Dynamics of relationships Book

Great message in this thin book. The author is not a great writer but can be very good at using his own style to convey layered and, yes, abstract, opinions on the reasons why our sense of the wild is changing as a species. It takes some concentration to follow him, but it's worth the effort. It's a great companion book to read before or after "Into the Wild". The author does a fine job elaborating on a simple principle: we aren't outraged about the destruction of wild places because we are divorced from the experience of the wild--a vicious cycle because the opportunities for the raw experience of wild-ness (as opposed to "wilderness") are diminishing as a result of our apathy. There are some tangential points that I completely agree with him on: humans' affinity to caging animals (not the least of which are our own species) is at once curious and sickening.

The thumbs down: The author references obscure buddhist and eastern spiritual principles/historical figures periodically, which is unnecessarily annoying. I imagine it's an attempt to inject his points with additional background and context, but it does more damage than good in my not so humble opinion.

Still one of my favorite books. I imagine that this guy is kind of scary and awesome at the same time.