The book has great detail and many photos. I believe it to be a very good book and I enoyed it very much.

I am not a Rick Bass expert. I have only read In the Loyal Mountins, The Watch, and now Wild to the Heart, but i love his writting. Wild to the Heart is no different. The book contains thirteen essays written by Bass ranging in scope from Siera Club meetings to birthday partys that involve both canoeing and clog dancing. This book is filled with all of Bass' genius, the simple but magical language, the vivid descriptions of nature, and his interacting with people and earth. I love the way that Bass can write about nature and hiking and even if you've never done these things, he brings them alive and shows the beauty of them. The thing that I liked most about this book (and all his books) is the fact that his language is clear and easy to approach. He doesn't bog the writing down by trying to show off his masterfull vocabulary, and this creates very fluid prose. Such descriptions as "niglets of rain splatter us" are so interesting, and he never seems to use cliche metaphors. This book is strong all the way through, but I would have to pick "On Camp Robbers, Rock Swifts, and Other Things Wild to the Heart," as my favorite. There is a scene in which he's describing different birds that both hade me laughing and wondering at how someone could write so well. The only reason I didn't give it five stars was that i found the story "Paying Dues" a little weak and it got a little preachy towards the end. While this book is not as good as "The Watch" (but really, how could it be) it is most definatley a great book and worth anyone's time who cares to read it.

I have never known people to moan endlessly in their sleep night after night. Nor, have I ever known people to lose consciousness for weeks at a time in a depressive slumber. And, I have never met a man who would haplessly give up all wordly conveniences to live in a frozen tundra with another man's lover all for an overly possessive boss. O'kay, so maybe I have never been a wolf tracker in Northwest Montana in dead winter or a driven geologist, but still... Rick Bass' novel is an ambitious saga about an uncoventional love triangle, well actually its a square between naturalist daughter, possessive tycoon father, and two (2) young geologists in pursuit of fossil fuel in the remote parts of Montana. The scenery is painted very beautifully by Bass and particularly interesting, is his portrayal of the town casket carver, weaving wonderful metaphors between the animals decorating the tombs and the townspeople for whom they are built. Unfortunately, Bass' rich descriptions of the Montana winter are not nearly as convincing as the psychology that plays out between the characters. We just never really understand what drives these people except perhaps for Old Dudley(the seminal capitalist), whose primal need is to control everything in his grubby path. Mel, Old Dudley's daughter, is portrayed as an eminently rugged woman content to follow her life's work of tracking wolves. However, this same strong willed individual takes in her father's proteges without thought and argument allowing them to complicate her simple life. It just isnt believable. The cold these people endure day in and day out is just not believable. In short, the characters and their lives, are just not believable. Perhaps raw poetry would better suit this author, paint me a rich snowy landscape not an empty protagonist.

Rick Bass has pulled off a masterpiece in his first novel about man or machine versus nature. The story operates on two levels - the contest between four central characters - a sort of King Lear and his daughters, except in this case one daughter and two proteges who are stand-ins for sons, geologists/oil drillers/naturalists. The other level is the backdrop of Big Sky country, Montana. The book is also big, long, and challenging, and sometimes hard to get your mind around. For those who want their stories in small doses and to get to the point fast, this book is not for you. It demands a leisurely pace, which makes even I who am a patient reader sometimes squirm. The only flaw with regard to length are some of the Dudley passages on the formation of the earch, which form a story within a story. A lot of that I think could have been trimmed back. Some if it, and especially, Dudley's personal story is integral to the novel. Yet, you will do yourself a disservice if you skip over the lush and lengthy descriptions of the main story. There is a reason for it. The setting and the characters are intertwined. The setting shapes the characters and the characters shape the setting. Could Bass or someone else have a written a shorter book on the same topic? Probably, but the effect would have been lost. Some say it is pretentious. I disagree. This is a book of magnitude and scale, in other words, an epic and it needs size. To use an overworked metaphor, I believe the story has to brew likely good coffee or decant like fine wine. The story is ultimately satisfying on all levels if you allow it.

In reading over the previous reviews, I was astounded to see so many readers criticizing Bass for being too much of a conservationist or asking for the return of Hemingway. This is a novel and should be taken as such. Yes, is does revolve around Bass' love of nature, but Hemingway's novels tended to center around things he was passionate about too. So what about the book itself? It definitely has its occasional flaws, but any of Bass' works should be read slowly and enjoyed for the intimacy that they provide. As a first attempt at a novel, I enjoyed the lengthy depictions that his previous novellas and short stories weren't able to contain due to page restraints. Bass has a lot to say, the length of the book is testimony to this, and it is in the places and people that he describes that this aspect rings most true. This book is more about descriptions than it is about plot. Yes, some may find this a fault, but any reader of Bass will understand that this is simply his style, and he is damn good at it. I recommend this book highly, but be warned, it will take a bit to get into, but it is also worth the effort.

Rick Bass, You have hardly the talent you say you have in the interview in writers market 99, your writing is dull and its ridiculously lame you won the james jones fellowship given your publishing credits...Uh, well at least your last novel or whatever you call it got trashed by the critics, and they seem to agree with me. Quit plagiarizing yourself and try to interest the reader, you arrogant tree-hugger. I do, however, think you might write a great one one day, but it is highly doubtful due to your poor attitude etc...

I have long been an admirer and fan of Rick Bass' works. He is a nature writer that understands the importance of landscape and wild places and creatures to the human spirit and the necessity to have all the appropriate elements of a particular landscape to make it complete. The Mexican wolf has been gone from the American Southwest for 70 years and Bass argues that the reintroduction of these wolves into this area is one of rightness and inevitability, as the landscape wants and cries for the wolves to be here. The book is sprinkled with a varied cast of characters, from Ted Turner and an assortment of wildlife biologists, (the heros of this story,) ranchers, students, amd many others. All points of view are thoughtfully considered and also the land and the wolves are described in the haunting manner that only Rick Bass can fashion. A great book for anyone interested in wolves, ecology, biology, or just landscape and nature and our human connection to it. I would highly recommend this book.

With masterpieces such as "Airships" and "Ray" under his belt, this one-volume collection of Barry Hannah's two 90s novels comes as somewhat of a disappointment. Barry Hannah is no doubt one of the most gifted and interesting writers in contemporary America, but in the 1990s his best work has to be found in short story collections like "Bats Out of Hell" and "High Lonesome".

"Boomerang" is an obviously autobiographical story, and unlike what you might expect, it is not that exciting. Like "Ray", Hannah's best novel, "Boomerang" consists of small vignettes and lacks a plot. The only thing that holds it together and which makes it interesting to read is the language. There are moment of hilarious and tragic insight in this story of friends and lovers; the one that still stands out to me after two years is the passage about a friend who dies on the golf course: "Maybe he knew he was going to end up on the fairway, on the practice tee. Maybe he was playing for little Jeff his son, and for my son, Po, and for me, and for JoElla his wife - to go away with your sport shoes on, trying to get the ball to go into the sky and hit God's dumb foot" (52). In "Boomerang" the language is there, but the story is not.

"Never Die" takes place in the dying Old West. Rarely has Hannah displayed a set of more bizarre and grotesque characters, but unfortunately the story, and interest for it, gets lost in this postmodern puzzle of honor and revenge. It is not a bad novel, but knowing that Hannah can do (and has done) so much better, it seems only halfway done.

This is a very usefullbook if you have more than a basic knowledge in Jazz, but if you are lookin to expand to the world of jazz you are aiming a little high with this book. Have a grat of usefull techniques ans scales to enrich your jazz knowledge.. Hoping you can get something of my advise...

I love this series and I have all the books - so I know. It hurts me to only offer three stars but, simply, this one just isn't as good as the rest. First of all, it's nothing like as advertised above. There are 18 stories, but only 9 of those shown on that cover, which has been redesigned, too - I don't know what happened. Despite the publisher's notes above, there is NOTHING from Bonington, Venables or Davidson - no story of -148 wind chill on Mt. McKinley (the one I anticipated most). We got some wires crossed here someplace. Of the 18 stories you do get, 5 of them are fiction (including the 2 longest )- a greater percentage than any other in the series except "Dark". Of the 13 nonfiction tales, several have very little to do with survival as we've come to know it from earlier books in the series - they really just express wonder at nature. I'm surprised at the inclusion of "The Storm" by Junger - it fits, sure, but it's so well-known by now, and one of the best features of the Adrenaline Series has been how it introduces us to stories and authors we may not know. I do not mean to say that these aren't well-written pieces: the ones by Chaplin, Groom and Gann are riveting. I guess it just depends on what you expect. But don't let this book be your introduction to this awesome series; get High, Epic or Wild Blue instead, and if you've read them already, don't expect as much here.