JustASC

I recently stumbled across Wandering Home by environmental writer Bill McKibben, and was drawn to it for its lovely evocation of the Lake Champlain landscapes where I spent many of my summers growing up.

The brief book compares favorably with John McPhee’s “The Pine Barrens” in its scope and depth. Wonderful nature writing, inspiring mini-profiles of the do-gooders he arranges to meet along the way, and an important discussion of the stakes in the environmental debate. I know the pull the region has on a person, and McKibben captures it wonderfully well.

But there is also something smug about his love of the place — reminiscent of the way writer Michael Lewis got in trouble for a rhapsodic essay about his wife’s lovely behind. McKibben has houses on the Vermont and New York sides, a way to pay for them both, and all this untrammelled wilderness as his backyard. How many of the rest of us could hope to duplicate his lifestyle, his access to nature, the benefits he accrues from wilderness? The Adirondacks are a land of natural plenty, for sure, but also a region of scarcity — scarce housing, scarce jobs, and severe (and essential) limits on development. McKibben comes off as the last guy to get into the club before the door was closed — and who calls you to boast about how great it is inside.

I’m not sure what the rest of us can take away from this, except our envy and an intense desire to return to the place for a visit.

P.S. The book is part of the “Crown Journeys” sereis, in which famed writers write about walks they take in favorite cities and countries. I’m looking forward to reading some of the others.