John Waters Books

This would be it.

Everything you ever wanna know about the Big Lake, and then some.

Exquisite photography.

As a classroom teacher of a high school level field biology/ecology/limnology class I just purchased this book as a classroom text to use! As someone else said, it has some beautiful, awe-inspiring pictures, but the content is what sets it apart. The pictures allow you to feel the moment, but the word allow you to smell it, touch it and feel it.

After reading Lake Superior: Story and Spirit.., we visited and interviewed the authors and publishers John and Ann Mahan and were overwhelmed with the research behind the development and eventual publishing of this outstanding book on the greatest of the great lakes! We rec. this book to anyone who seriously wants a dynamic combination of beauty AND content. The romance and reality of Lake Superior are wonderfully combined and shared with the reader.

This collection of stories--mostly true accounts--of whitewater rafting starts out with a roar (of rapids, of course). The first story is an Into Thin Air-type tale of an ill-fated crew that tries to raft the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The crew is over-equipped (75 lbs of spices alone, and heaps of free gear donated by sponsors), inexperienced, and led by a man who thinks he is God's gift to expeditions...you can tell this will not end well. Some of my other favorite stories were by Jeff Bennet, especially the second chapter, which describes a traumatic flip, something I've become well aquainted with recently--and perhaps that understanding is why I appreciated this book so much. Other notable chapters are Pam Housten's "Selway" from her collection Cowboys are my Weakness--a woman and her lover take a harrowing trip down a treacherous river where a woman has just been killed. Also "Lava Falls at Night"--so bizarre it can only be true--a river guides' worst nightmare (besides Texan tourists, but thats another story altogether!) when her boat drifts free at night while she sleeps aboard, and floats down towards the most infamous rapid in the continental US! This is a must-read for river rats or any outdoor enthusiast, and includes a wide variety of well written stories. Some are humorous, some harrowing, true accounts and tall tales. One thing they all have in common--the river gods play their part in each.

What a phenomenal book. Essentially this is a collection of adventure packed true river stories. Some of the stories inspired me to pack my gear and leave for the river that day, while others put life, death, adventure, and risk in new perspective. If you love to paddle, dream about paddling, or just enjoy adventure, then buy this book. Some of the stories can be a bit overrun with technical river lingo, but even the novice (me) can get through it easily. I honestly had to start rationing out or limiting the number of pages I would read a night. It is a book I did not want to end.

Outdoor adventure lover or not, this book is hard to put down. Suspenseful narratives are blended with the thoughts and feelings of individuals as they face challenges that stare death in the face.

I was a bit disappointed at first that this book spends almost no time on the sailing aspects of Hordern's trip, but concentrates on the interactions of Europeans with natives on the many islands he visits. However, it quickly becomes fascinating as he skillfully pulls together historical accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries with his own impressions of the places he visits. Lots of interesting historical information, lots of local color, and very well written - a wonderful read!

This book had me gripped from the start - you don't have to be a sailor to enjoy it. The historical sections are lively and interesting, and the accounts of the author's journey make you wish you were there. I particularly liked the account of his visit to Tikopia.

In this, his second book on sailing the Pacific, Miles Hordern takes us from New Zealand up to Vanuatu and through Torres Strait to Darwin. Where his first book (Voyaging the Pacific) focussed more on simply being at sea, this one includes the fascinating stories of the early Beachcombers. The way he combines their stories with his own experiences on this voyage are masterful. It's not often you get such interesting chunks of history presented in such a palatable form. As with Voyaging the Pacific, there are still the constant reminders that sailing a small boat around some pretty rough parts of the Pacific is a risky business but this is never over dramatised. It's simply a difficult but very worthwhile thing to do. I loved it. I also love the photo on the front cover, very evocative.

Great reference for a first-time overnight camper who won an award for beginning kayaking at Camp Starfish in NH this summer!

This is an excellent book for those yakers who are looking for an escape from motor boat laden waters. It is well illustrated and has helpful tips on where to put in and what to expect as you traverse the water ways.

we live in broad brook, connecticut and this is the first year we've had kayaks. in the early summer we met a woman on the scantic river near the somersville dam and she recommended this book. best tip of the year. there are so many great paddles in here that you'd never know about just by looking on a map. we'd been driving around, shooting in the dark, and mostly being disappointed by what we found. every paddle we've taken out of the book has been excellent. can't recommend it highly enough.

This was a great read. I was able to relax and read this in one sitting. I did not want to stop and do anything else until I knew the outcome. Happy to have this on my shelf and I have shared it with a number of friends.

Beautifully and flawlessly written. John M. Fitzgerald is a master of suspense.
A fantastic read. I devoured it in one hour.

Spring Water is a masterfully crafted novel in verse by poet and attorney John M. FitzGerald.
It is suspenseful, scary, funny, thoughtful, poetic, visually haunting and moving at the same time.
The pages that belong to the diary of the protagonist Joe Smith have a dreamlike quality that stays with you long after you've finished reading the book. On the back cover Robert Nazarene compares it to "The Silence of the Lambs", and I agree. I highly recommend it. I couldn't put it down.

Helene Cardona, author of The Astonished Universe

This was a great book. It's perfect for anyone who loves movies. William H. Castle was a genious. By the way, this is JOHN WATERS' favorite book.

For any 1950s - 1960s horror fan, this cult classic filmmaker writes about his experiences within the crazy & zany Hollywood system of the past in the most entertaining fashion of storytelling. Wonderful tales about how Castle created some of his horror film gimmicks & publicity stunts, to his producing experiences with Roman Polanski on 'Rosemary's Baby.' It is an honest auto-biography in which boths side of Castle are revealed (from the Hollywood filmmaker to the family man he was). If you find this book, get it! It is a collector's item!!!!

I found this book to be one of the best autobiographies I have ever read. William Castle made every bit of his life a thorough joy to read.. It was a book that I could not put down. I took it everywhere, just to see what crazy gimmick he would come up with next. A must read. I don't want to give you any details because it would just spoil the book. This book and the two below give a true sense of what it was like to make "quality" B-movies in the 50's and 60's

Check out - Roger Corman's: How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood and Never Lost A Dime. and Samuel Z. Arkoff's: Flying Through Hollywood By The Seat of My Pants.

How ironic that the only other Amazon review of this exceptional book, labels it "brilliant, historical research"....

Ironic because the very presence of Mono Lake is long history, and the lake itself is "brilliant", something which most Californians apparently don't comprehend.

And yes, this book itself is brilliant....It may not discuss all the ramifications of water in Callifornia's future, and it doesn't much touch on California's future itself, but it definitely shows us all how we can still fight the forces of "development".

But then, Mono Lake is already "developed"...Keep up the fight!

In this version of the story, it's David Gaines - the graduate student from U. C. Davis. And Goliath is none other then the water company brought to life by William Mulholland and friends. Storm Over Mono has all the makings of a biblical tale, however, it reads much more like a case study for a class in environmental law.

The small, but scrappy, Mono Lake Committee along with California Trout and others used their dogged persistence to protect one of the more unique ecosystems in all North America. John Hart recounts this critical conservation battle in American history with the greatest of precision and detail -- real, high-stakes stuff with a happy ending.

A little background: Mono Lake rests in an arid basin just below the shadow of the Sierra Nevada in Northern California - unfortunately, not quite far enough from the long arm of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Referred to as the "Mono Extension", L.A. Water and Power drained Lee Vining and Rush Creeks. Over decades, this water project diverted critical fresh water flows into Mono Lake - lowering the lake's level and rising it's salinity.

With the lake's ecosystem faltering in the 1970's, a group of "bird freaks" from the University of California at Davis saw the clear signs in their research and sounded the alarm. Members from this research group, including David and Sally Gaines, led the efforts to organize the diverse legal and environmental support needed to defeat a giant like L.A.'s Department of Water and Power. (If you're fortunate enough to fish the lower run of Rush Creek or explore the lake, be sure to tip your hat to the Mono Lake Committee and company.)

One final note: today, Los Angeles County is home to 10 million people. (If L.A. County were a state, it would rank 8th in total population.) David won the battle over Mono Lake, but I'm afraid the water war is far from over in California.

This book was first reviewed on the reviewer's own site: EcoAngler.com - The Nature of Fly Fishing.

I guess I may be a little biased because I was one of the primary sources for the book, but with some very minor issues, it is the most accurate re-telling of a story that should have been turned into a film. If you want to read a GREAT legal story that is also a true story, this is an excellent read. Oh yeah, it also has the obligatory beautiful photographs of Mono lake. Seems that lake doesn't know how to take a bad photograph! :-)

An entertaining read that reminds me of the style of the Jacques Cousteau books of the same time period. the author makes no pretences to have extensive knowledge of Suriname and writes to what he knows (zoology). He's no armchair anthropologist.
I found this refreshing since most books on Suriname only address cultural aspects.

If you're planning a first trip to Suriname there are probably better resources of information, but if you are interested in the premise alone, or have been to the big lake at Afobaka this is a great book.

A heartwarming true story told the way it happened by the man who lived the event. Sometimes sad, other times humorous, always touching, a book to read over and over again. Conducting a massive animal rescue operation in the middle of a rain forest, John Walsh proved it could be done and in the process taught an unknown concept to the bushnegroes he worked with - That instead of thinking of the capybara or the tapirs as the next meal, it was not time for the animals to die. It was not right to kill them for food now. A book every animal lover should read.

I read this book as a teenager (some 20+ years ago) and it has always stuck with me. John Walsh describes, in great and interesting detail, life in the Amazon Rain Forest as lived by scientists who were sent there to rescue 10,000 animals that live in an area that is being turned in to a lake by the building of a dam. This book is gripping and helps the reader both understand the trials faced by the scientists as well as the urgency of their work in the face of the ever rising water. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys adventure reading. Now that I have a teenager of my own - I have ordered it for him!

I think this a great book to take on an airplane or when you just need to sit down and have a good laugh. It can relieve stress and really help you deal with your next best excuse!

Do you find yourself stammering and stuttering when faced with a conflict? Then hire yourself a speech therapist and a psychotherapist. But if you just find yourself in need of some light humor and a few dozen nickels too heavy, this is the book for you. From the ridiculous to the sublime, TUBOE:FESE(JAW) covers every possible area of excuse necessity. If you only buy one book this year, you should buy a bigger one, in case the leg on the kitchen table goes wobbly and you need something to prop it up. If you can possibly manage to buy more than one book, you're going to be hard-pressed to find a better one for this amazing low price, unless you're into those trashy Harlequin Romances.

(Look, what else can I say? It's a book of excuses. If you have an excuse not to buy it, you probably don't need it, right?)

Anyone in need of a zany and rollicking excuse need look no further than the frighteningly hilarious "The Ultimate Book of Excuses." I have a dozen copies on my shelf which I give as gifts after each birthday I forget: but not until I use one of its excuses like "I thought you were dead," or "I paid a clown with a hacking cough to knock on your door and sing 'Born Free' but he just screamed and jumped into a manhole."

Whatever the occasion, this book has the perfect excuse. If you don't own a copy, what's your excuse?

Set in a "world where time moves in more than one direction and no landscape holds steady for long," these essays are steeped in both American literary naturalism and environmental conservationism. John Lane offers geodes of clarity and beauty that are spiritual, philosophical, and autobiographical.

The book is divided into four themed sections: "Edges", "Field", "Home Territory", and "Family Wilderness". The essays are at times humorous and adventurous, but these essays also explore the human relationship to physical landscape, and many explore the landscape of the writer's consciousness. Lane becomes more than a recorder of landscape; he becomes a part of the landscape and, at times, the voice of the landscape itself.

In the closing essay, "Confluence: Pacolet River," Lane joins the resilience of our landscapes with the resilience of the human spirit. The essay has a spirit of hope and a sense of unknown possibilities. As Lane takes refuge in his home landscape, he finds space to reflect: "my history is adrift on it as surely as today I have drifted on the surface of this living stream."

John Lane witnesses the contradictions of our modern landscape and chooses to stir up conversations of national significance through these essays, while refraining from offering oversimplified solutions. Rather than advocating any type of political agenda, Lane sincerely models behaviors of inquiry, advocacy, and awareness in relation to our personal and physical landscapes.

John Lanes details into his daily life and his experiences are very well written in this novel. His collection of essays are interesting and enjoyable to read. The book was a pleasure to read, and I can not wait to pick up another copy hopefully very soon.

A loving and passionate collection of essays that leave the reader with intimate knowledge of a man who lives his life with intentionality and purose. Read slowly and thoughtfully, Waste Deep in Black Water reveals the many rewards of living with deep respect for community, landscape, ecosystems, people, and all living things. With generosity of spirit, John Lane leads readers to see that how he goes about his work, travels, and everyday activities is what enriches and brings meaning to life.