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Davidson shares memories of his involvement with the Burning Man festival over many years, beginning with his first visit in the summer of 2007 at the age of twenty-eight. Having just completed his undergraduate degree, Davidson was working an entry-level job in Nevada when he first made the trek to Black Rock City, an experience he compares to the moment in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy flew over the rainbow. The laissez-faire vibe of Burning Man so resonated with Davidson that he returned again and again.
Two years after his first visit, he co-created a camp known as Anita Cocktail that grew until it included, at its height, over a hundred people. Much of the book is taken up with recounting the challenges of being a camp organizer: the clashes of personalities, the unwelcoming desert environment, the unique terrain, and the logistics of hosting upwards of 100,000 people for nearly a week without running afoul of governing and regulatory bodies.
The best bits of the book are those in which Davidson describes the mundane realities of organizing and participating in Burning Man: Shabbat dinners, a wooden spanking device, a cricket game fought between Americans and Australians, the burning of a makeshift temple, the management of rain, and several days spent in jail after a companion is found with illegal substances. The granular detail of these descriptions is engrossing and raises the feeling that Davidson might have written an excellent novel about his experiences. For those who don't know a burning man from a wicker man, however, this is just about the best introduction to the festival that one could hope to find in print.