The Void, the Grid, & the Sign: Traversing the Great Basin

Rating:
Summary: A quiet masterpiece about deserts
Review: In this book William Fox writes about maps, the Great Basin desert, Native American Rock Art, ecology, ranchers, the many dimensions of water in the desert, Michael Heizer's landscape projects and history. The book is unique for the tone he strikes and the desert that he writes about. This is a detailed and articulate book that never bogs down.

He writes with a naturalist's eye and a poet's heart. The blurb on the dust jacket compares his writing to Barry Lopez. The comparison is apt and Fox has put together something here I will remember and re-read for a long time to come. He examines why deserts charm us and explores the Great Basin on foot and with eloquence. I loved it from the Introduction to the detailed Bibliography at the end. Read it!