Ken's Reviews > A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Reads a bit like Annie Dillard, what with its gentle contemplation of nature and our place in it. Some essays stronger than others. Particularly liked the section on settlers' children taken and adopted by Indians in violent raids along the frontiers. The "lost" become "found" once they fully assimilate to the new culture, to the point where many do not want to return to "civilization" (a word empowered by whomever gets a chance to define it).

Also interesting riffs on life in the desert, tortoises, cartography, and the color blue. Lots of riffs on blue. Off she goes into the wild blue yonder. Lost. Get it? My first Solnit. Sometimes she gets it going and wordsmiths her way to sublime stretches. Other times the narrative is a bit bumpier and less successful. Still, no regrets in reading it and finishing the year on this blue note.