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lizruest's review against another edition
The writing is SO flowery -- just not my style. Maybe it's yours...
trin's review against another edition
2.0
Not at all to my personal taste. It should be: I am fascinated with the Antarctic and love unusual travel narratives. Lopez is beloved and seems like a thoughtful, even wise person. But my god, he is so self-serious; this book is so self-serious, and ponderous, and dull. There were some stunning moments, but the distance between them in this 500+ page repetitive slog felt as insurmountable as the lengths of Scott's final journey.
Excuse me: I am just going outside and may be some time.
Excuse me: I am just going outside and may be some time.
blrosene's review against another edition
4.0
You know when you're bored at work and start zooming in on really remote areas of the planet on Google Earth? This book is kinda like that, in the best possible way.
anneofgreenplaces's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
Wide-ranging with some thought-provoking gems of philsophy and language, though much longer than it really needed to be. Others in my book club criticised his perceived arrogance and privelege, and I felt mixed--he's quite deliberate about considering and valuing other ways of seeing the world and decrying injustice, and yet comes across with a certain assumed authority and assertiveness, perhaps because of his age, experience, and reputation (but also in a particularly male way, somehow), that sometimes felt overbearing and turned me off slightly. But maybe it's earned, and/or fits the function of the book as the reflections of a long career. Same with the rambling nature of it. I just let it wash over me.
Wide-ranging with some thought-provoking gems of philsophy and language, though much longer than it really needed to be. Others in my book club criticised his perceived arrogance and privelege, and I felt mixed--he's quite deliberate about considering and valuing other ways of seeing the world and decrying injustice, and yet comes across with a certain assumed authority and assertiveness, perhaps because of his age, experience, and reputation (but also in a particularly male way, somehow), that sometimes felt overbearing and turned me off slightly. But maybe it's earned, and/or fits the function of the book as the reflections of a long career. Same with the rambling nature of it. I just let it wash over me.
chazzerguy's review against another edition
2.0
I am sure Barry Lopez leads a very fascinating and interesting life... But... I guess you had to be there...
This book is painful. Ponderous and dull. I found myself cringing as I picked it up thinking "Do I really need to endure more of this?"
The answer is no. No I do not. I skipped ahead 200 pages hoping maybe it got better. It did not. This book is just a slog. I had high hopes, but it is just a bunch of meandering and self-serving recollections, none of it terribly compelling.
This book is painful. Ponderous and dull. I found myself cringing as I picked it up thinking "Do I really need to endure more of this?"
The answer is no. No I do not. I skipped ahead 200 pages hoping maybe it got better. It did not. This book is just a slog. I had high hopes, but it is just a bunch of meandering and self-serving recollections, none of it terribly compelling.
ryanjjames's review against another edition
5.0
Barry Lopez has an incredible way of weaving morality and insight into his travel journaling. This is my second Lopez book, after having discovered Arctic Dreams last year. In Horizons, Lopez details his experiences in some of the most fascinating places on the planet within a meditation on humanity and the future of civilization. His emphatic call to seek out and respect the advice from elders was gleaned from his travels to the Canadian arctic, Galapagos, Africa, Australia and Antarctica. Beautifully done. 5 stars.
poutineriot's review against another edition
4.0
Nuanced. Sublime. Brilliant. Whether it's anthropology in the far North or Australia, colonizer history in the Pacific Northwest, physical anthropology in eastern Africa, biology and evolution in the Galapagos, or geology in Antarctica, Barry Lopez's writing is consistently, almost without fail, insightful, haunting, and evocative. With the undercurrent of the looming question of imminent ecological collapse, Horizon adds an additional through line: the horror of what is now unfolding, side by side with the beauty and mystery that continue despite.
I had some issues with the way some of the writing was edited (single sentence paragraphs to emphasize what did not require emphasis; the abundance of quotation marks used to similar effect; shifting tenses from past to present mid paragraph or mid description), which is why I'm ranking this as four rather than five stars. Other readers would perhaps not notice these issues or have these qualms about them, but I found them to be distracting.
If you are curious about this book, however, please don't let those reservations dissuade you from reading it. It is a brilliant piece of work.
I had some issues with the way some of the writing was edited (single sentence paragraphs to emphasize what did not require emphasis; the abundance of quotation marks used to similar effect; shifting tenses from past to present mid paragraph or mid description), which is why I'm ranking this as four rather than five stars. Other readers would perhaps not notice these issues or have these qualms about them, but I found them to be distracting.
If you are curious about this book, however, please don't let those reservations dissuade you from reading it. It is a brilliant piece of work.
shibaunited's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0