“Only someone who has spent a lifetime roaming the physical and intellectual terrain with his head up and his eyes clear could understand so many fields so well and relate them to each other. This work is an amble through geology, geography, hydrology, forestry, theology, philosophy, history, literature, and much more. But words, the development and use of language, provide the lens through which we zoom in to see exquisite details in nature or discourse, or out to gain a grand perspective. Poetry and metaphor punctuate the whole.”
—L. Jackson Newell, author of The Electric Edge of Academe: The Saga of Lucien L. Nunn and Deep Springs College
"Where memoir meets natural history, where aphorism joins with tale, where one man’s memory is indivisible from one man’s intellectual discovery—that’s the magic and forceful fact of The Salt Lake Papers. I remember exploring Clam Lake with Edward Lueders, nearly forty years ago, as he mapped the Wisconsin of his imagination. Now, belated and timely, playful, meditative, and brilliant, he rejoins a lineage leading down from the great Montaigne, through Franklin and Thoreau, to Bass and Tempest Williams to today. Is it a daybook, is it a poem, a political almanac, a geological map? Edward Lueders’ new book, like his spirit, is a gift."
—David Baker
"Edward Lueders's oracular meditation, informed by nine decades of intense observation, takes his readers on a profound journey through the intersections of mind and matter, nature and culture, humanities and science. The clarity and conundrums inspired by Utah's red rock beauty form the backdrop to a singular human story with resounding collective echoes."
—Robert Newman, president, National Humanities Center
“This will be a special book for some people. It was for me. It transfers wisdom. It inspires thought. It summarizes one man’s journey to appreciate landscapes and how they have impacted his sense of being human. Dr. Lueders, with great consideration, shares his view of the purpose of the human mind, humanities and science alike.”
—Genevieve Atwood, founder and chief education officer, Earth Science Education; and emeritus adjunct associate professor of geography, University of Utah