Thinking Like a Mountain: Aldo Leopold and the Evolution of an Ecological Attitude Toward Deer, Wolves, and Forests

by Susan L. Flader

When initially published more than twenty years ago, Thinking Like a Mountain was the first of a handful of efforts to capture the work and thought of America's most significant environmental thinker, Aldo Leopold.  This new edition of Susan Flader's masterful account of Leopold's philosophical journey, including a new preface reviewing recent Leopold scholarship, makes this classic case study available again and brings much-deserved attention to the continuing influence and importance of Leopold today.    Thinking Like a Mountain unfolds with Flader's close analysis of Leopold's essay of the same title, which explores issues of predation by studying the interrelationships between deer, wolves, and forests.  Flader shows how his approach to wildlife management and species preservation evolved from his experiences restoring the deer population in the Southwestern United States, his study of the German system of forest and wildlife management, and his efforts to combat the overpopulation of deer in Wisconsin.  His own intellectual development parallels the formation of the conservation movement, reflecting his struggle to understand the relationship between the land and its human and animal inhabitants.    Drawing from the entire corpus of Leopold's works, including published and unpublished writing, correspondence, field notes, and journals, Flader places Leopold in his historical context.  In addition, a biographical sketch draws on personal interviews with family, friends, and colleagues to illuminate his many roles as scientist, philosopher, citizen, policy maker, and teacher.  Flader's insight and profound appreciation of the issues make Thinking Like a Mountain a standard source for readers interested in Leopold scholarship and the development of ecology and conservation in the twentieth century.

284 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Atlas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned way more about deer herd patterns in America than I ever expected to want to know.

This book is a scientific look at the life of Aldo Leopold, linking together his biographical life and his philosophies. It was fascinating and insightful, though a touch slow and repetitive at points.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprising in depth an insightful look into Aldo Leopold's long fascination with deer and deer management. It chronicles his changing perspective over time as he gained insights into the ecology of plant communities and the deer that browsed them. But it also points out where he was not able to, at times, "connect the dots" to see the real picture. But in fairness, the science of ecology and the integration of function in all system seen as a whole was simply not very advanced. Leopold understood it as well as anyone did during his last decade and he brought that to bear on deer management but could not overcome long held but incorrect cultural assumptions about deer and deer management.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drawing from works of Aldo Leopold's works, author Susan Flader tells the history of Leopold's role as a concerned citizen and eventually as environmental policy maker. We know that all animals serve a purpose, but we often overlook the fact, that by changing or removing even one link of an ecological chain, we run the risk of weakening or destroying the chain in its entirety.

[Jedediah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and well written but it is at least in part a science paper and so a bit slow.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good content, but hard to read with all the footnotes. Very dry, basically a research paper.

[Wildstag · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terribly repetitive and dull. It could easily have been half as long. It feels like every segment repeats content discussed in the prior. Informative and intriguing at times, but awfully redundant.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep Ecology, birth of the environmental movement in America. Susan Flader turned her Leopold thesis into a very readable treatise.