Get lost in the desert

This book succeeds in taking me away from the everyday stresses of life and helping me appreciate the West's natural beauty, as well as its inherent danger. It offers a compelling story, interesting history of our country's struggles between preservation and population expansion, and thrilling prose contrasting the peacefulness and dangerous natural wonders of the West. I may actually have to read it again!

I try to imagine a ride along the river...

Edward Abbey is a contradiction. A poet when describing the wonders of the desert and the joys of solitude; then he becomes a strident critic of his fellow man if they have the audacity to disagree with him. There is a definite will and intelligence driving the prose, but it is partially spoiled by the rants that Abbey goes on. The book has a split personality; celebrating the wilderness, but using a voice that often becomes so disagreeable that you might want to take asphalt to the park yourself. Finally though the poet wins out and you go along for the ride. I try to think of this book as rafting down the river, enjoying the wonders and trying to avoid the jagged rocks. A little white water is fine; just don't hold me underwater for hours at a time.

A yawn as big as the Grand Canyon

When this book first came out, it started a nationwide cult, primarily of college-aged students, who suddenly became entranced with nature and began 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 stories 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 Canyon before it is forever flooded by another massive dam.Although I stuck with this book to the end, I found 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. However, 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.