Outdoors Books

This was a very useful book and I keep it inside a hunting back pack at all times. This book is definitely worth adding to your canine related library. Along with a quality first aid kit!

Being a nurse, I take the proverbial "be prepared" to extremes, but when you are camping hundreds of miles away from the nearest emergency health care facility, you must be educated to handle most emergencies of your family members.

Well, DON"T FORGET THE DOG

We just adopted a wonderful black labrador, and being a busy outdoor kind of family I needed a concise, handy, well rounded emergency care manual for my little boy, Abbott. I researched and decided on this pocket field guide that is perfect for carrying on your outdoor excursions. I am pleased with the content and find the directions easy to follow, even for a lay person uneducated in medicine.

Hopefully, my dog will never need emergent care, but I feel better knowing and gathering the knowledge needed to be there for him if the need becomes reality. Buy this book and put together a first aid kit for your dog. His life could depend on it.

I've reviewed many first aid books in my search. This is the clearest, most practical canine first aid book I've found. Most books read "take dog to nearest vet", this isn't always possible and this book covers what to do in those situations using clear text and precise pictures. Essential for anyone who takes their dog anywhere (even those dogs who just go to the park and back), but essential for dogs who go hiking, camping, travelling, kayaking, etc with their humans; anywhere you wouldn't be able to reach a vet within 20 minutes. Keep one in your car's glove box, the dog's backpack (along with a portable first aid kit), and one at home.

This is excellent to have for emergencies and general knowledge of what to do when an injury occurs. Very usefull!

No home movies, no photo albums, no old songs warm myheart more than traveling through New England to some of the very places described in this book. That's where my memories lie. That's where my father took me, and his father before that.

And while I have moved away, there are two great reminders of a childhood that I can only describe as ecstatic. A picture on my wall of E.B. White. And Hickoff & Plumley's book about the best places to fish. Some I've been to. Some I was taken to by these authors.

For those of you who are not as nostaglic and wistful about New England, let me with all honesty say that this book will serve as a superb and practical guidebook. And for those who have a little something more connected to the region, this book is a blueprint for irreplacable memories.

And damned good fishing spots and tips.

I had the pleasure of attending a seminar by Steve Hickoff last winter. I bought this book from him at the seminar, and have used it a lot more than I ever thought I would. My family and I were on vacation at Sebago Lake in Maine recently, and the information in the book on Sebago Lake, the Crooked River, and the Presumpscott River was invaluable. The maps of the Crooked and Presumpscott rivers especially allowed me to get up early, get to a good fishing spot, and even catch a couple of fish (all before the rest of the family even knew I had gone fishing). I really like the Crooked River, it has become one of my favorites. As an earlier reviewer stated, this book gives you the information to get to the good spots, without wasting a lot of time driving around. The book also provided information on what sections of the rivers were fly fishing only, and the local regulations for taking trout and salmon. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who plans on doing any fly fishing in Maine, NH, and Vermont.

FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF VERMONT TO THE ALLAGASH IN MAINE TO SEACOAST OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. HICKOFF AND PLUMNEY KNOW WERE IT'S AT. FROM THEORY TO FLIES TO PRACTICAL INFO. THEY NOT ONLY TALK THE TALK, THEY WALK THE WALK. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANY FLY FISHERMAN RATHER A BEGINNER OR A EXPERT. TIGHT LINES, STEVE, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

I travel around New England regularly and usually have a fly rod in my car. It is always frustrating when I have a couple of hours of free time and I spend it trying to figure out where to fish instead of spending it fishing. This book has all you need to know to find a spot and catch (and hopefully release) some fish. Unlike some books the authors don't limit themselves to only one kind of fish or claim that every spot they talk about is going to rival the best place you've ever fished. Highly recommended for anyone who gets the privilege of fishing in New England!

My husband and I have been using this book for a few years and it's wonderful. We live in San Diego County and have done 4 of the hikes in the San Diego chapter. We had trouble finding Barker Valley Falls and Los Penasquitos Falls. We were able to find Cedar Creek Falls (in early 2008), Three Sisters Falls (in early 2007), Cottonwood Creek Falls (in late 2005), Kitchen Creek Falls (in early 2007). The area around Cedar Creek Falls was burned in the Southern California wildfires of 2007 but the waterfall was still very impressive. We drive a Toyota Prius and it was a little nerveracking driving the dirt road to the Cedar Creek Falls trail head but we made it ok.

Although this book is in lackluster black and white and not all chapters have waterfall photos, Brown's descriptions have spunk and her maps are adequate enough to get oriented (though you'll still want to supplement them with Topo! maps).

Even when we're not out in the field, I sometimes catch myself reading chapters in this book spontaneously because of how entertaining and well-written the text is. Indeed, it's easy to lose yourself and envision yourself on the trail through Brown's words eye descriptions.

My wife and I have used this book since 2000 or 2001 visiting about a third of the waterfalls listed within. And we still consult it to visit the state's waterfalls to this day.

We also own other California Waterfall books, and I'd have to say Brown's book is by far the most thorough, useful, and professionally done.

What a wonderful book! Each trail is carefully researched to lead you to an exquisite waterfall. What a treat! You can tell the care that this author takes in researching her material, in hiking each trail, in ensuring that you, too, discover the wonder of waterfalls.

A great gift! Or buy one for yourself.

Just last weekend I went to Monrovia Canyon Falls. Record rainfall this year (2005) has put an end to a multiyear drought and the streams are flowing nicely. The falls in Monrovia Canyon were stunning, and I found myself simply sitting beside them enjoying their wonderful music. This for me is the ultimate in hiking. If you feel the same way, be sure to pick up the new edition of California Waterfalls.

The author, Ann Marie Brown, is arguably the best outdoor writer in California. I have gradually adopted her philosophy that dayhikers enjoy "more smiles per mile" than backpackers as my own. Her approach is always to provide the maximum scenic return for any hike she includes in one of her many guides. And, while there are several outdoor writers producing "peak guides" she is the only one with a waterfall guide. It is a joy to read and even more fun to hike. The main change in the new edition is that hikes are organized now by the same geographic scheme used in California Hiking, a book Brown co-authors with Tom Stienstra. Photos are somewhat sharper as well. I've personally hiked to about 30 of the more than 200 waterfalls she describes and have never been disappointed. You won't be either.

Have you ever wanted to explore an isolated beach, or walk among towering redwoods, or experience a close encounter with wild tule elk? These things are within the realm of just about any fit person, and with far less effort than one might imagine. Ann Marie Brown's 'Easy Hiking in Northern California' is just that; a guide to fabulous wilderness experiences with minimal effort.

This book has a lot to recommend it. Ms. Brown divides Northern California into 8 separate sections and describes numerous hikes in each area. In addition to local history and natural features, Brown also provides careful directions to each trailhead and a detailed description of the route. Lots of black and white photographs accentuate the text and give the reader an idea of what to expect. An "options" heading describes how readers can further explore the trailhead area.

I just love this approach to hiking. The vast majority of trails in this guide are one to three miles long. If you want more of a workout, you can usually combine two or more of the 111 trips listed in a day. On a recent visit to Point Reyes National Seashore, I planned my day around this book. I have no regrets. My vacation was wonderful and this book will be my first resource on other trips to Northern California.

We love to hike and found this book to be fun and easy to read. The directions to the hikes are very precise and clear. We just bought the book and have already gone on three of the hikes.

Me and my family love to hike and evey weekend we are always trying out new places. When trying out new trails we had no idea what to expect. But now with this book we are able to find great trails with beautiful backdrops, and have a good idea of whats instore for us. We always have a good idea where we are going for the weekend and we know what to expect. I hope this book will help you as much as it has helped me and my family.

I bought this book after our daughter was born, to serve as a guide to the great outdoors. The book delivered on its promise, we went on two or three hikes in Yosemite valley with our 3 year old daughter. The descriptions in the book helped us pick the hikes and the directions to the trailhead were very helpful. I have also tried several hikes in the San Franciso bay area and always found the directions to reach the trailhead very helpful.

This book is a good introduction to Foil fencing. It does have some dated pictures but the information given still serves favorably for the new foil fencer. It should be clear this book should be used in addition to current lessons being taken to be able to extract the information correctly.

A simple and complete introduction to the sport. The text is a little dated but still accurate. Probably the best introductory book for the money.

This is a clearly written basic introduction to Olympic-style sport foil fencing, with good illustrations. It is much more readable than most others, and is written for a U.S. audience. Foil is the weapon most often used to teach beginners, and though I am a sabre fencer I found this book very useful during my first year.

A REVIEW BY NICK EVANGELISTA:

This book has been around for quite a while, and for good reason. It is a fine, basic volume on fencing. I recommend it.

My husband loves this book. There are recipes to fry anything you can think of -- candy bars, twinkies. Then there are the old stand-bys: churros, fried ice cream. He took it to work, and all the guys loved flipping through it.

My husband got me this cookbook as a holiday gift to complement the fryer he got me last year. We've been successfully enjoying the fryer, so far, but this book takes it to another level.

I've only made one recipe (Fry-Grilled Pork), but that one was a HUGE hit. We had friends over; one ONLY eats pasta with red sauce; she not only ate the pork, but loved it.

I've read through the book and look forward to making more of Rick's recipes. I'm hungry now!

There are some awsome recipes in here, including one for believe it or not, fried oreo cookies. There are useful frying tips too which I won't give away so as not to spoil the book.

I almost gave it four stars for not having any nutritional information on the recipes, but it's obvioulsy not a sin not to include it, I hope he does in a second edition however.

Like the title indicates, it has recipes for most anything you can think of frying. It also provides good information on the basics of safe frying and oil selection. I've found the general cooking times it suggests quite helpful for experimenting outside of recipes. The only problem I have is the unique names for common dishes makes finding the recipes a little challenging, but is not a big deal.

The author of this book is a dear friend of mine. I am glad to see his work get published.

the pomes were very ,very excellent i enjoyed reading them i didnt think anyone could write poems about your guys ..who are vetrens its like nobody remembers them at all no better time to write them than now with it being vetrens day today . i think people should read his book of poems he is a very good writter.im going to order 2 of his books one for me and one for my mother for christmas she would enjoy reading something like that. darlene

This is an excellent semi-autobiography, told in the form of poetry. The stories are very vivid and full of feeling and emotion. The book is very involving and makes you feel what the author felt as he survived abuse and grew to adulthood.

I recommend the book to anybody that loves poetry. I think I found the next Neruda!

This is a book that will tug at your heartstrings. I found myself turning the pages feeling the authors pain, joy and sadness.

This is a unique style of writing, and maybe it would have worked well for a novel, but the author told it the way he felt it, and the poetry works in conveying what he wanted to say! I recommend it to anyone that has been in a similiar situation and hope that it can help then understand what they have been through, and maybe help them resolve their past.

The only down side to the book is that I would have liked to read more. There are only 97 pages of actual poetry, and the author's own words, which I found to be very profound. Maybe the author's next book will be longer. I look forward to reading more of his work.

How to articles written by woodsman not salesmen. Most magazines tell hunting stories where the hunter was using some guide service which finds the game and setup the Writer to bag his trophy, usually for the free advertising. Then this hunter describes his "tools" that enabled him to take the animal. Amazingly the article is followed by two or three pages of ads selling these very "tools". Fur, Fish, Game doesn't try to sell all these unnecessary items with each article. Just good honest woodsman skills. A very refreshing, down to earth magazine thats been around since the turn of the century. I highly recommend it for those who want skills and not "gadgets".

This is NOT just a trapping magazine. It has articles of interest to anyone interested in woodsmanship. I started reading FFG back in the 60's as a farm boy. Many a stormy winter's day was spend with my nose buried in a FFG magazine, learning things that I could apply as soon as I got back outdoors. Aimed more toward the rural, blue collar, and real woodsman segment of outdoor magazine readers. Very practical, useful stuff that won't cost you an arm and a leg to implement, and won't take a Ph.D to understand. I love this magazine.

Most people think that this magazine limits itself to the wild fur trapping industry but they are wrong. Although a good portion of the stories and departments focus on trapping, the excellent fishing, hunting and shooting articles should NOT be overlooked. I find this magazine to be much more appropriate for the average American and Canadian outdoors person. Several do-it-yourself features and inexpensive alternatives give this magazine a realistic touch. Most other magazines seem to cater to whoever advertises on their pages but FFG seems to care about the readers success. If I had to choose only one outdoor sporting magazine this would be it!

Fur Fish and Game is one of my favorite outdoor magazines. Between the helpful hints, articles on game you can actually hunt, and their very readable articles, it's a bargain.

The magazine reminds me of a simpler time both in my life and in America. It's a piece of Americana, and I'm amazed the magazine has remained true to it roots over the years. Even though my life has gotten much busier over the years, this is one magazine I look forward to reading.

I have almost finished building the summerhouse in Garden Retreats. It overlooks a bay where swan , ducks and other birds come over every day to watch my progress. This has been one of the most gratifying projects I have ever attempted. It has been time consuming, but worth it. I have even put in electric as suggested in the book. I highly recommend this book and this project. Once I got the summerhouse enclosed, I could trim out the interior and it was plenty warm inside the space. I can't wait until summer when I can sit inside the summerhouse and watch the sun go down.

When you make a garden, it doesn't matter what type of garden it is. You will still need structure to help tie it to the earth and sky. Whether you opt for a small arbor or a charming playhouse, this book has ideas and plans to help you fill your garden with structures. From practical plans for garden sheds to fun plans for gazebos, Garden Retreats by David and Jeanie Stiles has ideas for any gardener who enjoys working with wood.

Section one of this book covers the basics of building garden structures and fencing. This section covers topics such as planning, types of wood to use, and how to set corner markers. Section two covers garden seating. This section has clear, simple to follow directions for each piece, from a simple garden bench to a lovely pergola. Section three is called special places in the garden, and covers everything from arbors to arched gates. Finally, section four discusses garden shelters. I especially liked the garden shower, but there are also structures such as summerhouses and gazebos, as well.

This book includes directions and plans for over twenty garden structures. The plans are clear and the directions are easy to follow. I have several of these projects on my list of things to do next year.

Both my husband and I really enjoyed this book. The projects are interesting and the pencil drawings are great.In one case, we used their project as a starting point and went from there.

Most of the projects are NOT simple DIY stuff, so make sure you want do do a project that is covered in the book. It is not a generalized building manual that is applicable to building in general.

To complete the projects, you will need a good table saw, radial saw, circular saw or compound mitre saw, a good jig saw or band saw, portable drill or drill press, and power sander such as a 5 or 6 inch orbital sander or belt sander, plus the usual standard hand tools.

This is one I'll keep going back to -- in fact some of these projects are really do-able! My only caveat is that the type face, although pretty, is difficult for old eyes to make out even with reading glasses. Fortunately the pictures are lovely enough to be worth the price, all by themselves.

I bought this for my son who uses his gas grill all the time. It's been a good purchase since he's learned some ways to improve his skills.

I bought this book for someone who told me they would like to cook on the grill more, but doesn't know much about cooking times or any recipes for grilling, so I went to amazon and browsed through grilling books and chose the Better Homes and Gardens Gas Grill Cookbook after being able to look at some of the pages on the site (which is a great way to choose a book -it's almost like being in the book store). I was very pleased with this book - I not only found it to be a perfect gift for a beginner, but I liked the book for myself and I have been grilling for many years. Another plus is the recipes can be used in any type of cooking, so I would recommend this book to anyone who owns a grill or anyone who is looking for new ideas for meals.

This cookbook comes in an easy format to read format and lies flat on a counter. I have grilled for years, yet I learned things about grilling in general that were extremely helpful. In addition, all the recipes were categorized for easy reading and the recipes were not complicated nor confusing. In fact, I am most impressed with the simplicity, as well as the mouth-watering choices for backyard barbeques.

Ordered this in honor of my first grill. Taught me the basics in simple and delicious fashion. Most helpful are the charts on the inside covers.