No comments about Ghost Towns of Muskoka.

No comments about The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California, Containing Scenes and Incidents of a Party of Oregon Emigrants.

No comments about Evergreen Pacific Exploring Alaska and British Columbia.

3 comments about Alaska Bicycle Touring Guide: Including Parts of the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories.

1. The second edition is a useful book covering all the major roads in Alaska and the Alaska Highway as far as Whitehorse, YT. Information is organized by region and then by roads within those regions. An introductory section describes the background of the area and provides land management and emergency information. Any communities the cyclist will pass through are described and services relevant to cycle touring are listed. Roads are broken into approximately 80-mile segments with a small elevation profile provided for each. The terrain and road surface are described and the mile post locations of any junctions, water sources, camping, food, lodging, and roadside sights are tersely noted. No mile-by-mile description is provided. Unfortunately, the service information is dated as north-country businesses seem to pop up and shut down with alarming frequency. Coupled with the Milepost, this is a helpful book. Those used to hand-holding touring guides with detailed ride notes may be disappointed.



2. I think this book would have been useful several years ago but this edition is almost 10 years old and the information contained is out of date. The elevation profiles provided for the roads in Alaska are also misleading and not detailed enough to be reliable.

   I wouldn't recommend that you buy this book if you intend to tour Alaska. Buy a general guide book (Lonely Planet or Rough Guide) and get some decent maps instead.




3. We just used the book as a guide to ride down the Dempster Highway (along with the Mileposts pages) and it was our best information. Even after 25 years, the information about where to find water, good camping, etc. was quite useful. And bike tourists always like to have some elevation profiles, even though you have to go over the hill whether you have a profile or not. Thanks for the book!

No comments about Cycling Canada : Bicycle Touring in Canada (The Active Travel Series).

No comments about Rand McNally Toronto, Canada Easyfinder (Rand McNally Easyfinder).

3 comments about True North.

1. A fascinating book! A well written account by a man who traveled extensively in the Canadian North in the 1930s, just as the traditional remoteness that had characterized that world was ending with the introduction of planes and other technologies. Merrick was a keen and sympathetic friend of the North, its history and its Native peoples.



2. This book will transcend you to a time and place that makes you feel at peace with nature. Merrick's writing is like poetry in motion. You will wish you could have been there to experience the times when he is at one with the universe. The people and places he is writing about no longer exist, which is the greatest pity of all.



3. I read some of the previous reviews before getting this and some were positive and some negative...I have to say I was very much pleased with the book, excellent story and tale with local dialogue to add an element of adventure and flair. I just really enjoyed the story and to see the hardships people faced...

No comments about The Canadian Rockies: A History in Photographs (An Altitude Superguide).

1 comments about Canoeing a Continent: On the Trail of Alexander Mackenzie.

1. Over a decade before those icons of Manifest Destiny, Lewis and Clark, finally camped on Pacific shores, Scots fur trader Alexander Mackenzie had already crossed the entire North American continent. Mackenzie's traverse prompted President Jefferson's counter with the government employees' well-equipped expedition. Mackenzie had undertaken the journey at his own initiative. Likewise, Max Finkelstein suddenly convinced himself it would be a fine idea to duplicate, as far as he might, the traverse Mackenzie made at the end of the 18th Century. Due to time constraints, Finkelstein had to follow Mackenzie's track in stages over several years. This book is an account of those expeditions.
   
   The opening chapters portraying Mackenzie's journeys and more recent continental crossings reveal the immensity of the task. Finkelstein then describes his personal crises, an aged mother and his own doubts, as he prepares [with a list of equipment at the back of the book], then is blocked from launching by Ottawa River Valley weather. Once under way, he imparts his successes and challenges with deep feeling. It's a wonderfully descriptive, evocative story of a man almost driven to explore Canada's river and lake systems. Max is helped, coaxed, encouraged, frustrated and elated by turns. You are with him at every portage; you share his joys and illnesses; you feel his rapture at being on Canada's rivers. Mostly, you gain some insight as to what kept both Mackenzie and Finkelstein going as they sought the vast Pacific shore.
   
   It's easy to disparage the modern canoeist, particularly one on such an immense, but well-planned, journey. Finkelstein carries a GPS locating device, video recording equipment, Kraft Dinners [TM] and even "Sir Alex", a Teddy Bear, for good luck. With modern conveniences, friends who provide dinners and showers, getting a lift over crossings in a ute, it's clear he's not portaging into the past. That wasn't his intent. Finkelstein wanted to see, so far as possible, what Mackenzie saw. He succeed and imparts his observations in a readable and truly captivating account. Along the way, he gently reminds us that GPS devices and Kraft Dinners fade into obscurity when you're alone in a Lake Superior storm or shooting rapids down the Blackwater River in British Columbia. Then, Finkelstein is every bit the man the Scots explorer was and deserves much credit for his endeavours - and his narrative of the adventure. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

2 comments about Insight Pocket Guide Montreal.

1. Tells you everything you need to know about Montreal, it's past, it's present. Helps you have a better understanding of the French-Canadian way of life, their language, their unique culture, as well as the faces of Montreal's newest settlers, the immigrants from Europe and other countries. The book itself helps you grow an "attraction" to Quebec and Montreal in particular. I highly recommend this book!!



2. Purchased this paper back used for research on visiting Montreal and it has many good tips and advice. Great price online.