The familiar essay provided Odell Shepard the opportunity to be himself. In The Harvest of a Quiet Eye, he wrote of an idyllic two-week hike in rural Connecticut. In The Joys of Forgetting, he wrote of the pleasure of remembering forgotten details. In Thy Rod and Thy Creel, he wrote of the pleasure of fly fishing and of its history. These essays reveal a sensitive man, a man who felt compelled to be a contributing member of society, but also a man who knew his own limitations and needs.