Product Description

A poignant memoir of a harrowingly abusive childhood. Relating the extraordinary journey of one man striving to save his own spirit and our planet's. Comparing his physically and sexually abusive father's destruction of his family with mankind's systematic destruction of civilisation. Jensen uses his experiences as a teacher, environmentalist, beekeeper, abused child and survivor to investigate his own wounded psyche, as well as condemining the culture that fosters abuse.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #235029 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
Jensen's book accomplishes the rare feat of both breaking and mending the reader's heart. --Publishers Weekly

(This is) what Franz Kafka said a book should be - an axe for the frozen sea within us. --Daniel Quinn

A wake-up call to embrace, life, beauty, and truth. The wisdom in this book will change you forever. --Michael W. Fox

From the Back Cover
A wake-up call to embrace life, beauty and truth. The wisdom in this book will change you forever.

About the Author
Derrick Jensen lives in California where he is a grassroots environmental activist, working to improve the habitats of Californian red-legged frogs and coho salmon. He teaches writing at Pelican Bay State Prison.

Customer Reviews

A Language Older than Wods is also about communication.
The author talks brutally about his childhood and his abusive father. And, as importantly, about our inhumanity to ourselves. We no longer listen to the earth, we no longer talk to the coyotes and the chickens. The American Forest Serivce destroys forests to save the trees, or so they say. Industry must make a profit, and so they conclude that the earth must die. And yet there is hope in the last few pages. There is a quote by Daniel Quinn, author of "Ishmael" on the back cover. It concludes "Dangerous reading here. Proceed at your own risk." (And please do forgive me (an American) for posting on the U.K. site...

A great book!
This is one of the few books which has changed my life in a profound way. I must admit that when I read that it was about interspecies communication I thought it was going to be a lot of new-age rubbish. But it wasn't. This is a great biography combined with a lot of philosophy and Jensen's view on why our culture is so destructive and information on what we are doing to this world. There has been much thought and research put into this book and Jensen even took the time to reply to an e-mail I sent him after I read ALOTW. Read this book now. Especially if you are interested in philosophy and reasons for our cultures destructive nature. This book left me smiling for a few days despite its depressing content. Read this book. It may just change your views on life.

How we can change ourselves to save the planet.
Jensen points out that our economic system can only destroy everything it encounters, that's what happens when you convert living beings to cash. This memoir is a welcome relief from books that sidestep the enourmous personal, cultural and political changes we must each confront to save the earth.