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Title: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey ISBN: 0-345-32649-0 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 January, 1985 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.69 (87 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Thank you, Mr Abbey !
Comment: When he wrote this book, Cactus Ed did such a great job in describing the canyon country of southern Utah that you can recommend it to everyone who likes widerness. Not the pseudo-one we have today, no, the real one, where you can truly be in touch with the universe. I live overseas and, each time I miss the colourful landscapes of Utah, I read this book and the desert appears before my eyes. But there's not only descriptions, Abbey also try to find solutions to preserve this unique region from all the dam and road builders only looking for profit, and that's not the least interesting part ! Well, if you prefer action, read "The Monkeywrench Gang". Oh yes, Ed's sometime contradictory, but who's not ? And that's also why Desert Solitaire is so powerful : Abbey didn't try to hide the good nor the bad aspects of his life there. It's a book live from the desert !
Rating: 5
Summary: you can't see anything from a car...so start walking!
Comment: Best to read if you are visiting Arches, the Grand Canyon, or Lake Powell, or if you have been there, or even if you just wish you were there...
After reading Abbey's incredible illustration of "his" country, you might as well have been there yourself in spirit, if not in body. Desert Solitaire is part memoir, politics, opinion, beauty, myth, journal, eulogy, ravaging accusation of modern society, and general ramblings on the Southwest. There is very little structure, except that the book opens with Abbey entering Arches in the spring as a ranger, and ends with him leaving in the fall. He touches almost every subject under the desert sun. My favorite chapters were:
-"Down the River": on Glen Canyon before the dam
-"Polemic Industrial Tourism and the National Parks": scathing and sarcastic, belittleing the American automobile tourist
-"Rocks": a disturbing legend of the uranium boom in Utah
-"Episodes and Visions": general desert musings and tangents
The best way to describe the feel of this book is the blurb on the back: "rough, tough, combative [...] this book may well seem like a ride on a bucking bronco."
Rating: 5
Summary: An Inspirational Call to Action!
Comment: I first read this book while spending a solitary winter in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. I cannot imagine a better companion.
Abbey had a spiritual connection to landscape that is both intoxicating and addictive, and his plainspoken narrative connects the reader to the depth of his desert experience in an uncommon way. But perhaps the most moving aspect of Desert Solitaire (indeed, all of Abbey's writing) is that the reader, by associating himself with the book, is called to action. This is not a book, nor is this an author, for the passive observer. Someone who wants a nice tale of living in the desert ought to look elsewhere. For anyone who's restless and ready to confront his or her spirit in a purposeful way, inspiration awaits!
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Title: The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, Douglas Brinkley ISBN: 0060956445 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Fool's Progress : An Honest Novel by Edward Abbey ISBN: 0805057919 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: 15 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Down the River by Edward Abbey ISBN: 0452265630 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: January, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West by Edward Abbey, Jim Stiles ISBN: 0452265622 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: January, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold ISBN: 0345345053 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 December, 1986 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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