Oregon Books

The book was put together in an informative and easy to read way. It's a travel log, for anyone wanting to visit the Nez Perce Trail National Park, plus it gives a summarized overview of that happened. I loved the author's method of narrating the story of what happened, with easy to read maps and tables of information. Her list of references was also impressive. More detail will require further reading, but this is a starter. What is missing from her story is what this band of renegades really was. They were outlaws, shunned by their own Nez Perce Nation and what is also missing is the national impact of this unfortunate Indian outbreak had on our Country. That is why I didn't rate the book higher. It's a view into history "through rose colored glasses", which is quit in style today, but that gives the starters on history a dangerously biased view. Real history is often painful to read about. These Indians were not heroes. Hundreds of innocent people were murdered and the real Nez Perce almost lost their wonderful Idaho Reservation because of this War. Congress was in a complete uproar. They were also opposed by other Indian Nations, specifically the Bannock, Shoshone and the Crow to mention a few. This is the story of a national disaster and tragedy. The real heroes were often those they attacked and the horse soldiers that had to chase them. Still, as a travelog and guide to 80% of the historic sites along the Nez Perce Trail, this book is a good starter. I also loved the historic photographs, some of which I have not found anywhere else.

The story of the Nez Perce bands of Wallowa Oregon is one of the saddest of the expansion period of the American West. Driven from their homelands by a sneaky treaty they never signed, several bands of Nez Perce were moving reluctantly onto the new, smaller reservation. But a few angry young men left camp, on their own, and killed a white man they knew to be bad to Indians. The U.S. Army responded and thus began the pursuit of the Nez Perce, across Idaho, to Wyoming, and then Montana, over 1100 miles. Eight hundred Nez Perce men, women, and children walked and rode hoping to find a new place to settle where the Army would no longer pursue. But the Army did pursue, and finally caught up with the Nez Perce on a cold October day in Northern Montana, where after a 5 day siege, Chief Joseph finally surrendered to save those that were left, cold, sick, and tired. This book follows the trail, and recounts the history as told by several authors and particpants including General Howard, Yellow Wolf, and some Army Scouts. It is the one book you should read first. Then get out and drive the trail that the Nez Perce rode. I bet you can't drive it in one summer, but they rode that distance, moving camp every day, with the Army shooting at them when ever they didn't move far enough. Chief Joseph wondered when will the white men ever tell the truth. Why is the Indian not allowed to live under the same laws of freedom as the white man.

Alas, I have been asked by my publisher to write yet another book on Chief Joseph. I wish to do it well and respectfully, and, if possible, break a little new ground. So, I may be one of ten people on earth who has travelled the Nez Perce trail, both known and unknown, from the Wallowa all the way to Tonkawa, with requisite sidetrips to Nespelem and various relevant sites. All in all, I've put about 10,000 miles into this enterprise. And here's the hard truth: Cheryl Wilfong, whoever she is -- and God bless her researching soul -- has made this trip possible. She has broken the route down into three categories -- mainstream traveller, for the pavement folk; adventurous traveller, for the dirt road folk; and intrepid traveller for the white-knuckle, high center clearance, "I don't need guard rails" folk. I did it mostly on the adventurous/intrepid roads. And I can say, unequivocally, that she has created a work that will not soon be bettered, and which is absolutely invaluable for any Nez Perce afficianado, from the casual traveller to the "I only come out of the archives to breathe" geeks who are researching the familial ties between Wahlatits and Yellow Bull.

By the very nature of the task, she has a few errors, and they can put you in harm's way, such as having you travel 1.8 miles to a crossroads in the vast emptiness of Montana's back country when the actual distance is 11.8 miles. But these errors are so few as to be remarkable in their infrequency. Overall, she takes you mile by mile, dusty crossroad by dusty crossroad, rutted mountain pass by rutted mountain path, and conducts you on an assiduously researched journey of the trail that the Nez Perce followed from their homeland in the Wallowa and Snake/Salmon country to their exile in Oklahoma.

I could give you endless specifics, but here is the bottom line: you cannot take this trip, or any portion of it, without this book. You can forget your Josephy, misplace your Haines and your Lavender, or trade your Greene and your McWhorter for extra gas money. But you cannot -- CANNOT -- take this journey without having this book on the seat next to you.

Take it from someone who stopped at every pile of stones, every remnant of rifle pit and breastwork, every old campsite and every battle and staging area; who walked the high country trails near Lolo and the lowland campgrounds on the flats below Fort Leavenworth: You absolutely must buy this book if you choose to retrace any of this journey.

The Nez Perce Historic Trail Foundation and the National Park Service should canonize this woman.

End of story.

This is an excellent work which I plan to use as a tool for planning vacations over the next summers. The history is concise yet accurate and supplements works by Helen Addison Howard (Saga of Chief Joseph), Merrill Beale (I Will Fight No More Forever), Alvin Josephy (The Nez Perce and the Opening of the Northwest), L. V. McWhorter (Yellow Wolf & Hear Me My Chiefs!) The maps, side trips, and road condition guides are useful. Classifications of roads for vehicles and travelers described as mainstream, adventurous and intrepid are unique for this type of history book and assist in planning based on the type of vehicle one might be using. Reminds me of hiking books. A knowledge of geography is vital to understanding history. Wilfong aids amature historians visiting the areas to view and get a better understanding of the physical conditions both the troops and the Nez Perce found in this tragic chapter of American history.

mostly hotels not really camping which I was looking for. but it's great for hotels if you need something for that.

Many of my friends will not leave home without their dogs, so when I discovered this book I knew I had found the perfect pet lovers gift. The feedback has been excellent -- they report that the information is up-to-date, accurate, and easy to use. Dogs and their drivers are both well-served. Now all I need is my own dog...

HAVE DOG WILL TRAVEL NORTHWEST EDITION includes Oregon, Washington and Idaho and has been newly updated to list over 2,100 dog-friendly accommodations throughout the Pacific Northwest. This isn't just a plain listing of dog- friendly hotels: it tells where in the building the pet is welcome, any restrictions, deposits, price ranges, and general room descriptions. From cabins to resorts, motels, and chain hotels, HAVE DOG WILL TRAVEL comes packed with plenty of specifics suitable for touring.

Now in a newly updated edition, Have Dog Will Travel: Northwest Edition by Barbara Whitaker is the a practical guide for dog owners and dog lovers to hassle-free traveling. Have Dog Will Travel: Northwest Edition features over 2,100 canine-friendly accommodations in the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Addresses, phone numbers, rates, web sites, and brief summary of basic information concerning each lodging fill the majority of the pages; with an additional sections offering basic advice concerning everything from first aid for a dog to types of available ID tags and how to best go about cleaning up after one's pet. Have Dog Will Travel: Northwest Edition is especially recommended for dedicated dog owners in the Oregon, Washington, and Idaho area.

It happened a hundred years ago. But it could be happening right now. "Holy Rollers; Murder and Madness in Oregon's Love Cult" can be read and appreciated on many levels. On the surface, it's a great true crime potboiler, filled with religion, sex and murder. But its also a cautionary tale about the vulnerability of seemingly normal, well-adjusted people to the seductions of mass insanity. Whether it's Edmund Creffeld in 1905, Adolph Hitler in 1933 or Jim Jones in 1978, we've seen it happen again and again. In fact, the story in this book has a peculiar kind of resonance in that one of the key locations--Waldport, Oregon, also was the place where the Heaven's Gate cult held its first public gathering.

Edmund Creffeld was a Salvation Army dropout who arrived in Corvallis, Oregon in 1900 to start a new church. Within a few short years, he had persuaded some of the community's leading citizens--primarily of the female gender--to join his cult of madness. They literally practiced "holy rolling," sometimes turning themselves over and over for hours and hours at a time, becoming all the more caught up in the cult of Creffeld's strange personality. Creffeld was tarred and feathered (really!) and run out of town. That didn't stop him, nor did a stretch in the state prison. His ultimate, violent end seems almost foreordained.

T. McCracken and Robert Blodgett have combined their talents to produce an amazing story. Thanks to exhaustive research in newspapers and other contemporary sources, they're able to re-create the wild ride of Creffeld and his cult in vivid, day-to-day detail. I finished the book in a single sitting; I predict you will, too.--William C. Hall

This was definitely a page-turner! I live in this area. So, it was interesting to imagine that this went on right here! I had never heard about it, and I have lived here for the last 25 years. Makes me want to examine all the houses and areas they went to.

The book is written with a newspaper sensationalism kind of feel, but that shouldn't bother you too much.

The authors give us a true account, set in "the good old days", showing us that murderous cults didn't start with the Manson family, and religious fanatacism isn't an import nurtured only in foreign lands. Immediate and enthralling as any real crime story currently on the shelves or TV, this page-turning ride has just the right amount of wry, observational wit to balance the horrors. I loved it.

Collaboratively researched and written by T. McCracken and Robert B. Blodgett, Holy Rollers: Murder And Madness In Oregon's Love Cult is the "truth is stranger than fiction" story of the "Holy Roller" religious cult that made brutal newspaper headlines in 1903. It all began when Salvation Army dropout Edmund Creffield arrived in Corvallis, Oregon and founded a new "church". The city fathers were less than impressed -- but not so their wives and daughters! A century later, descendants of the people involved in the macabre events of Creffield's Holy Roller Cult still refuse to discuss what happened. Holy Rollers is an incredible, painstaking reconstruction and revealing expose that create a gripping book that offers especial insight into the dark side of mass psychology, religious hysteria, and unbridled charismatic religious authority.

This book has lots of useful information, but fails to tie the information in to graphics for those of us who have trouble visualizing the locations from the text. The neighborhoods are described by their names, and rougly tied into the city as a whole. However, the maps are not specific enough.

These books (there is a series) are the first resource we go to upon learning that it is, once again, time for us to transfer. They have all the information that most people could need and I recommend them to every military person I know that is in the process of transferring to make their move just a little bit easier. A look at the contents of this particular book:

Area Overview
Getting Here, Getting Around
History
Bed-and-Breakfast Inns
Hotels and Motels
Restaurants
Brewpubs
Coffeehouses
Nightlife
Shopping
Attractions
Kidstuff
Festivals and Annual Events
The Arts
Recreation and Spectator Sports
Portland Parks
Golf
Day Trips
Relocation
Child Care and Education
Health Care and Wellness
Retirement
Media
Worship
Index

No, there aren't a lot of pictures, but I can buy a coffee-table book for that. This is information and lots of it - including addresses, phone numbers, and websites when appropriate. Great for visitors and potential newcomers alike!

I liked the information in this book, Even has school listings. I was purchasing it for tourism purposes and it covers that but doesn't have pictures or long descriptions and prices. Since that is what I was looking for I was a little disappointed. Good for info bad for tourists.

INSIDERS' GUIDE TO PORTLAND, OREGON, 5TH is a great guide to the cities of Portland and Vancouver, as well as their surrounding suburbs. Besides such information as house values, attractions, and the quality of schools in the area, the book also features detailed listings of the radio stations in the area, as well as in-depth discussions of what types of healthy-eating ideas and ethnic cuisine you can find in this metroplex. The book lacks a deep discussion of shopping malls in the area, preferring instead to focus on the other types of stores where a guy can find things to keep his woman happy, including CDs to dance to with her and clothes to help him look his best for her, which seems to indicate that independent stores are often the way to go to keep such promises, especially in a high-culture area such as Portland/Vancouver. Despite the lack of information on local malls, however, it's a wonderful book.

This is a good book with many interesting places to ride. The maps and directions are very detailed allowing the reader to easily find the featured trails in the book.

The difficulty ratings are exaggerated however. The book seems to be geared toward beginning riders. All of the trails that I have checked out have turned out to be very easy regarding technical skill level. If you have ANY experience I would reduce the difficulty level by 1 (e.g. difficult to moderate, moderate to easy).

The book is fairly thorough, but there are many great spots left out of the book. As far as the valley goes it leaves out what I would consider some of the Greatest Off-Road Bicycle Rides. MacDonald Forest, Rickreal, McKenzie River trail, Oakridge, etc...

I would reccomend the book, but I would HIGHLY reccomend talking to your local bike shop for the hidden treasures of Oregon.

Lizann's book is the best guide I've ever read! Great photos, maps and descriptions of some of the best riding in the Pacific Northwest. A great buy for any fat tire rider who's new to the area.

I'm am glad to finally see a comprehensive mountain bike guidebook that covers subjects that many readers want more information about. This guidebook includes a section on mountain bicyle camping and biking with your dog. I've always wanted to take my gear with me and camp overnight and this section was very helpful. It lists outdoor vendors that carry camping gear and gives you a sample list of what you should bring. This book even has overnight a trail called "Haystack Lake" that is a good trail for those wanting to try their first overnight trip. I also have a dog and the "Mountain Biking with Your Dog" section gave a lot of practical advice I could use and also listed vendors that sell dog gear. I'm so glad to finally see a book that not only describes great trails but also is a great reference for other aspects of mountain biking!

This book is the first guidebook I've seen that truly has maps that are useful. They are so visually detailed and helpful that I would highly recommend this mountain bike guide to any new or experienced mountain biker. Oh yeah, when I'm on the road this book also gives me a lot of history and information about the area I'm visiting.

Wow. At first I was really enjoying it, but when she started making remarks about the ignorance of recreational mushers, my level of admiration halted and started to drop. I personally wouldn't have said that she couldn't do it, but just because a recreational musher (along with some racers too) said that she couldn't doesn't mean that she can generalize and say that ALL recreational mushers are ignorant about mushing. As a long-time recreational musher, that really made me not like her. As I started looked at her from a different angle rather than the girl-who-overcomes-the-odds, she turned into an arrogant person who uses her eyesight as an excuse for special treatment.

I just read this book and found it very fascinating. I was able to relate as a woman athlete, but can honestly say that I will never understand the kind of difficulties this young woman has faced and continues to overcome on a daily basis. I have always wanted to travel to Alaska and see the Iditarod first hand. Rachael has given me a wonderful insight into the race until my dream is possible. After reading this book you will realize that your limits should be set by yourself and only by yourself. Thanks for your incredible story, and CONGRATULATIONS on your 2006 Iditarod finish!!!

The Iditarod, let alone any sleddograce, is not something one does "on the side". You have to organize, to train, to plan, be prepared against the elements, love the athletes, become one of them. Simply said: it takes guts and without it there is no glory.
Rachael has set her goal and reaches it, with all the extra handicaps one can think of. It shows the reader that if you have anything you want, anything you really desire, you've got to go for it and cross all the borders you encounter. There is no "but..." I have nothing but the deepest admiration for Rachael!

I don't know much about dog racing, but this story had me mildly interested all the way through, and I learned a lot, not only about the sport, but about blind people and how one girl's courage catapulted her into a 500 mile, grueling endurance race across the wildest parts of a wild countryside. Rachel speaks candidly about how, when she was young, she wanted to be part of the clique of "popular girls" who ruled the roost at school, and how these uncaring girls mocked her and humiliated her for even trying.

She didn't like being treated as some sort of second class and in a way, you can see the whole of her subsequent career as a sort of insolent salute to the girls who made her life hell. Her family was supportive, up to a point. But the challenge of the Iditarod Trail frightens even the most dedicated guides. And some unimaginative, if concerned, fellow sledders told her she was crazy, being blind to attempt such a physical feat. For even strong men with both eyes sometimes went mad along the trail. The ITC wasn't helpful, and she had to appeal to them in person. What would she do if she had to go to the bathroom, for example? Rachel answers these questions with the frank good humor for which she has been known all over the world of sled racing. One indication of the deeper pain involved is that, usually, Rachel cries sometime during a race. But finally she's at a point where she's having fun and it shows not only in her work, but in the pages of this delightful book. My brother who gave me NO END IN SIGHT knows of my love for the books of David Sedaris, and he thought that Rachel might be some relation! Well, there's no direct blood connection (and her name is "Sedoris") but she is like David Sedaris in being able to find the humanity and humor even in the most awful of straits.

Yes, it's "heavy sledding" at times, especially if like me you're a newbie with next to no knowledge of anything she's talking about and anything she's been through. But, there's a helpful glossary at the back of the book so all you non-mushers can decipher the somewhat specialized lingo. You'll be crying out "Haw!" and "Hike!" like seasoned trailhounds. Ever wonder what kind of personality you would have as a canine? Are you the wheel dog type or the swing dog, a team dog or a lead? Check out NO END IN SIGHT.

The good news is that this book is a short summary of what most people
will find important when they apply patterns either in the field of architecture
or in their own field of design. It provides insight into Alexander's theory
of economics--a stance which caused him to be unfavorably labeled as a
socialist when these ideas were taking form.

Patterns, in this book, are almost a footnote to the broader ideas of
design, of economics, and of socially coordinated construction that
form the core of Alexander's exposition here. The economics form a
compelling argument for a process of piecemeal growth. Alexander gives
practical advice on how to administer the social process, including the
creation of a community pattern board that oversees the introduction of
new patterns into the community language, and the retirement of old
ones. By putting the pattern mantra aside, this book helps the reader
get beyond the point where they are looking for patterns in their own right
to provide the answer to every design question, and pushes the reader
to think at the level of the foundations.

The bad news is that the book takes the reader into a couple of miscues.
Alexander would later bitterly recant the role this book accords to the
architect. Architects should be master builders rather than the font of
design ideas. The architecture role emerged in the Oregon Experiment
to lend the project an air of conventionality and credibility, a compromise
that kept the project from achieving its goals.

Current tidbits of retrospective literature try to make sense of the experiment;
some claim it succeeded (in spite of those aspects Alexander felt were
wrong-headed) and some claim it failed. Grabow's biography of
Alexander (Christopher Alexander: The Search for a New Paradigm in
Architecture) features some choice words about the miscues in this
experiment. Taken with the retrospective Grabow brings us, this book
provides a perspective on patterns that is completely absent from the
other books in this series. Some of these, such as the foundations in
economics, are there for the picking. To reap some of the other insights
requires study that goes beyond casual reading, but such study is
appropriate to the depth of insight it will afford, and you owe it to
yourself to explore it. These insights are crucial for making patterns
work in a practical way in a social setting.

If you want to learn about patterns, and you want to start with an
Alexandrian book, I think this is the one you start with. Get the big
picture first, in the context of the underlying principles, and come
back for the pattern details later in A Pattern Language, and for the
artist's artistic exposition of his art in The Timeless Way of Building.

The Oregon Experiment is one of a series of influential volumes on architecture and social design published by Christopher Alexander and his colleagues in the 1970s. While the most well-known volume in the series, A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, and Construction, develops general principles for the design of social spaces at all scales, The Oregon Experiment applies those principles to a specific case: the campus of the University of Oregon.

If you are looking for an example of a specific campus plan, however, you will not find it here. Central to Alexander's approach is the notion that communities should not create fixed master plans, but rather should develop a common pattern language, and then apply it organically, in a piecemeal fashion, as needs arise. The book talks as much about this process of planning as it does about individual construction projects. Whenever a need arises (expansion of a building, addition of a door, creation of a green) people consult their pattern language and build something to suit the space and satisfy the need. Because everyone follows the agreed-upon language, the new parts harmonize with those that already exist (or replace earlier, poorly-designed structures).

If you have enjoyed studying Alexander's patterns in A Pattern Language, you will find here a collection of new ones that are specific to a university setting, including "University Population," "University Shape and Diameter," "Departments of 400," "Local Administration," "Classroom Distribution," and about a dozen more. Although he clearly draws on ideas from British universities in many cases, he unaccountably does not include one of the fundamental features of the British model, namely the residential college of 500 (or so) within the larger institution. (Although he does include aspects of this pattern under the heading "Small Student Unions.") As always, Alexander's pattern descriptions are clear, blunt, and thought-provoking.

The question that most readers will want to have answered is, "Does all this really work?" When the volume was written, of course, the process was just getting under way, and so we cannot know from this book alone whether everything described was successful or has been sustained over the long term. From what I've seen of campus master planning in public universities, it often turns out in the end to have less to do with creating good educational environments than it does with kowtowing to the local chamber of commerce and lining the pockets of already-rich trustees. But just because something is difficult doesn't mean it shouldn't be made the goal. If Alexander or someone at the University of Oregon were to produce a sequel, "The Oregon Experiment 25 Years On," I'm sure it would meet with a warm reception.

The Oregon Experiment comes from a time when Eugene, Oregon was a capital for social and community experiments in the US. It's a practical, brilliant, gentle, idealistic proposal, without peer in modern literature. There are a few papers on the experiment after twenty years, available on the web -- the experiment basically had the life bureaucratized out of it. But this book remains as a shining, solid proposal, which any participatory experiment should look over very closely.

As a software designer and as somebody who lives and works in buildings in cities, I find the ideas in some of Alexander's other books on architecture and design - The Timeless Way of Building and A Pattern Language - very interesting and appealing. They are a brave attempt to point to a more human, community-oriented way of doing things.

I had high hopes that The Oregon Experiment would describe a concrete example of whether these ideas worked when they were put into practice. It does nothing of the kind. It describes an interesting thought experiment in participatory design and tries to present this as a vindication of the Pattern Language concepts. But nowhere does it even mention whether the design it describes was ever actually implemented, much less whether it worked from the inhabitants' point of view.

It is very easy for a design team to get carried away with what a great design they have on paper. I've done it loads of times. That enthusiasm tells us nothing about whether a design is actually going to be a success.

I know Alexander later moved from academia and started trying to put his ideas into practice on actual building projects. A book on his real experiences and how well the original ideas stood up to the cold light of reality would be fascinating and important. The Oregon Experiment isn't that book.

Lots of good detail and smaller stories threaded into one fabric, but I was really disappointed to find the 'history' of Oregon end around 1860. Took me a long time to finish either because it's dry or because I'm a slow reader...

PACIFIC DESTINY has received the Spur Award from Western Writers of America, Inc. as Best Nonfiction Historical Book for the year 2000. The award will be presented to the author at the WWA annual convention, to be held the last week of June, 2001, in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Last year, WWA awarded to author Dale L. Walker its Owen Wister Award, given for lifetime achievement in Western history and literature.

This book attempts to trace the history of the Oregon territory by stringing together the stories of various pioneers. The book's strength is that Walker is a wonderful story teller and you can't help but be hooked by his tales of mountain men and emigrants wandering around a vast wildnerness. Walker has a keen eye for the look and feel of the times. The book is a bit light on context with only a few brief discussions of the politics of the period, but that'a probably an unfair criticism because that isn't what the book sets out to do. I read this because I'm going to the Northwest for a vacation in a few weeks and Walker's book will greatly enrich that trip.

Dale L. Walker has written a magnificent and penetrating history of Oregon. This book is unique because it explores the personalities of those who made history, and integrates these biographical insights into the whole fabric of history. Walker is the peer of Bernard DeVoto and David Lavender, the other great chroniclers of the American West. For anyone seeking the history of the Northwest, and all those who shaped it, this is the best and most authoritative book in the field. Walker's research is amazing, and his ability to integrate diverse materials is outstanding. Walker's other great gift is lucidity. This book is a great read, clear, transparent, and brimming with anecdote.

I recommend this as one of the great histories written in modern times.

I had high hopes for this book and the color plates are outstanding. As a comprehensive flora and key, however, it falls well short of the old standby: Hitchcock & Cronquist. Hitchcock has descriptions of every family and genus, and superior keys with way more line drawings to help you through them. In the end this is a nice book with pretty pictures, but for the serious botanist Hitchcock is still the way to go.

For over 30 years the regional flora for the Pacific Northwest was Hitchcock et al., Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. For people on the wet side of the mountains, Kozloff provides a new standard guide. He gives us a wealth of fine photographs (over 700 in color) and illustrations, with clear descriptions and keys, allowing identification of nearly every species found in western Washington and Oregon (experts have noticed that a few species are missed, though). Non-native species are identified, with reference to their country of origin. As the most recent comprehensive text, it also provides a reasonably current taxonomic picture of the region as well, which is very useful as hundreds of new names have appeared since the days of Hitchcock. In sum, if you want the definitive flora for the region, this is it. If you want something more portable, though, you should look at a field guide - Pojar and MacKinnon's.

This book may be the most comprehensive, definitive book on NW flora, but it's not very helpful to me. It's like reading a technical manual. I realize there are people who enjoy reading technical manuals, but most people don't. (That's not to say there's anything wrong with technical manuals, they just don't interest most people.) So my assumption is this book isn't written for most people.

I'd love for someone to take the information in this book and make it more engaging and accessible. Now there's a book that a wider audience would value and enjoy.

I would give this book an A- almost there and ahead of the rest.
needs a little more in the photo section for easy ID but beats the heck out of the Hitchcock that I have carried for years. I now have 2 copies..one at home and one in my pack

I had never heard of Richard Hoyt until a friend loaned me a copy of Pony Girls. Hoyt has the effrontery (and writing skills) to imagine an entire novel as his detective's initiation in to the shamanist world of animal spirits. He has imagined a trio of investigators who work together. They are Denson (or Owl), and Willie Sees the Night (definitely Coyote, we can hear him baying at night) and Denson's new girlfriend, Annie Dancer, a former FBI agent. And oops, we can't forget T, with whom Denson has enigmatic conversations in his mind-bending trips out of reality. Is T, Denson's creator, the Great Spirit as private detective author? Or is Denson imagining him. Yoiks! All this works, both as a hopping good mystery, but also as a genre-breaking exercise in the imagination. The subject here, besides the mystery who killed humans and horses, is the nature of evil. Is Evil the shape-changing Koonran, or are we all potential horse killers. As a bonus, Hoyt throws in almost everything we want to know about wild horses in the west.

As a private detective novel, Pony Girls is, uh, different. John Denson flies out of his skin in hallucinogenic surreal trips, sometimes meeting his creator, T, an author. Is T the Great Spirit as trickster? Denson's partner, Willie Sees the Night is a shaman. Is he really Coyote in human form? The new addition to the firm, ex-FBI agent Annie Dancer, Denson's girlfriend, is a computer whiz. The mystery: a killer of people and wild horses. In this fictional wormhole, logic and Native American mythology operate side by side. Denson and
Annie find whales dying on a beach; a killer of horses and humans is on the loose. Is television reporter Erica von Bayer the killer? Or could it be her wealthy mother? Are they hosts to Koonran, the shape-changing beaver monster? This book, wild cubed, is not for the reader who wants a conventional private detective novel, but is highly recommended for those who like ideas, imaginative exploration of the human condition, and smooth writing.

Richard Hoyt is an excellent writer -- he could write a good book in his sleep and he appears to have done so. Or if not in his sleep, then possibly stoned out of his gourd. I can't think of any other reason why he would have written such a pointless non-mystery. Or why he would have made such stupid geographical errors as putting Oregon north of the Columbia River or driving to Medford on I-84. And the only way it takes 24 hours to drive across Oregon is if you're too stoned to drive over 30 mph.

Pony Girls is quite readable and even enjoyable, if you think the journey is everything and the destination doesn't matter. I've been a fan of Hoyt for years, but my advice is to go back and read his early work, when the mysteries were mysteries and the plots made sense.

Thirty-six sperm whales died on an isolated Oregon beach. Two months later, sixteen European jumping horses followed by twenty-two Spanish Mustangs are murdered in various atrocities. A group forms called the Ad Hoc Committee to Save the Spanish Mustang. They hire Portland, Oregon based private investigating partners John Denson, Annie Dancer, and Willie Sees the Night to learn who and why the horses are being slaughtered.

The trio goes down their own paths trying to solve the mystery. Former reporter John seeks logical links even tying the dead horses back to the whale tragedy; ex-FBI agent Annie uses her information technology skills and links to look for serial killer patterns. Willie using hallucinatory drugs walks the out of body ethereal path of following the souls of the horses in their afterlife. As the threesome converges, evidence points towards the family of TV journalist Erika von Bayer, but which member and his or her motive remain unknown.

Readers will have to expand their horizons to accept what is reality in this weird private investigative tale in which anything is possible in the Hoyt universe. The story line is fun to follow due to the strange sleuth partners. John tries to emulate Holmes; Annie applies profiling to identify an animal killer; while Willie is tripping on some other plane that perhaps the Amazing Randi might debunk or be convinced. To appreciate the center of weirdness theme inside and outside a fine who-done-it, readers will need to shelve reality, but it is worth the trip.

Harriet Klausner