Beautifully written book. I did not want it to end. I read many essays out loud to my husband and they were even more moving the 2nd time. We have just moved to the USA Northwest. The places she speaks of and the insights she reveals having been there are beyond inspiring. I want to read all of her books and go to all the places she writes about to allow nature to move me in only the way it can. ( )

"In these twenty elegant essays, a philosopher and amateur naturalist meanders along the rivers and streams of the american West-and muses on love, loss, aging, motherhood, happiness, the art of poking around, and other important matters."

I loved this book, and read it very slowly to savor it. Each essay is a glittering jewel, poignant reflections on nature, her family, love, aging, loss and the art of poking around. I'm keeping it to read over again, and again. ( )

My dad loaned me this book awhile back, saying he thought I'd like it. I guess that by now he knows at least some veins of my taste pretty well. I loved this book. Reading it was the next best thing to actually being out in the woods. Each essay revolves around time spent on, in, and around a specific river. Most of the rivers are in the western U.S. (many in Oregon), and much of the time Kathleen spends enjoying them is with her husband and two children. It sounds like the kids had an idyllic upbringing of hiking, camping, fishing, and exploring in some beautifully wild and isolated places. Kathleen is a philosophy professor and so what she observes in nature is always put in the greater contexts of life and human nature. Excellent nature writing that is sure to please fans of Thoreau, Muir, Dillard, etc. ( )