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Water in the Desert: A Pilgrimage
From acclaimed agrarian activist and ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan, a profoundly inspiring account of interspecies belonging, collaborative conservation, and the sacred work of caring for the earth.
“I went looking for water in the desert and found that the world was teaching me how to listen.”
Celebrated as a “world visionary” (Utne Reader) and our “lyrical poet of biodiversity” (Mother Jones), Gary Paul Nabhan has authored dozens of books and been awarded a MacArthur “genius grant.” In Water in the Desert, he traces the fascinating story of his life, offering in the process a vision for cultural renewal.
As a Lebanese-American boy growing up in the dunes along Lake Michigan’s southern shore, where school is excruciating and symptoms of neurodivergence are diagnosed as disabilities, Nabhan finds refuge and revelation in the natural world. In college, he gravitates to the thinkers now associated with the dawn of ecology as a discipline, writes poetry, and travels to Ecuador and Sonora, Mexico, where he first encounters the Indigenous communities that will come to play a significant role in his life and work. His interest in earth-based spiritual practices leads him to take vows as an Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, which reminds him that “the earth itself—creation, for that matter—was the original scripture.” Late in life, he returns to the land of his Arab ancestors, where he discovers a vision of kinship and climate resilience grounded in faith and ecology. And finally, when construction of the southern border wall begins, he collaborates with religious leaders to affirm Indigenous rights to the sacred places threatened by construction.
At once a refreshing account of a pathbreaking scientist-activist’s kinship with other species and cultures and an inspiring guide to the deeply collaborative ethic and practice of care required to flourish in kinship on Earth, Water in the Desert is a book for our time.
“I went looking for water in the desert and found that the world was teaching me how to listen.”
Celebrated as a “world visionary” (Utne Reader) and our “lyrical poet of biodiversity” (Mother Jones), Gary Paul Nabhan has authored dozens of books and been awarded a MacArthur “genius grant.” In Water in the Desert, he traces the fascinating story of his life, offering in the process a vision for cultural renewal.
As a Lebanese-American boy growing up in the dunes along Lake Michigan’s southern shore, where school is excruciating and symptoms of neurodivergence are diagnosed as disabilities, Nabhan finds refuge and revelation in the natural world. In college, he gravitates to the thinkers now associated with the dawn of ecology as a discipline, writes poetry, and travels to Ecuador and Sonora, Mexico, where he first encounters the Indigenous communities that will come to play a significant role in his life and work. His interest in earth-based spiritual practices leads him to take vows as an Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, which reminds him that “the earth itself—creation, for that matter—was the original scripture.” Late in life, he returns to the land of his Arab ancestors, where he discovers a vision of kinship and climate resilience grounded in faith and ecology. And finally, when construction of the southern border wall begins, he collaborates with religious leaders to affirm Indigenous rights to the sacred places threatened by construction.
At once a refreshing account of a pathbreaking scientist-activist’s kinship with other species and cultures and an inspiring guide to the deeply collaborative ethic and practice of care required to flourish in kinship on Earth, Water in the Desert is a book for our time.
346 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 2, 2026
About the author
Gary Paul Nabhan
91 books110 followersGary Paul Nabhan is an internationally-celebrated nature writer, seed saver, conservation biologist and sustainable agriculture activist who has been called "the father of the local food movement" by Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, Carleton College and Unity College. Gary is also an orchard-keeper, wild forager and Ecumenical Franciscan brother in his hometown of Patagonia, Arizona near the Mexican border. For his writing and collaborative conservation work, he has been honored with a MacArthur "genius" award, a Southwest Book Award, the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing, the Vavilov Medal, and lifetime achievement awards from the Quivira Coalition and Society for Ethnobiology.
--from the author's website
--from the author's website
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 7, 2026
Wow!
I see a lot of myself in Nabhan. Being only three years younger than him, we experienced some of the same life changing influences.
This is the first book I've read that so well identifies some of my core values, how I have lived my life - following the beliefs I share with Nabhan about the interdependence of ecology, art, nature, science, materialism, culture, societal norms and the environment. And the role of individual responsibility in caring for nature and its resources.
While the actual facts of our lives diverge greatly, we still both established a set of values and ways of thinking about the world that we consistently applied throughout our lives.
Nabhan is a bit of a "Forrest Gump," as far as, being in the right place at the right time. What a fascinating life. He has received several awards for his ecological work, including a MacArthur "genius" award in 1990.
But you won't find that date in the book. The two things that are missing from this book, that would have helped a great deal, are dates and a timeline. I researched Nabhan online to get a better sense of when things happened, and found that in the book he went from age eighteen to fifty, with little sense of sequence or process. He starts the book describing small steps he took toward his future, but then he seems to leap forward here and there, which results in a less coherent narrative. Maybe that's how his life felt, maybe it was that precarious. That he was pulled here and there as opportunities arose.
Still, this book is well worth a read!
I see a lot of myself in Nabhan. Being only three years younger than him, we experienced some of the same life changing influences.
This is the first book I've read that so well identifies some of my core values, how I have lived my life - following the beliefs I share with Nabhan about the interdependence of ecology, art, nature, science, materialism, culture, societal norms and the environment. And the role of individual responsibility in caring for nature and its resources.
While the actual facts of our lives diverge greatly, we still both established a set of values and ways of thinking about the world that we consistently applied throughout our lives.
Nabhan is a bit of a "Forrest Gump," as far as, being in the right place at the right time. What a fascinating life. He has received several awards for his ecological work, including a MacArthur "genius" award in 1990.
But you won't find that date in the book. The two things that are missing from this book, that would have helped a great deal, are dates and a timeline. I researched Nabhan online to get a better sense of when things happened, and found that in the book he went from age eighteen to fifty, with little sense of sequence or process. He starts the book describing small steps he took toward his future, but then he seems to leap forward here and there, which results in a less coherent narrative. Maybe that's how his life felt, maybe it was that precarious. That he was pulled here and there as opportunities arose.
Still, this book is well worth a read!
July 5, 2026
4 stars because I don’t think I’ll necessarily reread this book but I’d like to own it for reference. So many great nuggets of truth regarding earth-based spirituality, the relationship between desert and sea, and the integral part indigenous stewardship plays in our overall health.
July 14, 2026
Gary Paul Nathan is an interesting character and this book is his view of growing up neurodivergent and then finding solace in working as an environmentalist in the Arizona desert. If there are any negatives about the book, it could have been less detailed as his interests may seem rather obsessive to other people. He goes through the conversion to the Franciscan faith and also works with the indigenous community on environmental issues like water quality and scarcity.
August 3, 2026
Really interesting memoir that captures Nabhan's wide-ranging work in ecology and ethnobotany while weaving in illuminating aspects of his personality. The writing kept me engaged, it was a pleasure to read. The theme coursing through the book is how everything is interconnected, an important lesson for how we deal with the natural world and with each other.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews