Talking to the Ground: One Family's Journey on Horseback Across the Sacred Land of the Navajo

by Douglas Preston

Book Overview

In 1992 Doug Preston and his family rode horseback across 400 miles of desert in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. They were retracing the route of the Navajo deity Naay' neizghn, the Slayer of Alien Gods, on his quest to restore beauty and balance to the Earth. More than a travelogue, Preston's account of the journey is a tale of two cultures meeting in a sacred land.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684803917
• ISBN13: 9780684803913
• Release Date: July 1995
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 1.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Nonfiction that reads like fiction. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Preston’s non-fiction is as good as his fiction! He brings you into the story where you learn more than you ever thought possible about a land and a people while enjoying this journey of the author and his family. Don’t let the non-fiction category scare you away from the absolutely amazing experience that is this book!

Talking to the Ground

In the style of Tony Hillerman without the murder mystery. The 4 Corners area comes alive thru vivid description and pictures and the Navajo story of life is clearly told. The horse trip thru this magical country is one to be wished for by all who love the West.

Talking to the Ground

As a native of New Mexico I found this book wonderful. I live with a Navajo who was raised very traditionally and he found the book wonderful also. Douglas Preston is the best.

Enchanting adventure in the Navajo Nation

It helps immensely to have travelled to the Navajo Nation when reading this story. I found that I had minor interest in the developing family story, compared to the lore and myth of the SW Native Americans. If you've travelled to the SW and are familiar with horses, you'll love this book.

scholastic reality

It's a pleasure to enjoy the author's background studies (dry) and then his reality (with large hail stones) on a search that leads to more respect... for everything. Reading this book caused me to yearn for some concrete search of my own, and that is the dream this book passes along. It was given to me as someone else's favorite book. I can see why. Thanks.

A narrative of a journey of journeys

Preston's TALKING TO THE GROUND is one of the most gripping narratives I have read. Why? He takes us along with him (and family) to the dusty trails of Navajo Mountain on horseback down into Navajo Lands including Monument Valley and eventually Shiprock. As we ride the pilgrimage trail with the author, we too become faint and dizzy as we pick our way down incredibly steep, almost trailless cliffs. We hope, as we follow the route of the mythological monster slayer, that there will be some little spring or seep for our horses to take a drink. We hope we will get to the next Navajo dwelling where we might purchase some hay for our tired and hungry animals. We are elated when Preston and family make it to safe terrain after weeks of hardship. No novice to this marvelous country of the American Southwest, Preston had studied Navajo mythology and mysticism deligently during his days as a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History. He had also studied maps and made inquiries about the possibility of riding across the entire Navajo Nation to gain spiritual strength and wisdom. It is as shocking to the reader as it was to Preston when he was told by sunglassed young Navajo turks at Monument Valley that he couldn't possibly know a damn thing about Navajo lands and culture on such a superficial trip as this--riding horseback for several hundred miles and reading other honkies' books. Yet this moment of humility strengthens the narrative by allowing for soul searching and further journeying into wonder to trail's end at Shiprock