When Edward Abbey writes about the natural scenery of Utah it is splendid and a joy. When he moves on to his philosophy it is a struggle to stick through to the next page. The level of his hypocrisy is only matched by the level of his misanthropy. I could respect his opinions if he had quit work and moved to the desert, but he took a job for a capitalist government to tend the needs of the tourists, so all his rants about the same ring hollow. His ideas are what you would expect for a first year college student angry with society, not the deep thinker he takes himself to be. The number of glowing reviews really surprises me. I suspect many of them maybe didn't get passed the first couple chapters (which are great, great chapters). It's a wonderful topic but there are probably better sources out there.