Back in Keith County - by John Janovy (Paperback)

About the Book

Reprint. Originally published: 1st ed. New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press, c1981.

Book Synopsis

"Good biologist though [Janovy] is, he's an even better nature writer, with a special affinity for the mysterious and the mystic."-Noel Perrin "This 'human need for wilderness' is the trail winding through Back in Keith County . . . [to] the streams of John Janovy's 'inner cowboy country.' The fourteen essays are a very human mix of biology, sentiment, wandering observation and personal philosophy."-Smithsonian John Janovy Jr. is Varner Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and director of the Cedar Point Biological Station. He is the author of Keith County Journal and On Becoming a Biologist, also available as a Bison Book.

Review Quotes

"Good biologist though [Janovy] is, he's an even better nature writer, with a special affinity for the mysterious and the mystic."--Noel Perrin

"Janovy's earlier Keith County Journal "met with astonishing success, and some reviewers compared the author to Henry David Thoreau. Back in Keith County returns to the part of Nebraska that Mr. Janovy knows and loves. . . . The book shows the area's wildlife--tiger beetles, toads, swallows, owls and a variety of fish--to be as special as its people. . . . The author also reflects on the intangible aspects of life. . . . The rich ramblings of these 179 pages are fascinating."--Kansas City Star

"John Janovy has produced his best book. . . . He gives us a superb example of nature writing and of life in the Great Plains, perhaps surpassing such admired works in the genre as Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac and William Warner's Beautiful Swimmers. Janovy takes us on a journey of intellectual serendipity, deriving extraordinary thoughts from ordinary circumstances."--Washington Post

"This 'human need for wilderness' is the trail winding through Back in Keith County . . . [to] the streams of John Janovy's 'inner cowboy country.' The fourteen essays are a very human mix of biology, sentiment, wandering observation and personal philosophy."--Smithsonian

About the Author

John Janovy Jr. is Varner Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and director of the Cedar Point Biological Station. He is the author of Keith County Journal and On Becoming a Biologist, also available as a Bison Book.