false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173888844m/340466.jpg 340466 2 In <i>Flight Maps</i>, essayist Jennifer Price methodically accounts for the fall of the passenger pigeon, the rise of the pink lawn flamingo, the propagation of nature-themed mall stores, and what all this has to do with modern humanity's relationship to nature. The book began as an award-winning doctoral dissertation at Yale, now repackaged for the mainstream reader. Primarily a smart meditation for baby boomers on why a Volvo can't save your soul and why the name "Nature Company" should seem ironic, <I>Flight Maps</I> is a long, scholarly riff on how nature has evolved into a place apart. We fumble to revisit and recapture it, with everything from Toyota 4Runners to Rainforest Crunch candy.<p> Price's observations center around how our actions, our beliefs, and--especially--our purchases betray an idealized but conflicted view of nature: it's an undiluted source of "realness," but also a remote and abstract ideal, often mangled by our embrace. <I>Flight Maps</I> traces these attitudes back to 19th-century America, recounting the extinction of passenger pigeons and the faltering first steps of early conservation groups. The book's second and best half, though, covers the present, finding nature's place in the mall. Price's lightly jaded sense of humor, combined with her academic rigor, perfectly skewers the likes of <I>Northern Exposure</I>'s $5,000-a-day moose and stress-relief products from the Nature Company's catalog, such as "Pachelbel Canon in D Blended with the Eternal Sound of the Sea--Creates a tranquil atmosphere for quiet meditation.... CD $16.98"). <I>--Paul Hughes</I> 330852 1999 Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America total:57|5:10|4:21|3:20|2:5|1:1| 57 205 78 11 4 0 false false Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 05 04:50:11 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 09 17:04:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 31 10:09:00 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 13:44:21 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 22 20:49:43 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 20:51:08 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Sep 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 18:36:50 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 18:36:50 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Feb 19 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 19 14:24:09 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 19 14:24:09 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 29 11:36:25 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 29 11:47:33 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sun Apr 26 19:27:09 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 20:44:57 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue May 13 11:26:39 -0700 2008 Tue May 20 08:16:00 -0700 2008 4 1 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 26 15:20:15 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 26 15:22:10 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Wed Dec 26 05:43:04 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 26 05:43:04 -0800 2007 3 0 false false Tue Jul 10 12:39:46 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 25 17:58:28 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Thu Nov 19 01:17:47 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 01:17:47 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Thu Oct 01 08:22:52 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 08:22:52 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Sep 15 08:42:27 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 15 08:42:27 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Sep 14 20:55:21 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 20:55:21 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Aug 11 12:31:58 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 12:32:12 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Aug 11 10:13:08 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 10:13:08 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 12:42:09 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 12:42:09 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Aug 02 14:29:03 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 14:29:03 -0700 2009 1 2 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 04:32:01 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 04:32:18 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=340466