FIRE IN THE STRAW

An emotional chronicle of a life spent fishing, studying, teaching, writing, publishing, and loving.

Lyons, who founded Lyons Books and has published multiple titles about fishing and the outdoor life, returns with a generally chronological memoir. The author first writes about his stressful childhood and his life-altering discovery of fishing. “Standing alone for hours…I was mesmerized,” he writes, “by the way the lines and planes of light angled down toward some strange matrix near the sandy bottom, a region numinous and wild.” The author then moves through the evolution of what would become a lifetime passion for reading and writing, his determined efforts to acquire an education (he earned a doctorate from and taught at Hunter College), and his entrance to the world of publishing. Before starting his own publishing firm, he worked as a consultant for Crown, Doubleday, Norton, and others. We also learn that he was a fairly talented basketball player; in one section, we see Lyons, now older and out of shape, participating in a pickup game—and suffering the consequences. “I was the dud,” he writes. “The lemon. I knew it now and so did everyone else on my team. And the other team.” The author also discusses his long marriage, home life with his children, as well as how, after some early-life financial struggles, he entered a phase of financial security. He bought a house in Montana, where he would write and fish and where his wife would paint. All seemed perfect—until suffering and death entered his life; the final chapter is especially poignant. Despite the author’s success, he is mostly modest about his achievements, and he comments unfavorably about his late-life appearance and weight. Overall, he keeps his (justifiable) pride in check as he relates this engaging version of his own Horatio Alger story.

A moving account of a life of loves and accomplishment.