Customer Reviews

Years Of The Forest (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage)

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This is the last book in the nature series by Helen Hoover chronicling her and her husband's sixteen years in a small cabin in the Northern Minnesota wilderness. With fine pen and ink illustrations by Ade Hoover, the book is a modern day "Walden" as Helen and Ade cope with the ways of the wilderness after leaving prestigious jobs in the Chicago steel industry for a life that affords none of the comforts of modern living. High-brow readers and scientific minds will cringe with suppressed delight as The Hoovers study the natural world by feeding it, comforting it, and befriending any wayward creature that happens through their cabin door. If you like nature writing with a tinge of sentiment or if you ever imagined getting away from it all and living in a cabin in the woods, you will find this book and the entire series essential and delightful reading.

I borrowed this book from the library when I was 12 (I am 39 now). This is the one of the books I have borrowed over and over again. Now...I have bought it so other ppl can get it at the library. I have also ordered all of Helen's books. I can't wait to enjoy more of Helen's writing. She makes me long for a cabin in the woods and a simpler life. If you love nature this book is for you.

"Years of the Forest" is a companion book of Hoover's engaging tale, "A Place in the Woods", and covers approx. 13 years of the Hoover's life in the Minnesota wilderness during the 1950's-60's as Helen and Ade continue their study of the wildlife that populate their small slice of Eden.

Each chapter features a task that the couple completed on their property along with studied observations of the animals that come to see the Hoovers' as a non-threatening source of sustanance. In return, the various deer, chipmunks, red squirrels, groundhogs, bobcats, linxs, frogs, etc. provide much needed inspiration and humor for the couple as they write about (Helen) and draw (Ade) the animals in their habitat for articles (and later these very books). The Hoover's approach to life is simple and spartan and harkens back to a pioneer spirit and rugged individualism that most of us today can only faintly imagine. Their brand of conservation is more distilled and daily applied then most environmentalists today could ever handle. They truely "walked the walk".

Helen and Ade were often let down by mankind, especially as increased development in the MN wilderness and careless poachers needlessly destroyed some of the Hoover's animal friends. The final 1/4th of the book covering the late 1960's and early 1970's was really sad to read, as the Hoovers watched their little Eden slowly being covered over in asphalt roads, trailer homes, and a mindset that didn't honor the interdependance of nature. In the final chapter, Helen, while disappointed in the changes wrought by her fellow humans, also realizes that through her and Ade's small efforts, they were able to bring about a change of their own. One that was positive and that would live on in the woods and creatures they called home and friends.

I love all of the Helen Hoover series of books! I'm sadly reading my last one. If you love nature, you will love reading Helen Hoover's books.

Wonderful books. Wish she had written more. Didn't want this book to end. I loved every one of her books.

A metallurgist and her artist husband leave Chicago to live for 16 years in the deep woods of Minnesota; a back to nature success story- they spent nine years without a car. Full of pen and ink wildlife sketches by her husband Adrian.