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List Price: $14.95Amazon.com's Price: $10.17 You Save: $4.78 (32%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780671695880
ISBN: 0671695886
Label: Touchstone
Manufacturer: Touchstone
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: January 15, 1990
Publisher: Touchstone
Studio: Touchstone
Sales Rank: 4741
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
When Desert Solitaire was first published in 1968, it became the focus of a nationwide cult. Rude and sensitive. Thought-provoking and mystical. Angry and loving. Both Abbey and this book are all of these and more. Here, the legendary author of The Monkey Wrench Gang, Abbey's Road and many other critically acclaimed books vividly captures the essence of his life during three seasons as a park ranger in southeastern Utah. This is a rare view of a quest to experience nature in its purest form -- the silence, the struggle, the overwhelming beauty. But this is also the gripping, anguished cry of a man of character who challenges the growing exploitation of the wilderness by oil and mining interests, as well as by the tourist industry.
Abbey's observations and challenges remain as relevant now as the day he wrote them. Today, Desert Solitaire asks if any of our incalculable natural treasures can be saved before the bulldozers strike again.
Amazon.com Review:
Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, the noted author's most enduring nonfiction work, is an account of Abbey's seasons as a ranger at Arches National Park outside Moab, Utah. Abbey reflects on the nature of the Colorado Plateau desert, on the condition of our remaining wilderness, and on the future of a civilization that cannot reconcile itself to living in the natural world. He also recounts adventures with scorpions and snakes, obstinate tourists and entrenched bureaucrats, and, most powerful of all, with his own mortality. Abbey's account of getting stranded in a rock pool down a side branch of the Grand Canyon is at once hilarious and terrifying.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
This is all over the map. It's a hermit's reflections on a world that moves too slowly for the rest of us to see. It's a naturalist's insight into the behavior of animals and people. It's a political extremist's commentary on unchecked development and resource depletion. Best of all, it's a delicious anthem of love that sings from the pages, affirming the connection some humans have with the natural world of sun, snow, snakes, and stone. You can't read this and remain untouched by its sincerity, ... Read More
Rating:  -
I loved this book and stayed up nights under the desert stars reading Abbey's writting that brought the desert to life. His appreciation for the wilderness fueled by the reflection of civilization gives the narrative depth. His rants of gapers and the great industry of being civilized are often humerous but sometimes turn mean. This book made me laught, cry, think, and act. A great book to take along for a road trip if you plan to get lost and leave the car at the end of the road to see where your feet ... Read More
Rating:  -
In 1968 Edward Abbey wrote a memoir, Desert Solitaire, A Season In The Wilderness, that would instantly be hailed as a nature classic, as well as his bestselling work. While familiar with EA's name the only work of his I'd read up to this point was a woeful collection of the man's `poetry'. Believe me, when I say there's a definite reason for the quotes around the word poetry. Apparently the work is considered somewhat of a nature hymn, along the lines of Henry David Thoreau's Walden. This is a perfect ... Read More
Rating: -
Sure, this book may speak strongly for the respect and preservation of the desert southwest, and for that, it deserves proper credit.
But for me, it has had a much deeper impact. This is a lot more than just an argument that we should protect our wilderness, although it is easily that. Rather, I found it to be a profound guide on how to think and act in general, about pretty much everything, everywhere.
This is one of the greatest books of the American twentieth century, a true ... Read More
Rating: -
I purchased this book because David Quammen referenced it in one of his books, and I really enjoy Quammen's books. It is listed on various websites and in some magazines as a "Nature Classic".
I have visited and hiked the deserts and canyon in Utah and northern Arizona. That allowed me to feel a lot of what Abbey writes about. It is a special place. I wish I could go back and see Arches National Park when Abbey was there. (It was Arches National Monument at the time of his stay there.)
... Read More
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