Singing Wilderness (A Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Book)

Olson’s stories epitomize the Northwoods. With each reading, I feel like I should go find a canoe or hike a logging road in search of nature’s wonders.

Many years ago I wrote a song. I remember it when I read Sigurd Olsen’s writing, for he brings me back there where the song was.A long time ago, when I lived in the cityI found life was hollow and bare.I longed for a place, without glass, noise or concreteOr car exhaust choking the airChorusWhere I’d wake in the morningThe sun brightly shining, the songs of the birds fill the airWhere flowers in the fields and the trees in the woodlandAll welcome each day with me thereIt took a long time, but I finally found itA place where I wanted to beWith fallen log buildings, and miles of rail fencesAnd fields full of 40 year hayChorusNow the fallen log buildings are standing up proudly . . . . .Chorus

This was a hard cover book which we knew was used and it was in excellent condition. The topic and illustration's were exactly as expected.

Originally published in 1956, this classic still speaks to nature lovers today, and it deserves to share the same shelf with Thoreau, Muir, and Beston. Olson's essays convey the spirit and sense of place in what is now known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area -- Superior National Forest in Minnesota and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. North country life is special, and Olson obviously loved living there. He writes with delight of seeing Northern Lights, portaging canoes, cross country skiing, hearing the echoes of loons calling, and witnessing the occasional mouse tobogganing off a tent roof. Though the chapters are organized by seasons and begin with Spring, it is the essence of cold and snow and winter that carries the reader through the book. Best to be read by a warm fireplace with a light snow falling outside and a mug of hot chocolate nearby.

Used it as a last read at the end of the day. Short chapters make a quick read to put you in a great placeto go to sleep with. I've recommended it to many of my nature loving friends