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| Wild, Rank Place: One Year on Cape Cod |
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An excellent exploration of the soul and its surroundings
Mr. Gessner has created a powerful memoir of his childhood on Cape Cod, the loss of his father and his love for the harsh Cape environment that is emblematic of personal struggles Gessner has faced and, with humor and intelligence, ultimately overcome. A thoughtful and thought-provoking work from a promising young author.
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Excellent! A superb debut.
An inspiring narrative about a young man who survives cancer, only to watch his father be taken by the same disease. In the tradition of Beston and Thoreau, Gessner brings the Cape to life in all its seasons. But this book should not be tied to one place: readers from all over the globe will identify with Gessner, his family, and his love of home. A Wild, Rank Place is a very special book. Youll be glad you read it.
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Heres a Writer to Watch!
David Gessner isnt your typical nature writer. Not simply content to give lip service to "birds and trees," Gessner enters the landscape as an animal, swilling and raging and chortling his way across Cape Cod with glee and guts. He isnt afraid to tackle tough material either: he receives news of his fathers malignant carcinoma after, ironically, beating his own cancer successfully. In the face of such significant life issues, Gessner worries about place---his own as son and native to Cape Cod, and the strength of his writing voice in the shadow of his real and literary fathers. This book does for fathers and sons what Terry Tempest Williams Refuge did for mothers and daughters. I found Gessner to be charmingly self-absorbed: he allows the reader to view him ("the thing itself") and his landscape, warts and all. And just when some might dismiss him as another Abbey-wanabee who goes about the motions of outrage for outrages sake, Gessner shows his talent and unique writing strength: he writes movingly and memorably about his own fathers death in a stunning journal section simply titled, June. The last sections of the book are a Hymn---for Gessners father, for the place of his birth, for life. In the end, Gessner shows how grace and real beauty rise from fiercely loving ALL the parts of the world, even the ones which pain us most.
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Where Paris once led the way as the centre of Europes bohemian lifestyle, Prague now comes out on top. The fourth edition of Lonely Planet: Prague manages to be both compact and comprehensive and is generally a good introduction to this city where European and North American wannabe poets now hang out.
Covering the Arizona Trail from border to border this book accomplishes the goal. Due to the overwhelming area covered the trail descriptions are brief. Excellent additional information is included. How to get along with the wildlife and trail etiquette is included. Job well done... 
This is not your ordinary hiking guide, this guide not only gives explicit directions to trail heads and details of what to look for on the trails; Bettys thorough research gives fascinating insights into local history as well. Hiking these trails it is not uncommon to see hikers carrying this book,..