Rambling walkabout

Acclaimed ecology author Bill McKibben takes us on a thoughtful walkabout through “the home turf of my adult life,” beginning on Vermont’s Mt. Abraham, crossing Lake Champlain, striding deep into the heart of the Adirondacks’ 6 million miles of wilderness.

In populous Vermont, he ponders vexing questions of agriculture, economy and sociology; in the Adirondacks he examines the essence of wild, marvels at the different stratagems that evolution puts into play, and proves that wilderness is not just a western thing. It’s a congenial, conversational ramble.

Along the trail he picks up beekeepers, bakers, teachers, rangers, poets and ornithologists. Their opinions challenge and expand McKibben’s solo ruminations on the human condition and the glory of the land. It is the kind of conversation that “has almost died out in our nation, drowned by the roar of thoughtless commerce.” In the end he finds hope and the promise that life is “threatening to make sense.”

-- Susan Dworski