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andyblv's review against another edition
4.0
A classic in environmental literature. Leopold’s voice speaks in favor of wilderness, biodiversity and the land. He urges us to take collective action to protect our planet and articulates the reasons why.
graciegrace1178's review against another edition
4.0
This book is meant to be read very slowly. A buddy told me it’s to be read like a meditation, and I think that’s true. But also… who’s got the time now? I was reading through this, becoming more profoundly anxious as I went along because it just needs to go FASTER. I don’t have *time* to watch the grass grow or admire the changing of the season. Not when all that is to be admired is being plowed and burned and stripped all over the world. Not when it’s all dying everywhere and the act of contemplation is an act of complacency in destruction. Contemplation of nature is the work of a person in ecological peacetime, and we’re just not there yet. With every new chapter I was crushed by the weight of Wrongness about land practices now and how much we have left to do, to *fix* and undo the actions of prior generations and present exploitations. This book is heavy precisely because it is so peaceful. We can’t *afford* the peace of it. Not now.
What this book is to me though, aside from mad stressful, is a source of inspiration for a future where we CAN admire the subtle changing of the seasons. I can hope for it, at the very least.
What this book is to me though, aside from mad stressful, is a source of inspiration for a future where we CAN admire the subtle changing of the seasons. I can hope for it, at the very least.
emjay796's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
"Ability to see the cultural value of wilderness boils down, in the last analysis, to a question of intellectual humility."
A landmark work and the foundation of all meaningful discussion of wilderness, conservation, environmentalism, and land ethic for decades afterwards—if you can read A Sand County Almanac and not be changed, I don't really know what to say.
Leopold's voice is bright, clever, and filled with a delightful mix of wit and poetry. In Almanac, he recognizes a profound shift in the way mid-century Americans understood being human, and he shows us a way to return home. Seventy years later, I hope we can still find it.
"We all strive for safety, prosperity, comfort, long life, and dullness. The deer strives with his supple legs, the cowman with trap and poison, the statesman with pen, the most of us with machines, votes, and dollars, but it all comes to the same thing: peace in our time. A measure of success in this is all well enough, and perhaps is a requisite to objective thinking, but too much safety seems to yield only danger in the long run. Perhaps this is behind Thoreau's dictum: In wildness is the salvation of the world."
A landmark work and the foundation of all meaningful discussion of wilderness, conservation, environmentalism, and land ethic for decades afterwards—if you can read A Sand County Almanac and not be changed, I don't really know what to say.
Leopold's voice is bright, clever, and filled with a delightful mix of wit and poetry. In Almanac, he recognizes a profound shift in the way mid-century Americans understood being human, and he shows us a way to return home. Seventy years later, I hope we can still find it.
"We all strive for safety, prosperity, comfort, long life, and dullness. The deer strives with his supple legs, the cowman with trap and poison, the statesman with pen, the most of us with machines, votes, and dollars, but it all comes to the same thing: peace in our time. A measure of success in this is all well enough, and perhaps is a requisite to objective thinking, but too much safety seems to yield only danger in the long run. Perhaps this is behind Thoreau's dictum: In wildness is the salvation of the world."
emilyforrer's review against another edition
3.5
Sometimes the most environmentally friendly person is the hunter or the person wielding the axe. Some lovely imagery in here, and Iiked reading about how much he respected the land he lived on.
graywacke's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
A naturalist classic. It opens with a long, sustained time track through a year on the author's Wisconsin property. The next sections, Sketches, lacks the continuous wholeness of the Almanac section, but has some poetic moments. (Especially the last one - on the western grebe in Manitoba.) Then he follows up with a naturalist's manifesto, circa 1949. He's writing to naturalists and wildlife experts. He's pleading for a naturalist morality, for us not to leave everything up to the government, for a look broader than the money-first landowners. He's in tune with hunters, but not comfortable with the destruction wrought in the name of tourism - especially roads. And he takes time to think about purity vs the artificially created sporting environments where fish or other animals are supplied by stock. He foresees a lot that has actually happened, and actually I think things are worse than he presents. It wasn't, however, anything that was uniquely striking. Common sense, to a degree, if a common sense in tune with experience.
alreadyemily's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the Sand County Almanac part (a years worth of monthly vistas of life on the sand counties) and the Sketches Here and There part as well (similarly lovely stories of other areas). I struggled a bit with the land ethics sections towards the end. Some of the language doesn't hold up from the 40s. The descriptions of the current state of things and trends in conservationism are equally old and it's hard to judge how relevant they still are... likely still just as true but still, I'd love to see an edition with a forward/epilogue/addendum that can help bridge that gap.
smudger421's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Aldo Leopold has a deep understanding of natural relationships. His wisdom is a boon to any education in environmental stewardship. I hope to read this book every fee years to glean a bit more each time.
cu00's review against another edition
4.0
A lyrical examination of a life close to nature. For me an experience both nostalgic and beautiful.