Nevada Books

We live in Reno, and enjoy hiking at Lake Tahoe on the Tahoe Rim Trail. This book is really helping us identify birds we see around our home and on the trail.

Everyone with a plan to hike the Sierras, or owns a home there should have one.

I use this guide outside of the Sierra as well to confirm the bird species I have seen.

The images are wonderful! The birds have texture and life - they are anything but flat, 2D images!

The helpful clues for IDing birds are really effective, and the bird by color instead of genus or class makes it much easier for the novice or casual birdwatching hiker to have the thrill of Bird IDing & observation!

CHEERS! JM LAWS ! U have done a wonderful job. I can't wait till your next book comes out!

John Muir Laws published an absolutely beautiful guide to the Sierra Nevada, The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada. Reviews all over the country, including here on Amazon, have been glowing.

Laws writes on his website that "[t]he draft of the bird section of the guide was so enthusiastically received (the reviewers did not want to part with their drafts) that we published it separately as a stand alone book. It is remarkably easy to use and is now carried by everyone from environmental educators to back country rangers."

Amazon doesn't allow people to look inside Sierra Birds, but you can see 27 of the pages, many in full color, by searching for the book on Google Books. You'll see immediately how easy the book is to use for everyone from kids to experienced birders. The book actually reviews itself.

And, even better, as he writes: "A virtual exhibit of my work is now on line at the Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum. Enter the site, click on "Galleries", click on "Natural History", scroll down to "Plants" and there it is." You'll be very happy you did.

And, if you have any interest in birds, you'll enjoy this little guidebook, even if you only hike in the Eastern mountains and dream about the Sierra Nevada as I do.

Robert C. Ross 2008

It is always difficult to find specific nature books by area. Although I am not a bird watcher, this helps us at least identify what birds we see around our house. Nice addition (and read) for us and our visitors.

Expert/Advanced/Basic Fly Casting Techniques, Bait Casting Techniques, Packtrain and Camping techniques for everyone to use before going into the mountains or on regular camping trips. Detailed drawings that will be useful for camping in wilderness areas. Special handling techniques of equipment in the Sierra Neveda Mountains and United States of America. Float tubing techniques.

A book for Fishing Guides and Fishing Instructors to teach the basics and master the hand, arm, foot positions, and body motions.
Applicable camping techniques for those who enjoy the Rocky Mountains and Eastern Coast states, and packtrain information.
Excellent guide reference book everyone will enjoy reading before entering the wilderness on opening fishing season and the summer months. Pier Techniques. Float Tubing Techniques for all experienced and beginners. Traveling techniques. Numerous Fly Casting Techniques that are applicable to stream and ocean fishing.
Hand Drawings are unique, very detailed and informative.

Detailed information for fishing and for horse back riding and packtrain trips in the mountains, detailed technical drawings by the author with expert advice on bait and fly casting techniques for all ages. An excellent guide reference book everyone will enjoy reading before entering the wilderness on opening fishing season and the summer months. A book for Fishing Guides and Fishing Instructors. Pier Ocean Fishing Techniques. Float Tubing. Traveling techniques. The Fly Casting Techniques are applicable to freshwater and Ocean Fishing!

This books provides illustrations that will challenge the ability to lift the fishing line with the guidance of body movements that combine foot position, turning waist-shoulders, wrist-hand-arm usage, and eye sight. False Casts, Forward Casts, Back, Roll, Why, Side, Extreme Side, Blind Back, Shoot Line, Quick Pulls and Release of Line, Clothing Applications and Fishing Equipment Handling and much more! Bait Casting Techniques for the Mountains and Salt Water Techniques.

This technical and visual arts will give any fisherman techniques for improving and enjoying the higher skills of fishing and camping in the outdoors. Float tubing, bait casting, trip planning, fishing techniques for backpackers and much more!

I bought this book to help us decide if Las Vegas could be a family vacation destination. After reading it, I see that most of Vegas is for adults only. However, if you end up with your children in Vegas and need to entertain them, this book is priceless! It exhaustingly covers every nook and cranny of kid-accessible entertainment in and around the greater Las Vegas area. This is invaluable information written by a long-time Vegas resident and experienced mom.

Whoever this lady is, she saved our trip! My wife found this book online while we were planning a long weekend trip to Las Vegas. We thought we would figure out the kids entertainment plans when we got there, but this book did ALL the legwork for us. She has a light hearted writing style, but she obviously knows "her" town!
Ms.Espin, my children thank you, my wife thanks you, and my WALLET thanks you! (Now, can you teach me how to win at poker?)

Las Vegas and kids? Yes, it is possible to bring your children to Sin City and find a good time is had by all - thanks to Kathy Espin. With the glut of gaming books, mob tales and Elvis stories it is a delightful treat to find something that offers a fresh twist! As a long-time resident, I was happily surprised to learn that even us old Vegas 'Hound Dogs' can still learn a new trick or two!

Let me start of by saying I am not much of a reader, but when I received a copy of this book I was moved. The honesty in this book and the references are on point. I have gone to many of these places myself and done a lot of the things said in this book and they are just like kathy said they were. I find this book a good reference when I am bored and have nothing better to do. It also helped me when I had company and didn't know what to do with them. I took them to a few places that the book said to and then I gave them the book and they just had a blast. I recommend this to everybody even the locals who think they know everything about this town(I used to be one of them) its so informational that its kind of mind blowing that kathy took her time to study and find all of these places. Thank you kathy for a wonderful book and I hope there are many more to come.

As a single mother of 3 adolescent kids, this book was a godsend! I was able to find all kinds of fun things for them to do while I was enjoying myself in Las Vegas. I love the organization of the book and all the "local" tips. It is apparent that the author is a long-time resident of Las Vegas and that she has kids herself. The suggested activities are fun and wholesome, which I was worried about. I didn't know if there would be "wholesome" things for my kids to do in Las Vegas until I read this book! Thanks Ms. Espin for all the advice!

Being a native Las Vegas, I knew Frank Wright very well.
We worked together on many historic preservation projects.
He has done a fine job in telling many classic stories and also some little known facts and stories.
A "keeper" for those who are interested the real stories of Las Vegas.

Finally a Las Vegas history book for everyone! Frank Wright's "Nevada Yesterday's" is the history of Las Vegas publication, that reads as if "U.S.A. Today" newspaper had commissioned the book.

Educational and entertaining reporting of the big stories from Las Vegas's past, the book reads well with great photography and graphics.

I really enjoyed the world timeline segments, that put Las Vegas history into a larger perspective.

One of the greatest services "Nevada Yesreday's" provides the reader is the contrast between the myth-Las Vegas and the REAL history that is often better than the Hollywood version.

"Nevada Yesterdays" provides a new look at Las Vegas history, from debunking the myth of Bugsy Siegel as the town's founder, to uncovering the colorful characters such as Sheriff Sam Gay, who was fired for the first time in 1910 for taking prisoners from the sweltering tin jail and tying them to a shady tree by the creek. Other gems include stories about the marriage of "Whataman" Hudson and Ma Kennedy; Tony Cornero, who built several casino and died at the craps table; the coming of Howard Hughes and what it did for Las Vegas; and much more. The pieces are filled with humor, unexpected details and above all, solid historical facts. A must read!

frank wright's 'nevada yesterdays' is a wonderful book, full of short historical essays on our much misunderstood state. wright was a good man, a good historian, and a good writer--his book reflects all these qualities. i wish i'd written it. i wish i could have!

For many years the late Frank Wright entertained the people of Las Vegas with his stories of early Nevada. For the first time his stories have been put together in Nevada Yesterdays, from the story of Whiskey Pete to the fairy tale character of the elusive nude Eve of Paradise Valley. A wonderful compilation of his beloved radio shows, Nevada Yesterdays brings the history of America's most original town to life.

the descriptions of the route are great, but they're mixed in with a semi-narrative about the landscape, flora and fauna. not very easy to pick out the relevant bits when you're route-finding.

the addition of the maps in the back are meant as a convenience, and while i realize that this is a ROUTE and not a TRAIL, it would be more convenient if the maps had a general indication of the route path described. at the very least, it should label by name, all the lakes, peaks and passes described.

the book is also a bit heavy for a long haul, so i found myself tearing out the what i no longer needed wtih each resupply.

i give steve roper total props for exploring, discovering and sharing this route... and expecially for going back and updating it a few years on.

Backpacker Magazine Editor, Steve Howe did this route in 2006 and made daily podcasts which can be downloaded free on iTunes. i found his route descriptions and waypoints to be a perfect complement to this book.

my attempt to do the route in it's entirety got cut short with a shoulder injury only 5 days in. though i was able to finish up by detouring for another three weeks on the john muir trail, the SHR definitely requires 4 limbs. i'd recommend attempting it later in the season (August/September) to avoid the snow fields at high altitude on the north facing passes (i dislocated my shoulder when i lost my footing on a steep snow-covered face). i'd also recommend using a PLB or Spot Satellite Messenger with GPS Tracking even if you're not traveling solo. i didn't see another person for the first 8 days of this trip, and only then it was because i was on the heavily trafficked JMT.

My girlfriend and I recently took some of Ropers advice on a Mt. Conness Loop 5 day hike in Yosemite. It was an increadible trip. Roper gives just enough hints to get you there but few enough to make it still feel like exploring. Be advised however when he referes a section of your hike as 'adventurous' or 'exciting' he means it. We pushed ourselves to the physical and mental limit on this trip.

A FANTASTIC book about an awesome wilderness area! This is a must do hiking trail for me. I bought my brother this same book and I'm already planning our hike.

This book outlines a magnificent experience following an off-trail, higher version of the Muir Trail through the High Sierra. We have followed most of Roper's route over several years: sometimes we thought we were lost or overwhelmed, but it always turned out fine, and usually excellent. He treads a fine line between complete instructions that would allow no mistakes, and an experience that gives the hiker their own opportunity for route-finding, discovery, and growth. This is one of our favorite books, and we keep an intact copy plus another one torn apart for each journey and sometimes given away to people met along the way who need it. We still travel the trail some of the time, but genuinely value this alternative farther away from the crowds.

This book is the ideal companion for everyone who likes walking off-trail on uneven terrain with a heavy pack. We used it last summer to hike a section of "the high route" (from devils postpile to tuolumne meadows) and it was so marvelous, we are going back this summer for another section. Roper gives exactly the amount of indications needed for a successful trip, although some experience in off-trail mountain-hiking is required. The high route is not trivial, even if no technical climbing is involved. The only thing: for most people it doesn't matter to have a single connected route. It would be nice to have other (shorter) routes in the same style, which are not necessarily connected. Maybe in another book? I don't know of anything comparable.

Ruth Farley is a rock. She is stubborn. She is strong. She is self-centered. And she is as undeniably irresistible as the natural stone sculptures in Monument Valley.

Ruth ventures West, determined that she will not yield to society's limited expectations and dull conventions for women. She will live on her own in her beloved canyon. She will build her house where that huge boulder rests, the one two men have told her cannot be moved. She will have sex and enjoy it, thank you very much. She will do it all despite the cost to herself and her loved ones. And Ruth exhibits all this staunch feistiness in 1920s rural, tiny-town America.

In Ruth, novelist Susan Lang has created a character who arrests the reader's interest and refuses to free it. She is far more compelling and believable than another female character untypical of her time, Jane Smiley's Lidie of The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton. And she is as intriguing as Kate Horsley's Sara Franklin, another young woman who travels to the Southwest in Crazy Woman.

The novel's only flaw is that it seems a little rushed toward the end. But perhaps that is only because Ruth is so fascinating that we don't want to let her go.

A time, a place, a person, a community of settlers separated by miles of miles, a philosophy of spirit -- all flow forth in Susan Lang's quiet drama of survival in an untamed wilderness by an untamed woman.

Lang obviously knows her landscape of place and soul. She risks and sustains the characterization of a woman beyond her time, yet, within it, allowing her to make the mistakes such a woman could make in the era in which she makes them. The core standard of such a character is that she is better than she has to be while being no better than she needs to be, according to her own dictates.

The absolute strength of Lang's writing is her own intercourse with the mysterious and magnificent sensuality of comprehending a wilderness of land and being. She understands tiny things that, for her, and now for her readers, loom large.

The only thing I didn't love about this book is the fact that it kept me up late at night until I finished it. The writing just puts me right there, as if I'm watching it the way I would a movie, encountering bears and cowboys myself. I loved Ruth, too, the main character and enjoy her stubborn ways, even when she's finding out she has to change-which she does in some way, though not at her core. I like the way Lang has her trying to force her will on the land until she learns that the place has a spirit "stronger than that of a person." I only hope the author has another book around somewhere so I can find out what happens to Ruth next!

In 1929, barely 21 years old, Ruth Farley heads west and claims a homestead in an isolated canyon in Southern California, at that time still the land of rough-and-ready miners and cowboys. What is she looking for? She doesn't quite know, but she knows what she doesn't want - a conventional woman's life of settled domesticity. To her this means she must be totally self-sufficient and independent. Ruth is stubborn, brave, strong, and subject to fits of free-ranging lust that she is not always successful at keeping under control, although she makes weak attempts at it. With 21-year-old chutzpah, she has the delusion that she can spit in the eye of conventional norms for women without paying a high price for it, and she protects this delusion with a cavalier disregard for what people think of her.

Part of her delusion is that she can carve out an independent life for herself in an isolated mountain region without the help and support of neighbors, and a major early story line of the book is her stubborn insistence on moving, entirely alone, a boulder that must be removed before she can lay the foundation for her cabin. The boulder could be easily moved with the help of neighbors, or by using a couple of horses and rope to drag it to a new location, but Ruth is determined to do it herself. The story of her struggles with the boulder, and her eventual triumph over it, becomes a metaphor for Everywoman's struggle to achieve independence against overwhelming odds, and any woman who has learned from hard experience that "what doesn't kill us makes us strong" will identify deeply and emotionally with this element of the story.

Unfortunately, succeeding at moving the boulder by herself reinforces Ruth's delusion that she doesn't need anybody. The rest of the book is a harrowing account of what she pays for this delusion, coming close to death at the hands of violent men and again at the hands of Nature, and seeing the first true love of her life killed because she is a white woman who has taken an Indian lover. Ultimately, of course, she has to learn to see life, Nature, and people as they really are - complicated, unpredictable, sometimes violent, and sometimes unexplainably compassionate.

If the book has a weakness, it is that even though Ruth is complex and multifaceted, some of the other characters are rather flat - her Indian lover Jim, for example, is unbelievably flawless. But in the context of this compelling story, I wasn't bothered much by that. I was much more impressed by Lang's tackling of reality themes I seldom see novelists deal with: a woman struggling with the paybacks of unrestrained lust, for example.

True "literary" writing expresses the universal through the particular, and in my view this book may well become a classic parable of what we pay, men as well as women, for defying cultural norms, and what we must do to come to terms with those norms without losing our truest Selves in the process.

Susan Lang does the impossible in her book, Small Rocks Rising. The story is as big, bulky, and unwieldy as the boulder her main character, Ruth Farely, encounters in Chapter One, while the writing is frequently as polished as any gemstone.
Amid fast action and female lust, there is the slow revealing of Ruth's background. The complex composition of Ruth's character comes from her half-breed mother, a strong-willed aunt, two years of finishing school, training to be a nurse---and the will to be free of it all.
This novel rings with the authenticity of place, and of a woman's unambiguous sexual longings. In Ruth's insightful self-talk and dreaming, there hangs the reality of a woman alone. She is impatient with life and all the people she encounters in her struggle to forge a place for herself in the wilderness. Ruth is an unconventional woman whose thoughts and actions are well ahead of her time. Her courage is matched only by her desires.
As the novel reveals Ruth's story, it also reveals a parallel to the male myth of passage, initiation into adulthood. Ruth experiences the trials of being alone in the extremes of nature, life-sapping heat to freezing snowstorms. She also encounters the extremes of the nature of men---violent to tender. She loses her way in the wilderness of the mountains and her own desires to discover she has the resources not only to survive, but to overcome all that nature, and man, has to throw at her.
Overall, the novel is a great read. Let's hope there is more.

One of the most poetic and moving stories I've ever read. Great portrayal of characters and of a people and life style probably gone forever.

"This was the way it was with him. In this first moment of homecoming, all the years in between meant nothing. The day he had left, he was a young man and his sisters were young and his brothers alive, and this was the next day, and he and his sisters were old, and all his brothers were dead, and the forty-seven years in between had not happened. He had left home one day, yesterday, and come home today, and the change was too much for him to bear."

This was a moving story of a Nevada sheepherder returning to his home in the Pyrenees of France after 47 years.

Easy to read and full of descriptive prose, Robert Laxalt combines in this story the poetry of place with the passion of lost family and friends.

This book, the story of a Basque immigrant seen through the eyes of his journalist and politician sons, would have been compelling reading when it was first penned in 1957.

What makes it even more interesting fifty-five years later is the combination of the universal (the immigrant experience) with specific, the Basque sheepherder who came to Nevada in the early twentieth century and returned to his homeland for a visit mid-century. The world described here, at least in Nevada and I suspect, the Basque part of France, is rapidly fading.

A luminous tribute to a father.

This is an absolutely outstanding book about the true story of an immigrant. It conveys the various emotions and experiences of one who left his native country for a new land. Anyone who's a first-generation immigrant or knows a family member that was will be especially able to relate with the people profiled in this book.

As a aside, this book reminds me somewhat of the underlying theme in many of William Saroyan's books, namely his struggle with his dual identity - "am I an American or an Armenian".

Wonderful look at a Basque sheepherder's life in Nevada and his return to the family homeland after nearly 50 years away. Laxalt doesn't pile on the sentiment but makes this a clear-eyed, sharp look at a life that is unimaginable today, and sadly so.

I truely enjoy all the helpful "where to camp in such and such season" and the points of intrest. Most annoying, however, are the maps. Though campsites are marked with the traditional tent icon, they are not labeled. This makes the following list of campistes practicly worthless, as one does not know where they actually are. Had to find other maps and guides to supplement.

Living in Los Angeles, we occasionally escape to Yosemite and the Southern Sierra Nevada. We have enjoyed reading more about this breathtakingly beautiful region in this excellent guide which is by far the best on the region with its historical details, up-to-date comments, and witty literary style that makes us want to read it before, during, and after our trips. Don't travel there without buying this book, you would miss the "soul" of the region, and you would just be another average tourist.

If you're going to Yosemite and the Southern Sierras, this erudite, lively and practical book is indispensable. The author blends history, geology, ecology, arcane local lore and insider recommendations with the skill of an expert mixologist creating a new cocktail. It won't get you high (not that way, anyway) - it'll just enhance your experience of the trip immeasurably.
If you're not planning to visit the area but have any interest in California and/or the outdoors, this book will fire your imagination. I read it in my city apartment and it really did make me want to head for the hills. I normally think of travel guides as functional things that I'd no more read for pleasure than I would a phone book -- not any more. Not this one, anyway.

David Page openly admits that no writer will ever compete with John Muir when it comes to describing the Sierras. So Page wisely decides against even attempting to do so. However, he notes that Muir had little, if anything, to say about accomodations, meals and travel routes, so Page modestly addresses his book to these topics. For the most part, he does a very fine job. He divides the southern Sierra region into chapters covering Death Valley, the Owens Valley, Mammoth Lakes, Yosemite, and the Sequoia/King's Canyon National Parks. In each chapter he describes lodging and dining options, popular and less well known tourist destinations. (I was pleased to find Buck Rock Lookout and Saline Valley Hot Springs listed along with more popular locations like Moro Rock and Badwater.) I would have included a little more information on Giant Sequoia National Monument, but that is my only criticism.

Page's writing style is also enjoyable. His prose, even when discussing the most mundane of topics is often blunt and never boring. For example, he claims the breakfast buffet at Stovepipe Wells "evokes something recently reconstituted from ancient stores on the planet Tatooine." Having sat for a meal there many years ago, I see my own impressions of the place are still valid. But the best part of the book are the many sidebars and discussions of local history. Page actually went to the trouble of researching his subjects, rather than simply accepting today's politically correct judgements. As a result, people like James Savage emerge from today's fairy tales into the complex characters they really were. I doubt even a fraction of historians, much less the general populace, is aware of the degree to which Native Americans held Savage in high regard. Similarly, the story of how Mulholland stripped the Owen's Valley of its water supply receives a much fuller treatment here than elsewhere. And Page's many sidebars on natural and cultural history show a similar sensitivity to detail that is often lacking in travel guides, and even modern history texts. In all, this book has a lot to recommend it.

It also is appearing in print at a very bad time. As Page notes, visitation at our National Parks, particularly Yosemite, is declining. Although many are happy with that, this trend is troubling because these places were set aside precisely so people could visit them and enjoy nature. For Muir and others, places like Yosemite are necessary for the human condition. But with the economy the way it is, one can expect that even fewer visitors will make the effort to travel this year, and that is problematic. It certainly suggests this book might not get as many readers as it deserves. The main problem is high gas prices and these are due to several causes. Certainly the decision of the Bush administration to fund their war the old fashioned way (by inflation) is a major part of the problem. But it is not the only reason gas prices are making "staycations" more popular than vacations.

A reason that gets less press is the change in the nature of the conservation movement itself. Whereas for Muir and other early conservationists (especially the ever pragmatic Gifford Pinchot) these parks were preserved to allow people to escape civilization, today's environmentalists attack civilization itself, and in particular the energy sources that make it feasible. Since the first Earth Day in 1971 the environmentalist lobby has systematically shut down exploration and new oil production within the US. Meanwhile, our reliance on foreign oil has jumped from 30% then to 70% today. Indeed, over 60% of available land and sea shelf for such exploration is shut off from development and this is hailed as an environmental victory, despite the clear evidence that drilling can be done in environmentally friendly ways. (The 60 year experience at Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota is a case in point.) Even "conservation," so often cited as an alternative to exploration, has failed miserably despite massive government subsidies and 30 years of effort. As a result, we find average citizens simply can no longer afford extended vacations. To put a simple number on it, each penny rise in gas prices relieves consumers of 1.3 billion dollars a year. I know at least one "environmentalist" who would assert this is mere "bean counting" which is convenient for him because he is considerably more affluent than those who now are struggling for their next meal. For ordinary citizens, this massive rise in gas prices is devastating. We can put a number on their economic losses. But thousands of people will miss out on seeing some of the great natural wonders the world has to offer, and no price can be placed on that.

Bottom line: this is an excellent read. For the price of just 4 gallons of gas you can learn about the history and travel options in this magnificent area. But if prices continue the way they are, books like this and related internet sites may soon be the only ways to access these places. And that would be a great loss. So get this book now, and found out what is being taken away. In perhaps one of the greatest ironies of history, today's environmentalists have won so much they are in danger of losing their greatest accomplishments.

I just finished David Page's book. After spending over forty years of my life enjoying the wonder of the Sierras, it is time we had a book so full of information and so well written. It should be a "must" for anyone who appreciates this area and all that it has to offer. The photographs, both old and new, bring another wonderful dimension to the book. Bravo, David Page!

Nash is a great photographer, with a clear, timeless vision that you can literally feel. His photographs hold you and keep you looking into them, farther. This is another volume in the work of our best contemporary photographers, and an extraordinary record of art and a place we might never have otherwise seen.

Burning Man is often described as being indescribable, and for good reason. So much of the art created there is ephemeral, lasting just a few days before burning to the ground. An entire city of 30,000 rises, falls, and disappears. To some, it feels like a heartbeat, and to others, a lifetime. To describe it in words is nearly impossible, when so much quickly becomes the elusive memory of memories.

Through Nash's remarkable photographs, we see a decade of visionary work and creativity that physically existed for only a moment. Whether you've been to Burning Man or not, this book will fill you with awe, and longing for the place.

So much of the photogprahy of Burning Man is all glitz and surreal glamour, with a big measure of breast often thrown in. Yeah it's a big party with all sorts of wacky and interesting costumes and bright sights, but the real soul of the thing is the making of the art.

Public art is always a gift to its community. The type of art that has grown out there, especially in its scale and ambition, often demands substantial gifts from the community to exist. It is a sublime and outrageous feedback loop, the process and product of which have never been as clearly and deeply represented as in this luminous book.

The inner cover photo of a box of matches full of dust and containing not only matches but burnt stubs, cotter pins and a spring, is one of the most complete and lovely images of the spirit of these brave artists I have ever seen. If you can understand that photo you can probably understand the process of making art out there.

Leo Nash certainly does understand the process. By far the most revealing collection of Burning Man photos ever compiled, as close to a portait of the thing as you are likely to see.

I bought the book because I like black and white photos and because my son has attended Burning Man and worked for the corporation that creates the event in 2003. My intention is to give him the book; but, I decided to read the text before sending it off. The intro is long winded drivel (and at the time of this writing, the writer of the introduction has wasted valuable real estate on this product page with some self serving crap from his blog; who wants to wade down the page to get to the real reviews?) and the text by the photog is self indulgent in the style of the "burners." The notion that this event is somehow "spontaneous" is what really makes me laugh. A more apt description would be something on the order of "this is my personal journal and musings on this ongoing "spontaneous" event, plus some photos" The pictures are well made, and the presentation with a slipcover is nicely done, which is what rescues the book.

I just received this book as a gift. I immediatley sat down and slowly turned each page in amazement of what he has captured. I cried.

This is seriously one of the coolest books I've ever seen in my life. I've never been to Burning Man (wouldn't want to), but these pictures are AMAZING. It might have been worth enduring desert discomfort dust storms and camping just to see the 2996 "Uchronia" structure-- wow.

I loved this book on American farm life! It is well-written, interesting and one of the best on this subject, in my opinion. I have just ordered several other of Jerry Apps books.

Jerry Apps magnificently captures the heart and soul of growing up on a small family farm in EVERY FARM TELLS A STORY. His youth was spent in rural central Wisconsin half-a-century ago, but the character of the culture he writes about was not unlike that of much of rural Middle America in those times. The book is based on his Ma's journal accounting of all the family's expenses and revenues through the years, but the anecdotes take you back to all the stories behind those numbers. Apps shares with us how all the entries were, indeed, more than just numbers - they had meaning and context in the bigger picture of what farm life was all about. In a comfortable and enjoyable style, he tells stories of family values, the hard times and good times, the honest dealings and fair play that caused most farm kids back then to grow up with integrity and a solid work ethic. EVERY FARM TELLS A STORY is a great read, but it's much more than just nostalgia. In a personal and sometimes almost poetic way, it documents a significant part of our country's historical heritage.

I really injoyed this book, laughed out loud several times. I really enjoyed all the old farm ads also. Great picture of how farming used to be.

Farm values and management can offer many lessons, especially when told through humor, as Jerry Apps demonstrates in Every Farm Tells A Story; A Tale Of Family Farm Values. Tucked into an inviting chronicle of changes in farming over the decades and resulting changes in values and methods, readers receive a fine blend of business savvy, history, and humor lending to light, easy reading.

I have just come across a book you all should read: it is called EVERY FARM TELLS A STORY, A TALE OF FAMILY FARM VALUES, by JERRY APPS. it is published by Voyageur Press and is a wonderful story about growing up on a farm near Wild Rose Wisconsin in Washara County in the north central part of the state. As most of you know, Cousin Tom Larson and I spent a number of summers on the Bergum farm north of Wheeler in Dunn County; and almost everything that Jerry Apps describes in the book is something we did with Uncle Nelmer (who Tom and I still consider the greatest man in the world) and Aunt Selma (our second mother) and Kon and Stanley on that farm: threshing, making wood, cultivating, feeding chickens, stripping cows; old fashioned crank telephones, freeshows, feed mills--everything. The book is illustrated with period advertisments. This is a brilliant nostalgic journey. It's a neat
companion to my own The Reunion. But all of you should take a trip in EVERY FARM. this is a story that speaks to those of us who have had anything to do with farm life. it's a wonderful book for all my cousins and for all of us.

Steven Fortney
Author of The Reunion.