SNAP JUDGMENT: BOOKS

Nature Noir by Jordan Fisher Smith

Recounting 14 bizarre years as a park ranger in a Sierra Nevada wilderness, Smith kicks things off with an indelible image: a boozed-up nature lover lobbing a baby at a moving car. In Smith's account, it's a dead heat as to which was more malign: nature--with floods and throat-choking droughts--or its guests. He writes about the natural world with more grace than anyone since Edward Abbey.

--Malcolm Jones

© 2005