A Land Between Worlds: the Shifting Poetry of the Great American Landscape

Book excerpt: After a four-year journey-flying more than 300,000 air-miles aboard over 200 flights, driving over 15,000 miles with the aid of over 25 car rentals, including hiking over 220 miles, 7 helicopter rides, 6 seaplane flights, 8 grizzly sightings, and 1 husky sled-poet and photographer John Mack returns with evidence of some of America's most iconic, natural sites and their current state of deterioration vis a vis the proliferation of smart devices and the encroaching virtual environment.In an attempt to shed light on the current state of our nature, Mack completes what he calls a "reconnaissance mission," having crisscrossed the entire United States of America. Covering a land with length from Maine to Hawaii, a depth from the southern bend of Texas to the far reaches of Alaska's arctic circle, A Land Between Worlds shares Mack's vision of who we are in relation to our environment and looks for clues as to whether or not a balance between nature and today's increasingly seductive technology can be attained.Comprised of gatherings from nearly fifty, iconic U.S. National Parks, Mack uses poetry, landscape photography, and an interactive augmented reality app to invite us into a deep introspection about what it means to be human: What, if anything, can our national parks teach us about the nature within us? A Land Between Worlds is evidence of hope in a world where nature, freedom, love, democracy, and reality itself are under attack. It's interactive juxtaposition of natural sanctuaries and their digital versions reveals the encroaching digital landscape, our attachments to it, and the uncertain fate of our nature. Available in signed, limited collector's editions and standard editions, A Land Between Worlds includes a "making of" video, reminding us of the art of human craft in an ever more digitized world.