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Catch and Release: Trout Fishing and the Meaning of Life
In Catch and Release, philosopher Mark Kingwell has written a book about fishing, or more accurately, about thinking about fishing that is unlike any book ever penned about this most unique and challenging of sports. This vibrant blend of memoir, travelogue, reflection, and discussion of the finer points of the art is framed around an annual fishing trip that he and his father and two brothers take each year to British Columbia.
Between the drinking, cigars, and the piloting of a small dingy, Kingwell, previously of the belief that “fishing is stupid,” finds that the sport does allow for one important thing—quite a bit of time to just think, allowing thoughts to wander and new vistas to open up. This realization—a kind of felicitous meandering and suspension in the delights of the moment—leads Kingwell through everything from falconry, male bonding, and procrastination to golf, cooking, and the relationship between reflection and action—not to mention the relative benefits of wet versus dry flies, the cast, and the ethics of fishing. Ultimately, and as this book engagingly shows, fishing is worth thinking about because of the thinking that fishing allows. Especially when the trout aren’t biting.
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
19 people are currently reading
271 people want to read
About the author
Mark Kingwell
62 books57 followersMark Gerald Kingwell B.A, M.Litt, M.Phil, PhD, D.F.A. (born March 1, 1963) is a Canadian philosopher who is currently professor of philosophy and associate chair at the University of Toronto's Department of Philosophy. Kingwell is a fellow of Trinity College and a Senior Fellow of Massey College. He specialises in theories of politics and culture.
Kingwell has published twelve different books, most notably, A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue, and the Politics of Pluralism, which was awarded the Spitz Prize for political theory in 1997. In 2000 Kingwell received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, for contributions to theory and criticism. He has held visiting posts at various institutions including: Cambridge University, University of California at Berkeley, and City University of New York where he held the title of Weissman Distinguished Professor of Humanities.
He studied at the University of Toronto, editing The Varsity through 1983 to 1984 and the University of Toronto Review from 84-85. He received his BA degree from the University of St. Michael's College with High Distinction in 1985, his MLitt degree from Edinburgh University in 1987, and both his M.Phil and PhD degrees from Yale University in 1989 and 1991 respectively. He was married to Gail Donaldson in 1988. The marriage ended in divorce in 2004.
Kingwell is a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine, the literary quarterly Descant, the political monthly This Magazine and the Globe and Mail books section. He was also a drinks columnist for the men's magazine Toro. He was formerly a columnist for the National Post, and a contributing editor of Saturday Night. He frequently appears on television and radio, often on the CBC, and is well known for his appearance in the documentary film The Corporation. He has delivered, among others, the George Grant, Harold Innis, Marx Wartofsky and Larkin-Stuart memorial lectures.
Kingwell’s work has been translated into ten languages, and he lectures to academic and popular audiences around the world. From 2001 to 2004, he was chair of the Institute for Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum. His work on philosophy, art, and architecture has appeared in many leading academic journals and magazines, including The Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Forum, Ethics, Political Theory, and the Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities, the New York Times and The New York Times Magazine, Utne Reader, Adbusters, the Walrus, Harvard Design Magazine,Canadian Art, Azure, Toronto Life, the Globe and Mail, and the National Post.
Kingwell is one of two University of Toronto professors teaching a first year philosophy course entitled Introduction to Philosophy. Kingwell teaches his class in Victoria College's Isabel Bader Theatre, with a class size of around 700 students. He has also been part of the University of Trinity College's TrinityOne program, for which he taught a seminar class entitled Ethics and the Creative Imagination.
He describes himself as a social democrat and a "recovering Catholic". According to the Canadian Who's Who 2006, he also enjoys running, baseball, basketball, jazz, films and pop music. He has two brothers: a younger brother named Sean Kingwell and an older brother named Steven Kingwell.
Kingwell has published twelve different books, most notably, A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue, and the Politics of Pluralism, which was awarded the Spitz Prize for political theory in 1997. In 2000 Kingwell received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, for contributions to theory and criticism. He has held visiting posts at various institutions including: Cambridge University, University of California at Berkeley, and City University of New York where he held the title of Weissman Distinguished Professor of Humanities.
He studied at the University of Toronto, editing The Varsity through 1983 to 1984 and the University of Toronto Review from 84-85. He received his BA degree from the University of St. Michael's College with High Distinction in 1985, his MLitt degree from Edinburgh University in 1987, and both his M.Phil and PhD degrees from Yale University in 1989 and 1991 respectively. He was married to Gail Donaldson in 1988. The marriage ended in divorce in 2004.
Kingwell is a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine, the literary quarterly Descant, the political monthly This Magazine and the Globe and Mail books section. He was also a drinks columnist for the men's magazine Toro. He was formerly a columnist for the National Post, and a contributing editor of Saturday Night. He frequently appears on television and radio, often on the CBC, and is well known for his appearance in the documentary film The Corporation. He has delivered, among others, the George Grant, Harold Innis, Marx Wartofsky and Larkin-Stuart memorial lectures.
Kingwell’s work has been translated into ten languages, and he lectures to academic and popular audiences around the world. From 2001 to 2004, he was chair of the Institute for Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum. His work on philosophy, art, and architecture has appeared in many leading academic journals and magazines, including The Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Forum, Ethics, Political Theory, and the Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities, the New York Times and The New York Times Magazine, Utne Reader, Adbusters, the Walrus, Harvard Design Magazine,Canadian Art, Azure, Toronto Life, the Globe and Mail, and the National Post.
Kingwell is one of two University of Toronto professors teaching a first year philosophy course entitled Introduction to Philosophy. Kingwell teaches his class in Victoria College's Isabel Bader Theatre, with a class size of around 700 students. He has also been part of the University of Trinity College's TrinityOne program, for which he taught a seminar class entitled Ethics and the Creative Imagination.
He describes himself as a social democrat and a "recovering Catholic". According to the Canadian Who's Who 2006, he also enjoys running, baseball, basketball, jazz, films and pop music. He has two brothers: a younger brother named Sean Kingwell and an older brother named Steven Kingwell.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 28, 2014
"You get a line, I'll get a pole. Honey"
When philosophy meets fly fishing, depth and humor are sure to ensue. What a fun and insightful read. The anecdotes are full of hilarity. Kingwell is an expert ponderer. Fly fishing becomes a metaphor for life. Life isn't just like a box of chocolates, but a lake full of fish, as well. Just ask Mark Gump. :)
Kingwell is very open about his insecurities and weaknesses, the very things that make this book so relatable. He touches on such topics as, boredom, procrastination, heartbreak, the need to find one's purposes etc. Catch and Release will make you think, feel, laugh, reflect, and even want to go fishing. It will reel you in and not let go. ;)Insert about a million more fishing metaphors here.
When philosophy meets fly fishing, depth and humor are sure to ensue. What a fun and insightful read. The anecdotes are full of hilarity. Kingwell is an expert ponderer. Fly fishing becomes a metaphor for life. Life isn't just like a box of chocolates, but a lake full of fish, as well. Just ask Mark Gump. :)
Kingwell is very open about his insecurities and weaknesses, the very things that make this book so relatable. He touches on such topics as, boredom, procrastination, heartbreak, the need to find one's purposes etc. Catch and Release will make you think, feel, laugh, reflect, and even want to go fishing. It will reel you in and not let go. ;)Insert about a million more fishing metaphors here.
August 17, 2021
Fly fishing like baseball (and READING) share attributes of careful projecting awareness followed by kinetic vibrancy and back in oscillating variation that require a Zen-like calmness to ever become adequately proficient. One cast-catch in many, 3 hits in 10 at bats, one exuberant page or parargraph in a chapter all qualify as success of first order. Preparation/practice and a certain je ne sais qua come together as tandem tributaries in the greater stream of higher consciousness relational *being* if one is to endure the confines of existential malaise in a fated world. We too hatch, grow wings, fly about sputter and die or get eaten in the mass of living. Schopenhauer might should have tied flies and learned to cast - might have put a wee Mona Lisa smirk on his grim countenance.
This is a philosophical book, as recollection of familial good times fishing and all the sundry peripherals that go with it, i.e. camp cooking, drinking, story telling and breathing in the uncluttered air of a natural setting. As a man of letters too Kingwell is flush in allusions from Aristotle to Lorrie Moore and always understating, demurring to aleatorial beneficence when it comes to latched-down knowing. A philosopher and a fisherman of hungry readers. As such he celebrates life and embraces death as cousins who kiss but only just so, their blood may know a tingle of familiarity in this world of solipsistic yearning. Even if you've never beheld the wispy whip of a graphite or cane rod, the whirling whoosh of a line in motion or the amorphous delicacy of a filigreed dry fly you can still marvel at the object of it all by simply viewing the scintillating rainbow fulmination of a trout leaped airborne from its aqueous depths hooked by the merest of taut line tether - YouTube, friends, it's next best viewing - reel on mates before it's all corp. farm raised proto-nature and we are too!
This is a philosophical book, as recollection of familial good times fishing and all the sundry peripherals that go with it, i.e. camp cooking, drinking, story telling and breathing in the uncluttered air of a natural setting. As a man of letters too Kingwell is flush in allusions from Aristotle to Lorrie Moore and always understating, demurring to aleatorial beneficence when it comes to latched-down knowing. A philosopher and a fisherman of hungry readers. As such he celebrates life and embraces death as cousins who kiss but only just so, their blood may know a tingle of familiarity in this world of solipsistic yearning. Even if you've never beheld the wispy whip of a graphite or cane rod, the whirling whoosh of a line in motion or the amorphous delicacy of a filigreed dry fly you can still marvel at the object of it all by simply viewing the scintillating rainbow fulmination of a trout leaped airborne from its aqueous depths hooked by the merest of taut line tether - YouTube, friends, it's next best viewing - reel on mates before it's all corp. farm raised proto-nature and we are too!
June 5, 2020
So boring, admittedly I may not be the target audience but then again I'm not sure who I would recommend this book to. It seemed right up my ally from the title and description but it really missed the mark for me, I'm honestly not sure why I bothered to finish it. It's just about a boring white guy going on vacation with his rich family, and Fred, prattling on and on about nothing in particular in no particular order.
March 27, 2018
In the author's own words "this is not a book about fishing". Catch & Release uses trout fishing as an analogy of life.
The chapters contains stories/comments about fishing, golf, history, philosophy, relationships and life in general. I did not like the way the book was structured, because the different topics appeared randomly within a chapter. I felt like I was in front of a pinball machine entitled Catch & Release. While trout fishing was the backdrop of the machine, each chapter was structured like the movement of a pinball. Whatever target was hit was a topic change within the same chapter. This was reminiscent of Ben Okri's book, A Way of Being Free, where I felt that the notes had been randomly selected and put together in the same chapter.
When writing for a general audience, it would also be useful to provide additional information and/or impressions of works, writing, etc. created by others. One example is when Mr. Kingwell was walking around New York, looking at signs, logos and architectural details. He heard the voices of Lewis Mumford and Jane Jacobs in his head and looked through eyes conditioned by Evans and Abbott and Bourke-White. No other information is provided. While I'm familar with the writings of Jane Jacobs and the photographs of Margaret Bourke-White, I'm not familar with the works of all the authors, philosphers, etc. that were mentioned in the book. Since I read for pleasure and was not taking a course to discuss the works of all the names that were mentioned, the name-dropping reduced my enjoyment of the book.
The chapters contains stories/comments about fishing, golf, history, philosophy, relationships and life in general. I did not like the way the book was structured, because the different topics appeared randomly within a chapter. I felt like I was in front of a pinball machine entitled Catch & Release. While trout fishing was the backdrop of the machine, each chapter was structured like the movement of a pinball. Whatever target was hit was a topic change within the same chapter. This was reminiscent of Ben Okri's book, A Way of Being Free, where I felt that the notes had been randomly selected and put together in the same chapter.
When writing for a general audience, it would also be useful to provide additional information and/or impressions of works, writing, etc. created by others. One example is when Mr. Kingwell was walking around New York, looking at signs, logos and architectural details. He heard the voices of Lewis Mumford and Jane Jacobs in his head and looked through eyes conditioned by Evans and Abbott and Bourke-White. No other information is provided. While I'm familar with the writings of Jane Jacobs and the photographs of Margaret Bourke-White, I'm not familar with the works of all the authors, philosphers, etc. that were mentioned in the book. Since I read for pleasure and was not taking a course to discuss the works of all the names that were mentioned, the name-dropping reduced my enjoyment of the book.
October 13, 2025
This was an entirely new genre for me but not quite an unfamiliar train of thought. I enjoyed it, but repeatedly felt stuck in either some irrelevant background, or extremely unfamiliar references, not sure which was a fault of mine?
This guy really made me laugh hard at times and I really enjoyed those parts. I don’t think I’d necessarily recommend it to anyone, but if fishing and the philosophical meaning of life are two genres you are already interested in, it’s a light read and has some fun moments.
This guy really made me laugh hard at times and I really enjoyed those parts. I don’t think I’d necessarily recommend it to anyone, but if fishing and the philosophical meaning of life are two genres you are already interested in, it’s a light read and has some fun moments.
November 25, 2018
While not your typical fly fishing book, the little book offers a great read that spans many facets of life that we all encounter--and does so with a sense of humor. Offering a rather unique voice and perspective in the world of fly fishing literature, Kingwell has produces a work worth reading... probably more than once.
December 14, 2022
“You are wise enough to catch that deep thought, and then release it. After all, you can’t be expected to think hard all the time. If nothing else, at some point, no matter how timeless and mortal your waterside reflections, you must think about making dinner.” (226)
August 29, 2023
Mark is kind of annoying. I trust no man who incessantly references Kant.
May 15, 2012
Terrible
October 4, 2015
Funniest and best book I've read in a long time. Enjoy it. I have to say it again, this book makes me so happy.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews