Seeking Enlightenment... Hat by Hat [Hardcover]

Nevada Barr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2003

The author of the New York Times-bestselling Anna Pigeon mystery series beckons her readers to share her spiritual search for meaning in life.

During her life as an actor, a writer, an adventuress, a non-believer, and a seeker of truth and amusement, Nevada Barr has been cursed and blessed with the question of "why?" Though the things she wanted to know were mostly in the realm of the unknowable, she sought answers through reading, thinking, and talking-looking outward for signs and truths. But she found that while her quest for meaning provided inspiration, it afforded little in the way of proof.

It was then that she began to look inward for answers. Seeking Enlightenment . . . Hat by Hat is the beguiling story of her journey from arrogance and atheism toward humility and a sense of being part of something greater than herself. Hat by hat, step by step, Nevada Barr leads readers down her path to enlightenment by sharing personal episodes, some of them funny and revealing, others painfully honest. Each chapter offers a truth or an answer forged through experience and deep reflection, and a nugget of insight certain to encourage thought and discussion among readers who may, in turn, find their own spiritual language.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"A life ago," Barr writes, "I was depressed, broke, homeless, unemployed and divorced." One evening she wandered into an Episcopal church, primarily because it was unlocked. Desperation, not interest in religion, had brought her there, but warmly accepting parishioners kept her, and soon she wanted to be confirmed. "I went to the priest and asked him if it would be okay considering I didn't accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior, didn't believe the Bible was divinely inspired and wasn't entirely sure about the whole God thing. Fortunately Father Andrew had been tending his flock long enough to recognize a lost lamb when one came bleating into his office and put no obstacles in my way." It was a turning point for Barr, who here describes the resulting changes in her life and thinking over the last six years. Readers of Barr's bestselling mystery series featuring park ranger Anna Pigeon might have hoped for a whole book full of enlightenment about Anna's creator. However, apart from the introduction and occasional anecdotes throughout, her first nonfiction work is more a collection of personal essays than spiritual memoir. In more than 40 short chapters, she looks at topics as varied as forgiveness, girlfriends, being ordinary, Halloween and of course hats, usually saying more about how she thinks life should be lived than about how she actually lives hers. Nevertheless, Barr's sassy style, self-deprecating sense of humor and trenchant observations make for a good-and, yes, enlightening-read.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

There is something about having survived a serious bout of clinical depression that causes a person to look inward in an effort to find meaning. For popular mystery writer Nevada Barr, author of the Anna Pigeon series, depression set off a chain of events that led her to embrace religion and spirituality. In these short essays, she charts the course of her spiritual evolution, how she sought to understand the many aspects of spiritual life, from forgiveness ("a sigh of relief on which the memory of evil is breathed out ") to pain ("it is a duty to relieve our own pain") to commitment ("not a contract with the world but with the self"). Barr's account of her transformation from nonbeliever to committed churchgoer--but one who maintains a healthy sense of doubt even as she prays and attends Bible studies--is moving but never saccharine. Her conclusion that one can believe in God (or any other higher being) and still live a life based on logic should appeal to other skeptics. Managing to be inspirational as well as practical, Barr finds in spirituality a way to get beyond self-centeredness: "It was a number of years of crashing and burning in the personal arena before I made the discovery that I was not God." Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1ST edition (May 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399150579
• ISBN-13: 978-0399150579
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #499,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nevada was born in the small western town of Yerington, Nevada and raised on a mountain airport in the Sierras. Both her parents were pilots and mechanics and her sister, Molly, continued the tradition by becoming a pilot for USAir.
Pushed out of the nest, Nevada fell into the theatre, receiving her BA in speech and drama and her MFA in Acting before making the pilgrimage to New York City, then Minneapolis, MN. For eighteen years she worked on stage, in commercials, industrial training films and did voice-overs for radio. During this time she became interested in the environmental movement and began working in the National Parks during the summers -- Isle Royale in Michigan, Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, Mesa Verde in Colorado, and then on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.
Woven throughout these seemingly disparate careers was the written word. Nevada wrote and presented campfire stories, taught storytelling and was a travel writer and restaurant critic. Her first novel, Bitterweet was published in 1983. The Anna Pigeon series, featuring a female park ranger as the protagonist, started when she married her love of writing with her love of the wilderness, the summer she worked in west Texas. The first book, Track of the Cat, was brought to light in 1993 and won both the Agatha and Anthony awards for best first mystery. The series was well received and A Superior Death, loosely based on Nevada's experiences as a boat patrol ranger on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, was published in 1994. In 1995 Ill Wind came out. It was set in Mesa Verde, Colorado where Nevada worked as a law enforcement ranger for two seasons.
The rest is, shall we say, HISTORY! Nevada's books and accomplishments have become numerous and the presses continue to roll, so in the interest of NOT having to update this page, books, awards, status on the New York Times Best Seller List -- and more -- will be enumerated with the relevant books else where on this website.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book by a serious, honest thinker., August 25, 2003

By 

John Harrison (Potomac, Md. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seeking Enlightenment... Hat by Hat (Hardcover)

This is not so much a book as a series of related essays about life and the other imponderables related to living. But, what a group of essays it is. This is not a book for the Bible thumpers, Barr is not so sure that she believes in God so much as she is now comfortable with the idea of God. And, she gets to this point, revelation by revelation, hat by hat, not of God but of her. You do not really understand her fiction unless you read this book. It adds such depth to her characters.
I enjoyed the book, and I profited from reading it. What more can you say about any book, any work of art? Buy it. Read it yourself and enjoy the presence of an interesting woman.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars deep, humorous look at how Barr found her spiritual path, June 16, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seeking Enlightenment... Hat by Hat (Hardcover)

This interesting biography showcases Nevada Barr's quest for knowledge of much that seems untenable and dependent on belief. The author, renowned for her Anna Pigeon mysteries, explains that as she worked through numerous jobs like acting and writing, she grew up as an contemptuous atheist who deep down inside wanted to believe, but needed proof. She read everything she could and entered discussions in her search for empirical evidence for something to believe in greater than her short life.

SEEKING ENLIGHTENMENT HAT BY HAT is targeted for a limited audience. This obvious labor of love is aimed at the most devout fans of the author or exterior cynics seeking enlightenment of the existence of a greater presence. Those casual fans of the author's mysteries will want to pass to avoid feeling like a pigeon. The writer states her external searches proved futile in terms of concrete confirmation, but when she began to look at the inner essence of Nevada Barr she began to feel a sense of being part of a greater universe than just herself. One hat at a time, Ms. Barr provides a deep, humorous look at how she found her spiritual path that she ironically (in light of her honest admittance that her research into other writings failed to answer her questions) hopes encourages others to do likewise.

Harriet Klausner

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A personal insight worth sharing, July 29, 2003

By 

Corinne H. Smith (Athol, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Seeking Enlightenment... Hat by Hat (Hardcover)

This autobiography/philosophy is not an in-depth life story, nor is it strictly a religious study. We become familiar with bits and pieces of Nevada Barr's past, but only as they apply to her personal maturing process and evolving spirituality. She presents and discusses religious tenets, but not in the new-age fadlike fashion of _Conversations with God_ by Neale Donald Walsch or _Celestine Prophecy_ by James Redfield. And she's someone famous, someone we already "know" -- but not an author we'd expect to hear such talk from. Therein lies the charm of _Seeking Enlightenment_.

In short and easy subject-based chapters, Barr reveals her basic philosophies of life. Readers can decide whether or not they agree with her conclusions. There's no pressure here...except perhaps for the chapter called "Do animals have souls?", which begins with the succinct first paragraph: "Of course they do. Don't be an idiot." (Hear! hear!) I found myself smiling at and re-reading some passages and later hurrying over others. Sometimes the stories sounded so close to the experiences of friends that I made a mental note to share this book with those folks after I'm finished with it. Or better yet, I'll buy and distribute copies as gifts.

Some fans will pick this book up because of the author's name and will leave most of it unread when they realize it's not another Anna Pigeon mystery. The more curious ones will continue on with an eye to compare Nevada's background, beliefs, and behaviors with Anna's. They'll nod in satisfaction when some of Anna's history does indeed show up in Nevada's own life. Still others will savor these casual observations enough to sit down and think about their own philosophies. If a busy mystery writer can take the time to contemplate Life, why can't we?