Page 18 - magazine the rock fall 2016
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18 Friends oF red rock canyon
Nature’s Connection
Reading about Nature By Margie Klein
One of the things that helped me through The Fish Ladder by Katharine Norbury
the hot summer, which limited my access The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks
to the outdoors, was reading nature books.
Stories about nature held me captive while I Past winners of this prize should be con-
was stuck indoors. I come from a very cold sidered as well, such as Meadowland by
place in the Midwest, where folks get “cabin John Lewis-Stepel. Look up the winners of
fever” from spending the majority of the other awards, too, such as the Costa Award,
winter indoors. Here in the Mojave Desert, I Orion Book Award and National Outdoor
like to say that we suffer from “reverse cabin Book Awards. Sierra Club Books also has
fever,” seeking indoor refuge from extreme some great titles. A helpful resource on na-
temperatures in the summer, rather than the ture reading material is The Association for
winter. Anyway, it’s a great time to read and the Study of Literature and the Environment.
be an “armchair naturalist.” GoodReads, available as an app or on www.
goodreads.com, has lists of books for dif-
Nature reading can cross genres, from ferent interests. Try “nature writing books,”
nature writing like Thoreau and Emerson to “environmental books,” or “eco-fiction” as
wilderness adventure novels to poetry. While keyword searches. One more source is “The
some may not read field guides from begin- Well-Read Naturalist,” written by a gentle-
Volunteers dedicated to the preservation of Red Rock Canyon
ning to end, there are many other choices. man who reads just about every natural
history book that is released and proffers his
Where do you own reviews.
begin to find selec-
tions to consider? The If you’re looking for books strictly about
Wainwright Prize is the desert, consider these classics:
a good place to start. Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
This United Kingdom Desert Notes by Barry Lopez
group awards what
they consider to be My personal recommendations include
the best nature writ- anything by Annie Dillard and the works of
ing of the year. The the classical naturalists, such as John Muir,
winner this year was Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo
The Outrun by Amy Emerson.
Liptrot, but all the
books on the prize’s Or try something new, by an author whom
short list are highly you’d never guess did nature writing, like
recommended. They include: Herman Hesse or Carl Jung - you might be
Common Ground by Rob Cowen pleasantly surprised.
Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane
the Rock - Volume 7 Issue 1
