Brenda Peterson has written for the New Yorker, lived on a farm near Denver, taught at Arizona State University, and is the author of many books including Singing to the Sound, Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals, and Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals. But her chosen home is by the water of Puget Sound.
Peterson has a mystical appreciation for the natural world that is evident in her prose whether she is writing about animals as brothers and sisters, watching for whales in winter, or swimming with dolphins. The author quotes with appreciation Alan Watts' commentary on the Tao te Ching: "The art of life is more like navigation that warfare, for what is important is to understand the winds, the tides, the currents, the seasons, and the principles of growth and decay, so that one's actions may use them and not fight them."
Peterson glides through the waters, notes the marvels, flows with the gides, and keeps her sense open to the lessons of the watery world. She is an enchantress whose wisdom tutors us about life, place, and spirit.
