Perspective

Annie Dillard is a writer who has written several other works in addition to "Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters". The reader is given little other information about her background or her education. She has traveled to many different spots and this could be due to a love of travel or as a writer on assignment.

Although the essays in the book are personal ones discussing her thoughts and feelings, Annie clearly intends the essays to be read by others. At several points in the book, she addresses the reader to clarify a point. Thus, she is not writing a personal journal or diary that she intends to keep private from the world. Although she intends the works to be seen by others, they are personal in nature and she may be writing some of them, in part, as a way of reflecting herself on what...