Phil Cousineau is an award-winning writer and filmmaker, teacher and editor, independent scholar and travel leader, storyteller and host. The author of 26 nonfiction books, he is featured in S&P's Living Spiritual Teachers Project.
"Learn to reverence night to put away the vulgar fear of it, for, with the banishment of night from the experience of man, there vanishes as well a religious emotion, a poetic mood, which gives depth to the adventure of humanity."
— Henry Beston.
In this engaging, entertaining and edifying anthology of essays, poems, quotations, prayers, and philosophical ditties, Cousineau probes the multidimensional world of the night with all its treasures, mysteries, and delights. Mary Ann is a natural night person and would, given a choice, stay up to midnight every day. Fred is of late more of a morning person, but during college he and a friend set up a study session from 10 pm to 4 am in order to make the most of the silence, relished the lack of interruptions so common in college dormitory existence.
Anyone who has savored the pleasures of being a night owl will rejoice in the varied material in this paperback where "noctivagators " (the night walkers) share their experiences of "the Long Night's Journey Into Day." This energized and jazzy paperback is organized into five parts:
• The Twilight Zone
• Nighthawks
• A Hard Day's Night
• The Dream Factory
• Morning Has Broken
Here you will find lively material on darkness, night radio, the sounds of the night, campfire talk, night painting, walking the city at night, insomnia, fear of the dark, night song, golden slumbers, before turning off the lights, the night view of the world, the old city before dawn, and much more.
Take your pick of pieces by James Agee, Mahatma Gandhi, Annie Dillard, Miles Davis, Pico Iyer, Henry David Thoreau, and many others. How does Cousineau view this collection?
"The result closely resembles what used to be called a noctuary, a record or journal of nocturnal contemplations that aspires to be a source of inspiration for the nighthawk at the all-night diner, an insomniac's guide to the dark night of the soul, or a beguiling companion book to sit alongside a warm brandy on the bed stand."
