The widely known naturalist combines reminiscence and observation in eloquent accounts of the land, animal life, plants, and sheer wonder of the northern United States, Alaska, Canada's northwest provinces, and the Arctic

Reflections from the North Country

Science & Math

Sigurd F. Olson

Nature & Ecology

Alfred.A. Knopf

Mr. Olson has illuminated his own cruise with quotations from journals and diaries of such men as George Simpson, David Thompson, Alexander Henry, and Alexander Mackenzie-as well as a host of other explorers-traders whose voices speak from the old Moose Fort Journals of the Hudson's Bay Company. Mr. Olson serves as the Bourgeois of the party of six-the boss who ran the trip, chose the routes, picked the camp sites. His companions and he relived for all readers of this book what life was then in the wilds of the Canadian Northwest. Mr. Olson combines his inimitable ability to evoke the beauties and wonders of the wilderness-its animals, birds, and its very spirit-with a dramatic talent for taking the reader along the route of the men who pioneered that wilderness. Francis Lee Jacques, whose genius to evoke the wilderness in pen and ink is unchallenged, has illuminated this book by his drawings, as he did The Singing Wilderness and Listening Point.

The Lonely Land

History

Americas

The northern regions of Canada and Alaska provide the setting for a collection of legends and folk yarns

Runes of the North

Earth Sciences

KNOPF

MCCLELLAND STEWART

The Singing Wilderness is Sigurd Olson's first and best-selling book, with over 70,000 copies sold in hardcover since its release in 1956. Now available in paperback for the first time, this volume established Olson as a major writer renowned for the beauty of his prose and the clarity of his vision.
"The singing wilderness has to do with the calling of the loons, northern lights, and the great silences of a land lying northwest of Lake Superior", Olson writes. "It is concerned with the simple joys, the timelessness and perspective found in a way of life that is close to the past. I have heard the singing in many places, but I seem to hear it best in the wilderness".
Olson tells his story through descriptions of the simple events in nature that bring meaning to his life: picking berries, looking for pine knots, fly-fishing, hiking through the forest, paddling a canoe. "The movement of a canoe is like a reed in the wind", he writes. "Silence is part of it, and the sounds of lapping water, bird songs, and wind in the trees. It is part of the medium through which it floats, the sky, the water, the shores".

The Singing Wilderness (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage)

Univ. of Minnesota Press

Sigurd F. Olson (1899-1982) was one of the greatest environmentalists of the twentieth century. A conservation activist and popular writer, Olson introduced a generation of readers to the importance of wilderness. He served as president of the Wilderness Society and the National Parks Association and as a consultant to the federal government on wilderness preservation and ecological problems. He earned many honors, including the highest possible from the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, and Izaak Walton League.   Olson is perhaps best known, though, for his many books that express the wonder, awe, and peace he found in the wilderness, including the nature classics The Singing Wilderness, Listening Point, and Reflections from the North Country. While these books have greatly influenced subsequent environmentalist movements and writers such as Annie Dillard and Barry Lopez, a major portion of Olson's wilderness writing-much of it originating as speeches-has been relatively inaccessible, scattered in a number of magazines and obscure books over a period of more than fifty years, or never published at all.   The Meaning of Wilderness gathers together the most important of Sigurd Olson's articles and speeches, making them available for the first time. The book also contains an introduction and chapter-by-chapter commentary by Olson's authorized biographer, David Backes, that help the reader discover the various facets of Olson's wilderness philosophy and their development over time. A lively look at the evolution of one of environmentalism's greatest figures, The Meaning of Wilderness will be essential reading for Olson fans, historians, and outdoors people around the country.  David Backes is the author of A Wilderness Within: The Life of Sigurd F. Olson (Minnesota, 1997), winner of the 1998 Small Press Book Award for biography. Backes is also the author of Canoe Country: An Embattled Wilderness (1991) and The Wilderness Companion (1992).

The Meaning of Wilderness (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage)

University of Minnesota Press

Meaning Of Wilderness

Photographs reveal an intimate view of the forest and its inhabitants, with essays showing its beauty and meaning

The Hidden Forest

Biological Sciences

Voyageur Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sigurd F. Olson. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sigurd F. Olson

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sigurd F. Olson. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Reflections from the North Country

The Lonely Land

Runes of the North

The Lonely Land

The Singing Wilderness (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage)

The Meaning of Wilderness (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage)

Meaning Of Wilderness

The Hidden Forest