Man Facing West presents a collection of fiction and nonfiction, sewn together with traces of autobiography. This collection is part of Don Gayton's ongoing life journal, recounting moments of his boyhood in the United States and the Peace Corps, and detailing his opinions regarding the draft and the Vietnam War. Guiding these accounts are the forces of science and geology that have shaped Gayton's career in Canada.

As his stories of scheming university students, prodding 19th century scientists, and geologists time-tunneling into the prehistoric past of the prairies appear, we are always aware of Gayton's ability to transform science into magic.

An ecologist and writer, Don Gayton was raised in California and Washington. He is the author of two award–winning books of non–fiction. His first book was The Wheatgrass Mechanism: Science and Imagination in the Western Canadian Landscape (Fifth House, 1990). Landscapes of the Interior: A Re–exploration of Nature and the Human Spirit (New Society Publishers, 1996), won the National Outdoor Book Award, Outdoor Literature Category, in the United States, and was shortlisted for a BC Book Award. He has also written for Equinox, Canadian Geographic, Harrowsmith, NeWest Review, Books in Canada, Rangelands, Mercator–s World, and Bugle. He lives in Nelson, BC with his family.

Don Gayton's profile page