Seven Half-Miles from Home: Notes of a Wind River Naturalist

by Mary Back

Seven Half-Miles from Notes of a Wind River Mary Seven Half-Miles from Notes of a Wind River Johnson FIRST First Edition, First Printing. Not price-clipped. Published by Johnson Books, 1985. Octavo. Paperback. Book is very good with previous owner's label on half-title page. Seller 393066 Science & Nature

Genres: Nature

186 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1988

Reviews

[Denise]

I picked up this book sometime while working for the Forest Service when we were in Dubois, WY. I was in some little independent bookstore and decided I wanted to try a local author. It then sat on my shelves since 2007 and possibly earlier. It survived this past summer's purge of books while downsizing, and I'm glad it did.

I read it in small installments, since its mainly a summary of a naturalist's observations over 20 years in a mile wide circle around her home. While lovely, it's not riveting and my ability to focus varied. I was surprised by the quantity of different birds she had noted, whether passing through or nesting. While I'm sure her notes about ID details would be useful to adept birders, it was her stories of their personalities and antics that I enjoyed.

I appreciated the prose and accompanying illustrations of plants and animals, I was most interested in the story of Mary Back. According to the author's bio on the back cover, she had attended Art school in Chicago and founded a wildlife museum before moving to Wyoming in 1935. This book covers observations she made beginning in 1963. I found myself wondering what her life had been like.

Turns out her niece published a memoir based on Mary Black's letters and journals. I may have to check it out.

[HeavyReader]

I gave up on this one. I just couldn't get excited about reading it. I posted it on BookMooch.