Notes on Water

David Appelbaum is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at SUNY, New Paltz. He is the author of many books, including Jacques Derrida’s Ghost: A Conjuration and The Delay of the Heart. He is a graduate of Harvard, past senior editor at Parabola, and founder of Codhill Press.

“The writing of David Appelbaum is a hidden treasure in our midst. Is it poetry? Is it philosophy? Can such a division matter with words so liquid and so beautiful? We all love and need water, and with this book we can pour it with a bit more fluidity. This may be his best and most accessible work, the culmination of a lifetime of the precise exploration of the most sensory elements of the human world.” —David Rothenberg, author of Survival of the Beautiful and Why Birds Sing, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Music, New Jersey Institute of Technology

"As William Blake found 'a world in a grain of sand,' in this brilliant book David Appelbaum discovers the universe in a drop of water. Drawing on mythology, nature, and science, he combines a poet’s appreciation with a philosopher’s discernment to explore the universal element of water and its resonances, reaching rare depths of understanding. Those in search of meaning will benefit greatly from allowing the words of this accomplished author to flow like the liquid he loves into their minds and hearts." —Jeff Zaleski, editor and publisher of Parabola

"Appelbaum’s words—these humble 'notes on water'—are what they speak of. As Becket would say, 'no symbols where none intended.' This is masterly, original work, filled with life, requiring and deserving repeated readings: a philosophical, cosmological, always poetical and phenomenologically-lived accounting of our beginnings and our ends, both large and small." —Chris Bamford, Editor in Chief for SteinerBooks, author of The Voice of the Eagle and An Endless Trace