Canaries on the Rim

Quote: "[the enemy] is a culture that hides its waste and plays out its toxic fears in my backyard, poisoning as it goes.  It is one culture that has worn out its welcome by going to extremes, but has also shown remarkable resiliency in the past and can shift again.  There are so many hopeful signs that we can recover out senses and find the courage we need..."

Details: Chip Ward has a very unique style of writing, one that grows on the reader despite not really being interested in the topic of the book.  This sense of growing attraction allows the reader to understand and even care about the topic and story of his books.  This book takes places in many different areas and states in the USA, but is generally in the Western side of the USA: Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado etc.  The voice of the main character is a man who has lived through many things has seen nature in ways few people have ever seen.  Hidden within the stories surrounding the main character family are wishes and desires that we as communities and people stand up and defend our natural beauty from those man made all consuming evils that has destroyed much of this country.  There are things that will prick the reader, things the reader will love, and things that will make you laugh out loud like a crazy person.  Should you care, there is a little language but it is in context and is hardly noticed.

My Review:  This took me a long while to 1. want to read it, 2. actually sit down and read it, and 3. come to like some of it, and understand most of it, and want to share it with others.  The main character family have seen the secret parts of Mother Nature and have graciously given us full descriptions of those beauties that I really wish I was more of a hiker.  As I live in Utah now, it would be awesome if my family was more adventurous, but we're not and so we'll miss out on real life nature but can experience it through photographs, books and videos.  I didn't really like the book until it was all done.  The Afterward is one of my favorite parts of the book for its optimistic points of view.  I also love chapter 2!  I died laughing reading it because it was so descriptive!  Any nature lover, hiker, outdoorsy person should read this!

Pros: love the beauty of the Earth that I got to explore through reading this.  My eyes were opened about the Mormon population in a good way.  Since there is much talk about them now with the US presidential election coming up, this would be cool to read and see how a Non-member who is a nature conservative views this people.

Cons: hard to get through, discusses lots of controversial governmental issues with Mother Nature not really my type of thing.

                                                                                My Rating