlantic Ocean and thence back to the waters of its birth. The journey, Hay writes, is oddly heroic, and it comes at great cost: some 90 percent of the adult alewives do not survive the arduous move from ocean to stream. Hay's prose, too, is oddly enchanting, given that his subject is a fish--and a none-too-lovely one at that. No matter, for Hay describes the alewife as "a life that shone with vibrant persistence, one of nature's particularized energies, a wild texture as old as the animal world, a food that was the beneficent matter of all struggle and greed." His pages ring with such fish-born poetry as he recounts the life cycle of the alewife from wriggling larva to adult. The migration of this intriguing fish, he concludes, "is not only a matter of routes or seasonal behavior. It has to do with an internal response to this spinning globe and its unendingly creative energies." That creative energy nicely describes the spirit of this slender study, as well as Hay's other fine books. --Gregory McNamee
About the Author:
J Hay is a Beacon Press author.
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- PublisherW W Norton & Co Inc
- Publication date1979
- ISBN 10 0393012697
- ISBN 13 9780393012699
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number3
- Number of pages184
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The Run
Published by
W W Norton & Company
(1979)
ISBN 10: 0393012697
ISBN 13: 9780393012699
Used
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Grose, David [illustrator] (illustrator). 3rd Edition. THE RUN, John Hay, illustrated by David Grose, hardcover with dust jacket, 3rd edition, stated first printing, 1979. BOOK CONDITION: very good. The text block and illustrations are in fine condition, with no tears, dogears, or marks. There is no bookplate or signature of a prior owner. Not a library book or remainder. The light blue cloth boards are in good condition (a few tiny spots, edge wear). The dust jacket is in good condition (age-toning inside, smudges on exterior; the first flap is clipped, but not the portion which shows the original price). 8 ½ x 5 ½, 184 pages, 13 ounces XX [From the dust jacket rear and first flap] Mr. Hay writes with a sense of wonder, in prose that has the impact of poetry, conscious of the philosophic overtones inherent in his subject and in the enigma of all (Boston Globe). Since it was first published, The Run has become a classic example of beautiful and sensitive nature writing, coupled with sound scientific observation. It is the chronicle of the annual migration of the alewives, members of the herring family, and provides fascinating insights into the biology, behavior, and environment of a small animal in the world of water. For one entire migratory season, beginning in the spring when the alewives leave the ocean and come inland to spawn, John Hay followed their journey through the streams to fresh-water ponds on Cape Cod and back again to the ocean. Faced with the marvelous spectacle of billions of fish responding to an ancient and only partially understood drive, he began asking questions: Why do alewives undertake the hazardous journey from salt water to freshwater to spawn? Why do the young stay behind for a while and then, seemingly without direction from the adults, find their way to the ocean? How do they know in the spring when the time comes to leave the ocean? And, most amazing of all, how do they find the parent stream, for alewives almost always return in following years to the streams and ponds where they were spawned. XX John Hay is president of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster, Massachusetts. He is also the author of Nature's Years: The Seasons of Cape Cod, The Great Beach, and, with Arline Strong, A Sense of Nature. XX A delightful and often beautiful book, and incidentally one of the best things on Cape Cod landscape and atmosphere that I have ever seen (Conrad Aiken). A book written so well, so conscious of the wonders and mysteries of this world, deserves a place on my shelves alongside the Thoreau and Beston (Bradford F. Swan, Providence Journal). Seller Inventory # 002676
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The Run
Published by
W W Norton & Co Inc, New York
(1979)
ISBN 10: 0393012697
ISBN 13: 9780393012699
Used
Hardcover
Signed
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Light toning and wear to dust jacket with a small closed tear to front at bottom edge. Light toning along book edges. Gift inscription to former owner's front endpaper. Clean cover boards and interior. SIGNED BY JOHN HAY on title page. 184 pgs. Third Edition. Jacket covered with new mylar sleeve. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # red3bRUN
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