As we recently celebrated 250 years of American history, I found myself reflecting on a book I picked up while hiking in Utah: John Wesley Powell’s The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons. I’ll admit, the first few chapters were hard to get through. Powell wrote like the scientist he was; precise barometer readings, detailed weather descriptions, notes on Indigenous history, and accounts of the survival and loss of his boats. Not much emotion, not much narrative