Nature Literature discussion

Please add your comments about Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World: Essays to this thread.

I finished reading this collection of essays a few days ago. A common theme is geography, a personal connection to a physical place. He seeks this connection in all the places he visits but it’s clear that in his childhood in Southern California and as an adult at his home in Oregon he feels this connection most profoundly.
Reading the second essay, “An IntimateGeography”, I was reminded of my own childhood in central Florida where I spent more waking hours outdoors than in. There was a wooded lot just across the narrow lane with underbrush too thick for walking but we blazed trails for crawling, hiding and exploring. Lopez writes that we experience this primal connection “as the easing of a particular kind of longing”. That’s what I like about reading Lopez— he finds words to express what I feel and that I never imagined could be put into words.

I had meant to reread this book when I nominated it for Book of the Month but things became crazy busy. I also don't recall seeing a notice that the discussion had begun.
Anyhow, it is a great book.

This book has great joy, found through pain. The story about him being detained by the police because a suspect in a crime "looked Mexican" is eye-opening. The essay "Sliver of Sky" discusses how he suffered childhood trauma. It is an important topic seldom discussed.