Customer Reviews

The Painted Desert: Land of Wind and Stone (Desert Places)

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This is the latest book to be published by the University of Arizona Press in their Desert Places Series and it is an absolutely wonderful offering.
For some time now they have been publishing books on selected desert places as diverse as The San Luis Valley, The Black Rock Desert, The Grand Canyon, Organ Pipe Cuctus, and now The Painted Desert. One factor that has tied these diverse landscapes together for the reader is the top notch writers and photographers selected to present what turns out to be both a wonderful rand and stunningly beautiful photographs.
This relatively short book, just 96 pages, will take the reader from the Grand Canyon to the Petrified Forest National Park in a landscape rarely seen by the traveling public, especially those that take the Petrified Forest exit off Interstate 40. The Painted Desert runs some 200 miles across northeastern Arizona and most lies within Indian country, Navajo and Hopi. It contains not only the largest collection of petrified wood in the world but an abundance of natural beauty, scientific phenomeon's, and an intriguing history within its windswept, sandy, difficult landscape. It is believed the land dates back some 225 million years to the Late Triassic period and indeed some of the best fossil records and rock formations are found in this area that receives less than ten inches of rain yearly and where the strongest winds in Arizona blow sand into dune fields and cover and uncover treasures long sought after by scientists, collectors, and photographers.
Not only is there a discussion of the geology, paleontology, anthropology, and human history of the area but just enough personal stories and insights to make the reader think Thybony is sitting with them sharing a cup of coffee and his experiences in this national treasure little known to most travelers.
It addition to the book being a real plaeasure to read, thanks to award winning writer Scott Thybony and his highly readable literary style, the photographs are strinkingly beautiful and a credit to David Edwards, himself a sixteen year veteral of photographing for the likes of National Geographic.
This is a worthy addition the the Desert Places series. But beware, after reading this book the reader is liable to just have to order the others in the series. They are that good and inexpensive to boot. Highly recommended.

The Painted Desert is one of those landscapes that most Americans have heard of but few have a chance to discover. Much of it is remote, accessible only on bad dirt roads. Even at the one national park made from the Painted Desert, the star billing goes to the Petrified Wood. As a tourist attraction the Painted Desert has to compete with the more famous and more dramatic geo-architecture nearby. Fortunately the University of Arizona Press has given us its Desert Places series, teaming up writers and photographers who know their places well, offering a more personal and literary experience of a place than you'd find in the average guidebook.

The writer/photographer team for the Painted Desert is well-chosen. Scott Thybony is the only white person who has both herded Navajo sheep and discovered dinosaur fossils in the Painted Desert. Dave Edwards is a world-class photographer who has spent decades exploring deserts from the Grand Canyon to Mongolia.

Edwards might seem to be placed at a disadvantage by the Desert Places format, which is limited to black-and-white photographs for a place defined by its colors. But his keen eye for desert shapes, light subtleties, and weather moods succeeds in bringing out the personality of the Painted Desert.

Thybony takes us on a personal trek into the desert, letting us meet its geology and famous residents--both its fossils and its Navajo residents today. He shares stories of some of the unlikely characters who have come to the Painted Desert, from fossil hunters to movie makers.

Best of all, Thybony offers us a poetic eye: "A mythic perspective comes easily in the desert. I find myself drawn to places where the normal sense of time collapses...Out here the tracks of strange life-forms punch holes in the solid present, weakening its hold."

Arizona's Painted Desert area is not only overlooked by most tourists because of its inhospitable terrain and difficulty of access, but has received relatively little mention - so any who would understand the region must have THE PAINTED DESERT: LAND OF WIND AND STONE in their collection. Black and white photos of the landscape by David Edwards accompany a first-person survey of the author and photographer's encounters in the area.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The book is 76 short pages of anecdotes, some apparently taking place during a trip the author took with a photographer through the region, and some apparently as flashbacks of previous experiences. I learned nothing about the geology or geography, little about the people of the area, and got no useful information for planning a trip to the area. The book includes what look like some nice B&W photos, but the photos are reproduced using about half the page in the already-small format of the book (remainder of photo pages is blank space).

Fast and pleasant reading, but only mildly entertaining, not at all useful, and not worth the $10+ I spent to get it.