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BOOK REVIEWS 
OPEN HORIZONS. By Sigurd F. Olson. 231 pp. 
Alfred A. Kopf, New York, 1969, $5.95 
there were a title, “Dean of Conservation Writers,” Sigurd Olson would 
.a top candidate for the honor. As anyone who has read one of his earlier 
.oks would be assured, he writes “Open Horizons” in facile prose-poetry 
at sometimes attains a rhythm akin to singing verse. 
The jacket calls this work “An Autobiography in Nature.” Do not all 
riters do at least one book that is frankly or transparently autobiographi- 
1? Olson tells how, as a young man with a growing feeling for the land, 
searched for some profession that would satisfy his inner yearnings to live 
sse to nature. Undergraduate studies were in geology, agriculture and 
ology. As a professor in Ely Junior College in northern Minnesota he be- 
me head of the Department of Zoology. 
In this North Country that he loved he spent every possible moment out 
doors—week-ends, holidays—and soon during summers became. a profes- 
ynal guide, first in the Quetico-Superior area and later as far north in 
2nada as Hudson’s Bay. Admittedly, his earliest nature interests did not 
) beyond fishing and hunting, but later refined into observation and ad- 
iration. He did, however, always retain an avid love of fishing and became 
. enthusiastic Izaac Walton League promoter. 
Still his urge for a more significant career than wilderness guide needled 
m to undertake graduate work. To one who has always thought of Sigurd 
ison as a prophet of the North Woods, it was an interesting revelation that 
‘came to the University of Illinois to study ecology under a great pioneer 
this field, Dr. Victor E. Shelford. 
His heart, however, remained in the Northern latitudes, for his master’s 
esis at the U. of I. was on the life history and predatory relationships of 
e timber wolf. He wrote, “I was intrigued with the wolf as a symbol of 
ilderness. I admired it for its beauty and strength and what it meant in 
e North, the impact of its bloodlines when crossed with native dogs...” 
Later, ‘No longer could I look at the wolf for its beauty and general 
terest, for now I saw how involved it was with other creatures.”’ 
“Open Horizons” is Olson’s fifth book, his writings spread over 14 years. 
them all, according to his friends, Mrs. Margaret Murie, widow of the 
mous Olaus Murie, “he weaves a quiet spell about his reader.’’ To do such 
le writing, full of imagery, nature’s beauty, aesthetic ideals and philoso- 
1y, one tends to think of him as a “born writer.’ Not so. Olson details his 
ficulties when learning to write, through early stages punctuated by fre- 
lent rejection slips—even as you and I. 
His philosophy shows through in such passages as ‘No two voyageurs 
iter their doors in the same way or have identical adventures, but all have 
common the final impact which is in the evolution of vision and per- 
ective, and when there are no mirages ahead, a man dies. With an open 
rizon constantly before him, life can be an eternal challenge. 
“I believe one of the basic tenents for anyone concerned with the pres- 
vation of the environment is to have a love for the land, which comes 
rough a long intimacy with natural beauty and living things, an associa- 
mn that breeds genuine affection and has an inherent understanding for its 
finite and varied ecology.” 
