Book excerpt: This book contains a diversity of natural and human stories about the southeast quarter of Oregon state, an area seemingly empty and barren to many people driving through it. This surprising view of the region features the botany, geology, wildlife and history of the area wrapped in a memoir of the author’s youth spent there. Born in the sagebrush community of Lakeview in 1941, the author moved on following high school graduation. But as with many native sons and daughters from out-of-the-way places, the urge to return to his roots proved irresistible. “I endeavored to write this collection about the Oregon desert because of my childhood there,” says Adams, “but also because it is a place of startling mystery, subdued danger and beauty.”