2 comments about National Geographic Yellowstone National Park Wyoming/Montana, USA: Trails Illustrated Topo Map (Trails Illustrated - Topo Maps USA).

1. This is the essential topographical map for hiking in Yellowstone. Trails Illustrated also sells some maps of particular regions of the park such as Tower/Canyon at 1:83,333 scale. (The map of the whole park is 1:168,500.) The bigger map is perfectly serviceable for any hike that you might want to take, and I can't find any place in the park where the big map would lead you astray. Still, if you like having the smaller scale, go for it.
   
   The small maps do have the advantage of showing specific backcountry campsites. If you use the larger map, you have to coordinate with other books that show these sites.
   
   Like other Trails Illustrated maps, this one comes with all sorts of practical information on the back side of the map. None of this will be new to you if you've read the usual guide books, but it's moderately useful having it repeated here. One very helpful feature of this map is that it shows the burn areas so that you can avoid moderately or heavily burnt forests.
   
   The trail numbers on this map are coordinated with Day Hiking Yellowstone by Tom Carter. I don't have that book so I can't vouch for how useful it is. However, it's easy to coordinate the numbered trails with other books that I do have (such as Lonely Planet Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, Hiking Yellowstone National Park: A Falcon Guide, and A Ranger's Guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes).
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   Added in April 2008: the more I hike in the park, the less happy I am with this map because of the scale. It's great for seeing longer trails at a glance. But if you're a day-hiker, you probably want one of the four smaller-scale maps covering (more or less) the four corners of the park.



2. This map looks nice, but if you're going hiking, you'll be better off with the free park maps given at the park. It's just way too high level, with 100-foot contours, and very little detail. It's also not waterproof or resistant.

No comments about The Black Hills Yesterday and Today.

5 comments about Amnesia Moon.

1. Sometimes I find myself reading the old Philip K. Dick books and thinking: Where did Dick get these ideas? Were they transmitted to him from an alien satellite brain (or Vast Active Living Intelligent System)? Who's picking up those transmissions now?
   
   Here's the answer. Except for the 1990s references, this book could easily have been written by Dick himself. (There is a brief reference to Dick's DR. BLOODMONEY at a San Francisco cocktail party). This book bespeaks an enormous freedom of imagination: "something" has happened, nobody knows what (shades of Delany's DHALGREN), but afterwards some are "dreamers" able to construct oneiric "Fictitious Subjective Realities," and others are trapped in these FSRs. The narrator Chaos (or Everett) and his sidekick, the furry little girl Melinda, travel through a variety of these dreams, from the postapocalyptic wasteland of Hatfork, Wyoming, to the zombified media-slave suburbia of Vacaville, to the fog-shrouded Oedipal struggles of San Francisco. to the wars with the alien hives in LA.
   
   This book is truly an explosion of creative promise, drawing out those threads first revealed in Lethem's short stories in CRANK! and elsewhere. I'm eager to pick up more old Lethem SF, before he caved to the exigencies of verbosity for mainstream acceptance.



2. I've read most of Lethem's novels and all of them are different, so you never know what to expect. And most of them are pretty good, especially _Motherless Brooklyn_ and _The Fortress of Solitude_. Lethem is obviously getting better and better as he goes along -- which may explain some of my dissatisfaction with this one, which was his second effort. It's a post-holocaust story, though it never becomes clear what the holocaust actually consisted of; various characters have differing memories of what happened. Chaos -- whose real name may, or may not, be Everett -- is living in an abandoned multiplex in a small desert town, dividing his time between drinking and dreaming contagious dreams. Circumstances lead him to leave, taking with him a thirteen-year fur-covered girl named Melinda. Their subsequent travels lead them to a settlement high in the mountains that is blinded by some sort of green fog, then to Vacaville, California, where the survivors change houses twice a week and maintain order and curb antisocial behavior by writing each other tickets. They end up in San Francisco, where Chaos/Everett apparently came from originally. Through all of it, his dreams impinge on the sleep of those around him. And at that point, a little over halfway through, I have to confess I lost what little interest I had been able to maintain and withdrew my bookmark. I hate not finishing a book. More than that, I resent it. Especially when the author, like Lethem, has proved his bona fides.



3. In 1971, Ursula Le Guin wrote the short novel, _Lathe of Heaven_ in which George Orr's "effective dreaming" tranforms reality in just the arational way you'd expect from the subconscious. Le Guin's novel ends with "the break," an event that changes reality in contradictory and chaotic ways. In both content and form, Lethem's novel feels like a sequel to that novel. Chaos, Everett, Moon--whatever name you go by--lives in a world permanently and madly altered by effective dreaming. The difference is that the talent was unique in _Lathe of Heaven_. In _Amnesia Moon_ dreaming transforms reality locally, producing overlapping and confusing realities. In this case, the aftermath proves less interesting than an inciting incident deep in the background of the Lethem's novel. Though ably written, _Amnesia Moon_ is ultimately less satisfying than Le Guin's work, a less exciting and less interesting continuation. By itself, the novel is compelling enough, but juxtaposed with Le Guin, it seems mere fluff.



4. This is a road story where the main character leaves his town in Wyoming to find his identity and answers to key questions that churn over & over in his mind. It all sounds straight ahead, simple, but there's been an apocalyptic event some indeterminate time ago that has changed the face of the USA; the town he's leaving is full of mutants; he leaves with one of them, a girl covered in fur; his dreams suggest that he's not who he thinks he is and others can see his dreams when they sleep nearby. The story hooked me early.
   
   On their travels Chaos and the girl, Melinda, encounter widely different communities - aside from the mutant town, there's one encased in a green fog, another where government officials star in their own TV show and also police the community...all of which seem to be conjured by those in the community that have the ability to broadcast their dreams to the masses around them. Is Letham commenting on how people can be brainwashed and controlled by those with power? Some of the communities are cult-like, with inhabitants doing as they are told by their demi-god.
   
   No-one seems clear on the nature of the "disaster" that led to this post-apocalyptic world or at what point in time it occurred. There is no shared reality on this point beyond acceptance that a disaster of some sort happened. This makes the book intriguing, especially in a time where we all accept that we're waging a "war on terror". Even if we can't define the scope of what that encompasses, we accept that it needs to be done. It is one shared reality in my world.
   
   This book made me think about how we become communities, how we arrive at shared values, how we are governed/controlled, the power of "group-think" & how much we are prepared to accept at face-value without questioning. The story may seem slight, more novella than novel, but it's thought-provoking if you let your mind play with the ideas.



5. This book will convince you that insomnia isn't all that bad a thing.
   
   Which is worse: a megalomaniac or someone pulling the strings who doesn't even know he's doing it? Lethem will have you scratching your head continuously as you try to figure out the meaning of this (pick a genre so long as "strange" is part of the description) book.
   
   It seems the consensus of reviewers is that there is a weak ending. Add my vote to that tally. This is a weird book which is fine; but coupling it with a non-existent finish does a disservice to the reader.

No comments about The Smithsonian Guides to Natural America: The Northern Rockies: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming (Smithsonian Guides to Natural America).

2 comments about Great Wyoming Bear Stories.

1. This book is great for all ages. Young or old, readers will be drawn in by Tom Reed's easygoing style of story telling. His stories are thoroughly researched, painstakingly detailed and very well written. The tales span a history of over a hundred years from the moutain men of old to the modern day backcountry enthusiasts.
   
   The book is also a good source for the brutal and honest truth about bear dangers for anyone planning on spending time in Wyoming's bear country including Yellowstone and Teton National Parks. Tom Reed's tone and candor do not necessarily appeal to one side or the other of the "grizzly bear politics" so common here in Wyoming. Instead, Tom gives a perspective that only he can as a conservationalist, avid sportsman and long time resident of Wyoming. He gave me a broader insight into, and a new appreciation of, this wild, dangerous, and awesomely breathtaking animal--Bear.



2. Living in Wyoming it was great to read the stories and learn about grizzly bears. We learned a lot about them and will stay away when possible. I highly recommend this book. Great author.

No comments about The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life.

2 comments about Along the Ramparts of the Tetons: The Saga of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

1. 
   This is a well-written history of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from its geography to the concerns its residents have today about unlimited growth. Robert Betts writes about the earliest explorers, the coming of the fur trappers, early settlers, homesteaders, the development of the dude ranch, and the bitter debates that eventually led to the formation of Teton National Park. More detailed chapters include fascinating accounts of John Colter, perhaps the first white man to view the Tetons; thumbnail sketches of some of the more famous mountainmen criss-crossing Jackson Hole before the Civil War; some local legends involving the likes of Nick Wilson and Beaver Dick; the disastrous and foolish Doane expedition along the Snake River in the winter of 1876; the summer (1883) President Chester A. Arthur visited the area with members of his cabinet to hunt and fish; the problems the sheepmen faced when they came to the valley; and the recent settlers who display the rugged individualism of their ancestors. Though relating the history of the Jackson Hole area, Betts is just as concerned with presenting a captivating and entertaining narrative, which he succeeds in doing marvelously. Many illustrations grace the text. Anyone with any interest in the Jackson Hole area will find this book worth reading.



2. This is the book for the best and most concise and interesting "guide" history of Jackson's Hole. I have been an interpretive guide in Jackson's Hole for 6 years and I use the stories in this book to help folks understand the story of the area.

4 comments about Travel Smart: Montana/Wyoming/Idaho.

1. Trying to pack 3 states of immense geography into 272 pages? I'm sorry, but I didn't find any real substance here. Most of the info is sketchy and seems very limited. It only seems to scratch the surface. Pick a state and stick to it.



2. This book is not exhaustive...and isn't intended to be. It's the lowdown on the best places to go and stay and visit. It's written in a breezy, informed style that is fun to read and, from what I can tell, extremely accurate. Judging from the places I've been able to visit recently (Jackson Hole, Bozeman, Yellowstone) the author is right on. I'd recommend this book highly to anyone traveling into this region.



3. i thought this book was an excellent primer...i was able to gain an understanding of each area of the states covered: what each has to offer sporting-wise, weather-wise, lodging- and food-wise. of course it is not as in depth as a single state guide book would be, but for those of us looking to explore all three, it provided a solid foundation from which to begin charting our course. enjoyable writing, as well. i had never read 'travel smart' books...getting another today because i was so pleased.



4. As reviewer Joe Pickett said, this book is well-written and enjoyable. My personal preference is for single state travel books, because they are more exhaustive in their coverage, and thus more useful when traveling. The reason for this review is my amusement at finding an earlier review of this book from 2000 written by Joe Pickett. Joe Pickett is the name of the fictional hero of author C.J. Box's excellent mystery series set in Wyoming, and these books started appearing in 2001, after this review, with the award winning Open Season. I love these books, a perfect blend of mystery and western. So what say you, Mr. Box? Did you write the 2000 review for this book? I also can't help but wonder if C.J. Box is your real name. Perhaps you are a relative of Edgar Box, Gore Vidal's famous pseudonym.

No comments about Best Backpacking Vacations Northern Rockies (Best Backpack Vacations Series).

5 comments about The Geysers of Yellowstone.

1. The Geysers of Yellowstone is best guide to Yellowstones thermal features I know of, but I wish it would include some of the non-eruptive hot spring and mud pots. Never the less, the book is packed with in-depth information on everything the ever erupted in Yellowstone at time. I am a Yellowstone visitor for 8 years running, and more than half this book, I still don't know! A MUST for any geyser lover.



2. Now in its third edition and completely revised, this geyser Bible remains the definitive guide to Yellowstone's erupting thermal features. Detailed maps of each of Yellowstone's geyser basins and colorful descriptions of every known geyser make the book both easy to read and easy to use when stalking eruptions of even the most elusive geysers. A fascinating list of all the world's other known geyser regions, many of which have suffered from geothermal development, makes the reader realize all the more what a special place Yellowstone really is.



3. This is a fine book, but WHY is it cross-listed under "Natural Disasters"? Geysers are no more "disasters" than trees or rivers are. I don't get it.



4. If the phenomenon of geysers interests you, this is your book. It should be the yardstick by which all others on the subject are measured.

   Superbly well organized, and written, this book readily conveys the author's enthusiasm for the subject. I would have preferred a few more color photographs in addition to the cover, but this is a minor quibble. The black and white photos are chosen carefully, and give a good idea of the feature involved.

   The book discusses all known geysers in Yellowstone, which park contains a substantial majority of these features on the planet. Maps are supplied, and are easily deciphered. Data is given concerning the eruptive pattern of each geyser, where known, and this proved most helpful during a recent trip to this magnificent area.

   The feature I enjoyed the most was the detailed appendix, setting forth all known geyser fields anywhere on Earth. I guarantee some of the locations and features will surprise you. The author also discuuses which of these fields are most endangered by unwise development of geothermal power.

   Very, very highly recommended. Indeed, I should say it is indispensible for anyone planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Enjoy.




5. This book provides a thorough and comprehensive description of every darned geyser in Yellowstone National Park by a recognized expert. The descriptions are organized geographically by geyser basin, which is a good framework. Photographs are found throughout the book, but none in color. This is the book's primary drawback. On the other hand, inclusion of color would probably make the cost of the book prohibitive...... Great for reading about the geysers BEFORE going to the Park, but I wouldn't use this for a guidebook while IN the Park. I'd go to Carl Schreier's "Yellowstone's Geysers, Hot Springs & Fumaroles" for that. Together, the two books make an outstanding package.