"A contemplation of the beautiful and the belching, snorting, seething desert that sprawls across the American Southwest." -- Los Angeles Times "Berger shares a significant kinship with those early romantic individuals who, in looking into nature, found a greater sense of self and soul. Here is the work not so much of a desert rat as a desert connoisseur." -- Bloomsbury Review "Berger takes his place with Annie Dillard and Barry Lopez." -- Denver Post "This volume belongs on the shelf with all great desert literature. Berger updates the traditional chronicle of the desert by admiring its vastness and mysteries while being acutely aware of its vulnerability. Berger's prose is perfectly adapted to his thoughts as cacti are to the desert--readers will find quotables on every page." -- Booklist.