sam

3.5 stars. Very interesting history on Sauvies Island with plenty of humorous anecdotes sprinkled in. The author started to lose me a bit when discussing how superior the white folks were to the Native Americans in terms of using the land. An unfortunate part of the book. But otherwise, a solid read.

I could read Bryson on anything and enjoy it. This one felt a bit disorganized at times, but it was still quite good.

3.5 stars - some fascinating information and research, but ironically meanders a bit too much to be completely cohesive.

I love Pollan's writing style. While I'll admit to feeling a bit tricked by the synopsis (spoiler: he doesn't build the place truly on his own), in the end, the book got me thinking about aspects of place and space that I rarely do.

I found her writing style and the organization to be a bit of a drag. Very awesome story, though.

There were some good points in here. However, the author repeats himself over and over. This book could have been half the length and had the same effect. He also has a very poor excuse for his lifestyle, which goes against everything he argues for in the book

I didn't dislike this book, but it felt like it could have ended after 100 pages and been just as good. And as many others point out, the constant comparisons and stories about T.H. White seem odd and mostly out of place.

Absolutely terrifying book given what's happened in the last few months. I couldn't recommend it more.

I'm a huge fan of the TV show, but this book might be better. The characters are different than the show to some small extent, but mostly the same. The writing is superb and the story is as captivating as I knew it would be from watching the show.

A pretty good story, but I'm not a fan of her writing style.

Great writing, but for whatever reason this book didn't do a whole lot for me.

The writing at time feels very rudimentary, but the story is engrossing. It only took two sittings for me to read it, if that's any indication.

This book suffers from unnecessary length. The middle of it is a bit of a slog, and to me it didn't carry the same power and imagery throughout as some of Stegner's other books. Still, there are moments where you remember how incredible of a writer he is – enough of them for the book to be worth reading.

I would give this 3.5 stars if I could.

A pretty good read about a complicated man/myth. As someone else mentioned, this seems like it may have been a pet project of Stegner's and thus didn't get his full attention. At times it was a bit of a slog but overall it was a well written book with some beautifully written moments we all know Stegner was so capable of crafting.

A beautiful book about life, death, and friendship. Wallace Stegner is such an excellent writer and tells a relatively simple story with such intricacy and grace. Truly a pleasure to read.

Lengthy but captivating and extremely well written.

A fantastic read about animals full of eye opening realizations of how full of ourselves we as humans are.

Basically this - really picks up towards the end https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11938852

I'd really give this more of a 3.5 - a fascinating book about a man I knew nothing about (and I suspect many others are the same). To me, the most interesting parts were the ones detailing his adventures in South America, and how he impacted George Perkins Marsh, Ernst Haeckl, and John Muir. There was a lot in the middle of the book, coinciding with AH's middle age, that was honestly a slog. Also, the way that Wulf uses (or doesn't use) commas just bothers the crap out of me for some reason.

Fascinating story, vapid writing.

Hard to put down...but some of the plot felt forced.

I found the whole thing to at times ever too much into “college stoner” territory, and it could have been more succinct in general. But the language is certainly beautiful, as is the message.