A natural state Book

A friend gave me this book over a year ago, and I couldn't bring myself to read it until now. Texas nature writing? I know that Texas is big and chock full of varied landscapes and biology, but it's also been run through the wringer of industrial grade farming, oil drilling, privatization, and strip mall style mega development. Not much wilderness left in the Lone Star State, and much of what is wild is in private hands and off limits to the rest of us. Texas can be beautiful, but most of it has been trashed in one way or another.

Harrigan knows all this, and his essays probe all sides of a handful of "natural" spots in the state, warts and all. He doesn't shy away from the darker side of things, such as toxic waste on the beach or garbage at the bottom of a crystal clear spring. AT the same time, he doesn't fixate on the negative either, and is able to find beauty and even occasional moments of transcendence in places you'd expect it (Big Bend) and places you wouldn't (an underwater "mermaid" show at a tourist trap on the San Marcos River). His writing is engaging--funny, but not flippant, educational but never dull, and, occasionally, almost spiritual. For the most part, he keeps his opinions to himself, and does a masterful job of showing rather than telling--he simply immerses himself in a place and reports what he saw. Never preachy or cynical.

On the wilder side, there's two pieces about the west Texas desert, the closest thing the state has to "wilderness". There's two about the seashore, one about a beautiful but developed river, one about the Houston zoo, and two (the first and last essays) that range widely and are a bit philosophical. The opening essay describes a sunrise in Texas and gives you a sense of the state's monumental size and variety, an excellent starting point.

4 stars for the writing, at least if you like this sort of thing, but I gave this collection of essays only 3 stars due to its brevity and lack of landscape diversity. With a fellow like Harrigan in the driver's seat, I would have loved to learn more about other parts of the state, such as the pine forests of the east, the Llano Estacado, or the Cross Timbers. Recommend this to anyone who likes natural history or nature writing, or personal essays in general. Some of the info. may be a bit dated (written in the 80's and early 90's) but worth the read, and at 180 pages, it's a quick one.