When I signed up to get this book I didn't realise it was only available in e-book format for review. Whilst I understand why publishers go this route, I don't like the idea of reading an entire book on my computer. At some point I may try to find a copy of this in hard print, but until then, unfortunately, this will be the extent of my review.

Sadly, I was unable to read and review this book when I obtained it through the Early Reviewers program. It was only available online in PDF format and I simply will not read an entire book on my computer screen.

In my past I have read Annie Dillard, Thoureau and Aldo Leopold and enjoyed them, some more than others. Jerry Wilson is right in there, amidst the great ones, but this eco-memoir is not of the caliber of Dillard or Leopold but ti is very good. Perhaps because it is set smack dab in the middle of the modern world I find myself regretting the degradation of our environment and hearken back to the 'good old days' of Muir and Dillards "Pilgrim At Tinmker Creek', but this story of his 25 years spent living on the Missouri is a fine read, showing that he has a sense of pride and passion about the river and the place.... ( )

Informed by the work of Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, and other naturalists, Jerry Wilson in Waiting for Coyote’s Call: An Eco-Memoir From the Missouri River Bluff describes his acquisition of acreage where, since the early 1980’s, he has created a home for himself and his family. Wilson devotes the initial chapters to his decision to buy land and build a home. These chapters offer memories of Wilson’s childhood in rural Oklahoma and contain anecdotes of Wilson’s interactions with the rural people who often offer assistance to Wilson and his wife. Portions of the middle chapters contain the history of the region and the history of both the native people and the settlers who have lived on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River. Wilson mixes this history with his detailed study of meteor showers and the habits of those nocturnal creatures like raccoons and deer. These chapters also contain Wilson’s knowledge of trees and his vivid observations of birds along with the extremes of weather, including an entire chapter devoted to snow. Least satisfying are those final chapters when Wilson looks beyond the bluff where he has made a home to issues regarding the growth of corporate farming methods because it seems as if those issues belong in a subsequent book. Personally, I find the book to be an enjoyable read because of Wilson’s attention to detail and the clarity of his prose. Wilson reveals what he has “watch[ed], listen[ed], and learn[ed]” about a place during the past twenty-eight years and shows his own effort to manage the land where he has replanted native grasses and where he has seen a return of those native species that had not frequented that portion of South Dakota since the days of settlement. He ultimately makes the reader approach the outdoors with wonder and enthusiasm, regardless of where one lives. On a personal note, I originally got my review copy as a PDF file from which I printed out fifty pages at a time. I have since purchased a cloth copy of the book. ( )

This was my first Early Reviewers title, though I was chagrined to receive instead of a book an online file to read. Moreover, the file had a 30-day time limit. Not only do I not care to read an entire book on the computer, since I spend enough time as it is writing on the machine, but making reviewing notes on the text was not possible. It has therefor taken me a long time to get around to commenting on the book, favorably disposed as I felt towards its writer and its contents.

I read as much as I could, and found it an appealing memoir; Wilson's part of the world is not far from southern Saskatchewan, where I grew up. His perceptions about living "in harmony with the land in the growing complexity of the 20th century" would have been worth my exploring more deeply had I had more time, for in many ways his region of the USA has experienced a much different history than the urban areas where most people are now concentrated and this book therefore adds some essential insights into living in greater harmony with less tamed places His memoir concerns area history as much as impressions of the land's remaining wildness: in this respect, his writing put me in mind of Saskatchewan writer Sharon Butala's work.

I regret not being able to write about Wilson's book in greater detail, and though I did note that I might purchase a copy should it become available at the "big box" bookstores (though my preference is to buy from independent bookstores owned and managed by "people of the book" and not simply publishers' outlets), I have not yet done so.

His book could certainly keep company with the writings of Wendell Berry, though Wilson is not in the same league as either a poet of the land or a philosopher.

I grew up on the Missouri River in northeast Nebraska, so this memoir was interesting to me from the perspective of knowing the region, landscape and people. The author's introverted meanderings of thought and description at first was lyrical. "The slow-paced account mirrors the pace of the area," I thought, but then I became impatient with that style. It started to remind me of poorly edited college textbooks. The content of this book is important, the result of Mr. Wilson's dedication to the region, but he needs an editor with a firm sense of direction. ( )

The topic seemed interesting, but the text was only available electronically for a month.

In any event, I started reading it on screen. It seemed to be a highly introspective piece something after Walden Pond but without the literary merit of being amongst the first to write this kind of thing. Although I began my life as a professional biologist firmly interested in conservation, after a few pages I lost interest in this wandering story. I didn't want to pay for the paper amd oml to print it out for reading on the train (I think I also would have risked sleeping through my station had I tried to!). Also, I needed the computer for productive tasks, so I never finished it.

Sorry... ( )

When I won this through the Early Reviewers I hadn't expected an e-book. I don't prefer to read books in this format as I tend to read somewhere comfortable and not while sitting at my computer desk, hence I was unable to finish this book. From what I managed to read I thought the book was fairly well written. I'm sure that I would have completed (and enjoyed more) if I had been sent a physical copy. ( )

Waiting for Coyote's Call was an interesting eco-memoir (new genre for me!) written by Jerry Wilson detailing his homesteading experience on a bluff in southeastern South Dakota.

Mr. Wilson makes heavy reference to Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold, so if you are a fan of their works, efforts, and beliefs, then this book will be an interesting read.

The author takes us slowly on an ecological journey, exploring and enlightening the reader on the most minute detail of his land and the nature he encounters there. Going a step further, he also tells the stories of his neighbors and their interactions with him and the land, and steps back in time detailing the land during before and during the settlers. The history of southeastern South Dakota is interwoven from the days of the Native Americans, through early settlers, to the modern day world, showing the changes the environment has withstood, and the good and not-so-good changes he has observed.

The author also extensively details his home being built, from solar and wood heating, to eating off the land. Future homesteaders will no doubt have much to learn from Jerry Wilson.

The author comes across as very well versed in nature, from trees to solar heating. He presents in depth knowledge by relaying his experiences and wisdom. Those interested in nature, homesteading, living off the grid, or reducing their footprint on this Earth may enjoy this slow, interesting, detailed read. At times the book lost my interest, and in that case I just jumped to the next chapter. ( )

Wandering unfocused eco-history of life on a bluff in South Dakota. Perhaps just not my taste. Disclaimer: obtaining and reviewing this book as a PDF was much more problematic than necessary.

Waiting for Coyote’s Call traces a narrative of life on a South Dakota bluff. The first half of the book covers the author’s experiences moving to and living on the bluff – meeting neighbors, learning the history and ecology of the location, etc. I particularly like the chapters dealing with the building of his house. The second half of the book becomes a bit preachier as to the author’s feelings about how we should live with nature. Some of this I agree with; some I do not. I wish it would have stuck to the interactions with the natural world and let the reader come to their own conclusions.

Note: I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. ( )

[Disclaimer: I could only handle so much of this book in pdf form (ouch my eyes); my attention wasn't grabbed enough to force myself to read the whole thing on the computer.]
The introduction was too detailed, explaining previous books and making the author very familiar before the main show even begins; I'd advise skipping it. From what pieces I read, Wilson's style is descriptive and rambling and enjoyable enough.

This is not really a review because something seems to have gone wrong. Supposedly I had received this as part of the LT Early Reviewer's program. It seems as if this should be a "real" book, as indicated by the other reviews, but somehow I was notified that I would have access to a website preview or something like that (which I'm pretty sure was not part of the LTER description). Then I received a message from Abby that for some reason the author was getting my e-mails returned. I e-mailed both Abby and the author with the correct e-mail address and didn't have anything bounce back, but never was contacted by anyone. I'm not upset about not seeing the website because honestly, it was the book itself that interested me.

So, here's something in the review field so that I'm not penalized for further Early Reviewers books. It's too bad, because I am very interested in the subject of the book, both the idea of preserving the natural landscape and living in the Upper Midwest.

To be fair, I don't hate this book. But I don't love it. I've been forcing myself to read a bit everyday but just can't get into it. As hard as Wilson tries to write the modern Walden or Sand County Almanac, his book is too rambling and derivative to fully succeed in that regard, and comes off as a bit pretentious to a reader not as committed to his lifestyle as he is. Hardcore naturalists looking for inspiration might enjoy it, but those who prefer to enjoy the outdoors through windows and books should stick to the classics to which Wilson is paying homage. ( )

Both a plea for conservation and the entertaining story of the creation of a family home, Jerry Wilson’s memoir lovingly describes both the physical environment and the people who inhabit the area where his family chose to build their new house. Characters current and historic come and go as the family site their home and design it to require as few extra natural resources as possible. Set into the hillside and heated by the sun and, when necessary, logs cut from their own woodland, the ‘geo-solar’ house quickly becomes a character in its own right as it takes shape in the early chapters.

Wilson describes the responsibilities concomitant with managing woodland, watching the annual cycles of budburst through to leafdrop, replanting saplings and thinning trees, a pattern that began with the arrival of Europeans in the US, who brought practices of land management – amongst them drainage, ploughing and encouraging monoculture – supplemented by legislation which controlled and designated land use. On the heels of the homesteaders came exotic species, non-native plants and insects which posed a threat to native species, and Wilson makes a strong case for maintaining a richly diverse range of native trees and shrubs, reminding us of the destruction (here in the UK, too) wrought by the spread of Dutch Elm Disease, rapid and uncontrollable, altering familiar landscapes it seemed overnight.

Along the way we learn much about the childhoods of Jerry and his wife Norma, and of their plans for the new home; how they selected the hillside and, before anything else, planted tree seeds collected from the streets of Vermillion, where they lived at the time. Early in 1982, they planted a shelter belt of mixed trees before starting to build. We learn too of local history: of the flood on the Missouri in 1881 in which 30 vessels foundered, of the “taming” of the river, with resulting environmental casualties, and of the dustbowls of the 1930s. Wilson draws telling parallels between decisions at national level – to encourage tree-planting, or damming creeks, for instance – with the smaller impact of the changes individuals make to the landscape, such as the damming of a watercourse for aesthetic reasons, showing how even the smallest change may have repercussions; he further describes how nature often resists our attempts at change, requiring ever greater resources to maintain what we try to impose on the landscape.

This book is a song of praise to balance – the risks of imposing too much on the land set against the joy of doing our best to live in harmony with the land and the creatures with which we share it. Wilson considers the wide range of human activity which affects the prairie, from goldmining to the enclosure of livestock to the production of ethanol as a replacement for oil. His writing is informative and measured, presenting his case for conservation clearly and articulately, while his joy and love for both his own small piece of prairie and for the wider environment shine clearly through every chapter. His closes his memoir with an overview of a year on the Bluff, drawn from the daily journal he has kept for 25 years. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the environment, in land management, or just a curiosity about their fellow humans, for its combination of anecdote and argument. For the serious environmentalist there is a comprehensive index and a useful bibliography.

The author approaches the environment and the ecology of the South Dakota landscape by developing for the reader an intimate sense of place and history. The Dakotas are not often offered to urban readers in such a loving way. A book similar in tradition to Living Down Strean and A Walk Through The Year. An ode to living within nature, even though the author expresses regret at his own destruction of this plot of land he still builds. Can this kind of sense of place and belonging that they seek be found in suburban and urban landscapes? How do people in these areas apply the lessons of those privileged enough to move out? ( )

In the preface to WAITING FOR COYOTE’S CALL, author Jerry Wilson notes that “It is too late for me to tell a pioneering story of ‘going back to the land’ or of discovering principles by which we might sustain Earth. [Henry David] Thoreau, [Aldo] Leopold, Annie Dillard, Wendell Berry, Candace Savage, and many others have told the story before me.” Indeed, WAITING FOR COYOTE’S CALL - while an obvious descendant of the great American naturalists – is, for better or worse, set firmly in the modern world, complete with scientific advancements and technological wonders as well as environmental degradation and species loss. In this context, Wilson’s memoir of his family’s 25 years spent living on Missouri River in South Dakota is at once inspirational and bittersweet.

In a five-part act, Wilson chronicles a quarter century spent living in harmony with nature. With his wife Norma, Wilson tries to live as eco-friendly a life as is possible in post-industrial America: they build a solar home, garden, restore prairie land, etc. Throughout it all, Wilson’s appreciation of the natural world is apparent.* While the text can sometimes tend towards the flowery and rambling, WAITING FOR COYOTE’S CALL is for the most part an engaging look at our natural world: plants, animals, geography, history – and humanity’s place in it all.

* Unfortunately, as with many “environmentalists,” this “love” only extends to non-human animals inasmuch as Wilson views them as a natural resource. As a vegan and animal rights advocate, I’m happy that Wilson tackles the issue of factory farming, if only briefly. However, he never gets as far as challenging the necessity of a meat-based diet in Western nations, instead waxing nostalgic for retro ‘50s family farms, which have since given way to abusive, polluting animal factories euphemistically known as “concentrated animal feeding operations,” or CAFOs. This is a shame, as meat consumption is an unnecessary cruelty – billions of animals are slaughtered annually in the United States alone for no reason other than that Americans enjoy the taste of meat. Meanwhile, meat consumption is a major contributor to global warming; animal feces from CAFOs choke rivers and streams; bird flu is an increasingly grave threat; and meat consumption is linked to myriad health problems in humans. Anyone who truly “loves” animals or nature will abstain from eating meat whenever possible: that food you call “meat” is actually the corpse of an animal you claimed to “love.”

Of course, I expected as much when I requested WAITING FOR COYOTE’S CALL through Library Thing’s Early Reviewer program. After all, only a small percentage of Americans are vegetarians – well below double digits - so naturally I assumed that the author subscribed to the speciesist mindset of our dominant culture. Disappointing, yes, but as this is an eco-memoir (not a vegan memoir), it doesn’t negatively impact my review. Well, not much; Wilson’s characterization of cows as “incurious” creatures irked me a bit, I’ll admit. Ask a Poplar Springs or Farm Sanctuary volunteer, and methinks they’ll disagree. Then again, these folks view “their” cows as sentient beings with individualized personalities, rather than milk machines and sources of income to be exploited.

(Crossposted on Amazon.com: An eco-memoir for the post-industrial world.) ( )

Summing up a place and a life in that place

In Waiting for Coyote’s Call, Jerry Wilson recounts his life on the Missouri River bluff and earlier events that sparked his love of nature. More than a simply memoir, Wilson hangs a larger tale on the framework of his life’s story. This is also the story of the bluff, its place in history and in the larger natural world.

A son of farmers, Wilson developed a love of nature and nature’s citizens in early woodland roamings. Wilson and his wife Norma committed to living lightly on the earth. So much that they built an innovative solar home with their own labor and help from family, friends, and new neighbors. Building the house is only a small part of the story. Wilson recounts stories from his childhood and his life on the bluff, his children’s childhoods, his neighbors, and people long gone. He also tells us stories of the animals, plants, water, and stone that are just as much his neighbors on the bluff as the aging farmers and departed spirits. Wilson only wishes “to suggest the diversity with which we live, to recall a few of the things we have learned from fellow inhabitants, and to raise questions for which I have few answers.”

I enjoyed the range and balance of topics and the author’s conversational tone. We get just enough personal reminiscence mixed with a modicum of history and science to place one life in the context of its place. A skilled writer, Wilson carefully crafts all his wide-ranging bits of personal story, natural and social history, geography, and science into one very readable coherent story. Wilson clearly loves to tell stories. He also clearly loves his bluff and the natural world. He tells us, “I would be moved by the natural world. That, of course, is the reason for this book.” It’s a very good reason and Wilson has given us a very good book.

I loved the natural world before reading Waiting for Coyote’s Call. This vicarious experience of the bluff I have never seen, and likely never will, calls to me with bird songs, wind, water, and storytelling. I would love to spend another evening sitting by the Wilson’s wood stove, listening to more stories. ( )

I was supposed to read this book as part of the Early Reviewers program. I'm fairly picky about what I request as I really want to read and review any book I'm sent in a timely fashion. I'm not sure if I missed something but after I was told I was getting this title I was told that it would be in electronic form instead of a physical book. Unfortunately, I spend most of my day (and a lot of my nights thanks to my blackberry) looking at computer screens, so I couldn't bring myself to even download this. I want to hold a book, feel and smell it's paper, relax in one of my reading chairs, etc. Hence no review, at least yet. I may go on to get the book itself because the reviews that were done have made it even more intriguing.

I'll keep a sharp eye out for eBooks from here on out to make sure I don't snag a book I won't read at the expense of another requester.

An interesting read: a real sense of place through the descriptions of everyday life and the historical details and anecdotes which punctuate the narrative. The author's passion for the protection of the eco-system is, for me most poignantly evoked in these passages, the more formal prononcements are rather stilted, almost academic in style.
In all , a book which left me, if not racing to espouse the same lifestyle, at least with the urge to go and visit the places so tenderly described. ( )

In a quiet way, the author tells us how the land he purchased on the bluff along the Missouri River, belongs not to him and his family. They are mere caretakers, custodians of the land. He tells some historical background of former human caretakers and the wildlife inhabitants. But, his premise like Aldo Leopold and like Thoreau is that the land belongs to mother EARTH.

His writing style was easy to read. One felt his warm affection for his place on the Missouri bluffs, so much so that one wishes to experience it as well.

Reading this work as an in-the-hand book with some drawings or illustrations other than the few maps included would have been much more enjoyable than as an online galley one had to print out or scroll through endlessly.

A book worth reading. A book with a message. A book worth the time to absorb and understand. I found this book to be as much a memoir of the land itself as it was a story of the author's life on the Missouri River Bluff. It is clear from the beginning that Jerry Wilson loves the land and enjoys all that it has to offer. And the Missouri River Bluff has plenty as we find out!

It's hard to pick any one point that I enjoyed in this book. There were many. The description of the construction of his eco-friendly house interspersed with the many little historical tidbits was fascinating. His ramblings around the property and the many opportunities to observe the abundance of native wildlife, birds and plant life and the attention and care he gives to them. (Being a bird-lover myself, I found myself wishing for pictures!) His obvious love and caring for the land and his desire to do what he can to benefit the eco-system. It is very evident throughout the book that it is well-researched and presented in a comfortable and friendly manner.

This book inspired me. It also had me wondering what it would be like if our school texts presented this kind of subject matter in this manner.... ( )

Written in beautiful and simple language, Wilson details his own explorations of nature and prairie restoration in South Dakota. I greatly enjoyed his reverence for the earth and sustainability, and particularly enjoyed the chapters on birds, trees and the different Native American populations and histories indigenous to his homeland. The book occasionally lapses into feeling academic, and I'm not sure "eco-memoir" is a proper description. Some of the book is a memoir, some parts are stories told to the author by others, some of it includes researched reporting on various environmental issues. As such, it jumped around a bit in a way that did not make sense to me and felt a bit patchworked together rather than a cohesive whole.

That being said, I really enjoyed reading this book and learning from Wilson especially the detailed sections on planting. And I have to say, that while in the process of reading this book, I started to notice things outside, even in the urban sprawl that is Los Angeles. Birds singing, plants growing, trees and flowers that thrive despite hardly any rainfall. If Wilson's goal was to share his appreciation of nature with his reader and perhaps even impart that appreciation, mission accomplished. ( )

Waiting for Coyote’s Call is the story of author Jerry Wilson’s relationship with the land. As a young boy he helped his parents work a small farm in Oklahoma. Now retired, he “works” a 160-acre parcel of his own land in the corner of southeastern South Dakota. Legally he owns this land, but he insists that no one actually “owns” land, rather we are given the immense privilege of being “caretakers” of it. And he encourages us to do a much better job than we are. Some of his self-imposed seasonal chores over the last 25 years have included eradicating invasive species, taking steps to insure springs and ponds do not become polluted, reintroducing native trees, plants and grasses and protecting all living things that inhabit the land (and skies). He is as “at one” with the land as you might imagine Native Americans were before the arrival of white settlers.

The sheer physical labor involved in single-handedly attempting what Wilson has set before himself is overwhelming. Descriptions of him hoeing endless rows of vegetables in searing heat, hauling field stone to build the foundation of his earth home, chopping down invasive thistle plants or seeding vast acres of native prairie grass are humbling at the very least. Wilson understands that we can never really take the land back to its pristine state -- too much has changed -- but thinks we can start to reverse the destructive trend and heal some of the scars that generations of ignorance and development have created. Wilson is not is pessimistic, desperate or panicked, however. Or against progress. He only cautions against arrogance and greed. He suggests above all that we treat the land with the respect it deserves.

This book is encouraging, optimistic, thoughtful and well-written. And it is also extremely relevant, given the pressure we continue to put on the land. If you hadn’t realized that every step you take in your life affects the earth, you will after reading this book. And even better, you’ll want to do something about it. ( )

This is really a wonderful "eco memoir" in five parts, or sections, that explore the author's 25 years of life on the Missouri River Bluff in Southern South Dakota. For me to enjoy a story like this, someone's world, I really have to care for the author; and in this instance, I most certainly did. Mr. Wilson is just a nice guy who is open, kind and has a genuine and passionate curiosity about his acquired homeland, both what is there when he arrives and what came before him (and might happen in the future if we don't give due care now). He often evokes settlers and naturists who came before him, with respect, yet with a fresh approach to our everchanging world. I loved the way the author was not "preachy" and realized we have to live within the world, e.g., he acknowledges the gas he must burn to get to work but weighs it against he environmental benefit of solar power to his home. How he carves his home organically into the bluff is fascinating and the book has many, many interesting facts about everything from trees to wild turkeys. I think I liked the "prairie restoration" and re-planting/cultivating of trees the best. The reader learns something on virtually every page and by the end of the book, I truly looked at my own backyard in a new light. I now strive to know the trees I have, what grows, what will not; and they ways I might be able to make my world a better place. Highly recommended for a transporting, highly educational read. ( )