Dancing on the Shore

In this collection of essays, naturalist/philosopher Horwood ( The Foxes of Beachy Cove ) meditates on the world around his home in Nova Scotia. Whether writing about nighthawks or worms, he is always eloquent, creating exquisite images that range from the most minute particles to the stars. This is nature writing at its best: Horwood makes us appreciate anew the beauty of a nude child in the sunlight or the music made by a woodcock's wings. But he also goes beyond descriptions of the natural world to reflect on such subjects as mathematics, entropy and the second law of thermodynamics. For him, everything is an occasion for celebration, and the universe is a joyous place where humans, with all their faults, have a positive role to play. In the final chapter he speculates that intelligent life as we know it may be nothing more than the embryo from which a superior, electronic form of life will evolve--an idea that, as Horwood presents it, becomes a splendid justification for human existence. (Apr.)