Eric Johnson Books

Book Review
That "Cut & Run" Loggin' Off the Big Woods" is a coffee table book is obvious when you see its cover with the three lumberjacks posed with their axes but, it is much more than that. There are over 150 pictures in its 144 pages all of them clear as bells and none of them seen before by me.
In addition to the pictures, there is text on each page and the text is what sets it apart from other books of its type. The book is written by Mike Monte, who I know. He lives in Crandon, Wisconsin, is a former logger and the son and grandson of old time lumberjacks. Where he got all the original photos I don't know but, the writing comes naturally to him from a life long interest in the logging history of the north woods. If its possible to love the sinner while hating the sin, Mike does that. He makes plain his contempt for the timber barons who were responsible for the cutting and running but his love and respect for those people who actually did the work and lived the life shows through on every page.
Although most of the book is about the loggers, teamsters, railroaders, sawmillers and river rats who did the work, there is also a lot about their wives and families. There is an entire chapter on "Padus" a typical "sawdust" town which no longer exists. Its now part of the small town of Wabeno. There are pictures of boiler explosions, train wrecks and fires all of which plagued these early towns and mills. Pictures of stores and saloons and mud choked main streets. People in their Sunday best and lumberjacks sleeping 4 and 5 to a bed in the logging camps. All with colorful descriptions , some from elderly people who actually lived the history.
You learn a lot about those days. Beneath a shot of a 'Jack with a two bitted axe, for example, Mike explains that they kept one edge sharp, the other dull and used the dull end on frozen wood since a sharp edge would chip out on frozen wood.
Since the timber companies all paid about the same wages, food in the camps made all the difference. Mike says that 'jacks would quit jobs to follow good cooks from one job to the next.
The book doesn't stop with the clearing of the pines. There are sections on the follow up harvests of hemlock and hardwoods and, finally, the cutting of what was left for pulpwood. By the 1920s it was pretty much all over. Some 70 years to take it all.
For those who are really interested, Mike shows pictures and explains, for example, the difference between an A frame jammer and a slide ass jammer, both of which were used to load logs onto railway cars. The book can serve as a history lesson into a colorful industry of the past and/or, simply a collection of interesting photos. Either way, its well worth owning

Dave Johnson

The publisher stumbled onto a treasure in this collection of photographs of early logging in America. Mike Monte's enthusiasm shines through his commentary on the history of logging. He's interested in the loggers, their trees, their lifestyle, their machinery, their locales, their women, in short, in everything associated with the logging industry in the United States more than a century ago. I keep wondering what it would be like to eat in the logging tent at the table with these rough-looking guys, or sleep on a plywood cot next to a fellow still wearing his hobnail boots--or hang out the laundry in a couple feet of snow....this book is to die for!

This book has given me much needed insight to gardening. From planning to preparation and maintaining in arid enviornments of the Western United States. Very colorful photographs with decriptions which are easy to follow. A good quality book.

This is the most comprehensive book I've found yet about flower gardening in the desert. Color pictures accompany each entry. Both the botanical and the common names of flowers are listed as well as other pertinent information. I am constantly referring to it. This and Sunset's WESTERN GARDEN BOOK are my bibles for gardening in the desert.

This book is destined to be a classic book that will be remembered long after it is out of print. It has great detail on individual low water use plants on how to grow them and care for them. If I could only have one book on low water use desert plants, this would be the book.

This is an excellent book on information about desert plants. Not much in the way of pictures, but heavy on information. I refer to it constantly when I need information about the desert plants in my yard or ones I'm buying. Has a grid on pruning times, flowering times, etc.

Excellent artwork combined with a great storyline / collection of stories! "1001 Nights" is an erotic, exotic adventure that will definetly keep it's readers entertained; highly recommended!

This is by far, one of the best books available that covers the
Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) protocol and other "leading-edge" developments of the integration of data communications and internet connectivity with HF radios and HF radio network design.

This book is densely-packed with technicial information that is useful to the communications hobbyist, and the professional who is involved with HF radio.

For any member of the Amateur Radio Community that may be interested in using ALE techniques in the Amateur Radio Service,
a user group has been formed at:

groups.yahoo.com/group/hflink

-- Patricia Gibbons/ WA6UBE

This book has been in my son's top-five ever since he could point to a book! It's the only Caillou item he has, but he loves it and knows all the words. Very cute story, great pictures! I'm hoping to buy another Caillou book that will be equally popular.

Finally, Eric Clapton has gone back to what he loves best and does best. This album is absolutely pristine, it is perfect, it is everything it should be. It is Eric Clapton performing, in his own voice and his own way, that music which first inspired him. And it's absolutely wonderful.
Okay, I have to say this, probably shouldn't but will anyway. Some songs I think Johnny Winter did better. But, you know, this is Winter's natural territory. He never had to try as hard as Eric since he was born here in Texas blues. And even despite that, and knowing all these songs and how they have been previously performed by others, I absolutely love this album, think it's Eric's best since 461 Ocean Blvd.
Chris Rea did that amazing eleven CD set of Blues Guitars, and now Eric's done Robert Johnson's work, gone back both of them, to their roots. Does this mean, (I hope, I hope!) a Blues Renaissance? We can only hope.

As a sex educator, I have recommended this book to parents for years as an addition to their coffee table reading material. The book is sensitively written and frames healthy sexuality within the context of a loving, caring relationships. The book has beautiful illustrations of the changing bodies of males and females over time. It even has an A to Z glossary of sexual terms: both scientific and slang. This book gives adults and their children honest, comprehensive answers to their questions about sex and sexuality. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

Father Owen Lee, famous to so many grateful listeners over the decades of Metropolitan Opera broadcasts for his pitch-perfect reflections on opera composers and their works, now does the same for orchestral music. In this handy, invitating volume, complete with illustrative CDs, he offers us a lifetime of rewarding listening. It might well have been titled "An Opera Lover's Guide to Orchestral Music"---Bravissimo!

This book is a great guide to planting wildflowers. It is full of the information you need to ensure a successful planting. It has a full encyclopedia of wildflowers, but it also has wonderful color photos, making it different from your average planting guide book. It is specific to West Coast climate, great for California gardeners.