The Mysterious Lands: A Naturalist Explores the Four Great Deserts of the Southwest

by Ann Zwinger

Zwinger) respectfully explores the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mojave, and Nevada Basin deserts, describing geologic changes, flora, and fauna--from the ancient disappearance of a lake to the burrowing of a grouse--with precision and grace. Read it and you'll hear the desert call."--Commonweal

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction

388 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

About the author

Ann Haymond Zwinger was the author of many highly-regarded natural histories noted for comprehensive detail and lyrical prose.

In 1976, she received the John Burroughs Memorial Association Gold Medal for a distinguished contribution in natural history, Run, River, Run.

Reviews

[Sophy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this has been my "travelling bag book"! I always have a book in my work bag to read on my breaks and this Zwinger title has been perfect as I could dip in and out of it easily.

I have to say this, Ann Zwinger knows her deserts! The pencil illustrations are beautiful and really showcase her understanding and knowledge of the desert flora and fauna.

There are some parts that are a little heavy going and feel a bit textbook-like but overall the reading is pretty engaging.

Although a solid 4 star read, it's not likely I'll return to this book as I feel I've got all I can out of it.

[Anna Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love deserts. I've visited them in the U.S. and other parts of the world. I live in one and my mystery series is set, here, in the Sonoran Desert near Palm Springs, CA. Deserts resonate for me with images of sweeping vistas, exotic cultures, and lush oases. They are evocative and surprising--shades of Indiana Jones and Lawrence of Arabia you may say. Yes, I admit it, with a bit of Thoreau and Castaneda tossed into the mix!

Ann Zwinger captures part of that allure in her book THE MYSTERIOUS LANDS. Deserts are mysterious. At once foreboding, seemingly desolate and inhospitable, yet awe-inspiring. A naturalist, who also happens to be a gifted writer, Ann Zwinger captures much of the fascination about deserts while providing us with facts about them. Her book deftly conveys the range and variability found in deserts, places teeming with diversity in historical, geological and biological terms. Her focus here is limited to the Four Great Desert of the Southwest United States, but she has written many other books. Not all of them are about deserts, mind you. If you have any interest in the natural world here is an author who can enlighten and entertain. She gets the idea they we're looking for something when we venture into the great outdoors--more than just the facts!

[Christie Bane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not going to lie, this one was a slog. I LOVE deserts. All of them. They are beautiful, mysterious, raw, intense, mind-opening, consciousness-bending… I could go on. I’m obsessed with deserts. So I was super excited about this book which was all about the four North American deserts: the Mojave, the Great Basin, the Chihuahuan, and the Sonoran. I quickly became mired in boredom. The author is a naturalist and described infinite species of desert plants and animals in such mind-numbing detail that she lost this non-scientist almost completely. Her writing is very precise, but so technical that i just kept losing the feeling of the desert. She would bring that feeling back occasionally when she pulled back from plant parts and looked at the big world around her, but those parts were few and far behind. She did say at one point in the book that the desert was where she wanted to be when she didn’t have any more questions to ask, and I agree with that. So she DOES get the desert, i just barely felt the same feeling in her writing that I get when I sit out in the desert.

[Alice Harbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever wanted to see the world as a botanist sees it, you would enjoy this book. Also, you will learn a lot about deserts, and what you will have to do to be able to spend time there.
The author obviously loves plants and insects and deserts. It is hard not to "catch the fever" as you spend time with her.
I especially liked it when her daughter joined her. Their relationship was beautiful.
There is a lot of detail here, so it is not a quick read; at leasts it was for me.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zwinger is always amazing. I marvel at her adventurous spirit, her vast knowledge of plants and geology, and her easy and apt references to art history. That her books come illustrated with her own drawings makes them treasures.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book may not suit the general reader, but anyone with a special interest in our four great deserts, their plants and animals, their geology, geography, and history, might give it a try. Well-written, not technical, and enhanced with personal touches. The deserts are full of life, mostly of very special kinds due to the challenges of desert survival. The deserts are defined by their differing sets of flora and fauna. The Great Basin Desert, mostly in Nevada, is called a cold desert due to effects of higher elevation and higher latitude.

The basin and range topography of much of the Great Basin Desert and some of the other three is from cracking of the earth's crust during uplift and the resulting huge blocks tilting or sliding against an adjacent block, forming mountains and valleys. John McPhee wrote an excellent book about this area with the title "Basin and Range". He wrote four others about the geology of the United States and then put all five into one, "Annals of the Former World", an entertaining read that won a Pulitzer Prize.

Archive.org has this book of Ann Zwinger's for free.

[Cindy Dyson Eitelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naturalist writing at the best--slow and deep, patient and prickly. She wanders about in what seems like an aimless, endless digression on the plants and things she encounters, but always managing to tell something worth knowing about the objects encountered. Not everything--where's the mystery in that?--but always something. And something interesting.

I think the book would be best enjoyed if you were yourself exploring the deserts she walks. And in small chunks. The chapters are short, so one of them or a half of one would be ideal. I tried to read it offline, in the silence of my home far away, and I often found myself losing track of what I was reading; getting distracted, setting it down and not wanting to pick it back up.

But this is a fault of my concentration, not the writing--which is pure poetry--or the adventures she explores. Most are very, very small, almost at a microscopic level. but still so very intriguing.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zwinger is one of my favorite authors with a gift of prose to describe nature. She relates the experiences of these places so evocatively that you can imagine yourself with a notebook alongside her, trying to see and understand the very ground you step upon. More importantly, you learn that each living thing has a suite of stories to tell, often profound. You learn that the few stories we do know are incomplete and most we are unaware about. Where did creosote bushes come from? Why are they here? How do they survive? What did they displace? What has adapted to their presence? How can C4 evolve independently in so many species? etc....