William deBuys
Author of The Last Unicorn: A Search for One of Earth's Rarest Creatures
About the Author
William deBuys is the author of many books, including, most recently, The Last Unicorn: A Search for One of Earth's Rarest Creatures. He lives in northern New Mexico.
Disambiguation Notice:
Full name: William Eno DeBuys
Image credit: photo by Ben Moscona
Works by William deBuys
A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest (2011) 102 copies, 5 reviews
Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range (1985) 91 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1949
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- writer
conservationist - Organizations
- Valles Caldera Trust
- Short biography
- [excerpted from author's website]
Conservationist and writer William deBuys is the author of ten books. He has been a Kluge Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Library of Congress (2018), a Guggenheim Fellow (2008-2009), and a Lyndhurst Fellow (1986-1988). He was the founding Chair of the Valles Caldera Trust, responsible for administering the 89,000-acre Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico (2001-2004). He lives on the farm he has tended since 1976 in the remote village of El Valle in New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo mountains. - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- El Valle, New Mexico, USA
- Disambiguation notice
- Full name: William Eno DeBuys
- Associated Place (for map)
- New Mexico, USA
Members
Reviews
When I first saw this title I didn't give it much attention as it sounded like a gimmick, "The Last Unicorn" is cliche, like a kids fantasy book. However I looked into it further and found many good reviews so gave it a shot. Turns out to be a solid work of travel literature and conservation. The central character is one of the world's rarest big mammals which lives along the Vietnam/Laos border. It was only recently discovered, I remember the news from the early 90s because it seemed odd show more that a large mammal was discovered in Vietnam where so much fighting had occurred - this is the "rest of the story".
DeBuys is an American in his 60s, late career with numerous books and awards behind him, and writes with a literary flair that is characteristic of nature writing classics, with metaphors and big picture thinking, personal lives intermingled. He travels with another American scientist and a group of Laotian porters into one of the remotest areas of Indochina in search of the elusive "saola". We learn of the geography of the region, its flora and fauna, history and people, modernization's good and evils. This is a book about Laos and the saola but also the destruction of the world as it once existed, now poorer for the sake of a short term drunken binge. It is human nature to consume but when combined with the power of technology and 7 billion people it has lasting consequences. show less
DeBuys is an American in his 60s, late career with numerous books and awards behind him, and writes with a literary flair that is characteristic of nature writing classics, with metaphors and big picture thinking, personal lives intermingled. He travels with another American scientist and a group of Laotian porters into one of the remotest areas of Indochina in search of the elusive "saola". We learn of the geography of the region, its flora and fauna, history and people, modernization's good and evils. This is a book about Laos and the saola but also the destruction of the world as it once existed, now poorer for the sake of a short term drunken binge. It is human nature to consume but when combined with the power of technology and 7 billion people it has lasting consequences. show less
I think the subtitle of this one is a little misleading, just because describing this as a book about the future of the American southwest is entirely too narrow. It's a book that's always thinking about the future, but it's very much about the past, present, and future of the area, one that explores topics from the history of native peoples to the current politics of water use to projected climate-change models. The picture it paints is complex and interesting, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, show more very depressing, especially for a resident of the area like me. I should note that this was published in 2013, so it's little bit dated, but, well, I think it's safe to say that the details haven't gotten any less depressing in the meantime.
I wasn't entirely sure about the writing at first, as it struck me that the author was sometimes trying to be a little too poetic to make up for otherwise being pretty -- sorry for the word choice! -- dry. But he absolutely won me over by the end, and ultimately I found this to be informative, absorbing, and thoughtful, with a nice balance between broad overview and intimate detail. Recommended for anyone with an interest in the US's desert states, the changes they've been through, and the ones that are still ahead. show less
I wasn't entirely sure about the writing at first, as it struck me that the author was sometimes trying to be a little too poetic to make up for otherwise being pretty -- sorry for the word choice! -- dry. But he absolutely won me over by the end, and ultimately I found this to be informative, absorbing, and thoughtful, with a nice balance between broad overview and intimate detail. Recommended for anyone with an interest in the US's desert states, the changes they've been through, and the ones that are still ahead. show less
I started running into deBuys name only lately. That is strange since his work is close to the kind we are looking for at Torrey House.
In THE LAST UNICORN I was most impressed by the author. I was impressed by how tough, smart, patient, open minded, and did I mention tough, that deBuys is. He was trekking trail-less terrain in the jungles of Laos with men who were a fraction of his age. Like me he is a sweaty guy and would find himself soaked through while those around him were not breaking show more a sweat. The jungle he writes about so closely is a harsh, difficult place. It is clear he kept up and that he never complained. And that he had his notebook at the ready all the time (there is a terrific addendum where he speaks about how he gathers material, right down to the brand of pen, notebook and camera he uses).
In spite of his affection for the people and place, he did not make me want to go there. The side tale at the end of a red ant attaching itself to his companion's retina is enough alone to make me stay committed to armchair travel. It is painful to read of the lost cause of conservation in one of the last places on earth sporting rich ecological diversity. deBuys is sensitive and attentive to his surroundings, but like he says an open heart is a vulnerable one. "The diminishment of the planet, on the other hand, is a new thing, and it is our thing. Whether by snare, bullet, chain saw, or pollution, whether because of carbon-induced alteration of the climate, ocean trawling, upset of the nitrogen cycle, or any of a thousand other unnatural shocks, we relentlessly diminish the vigor of the evolutionary epoch that broght our speciies, Homo sapiens, into being."
Reading UNICORN does not make me want to go to Laos, but it does make me want to meet deBuys and hear more of his view of the world. show less
In THE LAST UNICORN I was most impressed by the author. I was impressed by how tough, smart, patient, open minded, and did I mention tough, that deBuys is. He was trekking trail-less terrain in the jungles of Laos with men who were a fraction of his age. Like me he is a sweaty guy and would find himself soaked through while those around him were not breaking show more a sweat. The jungle he writes about so closely is a harsh, difficult place. It is clear he kept up and that he never complained. And that he had his notebook at the ready all the time (there is a terrific addendum where he speaks about how he gathers material, right down to the brand of pen, notebook and camera he uses).
In spite of his affection for the people and place, he did not make me want to go there. The side tale at the end of a red ant attaching itself to his companion's retina is enough alone to make me stay committed to armchair travel. It is painful to read of the lost cause of conservation in one of the last places on earth sporting rich ecological diversity. deBuys is sensitive and attentive to his surroundings, but like he says an open heart is a vulnerable one. "The diminishment of the planet, on the other hand, is a new thing, and it is our thing. Whether by snare, bullet, chain saw, or pollution, whether because of carbon-induced alteration of the climate, ocean trawling, upset of the nitrogen cycle, or any of a thousand other unnatural shocks, we relentlessly diminish the vigor of the evolutionary epoch that broght our speciies, Homo sapiens, into being."
Reading UNICORN does not make me want to go to Laos, but it does make me want to meet deBuys and hear more of his view of the world. show less
I started running into deBuys name only lately. That is strange since his work is close to the kind we are looking for at Torrey House.
In THE LAST UNICORN I was most impressed by the author. I was impressed by how tough, smart, patient, open minded, and did I mention tough, that deBuys is. He was trekking trail-less terrain in the jungles of Laos with men who were a fraction of his age. Like me he is a sweaty guy and would find himself soaked through while those around him were not breaking show more a sweat. The jungle he writes about so closely is a harsh, difficult place. It is clear he kept up and that he never complained. And that he had his notebook at the ready all the time (there is a terrific addendum where he speaks about how he gathers material, right down to the brand of pen, notebook and camera he uses).
In spite of his affection for the people and place, he did not make me want to go there. The side tale at the end of a red ant attaching itself to his companion's retina is enough alone to make me stay committed to armchair travel. It is painful to read of the lost cause of conservation in one of the last places on earth sporting rich ecological diversity. deBuys is sensitive and attentive to his surroundings, but like he says an open heart is a vulnerable one. "The diminishment of the planet, on the other hand, is a new thing, and it is our thing. Whether by snare, bullet, chain saw, or pollution, whether because of carbon-induced alteration of the climate, ocean trawling, upset of the nitrogen cycle, or any of a thousand other unnatural shocks, we relentlessly diminish the vigor of the evolutionary epoch that broght our speciies, Homo sapiens, into being."
Reading UNICORN does not make me want to go to Laos, but it does make me want to meet deBuys and hear more of his view of the world. show less
In THE LAST UNICORN I was most impressed by the author. I was impressed by how tough, smart, patient, open minded, and did I mention tough, that deBuys is. He was trekking trail-less terrain in the jungles of Laos with men who were a fraction of his age. Like me he is a sweaty guy and would find himself soaked through while those around him were not breaking show more a sweat. The jungle he writes about so closely is a harsh, difficult place. It is clear he kept up and that he never complained. And that he had his notebook at the ready all the time (there is a terrific addendum where he speaks about how he gathers material, right down to the brand of pen, notebook and camera he uses).
In spite of his affection for the people and place, he did not make me want to go there. The side tale at the end of a red ant attaching itself to his companion's retina is enough alone to make me stay committed to armchair travel. It is painful to read of the lost cause of conservation in one of the last places on earth sporting rich ecological diversity. deBuys is sensitive and attentive to his surroundings, but like he says an open heart is a vulnerable one. "The diminishment of the planet, on the other hand, is a new thing, and it is our thing. Whether by snare, bullet, chain saw, or pollution, whether because of carbon-induced alteration of the climate, ocean trawling, upset of the nitrogen cycle, or any of a thousand other unnatural shocks, we relentlessly diminish the vigor of the evolutionary epoch that broght our speciies, Homo sapiens, into being."
Reading UNICORN does not make me want to go to Laos, but it does make me want to meet deBuys and hear more of his view of the world. show less
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