Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There is not normally the type of book that I would pick up and read for enjoyment. I feel privileged that I got to read it now. Leopold's views and outlook on nature are amazing. His keen since of observation and highly descriptive form of writing makes it a true pleasure to read about his experiences. In this book he writes about observations through the different months from his farm in Sand County Wisconsin, his experiences with "wilderness" travel around North America, and about the ethics and philosophy that are involved with conservation.
             The first section of the book is where he includes his observations from his farm through the different months of the year. This section of the book was my favorite to read. This section jumped right in and began with January and went through the months in order. It was from the very first section of the book that Leopold's sense of observation struck me. He takes notice of every aspect of nature around him from hawks soaring above head to tiny skunk tracks in the snow. Every part of nature he records is done with pure admiration in his eyes and he is able to transfer that admiration to the reader. I have found myself recently looking at and listening to nature with new eyes and ears.
             I was slower getting started reading the book than I should have been but I was glad that I was. My reading fell right in line with our lectures in class and events in the book. I read the section about February and "The Good Oak" right after we had discussed some of the significant landmarks in time for wildlife biology and the two went hand in hand. Leopold describes the dance of the male woodcock in great detail and we had also covered that in class on the video. The second part of this book was about places that Leopold had been that in one way or another were special enough for him to includ...