Maine Books

You will never feel guilty again when you collect. After reading this book I will pick up anything anywhere that means something to me - no matter what others might think!

Rosamond Purcell's photography class was on a field trip when she and her students first came upon William Buckminster's land. The eccentric antiques / junk dealer of Owls Head, Maine, had eleven acres of stuff piled high, in mounds and mounds, in and around several buildings. At first the artist in Purcell was intrigued; she was moved to photograph individual objects or random groupings of items. Then at various times over 20 years, she continued to stop to buy things and to talk to Buckminster himself. She took the items back to her own studio in Boston, where she arranged and rearranged them into her own special kind of artwork. And we're not talking about "whole" objects here -- rather, they include broken toys, books in varying stages of disintegration, pieces of furniture, old lobster traps, window frames, rusted parts of machinery.

Gradually Buckminster took on a near-mentor role for Purcell, and it's obvious the two vastly different people came to care about each other. She took him to museums and doctor?s appointments, he took her to pool halls. And as they climbed around the junk piles and investigated nooks and crannies in the buildings, Purcell learned more about Buckminster's personal history. The result is a kind of dual biography pressed against the backdrop of both the antique business and the art world, sometimes questioning which is which.

Some of Purcell's b&w photos accompany the text. But only the photo printed on the cover flyleaves gives us a grander perspective, as a wide shot of the property shows a pile of indecipherable objects stretching from one building to the next, one story high. Reading this book could be a nightmare for neat freaks. It can be heartening to those of us who are ordinary pack rats by comparison; for even after just a few pages, we can say to ourselves, "Well, at least I'm not THAT bad."

This is an unusual book, and it's difficult to nail down what audience it might appeal to. Fellow photographers may be interested in Purcell's process and artist's eye. Fans of Maine life might enjoy the depiction of the eccentricity of a real Down Easter. Still others might enjoy a respite from typical genres. You will certainly look at junk yards differently after reading this one.

We got this book for our trip to Acadia. Overall we liked it very much and found it handy for the carriage roads. It fits in your pocket. One thing the book lacks is details of how trails (outside of the carriage roads) interconnect. We started on a carriage road and decided to head off on a trail, however, we managed and didn't get lost. We liked this book for being brief and to the point. You can also buy this book in Acadia National Park and some of the outdoor shops in Bar Harbor.

If you're headed to Acadia for some hiking, biking, or whatever, get this little guide book. Inexpensive as it is, it gives a nice overview of the trails complete with fold out maps. It was quite helpful to us when we cycled throughout the park.

Yes I would recommend this book to anyone 13 and up. I would because it shows how life could really be for teenagers. It could teach teenagers what not to do and what to do, teach them the consequences of their decisions, and why someone should and shouldn't do things. For example, Simon wanted to be cool, so he smoked weed the day of graduation. But consequently he was expelled. His mean attitude got him shipped away to Maine. Another reason I would recommend this book because of the lesson it teaches about the need for respect. Simon was always swearing and yelling at his parents. He had no respect for anyone or his parents. He said, "I guess my parents really are not that bad."

This book is defently for teens because it deals with real events a teen could deal with. Love, being tried as a minor, keeping a secret and more. This is defently a good book for it is very interesting and realistic. I would strongly suggest you, (at the very least,) give this book a chance.

One of my hobbies is historical geology; e.g. I have most of the Roadside Geology books. I rate this one just behind the one from Massachusetts that I consider to be the best of the lot.

It was a pleasure adding this book to my Roadside Geology Collection. It is appropriate that Mountain Press had Dr. Caldwell do this book. His vast field experience and knowledge highly qualify him as an Maine geology expert. I fell in love with geology and work as a geologist having been a student of Caldwell's 25 years ago. The book continues his legacy on the Geology of Maine.

Stephen King has long been known for his portrayals of small town life gone horribly wrong. Near the start of his career, with 1976's 'Salem's Lot, King worked with the idea of an isolated Maine town infiltrated by evil outsiders. Throughout his long career, he has revisited this basic plot many tames, putting a new spin on each. Derry, Maine became prey to shape-shifting creatures in both It and Insomnia. The Tommyknockers' reclusive Haven turned into ground-zero for radioactive alien ghosts. Desperation, Nevada turned into the ghostly battleground between God and the devil. And poor Castle Rock, Maine was doomed from the start.

King has often been asked "Where do you get your ideas?" All the answer Add an "s" are here, in George Beahm's newest, Stephen King Country. A different sort of book about King, this photo-essay guide takes the reader on a visual journey of the real (and sometimes unreal) world of Stephen King. Beginning with a brief overview of King's career through 1998's Bag of Bones, Beahm shifts gears and delves into the geography of King's real Maine. Interweaving biography and history, Country takes us through the towns of Durham, Orrington, Hermon, and more (perhaps "more" should be "others"), giving the reader some insight as to where King's fictional towns originated. Chapter Two, focusing principally on King's hometown of Bangor (the real-world counterpart of Derry) is a fascinating look at where Stephen King lives and writes, complete with a stunning aerial photograph of King's immense house. Touching on Stephen and his wife Tabitha King's philanthropy, Beahm then drives us down the dark path into King's fictional towns.

In this section, we are finally able to see the "real" Marsten House of 'Salem's Lot (actually the Shiloh Church in Durham, Maine), the train tracks the boys traveled in "The Body," the Standpipe and the Barrens, major landmarks in the novel It, and the hotel in Colorado that inspired The Shining. This inspired blending of fact and fiction is at once surreal and fascinating - it's like looking through the words of a Stephen King novel and finding a dark reality in the foreground of the man's imagination. In the dedication to It, King calls fiction "the truth inside the lie." In Stephen King Country, you can find that truth, the reality inside the story, and journey through the real and unreal worlds of Stephen King's country without ever leaving your house. Enjoy the trip!

We read all these Stephen King books that seem to flock the bestseller lists with their monsters, and gore, and goo, and we ask ourselves: Where is this guy coming from? In this book, we could literally know where he's coming from.

Anyone who has read at least one book by King knows that he's from Maine, for it always says it on the inside of the back cover; but do we know, for instance, that he once spent a vacation on a hotel hidden deep inside the mountains of Colorado which later inspired him to write his classic, The Shining? Do we know anything of how his college was like? This book is not a biography, but tells of the places in which he has lived all his life - which are all mostly scattered throughout Maine.

There is one little flaw that this book has, though, and that is that it gives the ending to some of his novels and short stories. So, if you haven't read every single novel and story King has ever written, you might not want to read this book just yet.

As a prehistoric "Europeanist" archaeologist living in Maine, I believe I can state with some authority that this book makes an important contribution to the literature on Maine archaeology and prehistory. However, there is so much work that has been done in Maine - and still so much that needs to be done - that I find myself hoping that Twelve Thousand Years will inspire other Maine archaeologists (especially Native Americans) to write a more in-depth treatment that evaluates Bourque's claims (which primarily spring from his work on the Turner Farm site) and offers alternative interpretations. But, as a volume potentially inciting such a debate, this book is very good.

I am not a historical archaeologist, but, from the critical reviews I have read and Bourque's extremely limited approach (involving almost no archaeology!) to the evidence, this book does not do justice to the Historic Period. Chapters IV-VII should be culled from the text and the preceding chapters enhanced with more illustrations, maps, photos, and side-bar boxes.

A book recommended to me by an archaeologist in Maine. I am not disappointed. The language and grammer is a bit above the lay person but with close study, you can catch on, as all is explained. A well written book covering the history with, and associated with, the Maine Native Americans. It just touches upon the associated peripheral subjects in history during each period, since volumes could be devoted to the complete history sorrounding the natives of Maine. It begins with the Ice Age and goes from there. Lots of archaeology and several hypothesis included. For anybody seriously interested in what Maine has done with their archaeology on Native Americans, I recommend this book whole-heartedly.........

This interesting book records with words and photos the history of Cole's Transportation, with mapes and photos it reveals the history of one family's dream . The company provided services thoughtout the new england states and If you have ever eaten at a truck stop or watched a big rig fly by maybe you might like to know how it all began. Really well done family history . rare subject and great read

This book was great for helping us get around the interstates and highways. It doesn't have much in the way of smaller town road maps making getting around in small New England towns a bit more cumbersome. But I do recommend the book for anyone planning a trip to multiple New England states.

I found this book to be very interesting on many levels. I am from Kennebunkport so it is locally very interesting and my mother was very interested in antiques and dragged me along in her travels. The book is a facinating look at the start of the antique trade and life at that time. I highly recommend it!

As the other books in this series, this book consists of a set of water-resistant maps (7 in this case), lists of mileage points, brief trail descriptions, and general information about nearby towns, transportation, etc. Each of the maps also includes an elevation chart at the bottom (which tend to be rather rough approximations). As the title suggests, the guidebook focuses on the AT, though a few side trails are described as well. In contrast to the other 3 AT guidebooks I own, the maps come on separate sheets, with the back of each used for trail description; the book itself contains only general information. In my view, this is a very convenient feature as you can just carry the maps you need and leave the book at home.

I used maps 1-3 to hike the 100 mile Wilderness (just south of the Baxter State Park) and found the maps and the trail descriptions to be generally very accurate. However, some information that might have been useful is omitted. For example, there are a couple of developed campsites (maintained by the state) at the south end of Nahmakanta Lake; they are not official AT campsites and there is no mention of them in the guidebook. More information about tenting opportunities at the shelter site would have been nice as well (a lot of shelters in the wilderness have rather poor tentsites). Overall, this guidebook is all you need to follow the trail though, and there is no other choice I am aware of anyway :)