With wry humor and rare insight, The Habit of Rivers tells the story of Leeson's passion for rivers, trout, and fly fishing, and his experiences as a newcomer to the Pacific Northwest - "the land of unceasing seasons."

Leeson looks beneath the surface of fly fishing to explore questions that engage most fishermen: What is the strange gravity of a trout stream? Why are we so irresistibly drawn to rivers? Why does fly fishing seem such an aptly suited response? Above all, The Habit of Rivers is a book about ways of seeing the wonderfully textured world that emanates from a river. In pursuing these paths, Leeson finds everything from salmon, steelhead, and trout, to drift boats, art, insects, gravity, death, philosophy, books, fly tying, and microbreweries - and links them together with an intelligence that is provocative, witty, and illuminating.  The Habit of Rivers begins with a deep respect for trout and trout streams, and ends in wisdom earned by hard and faithful attention to the natural world.