Average Rating: 
Rating:  - An American Classic
This is a profoundly insightful and important book that ranks among the most significant American books of the Twentieth Century. It would be a mistake to describe this book as "nature writing" per se, or of that genre. It is a series of essays in wonderful prose in which nature, outdoor settings or situations provide the backdrop. But it is not written as a naturalist droning about the wonders of some aspect of nature. It is an inspired and deeply insightful description, by a man who clearly has a deep understanding of how nature works, about the ethical dimensions of our relationship with the land and our environment generally. Despite the simple elegance of the writing style, it can be seen (and I know from biographical information) the author draws from a vast experience and knowledge far outside the confines of the wildlife management, which was his professon. The ideas expressed, and the many quotable passages are a treasure trove for anyone interested in broad ideas, not to mention readers whose professions involve recreation, wildlife, natural resources management, the environment, and the teaching of these disciplines as well as ethics, philosophy, and english literature. In sum, this is a must read for virtually anyone who wishes to be familar with important American literature, as well as those with a particular interest in the environment, environmental ethics and philosophy.
Rating: - The Danger To Nature Is Our Nonparticipation
There are few books on conservation, wildlife and nature that haven't been quickly obsoleted, are hoplessly trapped in period pop cultural amber, are fronts for naive political extremism or are simply irrelevant.
Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac" is one of those few; composed of illuminating vignettes dealing with practical knowledge of and experience in the North American wilderness, thoughtful critiques of today's accepted notions of wildlife and land "management," and the realistic acceptance of the human role as a predator within nature's massive food chain. Leopold believed humanity's ever-increasing physical and psychological isolation from full but equal participation in all parts of the natural world's reality--its beauty and wonder as well as its cruelty and danger--has been to its severe detriment.
This trend, to him, is leading us to environmental carelessness, colossal misuse and waste of natural resources, and, worst of all, gives rise to an aberrant social ideology reveling in the fatuous cartoon fantasy of nature being a big, happy, perpetually peaceful commune if only humans weren't there. After looking at our sad record of pollution, repeated habitat destruction, poaching, overfishing and listening to the endless, arrogant prattle of government bureaucrats, pop conservationists and so-called animal rights activists, it seems Leopold is indeed a prophet for our times
Rating:  - Possibly the most important book in American Conservation
What does one say about a classic? Leopold obviously has his fanatic defenders, and there seems to be quite an industry these days in digging up everything that he ever wrote or said, including stuff that I imagine he would much rather have left lying. Fortunately this collection doesn't delve too deeply, and we get the best of Leopold as the conservationist/naturalist writing at the height of his powers. To be frank, the ecology of parts of Leopold's writing is very dated and in some cases simply wrong, but it is the product of a very different mind-set in which "stability" appeared to have validity, and while we may wonder at the evidence of other landscapes that Leopold ignores or skips over, we must also wonder at his skill as a writer in capturing a mood or the feel of particular places. In some ways what I find most important about Leopold -and what I point out to my "eco-fundamentalist" students- is here is someone who celebrated nature more eloquently than any other professional biologist that I have read, and yet here also is someone who never went out without his gun. In this sad age where "sportsmen" and "environmentalists" are too often on opposite sides of the same issue, it is important to reflect on an age when one could be both.
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