cover image A Quest for Life: An Autobiography

A Quest for Life: An Autobiography

Ian L. McHarg, McHarg. John Wiley & Sons, $55 (448pp) ISBN 978-0-471-08628-4

In the foreword to this thoroughly enjoyable book, Stewart Udall, President Kennedy's secretary of the interior, describes McHarg as a person who ""developed an holistic method of ecological planning that has made possible a crucial change in the way environmental decisions are made."" McHarg did this and more. His first book, Design with Nature, helped create the field of ecological planning and is still in print 30 years later. The present volume is the autobiography of a most extraordinary and productive man. Many of McHarg's projects are well known, for example, Baltimore's Inner Harbor and Battery Park in New York City; all demonstrate that development can be integrated successfully with aesthetics and environmental concern while improving quality of life. Beyond describing his award-winning projects, McHarg recounts his own growth and development, which mirrors that of the discipline he gave life to. Many of the anecdotes related in this humorous and often scathing book demonstrate why McHarg has been described as ""hyperbolic"" and ""belligerent."" The only shortcoming: the reader is left with the sense that McHarg believes he has neither made a misstep nor misspoken in his illustrious career. (Apr.)