Things That Join the Sea and the Sky: Field Notes on Living

Poet and philosopher Nepo (The Endless Practice) combines poetic prose and straightforward, sensible philosophy in this collection of thoughts encouraging readers to mindfully relish their journeys through life. The book sensitively and empathetically examines universal parts of the human experience—such as fear, death, love, happiness, and kindness—in 145 short, lyrically written entries. Nepo begins by revealing that it was his own brush with mortality—in the guise of cancer—that set him on the way to discovering these truths. Next, he peels back, layer by layer, the intimate thoughts that fill his mind, and does so in an inviting way that compels the reader to follow. Nepo concludes this work with dozens of provocative journal prompts (such as “Do you know when you will die? Why?” and “Why do we seek the truth? Why do we tell the truth?”) designed to take eager seekers of enlightenment further down the path to self-realization. While not a conventional self-help book, particularly in that it doesn’t claim to have all the answers, Nepo’s book will be a rich source of comfort and courage for anyone who opens it. [em]Agent: Eve Attermann, William Morris Endeavor. (Nov.) [/em]