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The Wilderness Within: Reflections of Leisure and Life
This collection of 18 essays explores the meaning of recreation, parks, and leisure in the author's own life. Many of the essays are about adventure-based outdoor recreation experiences and are set in the context of mountains, forests, deserts, and tundra. Wilderness Within is an excellent text for fostering dialog with students about the significant meaning, richness, and complexity of leisure.
153 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1999
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March 3, 2025
I have a few favored characters in literature. Tiffany Aching, Jean Val Jean, Armand Gamache and Odd Thomas to name a few. I love them, but alas they aren’t real. That’s why, when I find a good candid. personal essayist I sit up and pay attention. They are rare. I consequently have three very good friends as a result of my quest. They are Eugene England, Robert Fulghum and now, Dr. Daniel Dustin. There remains a problem though; I know them almost embarrassingly intimately, but they don’t know me at all.
That’s not entirely true, I have met Dan Dustin and we have briefly corresponded, but even so our acquaintance is entirely lop sided. That hurts a bit in each case, but believing in an hereafter as I do, I fully intend to set things in balance one day.
Dr. Dan and I met when I was driving a busload of Veterans to run the Green River through Dinosaur National Monument. He kindly sat with me while he treated me to a meal after four days on the river, as well as a three and a half hour drive back to the University of Utah. Even so, he was animated and keen to teach me! A result of our conversation was his gifting me his book The Wilderness Within.
The Wilderness Within is a collection of essays about wilderness, our engagement with wilderness, our human nature, our responsibility to the natural world and relationships with one another and much much more! Most of his essays are intensely personal, humbly vulnerable, quietly encouraging, remarkably funny, deeply thought provoking and just plain fun to read!
At the beginning, I found myself taking umbrage almost at the turn of every page. Occasionally, I even wrote and told him so. By then end, I so fully appreciated and trusted Dr. Dan that I could find no fault in him! While I suppose we still have differing opinions on the finer points; the trust he engendered by way of his candid, honest, warm hearted view of so many varied topics made him feel like my own best friend! I felt I could almost finish his sentences!
I don’t think Dan wrote a single essay that set out to persuade anyone of anything. His style is to wonder out loud, to invite contemplation, to consider all possibilities. He freely shared his own observations as well as his own doubts and insecurities and won my heart as well as my mind.
Dr. Dan, I loved your book and am pleased to list you among my most favored friends!
Thank you!
That’s not entirely true, I have met Dan Dustin and we have briefly corresponded, but even so our acquaintance is entirely lop sided. That hurts a bit in each case, but believing in an hereafter as I do, I fully intend to set things in balance one day.
Dr. Dan and I met when I was driving a busload of Veterans to run the Green River through Dinosaur National Monument. He kindly sat with me while he treated me to a meal after four days on the river, as well as a three and a half hour drive back to the University of Utah. Even so, he was animated and keen to teach me! A result of our conversation was his gifting me his book The Wilderness Within.
The Wilderness Within is a collection of essays about wilderness, our engagement with wilderness, our human nature, our responsibility to the natural world and relationships with one another and much much more! Most of his essays are intensely personal, humbly vulnerable, quietly encouraging, remarkably funny, deeply thought provoking and just plain fun to read!
At the beginning, I found myself taking umbrage almost at the turn of every page. Occasionally, I even wrote and told him so. By then end, I so fully appreciated and trusted Dr. Dan that I could find no fault in him! While I suppose we still have differing opinions on the finer points; the trust he engendered by way of his candid, honest, warm hearted view of so many varied topics made him feel like my own best friend! I felt I could almost finish his sentences!
I don’t think Dan wrote a single essay that set out to persuade anyone of anything. His style is to wonder out loud, to invite contemplation, to consider all possibilities. He freely shared his own observations as well as his own doubts and insecurities and won my heart as well as my mind.
Dr. Dan, I loved your book and am pleased to list you among my most favored friends!
Thank you!
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