Rating: 
Summary: A griping, insightful and humorous book
Review: It's been said that geographically speaking, there are few places left in America today where a person can go and be truly alone. Debi Holmes-Binney not only found such a place in the Great Salt Lake Desert, but while there she explored areas of her soul where individual isolation is always extreme. What takes place during the forty days and nights Holmes-Binney spends alone results in a story of courage, overcoming physical and psychological obstacles, and emotional release. Armed with a hatchet, and fortified with a spirit waiting to be reborn she takes us on a journey where the tracks she lay in the desert of her heart will long remain. This reader's as well.
Rating: 
Summary: As real as it gets.
Review: It's been said that geographically speaking, there are few places left in America today where a person can go and be truly alone. Debi Holmes-Binney not only found such a place in the Great Salt Lake Desert, but while there she explored areas of her soul where individual isolation is always extreme. What takes place during the forty days and nights Holmes-Binney spends alone results in a story of courage, overcoming physical and psychological obstacles, and emotional release. Armed with a hatchet, and fortified with a spirit waiting to be reborn she takes us on a journey where the tracks she lay in the desert of her heart will long remain. This reader's as well.
Rating:
Summary: Debi's struggle
Review: My wife and I spent a few days with Debi's parents last year. They told us her story, and so we knew this book was coming. We also spent 10 years teaching with them in Taiwan, and we thought we knew them well. However, we were not prepared for the fascinating revelations about her family life as she was growing up. She skillfully interweaves family events and personal accounts into this excellent book. I was a bit dubious at first; after all, who would want or need to do something like this? Right away I put her in the same category as those who climb mountains, swim channels, or hike Antarctica. But as I progressed into the book, I realized that this was a very special woman, one who had an important story to tell, and one who could move me to tears as she told it. I read the book because I knew her parents, but I was swept up by it because of her power as a writer. Bravo, Debi, bravo, George and Lois for raising such a daughter.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: This book has left me with more questions of which I find few answers. First of all, I will and always will admire anyone brave and courageous enough to follow their hearts and write about it. The courage to write and confront what you have actually done is often times more difficult than the act itself. I believe with all my heart that Ms. Holmes-Binney deserves commendation for putting into words the fears and anxieties of her soul.My concerns with her actions are relatively basic. First of all, she seems to come from a family experienced with the outdoors. While they pride themselves with "not cheating" when camping, I can not understand how in the world she planned this 40 day episode into the cold desert with such ill preparation. Did she deliberately choose NOT to take adequate clothing, specifically, jacket and footwear? ( I have been on a fair amount of camping trips, and I know those two items would be highly important on my list of items to have.) Instead of taking appropriate weather gear, she decides a "leather jacket" and some thrifty store salvation army type cowboy boots should see her through the endeavor. I couldn't believe how naive she seemed, or was it self-destructive? You decide. Of course, with in the first few days, the inadequacy of all her chosen items seem to rear their ugly heads and it is literally her life that is at risk. An untimely snowstorm moves in on her very first few days. She is barely set up in her camp, her flimsy tent is flying apart and everything is soaking wet from the rainstorm that preceeded the freezing weather. Her sleeping bags are soaking wet, and she has fallen apart mentally and physically. Her only salvation is that she hopes the ranger and his wife will not leave her out there to die. It astounds me that she risked all this and spent so little time PLANNING for this adventure. She never explains her motives for ill planning, either. It seems to be just an oversight, but any educated person familiar with the wilderness knows you must plan and prepare for any time in the wild. I just can not understand why she did this as she is not an ignorant person. She plans to find her spiritual self in 40 days and nights in the desert. She elects to conduct this spiritual journey solo, but thankfully a few people come to her aid and literally save her life by giving her a stove, wood, and not to mention, the actual down jacket off the ranger's wife's back. I am just not so sure what she really found out there, as I have to wonder what she brought there in the first place.
Rating: 
Summary: Ill prepared, or self destructive?
Review: This book has left me with more questions of which I find few answers. First of all, I will and always will admire anyone brave and courageous enough to follow their hearts and write about it. The courage to write and confront what you have actually done is often times more difficult than the act itself. I believe with all my heart that Ms. Holmes-Binney deserves commendation for putting into words the fears and anxieties of her soul. My concerns with her actions are relatively basic. First of all, she seems to come from a family experienced with the outdoors. While they pride themselves with "not cheating" when camping, I can not understand how in the world she planned this 40 day episode into the cold desert with such ill preparation. Did she deliberately choose NOT to take adequate clothing, specifically, jacket and footwear? ( I have been on a fair amount of camping trips, and I know those two items would be highly important on my list of items to have.) Instead of taking appropriate weather gear, she decides a "leather jacket" and some thrifty store salvation army type cowboy boots should see her through the endeavor. I couldn't believe how naive she seemed, or was it self-destructive? You decide. Of course, with in the first few days, the inadequacy of all her chosen items seem to rear their ugly heads and it is literally her life that is at risk. An untimely snowstorm moves in on her very first few days. She is barely set up in her camp, her flimsy tent is flying apart and everything is soaking wet from the rainstorm that preceeded the freezing weather. Her sleeping bags are soaking wet, and she has fallen apart mentally and physically. Her only salvation is that she hopes the ranger and his wife will not leave her out there to die. It astounds me that she risked all this and spent so little time PLANNING for this adventure. She never explains her motives for ill planning, either. It seems to be just an oversight, but any educated person familiar with the wilderness knows you must plan and prepare for any time in the wild. I just can not understand why she did this as she is not an ignorant person. She plans to find her spiritual self in 40 days and nights in the desert. She elects to conduct this spiritual journey solo, but thankfully a few people come to her aid and literally save her life by giving her a stove, wood, and not to mention, the actual down jacket off the ranger's wife's back. I am just not so sure what she really found out there, as I have to wonder what she brought there in the first place.
Rating:
Summary: Great Adventure for women
Review: THis book shows a lot of spirit by Debi, camping out in the Great SAlt Lake Desert with only a tent! Some humorous parts about mice and her pet fly! Kept my interest, was hoping for a more 'spiritual' ending, but glad I read it!
Rating:
Summary: A griping, insightful and humorous book
Review: This is a terrific book. Debi Holmes-Binney writes beautifully and with great humor of her sojourn to the desert. The book hooks you from page one and is a griping account of her couragous forty day adventure. I found the lessons that she learned and shares in the book to be insightful, sincere and meaningful. I highly recommend this book to men and women, it is fascinating to see how she responds to 40 days of solitude. This book will appeal to adventurers and cowards alike.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: This is an amazing story of a spiritual quest. It will make you laugh and cry and, more, make you admire and feel that you truly know the author. She shares her innermost thoughts and feelings during her solo journey into the desert, as well as the sometimes funny , sometimes terrifying, details of her daily life. This book is both a fast-paced survival adventure and a moving tale of spiritual growth and triumph. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: OPRAH GUEST INSPIRED ME!
Review: Two weeks ago I saw this author on OPRAH and was amazed at what she did, spending 40 days and nights alone in the remote Great Salt Lake Desert. Days later her story kept nagging at me till I bought the book and read it from cover to cover in five hours. I was spellbound and still can't get it out of my mind. It was not only insightful and funny at times, I also cried. Please, Debi, write another book soon. I'm giving DESERT SOJOURN to six of my friends for Christmas gifts.
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