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I've finished Caught in Fading Light: Mountain Lions, Zen Masters & Wild Nature by Gary Thorpe.
The subject had the potential to be a companion to such great nature books at Peter Matthiessen's Snow Lion or Bill McKibben's Wandering Home or various of Gary Snyder's books, but this book doesn't sing. The writing is adequate. It’s a sturdy, worker-like journal of one person's journey and musings about Zen, nature and exploration along the way, as if your literate but not gifted Green Gulch Zen Center-going neighbor took a year off and wrote a book.
I know the area in which he explored extremely well, and know the subject matter somewhat. I found many of the things he mused upon to be better expressed elsewhere (Snyder, Suzuki) and the things he didn’t explore inexplicable. Why did he fail to discuss the photographs of mountain lions captured by remote camera by the park service and instead settle for a long list of all the animals photographed? Has he seen them? They've been displayed publicly at the Bear Valley Visitor Center, and their power is astonishing. Likewise, he doesn’t explore the phenomenon of the dervish shrew, or discuss his physical apprehension when it was probable he was proximate to a mountain lion? (Gavin DeBecker anyone?). The passages that truly sing have to do with his dinner with Gary Snyder and repeating what Gary said. I found the book to be more annoying than not, yet interesting enough to keep on until I finished.
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July 2 is the start of the 26th week of the year. This book was #26, so I've lost my lead but am on track for 50 in 05. I'm almost done with Little Children, #27. Mira has published a slew of Jennifer Crusie books, so I have Charlie All Night for the weekend plus two on reserve that've come in at the library.
The subject had the potential to be a companion to such great nature books at Peter Matthiessen's Snow Lion or Bill McKibben's Wandering Home or various of Gary Snyder's books, but this book doesn't sing. The writing is adequate. It’s a sturdy, worker-like journal of one person's journey and musings about Zen, nature and exploration along the way, as if your literate but not gifted Green Gulch Zen Center-going neighbor took a year off and wrote a book.
I know the area in which he explored extremely well, and know the subject matter somewhat. I found many of the things he mused upon to be better expressed elsewhere (Snyder, Suzuki) and the things he didn’t explore inexplicable. Why did he fail to discuss the photographs of mountain lions captured by remote camera by the park service and instead settle for a long list of all the animals photographed? Has he seen them? They've been displayed publicly at the Bear Valley Visitor Center, and their power is astonishing. Likewise, he doesn’t explore the phenomenon of the dervish shrew, or discuss his physical apprehension when it was probable he was proximate to a mountain lion? (Gavin DeBecker anyone?). The passages that truly sing have to do with his dinner with Gary Snyder and repeating what Gary said. I found the book to be more annoying than not, yet interesting enough to keep on until I finished.
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July 2 is the start of the 26th week of the year. This book was #26, so I've lost my lead but am on track for 50 in 05. I'm almost done with Little Children, #27. Mira has published a slew of Jennifer Crusie books, so I have Charlie All Night for the weekend plus two on reserve that've come in at the library.