A High Uintas Bookshelf

In this column we’ll list 2-4 interesting articles, books or the like that have caught our attention. They aren’t necessarily recent or recently read-- sort of a random compilation. Within a year, hopefully, we’ll have an established and detailed reading list. It won’t be complete without your additions. Please send suggestions and a descriptive sentence or two.

This month's reviews are by Dick Carter and Margaret Pettis.

Crossing the Next Meridian. Charles Wilkinson. Island Press. 1992.
The classic primer of western land use conflicts. It lays out such a clear and concise history, both natural and policy of mining, ranching, timber harvesting dam building, river protection and speaks plainly about how important and complex the crossing from the lords of yesterday to sustainability is will be! dc

Triumph of the Mundane. Hal Kane. Island Press. 2001.
This is a good book. Meaningful. Challenging. You can't help but look at this book and question yourself as whether you have it right. I'm sure many will simply dismiss it, not because its assumptions are wrong, but because it is easier, tragically, to dismiss rather than engage the very things that far too many of us do that add to making a mundane, benign and unsustainable life in the broadest, but most meaningful context! Read it. dc

Wild Earth. Fall/Winter 2001-2002. Natural History and the Spiral of Offering. Thomas Lowe Fleischner.
"We naturalists...undertake the practice of natural history in tribute to the world... in gratitude for the gift of living" in a diverse and gorgeous world. Fleischner's perceptive, encompassing view of natural history, "one of the oldest continuous human traditions," can best be practiced through attentiveness, receptivity, expression, vision, accuracy, humility, affirmation, and gratitude.

This brief article offers redirection and reflection on what so many of us pursue in the Uintas. mp