“Twelve Lessons of the Desert” is a collection of aphorisms, natures notes and essays written over a period 17 years by river guide, artist, writer and storyteller Sam Richardson. Most of them were written in a little cabin on Rough Run Creek near Terlingua in the Big Bend country of far West Texas, not far from the Rio Grande.“Twelve months, twelve lessons, each lesson tied to a month of the year, each month its own season. My spiritual connection to the land and to nature and to the changing seasons of the Big Bend of Texas has been one of my greatest teachers. “It has been said that there are no mistakes, only lessons, and that the universe will keep providing you with lessons, one at a time, until you learn them. “It’s true.”—SR