" . . . essays of substance and beauty, and they belong beside the work of Annie Dillard, Samuel Pickering, and Wendell Berry." —Library Journal "[Sanders] eloquently expresses his love of the land and the responsibility he feels for preventing further erosion of our natural resources . . . " —Publishers Weekly "Skillfully written in a clear, unmannered style refreshingly devoid of irony and hollow cleverness, the author starts with everyday experiences and gleans from them larger truths." —The Christian Science Monitor "[These] essays are so good one is tempted to stand up and applaud after reading them. . . . Sanders is a modern day prospector who finds gems of spiritual meaning in both familiar and unusual places." —Body Mind Spirit Writing from the Center is about one very fine writer's quest for a meaningful and moral life. Lannan Literary Award winner Scott Sanders (Secrets of the Universe, Staying Put, A Paradise of Bombs) seeks and describes a center that is geographical, emotional, artistic, and spiritual—and is rooted in place. The geography is midwestern, the impulses are universal. "The earth needs fewer tourists and more inhabitants, it seems to me—fewer people who float about in bubbles of money and more people committed to knowing and tending their home ground." —Scott Russell Sanders, from the book