Soul of Nowhere: Traversing Grace in a Rugged Land

A naturalist's physical and philosophical exploration of the American southwest considers such regions as the Sierra Madre Mountains, the canyons of Utah, the White Mountain Apache Reservation, and a deserted island in the Sea of Cortez.

From the labyrinthine slot canyons of Utah to the deserted island beaches in the Sea of Cortes, the arid lands of the Southwest speak to the acclaimed naturalist Childs. Possessing an extraordinary sense of harmony with these forbidding landscapes, Childs translates their primal voices into a taut and unsentimental narrative of exploration. Step by arduous step, readers follow Childs into the desert's severe mysteries, penetrating deep into regions once home to the cliff dwellers of Salado pre-history and the giants of Seri legend. His intrepid fellow adventurers--a maverick mathematician, a traumatized social worker, a pagan mechanic--mirror Craig's own fierce ardor for stark beauty and fearful silence. Like the ancient ones who inscribed the cliffs with enigmatic spirals, these modern invaders of the dry wilderness probe insatiably into its hidden secrets, fighting their way up sheer cliffs, enduring the unexpected snowstorm, crawling through treacherous mazes. But ultimately all merely human strivings yield to the stark monoliths, the startling waterfalls, and the bleak crevices of a timeless land that embraces and then overshadows all who fall under its spell. Bryce Christensen
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