No comments about AMC's Best Backpacking in New England.

2 comments about Hikes in Northern New England (Exploring the Appalachian Trail).

1. A Helpful guide to hikes along the Appalation Trail in Maine. The guide gives general information as well as specific information about the trail. Each hike includes specific places, distances, where to find a lean-to, and water.



2. I am in the process of section hiking the AT, and this book was a great supplement to the regular guides and maps. It was especially helpful in the more difficult sections such as the Mahoosuc Range because it identified the most and least strenous sections - very useful in planning where to stop and how many miles to try in a day. For example, for northbound hikers, the first 9-10 miles from Route 2 north are not too bad, while the rest are a real challenge. Instead of trying for the usual 10 or more miles per day, I knew where to plan for 5-mile days. I was not disappointed - these were TOUGH miles.
   
   In general, the authors' descriptions of difficulty matched my experience on the trail. I am sometimes a little slower than they predict, but then, I am a little older than most of the people on the trail!
   
   The book is NOT a complete guide to the AT sections - almost all of the hikes use other trails to access the AT. But it is still very useful.
   
   In addition, the authors provide lots of human and natural history. Example: Want to know why there is a trail called Six Husbands in the White Mountains? It's because an Amerindian queen decided she wanted that many mates. They do refer to her as "polygamous" rather than "polyandrous," but that'a a quibble.
   
   The maps (topographic and elevation profile) are a helpful reference, and information about road access is also helpful in planning.
   
   Highly recommended!

3 comments about Monadnock: More than a Mountain.

1. This book is great for everything Monadnock. I have lived in view of it for years and didn't know most of the stuff in the book. There are a few parts of the book I don't really care to read, so i just skipped over those and didn't miss out on any back story later on, which was great!



2. Like another reviewer I lived at the base of the mountain growing up and there were many things I wanted to know (where the caves were etc.)but never got to know and this book is answering so many of my questions. I have bought it for my 2 sisters and know that they will enjoy it. I reccommend it to anyone who has climbed this mountain and fell in love.



3. Having read and loved the 1930's Alan Chamberlain book, Annals of the Grand Monadnock, I see Brandon's book as a very welcome new chapter to the history and legend of the mountain. The Chamberlain book, while a great treasure in its own right, is more like a reference book than something you can sit down and read. This book is the best of both worlds -- a reference I will have for years to come, as well as a book that I can sit down and read cover to cover in a week or so.
   
   Having found the Pumpelly Cave about 8 years ago (great adventure - 6 or so trips to the mountain), this book has re-kindled my desire to go explore. I am heading there this weekend to go looking for other fun and obscure places! Happy hiking.
   
   Note: This is the first book I have felt strongly enough to take the time to write a review on. If you are a lover of Monadnock, please buy this book!

No comments about Recommended Country Inns New England, 19th (Recommended Country Inns Series).

No comments about Kayaking the Maine Coast: A Paddler's Guide to Day Trips from Kittery to Cobscook, Second Edition.

1 comments about The London Scene: Six Essays on London Life.

1. I enjoy reading about London and this book just fit the bill.

4 comments about Private Newport: At Home and In the Garden.

1. Private Newport features page after page of gorgeous homes--those that only we mere mortals can only dream about! The photography is spectacular and I love the way the exterior of the homes and their grounds are included, as well as the amazing interiors. This is a great gift for anyone who has visited Newport or who desires to. You won't see these homes on the mansion tour as they are privately owned and not open to the public.



2. I used to live in Newport and I recognize many of the houses in this book. You will not see these private interiors and gardens any other way. The photography and writing are excellent.



3. .
   This is an exquisite look at Newport Rhode Island by Betty Barden Pardee, a contributing editor to Bon Appetit, who, with her husband is a year-around resident of Newport. Ms. Pardee takes the reader inside the mansions for a private look at the interiors and gardens of this community from a bygone era.
   
   Photographer Mick Hales, whose work has appeared in House and Garden, Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, and Town and Country does an extraordinary job capturing the light, mood and character of Newport.
   
   Designers, decorative artists, and landscape designers will especially enjoy these pages.



4. Despite the potential of the interesting subject matter, 18 private homes and their gardens, PRIVATE NEWPORT is light on details. Author/flower-arranging judge Bettie Bearden Pardee treats it more like a cocktail party of a book with some name-dropping and a few anecdotal stories. Every property is architecturally significant with some fine furnishings and an interesting history, but do not count on much more than just small talk here. Photographer Mick Hales does a better job of presenting the substantial homes, not the so-called cottages of the Gilded Age but mansions none-the-less. All the photos are color and appear to be taken expressly for the book. In addition to an Introduction and an Index, there is a Forward by Marion Oates Charles. Best for those who already love Newport, one of the lovliest towns in the U.S.

5 comments about Above London.

1. Anyone who's ever spent time in London (or any historic and picturesque region) will see the city in a different way with this book of aerial views. Other reviewers have commented on the need for an update (particularly since the Millenium building boom), but essentially, the sweep of London history remains as it was: the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Whitehall, Hyde Park, Hampstead, the Thames, etc. And there's the undeniable thrill of saying "I was there," since virtually every area is covered. This book also adds a dimension to travel that we don't often consider: how buildings and streets really are situated in the places we visit, and our relation to them. After traveling on foot over most of central London, I never realized how much I covered until I bought this book.



2. Robert Cameron and Alistair Cooke teamed up to produce a wonderful visual account of London in the late 20th century, a stunning piece that will serve as a guide for generations of what London was like during this period. I know archaeologists who would sell their souls for such a record of previous historical periods. But, the historic value of such a record is probably not the reason to have it.

   Cameron had produced similar books over San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Washington D.C., and Yosemite (perhaps more by now). Alistair Cooke (yes, the Masterpiece Theatre host) convinced him to

   '...collaborate on a more challenging project: a new view of a capital city that has neither picturesque mountains nor the dependable climate of Cameron's previous subjects, but one that offers as much variety and as many visible relics of centuries of history as any city on earth.'

   The first plates show maps from the Middle Ages, and the same aerial view today, side by side: one can see some of the same streets and patterns, a bridge in the same location, but also (naturally) great differences. The pattern of Chelsea remains as a framework from the days of the Duke of Beaufort in some ways (including Cheyne Walk), and very different in others. A French drawing of St. James' Park looks very familiar, with the difference being the absence of Admiralty Arch which helped transform the Mall into one of the great processional routes.

   Included is a drawing from the Victorian era that shows the then-new Palace of Westminster; four Frechmen proved the ability to use ballooning to scale new heights (alas, only one survived the ascent to 28,000 feet); in 1886 Wyllie and Brewer went up west of Westminster Abbey to make a drawing, including the smog in which London 'luxuriated' -- as a sign of the energy and prosperity of the world's first port and the capital of Empire.

   Juxtaposing an aerial view of St. Paul's surrounded by bomb damage with the current view, the resilience of London can be seen. London has suffered destruction various times, and always bounced back.

   After the historical tour, the book takes a tour of London by the river Thames, then branches out into the Central City, the South and West, the North and West, and then follows the river out of the city into Windsor and countryside environments.

   One fun section include a collection of aerial views of festivals and 'fun' spots: the Oval, Wembley, Lords cricket ground, the Henley Regatta, Ascot, and, of course, Wimbeldon.

   Each series of photographs is accompanied by Cooke's particularly witty and sometimes elegantly-scathing commentary (one can tell when he thinks that progress was not for the better), such as his commentary on the Wimbledon photographs:

   'There was a time when the All-England Lawn Tennis Club's Wimbledon courts were surrounded by open meadows and a small enclosure for the nobs who owned automobiles. Today the area of car parks is greater than that of 'the action', and during the fortnight of the championship the cars desecrate the golf course in the adjoining Wimbledon Park.'

   A fun and interesting book, one that is deserving of closer inspection. If you've ever been to London, this book will bring back memories and give a perspective that one rarely gets of the city. If you've never been to London, this will inspire you to plan your trip!




3. I am such a huge fan of Robert Cameron, but eventhough I think this book is amazing it in not his best, the photographs just are not as vivid for some reason and though some are spectacular some are not, which is so unusual for a Cameron book. Having said that I still highly recommend this book, even an average Cameron is better than the best of anyone else, he is that good. Though the book is a bit dated it still is worth having in your collection I assure you, it still has photos of things I have never seen photoed elsewhere.



4. 'Above London' by aerial photographer, Robert Cameron and perennial Brit commentator, Alistair Cooke is one of four Cameron photo books of cities I have seen, and I have been to each of these four cities, and I firmly believe that between London, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angles, this is by far the most delightful.
   
   Most of this is probably due to the fact that London is so much more photogenic than those Yank cities, but it is probably also due to the addition of Cooke's commentary.
   
   The star, by far, of this series is Cameron's superb skill with not only the camera, but in the selection of subject and angle of his shots. The clarity of detail is so great that you can literally count the panes of glass in the windows of the Greenwich Observatory from a distance of at least 1000 feet or more.
   
   The aerial point of view of course also adds much to the quality of the book. For example, the infamous memorial to Prince Albert, across from the Royal Albert Hall seems hokey from the ground, but is a marvel of geometric design seen from the air. There are also some things which simply cannot be fully appreciated except by air, such as an overview of the Belgravia district around Belgrave Square.
   
   One who has seen London first hand may get more from this book than those who have not been there, but at least it will be an incentive to go see the city for yourself.



5. This may be suitable only for total London geeks like myself, who pore over maps and photos of the best city in the world. It is very satisfying to identify places one has visited, as seen from the air. It goes a little farther afield than I have personally wandered, of course, and reveals warts and all, but for the price this is a very nice addition to any London book collection.

No comments about Fodor's The Berkshires and Pioneer Valley, 1st Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

No comments about Cape Cod Massachusetts Map.