In Tolkien's defense, the man had some of the finest field-describing skills I have ever seen.

I believe he came closest any author ever has to walking someone else through their imagination.

Tolkien only wrote a story incidentally. What he did was show us the real Middle earth, the one in his mind.

Most authors are the Lonely Planet Guide to their fantasy worlds. Tolkien... Tolkien was David Attenborough.

As someone whose imagination was shaped in large part by reading Tolkien's vivid descriptions of Middle Earth as a child, I couldn't agree more. You put it beautifully.