Spectacular! | Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections)

Learn of Environmental Ethics | Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections) | Aldo Leopold

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	• Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections) Aldo Leopold Ballantine Books, 1986 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 75 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Sand County Almanac Review

I read A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. I liked this book because it beautifully describes Leopold's extensive farm, and its plants, animals and seasons, in Sand Country, WI over 60 years ago. This book has no specific plot, rather it is like a diary that tells us about Aldo's life on the farm year-round. It is incredibly detailed, Leopold sometimes writes for several pages about one specific type of flower or tree. The fields of science that this most relates to are observational (field) ecology and biology. This is because Leopold doesn't experiment in a lab setting or set up experiments on his farm, instead he walks around and observes, and therefore draws conclusions from these observations. The characters in Leopold's book are himself, his dog, and all the hundreds and thousands of animals and plants on his farm, which he often anthropomorphizes. This book is factual, as everything he says actually happened, but it also has elements of fiction because Leopold anthropomorphizes the animals and plants he observes and often gives them personalities and tells stories about them. The book's conclusions, I think, are to enjoy nature and preserve it. Leopold loves to be outdoors, and his book recommends the same thing: to get outside, walk around, and enjoy the beauty all around you. This book also emphasizes that we need to protect and preserve nature, because if we don't care for the environment now, there will be nothing left for future generations. This is especially important to remember today, because of the world's vast global and environmental problems. This is a beautifully written, interesting book that I would recommend to anyone who likes to be outdoors.

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Spectacular!

This was truly a visual treat. The book was laid out with a beautiful flow of text and photographs. The photographs were awesome and really brought to life and enhanced the words of Aldo Leopold. This is a book I will joyfully share with others. A perfect Holiday Gift!

Learn of Environmental Ethics

An American classic, A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold extolls the highest virtues attainable in nature when Homo sapiens adopt a land ethic, which recognizes that, regardless of economic considerations, the preservation of the natural environment is an obligation. Leopold introduces the reader to wildlife and the land on a personal level, while stressing the fact that a communal relationship exists between human beings and the earth. Instead of presenting people as domineering conquerors over the environment, Leopold explains that humans are interdependent members of an energy circuit called the biota, which consists of all living animals and plants. [...] Leopold became one of the first to understand history from more than a human perspective. The author recognizes humanity's potential to disrupt the natural flow of energy within an ecosystem, which is a self-regulating, self-sustaining community of organisms in relationship to each other. However, this book challenges the reader to pursue a state of harmony with the environment, by encouraging an internal intellectual change within one's mind, away from economic self-interest and toward a preservation of nature for its own sake.
The text is extremely well written in four parts and lures the reader into later chapters of ponderous discourse by first presenting observations about Leopold's sand farm in Wisconsin. Like an exquisite, delicate wildflower attracts the honey bee with scent, sight, and content, the author unveils a bounteous repast of intimate details concerning history in tree rings, the woodcock's sky dance, natural flora, the range of animals, pine cone reproduction, and how pine needles have terms similar to politicians. In part two, Leopold summarizes forty years of his experiences with the natural world around him and allows the reader into his thoughts. Sometimes the vastness of these chapters in the book overwhelms the reader with feelings of sadness and loss. The author realistically assesses the consequences of humans who think of nature as a commodity by describing the disappearance of marsh land and birds, the farmer's judgement concerning which animals should survive, and the extinct passenger pigeon. The author's literary skill absorbs the reader through the odyssey of X and Y atoms as they tour the biota, the changed Flambeau river, and an especially moving experience-when a wild wolf that Leopold shot dies while staring into the face of his assailant. During part three, the reader, consciously or unconsciously, makes some personal choices about the land ethic. The author is extremely influenced by two types of trees growing on a mountain in Germany, considering one half of the mountain was preserved and the other half was disturbed by farming. Unfortunately, the soil on one side has never recovered and will grow only Scotch pine, while the other side is world famous for its Spessart oak trees. People did not intend to permanently damage the soil, but they did. "The Upshot," part four of this "Bible" of conservation, gets to the heart of the matter by detailing how a land ethic can be decided upon by a society, instituted by those who care, and realized by a change in each person from within.
It is easy to see why this book, A Sand County Almanac, is still quoted today. Has the United States or the world considered instituting a land ethic? Are major decisions involving mining, farming, manufacturing, hydroelectric power, housing construction, waste disposal, recreation, and nuclear energy utilizing a universal land ethic? Why not? Has the scientific world given modern society the answers concerning land and water renewal or how to prevent animal extinction? All of the basic philosophical arguments presented in Leopold's book are still being pondered by conservationists today. Besides explaining why a land ethic is needed, this book is an indictment upon each generation that reads it and yet does nothing. Not only is Leopold's text a good read, but it is also an essential one. These basic principles, written in "The Upshot," should be adopted as the ethical environmental doctrine for the twenty-first century.
1. Land is not merely soil.
2. Certain native plants and animals keep the land healthy. Others may not.
3. Man-made changes are of a different order than evolutionary changes, and have effects more comprehensive than is intended or foreseen. (255)
Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.
It is wrong when it tends otherwise. (262)
Marilyn Glaser, Student
Great Basin College
Elko, NV

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Gorgeous

While Leopold's writing in A Sand County Almanac is timeless, Sewell's photograhs and Brower's introduction provide valuable context for this classic. I will be giving this gorgeous new volume to my fellow Leopold admirers as well as those friends and family I have been trying to get to read Leopold for years. It won't disappoint!

Stunning

Photographer Michael Sewell brings Leopold's words to life and captures the stunning natural beauty of Wisconsin for readers everywhere. This is a must have for all Leopold enthusiasts and a great way to introduce new readers to his insights and inspiration.

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