Product Description

"The author deftly weaves the materials of natural and human history into a radiant, tightly woven fabric. . . . This classic is a book for all seasons—to be reread and savored over the years."—Latin America in Books

"His superb writing style and the timelessness of his subject (the natural world and the interaction of human beings with it) make this every bit as enjoyable today as it was in the 1960's."—Books of the Southwest

"Well-written and fascinating."—Journal of Arid Environments

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #250563 in Books
• Published on: 1986-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 277 pages

Customer Reviews

a lovely piece of writing about an amazing place
This is one of the books that first drew me to Baja california years ago. Unfortunately much of what Krutch saw has inevitably been swept away by the rising tide of tourism & development, but enough remains that Krutch's lyrical prose is more than a eulogy, one can still find some of teh magic that he describes so well here. I would strongly reccomend this book to anyone planning on visiting Baja California and/or anyone who is interested in the intersection between natural history and literature -one gets both here.

Almost forgotten
I first read Joseph Wood Krutch in an introduction he wrote to "Walden and other writings". Undoubtedly Thoreau influenced Krutch's world view and philosophy (so much so you would say that he evolved from a drama critic to a naturalist, although no doubt both of these interests occupied him concurrently at least for some portion of his life).

The Forgotten Peninsula is a fine book by a naturalist. Krutch described the desert plants and marine animals as well as the human and natural history of Baja California based on several trips he made (some the "hard way" by 4-wheel vehicles, some the "easy way" by plane). The descriptions are crisp and vivid, if somewhat detached. I deduct one star because sometimes I wish he was a little more emotional, more personal and more passionate in his writing -- maybe this is why another reviewer thinks it is a "dry listing" (actually it is much better than that). Perhaps he was too content with being (and indeed he may have intended to be) merely an observer.

The last two chapters posed some profound questions about the place of the human race in nature and the virtue of progress. This is a book written almost 50 years ago, reading these questions in the context of what the world has become now gives one much to ponder. No doubt a lot of things described in this book may have long disappeared, but ironically Baja is forgotten no more (ever heard of or seen on ESPN Baja 500?). Yet reading the book still makes one want to go to Baja California (a place I have not yet been to) to see what little still remains there.

An outdated travelogue with no literary merit
You would think that with a subtitle like "A naturalist in Baja", you could expect this to be a nature guide to the area. You would be mistaken. Instead, this seems to be some sort of discourse on the human development of Baja California by a naturalist who has decided to play amateur sociologist. Most of the comments on the natural history of the region amount to a dry listing of the local plant life. The final chapter is prescient in its questioning of the sustainability of economic development, but the prose throughout the book suffers from awkward syntax and seems stilted even by 1961 standards. The description of the roads and towns is now so outdated as to be only of historical interest
I was looking for a nature guide written in narrative style to take along on my first trip to the region, and this is definitely not what I had in mind. Aside from the grey whale and sea lion, this work does not even mention some of the marine animals for which the area is so famous - such as the whale shark and manta ray. If you're looking for a literate exposition on the Baja experience, consider instead John Steinbeck's classic Log form the Sea of Cortez. Although written even earlier, it remains timeless.