How to Lose a Reader

So, I'm reading this book, about nature and environment in pre-Columbian American life. It's okay, though not nearly as readable or as thought-provoking as 1491.

But then I hit this passage, on page 14, in the section describing the area around eastern Oregon and Washington (and, remember, this is supposed to depict the pre-Columbian environment, and this supposed to be a book in which ecology is a focus, and nevermind that "Wild West" is a phrase that tends to chap my shorts):

Grasses and shrubs were the most common ground cover. The landscape was littered with sagebrush that had completed its growth cycle, becoming the rolling tumbleweed so many associate with the Wild West.

ARGH!

Comments

[Toast]

OK, you gotta give us more here. I'm non-plussed as to what's upsetting about that 'graf.

[Jane Dark]

I'm mildly uncertain, too, but if I'm understanding correctly, the problem is that the tumbleweed is an entirely separate species of plant -- NOT sagebrush that has completed its growth cycle. And I *do* hate writers who make up weird circle-of-life explanations about plants.

[Rana]

Well, if you follow up on the tumbleweed link, it should be clearer.

In a nutshell, tumbleweeds are (a) not sagebrush, and (b) are exotics from Asia that were introduced to the West around 1877.

So it's both ignorant in terms of the species, and ignorant in terms of the chronology - a double whammy, and one that's inexcusable in a person writing about the environment before contact.

It's almost on the order of claiming that the Mayans rode horses, which are really just big llamas.

[demetri]

I hate it when an author blows your trust. Though If I knew the author was going to blow it and I had to choose when, I'd rather it was early in the book, that saves me a bit of time.

[Rana]

That is true!

[wayfarer scientista]

Oh my god! They DID??? And this is supposed to be a book focused on ecology? Oh you have my sympathies - I would be inclined to write the author or the publisher a letter.

[Chas S. Clifton]

Oh, that is disastrous. What was Dorothy Parker's phrase? "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." Substitute whatever for "novel."

[Chris Clarke]

*Twitch*

Really, though, whoever it is has a long way to go to beat Tim Flannery's The Eternal Frontier. I gave that book SO many second chances. Would never recommend it to anyone, ever.

[Chris Clarke]

Oh, OK. Got curious, googled the passage you quote, and found the backcover blurbage from the book in question:

Prehistoric North Americans lived on, in, and surrounded by nature.

Sigh. That kind of thing is never a good sign.

[Rana]

No... no, it's not.

I was so hopeful, though. It looked like good lecture material!

"on" nature.

What does that even mean?