Aldo Leopold's Classic Book on Conservation and Nature: Sand County Almanac

Nigel Spencer: Aldo Leonard is the remarkable founder of research-action on ecology and biodiversity in North America from its origins to the present day. A fine eye and a fine pen.

Canada on Oct 27, 2023

Blhenson: The Sand County Almanac is a "must read". It changed the entire conversation about man and the natural world. You can disagree with some conclusions or agree with them. But reading the book is guaranteed to at the very least make you think.

United States on Jul 24, 2023

Cattail: Gift to young conservationist

United States on May 30, 2023

L L M: I really wish this could be reformatted into a larger font print. Aldo is the Main Man of the movement, and this collection is his best and most read work. Depending on your appetite for detail, you will either be thrilled or not. His descriptions contain historical facts interlaced with actions like cutting firewood or listening to birds in the predawn hours. Very dense descriptions which open the mind to consider where we are and where we've been. Thought provoking on every page.

United States on Oct 23, 2022

Tim: Influential in the creation of the modern conservation movement. Eloquently put and well worth the time

Australia on Oct 23, 2021

William Blackwell: Author. Philosopher. Scientist. Ecologist. Forester. Conservationist. Environmentalist. Those are the credentials Aldo Leopold took with him to the grave after he died of a heart attack while battling a wildfire in 1948. But the powerful warnings and challenges he eloquently issues in A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC are more important now than ever before.

Now more than ever humankind wantonly and recklessly destroys our planet for personal gain, greed, commercialism, and just pure stupidity. And, make no mistake about it, Leopold boldly challenges us to do our part to protect the world we love.

He writes, “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.”

But, while scathingly critical of public and private sector conservation efforts, and his own land conservation errors, the book is not all doom and gloom. In polished and poetic prose, Leopold pays tribute to the wonders of Mother Nature; exploring the unspoiled beauty of the mountains, prairies, forests, deserts, and coastlines of the American landscape.

With extraordinary vividness, Leopold takes readers on a spellbinding tour through the seasons, explaining...

Canada on Oct 20, 2020

lindelewis: This book was written over 70 years ago. Its message of conservation and care for Nature is just as fresh and important today as when these inspiring essays were written. Aldo Leopold took from nature what he needed without destroying what he loved. If the author decried what he saw as greed in the immediate post-war period I can think only that he would be appalled today. We seem to have learned nothing in the interim. This is the book I have on my bedside table..

Canada on Mar 17, 2018

K.Jayaram: Earlier, I owned the original US Library edition and finally lost to a friend who never returned it.!? This is one of my all time favourite book and one of the best apart from Thoreau, John Muir and Emerson. I recently bought this Mass Market cheap Paper back to add to my collection again. A great conservationist with lucid writing and practical ideas to conserve nature in the times of destruction. Any body who is interested in Nature must own this edition with tremendous description of nature and its denizens.!? An affordable copy and thanks for the Amazon to make it available for all of us.

India on Feb 20, 2018

The Garden Interior: I just finished reading this conservation classic and I have to confess, I approached it with some trepidation. Knowing it is a beloved and enshrined text of environmentalists, from moderate to fanatical, I feared it might be more polemical than inspiring, more Al Gore than Henry David Thoreau, but was happy to find this fear misplaced. The text was left to the world in draft from when the author died tragically in 1948, helping a neighbor fight a wildfire. It was first published by his son in 1949, and in this reorganized edition in 1966.

First, some information about Leopold himself. He was born in Iowa in 1887 and was educated at Yale before joining the Forest Service in 1909, serving in New Mexico and Arizona. He became one of the founders of the Wilderness Society and in 1924 formed the first wilderness in the Forest Service, the Gila National Forest. Then followed a long tenure as a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He writes with the brilliance of a science professor, the passion and soulfulness of a sentimental farm boy, and the messianic zeal of a visionary reformer who sees more deeply into things than most people can.

This book is...

United States on Dec 18, 2015

rhcycle: This review does not relate directly to the information in the book which has been discussed in detail in many excellent reviews. This book is truly for the person who loves the outdoors and is in itself 5 stars

My comments relate to the quality of the materials and format of the book. A good friend of mine gives this book to many of his friends so that they can become more aware of the environment and world around them. I thought that this was a great idea since we are so busy with HDTV, IPODS, Blackberrys and cell phones. I purchased one copy of the Galaxy (Oxford)publication and several of the Ballantine. There is no comparison. The Ballantine is a typical, cheap paperback. The Galaxy (White cover with Geese) is much nicer and makes a much better gift. It is definitely worth the extra money. When one considers the information deleted from the Ballantine edition (see review by Reiheld), it makes the argument even more compelling. My final comments --enjoy the reading, but spend the extra dollar or so and really enjoy the book.

United States on Jan 22, 2006