No comments about Hagstrom Fairfield County Atlas.

No comments about Coast to Coast (West) (Route Maps).

No comments about Maine Cities & Towns Atlas.

5 comments about Autumn: A New England Journey.

1. I spent two years in Boston and I was surprised at the beauty of New England especially in autumn. This book always reminds me of sweet memories in Boston and beautiful foliage in New England.



2. I spent two years in Boston and I was surprised at the beauty of New England especially in autumn. This book always reminds me of sweet memories in Boston and beautiful foliage in New England.



3. The photos in this book are exceptional. Combined with the writings of New England authors this book celebrates the wonder and spirituality of nature that we, non-writers, feel but for which cannot find the words.



4. This is indeed a beautiful book. It was originally published in 1988 and re-published last year. But the photos look like they could've been taken last week. There are 90 photos taken throughout New England (mostly in Northern N.E., it seems) and they vary from woodland landscapes to bayside scenes, and a variety of sorts in between. It's nice to see a little diversity because, believe or not, looking at a book full of Autumn landscapes could actually be somewhat monotonous.

   I enjoyed some of the poetry/writings, such as that from Emerson, Thoreau, and Frost, but I didn't take much from the likes of Emily Dickinson and E.A. Robinson. But I'm not a big fan of poetry to begin with.

   The "flaw" that I alluded to is something I think any photographic book like this gets nailed with: the pictures are exciting to look at a limited number of times. So maybe you only pull this book off the shelf a couple times a year to browse through and reflect on the joys of the best time of year -- like maybe after a hot Summer day.

   All in all they did some good work, even putting together a rudimentary tour guide that points out some viewing hotspots in each N.E. state.




5. I've never had the pleasure of going to New England during autumn but I desperatly wish to and after enjoying a book like this, the ache is only worse! This is a lovely book to own and browse whenever the hunger for the color of fall leaves, the long stretch of early evening shadows and the smell of buring wood seems far, far away. We have no where near as sectacular (or long) of an autumn in Texas but that doesn't keep many of us from respecting and longing for this most reflective and moody of all seasons. This book captures so much of the romantic, misty images with common and comfortable pictures. This with the beautiful works of great writers including (in my own opinion) the greatest, Robert Frost, make this book a joy. As I write this, it's summer in Texas and near 100. I'm going to crank the A/C down and make a cup of cider....

5 comments about Cape Cod.

1. You will forget about the outside world when you read this; nothing but sand, wind, and water. Plus some natural history, local folklore, a few shipwreck tales. Typical Thoreau; he finds beauty, interest, detail in the wilderness. The desolate landscape will help to clear your mind. Highly recommended.



2. This book details the flora, fauna and people that Thoreau found in Cape Cod in the 1850s. Thoreau organizes the book around a single trip to Provincetown, although much of the material that he uses in the book came from various visits to the Cape, and to the ocean in general. He starts with a description of a shipwreck at Cohasset, then a stagecoach ride from Plymouth, then a walking trip with a companion along the outer shore to Provincetown. Along the way, he describes not only the plants and animals he encountered, but also the people who he met. The book finishes with a lengthy academic historical account of the discovery and mapping of the Cape.
   
   I found this to be the most humorous of all Thoreau's work. The character sketches he provides in this book, sharpened with his trained eye for observation of natural phenomena, are legendary. The cultural description of the Cape and its environment is quite fascinating for those interested in the history of daily life in 19th century Massachusetts. As Thoreau describes the desolate, treeless desert that made up the far reaches of the Cape, one begins to comprehend what it meant for an economy to be based on wood and whale oil for fuels. Thoreau stresses how valued driftwood was for residents of the Cape, as one of their main sources of heating and cooking fuel. Doubtless, he would not recognize the Cape today with its lush new forests. Or its Wal-Marts--switching to an oil economy has brought mixed blessings for the Cape. For those who think Thoreau to be a humorless didactic philosopher, this book shows a very different aspect of Thoreau as a writer.



3. Thoreau visited Cape Cod in 1849, 1850, and 1853. These trips formed the basis for a series of essays, several of which Thoreau published in magazines. After Thoreau's death, the essays were gathered together and published as "Cape Cod" in 1865.
   
   Thoreau's "Cape Cod" is different in tone in theme from his earlier books. The tone is leisurely and light. Instead of solitude or the wild woods, the picture that remains with me from this book is that of a long walk, or, as Thoreau puts it, a "ramble" through the sand and dunes of Cape Cod. The book is picturesque, full of humor and wry observation. Thoreau unforgettably describes the ocean, in its storms, vicissitudes, and moments of peace, the fish and the fishermen, the sands, birds, plants and lighthouses of Cape Cod, and the people. I have visited portions of the Masachusetts coast, but I have never been to Cape Cod. Thoreau took me there in his book.
   
   The book is arranged into ten chapters. It opens with a description of the shipwreck of the St John on a rock off the Cape. Thoreau then describes a ride by coach across the Cape. But the heart of the book lies in the following chapters in which Thoreau with a companion walks the 30 mile beach from Nauset Harbor to Provincetown with many stops and diversions along the way. I felt the salt air and saw the fishermen and the sandy beach as I walked with Thoreau.
   
   The most vivid characterization in the book is in the chapter "The Wellfleet Oysterman", as Thoreau describes a grizzled, taciturn, and ancient native of Cape Cod and his family who offer him hospitality for the night. Another memorable chapter involves the description of the Highland Lighthouse, no longer standing, and its keeper. The stops with the Oysterman and the Lighthouse punctuate Thoreau's long walks through the day over the beach and his meditiations about and descriptions of what he finds there.
   
   Thoreaus walk ended at Provincetown, on the northernmost portion of Cape Cod, with its wood walkway, shanty houses, and ever-present scenes of fishermen, boats, and drying fish. Thoreau offers what I found an affectionate portrait of these hardy fishermen and their families. Following a description of what he found at Provincetown, Thoreau offers a great deal of historical background on the exploration of the Cape, from the Pilgrims reaching back to earlier French, Icelandic, and English explorers.
   
   Thoreau's "Cape Cod" is a worthy companion to his books describing his experiences inland, on Walden Pond and on the rivers and woods of New England and Maine. It is beautifuly written with unforgettable descriptive passages. It made me want to get up and go from my life in the city, and over 150 years after Thoreau wrote, wander and walk for myself along the dunes and sands of Cape Cod.



4. This hardcover edition from Peninsula Press is unquestionably the best available edition of Thoreau's Cape Cod, for these reasons:
   
   1) While all other editions are based on Thoreau's journal entries from only his first three visits to the Cape, this edition includes an epilogue compiling Thoreau's notes from his fourth and final visit, in which he traveled south to Chatham and Monomoy.
   
   2) This is the only edition to translate the many, many Greek and Latin phrases Thoreau includes throughout the work, and it is also the only edition to provide illustrations, maps, and sidenotes in-text.
   
   3) This is the only indexed edition ever created.
   
   HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of both Cape literature and Thoreau in general.



5. (My review is on Thoreau's Cape Cod rather than this specific edition).
   
   While some literary critics seem to slight this work by Thoreau, saying that it is not as "powerful" as his other works, etc., I personally find this one very enjoyable. Sure, it does not have as much "philosophizing" as other books by him, but it is full of humor and very fun to read. The part where he describes the old man spitting into the hearth is particularly hilarious. The part about him sleeping in a lighthouse is also very funny. It lets us experience the more jovial side of Thoreau. This is probably one of the easiest to read among Thoreau's books.
   
   Published posthumously, this volume is surprisingly consistent and complete (unlike "The Maine Woods" which is chopped into three different parts), it gives one the feel of walking along the entire cape, although the materials are quarried from several different trips. One only wish Thoreau had lived longer and had seen the West, imagine him taking a trip in the Sierra! Oh, well, meanwhile, we still have this one to enjoy.

No comments about The Butterfly Effect.

No comments about Popular Culture: The Metropolitan Experience (Studies in Communication).

No comments about Hastrom Fairfield County, Connecticut (Hagstrom Fairfield County Atlas: Connecticut).

2 comments about The English Landscape: Its Character and Diversity.

1. The English countryside has been divided into numerous districts, based on everything from soil type, landuse, tourist features, history, etc., so their distinctions are sometimes difficult to understand. This book contains dozens of short essays, one per area, and most of the essays are very interesting.

   However, I found the book as a whole extremely difficult to use because there is no coordination between the maps at each end of the book, showing and numbering each land use area, and the text or the smaller detailed maps included with each short essay. Those essays, with area maps for each, are impossible to relate to other areas of the country using the end-page maps. It is very frustrating to try to find specific areas of interest to the reader, and then to further find adjacent areas, or similar areas of interest.

   The essays are interesting as discreet little descriptions of an area in England, but as a whole, I find the book just a series of essays. The index is sketchy; so many, many towns mentioned in the essays, or of independent interest to the reader, aren't in the index. And, believe it or not, with the detailed maps containing numbered areas, in front and back, absolutely no use is made of those numbers in the essays, either in the text or individuals maps! So when you read an essay that interests the reader, you can't find that area in the end-paper maps, so you can't relate essays to the larger, overall picture of England.

   And, if for further example, you read of an area, and you want to read about a neighboring area, there is no way to look up anything and just turn to it. All you can do is start thumbing through the whole book, or keep reading at length, hoping you can put together areas of interest on your own.

   This book needs a considerably better index, and the absence of a relationship between the individual essays and the larger maps showing numbered areas is an astounding failure. Some editor did a terrible job of making this book readable and useable in relationship to an interest in England.

   I have detailed AA maps of English roads and attractions, and even with those, this book was difficult to use in relationship to actual places to visit.

   I found the book terribly uncoordinated, and the relationship between the maps and essays, and the overall maps of England, is non-existent.

   That said, the individual essays are interesting, and there are numerous good photos of places, but it is nearly impossible to relate individual efforts to the whole.

   With this book, I keep thinking of those old, hackneyed phrases: "close, but no cigar," "so near, yet so far," etc., but they are quite apt in this case. A better index and some use of the areas numbered in the maps of England with each essay would have turned this book into a winner. It just doesn't make it.




2. It is a wonderful book telling about all the hills and valleys and walking trails of England. You haven't seen an English country side until you have visited England. Highly recommend this book. Nice pictures and information.

No comments about East Coast Wineries: A Complete Guide from Maine to Virginia.