In these moving, often surprising essays, award-winning author and comedian Bob Smith writes about facing life with ALS, his rich, funny experience of fatherhood before and after his diagnosis, and about his enduring relationship with nature, which inspires him to fight for his survival and for the future of his two children. Aiming his potent, unflinching wit at such public concerns as global warming and environmental destruction, he also articulates how the wild world is a visual and vocal echo that we’re still alive.
“To say that Bob Smith can make a hilarious one-liner out of everything from imminent ecological catastrophe to his own struggles with ALS is to emphasize only one aspect of the beautiful and devastating Treehab. This is a profound meditation on the fragility of life and the enduring power of tolerance, love, and the many ways of creating families. A smart, funny, inspiring guide.”—Stephen McCauley, author of The Object of My Affection “Treehab did something completely unexpected: it took me back to the days of my youth when I collected rocks in a box and regarded them all as treasures. That wide-eyed wonder so commonplace in children seems to have sustained Bob Smith all his life, even in the face of overwhelming challenges. He’s damned funny about this, too—hilarious, in fact. Smith doesn’t contrive to inspire us, he just does.”—Armistead Maupin, author of Tales of the City “Bob Smith is a diamond with many facets: he is a novelist, a nature nerd, a stand-up comic, a history buff, a gay man, a father, and a person living with ALS. He displays his whole kaleidoscopic self in this wonderful collection of essays, a book as beautiful, funny, and strange as life itself.”—Christopher Bram, author of Gods and Monsters
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