Description:
A coffee-table book that should be read as much as it is simply admired, Patagonia: Notes from the Field is a collection of photographs and essays that stir the senses. Commissioned for Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and gear company, and with an introduction from its legendary founder, Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia delivers in both image and word. The pages turn slowly--if at all--as each momentary vision and each crafted essay casts a spell that seems to have traveled from some half-forgotten end of the earth: a kayak pulled across the ice floes off Baffin Island, a snowy river in Idaho, a choppy sea and a solitary mast, a crack of lightening, a snowboarder streaking down an unthinkable slope. "I've always chosen my climbing partners carefully," recalls Chouinard in the introduction. "I learned that someone's value to an expedition could largely be determined by their storytelling skills." Following this lead, editor Nora Gallagher has skillfully chosen a team of writers, with headliners such as Gretel Ehrlich, Rick Bass, and Thomas McGuane, to tell the stories from the sea and snow, crannies and couloirs of the world. As well as being keen and thoughtful glimpses into far-flung adventures, these brief tales often possess an environmental ethos that runs strong. In all, Patagonia testifies to the integrity and magic in this world. --Byron Ricks
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