Gift from the Sea: 50th-Anniversary Edition
Gift from the Sea: 50th-Anniversary Edition book cover

Gift from the Sea: 50th-Anniversary Edition

Paperback – January 30, 1991

by
Price
$9.70
Format
Paperback
Pages
144
Publisher
Pantheon
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0679732419
Dimensions
5.2 x 0.47 x 8.03 inches
Weight
6.2 ounces

Description

I found a 1955 printing of this book in an old waterfront cabin and was struck by the care with which the previous owner had read it. Eve (the name inscribed inside the front cover and then again above the heading for chapter 3) made pencil marks on nearly every paragraph of the book, underlining a phrase, highlighting many passages with strong vertical marks, scratching out some words that she seems to have found superfluous and even x-ing out whole sections that apparently missed their mark with her altogether. Two rusting paper clips isolate several pages, absent any marking at all. Anne Morrow Lindbergh's lyrical words are still relevant and presage so many of the themes of today's most popular books: simplicity, peaceful solitude, caring for the soul, a woman finding her place in society and life. I heard that the woman who had lived in the cabin had actually passed away some time before. Thank you, Eve, for your gift... from the sea. " Gift from the Sea is like a shell itself in its small and perfect form ... It tells of light and life and love and the security that lies at the heart." — New York Times Book Review From the Inside Flap modern-day classic. "Gift from the Sea is like a shell itself in its small and perfect form . . . It tells of light and life and love and the security that lies at the heart."--New York Times Book Review. modern-day classic. "Gift from the Sea is like a shell itself in its small and perfect form . . . It tells of light and life and love and the security that lies at the heart."--New York Times Book Review. Anne Morrow Lindbergh was born in 1906. She married Charles Lindbergh in 1929 and became a noted aviator in her own right, eventually publishing several books on the subject and receiving several aviation awards. Gift from the Sea, published in 1955, earned her international acclaim. She was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey.xa0Mrs. Lindbergh died in 2001 at the age of ninety-four. Reeve Lindbergh is the author of many books for both adults and children, including the memoirs Under a Wing and No More Words. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. I began these pages for myself, in order to think out my own particular pattern of living, my own individual balance of life, work and human relationships. And since I think best with a pencil in my hand, I started naturally to write. I had the feeling, when the thoughts first clarified on paper, that my experience was very different from other people’s. (Are we all under this illusion?) My situation had, in certain ways, more freedom than that of most people, and in certain other ways, much less.Besides, I thought, not all women are searching for a new pattern of living, or want a contemplative corner of their own. Many women are content with their lives as they are. They manage amazingly well, far better than I, it seemed to me, looking at their lives from the outside. With envy and admiration, I observed the porcelain perfection of their smoothly ticking days. Perhaps they had no problems, or had found the answers long ago. No, I decided, these discussions would have value and interest only for myself. But as I went on writing and simultaneously talking with other women, young and old, with different lives and experiences—those who supported themselves, those who wished careers, those who were hard-working housewives and mothers, and those with more ease—I found that my point of view was not unique. In varying settings and under different forms, I discovered that many women, and men too, were grappling with essentially the same questions as I, and were hungry to discuss and argue and hammer out possible answers. Even those whose lives had appeared to be ticking imperturbably under their smiling clock-faces were often trying, like me, to evolve another rhythm with more creative pauses in it, more adjustment to their individual needs, and new and more alive relationships to themselves as well as others.And so gradually, these chapters, fed by conversations, arguments and revelations from men and women of all groups, became more than my individual story, until I decided in the end to give them back to the people who had shared and stimulated many of these thoughts. Here, then, with my warm feelings of gratitude and companionship for those working along the same lines, I return my gift from the sea. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION • With meditations on youth and age, love and marriage, peace, solitude, and contentment, here is an inimitable classic that guides us to find a space for contemplation and creativity in our own lives.
  • "
  • Gift from the Sea
  • is like a shell itself in its small and perfect form ... It tells of light and life and love and the security that lies at the heart." —
  • New York Times Book Review
  • Drawing inspiration from the the shells on the shore, Lindbergh's musings on the shape of a woman's life will bring new understanding to readers, male and family, at any stage of life. A mother of five and professional writer, she casts an unsentimental eye at the trappings of modern life that threaten to overwhelm us—the timesaving gadgets that complicate our lives, the overcommitments that take us from our families. With great wisdom and insight she describes the shifting shapes of relationships and marriage, presenting a vision of a life lived in enduring and evolving partnership. A groundbreaking work when it was first published, this book has retained its freshness as it has been rediscovered by generations of readers and is no less current today.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(2.9K)
★★★★
25%
(1.2K)
★★★
15%
(720)
★★
7%
(336)
★
-7%
(-336)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Self-help without the jargon

This title was a recent selection for a book discussion group that I helped organize for my library. As the only male in the group, I felt somewhat compelled to offer token protest to the selection of this classic example of a "woman's book," but actually I was intrigued by it. Everything I had read about "Gift From the Sea" praised its meditative quality and I had to admit that the promise of that rather appealed to me.
I wound up reading the bulk of the book on Mothers' Day, which seemed quite appropriate, given that among the many issues Lindbergh addresses here is the need for mothers to find a balance between their own needs and those of their children and husbands. The need for time to one's self, a "room of one's own", the need for a spriritual dimension to one's existence--well, it seems so obvious that these needs have to be met if a woman--if any human being--is to be fulfilled and to be able to meet her (or his) responsibilities with joy rather than with dread. But the lessons that Anne Morrow Lindbergh taught in 1955 still need to be voiced in 2000--perhaps more than ever. Lindbergh seems prescient when she speaks of the dangers of the "life of multiplicity" which had already taken root in the immediate post-War era. We know all too well that it has not gotten any better in the past 50 years and that women's lives in particular have become more stressful and, to use Lindbergh's word, "fragmented" in the past half-century.
What distinguishes Lindbergh's book from today's current crop of self-help or New Age sprititual books though is its lyrical quality. Her careful, belletristic prose is soothing and, yes, meditative in and of itself. Reading it seems to bring about the very centeredness and balance that she seeks to describe.
Although she includes no bibliography (and rightly so, as this is not a tract), I would hope that many of her readers would be inspired to seek out the works of some of the writers she quotes in the context of these essays. She does the world a great service in suggesting how Rilke, for example, whose poetry may seem impenetrable at first, can actually speak to the concerns of our own lives.
196 people found this helpful
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Beautifully written and rhythmic without being poetic

Cute book. Not what I was expecting and not something I'd have normally picked up to read.

That being said ... something that I may read over and over again. Beautifully written and rhythmic without being poetic.

Interesting how so much of it still resonates today ... 60 years later. And how much of it needs to be taught and reminded to girls and women of all ages. A book that transcends time.

"each cycle of the tide is valid, each cycle of the wave is valid, each cycle of a relationship is valid"

"She must learn not to depend on another, not to feel she must prove her strength by competing with another ... She must find the true center alone. She just become whole."
38 people found this helpful
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Highly recommend to any woman needing some balance

Let me start off by saying I'm a 16 y/o girl. I LOVED the book and really feel that this should be a more popular and more talked about. The things discussed are definitely mature (not in an inappropriate way). Some of the main topics of discussion are: balancing a household, maintaining a marital relationship, and middle age. As a teen I obviously could not relate to these things, this is a book for "older women" persay. But that does not mean young girls like me shouldn't read it, along with those lessons it also had lessons in relationships, friendships, feminism and over just important life lessons and well thought out ideas.
35 people found this helpful
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A true gem!!

I had no idea, when I found this book in a little beach bookstore recently, that it was written in 1955. Had I known, it probably would have dissuaded me from buying it. I now know how fortunate I am to have not known!
I believe that books, words and people come into our lives at the time they are most needed, and Gift from the Sea certainly fits that bill for me. While small bits of it may be dated, most of it speaks as clearly and truly to modern day woman as it would have to 1950s women. In fact, with so many women in search of their most authentic self these days, it may even be MORE relevant to today's woman! It is a delicate and thoughtful essay on solitude, couplehood, inner peace and the wonder of nature. I can't imagine anyone not being inspired and uplifted by reading it. Truly, a gift for the soul.
33 people found this helpful
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the wisdom that we are meant to be

I picked up Anne Morrow Lindbergh's "Gift From the Sea" with a good deal of trepidation. The Oprahfication of America has too often brought the sexes into warring opposition. So much so that when men or women write about what it means to be men and women, they can't seem to resist taking backhanded swipes at the value of one another. At the time, I did not know that "Gift From the Sea" was so old...I figured it would be the same stuff we see too much of today rehashed in pleasant warm-fuzzy, faux spiritual fashion to fit the market. I stand corrected.
Mrs. Lindbergh shows herself to be an author of deep insight, intellectual honesty and true caring. As she reflected on each shell she found on the beach and related them to life not only as a woman (although it is a central theme) but as a human in our modern times (it still fits--even fifty years later), I was swept up into her thoughts and dazzled by her soul.
Lindbergh finds much worth in what we are when all the noise of our surroundings is stripped away. She seeks to cling to this essence and bring it to bear as she reenters to tempest of everyday life. I can relate to this.
"Gift From the Sea" reminds me forcefully of what David said in the seventeenth Psalm. He cries out to the one who has made him. He asks that God keep him as the apple of his eye--to allow him to seek shelter in shadow of his wings. This is a cry for protection but also for a wholeness we all lack, whatever the age we live in. I believe Morrow Lindbergh's words echo this. David concludes with these words:
"And I--in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness" (v. 15).
May we all! I recommend this book.
20 people found this helpful
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Woman's Book gets Man's Attention !

As a man I immensely enjoyed this 'woman's' book. Mrs. Lindberg uses masterful metaphor to tell her tale of inner discovery. Her level of insight kept my attention throughout this short memoir. I will go on the record and call this a man's book also. There are so many lessons that cross the gender lines. I believe that I also have a better understanding of women in general. Her relationship advice is sublime. I have included my favorite quotes:

"Duration is not the test of true or false."

"There is no one-and-only, there are just one-and-only moments."

"Neither is the answer in dissipating our time and energy in more purposeless occupations, more accumulations which supposedly simplify life but actually burden it, more possessions which we have not time to use or appreciate, more diversions to fill up the void."

"Saint Exupery said 'Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.'"

Five Stars
16 people found this helpful
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So few pages, so many gems

"I begin to understand why the saints were rarely married women," Anne Morrow Lindbergh writes. "The problem is not merely one of Woman and Career, Woman and the Home, Woman and Independence. It is more basically: how to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life; how to remain balanced, no matter what centrifugal forces tend to pull one off center; how to remain strong, no matter what shocks come in at the periphery."
Using the illustration of shells from the sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh clears away the clutter of life, pares it down to its most simple form, that of an internal life that lends clarity to the externals. Each section of the book is a different shell, and a different lesson learned. Peace within one's self, simplicity, clarity, joy, the validity of each cycle and era of a lifetime, strength, and wholeness are just some of the lessons she imparts.
In about 50 years things have not become any less complicated, and this short, simple little book is even more relevant to our busy and noisy modern lives. The lesson one takes away from the book is not how to get rid of all the things, but how to find a calm, still center within one's self to maintain sanity, and that need never change, no matter what the distractions might be.
15 people found this helpful
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Timeless and poetic

This journal style series of essays will appeal to the poet and philoposher in all women who have reached mid-life and are pondering the meaning of roles as wife, mother and bread-winner. A source of inspiration to read over and over.
12 people found this helpful
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A Book for All Seasons

I can only echo those who rave about this book. It is perhaps my all time favorite and that is saying a lot for a bookworm like myself. Her words and wisdom flow like warm honey. She is a wise person. Get this book for yourself and everyone you love. It will be a gift of love to them.
11 people found this helpful
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Precious Portholes of Feminine Introspection

This book is a gem of feminine insight and should be required reading (I truly hate that term, but in this case, it is valid)
for women over 30. Not to mention women who plan to reach 30. I recall having this book forced down our immature throats in
junior high English class, when the book first came out to critical acclaim in the late 50's. This seemed ill-advised, as the subject matter, plus lack of plot and character development or even characters in the first place, proved quite beyond the limited literary appreciation of the class.
Half a lifetime later, while perusing the dusty shelves of a used book store, I came across a copy of that almost forgotten book, presented so enthusiastically but naively by my long-ago English teacher. Now, as an adult, I decided to give it mature consideration; Ic can't believe what a treasure I had in my hands--how I had missed these pearls of human wisdom for decades! But it is never too late to recognize a jewel between covers.
The author felt impelled to take a retreat on an almost deserted island--perhaps to reflect at lesiure upon her roles as daughter, sister, wife, mother, woman and human being. As she strolls carelessly along the soothingly indifferent shore, she can not resist picking up vairous shells--all gifts, as it were, from the sea. Considering each type at length at days' end, she realizes that these various shells represent the the different stages of a woman's life. The bivalves, like butterly shells, remind her of the marriage bonds; the chambered nautilus reflects her home, which needs more rooms as the family expands. For Lindbergh each shell fills a special niche in the multitudinous roles which is a woman's privilege to perform. So I invite all thoughtful, sensitive women to plunge their hands into the foamy surf and contemplate the gifts from the sea...of Life. Don't be afraid to recall the stages of your own past, for all personal struggles have validity in one's private destiny. Lindbergh's gift to humanity is a her tender but timeless insight.
11 people found this helpful

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