⇒ Download Free The Singing Wilderness FeslerLampert Minnesota Heritage Sigurd F Olson Francis Lee Jaques 9780816629923 Books

The Singing Wilderness FeslerLampert Minnesota Heritage Sigurd F Olson Francis Lee Jaques 9780816629923 Books

Download As PDF : The Singing Wilderness FeslerLampert Minnesota Heritage Sigurd F Olson Francis Lee Jaques 9780816629923 Books

The Singing Wilderness FeslerLampert Minnesota Heritage Sigurd F Olson Francis Lee Jaques 9780816629923 Books

Sig Olson talks the talk (wilderness) and walks the walk! His prose is crisp and lively, conveying to the reader who has ever camped in a pup tent or heard the haunting call of the deep allure of wild spaces for alert twenti-first century human beings. The start pen-and-ink drawings by Francis Lee Jaques complement Sig's lucid narrative. As a high school student I fell in love with Rule 13 in Strunk and White's 1913 "The Elements of Style": "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell." Sig must have been entranced by the magic of 'vigorous writing' as well. He is "the great Bourgeois" (voyageur term).


Tags : The Singing Wilderness (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage) [Sigurd F. Olson, Francis Lee Jaques] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Singing Wilderness is Sigurd Olson's first and best-selling book, with over 70, 000 copies sold in hardcover since its release in 1956. Now available in paperback for the first time,Sigurd F. Olson, Francis Lee Jaques,The Singing Wilderness (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage),Univ Of Minnesota Press,0816629927,Essays,Natural history - Minnesota - Superior National Forest,Natural history - Ontario - Quetico Provincial Park,Natural history;Minnesota;Superior National Forest.,Natural history;Ontario;Quetico Provincial Park.,Minnesota,NATURE Essays,Natural history,Nature,NatureEcology,Ontario,Quetico Provincial Park,Superior National Forest,The natural world, country life & pets

The Singing Wilderness FeslerLampert Minnesota Heritage Sigurd F Olson Francis Lee Jaques 9780816629923 Books Reviews

Olson is Muir and Berry rolled into Minnesota.
Very good read. Recommend to others who are interested in the North Woods
This book is for everyone. If you love the outdoors this author is for you. It relaxes you can almost see his love by the way he writes.
Originally published in 1956, this classic still speaks to nature lovers today, and it deserves to share the same shelf with Thoreau, Muir, and Beston. Olson's essays convey the spirit and sense of place in what is now known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area -- Superior National Forest in Minnesota and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. North country life is special, and Olson obviously loved living there. He writes with delight of seeing Northern Lights, portaging canoes, cross country skiing, hearing the echoes of loons calling, and witnessing the occasional mouse tobogganing off a tent roof. Though the chapters are organized by seasons and begin with Spring, it is the essence of cold and snow and winter that carries the reader through the book. Best to be read by a warm fireplace with a light snow falling outside and a mug of hot chocolate nearby.
Sigurd Olson is one of the best at historical and environmental writing. He not only writes about the history of the North but has also traveled the river routes of the early fur traders. Very interesting and well written. He is no doubt one of my favorite wilderness writers.
Mr. Olson pursued a passion and became one of the best in his field. His love for the wilderness was so great he wanted to share it with the world. Simply put, he makes me want to go outdoors! While you gain facts and history, it is the relationship between people,land and animals told almost romantically that endeared me to this book. You get lost and almost transported to the very sites he describes. What a gift he left behind.
Noted conservationist Sigurd F. Olson wrote this collection of essays about his years canoeing, snowshoeing, skiing and fishing the Wilderness areas of Superior National Forest and the Quetico of Canada.

The essays are organized according to the four seasons. Olson has an almost metaphysical relationship with the animals that live in the wilderness red squirrels, loons, otters, even field mice are fellow travelers.

Olson canoes and portages scores of miles to listen to the loons sing on Lac La Croix. He searches hundreds of lakes, looking for the perfect wilderness area, unspoiled by civilization. And he finds it! Saganaga, "a symbol of the primitive, perfect and untouched." Later, he hears that a road has come to Saganaga and he ventures back to see what's been done to it. It seems the same until he rounds a bend and is confronted with a modern lodge. He's conflicted; he wants human companionship but he doesn't want to lose his "singing wilderness."

In another essay, he tells of "flying in" to one of the lakes, rather than spending days canoeing and portaging to get there. He feels disoriented and can't really appreciate the experience. He hasn't put in enough effort; he doesn't deserve it. And he never does this again.

Olson is a sentimental, nostalgic man. He tells of catching trout for his grandmother, whom he credits with instilling a love of nature. While fishing on the Manitou, he is confronted with an eighty-year-old trout fisherman who's come to his favorite fishing spot for one last time.

Olson also limns essays that show the brutality of nature. In "The Storm" we see white-throated sparrows, Killdeers, purple finches, chickadees, and robins returning to the wilderness area after a long and brutal winter. Olson is marveling at their music until snow begins the fall and the temperature plummets. Thousands of confused birds freeze to death.

Admittedly, there is some clunky writing in the SINGING WILDERNESS; one gets the impression that Olson is writing from memory in a lot of instances. Also, at times he doesn't tell you where he is he refers to the "lake" as if we should know which one of the thousands in the Superior/Quetico wilderness he's referring to. There's also a dearth of people. Often, he refers to "we" but the person or persons he's with are invisible.

That said, I think everyone would benefit from reading these essays. I couldn't help but wonder how many people know this place exists. These days the area is called the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness. No motor boats allowed; no ATVs allowed! Everyone should see it at least once in his/her lifetime.
Sig Olson talks the talk (wilderness) and walks the walk! His prose is crisp and lively, conveying to the reader who has ever camped in a pup tent or heard the haunting call of the deep allure of wild spaces for alert twenti-first century human beings. The start pen-and-ink drawings by Francis Lee Jaques complement Sig's lucid narrative. As a high school student I fell in love with Rule 13 in Strunk and White's 1913 "The Elements of Style" "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell." Sig must have been entranced by the magic of 'vigorous writing' as well. He is "the great Bourgeois" (voyageur term).