"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." In this book, Howard F. Stein counts for us the myriad ways he has come to love the high desert beauty of Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. Amid the mesas, mountains, spires, and sky, over more than twenty-five years of visits (or should we say pilgrimages?), he has borne witness to its very special power, presence, and overwhelming Sense of Place.

A widely published poet, Stein now wields his razor-sharp gifts for language and imagery to paint for us an indelible picture of this unique land, and through it of our planet as a whole and our human place in it. These are the lessons of the rock, he tells us, the lessons it has been proclaiming through all of time: I am the only Earth you have. Treat me with love, and I will gift you with eternal beauty.