Book: Outside Ourselves

A reader’s first reaction to Outside Ourselves (Gentian Press, $18), Todd Burritt’s lengthy love-letter to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, might be envy. The author, a former wilderness ranger, spent two months traversing the aforementioned region on foot: from Lander, Wyoming all the way to Bozeman—who doesn’t dream about such an experience? The stunning Wind River Range, the remote Washakie Wilderness, the immense Beartooths... a hiker would be hard-pressed to plan a route through more magnificent country. After digging into the book, the next response is appreciation—for Burritt’s narrative style, which blends engaging storytelling with penetrating insight and compelling exhortation. This place is special, for many reasons, and special places need to be preserved as such. To explain why, in language that evokes both deep feeling and intellectual understanding, we need writers like Todd Burritt, and books like Outside Ourselves. Pick up a copy, plan your own long-distance hike through the GYE, and renew your efforts to help save this special place.