In Rants from the Hill: On Packrats, Bobcats, Wildfires, Curmudgeons, A Drunken Mary Kay Lady & Other Encounters with the Wild in the High Desert, Michael P. Branch applies his keen eye for observation and sense of wit to banal, trivial, everyday things, weaving in research and pop culture references that serve to both ground the reader in place and time, and connect to a larger issue, concern, or observation. Take the essay, “Time for a Treehouse,” for example. Though he claims that he came up with the idea, his daughters “spontaneous enthusiasm provided the necessary cover for me to do what every grown man secretly wants to do: build an arboreal retreat, far from unpaid bills and truck repairs, uncertainty about the future, and inescapable news of gun violence or environmental catastrophe and the grief those unthinkable losses engender” (69). In that sentence, he traverses the every day and the global, transforming the tree house from a childhood standard to a universal safe haven.
On the next page, Branch weaves in some history and pop culture, stating that his “desire to build a treehouse was not driven by nostalgia” (70) but by the Walt Disney 1960 film Swiss Family Robinson. He proceeds to run through interesting Disney tidbits about that tree house and its place in Disney theme parks worldwide. The best part is on the next page when he mentions the Animal Planet TV show Treehouse Masters where “tree house guru Pete Nelson exposes us to pornographically lavish tree houses while simultaneously pretending that a tree house with running water, air conditioning, stained-glass windows, and a martini bar qualifies as a minimalist sanctuary enabling a Thoreauvian reconnection with nature” (71). Where else will a reader find mention of Disney one page, and “pornographically lavish tree houses” on the next? It is Branch’s ability to continually expand and contract, bringing in pop culture references, research, and his own observations and wit, that make Rants from the Hill a fun, entertaining read.