The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas

Having grown up with three siblings and parents befittingly harried by this slightly larger brood, I grew accustomed in my early life to late arrivals. Whether it was hockey practice, birthday parties, church, or school, scrambling into place at least fifteen minutes late was the norm. However, I use the word accustom because my feelings on this typical tardiness, even from my earliest recollections, were always in the realm of resignation and disappointment. As the years went on, my irritation with late arrivals grew. It was one thing to show up late for math class, it was altogether different to turn up well past the proper time for an all important hockey game or worse yet, a date. 

Long now the controller of my own destiny though, I have made it a point to try to always arrive early at my destinations. Occasionally this practice makes for awkward moments but generally I have found it to be a good practice and at the very least, personally calming. Thus when I was discussing a great local read with a library patron recently and they asked if I had read local author Jerry Dennis' phenomenal 2003 book "The Living Great Lakes," I was quickly transported back to the days of showing up more than a little past "fashionably late." 

Having been named "The Best Book of 2003" by the Outdoor Writers Association, there is no question of the quality of "The Living Great Lakes." It truly is a fantastic book. I could leave my review at that or point toward many other more timely reviews as testament to this fact but instead, I will do my duty and let you in on why I feel the same way so many others obviously do.

I loved "The Living Great Lakes" for its storytelling. Yes, I learned tremendous amounts about the formation, history, science, nature, and environmental issues surrounding the waters and land I grew up around. Yes, I marveled in the vistas Dennis was able to paint before readers. And yes, I reveled in all of the voices, be it a biologist, boat captain, or fisherman that Dennis wove into his work. But most of all, I loved the fact that "The Living Great Lakes" was able to do all of this while still telling a fabulous story. 

Dennis accomplishes this feat by framing his information around the narrative arc of a six week sail on a tall schooner through the Great Lakes, the Erie canal, and up the coast to Maine. In doing so, he brings the lakes to life through salty, eccentric, and heartwarming characters. This structure is bolstered by Dennis' use of  anecdotes he calls upon from his own life lived in close proximity to and on the lakes. All told, It is this ability to tell a story while also inform and inspire that really made this book stand out personally and it is this same ability that will lead me to encourage others like me to keep showing up late for "The Living Great Lakes."