This is a collection of beautifully written and precisely observed essays that take the reader on a literal and figurative journey across the landscape of autobiography. There are essays on Lopez’s travels to places such as the remote Hokkaido island, to the over-explored Galápagos and to enigmatic Bonaire. There is an account of a return to the Arctic he evoked in Arctic Dreams. There are essays which meditate on fundamental questions of man’s relationship to the natural world. Why, Lopez wonders, does our society strip political power away from people with an intimate knowledge of the land? There are several exquisite memory pieces, hauntingly lyrical yet unsentimental recollections that represent Lopez’s most personal work to date and which will be read as classics of the personal essay for years to come. This is a magically-written series of journeys on the threshold of memory, the work of a major American writer.
