Rants from the Hill
On Packrats, Bobcats, Wildfires, Curmudgeons, a Drunken Mary Kay Lady, and Other Encounters with the Wild in the High Desert
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Narrated by:
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David Marantz
About this listen
Welcome to the land of wildfire, hypothermia, desiccation, and rattlers.
The stark and inhospitable high-elevation landscape of Nevada’s Great Basin Desert may not be an obvious (or easy) place to settle down, but for self-professed desert rat Michael Branch it’s home. Of course, living in such an unforgiving landscape gives one many things to rant about. Fortunately for us, Branch—humorist, environmentalist, and author of Raising Wild—is a prodigious ranter.
From bees hiving in the walls of his house to owls trying to eat his daughters’s cat—not to mention his eccentric neighbors—adventure, humor, and irreverence abound on Branch’s small slice of the world, which he lovingly calls Ranting Hill.
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Many childhood summers, Mark Woods piled into a station wagon with his parents and two sisters and headed to America's national parks. Mark's most vivid childhood memories are set against a backdrop of mountains, woods, and fireflies in places like Redwood, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon national parks. On the eve of turning 50, and a little burned out, Mark decided to reconnect with the great outdoors. He'd spend a year visiting the national parks.
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great narrator, lackluster story, wonderful themes
- By MT on 08-21-18
By: Mark Woods
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Afield
- American Writers on Bird Dogs
- By: David Smith - editor, Robert Demott - editor
- Narrated by: Bryan Brendle
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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This marvelous collection features stories from some of America’s finest and most respected writers about every outdoorsman’s favorite and most loyal hunting partner: his dog. For the first time, the stories of acclaimed writers such as Richard Ford, Tom Brokaw, Howell Raines, Rick Bass, Sydney Lea, Jim Harrison, Tom McGuane, Phil Caputo, and Chris Camuto come together in one collection. Hunters and non-hunters alike will recognize in these poignant tales the universal aspects of owning dogs.
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Great stories. Poor performance.
- By Paul on 12-09-17
By: David Smith - editor, and others
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The Good Rain
- Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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A fantastic book! Timothy Egan describes his journeys in the Pacific Northwest through visits to salmon fisheries, redwood forests and the manicured English gardens of Vancouver. Here is a blend of history, anthropology and politics.
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White man bad, capitalism bad
- By Forget about it on 04-15-21
By: Timothy Egan
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The Hour of Land
- A Personal Topography of America's National Parks
- By: Terry Tempest Williams
- Narrated by: Terry Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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For years, America's national parks have provided public breathing spaces in a world in which such spaces are steadily disappearing, which is why close to 300 million people visit the parks each year. Now, to honor the centennial of the National Park Service, Terry Tempest Williams, the author of the beloved memoir When Women Were Birds, returns with The Hour of Land, a literary celebration of our national parks, what they mean to us, and what we mean to them.
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It could have been good.
- By udzuzu on 04-14-18
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If You Didn't Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat?
- Misadventures in Hunting, Fishing, and the Wilds of Suburbia
- By: Bill Heavey
- Narrated by: Ian Patrick Williams
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether he is accidentally cooking his brain with hand warmers or yanking his lure away from a trophy fish just before it takes the bait, Bill Heavey can do no right. For almost a decade, he has chronicled his incompetence on the back page of Field & Stream, where his hilarious dispatches about life as a hapless outdoorsman who lives in suburbia have earned him legions of fans.
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Great book
- By Jon Hiltz on 07-21-18
By: Bill Heavey
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Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs
- By: Patrick McManus
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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America's most hilarious sportsman returns with this collection of insights about youth, the great outdoors, and the philosophy of fileting fish. When best-selling author Patrick McManus looks at a subject, you're sure to come away with an outrageously new perspective.
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Laughed so hard I cried!
- By Kindle Customer on 04-05-12
By: Patrick McManus
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Wild Ones
- A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America
- By: Jon Mooallem
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Half of all species could disappear by the end of the century, and scientists now concede that most of America’s endangered animals will survive only if conservationists keep rigging the world around them in their favor. So Jon Mooallem ventures into the field, often taking his daughter with him, to move beyond childlike fascination and make those creatures feel more real. Wild Ones is a tour through our environmental moment and the eccentric cultural history of people and wild animals in America that inflects it.
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The line between conservation and domestication...
- By Bonny on 04-02-14
By: Jon Mooallem
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Irons in the Fire
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Fabulously entertaining and filled with the intriguing trivia of life, Irons in the Fire is another impeccably crafted collection of seven essays by John McPhee. His peerless writing, punctuated with a sharp sense of humor and fascinating detail, has earned him legions of fans across the country.
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New New Journalism is on Fire
- By Darwin8u on 02-10-15
By: John McPhee
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How I Got This Way
- By: Patrick McManus
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Grab your fishing net and hold onto your funny-bone; you're in for a hilarious romp through the woods with best-selling funnyman Patrick McManus. How I Got This Way is a rib-tickling collection of stories about the outdoors guaranteed to leave you chuckling. Join McManus and his pals on a venture into the Idaho wilderness that includes taking a hike with - ahem - the president of the United States.
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Mark Twain meets Bertie Wooster
- By Snoodely on 07-22-12
By: Patrick McManus
What listeners say about Rants from the Hill
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tatyana Drotenko
- 04-04-24
Loved the humor
I expected a book to be about the nature and logistics about the life in the high desert. Was pleasantly surprised to read such fun, full-of-humor story about the family itself. I liked all the stories about the girls, pets, hikes, celebrations, etc. I loved the way Mr. Branch described his daughters' personalities, it was a joy to observe their role in in his life.
Learned so much about so many tings: environment, history, geo-specifics like weather, seasons, fauna and flora, etc.
What made me rate it 4 stars is the overwhelming barrage of speech on climate change, and lack of any description of the wife/mom of the family. The queen of the house remained in background and wasn't made to seem like an important role in their story.
I LOVED the humor throughout the book.
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