Why I Came West

This book begins with why (or rather, *how*) Rick Bass came West, but then becomes something more. The first two chapters explore his love affair with the Yaak Valley. He wonders if one can fall in love at first sight with a place, and muses on how the Yaak drew him to her, among other things. The musings that overlapped with _The Book of Yaak_ I tended to enjoy, while the rest were too intimate, too personal to interest someone who doesn't know Bass personally. The next chapters were the most interesting. Bass muses on "meat," "wood," "oil," and other things that he (and we) consume. He is brutally honest and self-critical in connecting his own consumption with the wider world's desire to extract resources from the Yaak. He also recognizes the human role in the food chain and other "natural" processes, as well as the right of humans, no less than other predators, to eat. Finally, he reflects on his personal need to fight to preserve some part of the Yaak as wilderness, and he discusses the personal costs of his activism. The Yaak has a small human community, and apparently most of its members hate Bass for his activism. This was perhaps the most compelling part of the book. While Bass reflects on his own compulsions and sins, every reader will reflect on her own. Read it if you can take it.

I have been a big Rick Bass fan for many years. I enjoy his non-fiction and I revere his efforts to preserve the wilderness areas of his adopted corner of Montana. However, I simply take issue with this book about how misleading the title and liner notes are about its major content. Why I Came West? There is a little about that. And there is some solid thought and writing here. Good writing. But the vast majority of this book is an update (and revision) of his efforts to obtain Wilderness designation for the Yaak since he moved West. It could more correctly be titled Book of Yaak II, or better yet, Book of Yaak Revised. There are large portions of this book that seem to be a letter to his neighbors correcting or updating his true views on Wilderness and logging and even a weak attempt to discourage outsiders from wanting to see the Yaak as a destination, as if he has drawn ire from fellow Yaakians for the notoriety he has brought the area. But his love for the area easily diminishes any intended effect. As a reader, I want a fair chance to choose what I am reading. I couldn't help feel throughout most of this read, that I was erroneously lured into the prospect of some new and different writing by Mr. Bass - but instead was being given the same whine in a different bottle. Having said that, I will still look forward to his new efforts both in regard to conservation as well as writing. ... and I mistakenly put 4 stars on this review and couldn't figure out how to edit that. Two and a half would have been generous. TA