I was a little hesitant to read something else by Edward Abbey. I had read his masterpiece, Desert Solitaire, and I consider it perhaps my all-time favorite non-fiction book. Wouldn't anything else by the same author prove to be only a let down? Fortunately, this one was great -- not as good as Desert Solitaire, but certainly not a disappointment.A collection of essays on travel, adventure, and nature -- with copious spatterings of his personal musings on civilization, politics, and life -- Down...

“The wilderness needs no defense--only more defenders.” Quite so, Ed. Abbey’s essays survey the wide territory of his loves and hates -- from rafting trips down the river to things being ‘sold down the river’ -- armed with his brashness and wit. Abbey first delves into the work of renowned naturalist Henry David Thoreau, “he learned to know his world as few ever know any world.”On West Desert Missile Experiments: “One lunatic armed with a rusty ax can create a respectable amount of terror on any...

Number 2 in the river reading series for me. I was expecting this to be better than it was, particularly given how much I enjoyed Desert Solitaire. The book is a collection of essays, most of which have to do with rivers (but not all). It's the kind of compendium that seems like those albums rock stars used to release when they were just trying to run out their record contract: cobble together some b-sides or phone in the performance and then hand the tapes over to the record company to fulfill

This is my first-ever Abbey. Even I find that hard to believe, save for knowing myself well enough to know I typically steer clear of any author (or book/series) that's too overly hyped, and so I was hesitant to dive into Abbey, wondering where he'd fit on my beloved outdoor lit spectrum of Annie (Dillard) to Wendell (Berry). This is one of those books I wish I would have found so many years ago, but the timing, as it seems to be with me and books as of late, is stunningly perfect. First publish...

2016 review:So, Abbey. I'd read Down the River before, and I'd read Desert Solitaire, and I'd read Black Sun, and my impression had always been roughly the same: A great deal of shouting, a great deal of telling, and not nearly enough showing. He's an angry man, a sad man, a broken man, and that's what's reflected in his words - not the scenes as much as how he wants you to feel - how he feels - about those scenes.Kerr very much enjoyed Down the River when she recently read it, regularly reading...

Read this book. Read Desert Solitaire. Read Edward Abbey. It's like coming home. You'll find what you're looking for. I promise.

"There will always be one more river, not to cross but to follow. The journey goes on forever, and we are fellow voyagers on our little living ship of stone and soil and water and vapor, this delicate planet circling round the sun, which humankind call Earth"

I wrote a long, well-thoughtout review of this book, but pressed the wrong infernal key on my keyboard and switched webpages (curse ye computational device!). Instead of weakly replicating the former paragraphs of prodigious intelligence and eloquence, I'll just put this quote here:"It seems clear at last that our love for the natural world--Nature--is the only means by which we can requite God's obvious love for it. Else why create Nature? Is God immune to the pangs of unreciprocated love? I do...

Quintessential Abbey. I think this is my 5th book of his now, and after every one I feel like I need to step away from him and his desert sermons. But then after a break, I am always drawn back to his writing. I appreciate his blunt, condescending, cynical style, and there is no doubt about his love of the west. I smile just thinking about how he would describe our current administration and the state of our public lands.

a great read, it's been a while since reading Abbey and he is so great! I can always count on him to make me feel like a hypocrite though, really feeling like I need to step up and take more action for this earth, also I would like to float all those rivers.........

"Despair leads to boredom, electronic games, computer hacking, poetry, and other bad habits.""Thoreau described happiness as 'simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust.'""That which today calls itself science gives us more and more information, an indigestible glut of information, and less and less understanding." (this is my evidence of his viewpoint of the world - he's an un-appreciative type - views those that don't like what he likes as inferior, and judges them, and wants fewer people...

Don't bother!

I have read a few Edward Abbey books. Helped me understand more about environmental concerns. He is definately not a fan of the military. He is an environmentalist who made an impact.

"How much Wilderness is enough? And what is it good for anyway? Who needs it? As they say in Moab, Utah. We might answer these questions with counter questions. How many cities are enough? How large a human population do we really need? How much Industrial Development must we have to be content? " these questions and more are addressed in a well-written Style about a topic that is dear to my heart and anyone else who is concerned about the environment. After finishing I gave it 5 stars: well wri...

I always enjoy reading multiple works by the same author. I think one of the most gratifying things about doing this is being able to see the author mature as well as having the pleasure to bear witness to their improving writing style. There is nothing better than evolution when it comes to writing. So, in comparison to Desert Solitaire, Down the River is an improvement. I hesitate, though, to say a major improvement. Abbey's emotions are not as high in this book. He actually uses tact in his a...

A collection of essays, mostly about rivers and Abbey's experiences with them. Other topics of his essays involve western ghost towns, tribal sponsored foot-races in Hopi land, meeting a bear in the mountains of Arizona. The underlying themes however are all about embracing wildness, rejecting the wholesale development of our wild places for "paper profits" and the true home of the human spirit - wilderness! The human race has been tilling the soil and stacking bricks on top of one another to bu...

This was an interesting book of essays by abbey. I have previously read "The Monkey Wrench Gang" which was a cool fiction about a group of people who become radical environmental activists in the desert southwest and thoroughly enjoyed it. I just got back from a Grand Canyon rafting trip and figured who better than Abbey to read while on the river. It was interesting reading Abbey's non fiction. He writes very well and describes nature quite beautifully. He is fervently anti big business, big ag...

I like Edward Abbey the more I read him. this is only the third book I’ve read of his, but I want more. and more after that. his love of the desert southwest and his disdain for authority and progress at the expense of wild places are sentiments I appreciate and share. I really didn’t have too much interest in the desert before reading Abbey but I’m becoming obsessed, though I’ve never seen these places. his passion for and defense of wild places are incredibly infectious. while I didn’t love ev...

While not as breathtakingly awesome as Desert Solitaire, this collection of Abbey's nonfiction writing is just as passionate, readable and enjoyable. With the river running through the book as a main theme, these essays flow easily into one another, turning the entire book into one decent river voyage. As with any of Abbey's nature writing, I would highly recommend giving this a read.

love to read about the majesty of the great outdoors in between day long halo binges, recommending abbey to all my homies missing outside as we head into hell (winter)