Idaho Books

This man Gruber really knows how to write. He has a stunning command of the English language and uses it not to try to impress us but simply to communicate all the nuances of what he's talking about, which is life in modern-day rural Idaho. And beyond that, the book is about life in America, and life in general -- from the perspective of a thoughtful and sensitive soul, the kind of person you don't often meet these days.

If you want a thrilling, romantic adventure story, this definitely is not it. But if you want to read something really well written by someone who goes way beyond the superfical to examine things in real depth, this is your book.

Like the author, I am an Easterner who lived in rural Idaho for a time. His descriptions are not only accurate, but also thought-provoking and even inspiring. Whether you've been to Idaho or not, give this one a try.

Clean, straight, enjoyable, professional writing. I hope that some sort of sequel will be on the shelves soon.

Having tromped around the woods, towns, and backroads of Northern Idaho while growing up, I was delighted to have those memories pulled out of deep memory by Bill Gruber's delightful book. "On All Sides Nowhere" chronicles a place and culture seldom deemed worthy of prose. Gruber transforms what might seem seedy (yards filled with junked cars, a skillful but alcoholic handyman, houses continually under contruction) into respectful depictions of everyday life in this hard-scrabble part of the Pacific Northwest. Unlike many writers, Gruber doesn't choose to focus on himself or his family; they are simply the vehicle that allows him insights into the characters around them.

One Winter in the Wilderness was written by Pat Peek. Her Husband, Jim Peek, is a biologist and professor at University of Idaho. The book is told by Pat Peek in a very personal manner on a day by day basis. The story takes place in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho. This is a story that you can really get into, personally. You can feel the changes in climate, see the wildlife up close, and read about the historical folks who first settled in this area including Cougar Dave and others. The cabin the Peek's stay at is very primitive--no electricity, no running water in winter, heat by a wood stove, and their constant companion, Lady--their dog. It is a book that you could read on a beach, or curled up on a stormy evening at home in a comfortable chair. I read the book over a period of time, savoring each new chapter as a treat to myself. Also, Pat Peek is a very descriptive writer. You won't be dissappointed in this book--it is great!

The reader follows the author and her biologist husband on a fall to spring stay in the wilds of Idaho. The vivid descriptions of their encounters with such wildlife as cougars and elk in the beautiful back country take you along on their special adventure. The story of their survival in the cold, frigid winter environment remind all of us that without our modern conveniences life becomes much more difficult. This is an exciting first-person story and well worth reading. An excellent book, that I strongly recommend to all lovers of the out-of-doors, and to those who want to learn more about our natural world.

This book was written from a women's point of view. I enjoyed the diary style writing. I am an outdoor person and don't know if I could stay for a whole winter in the wilderness. The author wrote about the hardships of life in the wilderness, the difficulty in traveling during the winter. She brought out some of the difficulties that most of us take for granted. A real pioneer adventure.

The entire Roadside Geology series is excellent; this book is no exception. I particularly enjoy their maps, which do a good job showing the different geological formations you can expect to pass through as you drive on a particular highway. The authors explain geological processes with extreme patience, as though they are teachers as much as writers.

I have one general quibble with the series, and that is the seeming disdain the authors show for old-time prospectors. It shouldn't be hard to understand why hordes of miners flocked from one gold rush to the next; getting their first could mean striking a fortune. Idaho's mountains are full of ghost towns and deserted mining camps that came and went, and I find those old locations--especially the tailings piles--to be a great source of rocks and minerals. The men who prospected hidden valleys and remote locations were smart and able, and save for those few who trespassed on reservations and misbehaved, my hat is off to them.The authors don't seem to share my feelings, but that doesn't take away from these great books. Anyone intent on exploring Idaho would do well to add this book to their research stack.

As always, David Alt and Donald Hyndman team up to provide a very readable expert presentation of the current and past geology of a state with a very dynamic geological past and present. As a non-geologist who doesn't plan to visit Idaho anytime soon, I still learned plenty about how geology works from the discussion, drawings and photos of many specific sites and regions. 100 million years ago, Idaho was part of the western shore of North America. You'll learn where to find evidence of the collision that ended this era. You will learn about the many Ice Age lake megafloods that left their marks on the major river valleys. Nearly all the surface of the state is dominated by a diverse collection of igneous rocks from at least 5 major events over the past 100 million years, one or two of which are still active. You will have to read the book to discover all the other interesting details.

The state of Idaho is full of interesting geology; from the Craters of the Moon, to the Snake River Canyon, to the lakes of the Idaho Panhandle. Every tourist and sightseer should have a copy of this informative book to guide them along an adventure that includes geological orientation interwoven with on-site observation. A "must-read" for the traveler!

I purchased this for my girlfriend who has been a horsewoman for over 30 years. She has been very happy with the ideas presented and has used several already.

My only complaint is not with the book but with the ordering process. When I originally placed my order there were several in stock items grouped together. This book had a note that said in stock normally ships in 5 weeks. So I split my order to second day shipping so everything would arrive as soon as possible for Christmas. This book that wasn't going to arrive until after the first of the year showed up the same day as everything else. I was glad to get it but would have been even more glad if I'd not been tricked into paying extra for shipping.

Wow..nice to know that someone will actually share their ideas. Amazing all the things you can do w/ a disposable diaper. She is an incredible woman; I wish I could spend a summer with her. Thank you Heather for sharing your ideas w/ the rest of us. I am constantly picking up your book time and time again.

Heather Smith Thomas's Stable Smarts: Sensible Advice, Quick Fixes, And Time-Tested Wisdom From An Idaho Horsewoman (1580176100, $18.95) comes from a woman who raises horses and cattle in Idaho and goes far beyond your usual horse management book. Here are hints on how to tell and purchase the best quality hay, making a makeshift hackamore, preparing homemade pest repellents, and fixing fences and more. Virtually all the equipment associated with a horse and ranch, from trailers to leads and bedding, are revealed in a book packed with practical tips and insights.

If you enjoyed "Jumping Fire" by Murray A. Taylor than you will certainly like this book. This book is about the early days of smokejumpers (1951). This memoir decribes the training and firefighting exploits of dedicated men who serve their country far from the public eye. I served as an army paratrooper for six years and I found the descriptions of parachute jumping the best that I've read. You will feel the breeze between your knees. The back bone of the book is cameradie of like minded men who watch each others backs on the fire line and in brawls in backcountry bars. The book describes the aircraft and equipment of the era and has many great photos. As a military trained mule packer I enjoyed the stories of the men packing out. This is a great book about a world that most people don't know exists.

I just finished reading Bud Filler's book, Two Man Stick.

Somebody has finally done it! Bud Filler writes about SmokeJumpers as clearly as Louis L'amour has written about cowbodys, and John Grisham about lawyers. The Two Man Stick is a fabulous book. Bud clearly portrays SmokeJumpers as they are. You'll learn that SmokeJumpers only get touched by the bad smells of smoke, sweat, and logging town barrooms in their nobel pursuits to fish for mountain trout and parachute their way to forest fires; and, that these noble pursuits even appear to prevail over the temptations of Viagra flavored women.

Yes! If you've been a SmokeJumper or are interested in what it might be like to be a SmokeJumper, you've got to read the Two Man Stick by Bud Filler. Bud's book is five-star-plus in every way - including excellent pictures. After your first reading, this book will be a treasure for your book shelf as a reference for technical details about SmokeJumping equipment and aircraft of the 1950's, and for re-reading the exciting stories about events experienced by Bud Filler.

As reviewed by George B. Harpole, former SmokeJumper, 1949-51, Missoula, Montana.

Recommendations from ex-smokejumpers I know, including my 29-year veteran smokejumper husband, for this book are "the best book yet published about smokejumpers." The author is an accomplished jumper with insights into the wonderfully dangerous job of parachuting into the close proximity of raging forest fires. Take an exciting easy chair ride with these last best Western adventurers. Trust the technical descriptions of procedures and equipment. Feel the heat of the fire and the thrill of air rushing beneath your feet. A must read for anyone who is curious about smokejumper and why they do what they do.

I recently returned from a motorcycle trip that included Idaho and wish I would have had this awesome book before I left. It would have been a wonderful guide for touring this beautiful state. Speaking of beautiful, the word also describes much of the photography in this book. No matter where your interests lie, The Ultimate Idaho Atlas and Travel Encyclopedia can help you locate it.

While many travel books read like an encyclopedia, this one does not. The style used by the author in this book has a way of grabbing and keeping your interest. Her sense of humor becomes apparent in many of the sidebar articles that provide a perspective of Idaho's landscape and people from the past and present.

If Idaho was for sale, this book could get it sold!

This book is well written and organgized clearly. Is has been invaluable in planning our trip to Idaho this summer.

We were considering a trip through Yellowstone and Idaho when our family gave this book to us. We are definitely going to both and can hardly wait!

The book is written very well. The author manages to illustrate Idaho's rich history and must-see stops in such a way that it does not read like a typical, dull atlas or encyclopedia. The Ultimate Idaho Atlas and Travel Encyclopedia is enjoyable to read and easy to navigate. We highly recommend this book!

Great book, we had never been in these areas and were able to find everything very easily.

Used this book exclusively on my recent "waterfall tour" of Oregon and Washington. I wanted to make the most of day hikes to areas that had waterfalls. This book allowed me to plan my day-to-day itineraries and cram the most into the trip. Invaluable for a true waterfall lover. Waterfalls listed by geographical areas. Descriptions of some trailheads hard to follow, but maps were good. Decribes the difficulty to reach each fall (easy to need to be a bushwacking expert).

My only disappointment is the newly built bridge near Elowah Falls that ruins the natural beauty of the falls... (not the author's fault).

This is an amazing book on locating the beautiful waterfalls of the Pacific Northwest. I own 2 of these books, 2nd and 3rd edition, and let me tell you, it has never let me down.

The book gives great detail and levels of the waterfalls quality, difficultly of the hike and much more. It even teaches you on how to determine the type of waterfall that you are viewing.

Mr. Plumb is the ultimate Mountaineer, and shows it through this amazing book. I call it my, "Waterfall Bible".

I highly recommend it for all your searches for waterfalls, and even some that you didn't know existed -- great for picinics, extremists, photographers, and for those just in awe of their beauty!

Don't pass this up, and at such a great price!

This is a courageous and beautiful book. Bette Husted traverses the inner territories of soul as fearlessly as she takes the reader across the physical landscape which shaped her life. I was moved by this author's ability to capture with such pathos and understatement, issues of great loss and learning.

I enjoyed this book very much. It is writing in a manner not commonly seen in the post modern era. The author has a capacity with the language that is lost on most modern readers. There is a lot of heart in this book and it shows in every page. If you like stories about exemplary everyday people you should read this book.

Having been raised near the Continental Divide and spending summer vacations on Red Rock Pass and the CD, the photos in this book bring a flood of memories. Leland stood where I rode horses and hiked as a child and where summer vacations are spent as an adult. Having stood on the same hillside Leland took the magnificient sunset photograph of Montana's Centennial Valley for the book's cover page, I have truely seen in life the magnificient colors and majestic scenery presented by Leland Howard's photography. The written text by Lynna Howard is as well done with thorough detail of all the areas they hiked and all her special humor especially telling about hiking and camping in a "Grizzly Bear Recovery Area" and the humorous tales sprinkled through several pages about two Llamas Popeye and Pogo. Hiking on to the Lemhi Range and viewing Borah Peak the highest peak in Idaho in the Lost River Range was a view more than fifty miles. Lemhi Pass brings lots of Lewis and Clark history and the Sacajawea Memorial Camp. Through Chief Joseph Pass there are tales of snow in July, a vanashing CD trail, and Lynna's tough job of modeling at Little Lake. By early October there is snowfall and ice on Twin Lakes. Lynna gives a short history lesson about Big Hole National Battlefield and the Nez Perce Chief Joseph, how he fought to save his people from the U.S. Army, after he, Chief Joseph had so helped guide Lewis and Clark. The glacier carved peaks are truely rugged, nearly inaccessable areas in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness Area. The reader learns about "Trodes" and proposed routes for the CDT, and the discomforts and dangers of Hypothermia. And then there are the dangers of Lynna hiking off by herself and finding lots of bear scat and a wolf mistaken for Leland's pet dog Tempest. Rogers Pass to Marias Pass brings humor of grizzly stories, camping in Bear Creek Corridor, and the depth of description of scenery and surroundings near Bighorn Lake. The Bob Marshall Wilderness is an area of grizzlies, deep sucking bogs, Ruffed Grouse, deer, mountain goats, coyotes, and extreme geological formations with thorough explainations by Lynna of what has happened the last 175 million years. The hikers are assisted by mule trains, cowboys, and there is a lost soul found. On to the Canadian Border--what can I say--simply God's Country, glaciers, water falls, more grizzlies. By late September it can be snowy and bitter cold in Glacier with the park service trail crews removing seasonial bridges from waterways. Always most welcome along the CDT was the support crew and "Mom's Mobile Wilderness Cafe". "Along Montana and Idaho Continental Divide Trail" is a magnificient publication of Photographic Art for the dedicated hikers like Leland and Lynna as well as arm chair hikers who simply want to dream.

This wonderful book by Lynna and Leland Howard is a far cry from the usual coffee table photography book. The humorous, personable writing style of the author had me laughing all the way through the trail hiking story, which is woven amongst the incredible photographs. As magestic and awe-inspiring as the Divide Trail is, Lynna and Leland bring it within reach and touch upon the realism of the hike. The mountainside conifers under snow and the miles of wildflowers that stretch along the ranges will make you sigh with wonder, while the stories of Pogo the llama, and the list of clever bear tips will split your seams. You will savor every photograph and read every word. Highly recommended!

At last! An historical novel that's interesting, amusing, and *entertaining* and so *real* you feel you need to clean your boots every time you read a piece of it. Yeah, the pictures are faded. They're *old*, dammit, *real*. These are *everybody's* folks, the way they grew up and loved and lost their limbs just so we could be here. John Sayles, *do* read these books. You'll have another "Matewan" in your hands.

'Labor of love' seems inadequate in describing BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS, authored by resident-historian, Mona Leeson Vanek. This engaging book narrates virtually every known event of significance in the region, through the use of oral tape recordings, letters, and written documentation. Beginning before the arrival of David Thompson, it contains determined homesteaders, exciting log drives down river, pioneering merchants, establishment of schools and churches, and the horrors of the 1910 forest fire. Countless stories of individuals, ranging from mildly amusing to hilarious enliven this history. Where else in a book of this sort can one find characters who vow to escape from a local jail "disguised as a bunch of radishes?" or a shingle-mill owner who closed down his mill after having to ante up compensation for too many workers' sawed-off fingers - at $1,000 per finger. BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS stands as the definitive history of its region, the lower Clark's Fork of the Columbia River and the Bull River valley in Sanders County, Montana. The chapter on the Forest Service's arrival in the valley clearly describes the bitter struggles between pioneer ranger Augustus Ferdinand Silcox and local businessmen, led by Clifford R. Weare, who wanted to continue their unfettered exploitation of the public domain. The more than 200 photographs are positioned in the book to match and enhance the text, but reporoduction of many of them obviously is more faded and washed out than the author would have liked. The thorough index is a boon for genealogists. A complete set of end notes contain material that enhance the stories, and if readers ignore the footnotes, they'll miss some stirring accounts of vigilante activity during the 1880s. Excellent accounts of the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which opened the northwest area of Montana to settlement, provide vivid accounts of problems along this 'most difficult and expensive division' of the entire NPRR line. Vanek has done her community and Montana a great service