Rare Good

Steve Edwards is the author of Breaking into the Backcountry (Bison Books, 2010). His writing has appeared in the Yale Review, the Sun, Orion, and Literary Hub. He lives outside Boston with his wife and son.

"Steve Edwards has written a stunning book of essays that are attentive to the weather, bluebirds, perilous classrooms, pies baking in kitchens, and the fragile negotiations that make up a life lived inside our nervous systems. With the lyricism of a poet and the discernment of a witness, he crafts his essays to consider neurodiversity, art, and work as he shares his keen understanding of what it means to feel the sharp edges of the world, navigating with vigilance and persistence. What emerges from these essays is astonishment. Rare Good reminds us that attention is an act of resistance, and that the smallest, most local gestures—whether it's sleeping for the first time in a new house, wrestling with Thoreau, or cataloging the drudgery of working third shift—are our truest lives."—Oliver de la Paz, author of The Diaspora Sonnets"Rare Good is about the natures in which we live—our environments, our bodies, our senses, our minds—and the sunlight and storms that pass through them. It feels like having a beautiful, long conversation with an unusually wise and observant friend."—Blair Braverman, best-selling author of Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube"Rare Good is a book of fascinating stories, inquiry, support, and community building centered on the current moment. In a world that so often values individual output, this read can shed light on the value of everyone and everything."—Jordyn Zimmerman, educator and accessibility advocate"Rare Good is a beautiful work of heartfelt reflection, in which Steve Edwards invites the reader to rest awhile and pay attention to the world around and within them. There is such generosity at the heart of the book—generosity toward red-winged blackbirds, toward Thoreau, toward his son, toward dairy farms and construction workers and the students in his writing classes. There is room in Edwards's world for the glorious diversity of our minds, our bodies, and all the ways we can be wrong. He invites us to share in it. A jewel of a book."—Catherine J. Denial, author of A Pedagogy of Kindness

• Rare GoodThe Blossoming ChildYellow BandWhen Are Men Dangerous?To Tell a Happy StoryA Good HouseWorking on the LineRain ShadowsLuminescenceOn IndifferenceThe Clean Blue Air of StoriesLibrary HoursThe Thing ItselfAcknowledgments