Nature Book Reader June 2020 - Flipbook - Page 136
A Nature Book Reader
JAMIE WHITTLE
Jamie Whittle is an environmental lawyer and author of White River
The Singing Wilderness by Sigurd Olson
Perhaps it was his
description of paddling a
canoe along a moonbeam
that first hooked me in. Tales
of those great Northern
lakes and forests, trout
fishing, snow-shoeing, cabin
living, listening to the land.
Sigurd Olson had a highly
attuned sense of the natural
world, and wrote with a
pared-down precision and
groundedness as well as with
insight and colour.
The Singing Wilderness
is my most favourite of all
his books, and indeed of any
book on nature. It is lyrical
yet capable of conveying
silence. It is a celebration of
both nature’s intricacies and
ruggedness. Olson captured
like no other that essence of
being out in the backcountry
– the smell of conifer needles,
the warmth of the spring sun,
the call of birds, the glow and
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crackle of the campfire.
Reading his work
transports me at once to that
area of Quetico-Superior, a
place I was lucky to visit as
a student. An advocate of
wilderness protection and
conservation, Olson has an
effortless ability of conveying
the importance of the wild,
its sanctuary and tonic. A
man of the rivers, lakes and
forests, Olson’s writing
resonates with the rhythms
of the outdoors and is a sheer
joy to read.
Further Reading
The Living Mountain
by Nan Shepherd
A Sand County
Almanac
by Aldo Leopold
