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Rating: 
Summary: I couldn't believe I didn't love this book
Review: Craig Childs' writng is lyrical, personal, dramatic. He lives a life I wish I'd known I wanted to live when I was able to do so. Every one of his books is in my library. Last year I gave at least a half-dozen copies of 'The Secret Knowledge of Water' to friends and family. I look forward with keen anticipation to vicariously participating in his next set of adventures.
So what happened this time? Craig finds and reveals to his readers what it is that he searches for out there in the desert wilderness. Maybe I didn't like so much introspection. I know more about his friends and their private lives than I want to know. And (I don't want to sound prudish...everything has its place) I really don't want to know the color of his wife Regan Choi's various body parts. That said, I must also say that I think it would be impossible to read anything by this author that does not inspire and impress. He is a gifted, very gifted, writer. And he is a crazy-man explorer of the wild places that are left in this world.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't believe I didn't love this book
Review: Craig Childs' writng is lyrical, personal, dramatic. He lives a life I wish I'd known I wanted to live when I was able to do so. Every one of his books is in my library. Last year I gave at least a half-dozen copies of 'The Secret Knowledge of Water' to friends and family. I look forward with keen anticipation to vicariously participating in his next set of adventures.
So what happened this time? Craig finds and reveals to his readers what it is that he searches for out there in the desert wilderness. Maybe I didn't like so much introspection. I know more about his friends and their private lives than I want to know. And (I don't want to sound prudish...everything has its place) I really don't want to know the color of his wife Regan Choi's various body parts. That said, I must also say that I think it would be impossible to read anything by this author that does not inspire and impress. He is a gifted, very gifted, writer. And he is a crazy-man explorer of the wild places that are left in this world.
Rating:
Summary: For the Adventurous Spirit
Review: I have a long-standing interest in the desert, having lived there for years and having done some explorations of my own. But never did I dream of taking the kind of trips Craig Childs recounts in his books. After reading The Secret Knowledge of Water, I eagerly dove into Soul of Nowhere expecting more spellbinding tales of survival on the margins of life.
When I finished, I felt a little disappointed. Yes, there are some harrowing tales but there is also a little too much new-age prose and speculation for my taste. And I agree with the reviewer who complained of too much personal information.
Still, Soul of Nowhere is overall an enjoyable read. My favorite chapters are Passage, Labrynth, and Island. It is in these three chapters that Childs' storytelling comes alive. Emotion leaps off the page, the reader feels at one with the narrator as he traverses this wild and dangerous country. Since I have hiked in some of this same country, albeit on marked trails, I could very nearly feel the trembling fear Childs felt when he lost momentum climbing the sandstone arch or when the rock crumbled beneath his boots as he decended the old Anasazi passage into the Grand Canyon, or when he found himself nearly lost in a thicket of cactus in the searing mid-day heat as his every avenue of escape seemed blocked.
Childs has a definite talent for painting a life-like picture with his words, but he also has a talent for obscuring that picture with a lot of pseudo-intellectual mumbo-jumbo that gives the reader the impression that he is just trying too hard to write a "serious" book.
Despite those drawbacks, Childs' otherworldly escapades are like a magnet to the adventurous spirit. I look forward to reading more of his work because he sure does seem to have an interesting lifestyle.
Rating: 
Summary: a great book about the desert southwest
Review: I heard about this book on NPR and living in the area decided to read it. I have read several books about this area and the desert, in general and this is one of the best. Up there with Edward Abbey's books, but nowhere near as acidic. I have not yet read Child's other books, but he gives a great insight into the vastness of this area, both phyiscally and mentally. From someone who came to this area from back east, I recommend this book to anyone who would wonder why people would want to come to this area to live and work.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, Absorbing, Well Written
Review: I read a lot of outdoor books, and I have to say this is one of the best that I have read in ages. Craig Childs lives, breaths, eats "wild." He writes with a clarity that makes me feel like I am alongside him -- and with a passion that is contagious. I am already planning a trip to visit some of the places he writes about. In the meantime, I'll nurse my desires by trying some of his other books.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, Absorbing, Well Written
Review: I read a lot of outdoor books, and I have to say this is one of the best that I have read in ages. Craig Childs lives, breaths, eats "wild." He writes with a clarity that makes me feel like I am alongside him -- and with a passion that is contagious. I am already planning a trip to visit some of the places he writes about. In the meantime, I'll nurse my desires by trying some of his other books.
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