official_review
The book that’s closer to you than you ever imagined
More than a guidebook. I present places based on unique, personal experiences, while seeking to connect them to our own daily lives and memories. This is helped by the stories that, if my intention is to touch you, will touch you too.
I offer you, you, the experience of a happy – pre-COVID – time travelling! This work is for those who believe (as I do) that we will have the rare privilege of experiencing the beauty of our planet, near or far, as a 21st century human being..
Official reviews
Review of Sandstone Rhythm by Merits Anih (OnlineBookClub)
In Sandstone Rhythm: My Memories of the Most Beautiful National Parks of North America, Tom H. Cooper shares his personal experience over the course of two decades visiting North America. The author is from Hungary, in central Europe. He first started by discussing what life had been like for those from central and western Europe, and then he proceeded to talk about the national and state parks in the US. The book is volume 1 in the Wild West Series, and this volume contains his visit to the Grand Circle, which is made up of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico (four of whose intersectional border is called Four Corners), and Nevada.
I love how the author describes the people in each state as well as the terrain. So you are not just getting geography lessons and visuals; you also get to read about the people in these regions, some history, and the development of the areas. The pictures in the book transformed the author’s experience into mine. I didn’t feel left out at all. I also love that the images were clear and of high quality, with each giving specifics. The author also provided maps to help you visualize what he is talking about.
The author’s writing style is what I admire most. You would think that it would be bland because of the genre, but this book will make you think about the trajectory of your life and the beauties in your environment. There were many questions asked about the view of the world in general in the preface, and that was when I knew that I had picked the right book for me. It hit differently when the author said (Page 372), „… the place called North America is not only the continent of colors but the continent of opportunities and demanding challenges as well,” because that is very true!
There is one thing that needs improvement, though. It would have been awesome if each image was labeled individually. Though the book explains them, it is a good practice to always label individual pictures that occur in a book for easy identification. This is not really a negative aspect, but a point that could improve the book’s enjoyment for other readers. That being said, I disliked nothing about the book, which is why I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars. I did come across a few minor errors while reading the book, which did not affect my overall reading experience. Anyone who loves traveling or intends to visit any North American country would love this book. Hence, I recommend it to them.
Review of Sandstone Rhythm by Doug Brunsh
(Reedsy DISCOVERY)
Sandstone Rhythm is a lovely homage to the great American road trip. Part travel guide, part coffee table photo book, part memoir, Tom Cooper has written a unique and insightful meditation to the most iconic of landscapes, the American southwest. You could pick up this book, put the kids in the back seat and, as Mark Twain said, set out for parts unknown. You’d need nothing more than to better understand where to go, what to see, learn some history, understand some geology, all the while enjoying Tom’s unique and singular voice and photographer’s eye. You see, Tom is not local, not even to this continent. He is Hungarian and I am doubtful that anyone else, anyone from these lands, or even this country, would bring the curiosity and freshness to the task that Tom brings.
He writes early on that he is sharing his “example” as to how to travel. The ensuing pages read like an entertaining lesson in paying attention, in nurturing curiosity and adventure. “All these manifestations of beauty fill me with happiness, captivate me, and do not let me loose.” His happy candor in welcome in an age otherwise obsessed with less admirable goals. Along the way he entertains us with stories of desert-bound motels, pit-stops, observations that, I suspect, would go unheeded by the more cynical traveler.
Not so long ago this reviewer spent two years pulling an Airstream trailer across North America. Many of the places Tom writes about and beautifully photographs are places familiar to me. Yet, to read him as an experienced traveler is to grasp how much one can miss and overlook without the proper guide. His are fresh eyes in a fresh, to him, landscape. There is no accounting for the advantages that affords the non-native traveler. I only wish I’d had this book while making my own road-trip memories. If would have an afforded me a unique roadmap—literally!—of where to go and what to see. And his calm and happy voice, complimented with his keen eye would have brought much education and pleasure to my travels.
There is one especially poignant and personal moment deep in his travels where he reminisces about growing up watching the cartoon creations of the Hanna-Barbera studio, the Flinstones, Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner—creations embedded into the landscape he is now, so many years later, exploring. He calls them youthful “messengers and ambassadors of the New World.” And as he now travels this New World he finds “the moment when you feel that this land is the home for both the unknown childhood heroes and the now-60-year-old kid.” That is a magical Proustian experience and I am grateful and happy that he has gone to effort of sharing it with us.
This book pleases on multiple levels. And even if road-tripping the American south-west is not on your agenda you will enjoy the photographs, the stories, and most of all the entertaining and refreshing voice of the author. I highly recommend Sandstone Rhythm.