Blending contemporary science and keen firsthand observation, Leschak's narrative encompasses a wide range of topics and experiences-fly fishing and wildland firefighting, backyard astronomy and ecology, chain saws and ice skates, turtles and timberwolves. Its moments of pathos and joy unfold against the forbidding and beautiful landscape of northeastern Minnesota, as the author confronts questions that transcend the particulars of his experience. At once humorous and philosophical, rich with anecdotes and allusions, this is a book about death and renewal and a search for meaning along nature's myriad byways.