[.ca] Sand County Almanac (ISBN 0345345053)

From Amazon.com:
Published in 1949, shortly after the author's death, A Sand County Almanac is a classic of nature writing, widely cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published. Writing from the vantage of his summer shack along the banks of the Wisconsin River, Leopold mixes essay, polemic, and memoir in his book's pages. In one famous episode, he writes of killing a female wolf early in his career as a forest ranger, coming upon his victim just as she was dying, "in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes.... I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view." Leopold's road-to-Damascus change of view would find its fruit some years later in his so-called land ethic, in which he held that nothing that disturbs the balance of nature is right. Much of Almanac elaborates on this basic premise, as well as on Leopold's view that it is something of a human duty to preserve as much wild land as possible, as a kind of bank for the biological future of all species. Beautifully written, quiet, and elegant, Leopold's book deserves continued study and discussion today. --Gregory McNamee

A poetic journey for the diehard environmentalist:
Are you one of those people who actually likes to read Thoreau? Well then you're missing out! Aldo Leopold is sooooo much better. Leopold's writing is poetic yet it also calls the common person to action. Likewise Leopold walks the walk when it comes to protecting the environment. While this book isn't exactly page turning, if you like authors like Thoreau, then you should definitely check out The Sand County Almanac, which is the bible to environmentalists. Random Excerpts:: There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot...the opportunity to see geese is more important than television, and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech. ___Is education possibly a process of trading awareness for things of lesser worth? The goose who trades his is soon a pile of feathers.:: If you are a die hard environmentalist (or you just like to read poetic stuff) this book is for you.

THE Conservation/outdoors Classic:
Long considered the first book on conservation, this should be read by everyone. The author's love of land, wildlife and nature are fully expressed. Those thoughts are followed by philosophizing on conservation - ethics, practice, economics, etc. Written in the nascent stages of conservation in this country, a time when it was more thought than practice, the issues still resonate today. One sees the difficulties both in expanding environmental conservation as well as the pitfalls and errors made in the area (with all good intent) since the forties when Leopald wrote. Interestingly, especially to me as someone who hunts, much is written in the context of hunting. He also has some insightful words about why people do hunt as a connection to nature. As only a hunter can, he identifies the hunter's reverance for the land and nature. Portions of this were assigned when I was in college. Now, 28 years later, the entirety means much more. It should be required reading for everyone, especially lovers of the outdoors.

Superb and thoughtful writing by a noted conservationist:
If you have ever loved a wild place, or a secret place, or a place which calmed and sheltered you from the hustle of modern life, you must read Aldo Leopold's classic "A Sand County Almanac." Leopold, a noted conservationist, puts forth a sort of collection of musings, essays, arguments, and general thoughts on anything and everything having to do with nature. He covers water conservation, the migration of seeds and spores, hunting, the crumbling of a tree into loam from which another tree will eventually grow. At his very best, Leopold raises both the level of discourse and the level of writing to something that can stand with the finest literature: "Within a few weeks now, Draba, the smallest flower that blows, will sprinkle every sandy place with small blooms. He who hopes for spring with upturned eye will never see so small a thing as Draba. He who despairs of spring with downcast eye steps on it, unknowing. He who searches for spring with his knees in the mud finds it, in abundance. Draba asks, and gets, but scant allowance of warmth and comfort; it subsists on the leavings of unwanted time and space. Botany books give it two or three lines, but never a plate or portrait. Sand too poor and sun too weak for bigger, better blooms are good enough for Draba. After all, it is no spring flower, but only a postscript to a hope." When Leopold can describe a tiny nothing of a plant with such delicacy, beauty, and restraint, you know that you are reading the work of a rare and informed writer. I could quote from the book forever, as the gorgeous passages are many, but I urge you to read it yourself instead and discover an enduring voice in defense of the American wilderness.

Illuminated Manuscript:
Aldo Leopold's timeless prose is illuminated in this fantastic coffee table edition celebrating the 50 year anniversary of publication. The photos follow the text and give light and meaning to this defining work of the modern ecological movement. The reader is brought directly into Sand County and shares Leopold's vision as to how a landscape can be healed and brought back into harmony when man's stewardship of the earth is encouraged. The additional essays on the environment by Ken Brower, son of Sierra Club founder David Brower, is icing on the cake! The perfect gift for my teenage son before he left for college.

An Environmental Classic:
Aldo Leopold summarizes many environmental movements within this compilation of essays. The Sand County Almanac was one of those university-assigned books that I could not part with and still have today. A must read if you are interesed in the mind of the Wisconsin borne man who set aside the first designated wilderness in New Mexico.