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Northern Wild: Best Contemporary Canadian Nature Writing
This provocative and illuminating collection of essays presents the most exciting contemporary voices in Canadian nature writing, including some of Canada's best-known and most distinguished nature writers as well as the most promising new talents. From British Columbia's ancient rain forests to the Miramichi River in New Brunswick to the vast expanses of the North, the relationship between people and wild places is explored with passion, wisdom, humour, reverence and a naturalist's eye for detail. Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
David R. Boyd
20 books52 followersDavid R. Boyd is an environmental lawyer, professor, and advocate for recognition of the right to live in a healthy environment. Boyd is the award-winning author of seven books and more than 100 articles and currently co-chairs Vancouver’s Greenest City initiative with Mayor Gregor Robertson. He lives on Pender Island, B.C. For more information, visit DavidRichardBoyd.com.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 14, 2020
“ … it is possible to soar without benefit of wings”
Perhaps you’re a beginner dipping your toe in the shallow end of the wilderness pool for the first time, stepping outside of your urban comfort zone and tentatively, even fearfully, indulging in a weekend canoe trip with your buddies that involves a portage or two off of the punters’ beaten track. On the other hand, you might be an accomplished four-season solo wilderness explorer planning a multi-week exploratory tour on a route that isn’t so much a route as an extended exercise in bushwhacking, compass and map reading, and risk management! Wherever you might fall on that wide spectrum of outdoor lovers, campers, hikers, canoeists, or explorers, there is no question that, sooner or later, somebody will ask you the inevitable question, “Why?” or “Whatever for??”.
NORTHERN WILD, subtitled BEST CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN NATURE WRITING, might be characterized as an anthology of essays that answer that question, as the back cover marketing blurb suggests, with “passion, wisdom, humour, reverence and a naturalist’s eye for detail”. Oh, there were other articles to be sure – informative pieces on the loss of Beluga habitat in the St Lawrence or the climatology of grasslands on the prairies for example. And there was even a piece that actually repelled me – a story of a December fisherman intent on landing a feisty steelhead trout out of season but, having seriously wounded it in the doing, consigned it to a certain death by releasing it bleeding into a river too cold to allow the blood to ever congeal and heal.
Even allowing for variations in personal temperament and reading tastes, NORTHERN WILD is a sure winner for outdoor lovers and couch-bound wannabes. Definitely recommended.
Paul Weiss
Perhaps you’re a beginner dipping your toe in the shallow end of the wilderness pool for the first time, stepping outside of your urban comfort zone and tentatively, even fearfully, indulging in a weekend canoe trip with your buddies that involves a portage or two off of the punters’ beaten track. On the other hand, you might be an accomplished four-season solo wilderness explorer planning a multi-week exploratory tour on a route that isn’t so much a route as an extended exercise in bushwhacking, compass and map reading, and risk management! Wherever you might fall on that wide spectrum of outdoor lovers, campers, hikers, canoeists, or explorers, there is no question that, sooner or later, somebody will ask you the inevitable question, “Why?” or “Whatever for??”.
NORTHERN WILD, subtitled BEST CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN NATURE WRITING, might be characterized as an anthology of essays that answer that question, as the back cover marketing blurb suggests, with “passion, wisdom, humour, reverence and a naturalist’s eye for detail”. Oh, there were other articles to be sure – informative pieces on the loss of Beluga habitat in the St Lawrence or the climatology of grasslands on the prairies for example. And there was even a piece that actually repelled me – a story of a December fisherman intent on landing a feisty steelhead trout out of season but, having seriously wounded it in the doing, consigned it to a certain death by releasing it bleeding into a river too cold to allow the blood to ever congeal and heal.
Even allowing for variations in personal temperament and reading tastes, NORTHERN WILD is a sure winner for outdoor lovers and couch-bound wannabes. Definitely recommended.
Paul Weiss
January 23, 2011
Canadian nature writing from various experiences from artists and nature lovers across the country. The short stories were edited and printed as simple as writing can be but true to themselves.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews