Outdoor Recreation: Book Report Option
Read the book Encounters with Archdruid by John McPhee. The book is available in
libraries and at any major book store. Write a 7 page paper on the following subject:
Use the words and ideas of the book’s four main characters (Brower, Park, Fraser and
Dominy) to construct your own natural resource conservation/preservation philosophy.
The characters words and ideas must be used to support your philosophy or to
demonstrate viewpoints which contrast with your philosophy.
To do this, first introduce the book and describe the circumstances under which the four
main characters meet. In other words, provide some context for the debates the main
characters have. Then, join the debate yourself by illustrating their main ideas with
colorful, meaningful quotes from the book and reacting to them with your own ideas.
When quoting or paraphrasing ideas from the book, be sure to provide the page numbers
in parentheses at the end of the sentence from where the idea or quote came. Use short
quotes of 40 words or less. Finally, this paper, like all papers, should have an interesting
conclusion which brings neat closure to the paper.
Papers must be double spaced in 12 pt. Times New Roman font and free of all spelling
and grammatical errors. Do not skip a space between paragraphs.