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The book is deeply meditative in tone, yet can be startling, too -- more than once my hushed gasps for air broke the silence of my surroundings. The sky over your head can be clear and bright and the dirt beneath your feet hot, dry, and dusty yet suddenly you look up to find a wall of water bearing down on you.
Be sure to re-read the first paragraph of the Amazon.com editorial review. Such floodwaters from torrential rains hundreds of miles away can suddenly reach you via the typically flat-bottomed gully you're in -- and travel countless miles more, carrying you with it in its violent journey.
Kurt Harding's review is lovely. I was drawn to these words remembering years ago an anthropology professor warning me to "never, ever dillydally while crossing an arroyo." Sometimes these water-carved channels can be so wide that you fail to recognize what you're walking through.
And get this book: It's a masterpiece. I can only add that this book is best read late at night when you are still and all alone because it will transport you to places far removed from where you are -- and you will want to go and not be interrupted.
The book will also teach you about innumerable dangers that exist in the desert; hence the words at the top of the front cover: "There are two easy ways to die in the desert: thirst and drowning." The thirst we understand, but drowning.
Keep with it and you will be rewarded. Really enjoyed this.One quick *warning* to potential readers: without having read the rest of the book (of course), I found the flowery Introduction horribly overwritten and almost put this book down. And some might not find the first chapter as enjoyable as the rest of the book. After being northern Rockies types for many years, we have fallen in love with the desert southwest recently and spend a good chunk of May there each year. After completing the book and having a understanding the depth at which the author feels all this, I re-read the Introduction and found it consistent rather than horribly overwritten. The idea that there is always more interesting stuff (the water holes, the waterfall out of the cliff, etc). In addition to all of the great desert stuff in this book (as other reviewers have noted), one aspect I love is how he captures one of my favorite aspects of it all: the idea of rarely visited canyons that lead to other rarely visited canyons, etc. out there to be found is comforting.
The emergence stories stayed with me: those that stayed behind and those allowed to be born, are written in some of the most arresting language I've read. Reading his language and imagery provides me with a deep and indelible pleasure.
I heard an interview on NPR when he was discussing his book, Animal Dialogues. I recommend this book highly and I intend to read much, much more by him, and I can't wait until my books come.
The title intrigued me from the start, and the cover illustration of not-quite-a-reflection hooked me. It is the total silence of a hidden place in the earth, not that of a windless field, but that which inhabits an almost unimaginable dimension.
He has a rare and lasting reverence for nature and its inhabitants, and boy, do I like Craig Childs' writing. His writing evokes some powerful images, and I frequently reread passages I can't get out of my head.
He described the silence in a back cave of an underground river.
This is a very interesting collection of loosely related essays about life in the desert and the role that water forms - canyons, floods, waterfalls and springs. Craig Childs writes very well.
A nature scientist with a true gift for writing excellent literature. While I did learn a great deal about the desert and its water, it was the fluidity of the prose that captured me. The author's voice was soft but compelling throughout.
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