Arizona Books

Author Jim Slingluff has paddled every navigable mile of Arizona's Verde River, plus many of it's tributaries and his expertise really shows through in this book. Slingluff is a die-hard canoeist and this book is full of information specific to canoeists, though it's also a great guidebook for kayakers and rafters.
Slingluff breaks the river down into sections that can be canoed, beginning with the headwaters at Morgan Ranch near Prescott, all the way down to the confluence with Arizona's Salt River, near Phoenix. He also describes every rapid and potential hazard encountered on the river. This information may be dated since the book was last revised in 1996, but it's a great way to get an idea of what you're facing in a trip down the Verde.
I haven't yet made my own trip down the Verde, but when I go, the Verde River Recreation Guide is going with me.

Spanish literature scholar and professor Bryant Creel presents The Voice Of The Phoenix: Metaphors Of Death And Rebirth In Classics Of The Iberian Renaissance, an in-depth examination of how Spanish and Portuguese literary masterpieces from between the late fifteenth and early seventeenth centuries subtly contributed to the changing social attitudes and cultures in a "Renaissance" transitional era, that gradually transformed the restrictions of a dominant medieval traditionalism. Arguing that Renaissance authors sought to develop literary culture along secular lines in order to "modernize" a society while slipping under the watchful radar of theology-based censorship, The Voice Of The Phoenix scrutinizes such classics as poems of Fray Luis de Leon, and works of prose fiction including "Lazarillo de Tormes", Jorge de Montemayor's "Diana", and Cervantes' "Don Quixote". Divided into independent essays each scrutinizing a specific topic yet all linked by common themes of (often metaphorical) death and rebirth, The Voice of the Phoenix is a welcome contribution to college library and Iberian literature study shelves.

The approach beta in this book for What's My Line and for the Rockfellow formations is better than that found in any other book on the area, including Kerry's book (Backcountry Climbing in Southern Arizona, the acknowledged bible for Cochise). In addition, the updated approach to Warpath, and the inclusion of Sedona routes like the Mace and Four Flying Apaches (another item not found in any other guide) would probably make this a worthwhile purchase for most visitors. Its low price is a huge plus for out-of-state visitors like me who nonetheless don't like to waste time getting hopelessly lost. It covers a lot of routes in a lot of areas within Arizona, more of a sampler than anything else, yet it somehow also manages to pack in a lot of extremely useful and current beta.

My first trip to Cochise was this past week and it was amazing. I don't know if it would have been half as much fun without the guidance of Abbott's book here. The finest route we climbed on, 'Endgame', is a steep, 5 pitch bolted 5.10a that I knew only from magazine photos and scant Internet beta. It's not covered in Abbott's book -- but the approach to the End Pinnacle routes is, paradoxically, better covered in Abbott's book than any of the guides that do have topos for Endgame. (If you want a comprehensive guidebook to Cochise, you need to supplement Kerry's book with the updated approaches found in this book, anyways -- and Kerry's book covers many more obscure crags which will be of keen interest to repeat visitors. Alas, it is out of print -- but the Summit Hut people have a copy which you may be able to Xerox, if you ask nicely.) In any event, once you arrive at the West Stronghold (another handy suggestion from Abbott is to stick with the West Stronghold as your base camp), it is likely that other climbers will be about, so ask them.

If you are planning a road trip to Arizona, this $10 book is a no-brainer.

Author Keith Basso has compiled seven essays over a span of twenty-five years to create a thourough and interpretive look at importance of symbol in Western Apache language and culture. Through his study of Native American language, he adresses several topics including the influencial nature of metaphor and placenames, and the use of silence for the Western Apache.

Love the cover on the 1971 edition the best , but even with the newer cover it all has the same information inside. Fantastic photos and illustrations. Apache style is interesting and to hear the stories direct from them makes it even more real, understanding what they went through and feeling their pain at times too. Life seems unfair sometimes, but there is a reason for everything. Bottom Line, This is a Great Book!

Jenny Wilson is a health fanatic who uses herbs, supplements and other items to keep in tip top shape. She is driving home one day when she feels ill, loses control of her car and dies. Her husband, Jackson thinks her bald tires caused the vehicle to spin out of control but he gets an inkling that something more is going on when the police do an autopsy and report she was poisoned. The poison was found in her probiotic herb and mineral mixture.

The police serve Jackson with a warrant to search his house taking items like his computer and stuff from his medicine cabinet. They later arrest him; his mother in law writes a letter to the judge claiming ill health and that she will die if Jackson is released from prison. Jackson is denied bail but his lawyer finds interesting things about Jenny including the fact think she let a druggie into her home; she was having an affair with Jackson's colleague and has a brother who is alive even though she told everyone he is dead. Mara, the daughter he hasn't seen since she was three years old, has come to see her father and is asking questions in the hopes of learning information that will exonerate him.

This is a very interesting and fascinating crime thriller because the defense and the prosecution have equal amounts of information that could either convict or exonerate Jackson. The protagonist feels like a fool because he tuned his wife out and wasn't aware of what has gone on around him. He is an honorable man but his disintegrating marriage is the reason the prosecution has so much evidence against him. This is a deeply satisfying reading experience due to the eccentric cast of characters and a fast paced plot.

Harriet Klausner

This book is extremely well done with excellent photogrphic images, good field stories, and generally well written. I highly recommend it.

Knowledgeably compiled, nicely organized, and expertly edited by academician and historian Steven A. Walton (a member of the Center for Medieval Studies and a faculty member in the Intercollege Science, Technology & Society Program at Penn State University), "Wind & Water In The Middle Ages: Fluid Technologies From Antiquity To The Renaissance" is a series of essays offering descriptive commentary and analysis of windmills, watermills, water control, and irrigation systems employed in Medieval Europe. The continuity of mill technology and its transfer between Arabic and European cultures is discussed in substantial detail, as are the literary and artistic representations of these technologies, as well as their urban, rural and monastic contexts. Of special note are the early modern adaptations of the medieval technologies of wind and water and their impact on agriculture, the rise of the cities, and emergent national identities. Nicely enhanced with 46 key illustrations, a list of contributors, and an index, "Wind & Water In The Middle Ages" is a body of impressively articulate and seminal scholarship worth of inclusion into any academic library's Medieval Studies reference collection.

Winning The Dust Bowl is an impressive collection of Native America writer Carter Revard's poetry and prose memorializing Oklahoma Dust Bowl era bootleggers and bankrobbers, Oxford proctors and punters, American Indian Movement activists and agitators; all interwoven and augmented with his own life experiences on the Osage reservation in rural Oklahoma, his academic success as a Rhodes Scholar, Yale Ph.D., and tenure as a professor of medieval literature. Winning The Dust Bowl is both a compelling memoir and a compendium of superb poetry that can be very highly recommended for students of American literature, Native American culture, as well as an heroic and erudite reconciliation of disparate influences and heritages in the life of an exemplary scholar.

One of the best books on development of the`human diet. Fascinating material for anyone who`ever wondered how people decided (for instance) that cassava, a poisonous plant, could be rendered edible by leaching and cooking. Recently reissued as a paperback, retitled`Origins of Human Diet and Medicine.