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For Love of Lakes
America has more than 130,000 lakes of significant size. Ninety percent of all Americans live within fifty miles of a lake, and our 1.8 billion trips to watery places make them our top vacation choice. Yet despite this striking popularity, more than 45 percent of surveyed lakes and 80 percent of urban lakes do not meet water quality standards. For Love of Lakes weaves a delightful tapestry of history, science, emotion, and poetry for all who love lakes or enjoy nature writing. For Love of Lakes is an affectionate account documenting our species’ long relationship with lakes―their glacial origins, Thoreau and his environmental message, and the major perceptual shifts and advances in our understanding of lake ecology. This is a necessary and thoughtful book that addresses the stewardship void while providing improved understanding of our most treasured natural feature.
224 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 14, 2011
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book! And in the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I know Darby Nelson from his work on the board of the nonprofit I work for. Nelson not only loves lakes, he's passionate about them and that really comes through in this book.
Nelson started his journey questioning the relationship between humans and lakes. Why do we spend so much time and money on lakes and lake shore properties and yet invariably cause their deterioration? I felt like I was canoeing with Nelson (and his very patient wife, Geri), snorkeling with Nelson, and observing with Nelson.
The book is a mixture of a travelogue, a memoir, a biography, and a biology book. This mixture kept me interested throughout. Not only did I feel like I was seeing through Nelson's eyes, I also learned about influential limnologists (a new word for me--it means someone who studies lakes), as well as influential plant and aquatic life. I even found Geri's blueberry muffin recipe!
Nelson does not blame every threat to lakes solely on humans. In the chapter entitled, Thinking Like a Tullibee, the danger caused suspense for me because it was created through mostly natural occurrences. The natural world is ever-changing, but Nelson argues that in many cases human interaction with lakes accelerates these processes.
In the end, Nelson's conclusion is well-supported by the various ways he engages the reader, both emotionally and reasonably. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a weekend at the lake or owns lake property. They may not agree with everything Nelson has to say, but there's enough in here for any lake lover to enjoy.
Nelson started his journey questioning the relationship between humans and lakes. Why do we spend so much time and money on lakes and lake shore properties and yet invariably cause their deterioration? I felt like I was canoeing with Nelson (and his very patient wife, Geri), snorkeling with Nelson, and observing with Nelson.
The book is a mixture of a travelogue, a memoir, a biography, and a biology book. This mixture kept me interested throughout. Not only did I feel like I was seeing through Nelson's eyes, I also learned about influential limnologists (a new word for me--it means someone who studies lakes), as well as influential plant and aquatic life. I even found Geri's blueberry muffin recipe!
Nelson does not blame every threat to lakes solely on humans. In the chapter entitled, Thinking Like a Tullibee, the danger caused suspense for me because it was created through mostly natural occurrences. The natural world is ever-changing, but Nelson argues that in many cases human interaction with lakes accelerates these processes.
In the end, Nelson's conclusion is well-supported by the various ways he engages the reader, both emotionally and reasonably. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a weekend at the lake or owns lake property. They may not agree with everything Nelson has to say, but there's enough in here for any lake lover to enjoy.
June 26, 2012
Darby Nelson nails it by using story to create reasons to care about environmental issues. He uses anecdotes about beloved memories that happened around lakes to elisit emotion that generates interest in doing something to save precious Minnesota, and by extension, worldwide waterways.
January 17, 2023
Very interesting books about lakes. I learned so much, and there were many moments of beauty in this book as well as scientific facts. Makes me long for the snow to melt so I can go out paddling on a lake soon.
February 16, 2021
One of my favorite books of all time... like A Sand County Almanac, but for lakes.
December 25, 2021
Excellent read, great story-teller. I grew up on a lake & enjoyed numerous lakes during my lifetime in Minnesota, after this book, I will never see lakes quite the same.
March 6, 2013
I bought this book at Sugarloaf Cove. I serve on the board of the non-profit organization, Sugarloaf: The North Shore Stewardship Association. If you share my sense of urgency in mitigating the effects of rapid climate change, make "For Love of Lakes" a must-read selection on your list.
Darby Nelson writes like I do about nature, and includes observations of all kinds - scientific and emotional. In my case, emotion often wins the battle against reason. I do not always practice what I know stewardship requires. Emotion tells me, "I MUST be here, on the shore of Lake Superior." Reason tells me, I may not understand the consequences of all the things I bring into this dynamic system of nature and community. Some of his experiences are like mine too, such as forgetting your sleeping bag when you want to spend a night by yourself in the wilderness, and driving another fifty miles round trip to get it.
Annie Dillard won a Pulitzer Prize for her book, "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek". Hers was more like a memoir story, and I wanted to emulate her style of creative writing. Her observations of nature are as intimate as Darby Nelson's experience. You will learn from him the history of environmental science. I made this a slow read for my 2013 Goodreads Challenge. It fit my timing perfectly for a course I am taking now, from the Baha'i Wilmette Institute, "Climate Change".
Darby Nelson writes like I do about nature, and includes observations of all kinds - scientific and emotional. In my case, emotion often wins the battle against reason. I do not always practice what I know stewardship requires. Emotion tells me, "I MUST be here, on the shore of Lake Superior." Reason tells me, I may not understand the consequences of all the things I bring into this dynamic system of nature and community. Some of his experiences are like mine too, such as forgetting your sleeping bag when you want to spend a night by yourself in the wilderness, and driving another fifty miles round trip to get it.
Annie Dillard won a Pulitzer Prize for her book, "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek". Hers was more like a memoir story, and I wanted to emulate her style of creative writing. Her observations of nature are as intimate as Darby Nelson's experience. You will learn from him the history of environmental science. I made this a slow read for my 2013 Goodreads Challenge. It fit my timing perfectly for a course I am taking now, from the Baha'i Wilmette Institute, "Climate Change".
March 20, 2012
A modern day Thoreauvian look at lakes from the most beautiful to the most damaged. Not only evoking Thoreau, but Dilliard, Nelson makes poetry of the hydrological cycle, finds inspiration in lake-bottom weeds. His laboratory is the water we take for granted. His scientific tools are a canoe and a Secchi disc to measure water clarity.. From lakes brimming with life to those devoid of it because of pollution, the book is a journey into our relationship with still water. Required reading for anyone who hails from a land of 10-thousand lakes.
August 18, 2013
I had no idea this book existed until I met Darby at a state campground at the head waters of the Minnesota River. He is currently working on a book on the Minnesota River. We started talking and found out we had many common interests. His wife mentioned he had witten this book and they had some with them. I got a nice autographed copy and was pleasantly surprised and entertained by the book. I realize the book has an obvious slant to it, but the slant is in my direction, so I don't mind. I will be reading his next book.
March 1, 2017
A beautiful and sobering book about our love of lakes, and destruction of them. How can we be destroying what we love? Is it because we don't really see them? Nelson takes Thoreau's observation that "a lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature", and expands it into this book.
Nelson spent a lot of time at the degraded Diamond Lake, and at Rainy Lake in Minnesota, and travelled to Walden Pond in his study of earth's eyes, our lakes.
Nelson spent a lot of time at the degraded Diamond Lake, and at Rainy Lake in Minnesota, and travelled to Walden Pond in his study of earth's eyes, our lakes.
July 10, 2012
If you are enchanted by Thoreau's musings about Walden Pond or Aldo Leopold's "Sand County Almanac", this is one you definitely need to read. The best part of this book is that I know many of the places described in this book, and I also know the author. It was a perfect selection to take along for a week at the lake.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews