Reviews (2)

Great things come in small packages
Williams has put together a visceral, haunting, beautiful stream ofconsciousness aria here. This little tiny book has become one of my veryfavorite works over the past few years I have owned a copy of it. It is oneof those books that tends to find itself hidden on my bookshelf, and when Irediscover it I am in for a real treat. This is the story of a woman who isso aware of her soul that it is almost ethereal. Walking the slot canyonsof Utah and Arizona has always brought out powerful emotions within me, butafter reading this book a few times I literally lose myself in the earthwhen hiking there now. Yes, this is a tale of love and love-making, but onsuch a spiritual level that it is easy to fall asleep and drift into adreamy, watery place of serenity after reading it. What more can a bookoffer than that???? Save yourself the money usually spent on a"relaxing vacation" to a crowded get-away and set a fire in thefireplace, put on some Loreena McKennit and lose yourself in this treasureof a book. Mary Frank's sketches and watercolors set the stage and TerryTempest Williams provides the magic carpet.

Fascinating, Erotic Travelogue of the Mind
This book is short: 62 pages is an exaggeration, since many of those pages are filled with sketches and since the book itself is only about the size of a CD case. But what it lacks in length it more than makes up for inbeauty. Terry Tempest Williams is an incredible, widely respected writer,and this book was released to much critical acclaim. Her book details awoman hiking in the canyons of southern Utah, and the thoughts that flashthrough her mind as she walks, and the freedom she feels in nature: thekinds of thoughts we all have when we go hiking, but aren't able to putdown on paper as well as she.Read more

Subjects:  1. Desert Ecology    2. Deserts    3. General    4. Human ecology    5. Natural History    6. Nature / Field Guide Books    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Psychological aspects    9. Utah    10. Non-Classifiable    11. Williams, Terry Tempest   

Subjects:  1. Desert Ecology    2. Deserts    3. Ecology    4. Environmental Engineering & Technology    5. Life Sciences - Ecology    6. Life Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Science    9. Arid zones, deserts    10. Ecological science, the Biosphere    11. Environmental science    12. Science / Ecology   

Subjects:  1. Arid regions    2. Desert ecology    3. Ecology    4. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    5. Human ecology    6. Indigenous peoples    7. Nature    8. Nature / Field Guide Books    9. Nature/Ecology    10. Water Supply    11. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    12. Nature / Water Supply   

Subjects:  1. Chihuahuan Desert    2. Desert ecology    3. Jornada Experimental Range    4. Life Sciences - Ecology    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Arid zones, deserts    8. Ecological science, the Biosphere    9. Life Sciences | Ecology    10. Mexico    11. Science / Ecology   

Reviews (10)

Going back to Bisbee
Maybe you can't go home again, but vicarious can get me to Bisbee. Sent immediately, in great condition. Thanks

Down Memory Lane to a town that would not die . . .
This book is part travelogue, part natural history, part regional history, and part personal memoir. After many years as a writer, poet, and university professor, the author takes an 80-mile journey from his home in Tucson to the old mining town of Bisbee in the southeast corner of Arizona. Just a stone's throw from the Mexican border, Bisbee has been the site of copper mines, starting in the 1880s and lasting until the 1970s, when conglomerate Phelps Dodge finally ceased operation, having created a huge open pit and left mountains of tailings.
A new Arizonian
Being a new to Arizona and visiting once, I loved this book.It made my recent trip to Bisbee wonderfully interesting.I searched for many of the points of interst mentionedin this book.Looked at the terrain and thepeople.All were true to the authors decribtion.I even experienced a few"that's Bisbee"moments.Thanks for a great book, I thoroughlyenjoyed the read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Arizona    2. Description and travel    3. Desert ecology    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. History, Local    6. Natural history    7. Travel    8. Travel - United States    9. United States - Mountain - Arizona    10. United States - State & Local - General    11. United States - West - Mountain (General)   

Reviews (3)

Story of a Front Yard
This book relates some of the observations that Alcock made when he converted his grassy lawn in front of his Arizona house from grass to desert flora.In his neighborhood, residents dutifully maintained wide swaths of green grass through continuous fertilizing, watering, cutting, and trimming.They controlled pests and weeds through spraying, but if they missed one chemical treatment or watering, unwanted species would begin to take over.When Alcock first moved to the area, he went along with local custom for several years.Finally, he asked himself why he was working so hard to maintain grass at such high economic and environmental costs, when it was really the desert surroundings that he enjoyed.It took some effort to kill his lawn and replace it with a yard filled with thriving desert species, but maintenance eventually became much easier and cheaper once he had landscaping fit for the local environment.
Nature, neighbours and night quests
John Alcock loves Nature.Sometimes, though, getting from a suburban home to the wilderness he relishes can be tedious.So he brought some of his favoured Sonoran Desert environment to his front yard.Using a ramshackle Kubota tractor, he stripped away the layer of Bermuda grass surrounding his house.Over time, and with no little effort, he transformed that yard into a little pocket of desert environment.All this was more than an exercise in redecorating, however.Alcock studies insects, especially their mating rituals, and this transplanted environment gave him ample opportunity.Even if his practice of crouching over desert shrubbery at odd hours raised a few neighbourhood eyebrows. Fabulous, witty, insightful
I thoroughly enjoyed this intersting, thought provoking book from John Alcock. His thoughts on the modern American lawn should be required reading in the suburbs. The world would be a better place if all would read andcomprehend his thoughts on connecting ourselves to the myriad wonders thatgo on all around us every day. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Arizona    2. Behavior    3. Desert Ecology    4. Desert animals    5. Desert gardening    6. Gardening / Horticulture    7. Insects    8. Insects & Spiders    9. Life Sciences - Ecology    10. Nature/Ecology    11. Regional - General    12. Science    13. Tempe    14. Animal ecology    15. Applied ecology    16. Insects (entomology)    17. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    18. Plant ecology    19. USA   

Reviews (1)

Complete and Thorough
This book is the most complete book I've come across in terms of covering all the plants which I may encounter in the California deserts. I have eight desert plant books in all and I look at this one as the ultimate authority when it comes to identifying a plant. It's not the most easy book to use, but that's because it attempts to cover every native plant found in the desert. Some plant identification books strive for ease of use at the expense of completeness, the goal of this book is completeness. It is extremely well organized, but it is a bit technical for most people. The drawings are good and there is a limited number of color photographs. I consider this book an indispensable reference when it comes to desert plants with the Munz book "California Flora" being the only higher authority I know of. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. California, Southern    2. Desert Ecology    3. Desert plants    4. Identification    5. Life Sciences - Botany    6. Life Sciences - Ecology    7. Nature/Ecology    8. Pictorial works    9. Plant Geography    10. Science    11. Arid zones, deserts    12. California    13. Nature / General    14. Plant ecology    15. Plant life: general    16. Reference works   

Editorial Review

As a lifelong desert dweller, Terry Tempest Williams is intimately familiar with the multiple shades of red, and she explores many of them, among other things, in this tribute to the desert and canyon country of southern Utah that she holds so dear. In this collection of essays, poems, congressional testimony, and journal entries (some previously published), she ruminates on the meaning of wilderness and the need to preserve it as a way to save ourselves as much as the land itself. In Read more

Reviews (5)

Interesting perspective
Terry Tempest Williams is without a doubt one of the finest writers to tackle the intricacies of the American West in literature of any sort. Carrying her own torch is impressive enough, but Williams also evokes the activism and urgent motivation that calls us to appreciate, respect and save our remaining western wilderness that was so powerfully put into words by Edward Abbey. I have reviewed a portion of "Red" before (see "Desert Quartet"), so I will limit this review to the remainder of "Red". Writing to Save Wilderness
Terry Tempest Williams created this book to fight for Wilderness with the best tool she has, her writing.The beauty of her words hang in the air and cut like a knife.When asked by a friend why she writes, Williams responds: "I write as an exercise in pure joy.I write as one who walks on the surface of a frozen river beginning to melt.I write out of my anger and into my passion.I write from the stillness of night anticipating - always anticipating.I write to listen.I write out of silence....I write because it is the way I talk long walks.I write as a bow to wilderness. I write because I believe it can create a path in darkness."

In Every Way, A Great Work
Both a piece of literary artistry and passionate activism, "Red"'s audience appeal is the broadest of any book I've ever read.The book's structure, both wild and bounded by cadences of space, conforms strategically to Ms. Williams' conceptual take on the color red - red represents heat, anger, unpredictability, the lifeblood of the earth that runs through human beings and all earth's creatures, and is concentrated in the searing deserts of the American West where Ms. Williams lives.A thematic tapestry though it is, it is, at its core, a living breathing message presented selflessly and succinctly by a woman who I believe understands the need for a lifelong journey down the parallel rails of human and non-human nature until these rails converge.I recommend this book highly. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. Desert Ecology    3. Deserts    4. Ecology    5. Environmental conditions    6. Essays    7. Human ecology    8. Natural history    9. Nature    10. Nature / Field Guide Books    11. Nature/Ecology    12. Psychological aspects    13. Utah    14. Nature / Ecology    15. Philosophy    16. Williams, Terry Tempest   

Editorial Review

William Smythe, a Southern California booster, was not alone when in 1900 he expressed his hope that "the great brown waste which lies on the borders of two republics... will some time be as densely populated as the lands of the Nile, as rich in industry as the Kingdom of Holland."Read more

Reviews (8)

A Tale of a Magnificent Disaster
I visited the Salton Sea to photograph birds and found it impossible to describe, telling friends they had to go there themselves to experience the place and the people. Now I tell them to read this book. From the creation of the Sea to the creation of Salvation Mountain, deBuys tells it's colorful history in a prose that fills you with the sounds and smells and people of the Sea and Imperial Valley. Anyone with an interest in man's unlimited folly, vision, corruption, and the coming environmental train-wreck in southern California needs to read this book.

What Every Member of Congress Should Know...
Bravo! Salt Dreams is the first of its kind to wrap up all of the issues surrounding the Salton Sea and Colorado River delta in one volume. The best since Cadillac Desert in its cinematic portrayal of a complicated host of issues. Awesome writing on the heroism of US Fish and Wildlife staff. My only criticism is that Congressman George Brown is slighted; Sonny Bono often called him "Mr. Salton Sea".Certainly, a bookMr. Brown would have loved.

Reclamation/Folly in the Desert
Superlative read revealing the vast natural beauty of the desert and its inhabitants and man's irreversable errors in judging it as a fallen Eden.Together with Cadillac Desert it ranks as a southwest water classic.Beautiful writingand stunning photographs. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. California    3. Colorado Desert (Calif. and Me    4. Colorado Desert (Calif. and Mexico)    5. Desert Ecology    6. Ecology    7. Environmental conditions    8. History    9. Photo Essays    10. Photography    11. Real Estate - General    12. Salton Sea    13. Salton Sea (Calif.)    14. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    15. Subjects & Themes - Travel - U.S./West    16. Water And Marine Resources Management    17. Water resources development    18. Water salinization    19. Agriculture & related industries    20. Photography & Photographs   

Reviews (3)

A Connecticut Yankee in Arizona
Written over 50 years ago, this classic book of nature writing captures the near timelessness of the southern Arizona desert in a series of essays describing the author's fifteen-month sojourn there. While Krutch harks back to Thoreau, his perspective, turns of thought, and style of expression are similar to the reflective essays of E. B. White. They begin with observations of plant and animal life and evolve into ruminations on the nature of human life. romantic to the core
Here is a converted desert romantic with an interest in not only nature but man.Krutch writes and hits the mark like Thoreau and Eiseley and you won't want to miss him or this book if you're looking for a little sanity in a world gone mad.

The most extraordinary insight into the magic of Tucson.
If you have an interest in the desert and why we live here with JOY you must read this book. Krutch was an extraordinary man and he lived an extraordinary life his first year here. This book is the story of why hestayed instead of returning to New York. It is perhaps the most admiredbook about Tucson that has ever been written. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Desert ecology    2. Ecology    3. General    4. Literature - Classics / Criticism    5. Natural History    6. Nature/Ecology    7. Southwest, New   

Subjects:  1. Desert ecology    2. Ecology    3. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    4. Environmental Studies    5. Essays    6. Ethnic Studies - Native American Studies - Tribes    7. General    8. Indigenous peoples    9. Natural History    10. Nature    11. Nature/Ecology    12. Sonoran Desert    13. Tohono O'Odham Indians   

Reviews (1)

Tales of the Southwest
An excellent collection of short stories about the Southwest--its history, its fauna and flora, its people, and just a little about where it may be going if suburbia continues to encroach. Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th Century Description And Travel    2. Berger, Bruce    3. Description and travel    4. Desert ecology    5. Earth Sciences - Geography    6. Essays    7. Nature    8. Nature/Ecology    9. Science    10. Southwest, New    11. Travel    12. Journeys   

Reviews (5)

celebration and medicine
Craig's work is filled with grace, both inner and outer. In this book, he gives us his willingness to leap away from the standard "I wenthere, I went there,I had an epiphany" of too many of the wilderness boy writers; his profound love for both the land and his companions; the tenderness and courage he brings to fresh language about ancient rock and light.For those of us blessed to have walked on, over and deep in the ground he cherishes, there need be no further explanation of "outer grace."
For the Adventurous Spirit
I have a long-standing interest in the desert, having lived there for years and having done some explorations of my own. But never did I dream of taking the kind of trips Craig Childs recounts in his books. After reading The Secret Knowledge of Water, I eagerly dove into Soul of Nowhere expecting more spellbinding tales of survival on the margins of life.
Fascinating, Absorbing, Well Written
I read a lot of outdoor books, and I have to say this is one of the best that I have read in ages. Craig Childs lives, breaths, eats "wild." He writes with a clarity that makes me feel like I am alongside him -- and with a passion that is contagious. I am already planning a trip to visit some of the places he writes about. In the meantime, I'll nurse my desires by trying some of his other books. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Desert Ecology    2. Essays    3. Nature    4. Nature/Ecology    5. Nature / Essays   

Reviews (1)

Colorful, Informative and Valuable.
The world climate is changing.Water rationing has become common in many cities and states.Though you may not live in an extremely dry environment there are 'common sence' tips through out this book that can benefit any active gardener.
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Subjects:  1. Climatic - Desert    2. Desert Ecology    3. Gardening    4. Gardening / Horticulture    5. Gardening/Plants    6. Horticulture (General)    7. Regional - General    8. Regional - Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX)    9. Gardening / Climatic / Desert   

Subjects:  1. Desert Ecology    2. Desert plants    3. Flowers    4. Identification    5. Nature    6. Nature/Ecology    7. North America    8. Pictorial works    9. Plants - General    10. Wild flowers    11. Wildflowers   

Editorial Review

This essential guidebook to the North American deserts, one in a distinguished Audubon Society series devoted to continental biomes, contains in outline just about all the natural-history information a desert rat will need in the field. Drawing on the expertise of ornithologists, botanists, mammalogists, herpetologists, and other scientists across the country, editor James MacMahon offers an account of desert ecology, followed by life histories of characteristic flora and fauna, range maps, and illustrations. Of particular interest are MacMahon's notes on Native American uses of indigenous plants and animals. Read more

Reviews (10)

So-so, pretty circumscribed
I saw a pair of American avocets in Death Valley in March, 2006. With the help of a ranger at Furnace Creek, I was able to identify them from a National Geographic guide.
Beautiful pictures
Not many field guides for deserts out there. This one has great pictures.

The Audubon Society Nature Guides - Deserts
A must have book for anyone hiking in the desert and anyone even just interested in the desert. Packed full of info about "everything" you will find in the desert . ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Desert ecology    2. General    3. Handbooks, manuals, etc    4. Natural History    5. Nature    6. Nature / Field Guide Books    7. Nature/Ecology    8. West (U.S.)    9. Zoology    10. Biology, life sciences    11. Nature / General   

Subjects:  1. Desert ecology    2. Deserts    3. Ecology    4. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    5. Life Sciences - Ecology    6. Natural Resources    7. Nature    8. Nature/Ecology    9. Science    10. Arid zones, deserts    11. Nature / General   

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. Desert Ecology    3. Deserts    4. Earth Sciences - Geography    5. Essays    6. Geography    7. History    8. History - U.S.    9. Natural history    10. Oregon    11. Science    12. Science/Mathematics    13. United States - Pacific - Oregon    14. United States - State & Local - General    15. United States - West - Pacific (General)    16. Adams, Melvin R   

Reviews (1)

A hard-hitting account of discovery
A two-weep trip through the American Southwest with a good friends turns into a challenge which will test friendship and survival skills in THE WAY OUT: A TRUE STORY OF RUIN AND SURVIVAL. Any with a special affection for the Southwest will find vivid descriptions of its terrain and desolation as they enjoy this memoir of survival, a hit in hardcover and newly available in paperback to provide a hard-hitting account of discovery.
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Subjects:  1. Description And Travel    2. Desert Ecology    3. Ecology    4. North America    5. Outdoor Skills    6. Royalty    7. Special Interest - Adventure    8. Travel    9. Travel - General    10. United States - West - General    11. Biography & Autobiography / Royalty    12. Biography: general    13. Outdoor survival skills    14. Travel writing    15. Western & Pacific Coast states   

Subjects:  1. California    2. Desert ecology    3. East Mojave National Scenic Area    4. East Mojave National Scenic Area (Calif.)    5. Guidebooks    6. Natural history    7. Parks & Campgrounds    8. Travel    9. Travel - United States    10. United States - General    11. United States - Pacific - California    12. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    13. Places & peoples: general interest    14. USA    15. Walking, hiking, trekking