On the Loose (Paperback)

by Renny Russell (Author), Terry Russell (Author) "Have you ever walked 34 miles on a straight-arrow dirt road in the desert with only a Jang-jar of some rusty water because you expected..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
This is a most wondrous and unusual book. Its scattered text and stunning photographs convey a spirit of reverence and adventure that will cause readers to recall their own private epiphanies gained through contact with the natural world. Originally published by the Sierra Club in 1967, On the Loose sold more than a million copies before going out of print a decade ago; this gorgeous re-release is bound to find a new generation of readers.

The artful photographs, mostly taken by the Russell brothers, capture Yosemite, Point Reyes, the High Sierra, the Great Basin, and Glen Canyon in the 1950s and 1960s. The text--quotes, poems, pithy observations--perfectly complements the images as the Russells write about both the wonder of the American West as well as humanity's role in its destruction. Rather than preach or admonish, they offer an eloquent plea for compassion and understanding on behalf of the places that touched them deeply:

We live in a house that God built but that the former tenants remodelled--blew up, it looks like--before we arrived. Poking through the rubble in our odd hours, we've found the corners that were spared and have hidden in them as much as we could. Not to escape from but to escape to: not to forget but to remember.

There is a wisdom and sincerity on these pages that belies their age (Terry was 21 when they wrote the book; Renny was 19) and the book is filled with memorable quotes such as, "It feels good to say 'I know the Sierra' or 'I know Point Reyes.' But of course you don't--what you know better is yourself, and Point Reyes and the Sierra have helped." Tragically, Terry died in 1965 while on a rafting trip down the Green River with his brother to celebrate the impending publication of their book.

At its core, On the Loose is an elegant invitation to gain insight by looking outward: "The point of it all is Out There, a little beyond that last rise you can just barely see, hazy and purple on the sky. These pages are windows. And windows are to see through." And what a view it is. --Shawn Carkonen

Product Description
On the Loose is a chronicle of triumph and tragedy -- the triumph of gaining an insight about oneself through an understanding of the natural world; the tragedy of seeing the splendor of that world increasingly threatened by people who don't know or don't care. The color and black-and-white photographs, all taken by the authors, capture Yosemite, Point Reyes, the High Sierra, the Great Basin, and Glen Canyon in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith Publishers (May 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879059958
• ISBN-13: 978-0879059958
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #385,747 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What goes around, August 12, 2003

By	"lbkinglet2" (Ben Lomond, CA United States) - See all my reviews

How ironic it is to see that this book is about to be published once again. I was first given a copy in 1969, my freshman year of college, and it was the first publication I'd ever held in my hands that spoke of wilderness as something that could enlarge and enlighten the inner life of a human being. What interested me most was the fact that the Russell boys were the only people I've yet encountered to go into Glen Canyon before it was flooded to document at least some of all that was about to be lost. Given the unsuitability of the geology of the area, and the Native American sites that present day laws would have protected, it's highly instructive to have this book to illustrate what was drowned before most Americans even knew it existed. I'd certainly never heard of Glen Canyon before I picked up "On the Loose."

The merits of the Glen Canyon dam were shakey even in the sixties, but the momentum for building big dam projects could not be entirely overcome by the cautionary minority of long-term thinkers. In the end, Glen Canyon was sacrificed partly so that the Grand Canyon might escape the two dams proposed for it. In the decades since, the creation of a 180+ mile reservoir where once a mostly unexplored canyon complex once stood has proven of far less value than it's more famous cousins Hoover and Coulee, and fallen far short of it's promoters' promises. And now patient Nature, always the eventual winner, is taking her canyons back via drought, evaporation, leakage into the porous sandstones, and every dam's nemesis, siltation. Add in the fact that there is a growing movement to take the dam itself down and let the canyonlands heal as best they can, and you've got powerful incentive to revisit the Russells' little book, to see what once was and may once be again.

I hope the surviving Russell brothers have had good lives. Their beautiful book certainly struck a chord in me and a lot of people I know.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly wonderful, August 25, 2001

By	C. Maytag "Educator Science Geek" (bouler, colorado) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book changed my life. I was given a copy while in high school in the mountains of colorado. I was, and continue to be, inpired by this book. My days and nights under the open sky of the west have filled my life with joy - and this book helped get me out there after growing up a city boy in california. Buy it, read it, and give copies to everyone you know.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "full circle", November 10, 2002

By A Customer

I have a well-worn copy of the original printing by Sierra Club Books, which inspired my own travels in the American West. To find "On the Loose" back in print, nearly 30 years later, and to give the book as a gift to my son, is to come "full circle."