Outdoors Books

We recently returned from a 5 day getaway to Mount Desert Island and had a wonderful time exploring the park and entire Island. This book was an excellent companion to our journey and helped us use our time wisely. We love to swim and without the book, we would never have found the hidden gem of a spot this book recommends on Echo Lake.

I've been visiting Acadia for years, so most of what is in this book is not a surprise for me, but it does include info on a few things I haven't done. Does a good job at giving an overview of the park and the towns located on the island. I have James Kaiser's book on Joshua Tree (which is what inspired me to get this despite the fact that I could probably write my own guidebook on Acadia with little effort), and they're both really quality guidebooks, and the perfect size to throw in your backpack and carry around for the day, yet manage to have a lot of info in them. They both include good descriptions of the most popular hikes and attractions in the park, as well as historical and ecological information which I find is great to really appreciate a place. They're also filled with lots of amazing full color photos, which is great. I highly recommend this book and hope that the author publishes more guidebooks on other national parks as well.

Only used the Bar Harbor and Acadia stuff, but overall it's a great guide to Mt. Desert Island. Hike the Beehive!

I really enjoyed this travel book. We're heading to Acadia National Park this summer and I feel like I'm well equipped to make good use of our time. I particularly liked James' style ... young, smart, no BS. I'm taking him up on some of his off-the-beaten-path recommendations. I feel like I've gotten the inside scoop from a local down at the corner diner. Keep up the good work Jim. I'll look for your book when we get around to heading out west.

Terrific book! We visited Acadia for the first time this year. The author's descriptions are excellent, but most important his recommendations (on restaurants, things to do, which hikes to make, etc) are excellent. He gives clues on where to go for those seeking to avoid the crowds, and he also describes the 'must-do' tourist things on Acadia. Of the various guides we brought with us on our Maine trip, this was hands down the most useful.

The author and illustrator know lots about the backcountry and provide tons of useful information on winter skiing. Even if you've spent much time yourself skiing in the backcountry, you'll find tips here that will make you wonder why you hadn't been doing things that way all along.

This book combines some great humor and excellent line drawings with some great wilderness and backcountry wisdom. All the tips and tricks one picks up over the years are in this book and it is highly recommended reading for newcomers and those already involved.

There are two types of winter campers: those who have this book and those who need it. Perhaps if you are very very experienced you don't need it but otherwise, get it! Allen wrote a short, but information full book, that is easy and fun to read quickly and jamn packed with a mix of basic functional knowledge, extra tidbits that are good to know, and all kinds of little tricks he has discovered over the years.

it is awesome! these guys are nols instructors. one guy provides the incredibly helpful commentary while the other guy provides the humorous illustrations. you will be howling with laughter as you read this great book. my bet is that humor/laughter aids the memorization process. that is key in this case because there are some truly essential tips in this book! not to be without! can't wait to wintercamp this year. they also have a telemark tips book which is very good too...

Well, I just panned a different book and said don't waste your money so now its time to even the score.

This book is great fun. I have lots of winter camping books and do a fair amount of winter camping. Other books may have more information, but none covers all of the basics with as much humor as this one. I do alpine skiing and snowshoeing so the coverage of tele skiing wasn't of particular interest...but I still really enjoyed reading those sections, too.

It is hard to describe the authors' irreverent approach while dealing with serious (life and death) topics, but they somehow pull it off. This is really a great book to engage someone who isn't already a hard-core winter camper...so if you are, buy it for your significant other (assuming you haven't been able to get them enthused about spending a winter weekend outdoors.) If they don't enjoy this book, you may officially give up on them.

This is one of the greatest of all Baseball Books. It is an unforgettable book. I first owned a paperback copy waaaaaaay back in 1975 when I was in the Sixth grade!!!
Those that have read this masterpiece will NEVER forget it,I guarantee it.
It is not only a book about Baseball or Baseball cards but about LIFE and about the America we wish to remember.
Buy it! You won't be dissapointed.
And...Goodnight Sibby Sisti,wherever you are......

I received the book as a Christmas present in 1973. I love, loved, and will love baseball. I was at Yankee Stadium when Mantle hit his 500th HR.
I watched the Yankees go from a dynasty to the cellar. I was at the double-header in June 1970 when Bobby Murcer hit 4 consecutive home runs.
($1.75 for general admission). From the first word to the last, this is a great book. I lost the original, found a soft-cover version which proceeded to fall apart, and then found a hard-cover that I have surrounded by barbed-wire and rabid pit bulls. I recognized many of the players, never heard of quite a few, but it didn't matter. If you are a baseball fan, new or old, buy the book.

Here's a little time travel for you. I first got my hands on this book when I was a little baseball-loving kid, back in 1974. This book scared the hell out of me back then.

Thirty years later it turned up again, and this time it blew my mind. It's one of the most creative, touching, thoughtful, mildly mean-spirited works of literature I've ever come across (And I read books for a living.)

Here's the backstory on the book. It's the early 1970's in Boston, and two witty, profound, slightly geeky local bookstore employees decide to rummage through their childhood baseball-card collections and write a book about their love of the game. Please note: this book **isn't** about baseball or even about baseball cards (here I'm citing the authors in their preface), it's a book about childhood as recalled through the prism of baseball cards.

This book isn't for everyone. It's for grown-up men who loved baseball as boys, weren't very good at it (as the authors admit about themselves), and were probably picked near the end in gym class when teams were being chosen.

This book is probably best (and most mind-blowing) for people who grew up during the late 1950's and early 1960's, as the authors did. But the generations of childhood baseball fans ever since will also find great pleasure in this entirely irreverent and clever book.

"GOOD NIGHT, SIBBI SISTI, WHEREVER YOU ARE." When I read this line in the book back in 1974, it gave me the willies. Now I just grin.

I received this as a Christmas gift one year and was initially disappointed. I had only heard of a few of the guys that were showed on the cards and I set it aside, figuring on sticking it up on my bookshelf with the other boring books that I had and never bothered with. Several days after Christmas we went on the annual family gift return, a day I truly hated. In desperation I grabbed this book off of my pile and took my accustomed place in the back of the station wagon. For the rest of that day and night the only time I put the book down was to eat, and then only briefly. This is a completely irreverent look at baseball as a whole, and the thing that really sealed the deal for me was the card of Whammy Douglas and the comments made by the author. I tried to get my dad to read it because I figured he would get more out of it than I did, (I'm 41 and consider myself to be on the trailing edge of those who might "get it",) but he wasn't interested. Maybe I'll try again. This book might have a limited range of interest, but if you have fond memories of baseball in the 50's and 60's, I think you'll fall right into that range.

Each of us occasionally has experiences that are so vivid that they make immediate and permanent imprints upon the memory. For example, I can still remember my excited first day of kindergarten, as well as my first glimpse of Three Rivers stadium, as our family car approached it along the jumbled, congested streets of the North Side.

Believe it or not, I can similarly remember my first experiences reading this book, as though they were yesterday. I was in grad school in California, and a friend was visiting me with this book in tow. As he spread out a sleeping bag and nodded off to sleep, I curled up with his magnificent book. I can still picture that entire scene, my old apartment as it was then, and even one particular page on which I lingered in fascination (the Joe Fornieles profile.) The feeling of reading it was that electric, that hyper-engaging.

A book has got to be good if reading it is remembered as a formative experience.

Let me try another way to explain how much I loved this book. When I couldn't find this book anywhere (it being out of print), I directed a nationwide book search to try to find it for me. They did, a flawless hardback edition that I still treasure, and still maintain in carefully guarded, pristine condition. Mind you, I was a starving grad student when I did this, and could hardly afford such luxuries.

As you can see from the other reviews below, this book takes that type of hold on those who love it.

There are three major sections in this book; one covering the sensory atmosphere of a 1950s suburban childhood, one on the baseball card industry as it existed in 1973, and one a series of profiles of players as depicted on samples from the authors' baseball card collection. The first and third of these are the great ones.

I adore the opening chapter, which brought childhood back to me even though I didn't grow up in the same era as the authors. But some things are universal I guess, including the way that childhood memories exist as scraps and floating debris of the odd popular cultures through which we guide our children.

Boyd and Harris's childhood world will be recognizable to anyone who grew up in America -- a world of advertising jingles, cap guns, yo-yos, Pez, and of course, baseball cards. A time cycle in which the kids learn to break down the interminable flow of their school year according to the changing weather, the holidays and favorite activities of each mini-season. And even those of us whose childhoods weren't so innocent nevertheless cling to those small fragments of memory of a time when we had no responsibilities and the world was a fascinating and wondrous place. I once wrote a newspaper review of this book in which I referred to this opening chapter as Marcel Proust in Levittown, and I think it still fits.

But the real core of the book is the "Profiles" section. This is a procession of baseball cards, one after another, two per page, each of which triggers a particular set of memories from the authors. Many of these, if not most, are really funny. But others are poignant.

Not all of the little capsule profiles are about the players themselves. Sometimes the authors take the opportunity to laugh over the baseball card itself -- a goofy pose, a bad airbrushing job, an inexplicable caption, an ill-considered description on the back.

It's an exquisite feeling, thumbing through their card collection with them. You feel the pang of reverence for the Ted Williams card. You snicker over Choo-Choo Coleman and the lousy catchers collected by the New York Mets. You ponder how it could be that Charlie Smith was traded straight up for Roger Maris. You nod knowingly over the author's continual confusion of Mike de la Hoz and Bob del Greco.

The visual design of the book is central to its power, which is why I particularly treasure my hardback edition. One page of umpire cards has a colored backround on which is stamped,simply, "Boo, Boo, Boo, Boo. . ." A page with the cards of Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente contains no commentary, just a respectful black background (each had recently passed at the time of the book's original publication.)

Somehow it all seems to mean something, even without seeming to try to mean anything. And therein lies the book's genius.

I know of no other baseball book like this one. It defies categorization, and despite my poor effort above, it really defies description. Buy it, hide it, shut the door and turn out the world, savor it, ponder it, laugh at it, love it.

Have a good time. It's meant to be fun, you know. Let's play two.

As great as the photos are the text is almost as good.

Very refreshing; especially in the winter and in light of $250 million player contracts.

This is a fantastic book for anyone historically inclined. It focuses on an era- in the context of baseball. The descriptions with each amazing photo show how America viewed baseball as a microcosm of the country. A great discussion book. Highly recommended. An added bonus is the classic, unretouched photo of Ty Cobb sliding into third, knocking the third baseman off his feet.

I have been a reader of baseball history for most of my 45 years, and I never heard of George S. Conlon. I know him now. This book is nothing less than fascinating. The photos are marvelous, but every printed word is interesting, starting with the preface. I could not put it down.

Were Charles Conlon still alive, I would track him down and kiss his feet for capturing in such vivid detail the historic giants of baseball. The book features remarkable photos of the greatest baseball players of most of the first half of this century. Suitable for framing, the photos typically depict individual players and small groups, often in game action. The well preserved photographs provide an important window on a truly beautiful game and its players in an era when outfield fences were optional, and a "baseball club" was just that. My favorite of Conlon's gems shows Hall of Fame shortstop Honus Wagner gripping his bat. Under his fingernails is Pennsylvania coal dust. His chipped, oversized piece of lumber looks unwieldy by today's standards. And his sinuous forearms are testament to the power that we remember him by. Other photos are paired to show the dramatic impact of age and the outfield sun on players of yesterday. Picture Wes Chandler spunky at 25 and then battle weary at about 50 and you'll understand why so many players strive so hard for a moment in the sun: they want to enjoy it before it's all gone.

This marvellous collection of the greatest baseball photographs ever taken qualify as one of the very best contributions to both baseball literature and serious photography. The consummate images of rough-hewn blue-collar stock named Wagner or McGraw or Overall silhouetted against rickety hardwood bleachers, rusty wire screens, and smoke-baptised brick houses; unmown grass and pock-marked infields beneath them; the smell of pancake mitts and hickory bats and unwashen wool uniforms in their nostrils; coal-dust and farm soil and blistering summer sun etching character into their faces. These, I say, seem to me the very breath and blood of the grand ol' game of baseball, all gloriously frozen in time in its purest splendor by the sensitive eye of Charles M. Conlon. These indelible images from the tool of a genius ARE NOT JUST BASEBALL PHOTOGRAPHS! Who can shake the documentary immediacy, mental peace, or aesthetic excitement aroused by the breath-taking images of Bob Rhoads warming-up his soupbone, shadowed by the hand-operated scoreboard at the wood-and-spit Hilltop Park? Or a flailing Tommy Leach squinting a pop-up into the merciless Brooklyn sun? Or Ty Cobb, his jaw curled into a fist, ruthlessly showering dirt and hellfire into a helpless third-sacker? Or muscular Tim Jordan gracefully balancing a heavy-weight stroke of his massive war-club? As the authors state, Conlon deserves to be ranked with Ansel Adams and Walker Evans, and compared with Eugene Atget. His undying images provide a unique look at a time and way of life gone by. P.S.: What I want to know is, WHERE IS THE SEQUEL? Conlon left 8000 negatives; and many of his most extraordinary--such as Russ Ford warming up by the Hilltop's trumpet-clutching "p.a. announcer"; or Hank Gowdy burnishing in the sunlight, warming-up on a Polo Grounds sideline in 1917--have been reproduced in a baseball card set, the discontinued "Conlon Collection," issued by the Sporting News. But the reproduction of these wonderful photographs in the set are inferior to Constance McCabe's sensitive care; and are much smaller, besides. Neal, if you're reading this, PLEASE put together another volume of Conlon's brilliant images!

This book is concise and easy to use. The pictures are good and being able to look up a bird by color is fantastic. It really cuts down on searching time. The colors are even cross referenced. I highly recommend it.

I purchased this guide because of the good reviews I had read on it. I like that you can look up the birds by color as we are bird novice's and even my young children can look up the birds they see on our feeders and identify them. Great guide all the way around!

Well, it is about time a small compact book with full color photos showing male, female, winter and summer plumage was available. Actual bird photos are so much better than a drawing or a black and white shot. So many times, I have seen a strange bird and could not find enough information as to what type it was, now I can.
I gave the book a 4 instead of a 5 because the description did not tell where the nests were located, the nesting materials used, nest designs or egg shapes and colors. I found by accident that the Kildeer lay eggs on open ground, are ready to eat and run within a few hours after birth and that the parents carry the broken eggs away from the hatching. This bird lore is very interesting and this type of description should be included for each bird.
But overall, a great bird information source and perfect for beginners like me!

I made this purchase from the Amazon reviews of the item. It is very easy to use,and the pictures are excellent. Now I know which birds are using my feeders.

I really like this book, especially the way the birds are grouped by size within color-tabbed sections. Also, male & female birds, when notably different, are on different pages. The index has a box next to each named bird so it's easy to record which birds you've spotted. However, I took away 1 star because I think some of the birds need more than 1 view, and I've seen some birds in my yard that are not in the book. Overall, I would recommend this book. The size makes it portable enough to take anywhere, and the organization and indexing make it easy to use.

Very nice pocket book with clear pictures of each bird. I always have it available when the birds are around the feeder and can clearly find what I'm looking for.

This is an excellant resource book. The descriptions of the birds are wonderful & the author's notes add more personal data for those covered.
I love it!

Quick and easy reference guide, coded by color, and I own two. My first one is worn out! Fits in your pocket.

My family loves this book. We keep it by the window overlooking our bird feeders. We have identified quite a few bird visitors.

This is a great little book. Easy to find birds (by color or name) without having to illiminate all the birds that aren't common in PA. Love the comparison section. Lots of information for the price.

This is an excellent field guide to the common birds of North and South Carolina for the begining birder or even someone who just enjoys watching the birds that come to their feeder. The guide places each of the birds into a section based on its plumage. Each set of facing pages has a photo of the bird, a map of where and when it might be found, as well as some basic facts about the bird. One of the most important features of each bird's description is the section on similar looking birds, which allows you to accurately determine which bird you are looking at. The author has even placed birds whose sexes differ onto seperate pages within the appropriate color sections. The book ends with a checklist/index which allows you to keep track of the birds you've seen. Give the kids this book, a pair of binoculars and point out the checklist and they'll be busy for hours!!!

We have two dozen field guides and identifiers for birds - this one book is faster than all the rest to identify what is at our feeder, on the trail or along the road. It almost seems too simple - why don't all the other guides we have go by ... color ... seems too simple right? D'oh. I almost feel like I'm cheating when I use this book - other books seem too snobberish - read: if you are a *real* birder, use our complete guide. Find a bird, lookup the color or color combination, look through 10 pages and presto - identified. How hard can that be?

If you could only get one birding book ... get this one. Or, in my case, if I only have room to pack one book, I always pack this one.

Side-note: The companion CDs are great too, and they match the pages up nicely to the book, but frankly I can't identify by ear - maybe I' tone deaf ... but they are nicely arranged discs. My wife likes them more.

This book is perfect for rookies. The color coded tabs helped me to quickly look up the bird's that were clustering at my new feeder. I just wanted to know a little bit about each species to better enjoy them. I now keep this the book near my window, so that I can idententify all types of birds that flock in and around my yard.
This book is most definately a great investment.
(I love the compact size)

I found this book to be very informative & easy to find a particular bird since they are grouped by color. However, I'm a little confused by the photo & description of the Carolina Chickadee. I've lived in Western North Carolina since Spring, 2006 & the "Chickadee" I've always seen doesn't have the tan belly as the one pictured in the book. The "Chickadee" I've seen has mostly a white belly & has a white streak on the wing. It looks most like the pictures identifying the Black-Capped Chickadee I've seen in other bird identification books. I am wondering why the author did not include a photo & description of the Black-Capped Chickadee.

Birds of the Carolinas and the companion CD have been without a doubt the best field guide we have purchased. I refer to it on a regular basis and find the new color coded format extremely easy to use. It is well worth purchasing even if you have several other guides!!

I found this book very helpful. I am new to archery, and it taught me alot about how to set up my bow, how to estimate distance, which broad heads to use, ect.. I can't wait to take what I have learned into the woods. I would recommend it.

After a 7 year absence I recently purchased a new Mathews Drenalin DXT and am eager to get back into bowhunting. Having forgotten much of what I had previously learned I purchased this book based on previous recommendations. I wasn't disappointed. Lon covers the entire gambit of bow hunting and make is both easy and entertaining doing it. A great book especially for beginners or those like myself just getting back into it. Some may think his stories of hunts similar to bragging but I enjoyed them and if you pay attention you learn from them as well. Definitely worth a 5-star rating!

I learned a great deal from this book. I am an intermediate bowhunter and found the information very interesting. I know whether a bow shop is blowing smoke up my #$% now.

Another five-star review for this book might seem a little redundant, but it's earned it. Don't be misled by its size; it's only 120 pages long, but it's PACKED with concentrated, clearly-written, QUALITY information. After wasting WAY too many bucks on books with rambling, unorganized writing and shoddy illustration, this book gets a place of honor on my shelf. It should set the standard for "how-to" books on outdoor sports.

(One very mild criticism: there are a few too many photographs of Lon grinning next to his trophies, but hey - it's his book, after all...)

Starting at zero baseline of knowledge and experience and no close friends in the sport, I had to "get up to speed" myself to be able to make a sizeable investment in equipment and develop the know-how to pursue a new life adventure into archery elk hunting. This is a serious undertaking and sizeable resource commitment and nothing short of excellence would be acceptable in both the equipment and the preparation to be an ethical hunter.

I needed everything and knew nothing. Like fly-fishing, which is my passion and obsession, archery has a differnt language, different materials and requires differnt skill sets to master to be adequate enough to be able to progress in the sport. Without a mentor but a deep seated drive to excel in this sport I have been like a sponge seeking out morsels of knowledge. This book was manna.

I am still learning; I am still reading and re-reading. This book has helped me more than any other reference I have found. I will continue to use the writings in this book to help educate and prepare myself as I develop my skills for this new life adventure.

Have now received book "Canoe paddles"Everything seems to be fibre glass or plastic down here, it is a "Breath of fresh air" to see so many paddles in their original form, WOOD.Cannot wait to get started.

This is a very well written book and I made my canoe paddels based on the books instructions and designs. My only "complaint" is the photo's are black and white, and a bit, hazey looking, and can be a bit hard to see fine details. But overall, it is a great book. I still give it 5 stars.

fabulous book, covers in detail what you need to know to make a fine paddle, including relative expansion rates of popular woods for paddle making, highly recommended to save your self from making lots of scrap from perfectly good paddle blanks.

Very informative book that covers everything from the historical background of paddle design to a detailed how to on how best to build a paddle. As an avid paddler and woodworker, I found this book to be perfect.

Great Book with lots of useful information. Would have liked a few more paddle designs, but overall, great book.

This book is a pleasure to read from cover-to-cover. The author clearly loves her subject matter and infuses the history of cheerleading with fun and good humor. I especially loved the photographs. The book would make a great TV documentary. Since reading "Cheerleader", I have ordered all of Ms. Stein's other books.

I loved this book! The pictures are great where did she find them? It's a great gift for anyone interested in cheerleading and a fun read even for people who aren't.

From matching sweaters and pompons to coke and candy posters and ads, the allure of cheerleads in culture and advertising has long been evident in American culture, and here is captured by Elissa Stein in her visual celebration Cheerleader: Ready? Okay! From a history of cheerleading to cheerleader fashion, Cheerleader: Ready? Okay! captures the energy, excitement and changes of the best.

The photographs are amazing. The content is witty and well researched. A great gift for anyone who was a cheerleader--or for those of us who just looked on from the bleachers.

I loved this book! The great illustrations brought back memories of freezing at the big game, yelling myself hoarse when our team made the goal, and thoroughly enjoying myself. It's a must to take to your reunion.