Canada Books

don't let this be your only source. I used it more of a starting point for further research.

This passage reassured me when I read it in the Foreword: "Many of our authors work undercover; others aren't so secretive. None of them accept freebies for positive write-ups."

Canada's Maritime Provinces is a simple, easy-reference guide to touring Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Maps, facts, history, motel listings, restaurants, famous entertainment locales, highlights, expenses, and much more are covered in this small, handy, portable and information-packed reference. Canada's Maritime Provinces is a "must-have" for anyone planning to see the sights on or near Canada's windswept and beautiful coast.

February 2003 - just back from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I found the book helpful, accurate and comprehensive - exactly the qualities required in a travel guide.

I'm currently using this book to plan a Sep 2003 trip up to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island & possibly the Bay of Fundy. Lonely Planet has to be my favorite series of travel books, and this edition is right on par with their other guides.

One goal of mine has been to stay in B&B's the whole time (I picture lots of intimate Atlantic oceanside places), and there is a good focus on these accommodations. Another increasing trend in the LP series has been to supplement with web addresses for more information. The author looks like they have gone to great lengths to provide an extraordinary number of links for accommodations, activities, visitor info and often, restaurants. Coverage of maps (including city) and suggested itineraries are two of my favorite aspects of Lonely Planet, and this guide has great ones. This book also doubles as a history primer for the area. Two easy-read examples within that I enjoyed included background on the New Brunswick-to-PEI bridge & the history of why Halifax gives a Christmas tree to Boston each year.

Overall, there is more information contained within than I could use while visiting the area. It's simply the best choice for visiting the Maritimes.

One last note, Lonely Planet also released a full guide on Quebec as well.

As the previous reviewer stated, this is a great guide for locals as well as visitors. The author combines some fine local history and stories with essential travel tips that will definitely point travellers in the right direction for an enjoyable vacation.

Manon was the daughter of a well known
Hockey Coach in Quebec, Q.C. and later
went on to play in games, or exhibitions
in three men's leagues. She also was a
sports pioneer who played roller hockey
as well. She represented Canada splendidly
in several Olympics and this is her story.
Get it while you can and check out her
great site. Much about her at mykaussie
dotcom as well. You go, girl!

I loved reading about Manon and how she got as far as she did. I have a continuing argument with male friends that if little guys like Theo Fleury and Paul Kariya can play hockey, and be some of the best players in the NHL, so can women. My only problem with this book was that it ended too soon. I want to know more about Manon's career with the Atlanta Knights, and her struggle to get to the NHL. Sequel, anyone? Heck, I'd love to write the sequel...

This a wonderful book. I've had the pleasure to talk with Manon about this book after reading it. She is even more charming in person.

I am one of if not the biggest of lady Manon's fans. The book gave me answers to many questions I had wanted to ask her. I also learned quit alot from Manon about life, dreams, and my passion hockey. Manon is one of the most beautiful, and compassionate people in the world. I am just sorry the national hockey league did not give her a chance. She is and will continue to be one of greatest goaltenders in the world. I highly recommend her book.

Wonderful book! As a female hockey goalie and one of Manon's biggest fan, this book gave me a lot of answers to a lot of questions!

Though my atlas is in need of an update now, more than seven years after I purchased it, it is still the only one I use when I have a choice. It is, quite simply, the most readable atlas there was when it was made, and, I can say from experience, more accurate than AAA. The hierarchy of lines and type, the fonts, the use of color, and the use of solid color borders on the highway roads especially, increase the readability of the map greatly. It is the only one that can be read at a glance while on the road (not that I recommend doing that...often).

I bought my National Geographic atlas last November. I have been pretty amazed at its accuracy and detail. I think it is ALOT better than Rand McNally or AAA maps. I threw away all my other atlases!

Blows Rand McNally and AAA away! If you need an atlas, quit looking and buy this one. Best I've seen.

Take it from a real "map nut", this is the best road atlas ever. RM and AAA might as well stop publishing. Not only is it VERY readable, but it contains references to interesting places along the way, places like "Carhenge", lots of rail and otehr museums and other off-beat but interesting sites you just shouldn't pass up.

My friend from Ohio summed it up best: "When I look at it, I can see the roads." As the earlier reviewer says, it blows Rand-McNally away. I was a big RM loyalist until we used the National Geo atlas on a recent drive from New Mexico to Iowa.

The major highways and state roads are much clearer on these maps than in the RM, and the national parks are exponentially more visible.

It is a pleasure to use this atlas. Can't wait til the 2000 version comes out in September.

I've had this atlas and travel planner since it came out and I love it. We've toured across the United States several times and this book is always my companion. It has so much more to offer than just maps. The suggested scenic road trips and the national park information is helpful. The pictures are exceptionally good and the color finish on the maps is so much easier to look at and read in the front seat of the car with the sun glaring in. I, too, wish they'd publish an updated version. I highly recommend this for road travelers.

This is certainly the best road atlas I've ever come across. I've owned my own copy for about 7 years and absolutely love it. The binding is very durable, and I take it everywhere with me. In addition to accurate and clear road maps, it also contains a ton of additional useful information for people interested in pure vacationing. I've crossed at least 30 states with this atlas. I just hope NG continues to offer revised versions of this atlas in the future. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I've owned this atlas for five years. It is BY FAR the best I've ever had. I travel a lot of miles every year in some of the remotest drivable areas in the U.S. This collection has never let me down. When WILL they put out a new edition?!

We use this great road atlas all the time! We keep it in the car and refer to it as we travel quite often across the USA. One of the best we've seen...wish they would publish an updated version!

I like roadtrips, and since 1999 The American Road has been an indispensable inhabitant of my car. I can't understand why NG quit producing this atlas...That's a bargain for sure.

It's a very study volume. Mine has started to pull away from the binding a bit, but that's to be expected when I throw it around the car all the time. The plastic-like cover is spill-resistant and extremely durable. No pages have ripped or become unbound. I am very rough on it, and I'm impressed that it's survived as well as it has.

The maps are readable and accurate. There's not much more exciting than that to say about a road map. They cover all of North America, though Mexico receives no detailed coverage, nor does northern Canada (where there are few roads anyway).

Aside from the maps, the atlas includes descriptions of every region of North America (Mexico is treated as one region, and Canada as two). These are really interesting, and they get the wanderlust flowing. There are also descriptions and pictures of all the major US national parks, a handy mileage chart that includes lots of cities, city/population indexes organized by state, and a comprehensive and balanced list of scenic drives around the country.

A Natural History of Trees is a compilation of a rich resource of material on native U.S. Trees. While you'll do better with a Peterson's Field Guide for identification, I don't think you'll find more fun.

Grouped by Family(beginning with Pines and ending with the Ashes) the stories are king here. Just pick your favorite tree and sit back and enjoy. The history of the White Pine, for example, seems almost mythic in its sheer height and size back in colonial days. It very well helped build near most of colonial America, too!

From White Pine to White Oak to Redbud to Sycamore, this is a fascinating and informative read. There is an index of both scientific and common names, plus a glossary and a section called Keys to Species and Genera (which is much easier to decode with a Peterson's Guide at hand).

Also recommended, Petrerson's Field Guide to Eastern Trees(ISBN: 0395904552) and National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees(ISBN: 0394507606) for IDing and Trees in my Forest(ISBN: 0060929421) and the Man Who Planted Trees(ISBN: 1570625387) for more great stories.

What an extraordinary book. You might not think it possible, but this book about trees reads like fine literature. It is full of stories, legends, and facts about these giants in the earth, not to mention the author's interesting ruminations. Here's a sample of Peattie's writing on the bur oak, after the pages devoted to its Latin name, range, characteristics, and the like: "[W]hen we are gone the rippling fox squirrels and the jeering crows will not remember us; the big dull yellow leaves of the Bur Oaks will cover the paths of our autumns. But these same trees will see our children and our children's children, and look to them the mansions that they are."

Wonderful stuff. In addition to all this the book is chockablock with anecdotes of specific trees and their histories, and how our forefathers and the American Indian viewed the various types of trees. Tree lover or not, you'll enjoy this book.

This is a great book for tree lovers.Though not very good for identification(one of the field guides would be better for that),this is an excellent book for the reader who has already learned to identify the various trees and now wants to learn something about them.The short,non-technical articles cover a host of topics,from botany and historical reports to the author's personal acquaintance with the various trees discussed.

This book and its companion volume, "A Natural History of Western Trees," are by far the most detailed accounts of the trees of North America. It's truly too bad the author didn't have the chance to complete the third book in this series: "Southern Trees." Never have I read a richer, more lovingly or enthusiastically written description of trees. Aside from being packed with facts, the books offer a glimpse of man's interaction with trees and teaches one how to interact with them and respect them. The author's enthusiasm is contagious!

This is the essential book for anyone who cares for the trees and forests of the USA. The writer has a talent, unmatched as far as I know, to spin a tale on trees, bringing to life not only the trees of North America but also the people who walked among them.

It also is an essential book for anyone interested in the history of the USA. Fittingly the book starts off with a description of white pine and the birth of what is now the USA. In short anyone who claims to care for trees or to be interested in how the USA came to be and who is not familiar with the contents of this book is in serious danger of appearing to be a charlatan.

[Quality of the reprint could be better; actually this book deserves to be in hardcover. However, the quality of the reprint could also be a lot worse, or -horrible thought!- the book might go out of print altogether]

"A jolly, laughing lady," those are the opening words of the biography.
The closing words are:
"To be able to share what I have learned with others is a privilege and a joy. Has not this journey been an enviable inheritance in itself?"

In between those personal words, I got the chance to intimately share the life of Winnifred Eaton. Birchall opens the family vaults, secrets and intimacies; shares her deductions and her thoughts about Winnifred with me as reader; and writes in a zesty, tangy language that kept seducing me to read on and on.
The things I learned about the early filmindustry in Hollywood and the look behind the screens, are as fascinating as all the facts about the working conditions for women in the first half of the century in the USA

This biography by Birchall leads me to wonder and think about Winnifred as a human being and also about the culture and times that Winnifred went through in her life and tackled straight on, in her own inimitable style.
What more can a biography do?

Normally I am none too fond of biographies as genre. This one had me enthralled, qua content and style of writing.

Birchall's fascinating and beautifully written account of her grandmother's life is an important work for scholars in women's studies, Asian-American or American studies, Canlit, and the movie industry, and for the general reader seeking a compelling biography.

Other reviewers have mentioned Eaton/Watanna's background. I will stress instead the absorbing interest of Winnifred's successive reinventions of herself in societies that had no ready place for her. Like a brilliant slackrope walker with an increasingly awkward load, Winnifred managed to shift her balance not only to survive, but pulled off one tour de force after another. Her performances as a Japanese-American novelist, as a screenwriter and as a rancher doyenne would win applause from Daniel Defoe.

Eaton/Watanna has become a focal interest of American scholars in recent years. As her granddaughter, Birchall had informaitonal advantages in writing on her. Her graceful, well-considered book shows how glad we should be for Birchall's advantages.

I didn't mean to like Winnifred Eaton. After all, she was a bit of a fanfaronade and very much of a poseur, not at all the sort I wanted in my circle of intimates.

But Diana Birchall's sparkling biography changed my mind. Writing with unblinking honesty, Birchall describes the many lives that her chameleon grandmother lived, from journalist and novelist to story editor and screenwriter. Of most interest to me were the stories of her career as wife in two unconventional marriages and mother to four children. Birchall's graceful use of language is enhanced by her wit and intelligently ironic style. She concludes this delightful biography with the acknowledgment that sharing what she has learned about her grandmother has been a privilege and a joy. Surely it is no less a privilege and a joy for the reader.

In my library I have dozens of books inherited from my parents and my grandparents. We have been readers for several generations, and I grew up with many of these books. One of these books was a novel called "The Heart of Hyacinth" by an author mysteriously named Onoto Watanna. The author was unknown to me, but I thought the book was one of the most beautiful of all the books I'd inherited, with lovely Japanese-style illustrations and drawings.

But now I've had a chance to learn about the woman who lurked behind that exotic nom de plume. I learn she was not Japanese at all, but half Chinese and half English. Yet her true story seems to be as fully exotic as any of the character's lives from her books.

Diana Birchall has done a wonderful job of bringing her fascinating grandmother to life. The book give a wonderful look at a most unusual woman, and what life was like for young women at the turn of the last century. At least what life was like when the young women were as self-confident and gutsy as the young Winnifred Eaton.

"A jolly, laughing lady" are the first words of the bigraphy; the last ones are: "To be able to share what I have learned with others has been a privilege and a joy. Has not this journey been an enviable inheritance in itself?"

Inbetween these words Birchall indeed shares with the reader the life of Winnifred, in personal and intimate detail. Birchall also seduces the reader into not just reading, but thinking about the culture and times Winnifred faced in her own inimitable style, from her life in Canada as young girl down to the years of Hollywood.

Normally I am none too fond of biographies but this one enchanted me, by the content and by the style of Birchall's writing. Full of zest, lifely images and easy to read on and on. As non native reader I appreciated this very much; it was a joy and a privilege to share. Would that all biographies were such a good read!

Rita has shared a true life story. It is a brave revelation of the many twists of life. There are many lesson one picks up througout the book. To look at life with a broad, unselfish view while valuing every drop in the ocean of time is one. Every life event has a purpose, and one must have faith in the way life unfolds itself. Her presentation is truly pictureque --from Rajasthan in India to Africa and multi-cultural Canada.

Hi! I am Rita Nayar.
I am writing a message here to provide an email address to those of you who wish to get in touch with me!
It is rita_nayar@hotmail.com
Please do write as I would love to get your thoughts, comments, feedback or simply an acknowledgement of my book.

Rita's book is about her journey; an idyillic child hood living in
exotic locations, her horrific first few months of marriage, her attempt
to escape, her immigration to Canada, her constant quest to placate her
violent and unstable husband, her carrer success, her wonderful children
and the most unimaginable tragedy anyone can ever experience.

Her story has a universal appeal which crosses cultural and economic
boundaries. My admiration for her has no bounds, because she has
survived and is willing to share her story to celebrate her son and to
reach out to women.

This is a true story of love, abuse, suffering, tragedy, forgiveness, redemption and closure. When I began reading this book, I was not able to put it down until I had finished it.

This is a memoir. If you are living through, or have lived through, family violence, or simply know someone in that situation, then this book may be very helpful. It grew out of Rita's own need to come to terms with these horrific events in her life. She has since also become active in providing support and counseling to others who are suffering or have suffered domestic abuse.

Be warned: the violence that the author and her family endured is graphically described. But it is not gratuitous violence. The violence was real, personal and even fatal for some members of Rita's family. That it occurred in a middle class family in a middle class neighborhood in a major North American city provides a hint of the pain that may be only one friend or family away from each of us.

Wow! An amazing story of survival and sacrifice. This extraordinarily personal story is written in a simple yet eloquent style that provides a window directly into the heart of a woman dealing with unbearable emotional confines in her life.

It is both an awful story of an oppressive and controlling man and awesome story of a woman's struggle for emotional and spiritual freedom for herself and her children. And it is the story of an Indian woman's struggle to reconcile her own identity within traditional Indian culture and with family expectations about her role in marriage and in life.

Read this book if you want to be astounded...and then inspired!

Pamuk's autobiographical OTHER COLORS is an enjoyable book. These fragments or essays, sometimes a short story, an interview, or his Nobel lecture, show different sides of Pamuk's interests and introduce the reader to his previous novels and to the writer himself. If you have the time, you will want to delve further into Pamuk's oeuvre. An especially heart-rending chapter was the experience and the aftermath of the Istanbul Earthquake of August 1999, which may rival in desperation and detail Gaius Pliny's description of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 (Letters 6.20). If you enjoy classic literature, Pamuk writes several chapters of literary criticsm about Western and Russian authors (Sterne, Dostoevsky, Nabakov, Camus, Bernhard, Vargas Llosa, and Rushdie) and writes about a selection of their novels. His love for Istanbul and Turkey come through in the essay "Black Pen", a style of dark-ink drawing of which there are illustrations (this miniature is from the Topkapi Palace Library); speaking through the storyteller figure riding a donkey beside two companions, the tale is depicted in black and lavished with luminous colors. A different illustration shows a scene from the traditional story of Khrusraw and Sirin.
From where his title OTHER COLORS derives is a guess, but the answer is hinted at in the beginning, and has to do with the panorama of his creativity. His words in these fragments are as colors to paintings, an offshoot of his early affinity for oil painting and architectural design. At twenty-two, he turned to literature, and in these fragments one can quote what literature must mean to him. On p. 155, literature is "a deep logic governing the world [...that] we can only appreciate through great literature." Again, "writing -- if you're happy with it -- undoes all sorrows."

Not a moment or detail of life and living appears to pass Orhan Pamuk by without notice. This collection is breathtaking, both in terms of the wide range of topics he tackles and how easily he transitions between what might otherwise be considered mundane vs. majestic moments. The glue here is that Pamuk brings an incredible eye and humanity to everything he touches, leaving little to get lost in translation. Few writers that I have come across over the years capture the texture and tone of those often simple daily scenes more sparingly, vividly and memorably. Fewer still write as though literally every single word on every page matters. Here, they do, in the hands of someone who clearly loves everything about putting pen to paper. You can't help but read a book like this and savor the experience. What a joy--I finished it only a few days ago and I'm already looking forward to re-reading.

Other Colors contains a series of stories by the author
and Nobelist-Orhan Pamuk. He was born in 1952 in Istanbul.
The family worked in railroad construction. The presentation
has a number of interesting stories which provide a window
into life in Istanbul.

As an American, this interests me because
I have never visited Istanbul. There is a moving story
about a visit to the seashore with Ruya, as well as
a home with a lonely man. The book has a very detailed
description of an earthquake during August of 1999.
The ground shook in Sedef near Buyukada and nearly 30,000
people perished. The author describes memorable scenes
on the Istanbul Ferry in places like the Golden Horn,
Bosphorus Sea and Marmara. A strength of the work is
that the author makes the scenery come alive like a
multi-dimensional movie.

The work combines a biography with short stories.
Toward the end, the author describes how a building's
hominess issues from the dreams and aspirations of
the occupants. I enjoyed the presentation due to the
variety of stories and themes enunciated.
The style of writing is simple and conversational.

This work should be on a high school or college
required reading list due to the unique multi-cultural
perspective.

"Pamuk has two enduring loves: books and Istanbul. Often they converge as his journeys through his hometown come to resemble excursions through memory itself." Pico Iyer

I had the extraordinary good fortune to see and hear Orhan Pamuk speak at Dartmouth College about his life, his writing, his family and his books, on the first anniversary of his Noble Prize for Literature. Orhan Pamuk elicited total attention as he brought us from his education as an architect to a realization that his life was in writing. His life was not complete without books, paper and pen, and he spoke emotionally about his writing life. "It keeps me sane", he said. There you have it. In this day and age of stress and strain, as he said "I feel as if I have two souls, sort of schizophrenic". I understand this completely after reading his book 'Other Colors'. Like his country, Turkey, he is caught between two continents Asia and Europe. He sits at his desk looking out towards the Bosphorus Sea and writes about the land and the people he loves.

After Pamuk won the Nobel he was badgered by the press for new stories. He was used to writing slowly, a couple hundred pages a year, but now he needed to have 4 pages in two hours every week. These stories in 'Many Colors' are the accumulation of that time. He was also asked over and over why all his books had the titles of colors, 'The White Castle', 'The Black Book', and 'My Name Is Red'- thus, to satisfy his urge to put one over on the media, he titled this book, 'Many Colors'. This book contains so many fascinating stories. One of my favorites is that of the Ferries of the Bosphorous. When Pamuk was a boy, his father and his friends all chose one ferry that they could identify as theirs. As the ferries would come down the sea towards Istanbul, they could make out their ferry by one characteristic, usually the shape and size of the smokestack. They could then place their ferry, and it seemed their world was a little smaller. Those large ferries are gone now replaced by motorized, faster versions. And, Pamuk speaks lovingly of his daughter, Ruya. One year she did not like school and would spend hours giving her father reasons why she should not attend. He wrote down these daily messages verbatim, and into a story we can all relate to, we have been there. Pamuk tells us about his favorite authors. Dostoevsky, Nabokov, Camus, Bernhard and each author has a place in his heart. He reads them every day and it is because of them he became a writer. He relates his personal experience in an earthquake that took the lives of many of his countrymen. His books are his life, and he writes about book covers, his library, his to be read lists, the Freedom of the writer. Pamuk's guide to the Mediterranean, to the European bank, and the Views from the Capital of the World, New York City. His Interview by Paris Match is a must read, as is his PEN Arthur Miller Speech. And, of course his arrest for his speaking out about the Armenian tragedy. So much to read and to discover about this man.

"In "Other Colors," his first big assemblage of nonfiction, Pamuk gives us several of his many selves inta centrifugal gathering of memory-pieces, sketches, interviews and unexpected flights. The result is a gallery of Pamuks: here is the author of the haunted, half-lit inquiry into melancholy and neglect, "Istanbul: Memories and the City," with further glimpses of the "forest of secret stairways" that is his home; here is the man who so loves books that he wrote a whole novel." Pico Iyer

Orhan Pamuk is a fascinating man who is a writer of the extraordinary. He has taken the extraordinary of life and turned it into a 'resurrection of the ordinary',Marilynne Robinson's novel "Housekeeping" by way of Pico Iyer's"
so that we can better understand the day to day existence of his world. It is easy to fall under Pamuk's spell when he is talking about his writing and his country. I found this book so illuminating. Pamuk has a wonderful sense of humor and irony. He gives photographers 5 minutes to take pictures at the beginning of his lecture, he finds the flashes interfere with his concentration. At the end of his lecture when the question and answer period started, Pamuk would take a flash picture of each questioner. A roar of approval from the audience! Bravo, Pamuk!

Heartily Recommended. prisrob 11-01-07

"Other Colors," is a delicious, thoughtful read and a further opening of the writerly shell that insulates Mr. Pamuk from a world wanting badly for a bit order and deliberation. Perhaps this explains the scrutiny the author received as Turkey's author-on-trial-for-thinking-out-loud and Nobel laureate.

Orhan Pamuk is brilliantly able to bring that bit of order and deliberation to the fore writing handsomely from his interior. He describes his writing life with great insight and candor while discussing deliciously, authors he admires. I especially enjoyed the essays in the book about Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Nabokov among others).

Having set aside a rainy, grey Sunday to read "Other Colors," I felt a lovely, lonely empathy for the passages on book-mania. In one essay he describes dead-on, the odd reassurances that a book elicits, not merely as an escape mechanism but also as physical totem.

For those who read Orhan Pamuk, this essay collection is food for a book lover's soul. One story in the book is an evocation of his childhood memories of life with his abandoned mother. It stands out poignantly among the essays as he admits elsewhere in the book that she no longer speaks to him.

How curiously private yet opague is this important, gifted author. Hats off, Mr.Pamuk. As one of your "implied readers" I await anything your pen may put to paper.

The book is great. There are many stunning photos. The book is worth every penny for just the photos alone. But after you get past all the eye candy there is a lot of interesting information about Owls. For example he shatters a lot of myths about their sight and hearing. The book has 8 chapters plus an introduction explaining Owl addiction: Anatomy of an Owl which has an identification guide; son et lumiere where he talks about the sight and hearing of these birds; Haunts and Hideaways; The Owlish Appetite, Family LIfe; The Next Generation; Predators, Pirates and Pests and Owls and Humans.

I have studied owls for years and this one is the finest book I have read on the subject, Not only are the pictures fantastic but the text is very informative. Buy with confidence that you will enjoy this book.

this was a gift for a friend, that is into birds. He said he loves it.

This is another wonderful book by a real naturalist and consumate photographer. The images are just stunning photographically and from a naturalist's standpoint. Dr Lynch writes in a conversational tone that makes reading a pleasure, it's more like a conversation with him than anything else.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in either nature photography or birds, but especially if you like both.

Chase Hunter

A wonderful book. The large format and abundant photography at first suggest a coffee table book, but Lynch's contribution is much more than that. The writing is intellectually luminous, displaying a good mind and careful researching. Though the author is very up to date on current research in the field, the scholarship is unobtrusive - the text is free of footnotes and citations though these can be found at the end of the book.
The photography is in a league of its own. Lynch is a well-known wildlife photographer, and these photos show just why. The artistry and a technical excellence are breathtaking. For instance, the whiskered screech-owl on p. 16 is composed the way a painter would compose, but the photo still brings out the individual feathers, the half-closed eyes, the long beak hidden behind the whiskers. These birds are so closely observed they show more than I can see with my binoculars in a woodland walk. And add to this the field knowledge: owls are not sparrows or seagulls that one can see anywhere. To capture them on film, the photographer must spend hours in a blind, and travel to places far off the interstate. This book is one that will stay in the mind after it has been read.

Bill Mason and son Paul really get down to basics in canoe and paddling technique in this revised soft-cover paddling manual. This book is geared to those who want to learn everything there is about flat-water and white-water travelling. It's the most definitive guidebook on the market.

This is an almost perfect book - Bill Mason's love of the craft shines through homey but well-written prose, while his descriptions of canoe technique and rivercraft are generally clear and easy to follow. He obviously writes from a wealth of experience, which translates into solid advice without becoming needlessly dogmatic. As a technique book, I much prefer this to Jacobson's series of canoe texts (although those are reasonable in their own right); I especially appreciated his series of river scenarios and discussions of how to handle them.

I would really liked to have rated this 5-stars. However, the production could have been much improved. The b/w pictures accompanying the text are often poorly reproduced, with insufficient greyscale to allow them to be clearly interpretted. Additionally, a bit more editting might have spotted some inconsistent terms as well as other undefined terms. But all in all, this is one of my favorite canoe books. It certainly should have a place on the shelf of every serious paddler.

Path of the Paddle provides more than an instructional text, it introduces the reader to the art of canoeing. Mason infuses the practicality of the subject with a respectful dose of philosophic underpinnings that anyone who has ever slid a canoe onto the water's surface and experienced the joyful dance of boat, paddle and water will appreciate. There are many "how to" canoe books, covering the basic stokes and safety concerns, but this book conveys that information in a form that demonstrates the author's love for his craft.
If you want to become a canoeist, not only do I recommend this book, I recommend finding and getting the video of the same title.

Best canoeing book on the market. Not only is it a great how to guide on canoe handling, it is an excellent read for those long winter nights for the canoe enthusiast. The book imparts Bill Mason's love of the canoe. Written by a true legend in canoeing and wilderness film making.

I own both "Path of the Paddle" and "Song of the Paddle". These are the best books I have seen on canoeing, written by one of the best canoeists ever. They cover all facets of the canoe and how to use them properly. The "step-by-step" photos and the diagrams help teach proper techniques and the text is both informative and entertaining without becoming confusing or boring. Bill Mason and his son Paul have done a splendid piece of work and these books are a cherished addition to my personal library.