About This Life: Journeys on the Threshold of Memory

Barry Lopez is widely known for his books about the far north, ARCTIC DREAMS and OF WOLVES AND MEN, and for his frequent appearance in HARPERS where he has been a contributing editor since 1984. Lopez is part naturalist and part philospher and the direction of his writing circles constantly from outward observation toward introspection. Ever aware of the cultural biases that comprise our mental baggage when we venture across national, biotic, even temporal lines, he sees through the veils and helps the reader step outside assumptions that bind.
This assemblage of previously uncollected material does not disappoint. From the urban landscapes of his youth, the author carries readers to the four winds and seven continents, touching down in remote Japanese islands, Antarctica, Johannesburg, Seoul, Amsterdam, south Georgia, and among wolf packs in his old Arctic haunts. He climbs over linguistic walls, endures considerable physical discomfort, wonders at the oddments of terrain and biota, and returns again to the collective self. What are our motives? How can we better understand?
While he is best known for naturalistic jaunts, the author is nothing if not curious. What is this business of modern air transport? Start at the beginning: and so he does, visiting Boeing to watch the final assemblage of a 747 - 6 million parts that all fit, precisely. Thence to the skies: logging 50,000 miles in cargo bays and cockpits, reporting on the freight, the flights, the crews, the vibes, and always the terrain. Rockets expode far below over Chechnya, the steel grey ocean shimmers along the Siberian coast, ice runs off to forever
in the polar reaches, and new galaxies of electric illumination range across the planet. Steel pipe, ostrich meat, thoroughbred horses, Ferraris, sneakers, computers, flowers, gold ingots, frozen fish, tropical fish, and 132 tons of stage equipment for a Michael Jackson concert in Buenos Aires are the flotsam and jetsam of air transport these days.
"Perishable" has taken on new meaning as deadlines and fashion collide, making the latest shoe style as perishable as an unfrozen fish in the spoiling heat of just-in-time delivery.
A fine read, rich and alluring, thoughtful and deep.

This book covers a wide range of subjects that cross the threshold of memory and stop the reader in her tracks. A whole chapter on the wonder of hands - A Passage of the Hands - causes the reader to consider their own hands and those of a young child with a sense of their history and their possibility.

I recommeded the chapter on wood firing of pottery - Effleurage: The Stroke of Fire- to friends who are potters. The world of anagama kilns was opened to me.

About traveling , Lopez states:"If I were to now visit another country,I would ask my local companion, before I saw any museum or library, any factory or fabled town, to walk me in the country of his or her youth, to tell me the name of things and how, traditionally, they have been fitted together in a community. I would ask for the stories, the voice of memory over the land. I would ask to taste the wild nuts and fruits, to see their fishing lures, their bouquets, their fences. I would ask about the history of storms there, the age of trees, the winter color of the hills. Only then would I ask to see the museums."

Read this book and enjoy the journey.

For me, Mr. Lopez always provides a cerebral and emotional journey with his amazing use of the written word. I was introduced to Barry Holsten Lopez's writing in 1982 with "River Notes" and became a fan instantly. This latest work is less poetry and more prose; focusing on personal revelation. It provoked several emotions, including a sense of loss, throughout the chapters. The book will be a reward for fans as he reveals some personal history in the last set of chapters. When he was a visiting scholar at the University of Georgia, I was sorely dissapointed to not meet him personally, so these chapters were a consolation prize. It was also a challenge to read - more than once I had to dive for the dictionary to discover the nuances in his choice of words.
Enjoy.

This book is full of beautiful imagry, a must for people who crave to go places and see things. His essays/memoirs excell above all others. The writing reflects his thoughts so vividly you would swear you were there. If you like reading about far away places and the experiences and adventures of a very cultrued and passionate writer, than this is the book for you.

I understand some people like this book very much, but I have a dissenting opinion. I did have the pleasure of hearing him read in person and he is indeed very captivating. But keep in mind what this book is about. It is basically a set of essays about places he has been and his insights and knowledge of those places. When it works, it works brilliantly. The essays I liked I could read several times over--he does some fascinating things (traveling on a cargo plane for several weeks comes to mind, or staying with a pottery community also comes to mind). However, when it doesn't work, you realize that not much is really happening and it feels very slow, maybe even unreadable. I just had to stop reading some of the essays after awhile. So it was really hit and miss with me.

What the other reviewers say about his attitude towards life and nature is right. He is very concerned with geography, not just the physical geography of a place, but also the emotional geography of a place. In a time when we don't always feel very connected to places, reading this book could help you feel connected again, to glimmer what it is like to really feel a part of the place in which you live.