The Singing Wilderness (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage)

Olson’s stories epitomize the Northwoods. With each reading, I feel like I should go find a canoe or hike a logging road in search of nature’s wonders.

Originally published in 1956, this classic still speaks to nature lovers today, and it deserves to share the same shelf with Thoreau, Muir, and Beston. Olson's essays convey the spirit and sense of place in what is now known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area -- Superior National Forest in Minnesota and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. North country life is special, and Olson obviously loved living there. He writes with delight of seeing Northern Lights, portaging canoes, cross country skiing, hearing the echoes of loons calling, and witnessing the occasional mouse tobogganing off a tent roof. Though the chapters are organized by seasons and begin with Spring, it is the essence of cold and snow and winter that carries the reader through the book. Best to be read by a warm fireplace with a light snow falling outside and a mug of hot chocolate nearby.

Used it as a last read at the end of the day. Short chapters make a quick read to put you in a great placeto go to sleep with. I've recommended it to many of my nature loving friends

Noted conservationist Sigurd F. Olson wrote this collection of essays about his years canoeing, snowshoeing, skiing and fishing the Wilderness areas of Superior National Forest and the Quetico of Canada. The essays are organized according to the four seasons. Olson has an almost metaphysical relationship with the animals that live in the wilderness: red squirrels, loons, otters, even field mice are fellow travelers. Olson canoes and portages scores of miles to listen to the loons sing on Lac La Croix. He searches hundreds of lakes, looking for the perfect wilderness area, unspoiled by civilization. And he finds it! Saganaga, "a symbol of the primitive, perfect and untouched." Later, he hears that a road has come to Saganaga and he ventures back to see what's been done to it. It seems the same until he rounds a bend and is confronted with a modern lodge. He's conflicted; he wants human companionship but he doesn't want to lose his "singing wilderness." In another essay, he tells of "flying in" to one of the lakes, rather than spending days canoeing and portaging to get there. He feels disoriented and can't really appreciate the experience. He hasn't put in enough effort; he doesn't deserve it. And he never does this again. Olson is a sentimental, nostalgic man. He tells of catching trout for his grandmother, whom he credits with instilling a love of nature. While fishing on the Manitou, he is confronted with an eighty-year-old trout fisherman who's come to his favorite fishing spot for one last time. Olson also limns essays that show the brutality of nature. In "The Storm" we see white-throated sparrows, Killdeers, purple finches, chickadees, and robins returning to the wilderness area after a long and brutal winter. Olson is marveling at their music until snow begins the fall and the temperature plummets. Thousands of confused birds freeze to death. Admittedly, there is some clunky writing in the SINGING WILDERNESS; one gets the impression that Olson is writing from memory in a lot of instances. Also, at times he doesn't tell you where he is: he refers to the "lake" as if we should know which one of the thousands in the Superior/Quetico wilderness he's referring to. There's also a dearth of people. Often, he refers to "we" but the person or persons he's with are invisible. That said, I think everyone would benefit from reading these essays. I couldn't help but wonder how many people know this place exists. These days the area is called the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness. No motor boats allowed; no ATVs allowed! Everyone should see it at least once in his/her lifetime.

If you've ever been out on a long outdoors adventure and have found that peace and serenity which comes with complete immersion and dissolve into nature, you'll dig this book. I'm only a few chapters in...and it's sore that he keeps trying to get back to this mindspace and doesn't always hear the song, but it really beautifully and clearly captures the feeling. The visceral feeling of 'home' felt after a week with a friend in the abundant solitude of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, dipping the paddle in and one stroke becomes a gateway into a profound present free of self-consciousness, and you feel like you're paddling through the stars.

This book will show you how to commune with nature and enjoy earth. Some poetic chapters. I have read it several times and have read all but two of his books now.

A paean to the North Woods. This book is another of Sigurd Olson's wonderful songs of praise for the North Woods, especially the Minnesota area. It read well, and for those of us who have been then, brings back wonderful memories.This is a series of short essays on the North Woods, well worth having in the library of an individual who had ever enjoyed the Northern Forest such as the Boundary Waters. To read this book is to slip back into that wonderful time spent in the North Woods.

Just as good a read today as when I first read it over 50 years ago. Brilliant and still fresh.

Many years ago I wrote a song. I remember it when I read Sigurd Olsen’s writing, for he brings me back there where the song was.A long time ago, when I lived in the cityI found life was hollow and bare.I longed for a place, without glass, noise or concreteOr car exhaust choking the airChorusWhere I’d wake in the morningThe sun brightly shining, the songs of the birds fill the airWhere flowers in the fields and the trees in the woodlandAll welcome each day with me thereIt took a long time, but I finally found itA place where I wanted to beWith fallen log buildings, and miles of rail fencesAnd fields full of 40 year hayChorusNow the fallen log buildings are standing up proudly . . . . .Chorus

This was a hard cover book which we knew was used and it was in excellent condition. The topic and illustration's were exactly as expected.