Colorado Books

This is just a quick history of one of Colorado's great old mining towns - also home to the famous cannibal Alfred Packer ("there were only 4 Democrats in this county, and you, you SOB, ate 3 of them" - the Judge). Complete with wonderful old churches, Victorian style homes, fishing, camping, and great restaurants and people, Lake City is a must-see when touring Colorado. It's one of my favorite places on the planet.

"Landscapes in India" is a book of marvels, richly illustrated by 73 color plates and many additional maps and photos. Author Amita Sinha traces Indian spiritual beliefs through some 3,000 years, showing how deeply rooted they are in the trees, hills, rivers, and caves of the subcontinent. In turn, the landscape has been humanized and embellished by the remarkable art, architecture, and landscape design that nature inspired. From the many "ghats," or stairs, built to give access to the Ganges and other sacred rivers, to the magnificently detailed shrines that sprang up nearby, to entire cities designed as mandalas, the primal human need to form sacred bonds with the natural world is clearly interpreted through the author's images and text. In conclusion, Sinha takes on the pressing problem of managing and preserving the bounty of India's cultural landscapes. She also makes a case for the usefulness of traditional housing and settlement design that will resonate with New Urbanists in the western world. I've always been too intimidated by the sheer magnitude and diversity of India to have the courage to visit. This book has given me the powerful tool of "reading the landscape" in order to find underlying unity, and penetrate beyond the shallow view of India as another exotic stop on the itinerary. See you there!

Larry Walker has a great batting average over his career. I was surprised to learn that he was a hockey player too. The book has a lot of fun facts. I really enjoyed reading about this Canadian Rocky.

Clinton Miller age: 8

For anyone interested in the history of Leadville and Colorado's mining days, this book is a must read. Edward Blair has extensively researched Leadville's rambunctious past, detailing the history of the region and the fascinating people who lived there. Blair paints a vivid, moving portrait of the Colorado boomtown and includes a treasure trove of photographs. The volume has the appearance and layout of a college textbook. It has been an invaluable source of information to me in my own research.

The author is an expert on the history of Leadville, Colorado and of this ice palace. It's amazing that they could build out of ice a building you could have ballrooms inside of and restaurants and all. The original photos from the 1800s add to the book as do the lists by name of people who signed the visitors log - I'm into genealogy and looked for ancestors' names who may have been there in 1896. Names are in an index, so easy to find. The Elks (B.P.O.E.) visited as a group - I hadn't know they'd been around so long. There was a German day and an Irish day and Bikers riding in. There was ice skating and tobogganing. So, the book begins with the interesting history from planning to completion, but also the fun events and photos of those events are described after that.

Anyone interersted in Colorado history, railroads, genealogy, ice sculpture, 1800s photographs, or partying on a "grand scale" would love to read this book. I gave this book to my sisters for Christmas and to a friend for birthday gift.

Stephen covers the birth of a gold and silver boom town from the first prospects with a gold pan in a freezing mountain stream to the discovery of silver in "worthless black sands" to the greatest modern mines in the world. He documents the joys and sorrows of the miners and their families, the riches made and lives lost. He covers the details of mining - from individual gold panning and sluicing to two-man candlestick lit tunnels to modern corporate production mines. He describes hand-drilling of rock with doublejack and steel and continues to today's compressed air drills. He documents the use of black powder, dynamite and modern explosives - and the risks and deaths caused by their misuse. He tells of burros, mules and electric haulage trains. He does this all from the viewpoint of someone who has been there and done that. He has prospected in freezing Alaskan streams and done hardrock mining beneath deserts and alpine meadows. Stephen knows mining inside and out - literally. This book is more than a history of one Colorado boom town, it is a history of Western hardrock mining and the men and women who loved, lived and died mining.

Three government officials have been murdered and a Ute may have been killed on a remote part of Colorado. Jurisdiction seems to overlap between Federal, state, local, and tribal officials with everyone tripping over everyone else except the killer, who seems to have gotten away with murder. Denver homicide detective Gabe Wager has no jurisdiction so he is assigned to solve the case and end the bickering. ....... Gabe quickly realizes that he not only has to uncover a killer's identity, he has deal with all the various police authorities who have one thing in common: the desire to boss their compatriots. This leads to a lot of chiefs and one worker, Gabe. He soon realizes that there are plenty of motives and subsequently suspects. However, if Gabe does not identify the murderer soon, he will either go insane from the constant bureaucratic bickering or be killed by a murderer, who wants him out of the way. ...... Rex Burns is a great mystery writer, who always provides an intriguing and exciting novel. His latest book, THE LEANING LAND, is a fun read that refreshes Gabe Wager by placing him outside his element. The various law enforcement agencies add a Catch 22 comedic remedy to solving the mystery. Anyone who bets on reading this novel, will win their wager. ......Harriet Klausner

From the photo on the cover I originally thought this was going to be a collection of interviews from only one segment of Colorado County's population- but I was mistaken. The book contains interviews from all segments of the population of Colorado County- and the experiences are as widely varied as one can imagine. In reading this book we get to learn about everything from "The Orphan Train" to a lynching, to farming and ranching experiences in Colorado County. It's a great book for people without a lot of time to read, you can read a few interviews, and later when you find another quiet moment, you can read a few more. I love all the photos too! Patsy Craven put together a jewel of Texas History, one any collector of Texas History books should have.

From damage by fire or water to handling the emotional impact of library systems which come to a crashing halt, this provides the working librarian with a structure for planning for possible library disasters. Chapters cover the basics of handling damaged collections and systems, and provide excellent depth and detail on the recovery options and solutions to common problems.

Great book on a great American. Our lives are so easy now days. Read this and you can appreciate this!