An Island Out of Time : A Memoir of Smith Island in the Chesapeake

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Summary: A rare, insider's view of a unique way of life.
Review: An avid reader of publications like National Geographic, I found this book to be a very enjoyable and accurate depiction of an area that receives too little attention. The only thing that could improve this story would be full color photographs illustrating the brilliant sunsets, changes in water color, the wildlife and the characters that are detailed throughout. This book sparked such an interest in the area that my family currently is searching for a new home on the Crisfield side of the Bay. We appreciated the pace of life and the simplicity that have caused the locals to resist change and embrace their past. Many thanks to the author for clueing us in.

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Summary: First rate!
Review: Horton writes an environmental column in the Baltimore Sunwhich Isometimes enjoy and sometimes don't. So I was prepared for Island Out of Time to be average. But I was more than pleasantly surprised. Horton has written a first-rate account of the watermen and their families on Smith Island from the first-hand observations of his family, which lived on the island for several years, as well as great oral accounts from the islanders themselves.

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Summary: Excellent Portrait of Chesapeake Bay Life
Review: Notice that all the reviewers here live near the Chesapeake Bay. This bay will interest and speak to all those that have an interest in a society and environment almost gone. A super read, intimate in detail and beautiful in imagery.

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Summary: Almost poetic, Horton captures the spirit of time and place.
Review: Tom Horton's "An Island Out of Time" is more than just a documentary of life on Smith Island, it's a paean to individuality, to spirituality, and to the love of things natural whether they result in environmental disaster or reclamation. The uniqueness of life on a semi-isolated island in the Chesapeake Bay is also a refreshing look at the idea of community - unburdened by political correctness or ultra-sophisticated analysis. Horton waxes poetically about the sun's play over the marshes, or the clarity of the water, the coldness of the waves in a storm, and the gradual decay of the island's ability to survive. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone who wants to understand the real impacts of the Chesapeake - or celebrate its uniqueness.

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Summary: An extraordinary writer on an extraordinary place
Review: Tom Horton's great gift as a writer is his ability to conjure up the natural world in words. His memoir of his family's time on Smith Island is his best work yet. Note I said yet. A book by Tom Horton is always a cause for rejoicing. His environmental writing is up there with Aldo Leopold and Barry Lopez.