Alaska Books

I just returned from a trip to Alaska - 4th trip to Alaska, first trip to Larsen Bay on Kodiak, AK. The first day that my husband and I were out on a fishing trip with our guides from Kodiak Island Resort we passed the islands were the Fields have their homes where they live when they fish. Our boat captain pointed these out and commented about the family working together on the setnets. A day later we happened to go to the cannery to get the weight on a large fish I caught. At the cannery store I bought Surviving the Island of Grace and could barely put it down after I started it. Leslie is an excellent writer. She wove the story of how she grew up into how it prepared her for the life she made with her husband on Harvester Island. I am actually on Amazon tonight looking for something else by her to read.

Since I am interested in going to Alaska for a vacation, I wanted to read something informative written by a resident. Leslie Fields did just that. In fact, I would love to stop by and see her when I go. This was truly a memoir and not just a bio. She very honestly and affectionately tells her story while leaving a written legacy for her children. I usually read fast, but I took this book on a Caribbean cruise this winter and took the whole two weeks to read it. It was an intereting contrast to where I was at the time. I particularly enjoyed hearing an insider's view of the Valdez oil spill. A very good book!

Once in a while along comes a book worth owning and certainly worth reading. Surviving the Island of Grace is such a book. It is a well written and fascinating true story of a young couple who meet in college, marry and make a life in Alaska, living summers on an island in the Shelikof Straits fishing for salmon. It is a story of hard work and achievement and paints a vivid picture of the beauty of place as well as the hardships and hazards of being out on the water tending the nets. This author opens up her life to the reader in a warm engaging way, sharing her amazing experiences. I couldn't put this book down until the last page at 3:00 in the morning.

I have just finished reading Surviving The Island Of Grace. I savored it really. I can read quickly when I am reading to collect information. But when I read for pleasure, I read very slowly. I stretched this savory meal over a couple of weeks.

The richly textured use of words drew me in, while the occassional terror of life on a wind swept island gripped me. The author is very honest, yet inspiring with her insights.

My wife was chiding me to finish, so that she could pick it up. She couldn't wait. For a few days there have been two bookmarks tracing their way through this rich and intimate memoir of life in a world very different from my own.

"Surviving the Island of Grace" by Leslie Leyland Fields opens up a world for the reader that few see in such frank, unyielding literary light. The author's practiced instinct enables her to construct "Grace" out of exceptionally strong stuff. She weaves together the tapestry of her story as a youngster, young woman, wife and mother. These segments of her life take us from her rigorous New England childhood, through post-oil spill Alaska. The sturdy, sure-lined threads of learning, working and growing into marriage are blended skillfully into the workscape of the Alaska setnetter--a form of salmon fishing where the fish come to the net, rather than the net to the fish.
It is all here--and I mean all, the harsh, ugly griminess of living in a remote summer fish camp. There is also love, good fellowship, learning and above all else, faith. Leyland Fields is a person of deep religious conviction. Her faith appears, for the most part, in tasteful doses, even for a non-religious reader such as myself.
There are too many Alaska books by "hit and run" authors, who live up north a few years, then write a book or three. In "Grace" Leyland-Fields engraves all of her two-decades plus Alaska living on every one of its 330 pages. This book's most conspicuous literary achievement is the genuine, ardent authority of the narrator's voice.

This book was my introduction to rural Alaska. The collection of stories was engaging and, as I later found, hauntingly real. Thank you Tom Kizzia, for this book, which introduced me not only to rural Alaska, but to people whom would become my neighbors, friends and family members in ensuing years.

I can't put it any more succinctly than this: Tom Kizzia wrote a great, true book and somehow he got stiffed. This book should be recognized as one of the great books of contemporary Alaska. I look at its sales ranking, and shake my head. How could so many readers have missed this beauty? --Nick Jans, contributing editor, Alaska Magazine

Yes, this is a collection of essays. But it is also a collection of stories, for Tom Kizzia is a skillful narrative writer on a par with the very best fiction writers. He takes readers into the heart of Alaska Native culture, revealing along the way the contradictions of the intersection of modern life with ancient traditions. But that description makes this book sound like work, and it is, rather, the kind of book that makes a person long to get OUT of work in order to read it. I could not put this book down.

This is an extraordinarily well written and perceptive group of essays by highly respected Alaska journalist, describing his travels through western Alaska. Kizzia's reports on contemporary Yupik life are sensitive and thoughtful without being sentimental. An impor5tant book for anyone seeing to understand the tensions and conflicts present in modern Alaska native cultures. R Monkman, Juneau

Tom Kizzia wrote these rather lengthy essays originally for the Anchorage Daily News. Basically centering around locations in western Alaska, Kizzia writes of the people encountered there, the changes that have taken place, and prospects for the future. These are not just nature essays, and they are not merely the accounts of "rugged individuals" eking out a living in an inhospitable terrain, though certainly both those themes are touched upon. The essays are a lot more than that. He goes to the western fringes of Alaska - the Seward Peninsula and the Yukon Delta - knowing full well he's an "outsider" and not to be trusted. (On the Cape Prince of Wales, Natives mistake him as an ivory hunter.) But he earns the trust of enough people to get a feel for what life is really like in this remote area.

His description of life in Tin City, just outside of Wales, is fascinating. He also incorporates historical information, such as Amundsen's balloon expedition to the North Pole in 1926 and the total destruction of the town of Chenega from the 1964 earthquake, in an interesting way. His tales of Tonashay, an Apache Indian living in Golovin, are intriguing. But his portrait of the town of Tok and its tremendous changes in growth, perhaps moved me the most. Kizzia is an excellent writer, and this book is an informative, honest, and entertaining look at a part of Alaska that few people ever get to see or can even imagine.

This is a heartfelt account of one man's struggle to overcome the archetpe of the "tough guy" and to soften into a realization of the power of love. R. Glendon Brunk, who could be one of the men in Pam Houston's "Cowboys are my Weakness" , shares his life with us in an engaging way -- sometimes sad, often funny, always keeping my attention. I wish that every man I know, from my brother and my father, to my cousins, to all my male friends would read it, too. Our world needs to find a new way, a way that isn't hung up onto the patriarchal ways of domination, the raw male energy that , undirected, may turn so quickly to violence and destruction. And here's a guy who was one of the toughest (he admits that that was the way he thought he should be) who openly shares his journey to become open and loving - therefore ultimately stronger. This is a great book about gender issues. Men and women alike should read it, discuss it, let it inspire new paths, and greater connected-ness with eachother and the world around us.

This is a heartfelt account of one man's struggle to overcome the archetpe of the "tough guy" and to soften into a realization of the power of love. R. Glendon Brunk, who could be one of the men in Pam Houston's "Cowboys are my Weakness" , shares his life with us in an engaging way -- sometimes sad, often funny, always keeping my attention. I wish that every man I know, from my brother and my father, to my cousins, to all my male friends would read it, too. Our world needs to find a new way, a way that isn't hung up onto the patriarchal ways of domination, the raw male energy that , undirected, may turn so quickly to violence and destruction. And here's a guy who was one of the toughest (he admits that that was the way he thought he should be) who openly shares his journey to become open and loving - therefore ultimately stronger. This is a great book about gender issues. Men and women alike should read it, discuss it, let it inspire new paths, and greater connected-ness with eachother and the world around us.

Glendon's down-to-earth writing style and his epic adventure story make this book an addictive page turner. Included is everything from running world class dog teams across the icy tundra, to sipping Kava in the South Pacific. Read it for yourself and find out what draws a man to Alaska.

What an honest and brave guy to write this book. Glendon Brunk, one of those ultra-manly men, writes so honestly about what it means to be a man in a world dominated by men, and how, through the amalgamating forces of pain and growing self-awareness, came to see a different way. It's a book set in Alaska, with all the raw power of conquering the wilderness and living wild, with facing grizzly bears and extreme cold, but it's really not about Alaska. It's about growth and coming into consciousness. It's about driving sled dogs competively and coming to realize that winning the world championship of sled dog racing - a feat akin to any great athletic endeavor - was empty. It was because of a single-minded obsession to win, to conquer, to be the best, to control, all the manly perceptions that have the world in so much trouble today. Yearning Wild is about one man coming to see his responsibility for wounding, not only himself, but women and children and the land. It's about awakening. This book is a brave beginning, and it needs to be out there. I - a man - would encourage every man, every woman to buy it and to pass it on. Because it's one of those books that's desparately needed for the times we live in. Do it, please.

Here's a book with the romanticism of Davy Crockett, weather the likes of A Perfect Storm, herds of caribou familiar through Never Cry Wolf, and a cast of sled dogs paling Lassie, Old Yeller, Sounder, and Where the Red Fern Grows.
It's a book for children because of the raw adventure: watch our protagonist shoot a bear that's about to knock down his cabin door and eat his baby daughter (and then watch him leave, tossing his wife butchering instructions). Hear him call "Trail" as he and his sixteen world champions pass the favored dog team and head into Fairbanks and the crowd's cheers.
It's a book for women because its central figure is the stuff of endless heartbreak: a doer, a pacifist, a romantic, a man with a guitar and songs and dreams as big as all outdoors, a man whose restlessness is the stuff (in women's eyes) of pathology. This man from Mars retreats not just to his cave; he moves to Fiji, to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Guatemala, Mexico, and Africa.
It's a book for men because this writer lived most men's dreams. Brunk's woods were not Thoreau-sized; his peace required the presence of Alaskan wildlife which had never before seen a human.
He yearned really wild, and, as Mary Renault says, "Longing performs all things." R. Glendon Brunk performed.
It almost killed him. The real gifts in this amazing book are Brunk's courageous candor in addressing the essential emptiness he found once he realized his dreams. He does not flinch in the face of his paradoxes: he admits, for example - acknowledging a tension that must exist among almost all men -- that having a child was not in his dream. But this is a healing book. The adventure stories are only preliminary to Brunk's more central journey here: the one inward and the one backwards: back to the courage it takes to stay.
Read this book. Give it to your husband, your son, your son's teacher, your ex-husband, your boss, your mailperson. This is a great book.

This is an excellent book, a fine collection of musing and description, memoir, history, and self-revelations of an honest, restless, soul-searching, funny, self-deprecating, cerebral Alaskan woman in rubber boots. As a fellow "grew-up-in-the-Alaskan-wilds" writer, I appreciate her work as that of a kindred spirit, but I think readers will appreciate her work no matter where they live or how they grew up.
Of special note: her essay about the "Into the Wild" kid, and her non-(very Alaskan) pilgrimage to that bus, the descriptions of hapless Outsiders in search of Truth while locals sneer. Her encounters with bears and discomforts are right on, very authentic in affect. Her respectful, erudite delving into the Native Alaskan historical, linguistic and cultural layers of the ancient land is superb and deep. This book is a keeper.

You could live in London all of your life, and never see Buckingham Palace. You could live in Washington D.C., and never see the White House. You could live in Alaska, and never see the beautiful wilderness that surrounds you - and that's what happened to author Sherry Simpson. "The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska" is her tale of accidentally discovering the vast natural wonder surrounding her during an epic solo hike across it all, despite not being much of a seasoned hiker. Written with humility versus the nature that she is simply a simple city girl facing vast odds, "The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska" is highly recommended for any true adventure collection and for anyone who wants to read a tale of explorer about someone who is not so much unlike them.

The more I read her work, the more convinced I become that Sherry Simpson is not only Alaska's most accomplished essayist, but that she ranks among the best in the nation. The latest proof is The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska. At one level, this collection of 10 personal essays recounts memorable trips into Alaska's wild places (most, but not all, emphasizing her own travels), written by a person who thinks hard about things, is willing to take risks, and has a wonderful talent for self-deprecating humor and story telling. The remote areas she writes about range from Glacier Bay to Denali National Park, the vast flatlands of the Yukon River basin, and an imposingly wild stretch of the Alaska coast that remains unnamed. But the specific places aren't as important as her experiences, lessons learned, questions raised, and the ideas that Simpson mulls in that restless, roving, worrisome mind of hers. Early on she admits to being a fretter. The reader gains as much, if not more, from her fretful and inquisitive mind as from the adventures themselves.

As with the best of essays, these are multi-layered gems. Besides sharing her sometimes funny, other times sad or disconcerting, occasionally frightening, and always humbling passages through Alaska's wilds, Simpson writes movingly and unflinchingly about home and family. One of the strongest essays, I think, is "Fidelity," which in large part reflects upon about a troubled time in her marriage and the importance of what endures. In fact home and wilderness - and various notions of each - are juxtaposed against each other throughout the book and that juxtaposition creates one of the book's delicious tensions. Simpson is also fascinated by both the Euro-American explorers (many of them military men) who made the earliest Westernized maps of Alaska, and Alaska's Original Peoples, who created their own internal maps of the landscape while building a far more substantial and lasting relationship with the places they have come to know over the millennia. Both "The Mapmaker" (which focuses on mapper-and-explorer-turned-homesteader Bill Yanert) and "Hypothetical Geographies" take the reader to unexpected terrain as they consider the various ways we humans "map out" new territories and homelands. There's lots more here: the importance of stories, the dangers of not paying sufficient attention to advice, instincts, or the landscape itself (death and the specter of death are frequent elements of the stories, including a wonderfully provocative piece on Chris McCandless, of Into the Wild fame - or notoriety - in "A Man Made Cold by the Universe"); and the internal tensions carried by a writer who wonders "how could I ever reconcile this constant restlessness with the desire to know and love one place?" The essays superbly blend Simpson's personal idiosyncrasies with larger questions about discovery, longing, imagination, and how it is that each of us finds - or seeks to find - his or her own place in the world.

A final thought: I'd previously read (and in one case, heard) versions of five of the essays included in this collection; and I found each to be powerful and illuminating this time around. In short, these are essays you can return to again and again, and take away some new insight or delight. That's essay writing at its best.

Sherry Simpson's earlier essay collection, The Way Winter Comes, was topnotch. The Accidental Explorer is even better. Her voice has mellowed some since her last book, and this seasoning imparts a difficult wisdom--the price of living an examined life. Two of the essays, "Impedimenta" and "Fidelity," are more than worth the price of the book. Excellent.

If you think you'll ever want to plan a trip either by car or motorcycle to the great state of Alaska, this book is a must-have. Not only does provide everything you could ever ask for, it comes in a small package that packs away nicely.

I recently rode my motorcycle up the Alaska Highway and space was pretty limited. I photocopied pages out of various other books, but brought this one along intact.

It stayed in my tankbag every day, was brought out at every meal, and was pored over in hotel rooms at night. I'm also a writer, and my Adventure Guide to the Alaska Highway became my de facto notebook on the trip -- post-it notes of every color peek out from its pages; notes line the margins.

There are a finite number of places to stop along the Alaska Highway; most guidebooks will give you pretty much all of them. What makes this one different is its tone. The authors obvious enjoy both the road and writing about it. Personal anecdotes are lightly sprinkled into the text, giving the impression that yes, the authors know what they're talking about. I learned little bits of history about the areas I rode through; not so much that it weighed down the book, but just enough to pique my interest and send me scampering to the library once I got back.

Also, the book is laid out very well. The font is easy on the eyes; bold section headers made it easy to find what I was looking for, even while balancing the book on my tankbag after pulling to the side of some gravelly road in the middle of nowhere.

While the Milepost will give you every pullout and scenic view on the highway, this book is great reading about what to do, and what to see on your way. The information is very accurate and intresting. In this book, when you look up a certain place you end up reading on and on.

I took this book with the AAA guidebook on my trip to Alaska, read the AAA intro on the plane there and read only this book for the rest of the trip. We traveled more than 2,000 miles on the Alaska Highway. This book has been a great companion and guide book wherever we go. I even did some more reading on the plane back home because the writing was interesting. It may be partly because Alaska is such an interesting subject; but the book is definitely fun to read.

This book comes highly recommended!!!

If you enjoy hearing true tales of wild heroics this book is for you. I read it page after page and laughed as the author so vividly drew me into each scene with these crazy Iditarod pilots.

Some of the stories are incredible and it really makes you want to go to Alaska to encounter some of this wild west dog sled fanaticism.

Don't miss this one...it is very enjoyable. Worthy of passing on to someone else after it's read.

I purchased this book for my father, for Father's Day, and it turns out he has a personal connection to one of the book's subjects. I could not have been more pleased! He has been reading it voraciously and enjoying every page. Dad's are always hard to buy for and it's great to hit the nail on the head once in awhile.

I like adventure books, especially those that deal with northern flying. This title clearly fell into that catagory. The autor gave us a perspective of the Iditarod race that only a pilot could. As a pilot who has flown in Alaska I found all of his flying information to be accurate. But best of all the book was very well written. The author has polished his work. The chapters are all very readable and fascinating. I would recommend this book to anyone whose interests run along the same lines as mine do; flying, Alaska, adventure and the Iditarod. My only complaint is a complete lack of pictures.

Ted acquaints the reader with stories that could only come from being a pilot himself. Having done some flying in the Alaskan bush, I became acquainted with the author and know of his intense love of the subject. I recommend readers also read "The Eye of the Rainbow", Ted Matson's first writing. You will have a greater respect of the Alaskan adventurer.

Beautiful photography of the grandest state. If you've read any of Nick Jans work, you know the text is excellent as well.

Whether this book of color photographs accurately shows what Alaska really looks like, I don't know, because I haven't been there yet. But having finished it, I'm planning my trip!

But I can say this is a great book of photographs of nature. Anyone who loves to look at photographs will love this book. Wolfe demonstrates that he is one of the greatest living outdoor photographers. His sense of light and composition is unexcelled. Almost every picture has a strong sense of line, either vertical, horizontal or diagonal. And the range of light is exceptional, often including in the same picture the darkest blacks and the brightest whites.

The handling of sky is as sublime as that of any of the 19th century American landscape painters. I'm certain that there must be plain blue skies in Alaska but every one of Wolfe's skies has clouds that are fleecy, or glowering, or mysterious. And the light that falls on the landscapes illuminates them with a strange beauty whether casting deep, hard-edged shadows that make a rugged peak look even more majestic; or soft shadows that fall across a brush-covered hillside and create a subtle modulation of green; or the red rays of the magic hours of dawn and dusk.

Occasionally his pictures take on a strange abstraction that requires a careful examination to discover what one is looking at, like the pictures of white ice floes on the surface of an inky-black river or the network of crevasses on a glacier with a few spots of emerald blue in the white field, where the snow has melted into a pond reflecting the sky.

Wolfe is a master of color field photography. Consider the brownish, grayish web of fine lines with several smears of white across it that resolves into a portrait of musk oxen with white horns and muzzles. Or the white arctic foxes in the snow with a bare hint of orange on their undersides. Or the receding green hillsides distinguished only by differing textures with a tiny browsing caribou in the foreground.

The text by Nick Jans is sometimes overly poetic and almost unnecessary given the photographs although explaining just what it is that makes tundra tundra has some interest. However when I turn the page to see just the top halves of the heads of two fierce little owls peeking at me with yellow eyes hidden amongst a row of wildflowers in the Arctic Wild Life Refuge, words disappear from my mind.

Most people agree that Alaska is one of the last great wildernesses and that we are unlikely to see anything more exciting in our lives. Art Wolfe has captured the excitement of Alaska. He has also captured the excitement of great photography.

WOW! Breathtaking photos of Alaska. He captures Alaska as it should be.

Art Wolfe's beautiful photos and Nick Jans' reader-friendly text blend in a beautiful coffee-table paperback edition of Alaska (1-57061-216-1, $29.95), featuring gorgeous full-page color photos of environments and animals and reflecting the contributors' familiarity with Alaska's many faces. Choose this as a keepsake memoir of the state's natural beauty.

Wonderful, fun book... animals who live in Alaska each have their own nursery rhyme that describes the animal and its' habitat. Illustrations are fun and some of the rhymes are hilarious. I loved the book so much I purchased it while on my honeymoon before our children were even conceived! Definately unique. Different than other books in that both the child and the parent enjoy reading this book.

My daughter particularly loves the Alaskan version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" We live in Alaska, and she has seen the northern lights--she learned "Twinkle Twinkle Northern Lights" first. This is a great book

As you may guess from the title, this book is comprised of variations on Mother Goose rhymes with a theme of wildlife found in Alaska. The author has a wonderful command of words and I love the images she creates. The delightful illustrations compliment the text well. The rhymes have the charm of traditional Mother Goose rhymes, but are mixed with inspiring images of nature rather than images of violence (the baby and cradle falling, etc.). I am so happy to have run across this book.

Having this book since I was a baby, I have loved it up until now. I think I always will! The Alaska Mother Goose, by Shelly Gill and Illustrations by Shannon Cartwright, is a book filled with different rhymes about animals, and the habits that they do in Alaska.
The book describes each animal, starting out with snow geese, then to the end with a child, gazing at the Northern Lights. The poems are hilarious and lighthearted. The sea otter floats without a care, the black bears mouths turn blue from eating too many berries, and a porcupine's prickles get filled with berries from sitting on a cranberry bog! At the end of the book, there is a glossary filled with every animal mentioned in the book describing its name, and what it is.
If you want to get your child more familiar with animals, I think this book is perfect. It's very realistic and informational! Humorous at the same time.

I loved this book. It was so intereting to read the author's story of how she decided to leave the US and go to Alaska to see what it was like living there and also finding her true self. It was written in a low key homey style which made it a very relaxing read. It was great how the author let you in on her personal self discovery.Alaska Stories: A Memoir

Kingrey's story of running away to Alaska during early middle age is humorous and captivating. She's looking for adventure, romance and a new life. What we all dream of from time to time. She leaves her armchair and strikes out to claim that new life. Her writing style is easy for the reader to follow and say "just one more page." I recommend this book to others, especially those who have been biten by the yearning for adventure.

Alaska Stories is a personal, intimate account of a woman on a journey of self discovery. Margret Kingrey's story of quiet courage and spiritual faith unfolds in a rugged, breathtakingly beautiful and dangerous landscape, one of the last true frontiers. And yet the excitement and tension is revealed in those small personal moments of challenge and bravery, the private moments when we could so easily abandon our quests in anonymity. Margret persists, and I found myself thrilled.

Alaska Stories will invite you to push through your fears and find your greatest self.

I couldn't put this book down!This intimate memoir takes you on a fascinating and inspiring journey. Ms. Kingrey paints a vivid picture of what it would really be like to live in Alaska; to fish and kayak on pristine waterways and hike to glorious mountaintops. I felt surrounded by the beauty of Alaska without leaving my living room. A must for every bookshelf, for those days when you feel disconnected in a city and long to feel a part of the natural beauty of glaciers and the wildness of nature. A beautiful romance, a tale that is satisfying, inspiring and uplifting. A great read!

This book contains a large amount of information about the trees and shrubs that grow in Alaska. I particularly appreciated the differentiating data and illustration of different seasonal forms. This book allowed me to accurately identify the trees and shrubs on my property, as well as basic information about my soil and subsoil based on the condition and density of these plants with the habitat information provided in this book. An invaluable resource for anyone living in the woods of Alaska!

The second updated edition of a definitive work on the woody plants of Alaska updates an edition that has been the standard on the topic for over three decades. Any collection specializing in Alaska botany must have this: it completely revises information and provides updates on habitat and taxonomy plus offers a centerfold of color photos in addition to the black and white drawings throughout. Descriptions of leaves, twigs, bark, wood appearance, flowers, habitat and distribution make for invaluable study and reference.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book is the only one generally available on the topic and it is, in general, an excellent book. It does a very good job of being accessable to non-experts and yet provides enough detail for serious botanists. The major criticism is that the map published with the original printing is no longer available. It is unfortunate, because it would have been an excellent resource. Another criticism is the very small maps for ranges of various plants. Aside from these points it is a good general guide. Of the many keys I have used in many different texts, the ones here are unique, combining a blend of taxonimic and non-taxonomic characteristics to make them useful and easy to follow. I was very impressed with the key for willows, which many books have a very difficult time with. The winter and summer keys were also helpful for many species. The black and white drawings are excellent and numerous. It packs a lot of information in a very small book.

This book contains a tremendous amount of information. Most of this book comprises detailed descriptions of each tree and shrub that grows in Alaska. Each write-up includes a physical description of the plant (including description of various seasonal forms), description of uses of the plant by humans and wild animals, description of the plant's range (which is illustrated on a range map for each taxon); and the names of closely-related plants. And every write-up is accompanied by an excellent, detailed black-and-white illustration of parts of the plant (most are drawn actual size). Given all of this information, I had no trouble identifying most of the trees and shrubs that I have encountered in Alaska. And I am no botanist.

Includes an introduction generally describing the vegetation zones of Alaska, and a key to identifying trees based mainly upon characteristics of their leaves. This reference is still cited in the academic literature today; and although it lacks color photographs (and plants are organized taxonomically rather than by color or other feature) I believe it would be an excellent reference for the non-expert who is interested in learning about the trees and shrubs of the arctic and sub-arctic Alaskan environments. Highly recommended!