Only a Little Planet

by David Brower (editor/foreword), Lawrence Collins, Martin Schweitzer (Photographer)

"Most of the photographs, which range from a Pacific cove to a rain-washed street just off Park Avenue, are details--partly by design & partly because that is the way they happened. The subtleties of light & weather, the happy accidents of things uniquely & briefly together, are always about us for the seeing."
128 pages of Collins' poetry & Schweitzer's color photography juxtaposed.

127 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

David Ross Brower was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club Foundation, the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, Friends of the Earth (1969), the League of Conservation Voters, Earth Island Institute (1982), North Cascades Conservation Council, and Fate of the Earth Conferences. From 1952 to 1969 he served as the first Executive Director of the Sierra Club, and served on its board three times: from 1941–1953; 1983–1988; and 1995-2000. As a younger man, he was a prominent mountaineer.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a lovely serendipitous relationship with this book. After finding this book at the used book sale of a public library, I immediately fell in love with it. Years later, while cleaning out the basement at my mother's house, I found a copy on the shelf. I have never met anyone who knows of this book...

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dad has alwaya, so far as I can remember, been an environmentalist and a joiner of environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, the Lake Michigan Federation and the like. He even has regularly contributed to a group devoted to the preservation of wolves in the wild, enjoying their recordings of the animals which he would play to excite the household dog.

One kind of benefit of all this contributing and joining would normally be the publications of the groups concerned, magazines and books. This title is from The Friends of the Earth and like similar books from the Sierra Club it consists substantially of beautiful nature photographs, here accompanied by what may loosely be described as poetry.

The ideological contagion extended to both my brother and myself. He received Ranger Rick magazine throughout his childhood. I subscribed to Natural History magazine. The family, inevitably, received National Geographic.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A random library find... More picture than words, I enjoyed the simple significance of this timeless book.

[Mike K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really dope combination of photos and writing. Simple and powerful, if not bleak, message.