Wild Rides and Wildflowers: Philosophy and Botany with Bikes

by Scott Abbott, Sam Rushforth

Overview

"Abbott and Rushforth have a knack for entertaining readers."
—BOOKLIST

Two university professors set out to repeatedly bike the Great Western Trail, observing and writing about its variations with every season. The accounts of their adventures, however, refuse to be limited to flora and fauna. In Wild Rides and Wildflowers, Abbott and Rushforth share their deeply personal explorations of the male psyche, true friendship, biking, and botany.

SCOTT ABBOTT is the author of a book about Freemasonry and the German novel, and of two books about travel and literature (with Zarko Radakovic): Repetitions and Vampires and A Reasonable Dictionary. He was the jazz critic for the Salt Lake Observer and has translated several works by Austrian writer Peter Handke. He is professor of integrated studies, philosophy, and humanities at Utah Valley University.

SAM RUSHFORTH is former dean of the College of Science and Health at Utah Valley University. Under his watch, the university has grown to thirty–three thousand students. He studies aquatic botany and wetland ecology and has published more than one hundred papers and books. He has mentored nearly forty graduate students, who are now working all over the world. He lives in Orem, Utah. ​

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781937226237
Publisher:	Torrey House Press
Publication date:	03/25/2014
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	377
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

SCOTT ABBOTT is the author of a book about Freemasonry and the German novel, and of two books about travel and literature (with Zarko Radakovic): Repetitions and Vampires and A Reasonable Dictionary. He was the jazz critic for the Salt Lake Observer and has translated several works by Austrian writer Peter Handke. He is professor of integrated studies, philosophy, and humanities at Utah Valley University.

SAM RUSHFORTH is former dean of the College of Science and Health at Utah Valley University. Under his watch, the university has grown to thirty–three thousand students. He studies aquatic botany and wetland ecology and has published more than one hundred papers and books. He has mentored nearly forty graduate students, who are now working all over the world. He lives in Orem, Utah.

Table of Contents

Preface i

Year I

1 Lumpers and Splitters 3

2 Biker lycra siticus 16

3 Ed Abbey Had a Mountain Bike 23

4 Testiculatus 32

5 Weeds of the West 38

6 Beauty is as Beauty C'n Do 47

7 The Prostate Saver 52

8 The Bird that Eats Shit 59

9 Murderers, Fornicators, and Coffee Drinkers 65

10 Hardtail or Doublesprung? 69

11 6,047,086,034 6,047,086,035 74

12 This is True Worship 79

13 A Carbolic-Acid Enema 85

14 Lardass 94

15 Agnostic Praying Mantis 99

16 Little Column? 107

17 Empty Sockets, Sardonic Grin 115

Year II

18 A Pretty Decent Fall 123

19 Mistletoe Birds 129

20 Ecstatic Phenomenon 135

21 Sage Grouse Lek 142

22 Oblanceolate to Spatulate 149

23 Wicked Concoction 153

24 Mr. Nice Dick 161

25 Evolutionary Theater 168

26 Jesus is the Answer 177

27 Horny Goat Weed 184

28 As Common as Paradox, As Odd as Love 192

Year III

29 Strange Behaviors 201

30 Elderberry Melancholy 208

31 Do You Believe in Love? 216

32 Just the Stuff About Your Virility 222

33 Mr. Feelgood 229

34 Death Defying Act of Defiance 238

35 Nurses 246

36 Stories I'll Tell at Your Funeral 253

37 Transcendental Balance 260

38 Life's Essential Injustice 266

39 Standing in the Snow Thinking About Plums 273

40 I'll Bury Her Among Piñons 280

Year IV

41 Driving Off the Spleen 289

42 Draw Me No White Dresses on Corpses 298

43 Who Has Once Met Irony 303

44 A World of Yellow Scent 308

45 Happy Hour/Under God 316

46 Canvas for Paint, Paper for Ink 322

47 Too Old a Dog 328

48 God Stories 334

49 A Trillion, Trillion, Trillion Years 340

Year V

50 Not the End, Yet 353

Epilogue 361

Editorial Reviews

"Abbott and Rushforth have a knack for entertaining readers."
—BOOKLIST

"Wild Rides provides an intimate glimpse into the minds and hearts of two men, and the outcome is both surprising and refreshing."
—DESERET NEWS

"A highly versatile, smart, entertaining, incredibly informative book for readers of all ages and interests. Abbott and Rushforth's literary counterpoint and harmonizing are as humorously engaging as they are elucidating."
—THE UTAH REVIEW

"Ride along with Sam and Scott through spectacular landscape and share their vast knowledge of its many plants and creatures and the way their lives—and ours—turn with each new season."
—CHIP WARD, author of Stony Mesa Sagas

"It's like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance meets Desert Solitaire in Utah County."
—SCOTT CARRIER, author of Running After Antelope

"Sometimes you have to get on the bike and go out with the wild things if you're going to get there at all. Scott Abbott and Sam Rushforth show us the way. Mount up. Here's our ticket to ride."
—CHARLES BOWDEN, author of Blues for Cannibals

"Following the conversations and adventures of Scott and Sam in this work was a delight—my only complaint is that I was stung by an absolute desire to join them. The gusto and passion they have for this land comes through on every page."
—STEVEN L. PECK, author of The Scholar of Moab

"Imagine Plato's Phaedrus and a field guide to Utah fauna and flora left in an inside pocket of a sweaty, oft–used CamelBak get acquainted and copulate. The wise progeny, scratched and scented, philosophizing its way out, would be Wild Rides and Wildflowers."
—THE PROVO CANYON REVIEW

From the Publisher