159) Book Reports

I recently read two phenomenal books in the last couple weeks that are certainly worth looking into if you haven’t already read them.


The first one I would like to mention is Doug Stanton’s In Harm’s Way. I had known about this book for a couple years, but never got around to reading it. Recently my dad loaned me his copy. It is a true story about the sinking of a World War II ship, the USS Indianapolis. It is a stunning and haunting story that affected my dreams for several nights after reading it. Well worth reading if you are interested in WWII, the Navy, history, survival, or the ocean.


The second book I wanted to mention is called The Secret Knowledge of Water by Craig Childs. This book deals with deserts in Americas southwest. As a physical geography major, former forest ranger and nature lover, this book was extraordinary. My grandmother chanced upon it and gave it to me as a Christmas gift. I was excited to read it because I had already read another of Childs’ books called The Soul of Nowhere. This book is filled with some incredible stories and tons of knowledge about the deserts and the water that has played a massive part in forming them. Reading this book has really made me long to get back in some of my favorite places in the world: the deserts of southern Utah.


In a couple of days Gabe (seen in the second and third pictures of this post) and I will head west and spend some time in the desert. This is really exciting for me for two reasons. One is that I haven’t been able to spend any real time with Gabe for well over a year. The second is that I will get my chance to get back in the southern Utah deserts before I spend another year in Korea.



The last trip I took to the desert was with Gabe during the Thanksgiving of 2005, and I have thought about that trip innumerable times since. We visited some of my friends and did some backpacking, and had the hungriest Thanksgiving I had ever had (for the entire day we each had a half a bagel, a half a bag of ramen, a cliff bar and water- after hiking around 12-15 miles that day with 50-60 pound packs). Still, it was a trip I remember fondly, and will never forget.


My first trip into the desert was a weeklong solo-backpacking trip. That is still one of the best backpacking trips I have been on. And now I am anxiously awaiting this next trip into the raw and painted land shaped by water.