In "Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive," Eliot Stein takes readers across the globe to meet remarkable individuals dedicated to preserving some of the world's oldest and rarest cultural traditions. From a man safeguarding Japan's 700-year-old original soy sauce recipe to Italian artisans crafting the world's rarest pasta, each chapter is filled with fascinating anecdotes and insights.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

"Custodians of Wonder" by Eliot Stein is a captivating exploration of individuals around the world who are preserving rare and ancient cultural traditions. Stein travels extensively to meet these remarkable custodians, such as a man in Japan safeguarding a centuries-old soy sauce ingredient, an Italian woman who is one of the last makers of the world's rarest pasta, and a family in India crafting mirrors that are said to reveal one’s true self.

Stein’s journey also takes him to Scandinavia to shadow the last night watchman, West Africa to meet a 27th-generation griot, and Cuba to visit the last official cigar factory reader. In Peru, he learns from the last Inca bridge master who annually rebuilds a grass-woven bridge, and in Britain, he encounters a beekeeper practicing the ancient custom of "telling the bees" daily news.

Through vivid storytelling, Stein not only shares these unique practices but also highlights the profound commitment of these individuals to maintain their heritage. "Custodians of Wonder" is a testament to the power of tradition and the human spirit’s role in keeping cultural legacies alive.

This is my favorite book of 2024 so far. Custodians of Wonder is the journey of Eliot Stein throughout the world as he connects with people carrying on historical traditions, even as those traditions become extinct. The stories are fascinating, but the deeper story of meaningful work, honoring tradition, and persistence of excellence in a changing world is inspiring. As a Gen Xer, I often feel that push/pull relationship with technology. Sure, life is easier in many ways, but does ease cause life to lose meaning? Is true satisfaction attainable when everything is so readily available? This book was a wonderful reminder that joy and meaning are found in the process and the results of traditional work are inherently different and more valuable. Learning about the true mirrors in India, traditional soy sauce in Japan, bridge makers in South America and more reminds me why I love people. Humans are amazing and capable and do things even when logic would say those things don't really matter. People are constantly working behind the scenes to create beauty and wonder and if we get distracted, we might somehow miss it. I would highly recommend this book.

A very engaging book with a good mix of factual narrative and storytelling. Each chapter is its own story and I love exploring the little wonder from so many different parts of the world.

As someone who loves to escape in stories, this book didn’t disappoint at all! While most of what I read is fictional and fantastical, Eliot Stein was able to reel me in with the energy and passion with which he shares the histories of the people he’s met during his travels.

I was glad to have been just as intrigued by this as I would’ve been by any fictional story because it reassures my hope and curiosity for the real peoples on earth and for the humanity shared between them. Knowing that there are real stories just as interesting as imagined ones fulfills the childhood wonder in my brain.

During his introduction, the author makes note that the vast majority of readers will likely not know of or about the stories he’s sharing and at least for me, he’s correct! But I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn about them and their pasts to continue passing along their stories.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author Eliot Stein for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

5/5

This was a truly fascinating read. Each chapter is about a different rare and endangered custom. I appreciated this format because it provided a lot of information without ever feeling too dense. It’s also easy to read a chapter as you have the time since each chapter is a new story. In the book’s introduction, the author writes that we often hear stories about the first person to do something, but we rarely hear about the last person to carry on a tradition. “[T]hese gorgeous, irrational, gentle things humans do that make the world so inexorably fascinating often die a silent death, and it’s only after they vanish that we realize what has been lost.”

In the days of convenience and instant gratification, it’s important to honor tradition and remember that things we do can also have value even if they are difficult and lack utility. I loved that this book covered so many different parts of the world: Mali, Sweden, Peru, Italy, India, Taiwan, England, Cuba, Japan, and Germany. The customs included culinary traditions, ways of communicating, infrastructure, ways of preserving history, and more. Each chapter put the custom being discussed into a broader historical context. What do painted movie posters tell us about Taiwan’s past? Why are we all using “boxed wine” quality soy sauce? In the days of modern police and fire departments, why is a night watchman so important? I learned something from every chapter; not just that there’s a part of the world where a particular wacky custom exists, but how it came to be, why it matters, and what the continuation (or lack thereof) says about a culture’s values and how they’re changing.

It’s amazing how many of these customs have been passed down in families for hundreds of years. I came away from most chapters both baffled that the chain has been unbroken for so long but also aghast that the next generation is disinterested in continuing it. This book provoked a lot of thoughts about passion—these “custodians of wonder” dedicate their lives and often health into their elder years because they’re passionate about what they do. Can we fault their children for wanting to follow their own passions and not follow a traditional path out of obligation? Of course not! But that does not make the possible death of a tradition any less tragic or less of a loss for these cultures or the world at large.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book should turn into a documentary!

I enjoyed the author’s storytelling style, it’s very easy to follow and the stories are gripping enough to keep you coming back for more.

It’s a fascinating read that deserves a read or two :)

Mr. Stein brings us a book about ancient customs, traditions, and the very last people keeping them alive.

I must admit I had never heard of most of these, but I am happy to know about them now.

From the man guarding his 700 year old recipe for Soy Sauce, to the woman who knows how to make a rare pasta, to the last Inca bridge builder.

An excellent book!


December 10, 2024 by St. Martin's Press NetGalley

"Custodians of Wonder" is a modern take on real life fairytales. Through tales of unique pasta in Sardinia and rare soy sauce in Japan, the reader is able to learn about customs that are rarely preserved in modern times. In addition, the reader learns about other rare phenomenon including the night watchmen in Ystad and the Q'eswachaka in Peru. Unfortunately, "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down." In essence, the rarities of the past that still exist in modern life are soon to be destroyed unless very specific people continue to uphold these customs. Eliot Stein is able to entice the reader into a desire to uphold these rare customs by giving firsthand accounts of those that are pivotal in continuing these traditions and are the most invested in maintaining them through modern times and beyond.

For many, reading is about having a transformative experience. It's about visiting another world or becoming immersed in a story that offers a literary escape.

It's rare that this happens in a non-fiction title. However, this is precisely what happens in Eliot Stein's magically realized "Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive."

In this lovely book, Stein transports us into different world's where remarkable yet remarkably simple people are maintaining some of the world's oldest and rarest cultural traditions.

These experiences happen around the globe and Stein somehow brings each world to life in a transformative way that makes us feel as if we've stumbled into this world ourselves to discover rare cultural rites and those who keep them alive.

We meet a man who continues to save the secret ingredient in Japan's 700-year-old original recipe for soy sauce.

We meet the Italian women who make the world's rarest pasta from the only women alive who know how to make it.

In one of my favorites, we enter the world of Scandinavia's last night watchman.

In another favorite, we are transported into the world of Peru's fabled Inca road system and those who help bring it to life season after season after season.

There are more.

"Custodians of Wonder" was a slow read for me, a rare literary experience where I sat back and allowed myself to soak in the worlds being created and the stories being told. I marveled at Stein's ability to find these stories and I marveled at Stein's ability to so vividly bring them to life. I imagined myself in these settings, no small feat for a wheelchair user who would likely have difficulty even accessing some of these locales.

As a film critic, I perhaps was most enchanted by the story of a Taiwanese artist who continues to create some of the world's most magnificently created film posters and billboards for the last theater to still use his craft that was once common throughout Taiwan.

But truthfully? I loved every moment of this reading experience even when I didn't quite resonate as much with the ritual (such as in a beautifully told story of the last cigar factory in Cuba).

Once in a while, I get lucky and find a book that just sneaks up on me with its charms and wonder. "Custodians of Wonder" offered just such an experience. I expected to learn and would have been satisfied with just such an experience, however, with "Custodians of Wonder" Stein truly brings to life that sense of wonder and in so doing creates what will be one of 2024's most fascinating and magical reading experiences.

This was a major departure from the books I usually read, which are light comedy / time travel fiction. But I wanted to take a chance on something completely new and unique. And this book sure is that! I've never read anything like it. It tells the fascinating history of customs and traditions throughout the world. And how they affected life both at the time and for hundreds of centuries to come. Also how they impacted their community, and in time... the world. Utterly fascinating topic and superb writing. Fantastic book.

An excellent read with plenty of great information and content. The stories behind the reason for inclusion in this short collection are just as insightful as their histories. The author seems to truly know his subjects and gets high quality of detail from those who are seeking to tell their stories.

For fans of "The Indomitable Human Spirit" as a concept. I look forward to when others read this book and get the same pangs of emotion.

This is a wonderful tale about legends of old told through the eyes of one who protects them. It was whimsical and fun, yet thoughtful and provoking. I very much enjoyed it.