Desert Solitaire | Edward Abbey | Get lost in the desert

Desert Solitaire | Edward Abbey | Solid writing about the Utah desert

books:

Desert Solitaire

	Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey Touchstone, 1990 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 123 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Get lost in the desert

This book succeeds in taking me away from the everyday stresses of life and helping me appreciate the West's natural beauty, as well as its inherent danger. It offers a compelling story, interesting history of our country's struggles between preservation and population expansion, and thrilling prose contrasting the peacefulness and dangerous natural wonders of the West. I may actually have to read it again!

Solid writing about the Utah desert

What makes this a highly readable book is the author's revelations about his own feelings and shortcomings. It made me feel like I was there in the desert with him.

for more information click here

Desert Solitaire

A classic that should be read by all thinking Americans who care more for our country than they do about the exploitation of the earth for temporary gain.

"Resist much, Obey little"

It's been almost 40 years since Desert Solitaire hit the bookshelves; and perhaps it is more appropriate reading now than it was in 1968; certainly "Industrial Tourism" has come to pass.

This book is not gibberish from some "eco-hermit", whatever that is. Yes, old Cactus Ed is cranky and contradictory, full of hyperbole at times. This is his stamp as a prose-poet and unsurpassed storyteller; if you don't get this, you may be reading the wrong books.

Abbey's iconoclastic philosophy of conservation over human "progress" has rendered Desert Solitaire as a true environmental classic. This book is most likely sitting on many home bookshelves between The Mountains of California and A Sand Country Almanac.

Ed Abbey was well steeped in philosophy and literature; when he muses on the civilization vs. culture subject, you can see the meld of anarchism and german existentialism occuring. His impassioned rants reflect his love of the solitary places - landscapes unscathed by that "turbo-monkey" known as man. The humor is as dry and sharp as the the landscapes he describes: episodes with his pet gopher snake; the search for a dead tourist; and the idiocies of The National Park Service.

Like many authors, Abbey's non-fictional writing outshines his fictional stuff. Hands down, Desert Solitaire is his finest work: Rough, Tough, and Combative. This classic is a must read if you are of the "Resist much, Obey little" mindset. Infinite thanks, Cactus Ed . . .

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

for more information click here

If you love the desert, you need to read this book

The first time I went to Moab, UT, I fell in love with the desert. I read this book afterwards and was captivated by every word Abbey wrote. That being said, I have spoken with other people who have never been to the Moab area who just couldn't get into the book. I guess maybe it takes a deep love of the environment and appreciation of the beauty of the desert to really understand this book. Abbey adds in so many interesting stories as well that keep the book flowing. I would defintely recommend this to anyone who loves the desert.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

products you might be interested in