Review 573: A Sand County Almanac: with other essays

A Sand County Almanac: With Essays on Conservation from Round River by Aldo Leopold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many years ago I read about half of this book, the first Part – A Sand County Almanac, for an Environmental Literature class while doing my undergraduate studies at University. The professor said the rest of the book wasn’t worth reading, as it wasn’t his best work. But I had always wanted to get back to the book and finish the rest of it. Now, I finally have.

Perhaps he was right in that the first portion is very good, but the other essays were very much worth reading.

Aldo Leopold died in 1948 and this book was first published shortly after his death, being over a decade before Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Leopold’s book then being the first to warn of the ecological damage.

The book is broken into 4 Parts:

Part I: A Sand County Almanac

Part II: The Quality of Landscape

Part III: A Taste for Country

Part IV: The Upshot

Each part is then divided into many more sections and subsections. Part I is broken down to each month, with some further subsections. Part II is divided by some geographic regions. Part III is the only one that doesn’t have subsections. The last two parts are essays, all with the same theme as the rest of the book. My print book is accompanied by line drawings throughout the book. Sometimes the bird or animal doesn’t quite match what is being discussed, but still it is a nice accompaniment.

I listened to an unabridged audiobook for much of this, but it was lacking many of the essays, such as the entire part 3 of my print book. Perhaps there are different versions of this book of what is included.

The author is a hunter, but you can see by the end of this book that he begins to think that taking photographs is perhaps a better way to hunt. Other than the pro-hunting aspects, this is an excellent book. There are many well-turned sentences and passages that make this one of those books you can return to time and again. I’m glad to have finally read the entire book.

Prior to this latest reading:
Read the first half - A Sand County Almanac portion, the other two shorter portions I haven't yet read: Sketches Here and There, and The Upshot. Keep meaning to get back to it.