The Desert Anarchist in His Natural Habitat

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	• Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey Ballantine Books, 1985 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 120 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The obvious Western classic

This book does a wonderful job at describing and invoking how it feels to be in the outdoor West--in the hot sun, on the barren mesas, wandering lost and happy through the deepest canyons.
Edward Abbey was a strange yet understandable contradiction of a man--a man who wrote that it would be worse to kill a man than a snake yet who once killed a rabbit with a rock just to see if he could do it. A man who passionately opposed the destruction of the West, yet who admitted to anarchistically throwing beer cans out his truck window as he drove.
Edward Abbey wrote about the West as if it was a place where not everything was ruined yet, as if there was still a sort of bright, outdoor innocence about things, as if it was a place where a person could soak in sunlight reflected off orange canyon walls, splash in a muddy desert stream, or drive a dusty road with the windows down.
And it was.
And it is.
This book is a protective love of the West in a nutshell. It's a series of orange canyon walls distilled into english. It's hawks and vultures and rising heat transmuted into letters and punctuation. It deserves its reputation.
I buy almost every used copy I can find of this book, and I give them away just as fast, to my friends from the East who come west, and to all my friends who love the desert.
Read it, buy it, and see what he's writing about for yourself. You'll be glad you did.

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The Desert Anarchist in His Natural Habitat

This is where the cranky hardcore desert conservationism of Edward Abbey truly took wing, and the book is a well-deserved classic in environmentalist circles. In the late 60s, Abbey wrote about his season as a ranger in Utah's then-little developed Arches National Monument (now a heavily "improved" National Park), plus his explorations of the nearby mountains, canyons, and deserts. Of special importance here is the story of Abbey's rafting trip down Glen Canyon, one of the last such journeys before the horrendous dam was built, plus an extremely rare exploration of "The Maze" area near Canyonlands National Park. Abbey surely found his lifelong love of the desert during this time, and the book's philosophy runs toward what would now be called "hard ecology," in which humans are given no place of importance in the natural world ? except for those humans who can "really" appreciate it. Of course, Abbey and his cohorts qualify.

Abbey's philosophy at this point was rather unfocused and contradictory, as he doesn't mind bragging about carving his name in a tree, or rolling an old tire into the Grand Canyon, while complaining about tourists who don?t have the proper level of respect for nature. His writing is undeniably cranky, irreligious, anarchistic, antisocial, and even anti-human at times, such as the infamous line in which he says he'd rather kill a man than a snake, plus frequent musings on wrecking the monuments of human civilization. However, Abbey's worldview extends far beyond these problematic details, in that he defined the philosophy of communing with nature, which has become incredibly influential to outdoor lovers and serious conservationists. This book is the ultimate resource in learning about how living without the conveniences of civilization can really shape a person's appreciation for the Earth. [~doomsdayer520~]

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Fantastic

If only we could travel back in time to a world less paved... Abbey's adventures in Utah and Arizona are adventures many crave and find it harder and harder to find in today's small world. This book is special, provocative, a tad crazy, and above all, a wonderful experience. A must have for any lover of the wild.

Strikes close to home

I picked up this book on accident--I had maybe $6 left on my gift certificate and browsed through random books. It sounded interesting, so I bought it.

I was so moved the first time I read it. Everything written was so eloquent and Abbey expressed himself amazingly. It kept me drawn to read on and devour the entire text.

A year later, I volunteered for the National Park Service completely forgetting about Abbey's book, but I just so happened to bring it along with me on the plane 1700 miles from home. It was the first book I read while in Washington. Aside from the $10 stipend a day and government housing deals striking so close to home, it really made me realize what an amazing place I was in (Mount Rainier National Park). It makes you look at all the details of life and appreciate it all.

You tend to get a little critical of tourists though. Especially the ignorant ones...

"Are there any dangerous animals around here?" -visitor
"Only the tourists." -Abbey

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