|
Be sure to re-read the first paragraph of the Amazon.com editorial review. The sky over your head can be clear and bright and the dirt beneath your feet hot, dry, and dusty yet suddenly you look up to find a wall of water bearing down on you.
I can only add that this book is best read late at night when you are still and all alone because it will transport you to places far removed from where you are -- and you will want to go and not be interrupted. Kurt Harding's review is lovely.
I was drawn to these words remembering years ago an anthropology professor warning me to "never, ever dillydally while crossing an arroyo." Sometimes these water-carved channels can be so wide that you fail to recognize what you're walking through. The book is deeply meditative in tone, yet can be startling, too -- more than once my hushed gasps for air broke the silence of my surroundings.
The book will also teach you about innumerable dangers that exist in the desert; hence the words at the top of the front cover: "There are two easy ways to die in the desert: thirst and drowning." The thirst we understand, but drowning. Such floodwaters from torrential rains hundreds of miles away can suddenly reach you via the typically flat-bottomed gully you're in -- and travel countless miles more, carrying you with it in its violent journey.
And get this book: It's a masterpiece.
Really enjoyed this.One quick *warning* to potential readers: without having read the rest of the book (of course), I found the flowery Introduction horribly overwritten and almost put this book down. In addition to all of the great desert stuff in this book (as other reviewers have noted), one aspect I love is how he captures one of my favorite aspects of it all: the idea of rarely visited canyons that lead to other rarely visited canyons, etc. After being northern Rockies types for many years, we have fallen in love with the desert southwest recently and spend a good chunk of May there each year. And some might not find the first chapter as enjoyable as the rest of the book. The idea that there is always more interesting stuff (the water holes, the waterfall out of the cliff, etc). out there to be found is comforting. Keep with it and you will be rewarded. After completing the book and having a understanding the depth at which the author feels all this, I re-read the Introduction and found it consistent rather than horribly overwritten.
I heard an interview on NPR when he was discussing his book, Animal Dialogues. Reading his language and imagery provides me with a deep and indelible pleasure.
His writing evokes some powerful images, and I frequently reread passages I can't get out of my head. The title intrigued me from the start, and the cover illustration of not-quite-a-reflection hooked me.
It is the total silence of a hidden place in the earth, not that of a windless field, but that which inhabits an almost unimaginable dimension. The emergence stories stayed with me: those that stayed behind and those allowed to be born, are written in some of the most arresting language I've read.
He described the silence in a back cave of an underground river. I recommend this book highly and I intend to read much, much more by him, and I can't wait until my books come.
He has a rare and lasting reverence for nature and its inhabitants, and boy, do I like Craig Childs' writing.
Craig Childs writes very well. This is a very interesting collection of loosely related essays about life in the desert and the role that water forms - canyons, floods, waterfalls and springs.
While I did learn a great deal about the desert and its water, it was the fluidity of the prose that captured me. The author's voice was soft but compelling throughout. A nature scientist with a true gift for writing excellent literature.
|
