Idaho Books

Well done, very good direections to biriding sites and birds. This book makes birding Idaho for a visitor much easier and enjoyable.

I don't live in Idaho Falls, or even Idaho, but I received this as a gift when I visited there, from my brother who knows I like to know the history of wherever I am.
Idaho Falls seemed like an okay enough place, although strewn with ugly, slapped-up developments and strip malls, but this book made it apparent to me that Idaho Falls is a place with a history, a place with much more depth than you could see just by walking or driving through it.
This book tells the story of the town's earliest incarnations as a Wild West boomtown under two other names, tells of its newspapers, and gathers together a lot of really old and interesting photographs.
Most of the photos seemed to come from the local newspaper archives--the book's author was a newspaperman--and I think it would have benefited from a wider array of sources. Also, scattered throughout the book are new, uninteresting photos that just felt like filler.
For a resident of Idaho Falls, I would practically insist that you buy this book. It will open your eyes.
For anyone else, however, this book--at least to some degree--fails to make Idaho Falls seem like a place that should matter to the rest of the world. But I suppose that's okay.
It's a local history, and for what it is, it's pretty good.

Really injoyed the book even though it's dated and a lot of the sites are now completely gone, it was of great value to find many are still intact.

As this is the only comprehensive James Castle biography/monograph/whatever book available it's a must if you're interested in his work/life. It is written in the style of a very detailed and informative undergraduate paper which makes reading it both simple (i.e. fast) and tedious (repetitive).

I enjoyed the storyline related to the actual kayaking ie what he experienced but the filler related to history and conflict surrounding salmon is quite exhausting.

This book covers the history of soil conservation (or lack thereof) in the Palouse, an agricultural area in eastern Washington state which is mainly dedicated to growing wheat. The book covers the time period from pre-settlement to the present, of farming practices in the Palouse region. It is especially concerned with the issues of erosion and soil conservation. Especially during the period from shortly after settlement to the present, it uses a wide range of historical sources to highlight in detail the ongoing efforts of experts to stop soil erosion. The pre-settlement and the settlement itself are somewhat pre-historic in the sense that they were poorly documented at the time. An expanding mechanization and scale, increase of monoculture and use of chemicals characterize the successive periods that follow. For more than a century experts have warned of the dangers of soil erosion while farmers have ignored these warnings with impunity.

Despite its focus on soil conservation, the book never really explains the issue. For instance, it does not describe in a systematic way what soil is, how it is formed, and what its role in farming is. What there is, is mostly scattered throughout the book, where here and there a few lines are spent making some assertion about soil, often in the form of a quote. Similarly, the book falls short in explaining why Palouse farmers insist on using summer fallow. It is also short on practical recommendations for soil conservation (other than contour plowing) and fails to discuss the benefits of no-till chemical farming. It is difficult to determine where the author exactly stands on the issue, as he mostly uses quotes and only in the epilogue speaks for himself. The intention of the book appears to be to promote the need for soil conservation, but it fails to make the case. After reading the book, the conclusion could easily be the opposite: For a century farmers have produced ever-increasing yields while consistently ignoring calls for soil conservation, so perhaps the experts were wrong and soil conservation does not matter after all.

The Politics of Rightousness: Idaho Christian Patriotism by James Aho is certainly a well researched and well written book about an issue of supreme concern in our country. There are times, however, particularly in the first 150 pages of the book, during which Aho's subjects and points seem to be forgotten and/or spread too thin. In other parts of his book, he seems to base some of his premises on farfetched ideas and foundations. Albeit the foundations of many of the Identity ideals are farfetched within themselves. Regardless of these lulls in Aho's focus, I would strongly recommend this book to anybody who is interested in learning about these dark and mysterious cultural misfits.

As a professional, I found the book to be somewhat illuminating. For example, I understood why a colleague in another part of the state insisted that I prescribe certain drugs to a patient who needed them, rathen then him, himself. However, at most parts, the details are far too discrete. This leads to speculation, which is unfair to both the professional and the public. To say that the professional is required to have psychiatric care while practicing medicine without details, opens up all sorts of speculation that could harm the doctor - patient relationship unnecessarily.

I have 1936 edition, given to my dad as a high school literature prize. Having grown up in southern Idaho, this was a treat to read the first hand stories of Mr Walgamott. A great asset is the town/place name bibliography with historical notes as to their origin, such as "Kuna...shoshone...meaning, green leaf good to smoke". If you grew up in southern ID, you will identify with many of the places and long to have been able to see the wonderous Snake River in its glory before it was dammed up.

This book is great on information and the way they explain everything. The problem is there is no answer keys on the chapter review questions. This is hard if you are doing this as a self study. You have no way of checking your answers. I had to enroll through evolve's on line self study program to get the answers. The cost was $39.95. This on line self study is well worth the money. They ask questions that is not in the book. There is a workbook that goes with this book. The workbook is good as far as giving you practice exercises. The problem is you only get answers on the odd number questions. You have no idea if the even number questions are right.