[Lopez's] final collection of essays, Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World, should remind readers just how wide-ranging, artful, and deeply personal his writing could be ... Essays in Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World show not only the range of Lopez’s scope but also his artistry ... What’s most striking about the collection is how personally revelatory Lopez could be as a writer ... Throughout all of Lopez’s writing is a moral clarity that is as striking as it is inspiring.
Lopez did not take the task of writing lightly ... [His sentences] shimmer and punch magnificently ... If these essays have a unifying theme and express a single mandate, they are about the redemptive importance of paying attention to the planet and to the other beings with which we share it ... He loved this world, and did his best, and pointed us the way.
Lopez observed the world with ardent and inquisitive concentration and shared his findings and musings in works of tensile strength, lambent beauty, and descriptive and moral precision ... In this precious posthumous collection of recent and previously unpublished essays, he reveals many more dimensions of his quests and discoveries. His intimacy with place brings buried history to full life; his immersions in art deepen understanding of our species and our planet. Lopez remembers mentors and friends; recounts with courage, generosity, and artistry how nature helped him survive prolonged boyhood sexual abuse ... Readers will treasure this hearth of a collection from a crucial and profound writer of spirit, commitment, benevolence, and reverence.
An apt swan song, an ode to places both far-flung and close to home ... They spring from a variety of sources...but together they offer insight into the drive and heart of a thoughtful observer of the modern world ... The collection is organized in a way that brings its focus home, with the final pieces highlighting both the Oregon woods where Lopez lived for half a century and his dawning awareness that the end was near ... A powerful reminder from a great writer that we can learn about ourselves from the world around us, and that we have an obligation to care for the Earth as we care for ourselves.
Altogether, the pieces are honest and searching, engaging readers in the largest of questions: How do we live in the world? How do we see it? How do we protect it? ... A sterling valediction. Lopez’s many followers will treasure this book.
