Under a blood red sky
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The land of dust..of sagebrush and mesas...of prickly pear and diamondbacks found its most eloquent champion in Edward Abbey. A man of words and deep intellect who drove beat up pick up trucks and worked as a state goon living in an isolated silver trailer surrounded by snakes and tumbleweeds,
The enigma that is Edward Abbey is writ large in this minor epic set in the South Western deserts and slickrock canyons.
Death blood and sand spattered with love and tears, Abbey paints a vivid canvas which when seen from a brooding European perspective,ignites in the reader an empathic passion for this strange alien land of soaring eagles and a blinding sun. A land where Cactus Ed walked tall and free.
A great book.
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A season in the wilderness it is
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Curiously enough, I found the trail that led me to this exceptional book in a book by French author Yves Berger on the landscape of the American Southwest. Desert Solitaire is something special, though possibly a book with a limited audience made of people who have travelled the Southwest and taken it to their souls. It is a sort of diary of the period Abbey spent as a park ranger in the Arches National Park in Utah. If you're looking for an engrossing plot, well, you won't find it. But if you've been to that area of the world and loved the closeness and vastness of sky and cloud, the colors of the stone, the smell of dust and brush, you will love and treasure this book. And it's all there in the title: the desert and the man.
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Deserts are not dull
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To many the desert is a dull, lifeless place. Not to Abbey. In equal measures poetic and polemic, Abbey's passion for his subject shines through, bringing the desert to life. Not only does he describe what it looks like, but more importantly, what it *feels* like. Desert Solitaire is little short of a masterpiece.
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Enjoyable but do not follow his example
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This is a totally enjoyable and recommended book. My only problem is that the author as a National Park System ranger does so many dangerous things that cannot be condoned. Please do not follow his example. It is very dangerous to do the following, as he did. 1. Hike through the desert without a supply of water. 2. Climb a 13,000 foot peak alone with no one to go for help if needed. 3. Sliding down a 2,000 foot snow slide without proper equipment. 4. Rafting down the Colorado River without a life vest. 5. Descending alone down a canyon for a short cut and getting stuck in a deadly position, with no way to get help. 6. Hiking many places off of established trails all alone. 7. Hiking so far that it requires a more dangerous return in the dark of night. 8. Starting wild fires due to carelessness with pipe smoking. 9. Trying to capture a wild horse all alone and getting run over. This was done while all alone with no possibility of getting help if injured. 10. Drinking water from any available creek, pond or seep. Western water is now dangerous to drink in all western national parks. Treatment is necessary. 11. Eating five eggs and half a pound of bacon for breakfast. Is this the reason he died so young? Many tourists may read this book and follow his bad examples. I wish that he had given more words of caution. Follow the advice of more knowledgeable park rangers. Enjoy this wonderful book but be careful.
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A man who knows how to experience nature
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I read this book shortly after returning from a trip to Canyonlands. I have gone to most of the places that he Mr. Abbey discusses. He describes the land exactly as it is: The most beautiful place on earth. He is very articulate and descriptive in this book. One would not have a hard time visualizing all that he has described. He takes a different view of nature by getting down and laying in the dirt. He becomes a part of nature, not a tourist traveling through. More people should appreciate nature the way he does
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