Rating: 
Summary: Duncan's "Water" runs deep.
Review: "I am haunted by water" (p. 132), David James Duncan writes in this collection of 21 essays. I discovered Duncan when two of his essays included here, "Who Owns the West?" and "god," appeared in The Sun magazine. It is no surprise that this book is a finalist for the National Book Award. Part memoir, part contemplative, wilderness love story, Duncan's STORY AS TOLD BY WATER runs deep. For Duncan, "trees and mountains are holy. Rain and rivers are holy. Salmon are holy. For this reason alone I will fight with all my might to keep them alive" (p. 107).Duncan suspected, as a boy, "that rivers and mountains are myself turned inside out. I'd heard at church that the kingdom of heaven is within us and thought, Yeah, sure. But the first time I walked up a trout stream, fly rod in hand, I didn't feel I was 'outside' at all; I was traveling further and further in." The wonders of his boyhood world, he writes, "the things that filled me at first sight with awe and yearning--were, in order of preference, (1) Rivers, (2) Mountains, (3) Ancient Forest, (4) the Ocean, and (5) Cute Girls (p. 9). In these essays, Duncan follows his "interior coho compass" (p. 13) through countless river walks, from Portland to Montana. Along the way, he discovers rivers are his "prayer wheels," and his "true home is wilderness" (p. 93). "Capitalist fundamentalism," he believes, "is the perfect Techno-Industrial religion, its goal being a planet upon which we've nothing left to worship, worry about, read, eat or love but dollar bills and Bibles" (p. 8). This is a book that moves with spiritual, passionate, insightful, and humorous currents, pulling its reader through calm, reflective moments to thrilling, white-water rants along the way. Duncan writes with the colors and sounds of nature. His STORY AS TOLD BY WATER is a story that will not only move you, it just might baptise you. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: Duncan's "Water" runs deep.
Review: "I am haunted by water" (p. 132), David James Duncan writes in this collection of 21 essays. I discovered Duncan when two of his essays included here, "Who Owns the West?" and "god," appeared in The Sun magazine. It is no surprise that this book is a finalist for the National Book Award. Part memoir, part contemplative, wilderness love story, Duncan's STORY AS TOLD BY WATER runs deep. For Duncan, "trees and mountains are holy. Rain and rivers are holy. Salmon are holy. For this reason alone I will fight with all my might to keep them alive" (p. 107). Duncan suspected, as a boy, "that rivers and mountains are myself turned inside out. I'd heard at church that the kingdom of heaven is within us and thought, Yeah, sure. But the first time I walked up a trout stream, fly rod in hand, I didn't feel I was 'outside' at all; I was traveling further and further in." The wonders of his boyhood world, he writes, "the things that filled me at first sight with awe and yearning--were, in order of preference, (1) Rivers, (2) Mountains, (3) Ancient Forest, (4) the Ocean, and (5) Cute Girls (p. 9). In these essays, Duncan follows his "interior coho compass" (p. 13) through countless river walks, from Portland to Montana. Along the way, he discovers rivers are his "prayer wheels," and his "true home is wilderness" (p. 93). "Capitalist fundamentalism," he believes, "is the perfect Techno-Industrial religion, its goal being a planet upon which we've nothing left to worship, worry about, read, eat or love but dollar bills and Bibles" (p. 8). This is a book that moves with spiritual, passionate, insightful, and humorous currents, pulling its reader through calm, reflective moments to thrilling, white-water rants along the way. Duncan writes with the colors and sounds of nature. His STORY AS TOLD BY WATER is a story that will not only move you, it just might baptise you. G. Merritt
Rating: 
Summary: Touching and Scary
Review: A wonderful book filled with love of nature that alternately touches your soul and then scares you with what humans can do to the earth. Is filled with humor and personal insights that were shown fictionally in The River Why (which is my favorite book of all time and I hate fishing) and The Brothers K. A great companion to the scary "Fast Food Nation" book.
Rating: 
Summary: Low quality dribble
Review: After reading a gift copy of The River Why I found a first edition hardbound copy for my library. I will read it many times, and I will give copies to friends. I couldn't have been more diappointed in reading this random collection of essays. I guess I should have been warned by the long sub-title, but I don't understand how this collection, which is largely rants and complaints, made it to print. Being personally committed to and heavily involved in water and fishery conservation issues in California, a state which like Montana has huge problems, I share much of Duncan's frustration. In spite of probably being in sync with him on many issues, I found his writing to be unnecessarily strident and preachy. Overall, I found these essays to lack the humor and sparkling prose of his first book. I also purchased The Brothers K and promise to give it the aerial burial if it doesn't, from the very beginning, remind me of Duncan's wonderful first book.
Rating:
Summary: My Story As Told by Water
Review: An excellent collection of stories, insights and thoughts from Duncan. All elicited powerful emotions - he touches many nerves. For anyone who loves wild places and wild animals Duncan makes you realize how easily "Big Brother" can take these national treasures away or simply reduce them to mere fragments of what they once were. Duncan proves his skill as a non-fictioon writer (I hope he does more!) in this collection. This collection will join The River Why on my top shelf list.
Rating:
Summary: Hits home again
Review: Another winner from David James Duncan, consistently the best writer in America today. He's not nearly prolific enough though -- I feel like writing him and telling him to "write more, fish less".
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book now, you'll read it more than once.
Review: David James Duncan is one of those rare writers that leaves you forever changed after encountering their work. I know I will gratefully never be the same after reading this book. I walked into it one person, and upon completing it, was another. His perceptions of the world are so rare that the fact he can write them down with such fathomless talent, passion and care, verges on unbelievable. I only come across writing this powerful once every five to ten years and count it a true blessing when it happens.
The portion titled "A Prayer for the Salmon's Second Coming" should be read by every single American period. In another chapter called "When Birdwatching Is a Blood Sport" he writes, "When wild elk, to remain alive, are forced to wipe out wild salmon, it is time, in my book, to get sad".
This book woke me up to many things I'd slept through. If you are more fortunate than I, and already awake, the words in this book will make your own words even more powerful. Buy it, read it, treasure it, share it. You'll never regret it.
Rating:
Summary: DJD hits his stride.
Review: David James Duncan masterfully tells his own story in this lyrical work. It flows and sparkles with the force of the water that weaves these stories into delightful tale. Duncan's crisp imagery and clear voice make this book an instant classic.
Rating:
Summary: Poetic Prose that Make You Pause
Review: David James Duncan's book My Story as Told By Water captures the essence and insight of a true river soldier. The book befriend's the pilgrim disillusioned with rigid church structure and rigid political legislation, both of which threaten to kill the soul of the country. His prose is poetic, causing a pause every now and then to sit back and take in his modern genius for writing that transmits the peace of the waters, as well as the urgency to save these waters, through the pages.
Rating:
Summary: Poetic Prose that Make You Pause
Review: David James Duncan's book My Story as Told By Water captures the essence and insight of a true river soldier. The book befriend's the pilgrim disillusioned with rigid church structure and rigid political legislation, both of which threaten to kill the soul of the country. His prose is poetic, causing a pause every now and then to sit back and take in his modern genius for writing that transmits the peace of the waters, as well as the urgency to save these waters, through the pages.
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