And the winner is...

...Aldo Leopold! Yes, that means nothing at this moment, but let me explain...

I love to read. I had actually forgotten how much I loved to read when I was in grad school because I had to read so many papers for my thesis that I never had a chance to read anything not related to dolphin strandings and/or physical oceanography. About a year after I moved to Charleston I picked up a book and suddenly realized I had totally forgotten how great it is to get lost in a good book. I've been back on my reading kick since then, with a few months here and there when I get too busy and don't have time to read the book by my bed before falling asleep. I was on a roll with some really incredible books all in a row a few months ago - Eiger Dreams, The Kite Runner, Miracle in the Andes, Into His Likeness, The Chronicles of Narnia and Gardenias for Breakfast. I then entered one of those overwhelmed, 'it's all I can do to keep my eyes open while I'm walking to the bed let alone once I hit the pillow' months.

I came out of it a bit unsure where I wanted to start. I have this pile of books that people have given me to read or that I've found somewhere and thought they looked interesting, so this weekend I picked one off the pile and started reading. By page 10 I was totally bored and not in the mood to push my way through to the point I got interested. So, I picked up the next one - same thing, only this time I gave up after page 5. I'm generally not one that gives up on books, because I usually find you can get into them eventually and it's worth the read. But, this was not one of those times I was in the mood to force myself to get to the part that drew me in. So I moved onto book 3 - again, totally uninterested, I tried a few different times throughout the day and finally gave up.

At this point the weekend was over but Monday morning I had a dentist appointment which generally necessitates having some reading material for the waiting room so I grabbed book number 4 and headed out to see if perhaps I had a winner. And low and behold I did! Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac. This has been one of those books I felt like I should have read a long time ago (like Origin of Species, which I have also tried to start about 10 times and never made it past page 20), but never got around to it. It happened to be next on the pile, and I am SO GLAD IT WAS! It is incredible. When I read the first two sentences of the forward I thought I may have been in luck..."There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot." Looking good, I read on and suddenly see everything that I see in my job but don't know how to explain written out in his forward - I haven't even made it to the book yet! ..."like winds and sunsets, wild things are taken for granted until progress began to do away with them...our bigger-and-better society is now like a hypochondriac, so obsessed with its own economic health as to have lost the capacity to remain healthy."

Ironically enough, I got called into get my teeth cleaned before I ever got to the first chapter, so I was very excited last night to start reading again (which is my meter of a good book - how fast I rush through dinner so I can start reading). I am completely in love with Aldo Leopold. I now see why he is so famous and why this book is a major staple in the environmental movement reading. The first part is a description of each month and what is happening in the woods when he goes for a walk. I'm sure it sounds horrid for people who 'can live without wild things' as he puts it, but it is wonderful for people who love walking through a forest and hearing the sounds of the leaves under their feet. His descriptions of animals is great - it has a bit of the personification thing you aren't supposed to do in the pure scientific world so as to make it not feel like a stuffy text book, but enough of the details to make you not feel like you are just reading someone's diary. "Further on I find a bloody spot, encircled by a wide-sweeping arc of owl's wings. To this rabbit the thaw brought freedom from want, but also a reckless abandonment of fear. The owl has reminded him that thoughts of spring are no substitute for caution."

So, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with Mr. Leopold for the next half hour until I really need to turn off the light and go to bed. Happy reading!