The Nearby Faraway: A Personal Journey Through the Heart of the West

A dedicated naturalist and a writer’s writer, David Petersen spends a lot of time outdoors in the Rocky Mountain West. Whether in the aspen groves of the forests around his cabin in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, or watching grizzlies in Montana, or visiting the hidden desert grave of his friend and mentor, Edward Abbey, Petersen goes places many of us will never see—except through his words. He writes with great clarity and elegance of expression, while constantly renewing and reexamining his relationship to nature. "The Nearby Faraway" is an abridged autobiography of the author’s life and travels (both geographical and spiritual) in the American West—a rich and moving collection from one of the West’s most thoughtful, honest, and down-to-earth writers.