David Gessner

The book started a little slow for me but by the time the author arrived in Vernal and then Moab, UT, I was happily along for the ride. All the Wild That Remains is partly the story of the American West and the unique challenges its arid climate presents, but mostly it's the story of two very different western writers and their influence on the region and the region’s influence on them. Gessner also happened to journey through Colorado in the summer of 2012 when the drought-stricken show more landscape was ablaze, adding to the story in a sad, yet pointed way.

Gessner recalls the two acclaimed writer-environmentalists, button-down Wallace Stegner and monkey-wrencher Edward Abbey as he travels along in their footsteps. He interviews friends and neighbors, including Wendell Berry, and weaves their stories into an interesting and engaging narrative.

Anyone with an interest in either of these authors and the environmental challenges facing the Western states will enjoy this book. I listened to the audio which was well read by Brian O’Neill. show less

An engaging ebook of travel, interviews, and his own thoughts. The thread was often haphazard as he zigzagged between locations, including Boulder, CO (where he used to live); Arizona; and some barrier islands along New jersey, New York, and North Carolina (where he lived). The islands were fascinating as I searched Google Maps and marveled at the houses built in the bull's eye of Atlantic hurricanes. Some of these houses were destroyed and rebuilt in the same place!

David believes that the show more crisis will not be solved by certain individuals who change their lifestyle, that we will need government regulation. I agree. Just like mandatory seat belts that caused a lot of grumbling but saved lives. Toward the end of the book, in the face of his self-declared hypocrisy, he decided he should go ahead and get solar panels and an electric vehicle. (I have both.)

David, I had some additional advice. You talk a lot about food and I see you're a meat-eater, chomping down on a roast beef sandwich. Since the meat industry is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, you could choose food that is healthier for the planet and for your own body. The switch is easy and costs virtually nothing. Certainly less than solar panels.

Good ebook. Recommended. show less

David Gessner takes on two major voices in Western writing and environmentalism: Edward Abbey and Wallace Stegner. Abbey and Stegner both loved the west but approached that vast landscape in different ways. Abbey immersed himself in the wilderness, almost dying during one trek, and then was buried in that very wilderness. Stegner, much more refined, was the "grown up," and served as Abbey's teacher (along with lots of other writers) in the Stanford writing program he founded. While Abbey show more advocated "monkey wrenching" as a way to stop environmental degradation, Stegner worked within the system and was part of the development of the 1964 Wilderness Act. Readers can connect with Gessner's work even if they haven't read either author. But, I can only hope reading Gessner will open a world of great western literature. show less

I felt this book was a "mini" biography of both Abbey and Stegner. I learned quite a few things about both I hadn't known although I was more familiar with Abbey's work.
The book is insightful relative to how the West, and Nature in general, is an intricate part of what it means to be human and how neither Abbey or Stegner appreciated how it was being overdeveloped.
Gessner offers a lot of refreshing thoughts and ideas about our relationship with the West and Nature, his spiritual journey in show more writing this book and Abbey's/Stegner's importance to the issues. show less