5 comments about Message on the Wind: A Spiritual Odyssey on the Northern Plains (It Happened in).

1. This odyssey attempts to articulate that which quietly is in all of us - the longing to discover and embrace our unique place, individually and collectively, within the boundless whole of space and time. And standing here (the Northern Plains)- amid exquisite beauty (of the earth, of the heavens, of our souls)- can take us ever-so subtly, yet boldly, to that place.



2. To journey though this book is like being on a train. You will come to the end finding you have traveled parallel tracks. . . One is the scholarly exploration of ideas and questions. The other, a man's life filled with colorful friends and experiences. Both a book of essays and a memoir. This duality is the magic that makes the book. Even the writing balances between direct and lyrical, functional and sublime.

   But, what I liked most about Message on the Wind was the personality of the man telling the story. That he could make bold pronouncements and just as quickly point out his own foibles. As when he says, "Just how a man driving a tractor whose tire he could not change if his life depended upon it can feel marvelously independent is not clear, but that is the unmistakable mythology of the place. And I swallowed the whole hog."

   Back to the train: Wallow in the sheer joy of being carried away on an adventure. Or, examine the tracks and ponder the method. Either course will result in many delightful hours of reading. Reading, perchance to think. :-)




3. Having grown up and lived my fifty-plus years in North Dakota, Jenkinson has captured my response to this place of the Plains at a very deep, thoughtful level. It is hard to explain to a "mountain", or "ocean" or "forest" person just what the prairie and badlands evoke, but this book is among the best I've read to describe it. The people portrayed in this book are people I know or very like people I know. But most especially, his challenge to those of us who live in this place to treasure it and to branch out of our great tendency toward provincialism confirmed and gave words to many of my own long-held feelings.



4. Thirty years ago I left the plains of Western North Dakota for the woods of Central Minnesota. I lasted six mohths. Clay S. Jenkinson expresses the reasons why I came back and why I have stayed. It is almost impossible to express to someone not from here what the badlands and the prairie can mean, but the author uses imagery that evokes a strong sense of place and spiritual belonging, much as N. Scott Momaday does. The people are real and the places are too. It is good to have someone who can say what I can't. This book is delightfully humorous and at the same time profound.



5. Message on the Wind is the diary of a successful white male who is trapped in an artificial world yet yearns to find his spiritual center and integrity. He finds himself on the wind swept open spaces and bluffs of the Great Plains where he can let down all of the guards and just be himself for a while.
   This book is a must-read for understanding the challenges of being male in today's society and, I believe, an invitation to men to explore their more spiritual longings, perhaps on the open plains.

5 comments about House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest.

1. I am glad I read HOUSE OF RAIN and I can easily recommend it to others interested in the "Anasazi" (the controversy over this name is discussed at some length in the book) and related peoples of the Southwest. Nonetheless, I am somewhat ambivalent about this book, more so than with many I have read.
   
   On the plus side, HOUSE OF RAIN probably is the most comprehensive non-academic book dealing with the Anasazi and related peoples I have encountered, and one of the most readable. It traces the Anasazi and their extensive archaeological record from Chaco in New Mexico, north to Aztec and Mesa Verde, then west to the Utah canyonlands, then south to Kayenta and Antelope Mesa in Arizona, further south to the Mogollon Rim along the New Mexico/Arizona border, and even further south into the Sierra Madre in Mexico. Childs discusses in a non-pedantic fashion quite a few of the theories about the Anasazi, their way of life, their artistic, engineering, and organizational/political accomplishments, and their ultimate fate. Moreover, he is to be commended for not being deterred by political correctness from discussing such matters as cannibalism, warfare and slavery, ritual violence, and dementia and hallucinations induced by an exclusively corn-based diet. Nonetheless, he clearly is highly respectful of the Anasazi, and he communicates a sense of wonder and awe.
   
   On the other hand, certain aspects of the book are annoying or distracting, at least to me. Foremost among them is the author's overly "personal" narrative, all-too-generously sprinkling the book with anecdotes from his travels through the Southwest as he tracks the Anasazi. I recognize that he wants to establish his credentials and also to avoid a dry, academic tone, but many of his anecdotes are banal in the extreme (for example, many of the interactions between he and fellow travellers or he and his family). Childs also too frequently lapses into sappiness or melodrama, leading me to fear that perhaps his account may be overly imaginative, too much the product of a romantic mind bent on understanding and explaining where anything close to absolute understanding and explanation simply is not possible. Finally, given the numerous accounts of large, carefully engineered and built structures, even cities, many of which were occupied for only a few decades, I would have appreciated some discussion of how these massive construction projects were accomplished.
   
   Despite the (to me) annoying flaws of HOUSE OF RAIN, the book is highly informative, definitely worth reading, and probably worth returning to.



2. Note that I did not say "disappearance."
   
   That said, you don't need to read Craig Childs to tell you that. A number of good modern authors, not necessarily Ph.D. anthropologists, have been writing about that for going on a decade.
   
   That then said, Childs book has a wider geographic and chronological spread than others of these books. Starting with the rise of Chaco Canyon, he takes us through Mesa Verde, Kayenta and the Mogollon Rim down into northeastern Sonora, and runs from around 1000 CE to first Spanish contact in Sonora and the start of written history.
   
   He uses pottery, architecture, skeletal and skeletal DNA evidence to trace the movement of the Ancestral Puebloans (the best term, rather than either Anasazi or Hisatsinom) to across all these areas.
   
   His thought provocation includes wondering what level of culture, religious observance, etc., these peoples had at different times and places in their history. Since his beat, as a layperson, tends more toward archaeology than anthropology, he doesn't get into these issues too much, but does stimulate thought.
   
   That said, this book isn't five-star, or even quite four-star, for a few reasons.
   
   I was going to four-star at first, but just couldn't quite pull the trigger, especially based on what this book could have been versus what it actually is.
   
   1. The "personal happenings" anecdotes are longer, and contribute less to the flow of the narrative, than in, say, David Roberts in "In Search of the Old Ones."
   
   2. Without revealing too much about site locations, Childs could at least have had a few general area maps in the book. Again, compare Roberts.
   
   3. He didn't anything with tying in the Mimbres culture of SW New Mexico into his thesis; perhaps that's because it's lack of apparent Chacoan influence or connectedness upsets some of his ideas.
   
   4. He gets a bit New Agey at times, especially in his chapter(s) on the Great Sage Plain. No thanks.
   
   5. Finally, to the degree he focuses on pottery, the lack of color plate pages is just not acceptable.



3. As a former journalist fascinated by the people we call "Anasazi", I was totally captivated by Craig Childs' House of Rain. The writing is highly readable, the research thorough, and the information fascinating. It's a particularly compelling read for someone who's traveled the Southwest. This book is by far the best of several I've read about pre-Columbian peoples in the Southwest, and seems to present the most balanced view.



4. House of Rain weaves anthropology, desert experiences, and backcountry interactions with archeologists and family. The focus is field archeology, which academic publications cover formally and in much greater detail. They are cited in 22 pages of bibliography. The pictures are few and printed on pages with text. Stylized maps appear on the section headers. One might appreciate large color pictures and traditional, functional maps. But consider the $25 cost of this 500 page book. I've become accustomed to paying $30 - $35 for such a book and suspect that reduced photos and maps played a role in restricting the cost. There are other books with superb photographs of most of the ruins and artifacts Childs describes, or with maps at all scales depicting the northern regions covered by House of Rain. This book purposely and successfully blends education and entertainment. Becoming tired of speculation about ancient migration from a site? Childs shares his adventure there. Soon enough you are returned, refreshed, to the past. For unadulterated archeology House of Rain cannot compete with the referenced publications; for sheer life-threatening adventure it is no match for typical accounts of Himalayan climbs. And probably the descriptions of his toddler in the backcountry are eclipsed by Silverman's "Backpacking with Babies and Small Children", which I admit I have not read. But Childs set out to narrate passionately a mix of his ideas about southwestern archeology and his experiences in acquiring them. I find his attempt to be very successful.



5. This is a jaw-dropper of a book. Of all the books about the Anasazi, this is the only one that tells it all, puts it all together. Craig Childs has trudged his soulful way through all the dwellings, all the literature, tracing these mysterious people's movements over hundreds of years and hundreds of miles. He has given full rein to common sense and intuition in figuring out who they were, what they did and why. Adding to the excitement of continuous discovery, the reader is led through mile after mile on foot through dangerous terrain and weather, into caves, straight up mountains and deep into canyons. And as the story unfolds, each moment is as astonishing as if one were there. There is no impenetrable archaeological jargon here; plain English reigns. It is thrilling reading, understandable in every way and immensely satisfying.

5 comments about Frommer's Maine Coast (Frommer's Complete).

1. We referred to this book frequently during our stay in Acadia. We didn't find any errors or misinformation, and so I'm giving it the highest rating because it served its purpose well.



2. I live on the coast of Maine and have many requests from friends to visit during the summer and fall. I always send this book out before my friends arrive so that they can see everything the Maine coast has to offer and so that I can adequately make a plan for them to see the things that matter most to them. It is an invaluable guide and it "spot on" with descriptions.



3. I purchased this as a gift for someone moving to the Maine coast. Frommers has always been helpful to me when I move to or visit a new region.



4. This is an outstanding book. We used the book for all of our reference points for Bar Harbor and the surrounding areas. I would recommend this book to anyone who is not familuar with Maine and all that it has to offer. Buy the book and use it to plan all of your activities and places to eat.



5. well written lots of information, but several years old, I thought it would be 2008, some things are gone others have changed owners, but we'll take it with us and over all good information

4 comments about Backroads of New England: Your Guide To New England's Most Scenic Backroad Adventures (Pictorial Discovery Guide).

1. When fall comes in New England, the trees turn into a splendid mass of reds, oranges and yellows that temporarily distract us from the coming winter. At the same time, the first fresh snowfalls have a special beauty that New Englanders love as well. But the first blush of spring causes a special joy to burst out from our hearts. In the lazy days of summer, we love to watch the wind blow the grasses and trees from languid poses.
   
   At any one of those times, I find myself thinking how much fun it would be to see some new sights in the context of those favorite New England conditions. In the forty years I've lived in New England, I've found many of my favorite locations purely by accident. The back roads are always the best. But I don't have the time to randomly drive all the back roads to find the best ones.
   
   That's where Backroads of New England comes in. Kim Knox Beckius has found 30 delightful drives over back road that mix scenery, history, culture and just plain fun. I have taken about half of the drives in the book, so I can swear by those. I am looking forward to doing the rest now that I know where to go.
   
   How can I tell I would like the others? First, Ms. Beckius provides helpful essays about where to begin, what to see, and what to stop and do along the way. She even includes some suggestions for hiking to beautiful waterfalls. Second, William H. Johnson's gorgeous photographs colorfully illuminate the main sights for each drive. Whether you love covered bridges, snow-capped peaks, delightful streams, pounding surf, or mysterious vistas, you can page through the book to find the places that speak mostly fervently to your soul.
   
   The book is also organized by state. So if you are planning to go just to Maine and arrive by air in Portland, you can simply focus on the Maine trips and those in New Hampshire and northeast Massachusetts that are not too far away. If you live in New York, and want to drive for no more than two hours, you can focus on that radius in western Connecticut and Massachusetts.
   
   I have been looking at travel guides for New England for many years. I've never seen a finer one for back roads adventures.
   
   Give it a try!



2. Kim Knox Beckius, a well-known New England travel writer, has teamed up with New Hampshire photographer, William Johnson, to create a pictorial guide to 30 scenic drives throughout the region.
   
   You get five scenic drives each from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Rhode Island offers up another four, and Maine weighs in with a larger six. The drives cover the best of New England, from mountains to the ocean, and from the lakes to the beaches. And a whole bunch more.
   
   Kim doesn't spend a lot of time on directions. They tend to be brief and on the side of the pages - enough to get you around but not much more. Kim focuses her travel writing skills on making sure you experience in words the sights, sounds, and smells of each region. The beautifully produced photography greatly enhances this experience.
   
   While I love this book if you're looking for one crammed with detailed directions and a step-by-step tour of attractions this isn't it.
   
   This is a book to keep near you throughout the long winter... to browse whenever you want to remember a drive already taken... or one waiting for you in the spring.



3. My wife and I just came back from vacation in New England. Aside from the Delorme maps, this book was the most important item we took with us. We went on several of the scenic drives described in the book, and they were all absolutely beautiful! The directions were perfect, even if they don't tell you the distances involved. The photographs in the book are worth the price alone, but it's even better when you come across the places pictured in the book and find out they're just as gorgeous as the author said they would be. If you're going to New England, you need this book.



4. This was obviously a carefully researched, well-written book, with great photos. But I was disappointed that there was so little focus on maps. Rather than showing a detailed maps of a recommended route, the author chose to write a verbal description of a recommended route. That's sufficient if you wish to follow the author's route exactly. But if you would rather create your own route with some guidance from the book, it's virtually impossible.

3 comments about Walking San Francisco: 30 Savvy Tours Exploring Steep Streets, Grand Hotels, Dive Bars, and Waterfront Parks.

1. I live in the Bay Area and normally wouldn't buy a book like this, but with guests coming from out of town I gave it a shot. I started reading it and was pleasantly surprised. Well-written and entertaining beyond what I'd expect from a travel guide. Once I started walking the tours I discovered neighborhoods, parks, museums, bars, restaurants and unusual landmarks that I never knew existed. Easy to follow instructions, clear simple maps, and interesting trivia make this book a great companion. Highly recommended!



2. Being a pedestrian in San Francisco can be adventurous enough given the wild-eyed drivers here. However, if you are not worried about making appointments, getting to work or simply too exhausted to look beyond your feet when you trudge home, this compact, well-organized book is a good reminder of what this city does offer for local and tourist alike. Bay Area travel writer and Lonely Planet contributor Tom Downs traces thirty walking routes that range from the familiar to the surprising spotlighting the key sights to be seen along the way. Like a true hiking guide, he gives the distance and difficulty level, the latter of which can be wildly variable thanks to the hills and valleys indicative of our cityscape.
   
   For each do-it-yourself tour, Downs provides helpful public transportation information and a sense of the parking challenge, perhaps the most common logistical dilemma when starting and ending these walks. His concise descriptions of the unique sights are bulleted in helpful fashion. The areas covered are what you'd expect in a guidebook - stretching from a strenuous coastline hike from Land's End to the Golden Gate Bridge to an easy stroll along the refurbished Embarcadero Walkway. There are hidden gems to be discovered in neighborhoods as diverse as Bernal Heights, Westside Cordillera and the Presidio. Along with periodic sections to describe worthwhile detours and interesting back stories, there are also appendices that organize the information by walking themes and points of interest.



3. Any California collection specializing in San Francisco explorations will relish WALKING SAN FRANCISCO: 30 SAVVY TOURS EXPLORING STEEP STREETS, GRAND HOTELS, DIVE BARS, AND WATERFRONT PARKS. There have been other books on San Francisco's walking opportunities, but this comes from an insider who offers a blend of history, gossip, architectural and cultural insights and includes pubs and bars for added interest. It's a great collection for any walker who would see the City by foot.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

5 comments about The Walt Disney World Trivia Book, Volume 2: More Secrets, History & Fun Facts Behind the Magic.

1. Fantastic book! What you may have thought you knew...but didn't! An interesting book of facts that help you understand the making of Walt Disney World. A must have book for Disney mania! Volume 1 is just as interesting!



2. I purchased Lou's book after I had found his website when I was planning my latest trip to Walt Disney World. After looking at his site and even signing up for the forum, I knew I had to purchase this book I'd been reading about! And I am so glad I did. The trivia is fun if you're reading alone or if you take turns reading with a partner and it's multiple choice too. Even more, the answers are found following each section with a short statement to provide further information about the correct answer. What I really love about this book is that the layout makes it a simplistic read that doesn't get boring. Even though it isn't a guide book, anyone (or any family) planning to take a trip to WDW can benefit from the exciting learning experience the book has to offer. It is a must read for first timers and fanatics!



3. The Walt Disney World Trivia Book is like the friend I've always wanted who flies me down to Disney (for free!)and proceeds to take me through every park, attraction, and resort, telling me things I never knew about my favorite place. With a loyalty only a true Disney connoisseur can possess ("ever hear of some guy named 'Bugs Bunny'? Hmph. Me neither."), Lou presents his information the way I like it-it's personal, frank, and fun. Kind of like Lou himself...drop him an e-mail, and you actually get an answer! If there is one Disney informant to swear by, it's Lou Mongello. Some of his facts I knew, some made me laugh, and some made me realize that perhaps I'm not the Disney expert I make myself out to be. All I know is that those around me will have to endure new rounds of Disney fact-spouting. I almost feel bad for them. They had assumed they were safe after our (sniff!) last Disney trip in 2005. Although I shouldn't really mourn the trip's passing; with the WDW Trivia Book, I'm there all over again.



4. My son and I love this book and we've only read the first section. We can't believe how much we're learning and how much we didn't know. We're enjoying finding out all the "little" things we never knew about Disney World.



5. Just received the Walt Disney Trivia Books, Volumes 1 & 2. I've read through both and cannot wait until my next WDW vacation. Thank you, Lou, for writing the best Disney trivia books ever. Just one question, when will there be a third?

1 comments about Top Trails Yosemite: Must Do Hikes for Everyone (Top Trails).

1. Wilderness Press originally conceived of the 'Top Trails' series as a set of hiking guides to the best trails in an area. This purpose sets these volumes apart from typical hiking guides which tend to fall into two categories: comprehensive guides to all trails in a region, or descriptions of short day hiking opportunities in an area. The idea was to give visitors to a region quick access to the best hiking and to facilitate ease of use. Perhaps no area of California needs a 'Top Trails' guide as much as Yosemite and very few authors are as qualified to write one as Jeffrey Schaffer.
   
   This book is divided into seven chapters: one for each region of the park. Each chapter lists 5 to 8 hikes ranging in distance from the 1/2 mile walk at Bridalveil Falls to a 33 mile excursion among the High Sierra Camps. Obviously, some of these trails are more suitable for backpacking, a feature that distinguishes this book from others in the 'Top Trails' series. All the great hikes are included. Readers will find route descriptions for Half Dome, the Tuolomne Grove of Sequoias (my favorite grove in the park), Clouds Rest, Hetch Hetchy Resevoir, Glacier Point, and many more. In all, there are 45 trails and routes described here.
   
   What makes this book so good are the standard features found in other 'Top Trails' guides and the expert commentary of Schaffer. Each chapter begins with an overview of the region, a trails summary page listing distance, difficulty, and some highlights of the trails, followed by detailed trail descriptions and carefully drawn maps. Schaffer is one of the top cartographers in the west and his maps are second to none. But in addition to these standard features, Schaffer also offers an extended commentary on the geology, geography, and plant and animal communities found in the park. His theory that Yosemite Valley's rock walls were formed by faulting and vertical fracture planes, not solely by glaciers, is explained in these pages, along with the evidence for it, so that non-specialists can easily understand what they observe as they hike. This sort of expert commentary adds immeasurably to the joy of hiking. That is why I strongly recommend this book by Schaffer. It can enhance any vacation to Yosemite.

5 comments about Hiking North Carolina, 2nd: A Guide to Nearly 500 of North Carolina's Greatest Hiking Trails (State Hiking Series).

1. Any traveler to North Carolina will be able to use this helpful guide to the state. It's full of information on numerous trails, including educational ones perfect for the family.



2. This was a good book for a general description of several trails in North Carolina, but didn't give many details. I think I was looking for something that would give me enough information to pick one trail out of them all to visit, but the brief descriptions didn't give me enough to go on. If you already know which trail you want to trek and it is one of the trails covered in the book, you're pretty well set. You will, however, need another map to know exactly how to get to that particular trail...the book has a map with a general location but no specific driving information.



3. Mr. Johnson's "Hiking North Carolina" is a guide for hikers by a lifelong hiker in the North Carolina High Country. North Carolina has hundreds of miles of hiking trail, and Randy has hiked most of them himself. The one risk of writing a guide about something you love so much, is to ruin the sense of adventure by including too much information. On the other hand, I have been hiking long enough to remember guides that would allow you to barely find the trailhead, much less give you good information about the trail and what you will encounter. There is a fine balance between a guide that tells too much, like the Appalachian Trail guides, and a guide that says too little, like some I see in popular magazines. I believe that Mr. Johnson's guide strikes a good balance between the two; telling you what you need to know while preserving the sense of adventure in the experience. It's the adventure that draws us into the woods after all. I recommend this guide for anyone who is interested in hiking in the state. His maps are quite detailed and well drawn, and his trail descriptions are enough to get you where you want to go without spoiling the fun of discovery. It is an excellent work and well worth including in your outdoor library.
   
   Robert Branch
   Burnsville, NC



4. This is an excellent resource and planning guide. I have nothing to add to the earlier reviews, most of which are 5 stars.
   
   The lack of GPS coordinates of the trailheads is the one glaring deficiency and the reliance on another map resource is no substitute. The copy edit staff should have done their homework and inserted this information, since it could be done from their desks. It appears instead that they put their efforts into misleading advertising -
   
   "Detailed trail descriptions, and GPS-compatible trail maps"
   
   Nevertheless, I have since purchased extra copies for gifts.



5. All of Randy Johnson's books are very informative. The maps and driving directions are excellent and also the trail descriptions.

2 comments about Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike Planner.

1. This is the first book I bought when I decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. Very informative book. Almost everything you want to know about the trail, preparing to hike the trail, etc... Must have book for newcomers to the AT.



2. This is an interesting planning guide for ATC Thru-Hikers. I don't know that it is a necessity for experienced hikers or outdoorsmen.
   
   There is a section on recommended mail drops that is helpful, but this book recommends that you cross check the information with the current year Thru-hikers companion. I haven't read the thru-hikers companion yet, and I had the feeling that the books may be somewhat redundant.

5 comments about The Alaska Cruise Handbook: A Mile-by-Mile Guide.

1. I purchased copies of this handbook for both my husband and me as well as his brother and wife for our first time Alaskan cruise. It was interesting to follow our route on the included map and know what we were cruising by, as well as to anticipate what lie ahead. We were able to take wonderful photographs of lighthouses, etc. by knowing when to watch for them. We saw several people onboard with the books, and I would highly recommend it as a "must pack" item on an Alaskan cruise.



2. I bought this book because I was looking for information on the best things to do in each port, including kinds of excursions. The pictures were beautiful and there was a lot of great information on the history, but details on the excursions was very limited.



3. Wow what a book! Loved it so bought 2 copies for friends. To take the included map and read the book as you go "mile by mile" up the coast is fantastic! Since we are cruising next year, we purchased the book to see the pictures and read the info! No better compliment than to purchase other copies for other cruisers!



4. This is an excellent resource guide for anyone planning to travel to Alaska. I am a travel professional planning trips for clients and this book is a fascinating read and gives me some unusual insights to share with my clients:)
   
   It is easy to read - lots of photos and interesting facts about Alaska!
   
   Gabriele:)



5. This lavishly illustrated book, with an included map of the inside passage, is sold on cruise ships to supplement the sights the passengers are encountering along the way. It adds much detail about the history and culture of the splendid land from Seattle and Vancouver northward, particularly for the myriad coastal towns and harbors where cruise ships call or sail nearby. If you are looking for a dry listing of hotels, restaurants, and trinket shops, this is not the book for you. If you want to expand the sensory impact of your trip to Alaska, your money will be well spent on this companion guide.