Download Greystone Nature: Deserts : A Literary Companion (2008, Hardcover) EPUB, PDF, FB2
9781553653264 1553653262 Next to rain forests, deserts are the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. In fact, a desert is never a single ecosystem but a concentration of dozens, ranging from arid flatlands to high mesas to canyons, and oases. Filled with unexpected life and unforgiving conditions, the desert evokes a vivid and passionate response from those who experience it and has inspired powerful literature. The writings in this collection celebrate this complex environment in all its wondrous guises. Among them, 19th-century explorer Sven Hedin staggers through a deadly sandstorm in the Taklamatan desert, whose name means You enter and do not return. Ann Zwinger contemplates golden asters and rabbitbush in a lonely Utah canyon. Ariel Dorfman encounters time and memory in El Norte Grande. This fascinating anthology is the first in a series from Greystone Books celebrating a single natural or geographic phenomenon through the eyes of major world writers past and present., Wildly diverse and equally forbidding, desert terrain has inspired the powerful writings in this literary collection. Next to rain forests, deserts are the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth: endless expanses of arid sand, or swaths of gravel and thorn, or acres of grassland or dust. All differ in their floral, faunal, and geological assemblages, and all inspire vivid and passionate responses from those who experience them first hand. Whether their experience has been life-threatening or benign, few have emerged from a desert without having had their lives changed forever. Among the writings in this collection, nineteenth-century explorer Sven Hedin staggers through a deadly sandstorm in the Taklamakan, a name that means "you enter and do not return"; Ann Zwinger contemplates golden asters and rabbit brush in Utah; Ariel Dorfman encounters time and memory in El Norte Grande; Edward Abbey lays claim to the arid splendor of Arches National Park; Alan Boyes travels through New Mexico's Jornada del Muerto, and Sydney Upton bemoans Australia's Arunta Desert.
9781553653264 1553653262 Next to rain forests, deserts are the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. In fact, a desert is never a single ecosystem but a concentration of dozens, ranging from arid flatlands to high mesas to canyons, and oases. Filled with unexpected life and unforgiving conditions, the desert evokes a vivid and passionate response from those who experience it and has inspired powerful literature. The writings in this collection celebrate this complex environment in all its wondrous guises. Among them, 19th-century explorer Sven Hedin staggers through a deadly sandstorm in the Taklamatan desert, whose name means You enter and do not return. Ann Zwinger contemplates golden asters and rabbitbush in a lonely Utah canyon. Ariel Dorfman encounters time and memory in El Norte Grande. This fascinating anthology is the first in a series from Greystone Books celebrating a single natural or geographic phenomenon through the eyes of major world writers past and present., Wildly diverse and equally forbidding, desert terrain has inspired the powerful writings in this literary collection. Next to rain forests, deserts are the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth: endless expanses of arid sand, or swaths of gravel and thorn, or acres of grassland or dust. All differ in their floral, faunal, and geological assemblages, and all inspire vivid and passionate responses from those who experience them first hand. Whether their experience has been life-threatening or benign, few have emerged from a desert without having had their lives changed forever. Among the writings in this collection, nineteenth-century explorer Sven Hedin staggers through a deadly sandstorm in the Taklamakan, a name that means "you enter and do not return"; Ann Zwinger contemplates golden asters and rabbit brush in Utah; Ariel Dorfman encounters time and memory in El Norte Grande; Edward Abbey lays claim to the arid splendor of Arches National Park; Alan Boyes travels through New Mexico's Jornada del Muerto, and Sydney Upton bemoans Australia's Arunta Desert.