Dry Rivers and Standing Rocks: A... | Buy

All writers get stuck looking for the right word. Noticing that this was an acute problem for writers in the West because standard thesauruses face east, Scott Thybony started a file of western words. Sorting through spoken and written texts, he looked, as he puts it, for "grounded talk", "place-linked words, both rooted and wind-blown". He ended up with a list of western place names, cowboy-isms, American Indian words on permanent loan, Spanish terms, a sprinkling of Arabic, some scientific terms, and an assortment of random coinings, borrowings, and outright expropriations. Soon this evolved from a computer file to the book he calls Dry Rivers and Standing Rocks and describes as "something resembling a thesaurus of western geography".

Dry Rivers and Standing Rocks is full of information but it's not really a reference book. It reads like poetry. But you don't need to be a writer to appreciate it. Readers, teachers, hikers, cartographers, even crossword puzzlers will love this book. Neither scholarly nor comprehensive, it's a collection to make you think. It

Introduction

9

(8)

LAND

17

(28)

landscape

17

(1)

region

18

(1)

legends

18

(1)

wilderness

18

(1)

expanse

19

(2)

vista

20

(1)

horizon

20

(1)

canyon

21

(2)

bend

22

(1)

junction

22

(1)

side Canyon

23

(1)

slot canyon

23

(1)

cliff

23

(4)

rim

25

(1)

promontory

25

(1)

dry fall

25

(1)

ledge

25

(1)

break

26

(1)

alcove

26

(1)

arch

27

(1)

standing rock

27

(1)

hoodoo

27

(1)

monolith

27

(1)

knob

28

(1)

desert

28

(3)

dune

29

(1)

basin

30

(1)

flat

30

(1)

arroyo

31

(1)

plateau

31

(2)

mesa

31

(1)

terrace

32

(1)

slickrock

32

(1)

mountain

33

(4)

peak

34

(1)

summit

34

(1)

ridge

34

(1)

slope

35

(1)

hill

35

(1)

valley

36

(1)

pass

36

(1)

ravine

36

(1)

cave

37

(1)

plains

37

(1)

rock

38

(4)

sedimentary

39

(1)

strata

39

(1)

igneous

39

(1)

lava

40

(1)

metamorphic

40

(1)

fossil

41

(1)

trackway

41

(1)

meteoric

41

(1)

movement

42

(3)

fold

42

(1)

fault

42

(1)

earthquake

42

(1)

erosion

42

(3)

SKY

45

(22)

day

45

(9)

dawn

46

(1)

light

46

(2)

color

48

(3)

cloud

51

(2)

shadow

53

(1)

night

54

(2)

dusk

54

(1)

moon

55

(1)

star

55

(1)

weather

56

(11)

storm

56

(2)

lightning

57

(1)

thunder

57

(1)

stormlight

58

(1)

rain

58

(2)

dry rain

59

(1)

rainbow

59

(1)

mud

59

(1)

wind

60

(2)

sandstorm

61

(1)

dust devil

61

(1)

dust

62

(1)

stillness

62

(1)

heat

62

(1)

drought

63

(1)

cold

63

(4)

snow

63

(1)

avalanche

64

(1)

ice

65

(1)

glacier

65

(2)

WATER

67

(6)

flowing water

67

(4)

river

67

(2)

riverside

69

(1)

rapids

69

(1)

waterfall

70

(1)

spring

70

(1)

hydrothermal

70

(1)

standing water

71

(2)

FIRE

73

(4)

smoke

74

(3)

LIFE

77

(6)

habitat

77

(1)

plant

78

(1)

leaf

79

(1)

animal

79

(1)

bird

80

(3)

raven

80

(3)

SEASONS

83

(2)

PEOPLE

85

(9)

ruins

85

(1)

rock art

86

(1)

cowboy

87

(1)

horse

88

(1)

firefighter

88

(1)

travel

89

(5)

foot

89

(1)

trail

90

(1)

backroad

91

(1)

river

92

(2)

Bibliography

94

(8)

Index

102

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