In an eye-opening sequence of personal meditations through the cycle of seasons, Diane Ackerman awakens us to the world at dawn---drawing on sources as diverse as meteorology, world religion, etymology, art history, poetry, organic farming, and beekeeping. As a patient and learned observer of animal and human physiology and behavior, she introduces us to varieties of bird music and other signs of avian intelligence, while she herself "migrates" from winter in Florida to spring, summer, and fall in upstate New York.
Humans might luxuriate in the idea of being "in" nature, Ackerman points out, but we often forget that we are nature---for "no facet of nature is as unlikely as we, the tiny bipeds with the giant dreams." Joining science's devotion to detail with religion's appreciation of the sublime, Dawn Light is an impassioned celebration of the miracles of evolution---especially human consciousness of our numbered days on a turning earth.
It would be easy for a narrator to slip into raptures of delight reading Ackerman's all-encompassing vision of the natural world at dawn, but Laural Merlington keeps the energy high while maintaining a tight grip on the material. Ackerman focuses her poetic microscope on the joys and blessings of nature's wonders, urging listeners to, literally, wake up! She quotes the thirteenth-century poet Rumi: "The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep." Merlington conveys those secrets in a rich, lovely voice, sometimes mimicking the conversation of birds, sometimes describing Ackerman's sensual, very personal awakenings. Merlington's fine performance combined with Buddhist haiku, anecdotes about daybreak from around the world, and Ackerman's ecstatic images dazzles the imagination. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
