Alaska Books

This is an excellent how to book for the fly fisherman going to Alaska. Each species of salmon and trout is covered with details concerning best time of year to fish, best fly patterns and what tactics will produce strikes. This is a how to fish rather than where to fish book although it does mention many areas worth investigating. I would suggest buying both this book and the book, Alaska Fishing, by Limeres and Pedersen, which gives detailed info. on where to fish rather than how to fish. Both excellent books that when used together will prepare the angler for the trip of a lifetime. Tight Lines.

Admittedly, I am mostly a spin fisherman by nature, but reading this book had me practice casting in the backyard in 10 degree weather. The book is very readable and filled with anecdotes and information that obviously resulted from years of field experience.

This is not a location guide, it is a species guide. The author does give general information about where to find a certain species but does not give up any secret holes or mention any locations that might be sensitive to overfishing. What he does give in abundance is his knowledge of each fish species; it's life cycle, the proper flies and equipment to use and most importantly, the presentation for each species. Throughout the book, he gives a sense of mastery gained from countless hours in the field. The chapter on flyfishing for Sockeyes alone is worth the price of the book. He debunks the myth that Sockeyes don't bite flies and lets you know how to present the fly to elicit a strike. I have never wanted to fish the Russian River like I did after reading that chapter.

I'd recommend it to anyone going up from the lower 48. Even if you are an experienced flyfisherman, this will help jump start your success with new species.

Heroic account of how Russell Hyde Merrill brought aviation to Anchorage Alaska. This book is a must read for pilots and anyone interested in Alaskan History and bush pilots. Merrill was an ex Navy pilot who was the fist man to fly into Petrsburg,Wrangell.Kodiak and Anchorage. He discovered Merrill Pass in the Alaska Range and put Anchorage on the map as the "Tranportation Hub of Alaska" He brought aviation to Anchorage in 1927 the same year that Lindberg crossed the Atlantic.He faced incredible hardships and pioneered air routes all over Alaska that are still used today. He was a true hero and a very thoughtfull and kind man whose mark on aviation and Alaska is still very evident even today. He was lost over Cook inlet on 9/16/29. He was never found, but it is evident he went down and perished in the frigid water off Tyonek Alaska. Merrill Field(very busy general aviation airport in Anchorage) and Merrill Pass(important pass to the west through the Alaska Range)bear his name.In Alaska we all stand on the shoulders of this great man.

Trained as a pilot during World War I, Russel Merrill was determined to spend his life flying. His love of flight lured him from Oregon to Alaska, the far frontier of aviation, where Merrill piloted the first airplanes to fly into Petersburg, Wrangell, Kodiak, and Anchorage. FLYING COLD chronicles Merrill's daring 750-mile journey across the Gulf of Alaska in a flying boat with a single small motor, his first rescue mission by air, crash landings, and strandings. In 1928, Merrill nearly died after being forced down in the Arctic, showing up weeks later, half dead, but still carrying a cup of rice he had saved for an "emergency." Many photos. A great read.

This guide book contains a great list of places to stay and eat with prices. Some of my favorite sections of book include the following: Listing of Best Unspoiled Small Towns, which include Kodiak, Petersburg, and Cordova; Listing of Strange Comunity Events which include Cordova's Ice Worm Festival, Fairbanks' Midnight Sun Baseball Game nad Nomes Polar Bear Swim/Bathtub Race. If you are going to Alaska's number one destination, Denali National Park, make sure you pick up a copy of Discovering Denali.

This book contains a great list of places to stay and eat with prices. Some of my favorite sections of book include the following: Listing of Best Unspoiled Small Towns, which include Kodiak, Petersburg, and Cordova; Listing of Strange Comunity Events which include Cordova's Ice Worm Festival, Fairbanks' Midnight Sun Baseball Game nad Nomes Polar Bear Swim/Bathtub Race. If you are going to Alaska's number one destination, Denali National Park, make sure you pick up a copy of Discovering Denali.

A trip to Alaska is something people wait a lifetime to take. So, when you do, read anything and everything you can. We took our parents for their 50th anniversary and bought this book for them to research and review before going. They said it was a very informative and gave them great recommendations as to which tours being sold by our cruise ship would be the best!

This book contains a great list of places to stay and eat with prices. Some of my favorite sections of book include the following: Listing of Best Unspoiled Small Towns, which include Kodiak, Petersburg, and Cordova; Listing of Strange Comunity Events which include Cordova's Ice Worm Festival, Fairbanks' Midnight Sun Baseball Game nad Nomes Polar Bear Swim/Bathtub Race. If you are going to Alaska's number one destination, Denali National Park, make sure you pick up a copy of Discovering Denali.

I loved this book! Jenny Weaver skillfully uses thorough descriptions to transport the reader to rural Alaska. I felt the biting cold of winter, and the thrill of canoeing down an Alaskan river while sitting in my living room. Buy it! Read it!

Jenny Weaver's new book, "Following the Raven", is a wonderful Alaskan adventure tale which entertains both young readers and adults. The quest that the central character goes on is unique and meaningful, and told in an effective manner. I enjoyed the interweaving of two completely different cultures, that of the big city folk and the small village tribe. Young adults who enjoyed this book would do well to read Jack London's "Call of the Wild" and "To Build A Fire." "Following the Raven" was touching, exciting, well-written, and resonated strongly with me. Familial relations, loyalty, promises broken and others kept are issues that the book, and all of us, deal with.
I thouroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to everyone. I look forward to the author's next project.

Starting with a 36,000-year-old bison mummy washed out of ancient permafrost by a gold miner, zoologist and paleontologist R. Dale Guthrie discusses the events that led to Blue Babe's death and the preservation of his carcass.

That's what a bare-bones summary of this book would be, but that doesn't do it justice. In a clear, readable (but not grammar-school) style, Guthrie wanders through related subjects such as frozen mammoths, the ecology and behavior of "Ice-Age" steppe bison, wild horses, mammoths and even Alaskan lions, and how Blue Babe probably looked in life -- and makes them fascinating.

Readers may have trouble understanding chapters 8 and 9 of this book if they haven't read "Paleoecology of Beringia", another out-of-print gem which anthologizes the work of several paleontologists. Guthrie is a proponent of the "Mammoth Steppe" theory, which holds that during the Pleistocene most of Alaska and Siberia were not covered by soggy tundra or coniferous trees but by a cold, dry steppe or brushland that could support mammoths, horses, bison and other large grazers. In these two chapters, he turns away from Blue Babe to tackle and refute the objections raised by two other scientists in "Paleoecology..." (successfully, in my non-scientist opinion).

I suspect most readers will find this the dullest part of the book, but it's hard to discuss the big animals of the Pleistocene without talking about why they could exist then but are extinct or much rarer in our warmer modern world.

Written in a clear and enjoyable style, this book's description of the discovery, excavation, and the background of Blue Babe, a 35,000-year-old bison from Alaska's late Pleistocene is complete with many color and B&W photos as well as explanatory line-drawings. The discovery was made in 1979 about 15 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska, at a goldmining operation. For the reader interested in ice-age mammals, how such specimens are found, recovered, and prepared for exhibition, this book is a good general guide through those stages. Dr. Guthrie has a long and outstanding career studying the Pleistocene mammals of Alaska, and his expertise and experience in explaining such topics to the lay-reader comes through well.

One of the best books I've ever read. I loved not only the story but the writing style. I am giving copy to my sister which I hopes she shares with my nieces as it deals a lot with the strength of women as well as it does with lifes journy

WHAT A WONDERFUL BOOK. YOU EXPERIENCE EVERY EMOTION YOU HAVE AND SOME. THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ANY BOOK ENTHUSIAST. THIS BOOK WILL TAKE YOU ON A JOURNEY FROM SEATTLE TO ALASKA DURING THE GOLD RUSH. SUSAN ARNOUT CAN PULL YOU INTO THIS BOOK LIKE NO OTHER AUTHOR CAN, YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR RIGHT THERE ON THE TRAIL. I COULDN'T PUT THE BOOK DOWN. WHEN I WAS DONE I WAS EXHAUSTED FROM THE FLOOD OF EMOTIONS THAT HIT ME. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND READ THE FROZEN LADY YOU WON'T REGRET IT.

Beautiful illustrations and a sense of wonder about water and its journey kept both my 3 and 6 year olds interested. We live on a river and in the mountains and talk about the production of water and my 6 year old even recognized that the sea was an end point for the rivers.

An adventurous explanation of where water comes from and where it goes, through the eyes of a young Eskimo boy. It combines science and cultural values. An enjoyable read with illustrations that blend well; the octopus ink used gives a nice touch

This is a truly allegorical story, an environmental Moby Dick that continues to define the organization (and perhaps a movement) that was born of this journey. Bob Hunter's intense (and sometimes freakishly funny) style of storytelling enables the reader to better understand the very origin of the philosophy, strategies, and values embodied in Greenpeace (and other similar organizations), a quite unique branch of the global environmental movement. The strategical use of media, the direct and confrontational tactics, the embracement of deep ecology, the mixure of tough internal tensions with a true comaraderie are some of the recurring themes of this legendary sail. Although today's environmental movement is way beyond the 60s, the book still proves to be refreshingly direct and honest in a time when the movement is increasingly becoming a "special interest" and constituency/donor-oriented.

Robert Hunter died May 2nd, 2005, shortly after this book was published. I have every book he ever published; every damn one of them is a trip to read, like you're sitting in a bar with this great storyteller and he cannot stop talking - and you don't want him to! Bob was a great storyteller, and this one about the first-ever Greenpeace voyage (indeed, before there even was a Greenpeace!) is as good as anything he ever wrote. Bob was as alive as any man who walked the earth. An incredibly insightful writer who knew how important "getting the story out" was to the cause. It has been said that without Bob Hunter there never would have been a Greenpeace. I agree totally. He wrote with an intensity and with great humor, but never as an outsider. He was totally engulfed in the great causes of early Greenpeace: the whales and seals, the nuclear testing. And the last book he wrote (2030, written in 2002) was all about global warming, also a great read. Bob will be missed! I was lucky to have met and worked with Bob back in the early Greenpeace days. We shared a sixpack of beer and talked about big-picture ecology, life, love - everything we really care about. That was Bob Hunter. With his passing I rededicate my life to what Bob was all about. A great guy, a great writer. I recommend all his books - most of which you'll have to find used by now. I treasure his books on my shelf much like I treasure my collection of Edward Abbey books. Those two guys go great together. Peace Bob! Godspeed!

Upon first opening this book, one is hit by a wonderful introduction which creates a promising beginning for the book. Unlike many books dealing with bears, this book contains good information and wonderful pictures that dazzle the eye. The ending brings all but the strong hearted to tears, as five years with Little Stony is ended abruptly. For anyone interested in letting their child read a good book about grizzly bears, with both pictures and excellent informational content, this would be the best one. The reader watches the bear grow from just a tiny cub to a large adult with the pictures allowing one to see the stages of development in a natural setting. Rick McIntyre weaves a breath taking story with his written words, letting the reader feel what Rick was feeling when those words were written. This book has truly made me interested in bears, visiting Yellowstone National Park and waiting silently at dawn in hopes that a bear would be spotted on one of the hillsides. Usually, my efforts pay off. This book makes one feel as if Little Stony and his mother were standing right in front of them, so detailed is the story and the pictures. A highly recommend book for anyone interested in seeing good pictures of grizzly bears in the wild and having good writing to accompany it. Buy this book now and I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

"It reads like a movie." -First grade student "Everyone should take time out to read this book." -Third grade student

Our class read Grizzly Cub: Five years in the Life of a Bear and absolutely loved it. It's a great source of information as well as an entertaining story. The photographs throughout the book are breathtaking and help tell the story of a curious bear named "Little Stony". -Multiage Class grades 1-3 Rainier Primary