Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World

by Scott Russell Sanders

In the tradition of Wendell Berry, Sanders champions fidelity to place, informed by ecological awareness, arguing that intimacy with one's home region is the grounding for global knowledge.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir, Nature, Autobiography, Travel, Self Help

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1993

About the author

Scott Russell Sanders is the award-winning author of A Private History of Awe, Hunting for Hope, A Conservationist Manifesto, Dancing in Dreamtime, and two dozen other books of fiction, personal narrative, and essays. His father came from a family of cotton farmers in Mississippi, his mother from an immigrant doctor’s family in Chicago. He spent his early childhood in Tennessee and his school years in Ohio, Rhode Island, and Cambridge, England.

In his writing he is concerned with our place in nature, the practice of community, and the search for a spiritual path. He and his wife, Ruth, a biochemist, have reared two children in their hometown of Bloomington, in the hardwood hill country of southern Indiana. You can visit Scott at www.scottrussellsanders.com.

In August 2020, Counterpoint Press will publish his new collection of essays, The Way of Imagination, a reflection on healing and renewal in a time of climate disruption. He is currently at work on a collection of short stories inspired by photographs.

Reviews

[Arjadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Russell Sanders spent his childhood in Portage County, growing up on the grounds of the Ravenna Arsenal -- he remembers it as "a paradise of bombs" -- then living during his high school years on a rural homestead that no longer exists; it was part of the acreage drowned by the federal government for a reservoir in the early 1960s that he terms, quite correctly, "a bureaucratic boondoggle." He reflects on his childhood and his eventual decision to become rooted to Bloomington, Indiana, where he was on the Indiana faculty, in a series of essays dealing with the diminishing sense of home in "a nation of vagabonds." Being rooted and being in a rut aren't the same, and Sanders speaks powerfully to the difference. Sanders admits to being a tree-hugger, quite literally, but his love of nature makes his writing, at times, absolutely lyrical. His argument for the need for a "sense of place" is a powerful one. This book resonated with me on a personal level.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading because I (we) finally bought a house. All my adult life I've been a restless renter. I've usually felt fairly 'at home' anywhere (it helps to find the library in the first week!). But maybe putting down roots, as they say, can feel different somehow. Maybe Sanders has some ideas about that.

So far it's very philosophical and personal. I just finished skimming the chapter about the Ohio River, which I could not find of any relevance to me, even metaphorically. But there are other bits that I do like....

I liked learning that:
"Male woodpeckers, advertising for mates, tap on the cedar siding of the porch."

I like some of the purple prose, in this case referencing his particular minor neurosis:
"The only sure antidote to oblivion is the creation. So I loop my sentences around the trunks of maples, hook them into the parched soil, anchor them to rock, to moon and stars, wrap them tenderly around the ankles of those I love. From down in the pit I give a tug to make sure my rope of words is firmly hooked into the world, and then up I climb."

And I did like one observation about the Ohio:
"States often draw their borders along rivers, yet that is false to the land because rivers join rather than divide their two shores. My rumpled neighborhood in southern Indiana has more to do with the Hill Country across the river in Kentucky than it does with the glacial plains of northern Indiana."

Btw, the edition that I read is a trade paperback, blue art on white ground, not listed on goodreads.

Ok done. Yeah, the focus is on the value of being grounded, or rooted, being so in touch with the place that you want to protect it, whatever. Quotes a fair bit of Thoreau. Argues with other philosophic writers. Nothing helpful about *how* to feel more at home, more in tune, more Zen or Tao....

And then I disagreed with a lot of what he said, or felt uncomfortable with things he admitted to doing.

On p. 127 he does a mental exercise akin to one that I often did as a child. Mine was when having trouble falling asleep I'd think ' I'm in my bed, in my room, in my house, in this neighborhood, in this town, in this state, in this country, on Earth, in the solar system, in the Milky Way galaxy....' He concludes: "Who, grasping that, can avoid feeling vertigo?" Well, I certainly could... and still can.

[Drew Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of "home" has become important to me recently. This book is a study in learning how to be at home - of staying put. I have lived my whole life, with the exception of years in graduate and post-graduate education, in the same town. I can, at times, succumb to restlessness. I have always been seduced by an itinerate life. If given the choice of fight or flight, I am much more prone to flight. I am having to learn that "there may be salvation in sitting still."

I read this book in a single day - a new discipline for this new year. It is full of good insight about, like this quote: "There are no privileged locations. If you stay put, your place may become a holy center, not because it gives you special access to the divine, but because in your stillness you hear what might be heard from anywhere. All there is to see can be seen from anywhere in the universe."

[Toni · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the first almost half of this book, then the book starting wandering around, mainly the authors political views and his take on world history, I didn't not read the last chapter, but the first few were excellent.

[Catullus2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written but a bit too much emphasis on the divine.

[Longfellow · Rating 4 out of 5]

My third book of Sanders’ essays and I have yet to waste my time (Secrets of the Universe is another favorite). Staying Put contains eight essays, and while I think I liked the first two most, “After the Flood” and “House and Home,” each essay contains moments of beautifully expressed reflections. Consistent themes are nature, mystic spirituality, and changes brought by ever-expanding development and construction.

Anyone interested in these themes should find plenty of sentences and insights to digest appreciatively.

The title and sub-title are perhaps slightly misleading; on the surface, these are eight distinct essays with disparate foci, and one has to use a little imagination to find the common thread of “staying put.” I think “staying connected” (to our source, the earth) is a more accurate label for the links between these essays, and Sanders emphasizes this by observing what has been lost--for example the ways we destroy our own pasts through development--and by reminding us of the ways in which we can’t escape our source, whether it be merely the earth or something akin to the divine. My favorite example of this is his observation that our very houses are “still derived entirely from the land.” Whether we harvest from above the earth’s surface or below it, all we have is provided by this orb on which we live.

I have two more of Sanders’ books in my collection that I’ve yet to read, A Private History of Awe and Writing from the Center. Hopefully my reading life will send me in his direction again soon.

[Judith Leipold · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was initially hooked on this one. And, ready for a 5 star rave review. It is beautifully written about finding a 'homeplace' that has deep meaning to one's inner self. Not just the structure but the dirt. Literally. SRS's descriptions as a child, and later as a teen or adult are lyrical, and I totally connected.
Having had many homes, I am now settled and ready to "staying put."
But that was initially. I am staying put in our home (of three years) but for some reason SRS got off track in his writing. The chapters, instead of relating to the "home," took on something that felt alien to the topic. It began covertly about the spirtual self. Then, tangents to organized religion, which was still on topic but...? He attempted to wrap it up at the very end bringing it back 'home.' But, for me, too little, too late. I kind of wish he had just written two books. He was really onto something good.

[Matthew Nowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A paradoxical book I chose to pick up from one of those neighborhood libraries nice people put in their front yard while I am currently road tripping across the US.

Paradoxical in a personal sense, not the book itself.

This dude loves Ohio. This guy appreciates the details of one’s own experiences and how much value is in that. This book gave me some new perspective on the significance of what makes a house a home in a time where I really don’t know where I want to plant the seeds of my life. My seeds have already been planted not from my doing, but my parents when I was pulled into this world without my consent. I’m getting off topic. I liked how he went into the history of his land, of his rivers, of his entire life. Now I know more about Ohio than I ever would before. Maybe one day I’ll care about that stuff as much as he did.

Bye.

[SL · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

It's really a shame that Goodreads doesn't allow for half-stars ratings. For me, "Staying Put" truly toes the line between "I liked it" (3) and "I really liked it" (4). Since reading it a few days ago, I vacillate between the two as I reflect on it. At this point in my life, I fall more into the category of transience that Sanders talks about most people in America being part of. Yet, I so deeply believe in the importance of learning and knowing a place that many of the things Sanders discusses are values I've held. And yet... I haven't committed to a place (yet).

This is where the book was challenging for me: I felt that for Sanders it was too much either / or: either we are transient and noncommittal, or we stay put and commit. I believe there's a lot more gray in there. Belonging and home-making take many shapes.

Where I most agreed with Sanders--and what pushes me closest to a 4 star--was in the final chapter. We *do* need to have understanding and care for the ecosystems in which we find ourselves if we are going to save this planet from the ecological holocaust taking place.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and interesting book about sense of place. I especially loved the middle chapters - I felt like the first and last got a bit too rambly and I kinda lost the point, but maybe that was the point? Anyway an interesting rumination on being grounded and the roots that standing still can bring us.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of essays that reflect on our individual place in the world, and how important our sense of place is. Having deep roots myself, despite having wandered a bit over the years, I found much to ponder in these pages.

[Renee Doucette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I LOVED some parts of this book, mostly in the first half. But as the book progressed, the further it felt the essays got from the premise.

[Kirsten Eckert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book; such deep insights.

[Maria Hrickova · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rereading this one since I last read it in the 90s. Very much love it and wish I can remember what I thought then.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I have been lost, in ways no map could remedy. I cannot return to my native ground and take up residence there. The farm in Tennessee where I spent my earliest years is buried under asphalt; the military reservation where I lived next is locked away behind fences and soldiers; and the farm in Ohio where I spent the rest of my childhood has been erased entirely, the house and barn bulldozed by the army, the woods and fields flooded by a boondoggle dam. If I am to have a home, it can only be a place I have come to as an adult, a place I have chosen."

"The place Scott Sanders has chosen as home is a small city in the hills of Indiana. In Staying Put, he tells us how a house, lived in and worked on over the years, can become animate with a family's life. He set the task of understanding a place like Bloomington, Indiana, in the larger context of living responsibly and well on the planet. He reminds us that wildness and at lest 'seven of the great mysteries' ('death, life, beasts, food, mind, sex, and God') can be found anywhere, if we look deeply enough.

"There are many voices in modern American culture telling us to keep moving, to change houses or partners or jobs, tries to make rootlessness a virtue. Here, grounded in personal narrative, is a different argument. Scott Sanders's is a steady, eloquent voice urging us to stand our ground and commit ourselves to one place -- be it a home, marriage, neighborhood, or landscape.

"Staying Put invites us to undertake our own search for home, a search both practical and spiritual."
~~front & back flaps

I was very surprised not to like this book much better than I did. The subject and the author's stance dovetail so completely with my own opinions that I thought it would be a slam-dunk, no problem. But it wasn't; I had to work to finish the book rather than not being able to put it down. And I can't put my finger on why.

I think maybe the writing was a little too pedestrian, and just a bit too preachy. I felt more as though I was being talked at instead of being invited into.

[Nathaniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing in this book was so bad that I couldn't finish it. Sanders makes some mildly interesting observations about the way that things change, but his writing style is awful, filled with obnoxious uses of adjectives that he obviously thinks are more clever than they are (e.g. he describes his newborn daughter as a "wiggle of a girl" in one chapter), irrelevant personal anecdotes that go on for pages, and an irritating (though at least benign) level of self-obsession that does not make for an enjoyable reading experience. This is especially true because this is one of those books about the natural environment that's written as an unconnected series of essays focused entirely on what the author thinks about the natural world, which is a format that I find to be pretty insufferable even when the writing is good. It's obvious that Sanders draws a lot of inspiration from Thoreau and is simply a much less inspired person living in a much less interesting place (central Indiana), and I can see how someone who likes Thoreau might find this an ok read despite the bad writing. However, it really wasn't something I personally was willing to spend time on past a certain point.

[Patrick Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was not quite what I had expected. I'm not entirely sure how it got on my to-read list, although I have a strong suspicion and I would confirm that it belonged there. There are several passages in this book that discuss the thoughtlessness with which America has approached issues such as land use and how our approach has affected the poor and disenfranchised that I would like to copy and retain for future reflection. Here's one:

I think about the poor everywhere--and it overwhelmingly the poor--whose land is gobbled up by strip mines, whose neighborhoods are wiped out by highways and shopping malls, whose villages are destroyed by bombs, whose forests are despoiled by chain saws and executive fountain pens.” Sanders, Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World, page 14.

Unlike Wendell Berry's writing, which may be categorized as prophecy, Sanders' writing is combines memoir and essay. His writing is therefore accessible and engaging, although Wendell Berry's writing is worth reading even though it is more prophetic and therefore potentially off-putting.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read an interview with Sanders in the AWP Chronicle and liked his sensibility. Since I've lived in the same place for 40 years, I thought this would be an interesting read. This is not a book that one tears through. Rather it requires a slow thoughtful read which is in keeping with Sanders perspective on staying put. It takes time and consideration to make a home in a restless world. Sanders writing and thinking is in keeping with Wendell Berry. Both require the reader to look at place with fresh eyes. The essay entitled the "Force of Moving Water" was meditative, descriptive, informative, and as powerful and soothing and disturbing as it's subject matter, the Ohio River. The piece on Sander's anxious late night wandering, "The Earth's Body," was evocative, highly personal, and deeply intelligent. Take your time with this book; you need to absorb Sanders through skin, breath, and the soles of your feet, in the same way you come to know the place you choose to make your home.

[Maryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into a bookstore specifically to BROWSE and NOT to buy ANYTHING, but I saw this book and it leapt into my pocket. I read the first page and knew, in spite of everything, that this book and I were meant to be together. (Then I also bought the New Yorker, because resistance, I realized, was futile.)
I move often and love transience and mobility; I wanted to read the case against this behavior that forms, in many ways, the linchpin of who I am. S.R.S. makes his case beautifully, lyrically, convincingly, but manages to not make it an indictment. He simply insists that the best (perhaps the only) way to make a difference in a community, to be a good neighbor, is to participate relentlessly in a neighborhood and learn it. I read this book in a single sitting on the train from Chicago to Denver, but I will go back to it for sure. It's important. He also cites a lot of excellent, epic literature, including the Sand County Almanac and Imaginary Homelands.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really wanted to like this book, and i'm not sure why i didn't like it that much.

in this book, russell sanders describes the spirituality of paying attention to our natural surroundings and cherishing community. he talks about growing up in rural northern ohio, and then reclaiming a sense of place near bloomington, indiana. everything the book is about totally makes sense to me and when i think about it, it really hits home, but i was just bored the entire time i was reading it. the prose was a bit to flowery. maybe i'm just more interested in the practical rather than the poetic.

who knows.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know the author may be a little wordy for some, and I know as the book progresses he grows increasingly spiritual in his discussions, but I still completely identified with this book. The descriptions of Midwestern thunderstorms, taking 15 years to finish renovating a house, plentiful stories about rivers and dirt, finding a home, these all shook me. It dealt with a topic I have stewed on and discussed at length for many years, and it helped me find a conclusion. I am making Salt Lake my home.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the past couple months, I've been in a reading funk. I'd read things that I could tell were good and should be something I'd really enjoy. However, they just weren't connecting with me the way I had hoped. A friend recommended trying out some nonfiction. Great advice. I found this book while browsing for books in the library. The amazing vivid, beautiful details about the Midwest as well as the exploration of home and what that means, clicked with me immediately. It could get a little preachy at times, but not enough to overshadow the pleasures of the reading experience.

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when I was restless for a place to call home. Sanders didn't settle my restlessness so much as encourage my search for what mattered most. His voice is quiet and meditative. Like Wendell Berry, his essays are deeply personal, revealing his struggle to create a spiritual existence in a secular world.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't let the name fool you like it did my english teacher. This book has almost nothing to do with what you think it should. It wasn't an awful book, but don't go into it expecting anything but appreciation of nature. The author has many interesting and comedic stories though. As long as you don't take the book too seriously, (as he talks fondly of nakedly hugging trees) it's not a bad read.

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I really love Wendell Berry's work about loving the land under your feet, this book falls short of the mark. The most interesting aspect of the book was the history of the Ohio river drainage where I grew up. I had always wondered about the story of the mound builders in Ohio, and we lived in Bloomington, IN for 3 years (the author's home).

[Daniel Riles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a while ago when I was really struggling with my transition from the Midwest to the Northeast. It helped quite a bit, but I have yet to incorporate some of the ideas/lessons into my life and intentional practice. A good read for people struggling to find a sense of home in a new environment.

[Jenni Pertuset]

why: I've read an essay or two by Scott Russell Sanders and love what he says and how he says it. As an antsy person who thinks there's always something better I could be doing, I want this book to convince me otherwise.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kind of interesting - but he talked way too much about Ohio/Indiana. Not having any experience in that area, I found a lot of those sections to be kind of boring. He does make some very good points about becoming more familiar with the nature around you.

[Tamara Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sanders writes from the perspective of one who has lost and now found the peace of living in place with a family he loves, finding peace in rootedness. While I enjoyed the book, I found myself wishing the author would occasionally take himself a bit less seriously.