Customer Reviews

Colorado River Reader

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This compilation of exceptionally well-written excerpts is a wonderfully varied introduction to, or refresher of, longer works from some of the best authors of books about the Colorado River and its environs. The works range from the predictable, e.g., the writings of John Wesley Powell, Edward Abbey, and Ann Zwinger, to the unexpectedly insightful, e.g., the Paiute Indian Legend and a chapter about the Datura plant by Linda Hogan. Author Richard F. Fleck has carefully chosen writings that portray a variety of perspectives, each an invitation to a longer, more developed work of comparable quality. This is not the only collection of writings about the Colorado River, but it is one of the best edited. If you are looking for a listing of masterworks as recommendations for further reading you have to look no further than the Table of Contents of A Colorado River Reader. But beware, this introduction to the mythology, history, sport, philosophy, ecology, geology, and biology of the Colorado River may cause you to spend additional money on the books from which these passages were excerpted. Of course, and I know from personal experience, money spent on any of these books will be money well spent.