Outpost : a journey to the wild ends of the earth / Dan Richards.
Publisher:
Canongate Books,
Copyright Date:
2019
Description:
324 pages : illustrations (black and white), maps ; 23 cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references. Maps on endpapers.
Contents:
Hotel California, Ny-Ålesund -- Sæluhús, Iceland -- Simon Starling -- ShedBoatShed -- Desolation Peak, WA, USA -- Mars, Utah -- Bothies, Scotland -- Phare de Cordouan, France -- Foundation Jan Michalski Pour L'Écriture et la Littérature, Switzerland -- November/December 2017 -- Nageire-Dō, Sanbutsu-ji, Mount Mitoku, Japan -- Svalbard, Norway.
Summary:
There are still wild places out there on our crowded planet. Through a series of personal journeys, Dan Richards explores the appeal of far-flung outposts in mountains, tundra, forests, oceans and deserts. These are landscapes that speak of deep time, whose scale can knock us down to size. Their untamed nature is part of their beauty and such places have long drawn the adventurous, the spiritual and the artistic. For those who go in search of the silence, isolation and adventure of wilderness it is perhaps ironically to man-made shelters that they often need to head; to bothies, bivouacs, camps and sheds. Part of the allure of such refuges is their simplicity: enough architecture to keep the weather at bay but not so much as to distract from the natural world. Following a route from the Cairngorms of Scotland to the fire-watch lookouts of Washington State, from Iceland's 'Houses of Joy' to the Utah desert; frozen ghost towns in Svalbard to shrines in Japan; Roald Dahl's Metro-land writing hut to a lighthouse in the North Atlantic, Richards explores landscapes which have inspired writers, artists and musicians, and asks: why are we drawn to wilderness? What can we do to protect them? And what does the future hold for outposts on the edge?
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.