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Rating: 
Summary: Lyrical & Hypnotic: a Beautiful & Stirring Tribute to Nature
Review: Every so often a book reminds us of why we seek out the woods for solitude and comfort. "Sightlines" accomplishes that considerable feat with resounding success. But it doesn't stop there. This elegant and deeply human narrative about the contours of landscapes (both inner and outer) lets us walk several paces behind the author and view his journey through years of depression even as we pause to lean against a nearby birch tree and admire the surrounding beauty of his rugged New England. The book is a remarkable achievement for combining these two storylines--and very often it is downright mesmerizing. Osborne's writing--understated and controlled, what you'd expect from a Vermonter--soars to its greatest heights when framing the smallest things: a seemingly uprooted tree, a dark swamp, a river sand bar. Those images, and many others, stay vibrant long after the book is done.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical & Hypnotic: a Beautiful & Stirring Tribute to Nature
Review: Every so often a book reminds us of why we seek out the woods for solitude and comfort. "Sightlines" accomplishes that considerable feat with resounding success. But it doesn't stop there. This elegant and deeply human narrative about the contours of landscapes (both inner and outer) lets us walk several paces behind the author and view his journey through years of depression even as we pause to lean against a nearby birch tree and admire the surrounding beauty of his rugged New England. The book is a remarkable achievement for combining these two storylines--and very often it is downright mesmerizing. Osborne's writing--understated and controlled, what you'd expect from a Vermonter--soars to its greatest heights when framing the smallest things: a seemingly uprooted tree, a dark swamp, a river sand bar. Those images, and many others, stay vibrant long after the book is done.
Rating:
Summary: An Magnificent Debut
Review: Terry Osborne writes a fascinating, powerful and touching account of his travels through the Upper River Valley and the travails of his own battle with depression. Candid, personal and touching, we join the author as he explores the natural phenomena of the Vermont landscape, while at the same time he struggles courageously against his inner demons. If you have suffered from depression, if someone dear to you suffers from depression, or if you merely wish to be inspired by the battle of one person to overcome depression, Terry Osborne's perceptive and insightful book will give you strength and solace.
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Summary: Would love to see more from Terry Osborne!
Review: Terry Osborne's coming-of-self narrative is brave, honest, and poignant. I have recently left New England after seven years, and Osborne's careful and tactile descriptions truly stirred me. But even for anyone who's unattached to a Vermont landscape, there's an important lesson here. Osborne shares with us his very personal journey to the discovery of how deeply our environment can inform our sense of self - in Osborne's case, how the complex "mosaic" of land, water, and air reflects the contours of his struggle with depression. Even now, living so far from all the swamp-and-peaks nature of Osborne's journeys (I'm a Paris resident), Sightlines has inspired me to explore my surroundings with a renewed energy and curiosity - to understand how much self-discovery can unfold through such an investigation. For that - and for his pure, graceful prose - I thank him!
Rating: 
Summary: Good account of chronic mood disorder
Review: This book is multifaceted and some facets are better than others. I found the author's descriptions of his experiences with chronic mood disturbance enlightening and interesting. His attention to the interpersonal impact of dysphoria was especially good. As a book about the natural world, I was less satisfied. Moreover, I didn't find myself drawn to the connections he was making between processes in the natural world and the internal processes of a mood disorder. His accounts of his homelands lack the vividness found in works by Rick Bass or Richard Nelson. I don't want to overstate these criticisms; the book is well written and this is exactly the "type" of book I like: it's about a person who loves the land that surrounds him. However, better reading of this sort is found with the above-mentioned authors, or I especially want to recommend a couple of works by lesser known authors, "Purple Flat Top" by Jack Nisbet, and "Teewinot" by Turner.
Rating:
Summary: Good account of chronic mood disorder
Review: This book is multifaceted and some facets are better than others. I found the author's descriptions of his experiences with chronic mood disturbance enlightening and interesting. His attention to the interpersonal impact of dysphoria was especially good. As a book about the natural world, I was less satisfied. Moreover, I didn't find myself drawn to the connections he was making between processes in the natural world and the internal processes of a mood disorder. His accounts of his homelands lack the vividness found in works by Rick Bass or Richard Nelson. I don't want to overstate these criticisms; the book is well written and this is exactly the "type" of book I like: it's about a person who loves the land that surrounds him. However, better reading of this sort is found with the above-mentioned authors, or I especially want to recommend a couple of works by lesser known authors, "Purple Flat Top" by Jack Nisbet, and "Teewinot" by Turner.
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