Desert Solitaire
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- ISBN13: 9780671695880
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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. Mad and loving. Both Abbey and this book are all of these and more. Here, the legendary leader of The Monkey Wrench Gang, Abbey’s Road and many additional 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 scenery in its purest form — the silence, the struggle, the overwhelming beauty. But this is also the gripping, anguished weep 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 significant now as the day he wrote them. Today, Desert Solitaire questions 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 leader’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 scenery 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 Gap is at once hilarious and terrifying.
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I ongoing reading this because it is required reading for a class I am taking. I stopped before I had read the end of the fourth chapter – when the leader kills a rabbit! It was hard to read about the snakes in chapter two, but this was it for me. The beginning of the book (which is of course all I’ve read) has some appealing points, and if I didn’t have such a weak stomach, perhaps I would have loved the rest of the book. As for this “required reading”? I’ll settle for taking notes in class.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
The only time that I would recommend this book would be if you were about to be tortured. While your captors were discussing how best to inflict torment on you, you could whip this out and start reading. They would soon give up, quickly realizing that your tolerance for pain was already far privileged than any methods of theirs could hope to break. “How To Relief Anthrax In Public Places” has done more to advance literature and society than this tripe. As it stands, Disney should buy out the National Parks and place in theme parks with cool rides and characters. Maybe there can be a “Dunk-The-Hypocrite”, where a Disney employee dressed as Abbey can sit over a tank of beer and say things like “hey, small missy, I’m a studly 50-year-ancient college lecturer” or “you’ll need a hiking permit for that”.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Abbey is the type of person that you will either like or despise. There is no middle ground. Personally, I find few things in this book that do Arches the justice that it deserves and I can’t tolerate Abbey’s selfish militant eco-recluse gibberish. That being said, I’m a scientist and I realize the importance of preservation of our wild lands and I constantly encourage people to become involved BUT I will never become so selfish as to propose exclusion of these places to handicapped people. Futhermore, I could never place a snake’s life in privileged regard than a human unless the human is a worthless piece of sh*t. So, you can tell I’m not on the majority’s side here…I won’t elevate this Abbey’s book like others have done in these reviews. Do yourself a favor and VISIT Arches and see these things for yourself. Its the most gorgeous place you will likely see out West. For something really enjoyable, read anything by John Wesley Powell…won’t be written about Arches but will clarify the West in its early, unexplored days.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Sorry, but I didn’t care much for this one. I could not detect that the leader had much like for the desert, just a lot of hatred for humankind. Let the reader be prepared for that, and not expect a pretty documentary about the desert.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
When this book first came out, it ongoing a nationwide cult, primarily of college-aged students, who suddenly became entranced with scenery and started to rally against the forces trying to contain it. Although he had written three prior books, this was Abbey’s first major success as he relates tales from his two summers as a Park Ranger in the Arches National Monument in southeast Utah. There is no straight narrative here, just bits and pieces from his experiences in this desert land. He also finds time to boat down the Colorado River through the Glen Gap before it is forever flooded by another massive dam. Although I stuck with this book to the end, I establish it more sleep inducing than inspiring. Although written well, Abbey seems to find it necessary to include the names, both English and Latin, of every single plant and bush that grows in this desert. He even endlessly names the rocks. Then he goes on to the stars! And that trip down the river was mostly repetitive glimpses down side canyons. But, this is a forerunner to one of my favorite books, Abbey’s “The Monkey Wrench Gang,” as he gives us glimpses into the beginnings of eco-terrorism with the pulling up of surveyors’ stakes and the destruction of billboards. I have read the “Gang” many times, “Solitaire” will just be once.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5