founder of the innovative travel bookstore that formed the setting for the movie notting hill, sarah anderson has written several travel books. At the age of 10, Anderson’s arm was amputated as a result of a rare but virulent form of cancer. Published this month, Halfway to Venus focuses on the author’s experience as a one-armed independent traveler, reflecting on other famous amputees and their prosthetics in life and literature.
Half the Way to Venus: A One-Armed Journey by Sarah Anderson is published by Umbrella Books.
You are reading: Books about the wilderness
“These are, in no particular order, my top ten nature books. I’ve noticed there’s a huge bias towards American writers, but whatever their origins, they’re all great.”
1. the wild places of robert macfarlane
the contemporary writer whose writings on nature I admire most. Robert Macfarlane was confined to Britain for this exploration and the way he weaves literature (he lectures in English at Cambridge) into his ramblings is beguiling; he shows us that wilderness doesn’t have to be on an epic scale, but can be found almost anywhere we care to look. I can’t mention him without also recommending his earlier book Mountains of the Mind: A Tale of Fascination (2003).
2. john muir’s yosemite
See Also: Childrens Bestsellers 2015
Born in Scotland, John Muir’s family left for America in 1849 when he was 11 years old, and it was while working on the family farm in Wisconsin that he developed his love of nature and literature. Probably best known as the first president of the Sierra Club, his publisher, Robert Underwood Johnson, described his writing: “He sang the glory of nature like another psalmist, and like a true artist, he was not ashamed of the emotions of him”.
3. terra incognita by sara wheeler
Antarctica is probably the ultimate wilderness: “man’s last great voyage” (shackleton), but of course it’s his interpretation that’s most interesting. Sara Wheeler writes beautifully about Antarctica as a continent and as a metaphor, a place in the imagination that we can all relate to.
4. pilgrim at tinker creek by annie dillard
An acute observer of the environment in which she finds herself, Annie Dillard won the Pulitzer Prize for this book. My fantasies about leaving and living in a remote place are fueled by Dillard and I just love that she writes: “When I see this way, I really see. As Thoreau says, I come to my senses.”
5. arctic dreams of barry lopez
barry lopez’s great respect for the landscape translates into magical and poetic writing: “the innate beauty of imperturbable relationships,” as he describes it. delves into what is in our imagination that finds harsh environments so compelling. this book won the national book award and has since become a classic of its kind.
6. the snow leopard by peter matthiessen
See Also: Every Game of Thrones book you can read after the final season – CNET
theoretically, the object of peter matthiessen’s expedition with george schaller was to observe the mating of the himalayan blue sheep and to find the snow leopard. However, you soon realize that the outer journey is an excuse for an inner exploration of the spirit with all its ups and downs, and as Schaller says, “we’ve seen so much, maybe it’s better if there are some things we don’t see.”
7. the land of little rain by mary austin
i love the variety of topics mary austin wrote about; Her books and articles include fiction, autobiography, mysticism, Native American culture, and mathematics, but, of course, it is her writing on landscapes and nature that particularly appeals to me. Austin is barely known in the UK, but her writings about the desert in the American Southwest, an area she calls the ‘land of lost frontiers’, are vivid and evocative, proving again that what at first might appearing unwelcoming and unforgiving can actually be nurturing and life-giving. the desert is where she went to regain her sense of mystery.
8. walden by henry david thoreau
walden recounts the two years and two months that thoreau spent in a cabin near walden pond, near concord, massachusetts. Although this was not an actual wilderness, Thoreau’s goal was to isolate himself from society and become self-sufficient. he speaks enthusiastically of solitude and living close to nature; he recounts a battle between red and black ants, and when spring finally arrives, he watches the birds fly north and the gradual greening of the pond area.
9. the gary snyder reader
This voluminous book contains much more than Snyder’s wild writings, but this mix of prose, poetry, translations, Buddhism, essays, letters, and articles is a wonderful introduction to his work. Often described as the “laureate of deep ecology,” Snyder has been writing about the environment since the 1950s.
10. almanac of a country of sand by aldo leopold
Way ahead of its time, Aldo Leopold’s book was hailed as a landmark book by the conservation movement. “The ability to see the cultural value of wilderness ultimately comes down to a matter of intellectual humility…it is only the scholar who understands why wilderness gives definition and meaning to the human enterprise.”
See Also: Literary Agents for Children&039s Books 2022-2023 | Children&039s Book Agents