Horizon

Horizon
Barry Lopez
Knopf (March 19, 2019), 592 pages
Kindle edition $14.99, Amazon hardcover $18.00

One would think that if one were to select a book to read from an award-winning author whom one had not read before, one would start with one of their classic books. In the case of Barry Lopez that might be Arctic Dreams or Of Wolves and Men. Me, I started with his most recent book, Horizon.

Not a Barry Lopez classic, but highly readable and enjoyable. Lopez describes his visits to the Oregon Coast, the Galapagos Islands, Africa, Australia, and the Antarctic. He describes not only his own travels, but delves into history as well. He writes about Captain Cook, Charles Darwin, the Leakey family, and the earliest Antarctic explorers. The writing is entertaining and engaging and it was delightful to read about Lopez’s explorer spirit. The history was fascinating, except for some of the more unpleasant bits which Lopez describes unblinkingly.

For travel writing and for history this is good reading.