Montana Books

I was on a vision quest in my life looking outside and was taught by elders and others to look within and with the help of this Book and Hyemeyohst Storm and other books he wrote I was able to learn more and feel more in touch with the earth medicine of Nature and its often looked over healing power The Power of One "Nature" may we all find our way to a place of peace and serenity within and share it by being.. JG

The Red Road curves through a parallel universe with only tenuous ties to contemporary reality. Storm speaks to the wanna-be warrior in all of us, with humorous vignettes spiked with hidden awareness, as he looks back at the valiant fool he was, beginning his quest before he even knows he was on it, missing all the clues to his personal Grail. (The sign said "Stop", he looked at it, but he couldn't see the message for the word...) Conservative Native Americans shun this guy for letting the cat out of the bag...But for the rest of us waschisus, this is as close to understanding life on the Res as we'll ever get. No matter what your path to personal enlightenment has been, any spritual trekkie will enjoy this guy's experiences. Great read!!!

This is a book about more than the guru-guided personal search for self-understanding of a half-breed, more than a remarkably profound exposé of the life-philosophy (not religion) of the native american peoples. More even than a confirmation of the inner validity of other ancient systems of thought and knowledge to be found in other parts of the world, for example in Scandinavia. This book is exactly what it claims to be: the revelation of A WAY, an approach to life and the problems of identity, balance and peace, second to none, and applicable to everyone, where ever in the world they may live, and whatever religious and cultural tradition they may formally adhere to. Something that if widely spread, and attended to in the right way, might just ... just ... (to coin a heavily misused, but in this context really appropriate phrase)"save the world". In other words, not without subversive, but highly life-enhancing social and political connotations. My advice: Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. And then practice, as best ye may. Good luck, and may the Spirit give you strength in the quest for yourSELF.

I found this book over two years ago and I have yet to finish. I can't bring myself to accept that it will end, so i've been doing everything i can to avoid turning that last page. It's that kind of book. There are so many layers of brillance and value to this amazing piece of artwork. Athough it is psychologically complex and methaphysically profound, it is Storm's simple love for the Earth and his masterful, unassuming language that set this book apart. The characters have a fully developed humanity to them that is unparalleled. Truly destined to be an all time classic. This is more than a book.

This book speeks to me about the inner turmoil and multitude of voices that haunt the uninitiated and estranged males in our society. To not belong, to be cut off from community is a plague on our youth and spirit. The feeling of isolation leads to antisocial behavior, unhappiness, stupidity and violence. Herein is the story of a disenfranchised man and how, with a mentor and female partner, he finds strength in the Self to command and conquer the demons of a disfunctional conformist society. This is a primer on taming the destructive, finding peace and living with beauty. Great insights for all!

Dear Lady, could be identified as a romantic comedy. Miss Bunny and Miss Patsy the busy bodies, Miss Beth the lonely English woman, Garret Steele the rancher, Owen Simpson the mayer in love with Miss Beth, and little Janie who needs a mom are the characters who bring the story to life. Dear Lady is a perfectaly believable story filled with characters you can't help but fall in love with. Dear Lady is full of inspiration and unintended love.

This could be a comedy of errors. People being caught in all sorts of not-good-lookin' situations. Strong characters, near misses, wrong impressions, righteous looking trouble makers, ohhh all the right ingredients for a lovely romance novel!!

Set in 1897, Lady Elizabeth Wellington leaves her native England for New Prospects, Montana, home of her ten-year old pen pal, Janie Steele. In one of her letters, Janie mentioned the town needed a schoolteacher. To avoid an arranged marriage, Beth arrives on the doorstep of Janie and her widowed father, Garret Steele. Garret loves his daughter, but is determined not to become emotionally involved with Beth because of unresolved feelings for his deceased wife. Parts of the book are letters to her friends, Mary Malone and Inga Linberg, with whom she traveled to America (Hatcher tells Mary's story in In His Arms and Inga's story in Patterns of Love.) The letters provide insight to Beth's feelings for handsome, but emotionally aloof, Garret Steele, and the persistent mayor, Owen Simpson.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was a fast, and enjoyable read. I especially found Beth's letters to her friends a creative substitute for "girl talk." Because Beth is new in town, and English to boot, she is lacking female companionship throughout the story. Some events in the story were not given proper attention; for example, a marriage in the story felt underdeveloped and rushed. Despite this, I enjoyed reading Dear Lady enough to investigate the other books in the series. 4.25/5

Dear Lady is a charming story of Lady Elizabeth Wellington of Langford House, Buckinghamshire, England, who arrives to a small town in Montana to inquire about a teaching position. Her motivation to leave a life of luxury is to escape from marrying a very unlovable man. She ends up finding unexpected love in this small town. It's an endearing story and a fun read for summertime vacation, or any time.

Determined not to marry a man she didn't love, Lady Elizabeth Wellington jumps a ship to America to run away from a marriage which her recently deceased father had arranged. Her lone friend in America is her young pen pal, Janie Garrett, in New Prospects, Montana. Remembering that Janie had recently said the town needed a new school teacher, Lady Elizabeth travels to New Prospects and applies for the job. The town's wealthy banker, Owen Simpson, immediately falls in love with Lady Elizabeth. She, however, has her eye on the widowed father of young Janie. Fast and enjoyable read. Get all your chores done, sit out on the swing, and lose yourself in New Prospects, Montana and love.

Easily one of the most beautiful books that I own, a masterpiece within the genre of the illuminated journal, and a treasure among natural history books. It is a celebration of sensorial intelligence, the gift of a full-bodied rapport with the breathing earth. To delve and read within this book, drinking with your eyes the colors and the sinuous lines and the astonishing textures that explode from the text and blossom on the pages, is to feel your skin becoming more porous, to feel your thoughts becoming far more supple and awake to the more-than-human life of the land around you.

Whenever I wander into this book, I'm struck with gratitude to the author/artist, and with a deepening sense of wonder...

I have followed Hannah Hinchman's published work for some years now. I have found it most helpful in enabling teachers to help children to observe closely and make graphic fieldnotes in places where they can learn first hand about their own local natural environment. I am in the process of taking some leave to continue with my own professional writing in Europe. I am keeping my own illuminated journal of how the seasons are changing the natural environment here in central France. This book is a delight to return to every day or two. I have looked through it with my nine-year-old granddaughter who does not speak English and we found so many things to discuss in it. As well as being an authoritative work on a place in Montana, U.S.A., it is also an excellent resource for anyone interested in looking closely at the natural world around them anywhere!

The artwork in this book is lovely and the sketches of the author's dog are captivating. Her paintings of the Montana landscapes transported me back there in the time it took to turn the pages. She captures the wide open spaces and the feeling one has when out walking in those lovely fields and mountains. My heart sank when I started reading her commentary and came across her views of those who hunt or make their living on the beautiful Montana land. While she apparently has developed the skill to communicate the beauty of the Montana flora and fauna, Ms. Hinchman has not yet learned to see the beauty of the people of Montana. I am sad to say that reading those few comments kept me from purchasing the book and I don't think the book would have been any less if those comments had been edited out. While she fancies herself an observer of nature the hunters, loggers and ranchers she ridicules have observed the Montana landscape and its creatures with a greater love and respect and for a much longer time than she has. I would recommend this book for it's illustrations but not for the author's views.

"Little Things in a Big Country" is an artistic journal chronicling one year in the artist's life in the eastern part of Montana, known as the Front. The words and watercolors in this book work together beautifully to convey Ms. Hinchman's careful observations of the world of The Front. Her sketches include things as common as seed pods, animal tracks, and ice formations. What a treasure this book is! Reading it gave me a new appreciation for the power of keen observation of the world around me.

This was the first artistic journal I've come across, and as a new (to me, at least) genre of book, the form impressed me.

This is such a calming and inspiring book, one that I will enjoy reading again and again.

Hannah Hinchman is a Great Artist! I have all of her books and this one is full of beautiful watercolors and designed pages. All that you treasured in her other books only more of it!
I have been to Montana once when I was 17, she describes it all so prefectly. A true inspiration to any art journaler.
THANK YOU HANNAH!

does anyone even imagine that this little charmer pretends to be more than the wee delight that it is, and has been for decades? math, even recreational math, does expand over time; carpers can carp that this or that latest thing isn't here. but really, what IS here, page after page, will amuse and edify almost all readers.

The various and quicksilver aspects of mathmatics is really where the charm lies for the scholar,as numbers themselves are the critters with which all scientific worlds are populated, the true scholar should begin with these first principles. A very good book for students who could use a few wows.

A great supplemental tool for teachers! I had terrific fun with my 6th grade math students when reading them certain passages in this book. Many of the topics covered, such as factorials, hexidecimals, triangular numbers, pi, primes, etc. are not generally covered in the middle school very well or at all, and this book serves as a great launching tool for discussions that kids enjoy and think about long after class is over. Also, many topics go in depth and will challenge even the best high school math students and take them in many directions that traditional math education does not.

Everyone has that smart-alex relation who ruins Thanksgiving dinner by proving to every four year old in the room that they know more about math than they do. There are several ways to deal with such a pain in the posterior but the least likely to involve violence and police intervention is this book.

There are few `wonderful' books ... you can count them with the fingers of one hand ... this is one.

The `smart-alex' in the family would call this book: `just a book on popular mathematics' thunder against it and not know 1/100 th of those facts within.

This is understandable number theory ... I guess you could call it that. It takes a number, some whole integers and some fractional or decimal parts and tells you about them. What they are made off, how to use the number, how it was used historically ... in other words it not dry like those awful wiggly things scraggy armed Mr. Enngenheimer [whomever] bored you with in high school

In the foreword to G.H. Hardy's book A Mathematician's Apology, C.P. Snow tells an anecdote about Hardy and his collaborator Srinavasa Ramanujan. Hardy, perhaps the greatest number theorist of 20th century, took a taxi from London to the hospital at Putney where Ramanujan was dying of tuberculosis, Hardy noticed its number, 1729. Always inept about introducing a conversation, he entered the room where Ramanujan was lying in bed and, with scarcely a hello, blurted out his opinion about the taxi-cab number. It was, he declared, "rather a dull number," adding that he hoped that wasn't a bad omen. "No, Hardy! No, Hardy," said Ramanujan, "it is a very interesting number. It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways."

Usually it takes a great deal of insight as well as considerable mathematical training to discover a yet unknown properties of some number. Only recognizing the beauty of a number pattern is much easier, though, especially with a friendly book like this one on hand. Wells, a long-time mathematics popularizer, has collected over 1000 numbers he considers interesting. Each of them is given a short explanation, often accompanied with a bibliographic reference. Celebrities among the numbers, like i, e or Pi, are given a more comprehensive treatment. Included are also several sequences, like Fibonacci's, Mersenne's, Fermat's, Carmichael's or Kaprekar's, each accompanied with its explanation. So are cyclic, amicable, untouchable or lucky numbers, and many more sequences you probably didn't know about.

While Wells' dictionary certainly gives the impression of a well-researched work, the list of numbers is by no means exhaustive. Anyone familiar with chaos theory will notice the absence of Feigenbaum constant; prime hunters would probably be interested in discussion on Woodall primes, Sophie-Germain primes, or Proth primes. But they are better off with Paulo Ribenboim's book on primes, anyway, while Wells' book, with its easily understandable explanations and accessible price is probably more suited for the "recreational mathematics" audience.

Good guide to all the lakes in the Beartooth Mountains. Ever wonder if all those lakes have fish in them. This book tells you. Tells you depths and last time they were stocked and other useful information.

Pat Marcuson knows the beartooths. If you are planning a trip into the Absaroka/Beartooth wilderness area you need two things a good map and this book. After a few trips into the Montana wilderness especially the Beartooths you will quickly find out you need to know what your up against and what going to be there when you get there. Pat's book will give you the best fishing advice because he's been there and fished the lakes for a decade working for Montana's Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. So again if you're a fisherman looking for trout in the Beartooths you have to get this book.

This is the best fishing guide that I have ever read. When I first purchased the book, I had little experience or success with fishing for trout in mountain lakes. I had taken an earlier backpacking trip to the Beartooth Mountains, but only caught 4-5 fish in 9 days. Then I purchased and studied this book in detail and during my next two 9-day backpacking trips to the Beartooth Mountains, I caught fish for dinner almost every night. Where once I had to settle for catching small brook trout, I now could plan trip routes to catch big fat Cutthroat trout for dinner. It was a true joy to read the detailed descriptions of each mountain lake and to understand Pat's reasoning behind stocking each lake with specific trout species. Not only that, but Pat gives you details on what years are the best to fish each lake based on their individual stocking schedules. Finally, Pat gives invaluable fishing tips such as how to locate and catch fish in these remote mountain lakes. I thank Pat for what has become a lifelong joy of trout fishing throughout the west.

The author managed the fisheries and fish stocking program in the Beartooths for many years, and provides enormous detail in this book about every lake that has fish. There have been some changes since he wrote the first edition, and not all of them are noted in this latest edition (1997) but, overall, the info is great. I don't know of a similarly complete and authoritative fishing guide to any other wilderness area. One small gripe: this book talks solely about the lakes of the Beartooths without mentioning that some of the best fishing is in the feeder and outlet streams, some of them a long way from the nearest lakes.

Mr. Marcuson clearly has an encyclopedic knowledge of his subject, and communicates it well. Even if you're not planning to fish the area, you'll easily get your money's worth from his descriptions of scenic attractions, camping possibilities, trails, routes, wildlife, and other background information - as well as an assurance of where the fishermen and outfitters won't be if you're looking for the most in wilderness solitude.

My caveats are minor:
1. The index follows the same scheme as the book (organized by drainage), which I found to be a nuisance when looking for a lake by name.
2. You may need a magnifying glass for the maps showing the lake index numbers.
3. Restarting the lake index numbers at 1 for each drainage makes it easier find the wrong description; this could easily be addressed by numbering all of the lakes sequentially, or using a drainage prefix character.
4. A couple of additional indexes organizing the lakes by size, species habitation, abundance, most recent stocking year, and so forth wouldn't have cost too much and would have made the book much easier to use as a reference. Maybe Mr. Marcuson was trying to keep it from being too easy to find his favorite fishing holes, though.

This is one of my favorite fly fishing books. It is one that I will read over and over again. I love the humor as well as the advice and lessons that Gary has learned over the years. Anyone going into the backcountry to fly fish ought to read this book. I have given this book to my sons who fly fish so that they can enjoy it too.

This is a wonderfully entertaining and informative book about fly fishing the mountain lakes. Although the book was based largely on the Montana lakes that Gary is so familiar with, I strongly believe it applies to most all mountain lakes. I read this book about four times a year, and browse through it every night before going on an excursion. Keeping it from reading like a "how-to" manual, the book has some very well written life adventures of Gary & his friends (human and not-so-human). I have read a few books on stillwater fishing for trout, and was very impressed by the techniques that were described in this text. At last, a book that doesn't teach you that certain methods are "not fly-fishing"! Great job by Gary LaFontaine and friends, and may god bless his soul.

I loved this book! Gary is a great writer and makes his books full of well researched,sound information. In this small volume he tells you where the lakes are (they really exist where he says-I checked topos!) and challenges you to go! Wonderful, fun book!!

Great reading for the flyfisher who enjoys the high country or likes to get away from river crowds. Lots of fun new methods to try out. Trying to figure out where I can keep my pack goat.

This book mixed enteraining stories with valuable information on Gary's years of observation of the behavior of trout in high country lakes. I have read numerous books and articles regarding techniques to use on high country lakes, but have rarely found such valuable information as revealed in this book. In fact, I have read this book twice over the last several months in an effort to soak up all the information, and plan to read it again before the local mountain lakes start to thaw. I would strongly recommend this book to beginning and experienced anglers alike.

This is my favorite book ever. I love the author's sense of humor and quick wit and the endless mishaps that really are true life events that happen to all of us. The dry humor describing Montana is hysterical. I read this just as my best friend moved to Montana to a ranch. The irony was unbelievable. All of the Montana men, customs, etc. that are joked about in the book are actually true and so noticeable if you've ever been to Montana. This book makes me laugh, I still read it over and over.

This is one of the best romances I've read in a long time. Kim Green is a very, very talented writer.

Jen is tired of being second best. After being passed over for a promotion at work, and tired of running into her sexy ex, she decides to shuck it all and leave San Francisco for an assignment as a reporter in a small Montana town.

Soon she is embroiled in a mystery involving dead fish, explosions, the local paper plant, and the EPA. She is also managing to reverse her drought-like love life and suddenly finds she has choices - an environmental activist and a park ranger, but it is the sexy EPA guy that she falls for. He has a young daughter and a not-so-ex-wife.

There are lots of great secondary characters, too many of them in fact, which kind of takes away from the overall story, since they are not fully developed and just sort of run together at times. I would have liked to have more depth into her relationship with her best gay husband, Robert, as well as Bruce, the older man she is reticent to get involved with (yet completely smitten). I would have liked more time with the quirky Montana folks as well.

Each chapter cleverly starts with an e-mail, which in some cases makes sense, other times I just scratched my head and said "huh?" It is a somewhat hysterical fish out of water story, a totally urban gal in the middle of the mountains.

The end is abrupt - but definitely leaves an open door for more to come. Great lazy summer or beach read. I managed to finish it in a day.

I bought this in San Francisco -- where part of the story is set -- and its great. Its very funny and original, it feels real without being too cute. I am buying copies for friends for XMAS.

I am woman in her late forties who loves "Sex and the City." (I also loved "Northern Exposure," and this book has a little of that quirkiness too.) In fact, I plan to go into mourning following the upcoming final episodes of S&C. If I had known how much fun "Is that a Moose in your Pocket" was going to be, I would have saved it for my mourning period. (I must confess I didn't care for the title. Too Mae West for me.) I was pleasantly surprised at how much I "got" Kim Green's numerous pop culture references laced throughout the book. (Although I am considerably older than Ms. Green, she has obviously watched a lot of Nick at Nite and old movies.)

I want to know more about Jen Brenner and her San Francisco friends. Personally, I would like a prequel before Bruce. Of course, maybe HBO should pick up the storyline to fill the void after "S&C" ends.

I read Sharon's book not long after I met her and was delighted and wowed to know someone who could write a book that kept me engaged from first to last page. The characters, with all their human strengths and faults, rope you in with their story of love, laughter and tears and leave you wanting more. Can't wait for Sharon Flesch's next book!

This book navigates the real world of real love. The setting and the writing are considerable bonuses, but the real power of the novel lies in its author's understanding of the depth, breadth, and sheer wonder of love.

This is truly a wonderful story of the Montana west and the hardships encountered by their residents. The story is romatic with good Christian values. Could hardly put it down. Would love to read a sequel to this wonderful story. Would recommend this book to all lovers.

I was staying in Kalispell, Montana and found this book at a local book store. A great read! Sweet characters! Good relationships! Old-time American faith and values! I recommend it for the whole family!

This book was reminiscent of the way life used to be. It showed interesting relationships between people and yet portrayed high moral standards. My copy has been passed on to other family members that have greatly enjoyed it also.

Readers beware! It's much easier to open this book than to close it. The author's obvious love of trivia, not to mention her love of Montana, is infectious. She is relentless in her pursuit of the obscure. We learn, for example, that the town of Ismay, population 20, changed its name to Joe to honor quarterback Joe Montana. Yes, but did Mr. Montana ever visit this town? And what is the montly salary of its mayor?

The result of this obsessive curiosity is a book full of quirky facts and colorful characters you will find nowhere else. It will put a smile on the face of a transplanted Montanan (like myself), but would also be a great find for anyone planning a trip to Montana. It's the kind of book that would normally be impossible to find for all those with the misfortune of living outside the state. Thank goodness for Amazon!

Packed full of facts and information you never knew you never knew. And now you know! Dazzle your friends with your new facts and accurate information. Good for bedtime, sitting time, waiting time, or just reading time. And a great price!

This is the most complete book of its type I've seen on Montana. I personally cannot believe that all city names in Montana actually start with "B", but it seems nearly so. Read this one and know "stuff" for sure. It is a lot of fun.

This book was a gift to me, and is not your usual trivia. Spencer obviously researches her stuff and puts it together with humor, irony, zest. Here are a lot of laughs and Gee Whiz moments for anyone. E. Malehorn in Illinois

I am a trivia buff and have lived in Montana for 36 years. This is hands down the best book I have read in years. The wit and humor through out the book kept me laughing the whole time I read it and I couldn't put the thing down. Kudos to Mrs. Spencer for researching and writing a book that had so many interesting facts that even an old Montanan like me had never heard. I highly recommend this book, I have read it twice and still haven't put it down.

This book presents itself as a history of Yellowstone. However, it's also an extended reflection on the park by someone who loves it dearly, someone who has worked for the National Park Service in Yellowstone for years and is very knowledgeable about the park. Schullery writes very well, and the book is a pleasure to read.

The most striking characteristic of this book, in comparison with others, is how remarkably even-handed it is. Schullery takes controversial issues such as fire management, elk shooting, wolf reintroduction, and brucellosis-infected bison and presents them in an even-handed way, sympathetic to both sides. He recognizes that most people go to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon, eat, and go shopping; that's not what he likes to do, but he isn't critical. Yet, somehow, he manages to cock an eyebrow here and there and make you rethink a position that you had previously held quite firmly.

This would be a great book to read before a visit to Yellowstone, or as something to put in your pack while you're there. Highly recommended.

Combine history, scholarship, and a survey of nature and ecological issues and you have an uncommon history of Yellowstone that examines the political and cultural influences on the park's development and management over the decades. SEARCHING FOR YELLOWSTONE: ECOLOGY AND WONDER IN THE LAST WILDERNESS offers up chapters packed with true stories of environmental encounters and wonders. Readers with affection for Yellowstone will find these early encounters riveting.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is a review of Yellowstone history from a system-wide and ecological perspective. It is well written and provides a great deal of factual information. It presents well thought out conclusions. It is balanced; not overly slanted toward the National Park Service, but not overly critical. The book is extremely well researched. The stories of historical characters and events add much to the book. The universe of Yellowstone experts hold several differing views on the proper wildlife numbers that should be allowed in Yellowstone. Schullery fits into the group that favors using historical stocking as a baseline. Those inclined to an agronomy baseline will question some of the conclusions drawn. One of the other reviewers called this book an "easy pre-read." I disagree; it is not difficult to read, but it does deserve study.

I read this book in a week and was quite impressed with the breadth of history covered in 260 something pages, not counting notes. I was glad to see that this historical account began with an "anthropological" perspective by recounting the known presence of Native American tribes prior to the EuroAmerican "discovery" of the place and the manner in which they were extricated from the ecosystem. I was also impressed with the historical information relating the misuse, management practices and policies that affected the life of the park once it was established and what changes have been implemented in recent years. The notes following the text were very helpful in leading me to other books and records that I would like to examine. A fine book that I purchased after reading the library copy!

`Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in knowing the "Yellowstone story" at a deeper level than the interpretive signs or tourist pamphlets. This would be excellent (and easy) "pre-reading" for anyone contemplating a first trip to Yellowstone....but it is also a fascinating and sometimes surprising eye-opener for someone (like me) who was somewhat familiar with Yellowstone already. From the perspective only a former Yellowstone employee and prolific writer/researcher could bring, Schullery persuasively argues-not unlike the "new western historians" in their iconoclastic reassessment of the American west and its history)-that Yellowstone is not so much a place as a process...a process of how we as Americans define a national park. Schullery's measured tour through this process provides a sobering reminder to inveterate tree-huggers like me that a national park is not a wilderness area, as much as I might like it to be in terms of "hands off" preservation. Schullery's approach is matter-of-fact, methodically researched (I actually enjoyed reading the copious "notes" section separately after having finished the book) and myth-busting at times (e.g. that surprisingly, the total number of developed acres in Yellowstone has actually decreased during the last 40 years rather than increased). He doesn't even spare himself, needling enthusiastic fly-fishers like himself with the sad-but-true fact that if we treated the ungulates of Yellowstone the same way fishermen do a Yellowstone trout (which was probably introduced in the first place rather than native), we would be cited for abusing the wildlife. A very readable and important book.