New Mexico Books

Divine Inspiration is an unusual coffee table book because the pictures do tell a thousand words, and because the text is helpful and interesting, not just filler. It is a good, respectful introduction to the Yoruba religion and its many offspring in the Americas.

I have been looking on both Amazon and in bookstores for a comprehensive guide to camping in Nevada, Utah and Arizona (I live in Southern Nevada). Not only are there no great websites, but every book I have seen is either out of date or the series does not cover this area! Thankfully someone told me of this book (it NEVER came up on Amazon searches for camping in these states since the names are not directly in the title). The book is amazing and worth every penny. It covers everything you need to know and athough there are no pictures - I don't care. Now that I know the names of the campgrounds I am interested in, I can get pictures on-line. I would rather have the 100's of up-to-date extensive listings! Thank you so much for publishing this book!!!

I've owned this book for many years. I reread it yesterday and it's just as fascinating as I always. The pictures and drawings serve as the scientists' ghostly voices. The writers provide something the Le Plongeons perhaps never had in their lifetimes: a fair and balanced critique.

I ordered this book after being assigned excerpts from it in a literature class. The excerpts changed my life. The book was different, but even better than the little bits I had read. It's about the turn of the last century from a woman's perspective. It gave some insights on early feminism and the suffragettes that I had not expected, which were fascinating. I love how she simply tells her story, without propagandizing for a point. And it was wonderful to read about how my home state, California, looked a hundred years ago.

This book discusses, in very personal terms, faith, motherhood, marriage, careers, family, and wonder of nature. I highly recommend it.

The title is a bit of a misnomer. New Mexico is not a "New Mecca" for poetry, it has been a mecca for poetry for many years. Think of names like Rudolfo Anaya, John Brandi, Larry Goodell, Joy Harjo, Joan Logghe, Tony "E.A." Mares, Anne MacNaughton, N. Scott Momaday, Simon Ortiz, Peter Rabbit, and Luci Tapahonso, the tradition of poetry is long and deep. Yet, consider that none of these names is included in this brand new anthology of New Mexico poets, and you begin to understand the wealth of talent that exists in the Land of Enchantment.

The poets featured in this anthology range from the traditional to the contemporary to the modern. For example, three-fourths of the members of Albuquerque's 2005 National Poetry Slam Championship team (Hakim Bellamy, Carlos Contreras, and Damien Flores) are included. Poetry luminaries such as Jimmy Santiago Baca, Ana Castillo, Inara Cedrins, Sandra Cisneros, Lisa Gill, Dale Harris, Michelle Holland, Carol Moldaw, Miriam Sagan, and Arthur Sze, are included in this volume. Youth poets such as Zeke and Nico Sahi are included.

There are several anthologies of New Mexico poetry available, but including this one will definitely help give a well-rounded picture of the poetry community. It is worth the purchase.

P.S.: If you purchase this book, you will come across my poem, "Eulogy for Syd Barrett," but my review is not based on my inclusion. Rather, it is an unbiased view of a great book. Period.

A couple of years ago, I got involved in creating the (currently stalled) Albuquerque Urban Trail--a proposed long-distance hiking trail that would run from the volcanoes on Albuquerque's west side to Sandia Peak on its east, zigzagging for over 200 miles into its every district along the way--and this was the map used to plot it out.
This map was perfect for the job, too, because of its detail and its completeness. It's a good map, and because of my work with that trail I've bought nearly a dozen copies of it.
I'll just say this: if you need a map of Albuquerque, then get this one. I can almost guarantee it will be more than sufficient for your needs. All the streets are here, the arroyos, the parks, the geographical features, and it's well-indexed and laid out.
It's good. You'll like it.

In this witty and helpful guide, Glave provides her reader with all the information needed to eat and drink the BEST of Santa Fe. The reviews are succinct and flavorful, the information is plentiful (with icons to alert one to great takeout options, family-friendly locales, romantic spots, pricing), and the layout is clean and accessible. Eat Drink helped me find the right spot for the right occasion -- and I don't plan to return to Santa Fe without my copy close at hand!

This book was written in the late 1970's when conciousness of the potential for human caused environmental disasters was still penetrating the general public. It is an accessable scholarly work on the tremendous impact of classical (Greek and Roman) civilizations had on the fragile ecology of the Mediterranean. The Greeks and Romans caused tremendous erosion on hillsides throughout their territory from which the Mediterranean and nearby arid regions still has not recovered. They irrigated large areas that became waterlogged and salinized. They changed the Mediterranean ecosystems from what must have appeared as a wonderful primitive garden of Eden into something much less appealing. We would do well to take heed and take warning.

From Introduction:

"This book covers the plants growing in an area bounded on the east by western Nebraska and Kansas, on the west by Central Utah, and stretches south to central New Mexico, north to the Black Hills of South Dakota and central Montana. We have tried to write for botanists and non-botanists alike. The plant descriptions are in nontechnical language, but we have tried to make them strictly accurate. The botanical names are given for those who may want them but may be ignored by the non-botanist.

The illustrations include not only a sketch of the mature plant in flower or fruit but also enlargements of those special parts that botanist consider to be diagnostic.

When we formally started this project in 1960, our colleague, Professor Claire Norton, and in addition to Dr. Edward Castetter...very generously turned over their extensive bibliographies on useful native plants. Among these items were many on the subjet of ethnobotany, which deals with the use of plants by the Indians of the region. This aspect of the matter is important in a study of this kind since the Indians in the past had learned to use many species of plants, particularly in times of extreme food shortage. Because of the change in lifeways of the modern Indians, much of the detailed knowledge may well be lost entirely unless someone puts it on record. The same thing can be said for the information on edible plants once known to the white pioneers of the Rocky Mountain area.

Some native plants are palatable and nutritious; unfortunately, others are bad tasting or actually poisonous....The very best way to learn plants is to develop the ability to identify them in the technical floras and manuals covering the region."

This is one of the nicest of the NMBM's "Scenic Trips to the Geologic Past" series. This 1991 edition is a major revision of the earlier "Scenic Trips to the Geologic Past #2" guidebook (which was just a short pamphlet, and is long out-of-print). The present guidebook is a substantial short book (137 pp.), and is much improved from the old pamphlet. It now includes both the "Enchanted Circle" drive and another loop drive to the mountain villages south of Taos. Many neat historical photos have been added, as has a nice section of color photographs. There's a short historical sketch of Taos, and quite a bit of general natural history in addition to the geology. This is the book you want for geological tourism around Taos.

Unfortunately, it's now out of print, and expensive used. You may want to check it out from your public library. Memo to NMBM: get this book back in print!

Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman
Consulting Geologist, Santa Fe