About This Life cover

About This Life

by Barry Lopez

In About This Life. Barry Lopez takes us on a literal and figurative journey across the terrain of autobiography, assembling essays of wisdom and insight. Here is far flung travel (the beauty of remote Hokkaido Island, the over-explored Galapagos, enigmatic Bonaire); a naturalist's contention (Why does our society inevitably strip political power from people with intimate knowledge of the land - small-scale farmers. Native Americans, Eskimos, cowboys?); and pure adventure (a dizzying series of around-the-world journeys with air freight - everything from penguins to pianos). And here, too, are seven exquisite memory pieces - hauntingly lyrical yet unsentimental recollections that represent Lopez's most personal work to date, and which will be read as classics of the personal essay for years to come.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?