Turn! Turn! Turn!

I've found (discovered) a beautiful book based on the Byrds song written by Pete Seeger which is based on Ecclesiastes 3. The illustrations by Wendy Anderson Halperin are wonderful. They are highly Westernized (or perhaps "New Yorkized" since there are apples in so many pictures). They show multiple images of life which give examples of the events named in Ecclesiastes 3 (e.g. born, die, cast away stones, gather stones). The book even includes an audio CD with performances of the song by the Byrds, and also by Pete Seeger (also lives in New York). $17.95 from Simon & Schuster, 2003. http://www.wendyhalperin.com/store.htm

Ecclesiastes uses three words for "turn" for a total of sixteen occurrences. Qoheleth (the author) usually uses it in the sense, "I turned to consider..." (e.g. 2:11). He turns to consider life sixteen times until it seems he is spinning as much as the wind as it blows around its endless cycles (1:6). "Turn" is a very important word in Ecclesiastes. I don't know if Pete Seeger knew that when he wrote this song. Maybe Seeger was thinking of the seasons returning and turning from one activity to another. Halperin catches this idea beautifully by means of many circles.