The Zen of Home Water Book by Jerry Hamza - Bookswagon
Home > Lifestyle > Sports > Field sports: fishing, hunting, shooting > Hunting or shooting animals & game > The Zen of Home Water
The Zen of Home Water

The Zen of Home Water


     0     
5
4
3
2
1



International Edition


About the Book

A Collection of Fishing Stories from Across the Globe, by a Master Storyteller.

To the uninitiated, it might be somewhat surprising to discover that fly fishermen tend to be rather contemplative sorts. During those dark nights and long seasons when fishing is not a promising endeavor, we settle down to the next best thing, reading our vast libraries of ancient fishing lore, interspersed with the odd philosophical tome. And when we do, we usually don't want to read proverbial stories about "landing the big one," or lengthy how-to expositions on how to catch the aforementioned big one. Rather, we tend to prefer stories that place our beloved piscatorial pastime within the larger context of life and nature. Stories that, as Hamza describes, "...sparks a light. A light that is both familiar and comforting." Such is The Zen of Home Water, the latest angling book by Jerry Hamza. Hamza is a John Volker for the new millennium. His book is interspersed with stories about monster brook trout, beautiful North woods streams and lakes, quirky backwoods guides, and legendary fly hatches. Through it all, he shows us one of the most profound truths of life, that "It takes the acquisition of wisdom to understand that a happy life is actually a mosaic of small and insignificant events...we string together moments in life--like pearls becoming a beautiful necklace."

The iridescent pearls that Hamza strings together are many and include the importance of "freestyling", that uncontrollable escape impulse that implores us to drop whatever we are doing and head to the stream, any stream, with fly rod in hand. Another recurring theme is the need to unplug from the modern, electronic world. He instructs us how to trespass (with bartered permission) and fish those waters that look so inviting yet so out of reach to the (usually) law abiding. His recipe for squirrel stew is not jealously guarded but freely shared. And his stories of catching giant brook trout in the Maine North Woods allow the reader, who usually can't participate in such acts of angling greatness, to at least know that they are occurring to someone, somewhere.

Hamza is a member of that peculiar subset of anglers, the bamboo rod aficionado. While acknowledging the cold, hard fact that bamboo rods are nothing more than conglomerations of "expensive blades of grass," he also realizes that these handmade treasures passed down to us from previous generations will hopefully outlive us (and our car doors) and that we are merely their caretakers for a time. Although the dreaded "g" word (i.e., graphite) does make a brief appearance, Hamza is definitely one of those anglers who would rather hold an aged, organic creation of the bamboo rod maker's art than the latest admittedly efficient chemical concoction straight from the laboratory. This puts him squarely in the tradition of John Gierach, although Hamza's writing is better and his stories more entertaining.

Hamza's own home waters are dual--Maine's Grand Lake Stream area and the southern shore of the Lake Ontario region. There are echoes of Thoreau's Maine Woods in his stories of remote lakes and plentiful trout. And while he takes us all around the country when relating his angling exploits (Kerouac's On the Road is a particular favorite of his), it is evident that the concept of "home water" carries a lot of weight with him. His beloved "Zen Lake", with its less than perfect history and many small fish, could be the home water of any of us.

Near the end of his book, Hamza talks about what he terms "glimpses of perfection," those evenings that you dream of, which are "...the gift fish gods give you perhaps once a decade or two..." These are those all too rare times where everything seems to come together to produce a magical outcome, a coherent, beautiful whole that will live in memory forever. I call them "moments of grace." In such moments, everything doesn't have to be perfect, but all of those different elements somehow come together to create a perfect, organic whole. Exactly how this happens will probably remain one of those eternal mysteries of life. Taken as a whole, The Zen of Home Water is one of those moments of bibliophilic grace. Anglers and philosophers who choose to add it to their winter reading pile will be much better off for the effort.


About the Author: Jerry Hamza has spent decades putting himself in positions to live an outdoor life. For thirty years he was part of the management and good friend to legendary comedian George Carlin. During this time he traveled to every inch of North America, hunting and fishing the whole way. Jerry was elected president of the Cat Fanciers' Association and traveled the whole world, fly fishing and hunting on every continent except Antarctica. Jerry was awarded Fly Rod & Reel's Robert Traver Award in 2014.


Best Sellers



Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9781510758896
  • Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
  • Publisher Imprint: Skyhorse Publishing
  • Height: 231 mm
  • No of Pages: 240
  • Spine Width: 25 mm
  • Weight: 458 gr
  • ISBN-10: 1510758895
  • Publisher Date: 17 Nov 2020
  • Binding: Hardback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: Y
  • Sub Title: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Fly Fishing
  • Width: 157 mm


Similar Products

Add Photo
Add Photo

Customer Reviews

REVIEWS      0     
Click Here To Be The First to Review this Product
The Zen of Home Water
Skyhorse Publishing -
The Zen of Home Water
Writing guidlines
We want to publish your review, so please:
  • keep your review on the product. Review's that defame author's character will be rejected.
  • Keep your review focused on the product.
  • Avoid writing about customer service. contact us instead if you have issue requiring immediate attention.
  • Refrain from mentioning competitors or the specific price you paid for the product.
  • Do not include any personally identifiable information, such as full names.

The Zen of Home Water

Required fields are marked with *

Review Title*
Review
    Add Photo Add up to 6 photos
    Would you recommend this product to a friend?
    Tag this Book Read more
    Does your review contain spoilers?
    What type of reader best describes you?
    I agree to the terms & conditions
    You may receive emails regarding this submission. Any emails will include the ability to opt-out of future communications.

    CUSTOMER RATINGS AND REVIEWS AND QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TERMS OF USE

    These Terms of Use govern your conduct associated with the Customer Ratings and Reviews and/or Questions and Answers service offered by Bookswagon (the "CRR Service").


    By submitting any content to Bookswagon, you guarantee that:
    • You are the sole author and owner of the intellectual property rights in the content;
    • All "moral rights" that you may have in such content have been voluntarily waived by you;
    • All content that you post is accurate;
    • You are at least 13 years old;
    • Use of the content you supply does not violate these Terms of Use and will not cause injury to any person or entity.
    You further agree that you may not submit any content:
    • That is known by you to be false, inaccurate or misleading;
    • That infringes any third party's copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy;
    • That violates any law, statute, ordinance or regulation (including, but not limited to, those governing, consumer protection, unfair competition, anti-discrimination or false advertising);
    • That is, or may reasonably be considered to be, defamatory, libelous, hateful, racially or religiously biased or offensive, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing to any individual, partnership or corporation;
    • For which you were compensated or granted any consideration by any unapproved third party;
    • That includes any information that references other websites, addresses, email addresses, contact information or phone numbers;
    • That contains any computer viruses, worms or other potentially damaging computer programs or files.
    You agree to indemnify and hold Bookswagon (and its officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, employees and third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.), harmless from all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of a breach of your representations and warranties set forth above, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.


    For any content that you submit, you grant Bookswagon a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable right and license to use, copy, modify, delete in its entirety, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from and/or sell, transfer, and/or distribute such content and/or incorporate such content into any form, medium or technology throughout the world without compensation to you. Additionally,  Bookswagon may transfer or share any personal information that you submit with its third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc. in accordance with  Privacy Policy


    All content that you submit may be used at Bookswagon's sole discretion. Bookswagon reserves the right to change, condense, withhold publication, remove or delete any content on Bookswagon's website that Bookswagon deems, in its sole discretion, to violate the content guidelines or any other provision of these Terms of Use.  Bookswagon does not guarantee that you will have any recourse through Bookswagon to edit or delete any content you have submitted. Ratings and written comments are generally posted within two to four business days. However, Bookswagon reserves the right to remove or to refuse to post any submission to the extent authorized by law. You acknowledge that you, not Bookswagon, are responsible for the contents of your submission. None of the content that you submit shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of Bookswagon, its agents, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners or third party service providers (including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.)and their respective directors, officers and employees.

    Accept

    New Arrivals



    Inspired by your browsing history


    Your review has been submitted!

    You've already reviewed this product!