The Nature Pages

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~at Outrider

	Barren, Wild, and Worthless  Living in the Chihuahuan Desert   by Susan J. Tweit   University of Arizona Press, 2003		The Chihuahuan Desert
	This collection of seven nature essays on the inhospitable Chihuahuan Desert by author and naturalist Susan Tweit captures the dry, bony essence of the place, its history and its people.		... the desert observed close up reveals its magic. As the sun comes up, flocks of black-throated sparrows flit from shrub to shrub, searching for food and trailing snippets of song. Cactus wrens chatter and buzz. Woodrats forage from debris-studded middens. Hummingbirds zip from flower to flower, drinking nectar...
	Reflecting on the petroglyphs she found along the Sierra Blanca ridge overlooking the Tularosa Basin, she writes:      "They dance, prance, fly, swim, or leap from nearly every rock. The simple, startlingly contemporary style of the petroglyphs infuses each animal with life. The cumulative effect of the drawings is one of an abundance of exuberant, fascinating lives. Not harshness, not desolation, not alienation... The people who created these drawings must have loved this desert."		An Introduction to the Chihuahuan Desert
Search our selection of new, used and out-of-print books.	Tweit, whose seven previous books include "Seasons in the Desert: A Naturalist's Notebook," tries to find that kind of love and devotion to the place in herself and express it through her writing. The results make interesting reading, but her affection is not entirely convincing. Behind her insistence that she has found a sense of place and belonging in the Chihuahuan Desert rumble comparisons to more familiar and hospitable locations. Even an appreciative tourist is still a tourist.		by Susan Tweit The Great Southwest Nature Factbook: A Guide to the Region's Remarkable Animals, Plants, and Natural Features Meet the Wild Southwest: Land of Hoodoos and Gila Monsters Pieces of Light: A Year on Colorado's Front Range Seasons in the Desert: A Naturalist's Notebook Seasons on the Pacific Coast: A Naturalist's Notebook
	The essays in this volume cover Tweit's introduction to the Chihuahuan Desert, the effects of development on spadefoot toads, stories of what the place used to be, the tragedy of illegal immigrants, the Dripping Springs Natural Area, the fate of the Rio Mimbres, and her personal and family history with the desert.