Nice but not great. I found the author's writing dull, possibly because he failed to bring excitement and wonder to such fascinating subject matter. Also, his excessive hyperventilation when writing about running the river was just too much for me. ( )

Don't you hate it when reviews start with "I really wanted to like this book..."? Well, I really wanted to like this book. I think if he had stuck to any ONE of the five or six things he tried to do with the book, it would have had a shot at brilliance. You want to write a polemic on western development focusing on water rights? OK. Hit me with your best arguments, fairly engage the other side(s), and marshal your arguments in something resembling a logical order when you come out swinging. You want to write a history? Great. Show me the story, again in some semblance of order (it does not have to be chronological, but it has to allow me to follow the thread). You want to tell me about your awesome rafting trip through the Grand Canyon while musing on the flora and fauna and the land itself? Do that! I will so read that book! You want to write a hagiography of various Native American tribes and conservationists? Um, not really with you there, but let's see what you can do. But when you cram all of these things together in one 176 page book, it's just not going to work, especially when you keep veering wildly from one to the other and back again. The writing is very enjoyable, but stay on topic, for crying out loud. (He excerpts his journal from his trip down the river one time, and based on that sample I will say that if the man ever publishes his travel journals, THAT will be a fantastic read, because he has led a remarkable life and is in fact a very fine writer.) There are other issues (his almost entirely uncritical embrace of Native American philosophy alongside his demonizing of the Mormons with only the briefest explanation, his immediate demonizing of the building of the Hoover and Glen Canyon dams and the formation of Lake Powell without really presenting the background first, what sounds like an attack on the development at all of the western United States for present habitation UNTIL the last chapter when he finally addresses some argument as to what could be done in the present day, and the total ignoring of any mention of the history of the river above the Grand Canyon), but all of these could have been dealt with if he had just stopped jumping around so much. ( )