AMERICAN NATURE WRITING 1996 selected by...

AMERICAN NATURE WRITING 1996 selected by John A. Murray (Sierra Club Books: $15.; 300 pp., paperback original). Rick Bass’ ominous essay “Thunder & Lightning” sets the tone for the latest volume in this annual series: “Time is so short, and the land, the entire West, is no longer being cut up into halves or quarters or even eighths, but into sixty-fourths now, and one-hundred-twenty-eighths next year, and then into thousandths, and millionths, while we sit complacently idle, or at best strap on our roller blades and hitch up our sagging Lycra.” Judith Lowry explains the advantages of landscaping with native plants; Gary Nabhan recalls the mentor who encouraged his interest in the agaves of the Southwestern desert. It’s difficult to understand, however, why readers should care about Marybeth Holleman’s touchy-feely account of schlepping a 6-week-old baby on a camping trip.