“In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. For the animals shall not be measured by man” (Beston 25). We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ours. “Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. Most of the book comprises greatly detailed vignettes of the beach, the behavior of the birds, the sailing of the ships, and the noting of the flora and fauna, but occasionally one can find great quotes, quotes worthy of serious reflection. In the book, Beston writes poetically of the nature around him, nature made enchanting, nature that enamors the reader, instilling feelings of nostalgia and tranquility, a devoted appreciation for the world so often taken for granted. Henry Beston (1888-1968) lived on the beach of Cape Cod for a year, documenting his observations, his thoughts, and his personal stories in The Outermost House, following the example of Walden by Thoreau, a fellow nature enthusiast.
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