Sigurd F. Olson's Books

Wilderness Days

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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Wilderness Days

By: Sigurd F. Olson

A selection of Sigurd F. Olson's finest writing on the splendor of the great outdoors, hand-picked by the master himself

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Page Count

261

Publisher

U of Minnesota Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0816679088

ISBN 13

9780816679089

LISTENING POINT

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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“Listening Point tells of what I have seen and heard on a bare glaciated spit of rock in the Quetico-Superior country. Each time I have gone there I have found something new that has opened up whole realms of thought and interest. From it I have glimpsed the immensity of space and at times the grandeur of creation. “I believe that I have experienced there one of the oldest satisfactions of man; when as he gazed upon the earth and sky, he sensed the first vague glimmerings of meaning in the universe. I know that while we were born with curiosity and wonder, and our early years are full of the adventure they bring, such inherent joys are often lost. I also know that, being deep within us, their latent glow can be fanned to flame again by awareness and an open mind. “Listening Point is dedicated to rekindling that flame by capturing this almost forgotten sense of wonder, and learning from rocks and trees and all the life that surrounds them truths that can encompass all. “I named this place Listening Point because only when one comes to listen, only when one comes sharpens one’s awareness, can one see and hear in the sense in which I use these words. Everyone has a listening point somewhere, some quiet place where he can contemplate the awesome universe. This book is simply the story of what such a place has meant to me. The experiences that have been mine can be known by anyone who will make the effort.” Thus the author of The Singing Wilderness sets the tone of his new book—a book that not only successfully recaptures the to-be-treasured sense of wonder of which he speaks, but also brings to life, in all its essential grandeur, the unparalleled heritage of lakes and rivers and forests we are so fortunate to be able to call our own. Listening Point is a book that will rekindle spirits wearied by the turmoils of twentieth-century living—that will teach us a new way to look at the world around us and to feel the better for it. With 28 magnificent black-and-white drawings by Francis Lee Jacques.

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Page Count

224

Publisher

Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307822257

ISBN 13

9780307822253

A Private Wilderness

The Journals of Sigurd F. Olson

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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A Private Wilderness

The Journals of Sigurd F. Olson

By: Sigurd F. Olson

The personal diaries of one of America’s best-loved naturalists, revealing his difficult and inspiring path to finding his voice and becoming a writer Few writers are as renowned for their eloquence about the natural world, its power and fragility, as Sigurd F. Olson (1899–1982). Before he could give expression to The Singing Wilderness, however, he had to find his own voice. It is this struggle, the painstaking and often simply painful process of becoming the writer and conservationist now familiar to us, that Olson documented in the journal entries gathered here. Written mostly during the years from 1930 to 1941, Olson’s journals describe the dreams and frustrations of an aspiring writer honing his skills, pursuing recognition, and facing doubt while following the academic career that allowed him to live and work even as it consumed so much of his time. But even as he speaks with immediacy and intensity about the conditions of his apprenticeship, Olson can be seen developing the singular way of observing and depicting the natural world that would bring him fame—and also, more significantly, alert others to the urgent need to understand and protect that world. Author of Olson’s definitive biography, editor David Backes brings a deep knowledge of the writer to these journals, providing critical context, commentary, and insights along the way. When Olson wrote, in the spring of 1941, “What I am afraid of now is that the world will blow up just as I am getting it organized to suit me,” he could hardly have known how right he would prove to be. It is propitious that at our present moment, when the world seems once more balanced on the precipice, we have the words of Sigurd F. Olson to remind us of what matters—and of the hard work and the wonder that such a reckoning requires.

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Page Count

354

Publisher

U of Minnesota Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1452966850

ISBN 13

9781452966854

Singing Wilderness

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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Singing Wilderness

By: Sigurd F. Olson

To do with the calling of loons, with northern lights, and the great silences of land lying northwest of Lake Superior. It is concerned with the simple joys, the timelessness and perspective found in a way of life which is close to the past. I have heard the singing in many places, but I seem to hear it best in the wilderness lake country of the Quetico-Superior, where travel is still by pack and canoe over the ancient trails of the Indians and voyageurs." Thus the author sets the theme and tone of this enthralling book of discovery about one of the few great primitive areas in our country which have withstood the pressures of civilization. Acute natural perceptivity and a profound knowledge of the relationships to be found in nature combine here in vivid evocations of the sights, the sounds, the vast stillnesses, and the events of the wilderness as the seasons succeed each other. But Mr. Olson is not content merely to "describe; he probes for meanings that will lead the reader to a different and more revealing way of looking at the out-of-doors and to a deeper sense of its eternal values. In each of the thirty-four chapters of The Singing Wilderness he has sought to capture an essential quality of our magnificent lake and forest heritage. He shows us what can be read from the rocks of the great Canadian Shield; he offers a delightful essay on the virtues of pine knots as fuel; he writes of the ways of a canoe, of flashing trout in the pools of the Isabella, of tamarack bogs, caribou moss, the flight of wild geese, timber wolves, and the birds of the ski trails. And much more, with something to satisfy every taste for wilderness experience. Superbly illustrated with 38 black-and-white drawings by Francis Lee Jaques, The Singing Wilderness is a book that no lover of nature will want to be without. To anyone who contemplates a vacation in the lake country of northern Minnesota and adjoining Canada, it is the perfect vade mecum.

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Page Count

219

Publisher

Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307819906

ISBN 13

9780307819901

The Collected Works of Sigurd F. Olson

The college years, 1935-1944

By: Mike Link,Sigurd F. Olson,Michael Link

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The Collected Works of Sigurd F. Olson

The college years, 1935-1944

By: Mike Link,Sigurd F. Olson,Michael Link

Essays discuss conservation, rapids, lakes, portages, wildlife, and the Quetico-Superior Wilderness

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Page Count

280

Publisher

Stillwater, Minn., U.S.A. : Voyageur Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

089658092X

ISBN 13

9780896580923

Runes of the North

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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Runes of the North

By: Sigurd F. Olson

A rune is, in its general meaning, a tale of magic and mystery. To Sigurd Olson it expresses his feelings about the haunting appeal of the wilderness and of the tales and legends to be found there. His runes are legends, yards, and wilderness reflections drawn from the great northern vastness of Canada and Alaska. Whether he is recounting a charming Indian myth, such as “The Dream Net,” or describing the exhilaration of the sauna, the primitive Finnish bath, or sharing the pleasure of digging a spring for a remote Runes of the North is divided into two sections: one, “Le Beau Pays,” reveals woodland lore of the land of big timber, rushing white water streams, and “lost” lakes of the Canadian border; the other, “Pays d’en Haut,” has for the setting of its chapters the wilderness farther north, from Hudson Bay across the Barren Grounds and tundra to the Yukon and Alaska. This new book by the author of The Singing Wilderness, Listening Point, and The Lonely Land will please thousands of readers who have found in him a kindred spirit and a man who puts into words their own deep feelings about nature. Robert Hines’s jacket drawing of the loon, symbol of far places, and his atmospheric pen-and-inks of birds, animals, and voyageurs add pictorial appeal to these tales and ruminations of the Big North, ancient, old, and modern.

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Page Count

235

Publisher

Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307822273

ISBN 13

9780307822277

Of Time and Place

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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Of Time and Place

By: Sigurd F. Olson

Of Time and Place is a legacy from one of the best-loved woodsman writers of our time. To the outdoorsmen who often canoed and portaged with him through the northern Lake country, Sigurd Olson was affectionately known as the Bourgeois—the name that voyageurs gave two hundred years ago to the trusted guides who took them over this same territory. And in this, his last book, completed just before his death in early 1982, Olson is our guide through his wide-ranging memories of a lifetime dedicated to the preservation of the wilderness, especially of his beloved Quetico-Superior country. He recalls his many friendships of trail and woods and portage, his favorite campsites, the stories behind the artifacts and mementos hanging in his cabin at Listening Point. He muses on the fragile beauty of the prairies, on the significance of ancient trails, on the resonance and the origins of place names. Whether he is remembering the day when he caught his first brook trout, or admiring the playful grace of the otter, or pondering the earth’s great cycles of climatic change, these moving and evocative essays reaffirm Audubon magazine’s celebration of Sigurd Olson as “the poetic voice of the modern wilderness movement.”

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Page Count

183

Publisher

Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307822281

ISBN 13

9780307822284

The Meaning of Wilderness

Essential Articles and Speeches

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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The Meaning of Wilderness

Essential Articles and Speeches

By: Sigurd F. Olson

Despite the enduring popularity of The Singing Wilderness, Listening Point, Reflections from the North Country, and his other books, a major portion of Sigurd F. Olson's wilderness writing-much of it originating as speeches-has been relatively inaccessible, scattered in a number of magazines and obscure books over a period of more than fifty years, or never published at all. The Meaning of Wilderness gathers together the most important of Olson's articles and speeches, making them available in one place for the first time. The book also contains an introduction and chapter-by-chapter commentary by Olson's authorized biographer, David Backes, that help the reader discover the various facets of Olson's wilderness philosophy and their development over time.

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Page Count

250

Publisher

U of Minnesota Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1452905037

ISBN 13

9781452905037

The Meaning of Wilderness

Essential Articles and Speeches

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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The Meaning of Wilderness

Essential Articles and Speeches

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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250

Publisher

U of Minnesota Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1452905037

ISBN 13

9781452905037

Open Horizons

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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Open Horizons

By: Sigurd F. Olson

Originally published: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, c1969.

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Page Count

227

Publisher

U of Minnesota Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0816630372

ISBN 13

9780816630370

A Private Wilderness

The Journals of Sigurd F. Olson

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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A Private Wilderness

The Journals of Sigurd F. Olson

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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354

Publisher

U of Minnesota Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1452966850

ISBN 13

9781452966854

Runes of the North

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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Runes of the North

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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235

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Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307822273

ISBN 13

9780307822277

Of Time and Place

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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Of Time and Place

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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183

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Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307822281

ISBN 13

9780307822284

LISTENING POINT

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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LISTENING POINT

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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224

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Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307822257

ISBN 13

9780307822253

Reflections from the North Country

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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Reflections from the North Country

By: Sigurd F. Olson

Written in the last years of his life, Reflections from the North Country is often considered Sigurd Olson's most intellectually significant work. In an account alive with anecdote and insight, Olson outlines the wilderness philosophy he developed while working as an outspoken advocate for the conservation of America's natural heritage.Based on speeches delivered at town meetings and government hearings, this book joins The Singing Wilderness and Listening Point as the core of Olson's work. Upon its initial publication in 1976, Reflections from the North Country, with Olson's unique combination of lyrical nature writing and activism, became an inspiration to the burgeoning environmental movement, selling over 46,000 copies in hardcover. In this wide-ranging work, Olson evokes the soaring grace of raven, osprey, and eagle, the call of the loon, and the song of the hermit thrush. He challenges the reader to loosen the grasp of technology and the rush of contemporary life and make room for a sense of wonder heightened by being in nature. From evolution to the meaning and power of solitude, Olson meditates on the human condition, offering eloquent testimony to the joys and truths he discovered in his beloved north-country wilderness.

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Page Count

196

Publisher

Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307761614

ISBN 13

9780307761613

Lonely Land

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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Lonely Land

By: Sigurd F. Olson

The author of The Singing Wilderness and Listening Point begins this grand adventure: “There are few places left on the North American continent where men can still see the country as it was before Europeans came and know some of the challenges and freedoms of those who saw it first, but in the Canadian Northwest it can still be done. A thousand miles northwest of Lake Superior are great free rivers, lakes whose horizons disappear, countless unnamed waterways, and ridges and forested valleys still largely unknown.” Into this land of Crees, Chippewyans, Yellow Knives, and Dig Rib Indians had once come the voyageur, the Hudson Bay trader, and a succession of adventurers—gentlemen and otherwise—who used the mighty Churchill River as a major waterway from Hudson Bay to the Mackenzie. “It was the trail of these voyageurs we followed,” says the author, “a trail that led from the height of land where waters flow north to the Arctic and east to Hudson Bay, to Cumberland House five hundred miles away. Every portage, camp site, and rapids, every mile of this waterway of lakes and rivers was steeped in the drama of exploration and trade.” “We traveled as the voyageurs did by canoe, paddled the same lakes, ran the same rapids, and packed over their ancient portages. We knew the winds and storms, saw the same sky lines, and felt the awe and wonderment that was theirs at the enormous expanses and grandeur of a land that was once as strange and challenging to them as to us.” Mr. Olson has illuminated his own cruise with quotations from journals and diaries of such men as George Simpson, David Thompson, Alexander Henry, and Alexander Mackenzie—as well as a host of other explorers-traders whose voices speak from the old Moose Fort Journals of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Mr. Olson serves as the Bourgeois of the party of six—the boss who ran the trip, chose the routes, picked the camp sites. His companions and he relived for all readers of this book what life was then in the wilds of the Canadian Northwest. Mr. Olson combines his inimitable ability to evoke the beauties and wonders of the wilderness—its animals, birds, and its very spirit—with a dramatic talent for taking the reader along the route of the men who pioneered that wilderness. Francis Lee Jacques, whose genius to evoke the wilderness in pen and ink is unchallenged, has illuminated this book by his drawings, as he did The Singing Wilderness and Listening Point.

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Page Count

257

Publisher

Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307822265

ISBN 13

9780307822260

Open Horizons

By: Sigurd F. Olson

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Open Horizons

By: Sigurd F. Olson

This text presents the author's inspirational life story, told in his own words. Olson recounts a life lived on and for the land, from the wonder of boyhood fishing expeditions, to decades-long conservation battles.

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