John Nichols is well known, out in the larger world, as a novelist, the author of such books as The Sterile Cuckoo and The Milagro Beanfield War. In his longtime home of northern New Mexico, Nichols has earned a parallel reputation as a political and environmental activist, an advocate and protector of the Taos valley and the upper Rio Grande. Dancing on the Stones gathers hitherto uncollected essays and speeches that reflect both sides of his 40-year career. He remarks on the business of writing and moviemaking, on the pleasures of trout fishing and long-distance hiking, and especially on the necessity of finding a place to call home and defending it from harm. The essays range from mild provocation and even outrage (one bears the title "The Writer as Revolutionary") to whimsy, as when Nichols proclaims he was lured to the Southwest by clouds. One of the strongest pieces, "What Is a Naturalist, Anyway?" combines seriousness and humor to formulate a suitably broad answer: a naturalist, Nichols writes, "is a person whose curiosity is boundless ... who tries to delight in everything, is in love with the whole of life, and hopes to walk in harmony across this earth." Fans of Nichols"s work and newcomers to it alike will find much of pleasure in this personal anthology. --Gregory McNamee