Written in the middle of the 1960s, yet composed largely from journals kept a decade earlier during the author’s summers as a backcountry ranger at the Arches National Monument (“among,” as he puts it, “the hoodoo rocks and voodoo silence of the Utah wilderness”), Desert Solitaire evokes the paradoxical loveliness of the harsh, hostile landscape with awestruck exactitude and visceral intensity. Edward
Abbey’s attention to the desert flora and fauna, to the ancient rock formations and the ever-present weather, to the pleasures of both solitude and company, brings a bracing alertness to the episodes he describes in the linked essays that organize his narrative. Despite its canonization as something of a backpacker’s bible, Desert Solitaire is too quirky, cranky, and idiosyncratic to be stereotyped as a nature lover’s handbook. While the spare majesty of its setting provides a stunning inspiration for Abbey’s work, his meditations have as much to say about society, civilization, and culture as they do about nature.
Got my dog eared paperback from the discard pile at a Baptist book store 30 years ago. I've read it five or six times. Sparked the re-wilding process of my young suburban soul.
I love Ed Abbey's tales of the earth and nature. he is a wonderful writer and funny. I have read this book at least a handful of times and my copy is tattered and dog-eared like only a few other books in my collection.
Abbey opened my eyes to the necessity of wilderness preservation in this work and I will always enjoy the poetry of his words as he described the landscapes he loved. Life changing for me.
I loved reading about Abbey's life in Southern Utah. His solitude, observations and experience were so clearly expressed. It's been a while since I've read it but I think I was mostly appalled by the cavalier loss of a landscape by the building of a dam and subsequent flooding.
This was excellent. Parts of this book are amazing and on par with some of the best books I have read. Thank you 1000 books for making me aware of this great read. Audio book version is narrated very well
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