For my first book review I went with the book that although was probably the most descriptive of our great state, it was pretty unknown and not well read. “Wisconsin: A History” is a great book about our state’s history from start to finish, but is fairly dry and overly political (historically speaking). Perhaps not the best book to capture Wisconsin. This weeks post will feature a book closer to home, more relatable, and speaking with a bias for a moment, one of the most important books not only about our state, but just in general.
Believe it or not, Wisconsin is a hotbed for celebrities. Just to name a few Chris Farley, Willem Dafoe, Georgia O’Keeffe, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Frank Lloyd Wright… heck even Jeffrey Dahmer. One person who doesn’t get the recognition they deserve though is Aldo Leopold. Now Aldo wasn’t born in Wisconsin, and wasn’t even raised here. But he made it his home and his most famous works happened as a result of the influence of his time in Wisconsin. So, after further deliberation in my head, I am dubbing Aldo an official Wisconsinite. There, with the controversy out of the way, let’s talk about his most famous piece of work, his book “A Sand County Almanac”.
At a later date I’ll do a post all about Aldo, but for today we’ll focus on just the book review. This book should be required reading in every high school for a plethora of reasons. I’m an avid reader of history and science, and I love when the two merge. Nothing tickles my fancy more than learning about HOW we learned something scientific. How did we get to where we are today? Besides just filling a curiosity of mine, I actually think it’s extremely important to know these things as well. When we forget how far we’ve come and the process it took to get here, we downplay the importance. We are seeing this when people downplay the importance of certain aspects of the medical field, weather phenomena, etc. I could go on and on about this topic, but no one wants to hear that. The old adage of “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” rings true for science just as much as history.
As to this book in particular, Leopold covers his time in the forest service and his lessons learned as he lives his life in the central sands region of Wisconsin. It’s broken up into 3 sections; the first part is his month by month reflections on the nature around his home in the central sands (also the namesake of the book). Part 2 covers his time early in the forest service in the American Southwest and lessons learned from that wilderness, one of the last remaining in the United States. Section 3 wraps up nicely with essays on everything he’s learned in his time in both the forest service and his time spent observing nature. It’s wild (pun absolutely intended) to think about where we are now with our thoughts on wildlife and nature, and where it was at the turn of the century when he first started out. He learned his lessons the hard way so we wouldn’t have to. Overall the entire book leaves you wanting more, and if you’re a Wisconsin native it’s even that much better.
I read this book about once a year, when I go up north on vacation. While the third section is certainly the most profound of the book, with thought provoking questions and reflections, I’m still partial to part 1, and probably always will be. I didn’t always appreciate every part of this state but I certainly do now, and his descriptions of the central sands region paints a picture in my mind that confirms my love of this state. Having never really been to the American Southwest, part 2 of the book is interesting from the standpoint that you get to see how the last bits of real wilderness played out, but it doesn’t speak to me the way parts 1 and 3 do. Every time I read it something new sticks out to me and I’m left contemplating something or other long after I put it down.
This book and Aldo Leopold’s work in general are very underrated and widely unknown, and that needs to change. The natural resources of this state are important for a vast multitude of reasons. The fact that a lot of the pioneering work in this field was done by one of our very own is very cool, and should be common knowledge to those of us in this state. Again, I think this should be required reading of all high school students in this state, and if you haven’t read this book yet, you should bump it up to the top of your list. It’s a very quick read, easy to understand and digest, and if you take the time to engage with the material, you will appreciate the book, our state, and wildlife that much more.
I rated this book 5 stars on Goodreads, and “A Sand County County Almanac” has over 34,000 ratings with an average of 4.31 out of 5 stars. Clearly I’m not the only one that likes this book and appreciates it. You will too. If you have read it leave a comment below on your thoughts of this book! As for my Wisconsin books rankings, I’ll start the list below. This is Wisconsin book number 2 so not much of a list, but we’ll obviously expand it as time goes on.
1 – A Sand County Almanac – Aldo Leopold
2 – Wisconsin: A History – Robert C. Nesbit
Life is Too Short to Take the Fast Way 