John Gould's unrestrained humor is a pleasure—the dry Yankee kind that makes you laugh in retrospect. Throughout Neither Hay Nor Grass radiates the happy glow of warm family relationships studded with shrewd appraisals of nature—human, animal, governmental, and divine. Gould's signature salty irreverence is on full display as water pollution, bankers, income tax, education, and interior decorators all come in for a hearty lacing. At the same time, his articulate and boundless delight in everyday things is deeply refreshing.