The touchstone of the Springs Preserve is the forward-thinking Desert Living Center.

BBC: Discover life in the Nevada desert

Aside from the sweltering daytime heat and the freezing night-time temperatures, the biggest problem for folks living in desert regions is finding sources of water.

ENGADGET

Some 110, 000 of those who have sought shelter in Jordan are living in the desert camp of Zaatari, near its northern border with Syria.

BBC: Syria conflict: Refugees number a million, says UN

The United Arab Emirates often highlights its modernity and progress to the outside world, choosing to forget that just a few generations ago, the country was inhabited by Bedouin tribes living in the desert.

BBC: Al Ain: The desert��s oasis

The modern world has not been kind to the tribes scraping a living from the barren fringes of the desert.

BBC: The Islamists hijacking a rebellion in Timbuktu

As the young man (played by Emile Hirsch) travels about, he attracts the interest of a South Dakota wheat farmer (Vince Vaughn, playing it straight), an aging hippie (Catherine Keener), and a retired Army man living on the edge of the California desert (Hal Holbrook), all of whom ask him to put down his backpack and stay.

NEWYORKER: Into the Wild

This is an attempt to understand the lives of ordinary people living in taiga or highlands, in a desert or tundra.

UNESCO: OFFICE IN MOSCOW

For the Tuareg and Wodaabe nomads of the Sahara desert it is a fleeting chance to enjoy the pleasures of communal living before leaving with their herds.

ECONOMIST: The nomads defy a government ban

So now, it's like I have to - my life is like Planters and fruit now, and living right do it, like - it's a big thing being in the desert, too.

NPR: Child Hunger: Nutritious Food Tough To Afford

The off-strip locations like the Luxor and the Holiday Inn Desert Club were comparatively nice places, with the latter offering a two-bedroom suite with full living room and kitchen for a fraction of the price of other hotels.

FORBES: Here's How Much I'm Saving by Skipping CES this Year