Scan barcode
A review by morningtide
A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
"I suppose some will wish to debate whether it is important to keep these primitive arts alive. I shall not debate it. Either you know it in your bones, or you are very, very old."
I read this book so slowly, and not because it was hard or boring to read, but because I enjoyed the writing so much, I didn't want to rush taking it all in. I had seen A Sand County Almanac mentioned in enough of my other nonfiction reads that I had to add it to my reading list, and I am glad I did.
So much of this book really felt so applicable even now, even though our environment has changed so much since the author wrote it. I kept forgetting it was written in the 1940s until there would be references like "the recent extinction" of the passenger pigeon. And having that highlighted, I questioned how many of the small and local species of flora and fauna Leopold references have been lost since. (If....honestly - when I read it again, I will actually probably take note of them to look up.)
The writing in this book was just so lovely. You could tell it was written with true passion and care and respect for the author's own environment and all the living things around him. So many of the remarks about our society's prioritizing of economy over ecology are still so relevant, if not more. Many parts of this book really made me consider just how much humankind's hubris thinks that we can do whatever we want to this land like it is not a living thing that is supporting us more than we support it.
"It did not occur to us that we, too, were the captains of an invasion too sure of its own righteousness."
I read this book so slowly, and not because it was hard or boring to read, but because I enjoyed the writing so much, I didn't want to rush taking it all in. I had seen A Sand County Almanac mentioned in enough of my other nonfiction reads that I had to add it to my reading list, and I am glad I did.
So much of this book really felt so applicable even now, even though our environment has changed so much since the author wrote it. I kept forgetting it was written in the 1940s until there would be references like "the recent extinction" of the passenger pigeon. And having that highlighted, I questioned how many of the small and local species of flora and fauna Leopold references have been lost since. (If....honestly - when I read it again, I will actually probably take note of them to look up.)
The writing in this book was just so lovely. You could tell it was written with true passion and care and respect for the author's own environment and all the living things around him. So many of the remarks about our society's prioritizing of economy over ecology are still so relevant, if not more. Many parts of this book really made me consider just how much humankind's hubris thinks that we can do whatever we want to this land like it is not a living thing that is supporting us more than we support it.
"It did not occur to us that we, too, were the captains of an invasion too sure of its own righteousness."