Park Books

I have backpacked and camped for years, but when I decided to try canoe camping, I had questions. This book provided guidance. First, we were going to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and that's the focus area of this book. From Roughing It Elegantly, we gained a better idea of how to pack and portage a canoe, and learned about how canoeists pace themselves. I also got some great recipes! This book spends a good deal of time discussing the pleasantries of canoeing to and through a wild area, not just describing how to lug equipment. A pleasant and useful read.

This is the best how-to guide to canoe camping/tripping--period. Ms. Bell covers the gambut of canoe camping, from planning, equipment selection, considerations concerning traveling with children, health & safety issues, and on and on. It exhaustively covers every imaginable topic, and should answer any question any potential canoe tripper might have. We've been canoe tripping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for several years, and Roughing it Elegantly is our how-to guide book. Even veterans will find it useful.

Olson's use of sensory description is a powerful tool in his writing, particularly Ghost Camps of the North (an essay in Ruins of the North). Olson takes the reader on a fantastic adventure in each and every one of his essays. Not only does he take the reader to various geographical locations, but he also takes the reader back to the days of the French/ Canadian Voyageurs, and trappers. Ruins of the North contains work that traces the path the voyagers took from Montreal to Grand Portage, and into the far North The careful description of the Hunting Moon rising has a majical quality about it. Olson is a master nature/ wilderness interpreter that has given the canoeist/ camper a wealth of stories to tell. Reading an essay from Ruins of the North just before one retires at night insures a night filled with vivid dreams, and sound sleep. This can best be illistrated by the Essay The Dream Net.

Olson's use of sensory description is a powerful tool in his writing, particularly Ghost Camps of the North (an essay in Ruins of the North). Olson takes the reader on a fantastic adventure in each and every one of his essays. Not only does he take the reader to various geographical locations, but he also takes the reader back to the days of the French/ Canadian Voyageurs, and trappers. Ruins of the North contains work that traces the path the voyagers took from Montreal to Grand Portage, and into the far North The careful description of the Hunting Moon rising has a majical quality about it. Olson is a master nature/ wilderness interpreter that has given the canoeist/ camper a wealth of stories to tell. Reading an essay from Ruins of the North just before one retires at night insures a night filled with vivid dreams, and sound sleep. This can best be illistrated by the Essay The Dream Net.

A true joy to derail from the well-trotten road from Britain to France ending in Italy. At last we are presented with the more unknown gardens of Russia. It's a beautiful book, well written by an authority and with great photos. I especially liked the pavillion disguised as heap of firing-wood, must be one-of-a-kind in this world.

Since the climate is not conducive to gardening, many may be surprised to learn that Russia has some of the most beautiful gardens and parks in the world. What better way to visit them but from the comfort of an easy chair with garden historian Peter Hayden as your guide?

A former chairman of the Garden History Society and an honorary member of the Swedish Society for Dendrology and Park Culture, Hayden knows his subject well. He's the ideal person to compile "Russian Parks and Gardens," which is the first comprehensive history of Russian landscape to be printed in English. Many of the photos included in this volume were taken by Hayden himself and had not been published outside of Russia. There's a wealth to enjoy in 256 pages highlighted by 165 color photographs and 100 archive illustrations.

Hayden's history covers more than 800 years beginning with the initial gardens in the 12th century. We learn that it was Peter the Great who first introduced formal gardens to his homeland by bringing designers and plants from Holland, France, Germany, and Italy. Today St. Petersburg's Summer Garden, which covers 27 acres, is the most popular open space in all of Russia.

What is known as the English style of landscaping was brought to Russia by Catherine the Great who hired British gardeners to design parks for the privileged. In addition, many parks and gardens were created by wealthy families who had the wherewithal to do so, as well as access to thousands of serfs to do the work.

Naturally, the Revolution took its toll on quite a number of Russia's parks and gardens but many have been restored so that they are even more glorious today.

"Russian Parks and Gardens" is an amazing contribution to the annals of landscape history, and a joy to behold.

- Gail Cooke

This is the most information anyone could ever get in one glance. If anyone has found a guide as easy to read as this one, let me know.

It is now 1999 and my husband and I STILL use this dog-eared Allstate Campground Directory because of its thoroughness and ease of use. Instead of paragraph write ups on each campground, which is laborious to read while driving, this guide simply lists campgrounds and uses a checklist of accomodations. Directions are excellent. We're afraid to throw it away.

I absolutely loved this book. I thought it would be just another collection of anecdotes but even if it includes indeed some of those it is a serious (yet not at all boring) and deeply-felt account of the role of zoos in conservation. If you're still in doubt as to whether it makes a difference or not to try and save all those species that are endangered or may soon be, this book will convince you as it has me. As Baba Dioum wisely put it "In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught." And this book has definitely taught me a great deal.

Sailing With Noah: Stories From The World Of Zoos by Jeffrey P. Bonner (President and CEO of the Saint Louis Zoo) is an expansive and entertaining collection of true stories and informed ideals of what is to come for future generations of zoos and the animals they house. An independent study offering in-depth analysis of modern zoology, Sailing With Noah provides its readers the perspective of a thoroughly experienced and thoughtful zoo-master. Sailing With Noah is very highly recommended reading, ideal for non-specialist general readers with an interest in animals, environmental conservation, global biology, and zoology.

The book is about Zion National Park's geology. It includes wonderful pictures of various features in the Park, drawings of geological features, and good, scientific prose about geology. Toward the end of the book is a geological road guide to the Park. It includes all the public access roads of the Park, including the main road up the Canyon.

Wonderfully deep and ultimately useful. Geology terms I'd forgotten are explained as well as used in context, diagrams, and maps. As a plus, the information is current and sparks interest and exploration by leaving loose ends for the reader to tie in the form of unanswered questions.

The photography of the book is beautiful, also the drawings. I loved the book. I like the narrative aswell. I recommend this book to anyone who likes and enjoy learning about moose...and the beautiful photographies of course.

The photography is very well done. The authors relate their pains-taking study of these powerful animals. The reported observations blend well with accumulated knowledge of moose. My recollection is that this book is based on observations of moose in the mountain west area of the U.S.

As a middle school instructor of U.S.history I found Mr. Padowicz's taped presentation: Seeing the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home & Museum to be a valuable teaching tool. His "tell it like it was" approach was refreshing and my students seemed to appreciate his honest and open approach to the many complex facets of the Roosevelt's lives and accomplishments.

In or out of the classroom I highly recommend Mr. Padowicz's book on tape having found it to be both entertaining and informative.

This six hour, five cassette audiobook presentation of Julian Padowicz's experiences and observational commentary showcases the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt museum and home. Julian describes their lives, the history that surrounded them, and the history they made. Listeners will learn about such contemporary notables as Sara Roosevelt, George VI and Elizabeth of Britain, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Louis Howe, Lucy Mercer, Al Smith, Harry Hopkins, and many, many others. The times and circumstances of the innovative 32nd American president include the Great Depression, the new Deal, World War II, and the personal drama of disability and marital challenges. This highly recommended "theater of the mind" format is superbly recorded and provides listening that is as entertaining as it is informative.

Get all these Rotten School books for your kids. Especially if they hate to read, they will be reading these all the time. My son is 8 and loves all these books and all the kids in the neighborhood do too. Another success for RL STINE

My 7YO son ripped through every book in this series. If you want your boy to read chapter books on his own, this is the way to do it. As soon as the next one in the series comes out, we'll be sure to get it, and he'll read it in one sitting. My son was also a big fan of Captain Underpants, of course.

The best Manhwa around bar none is back with volume six of this epic tale of heroes and villains. I'm not a manga/manhwa fanatic but this book grabbed onto me in the first volume and literally dragged me into its complex story of murder, betrayal, and revenge. Yaki, the daughter of the murdered Shaman Warrior Yarong, has now grown up and developed her own fierce fighting skills after years of training in the assassin camps. She's finally been reunited with Batu, the gigantic warrior who was her protector as an infant, and servant to her father.

The time has come for them and their allies to take the war to the rulers of Kugai who have hunted down and murdered all of the Shaman Warriors and re-written the history books to paint those noble warriors as sadistic killers. They are joined in their crusade by the young Shaman Warrior, Horakaan, who watched as Kugai warriors killed his own family years earlier. They have joined with the Manutu clan to battle Kugai on its own lands. But their plan may be ruined from the beginning as a spy within their midst betrays them to the Kugai rulers.

A middle backstory in this issue deals with the relationship between Batu and his master, Yarong. Park Joong-Ki takes us back to the moment the pair first met. Batu was a Butcher, a low-life wrestler and aspiring to become a Kugai warrior. When his deal to train with a warrior goes wrong, he is rescued by Yarong and thus did he pledge himself to Yarong's service. Now, many years later, he comes face-to-face--finally--with the Death Lord Yuda, the man who killed his master.

Wow! There is lots going on in this volume between the plot against Kugai and the backstory on Batu and Yarong but it all works. One of Kugai's Shaman hunters finally gets his just due and I almost jumped out of my seat and applauded. It's also great to see an (almost) adult Yaki finally show what she is made of and put her years of training to use. I don't have enough superlatives to say about Shaman Warrior!

I read all the volumes of Shaman Warrior. Volumes 1 to 6. It is an excellent read.

This beautifully illustrated action series has great artwork of people and backgrounds are very nice to look at and detailed.

The storyline is great! It's about the warriors and the clans fighting for the ownership and leadership of their own land. There is alot of fighting going on.

If you like samurai stories such as Blade of the Immortal, Vagabond or Lone Wolf and Cub, you should like this series. This series isn't as long as those series I mentioned above which is nice for a change.