The Primal Place

by Robert Finch

This is a voyage of discovery, a personal odyssey into the nature of a single Cape Cod neighborhood. It is a rich portrait, beautifully drawn, of a landscape and a community whose essential character lies in their penetrating interface with the sea. But it is also an individual quest, a journey of the heart and mind in which the author seeks "entrance, or rather re-entrance" into "that vast living maze stretching out beyond my lines of sight."

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Travel

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Robert Finch has lived on and written about Cape Cod for forty years. He is the author of six collections of essays and co-editor of The Norton Book of Nature Writing.

Reviews

[Linda]

In the midst of a series of quite boring meditations on his surroundings, Robert Finch graphically describes how he beat a woodchuck to death with a baseball bat for eating his lettuce. And he calls himself a naturalist. No Henry Beston here. The Primal Place now lies in the garbage awaiting pickup. Primal place indeed.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book on the observations of nature. Thought it would be more related to the sea/beach since on Cape Cod. Still prefer Aldo Leopold.

[Stephen Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

The greatest Cape Cod Audiobook on CD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great imagery. Loved the vivid descriptions of the Cape’s many birds.