Recreation Books

A great collection of information, but I'm struggling to keep up on all these publications and which one is the best. Too many baseball books giving you the same thing for about the same price. And this one doesn't really stand-out.

As a veteran fantasy leaguer and two-time defending league champion, I have been looking to broaden my horizons when it comes to projecting player stats. This was my first year buying Shandler's book, and I am amazed at the wealth of valuable information he includes.

In his projections, Shandler includes a host of statistical measures that you won't find anywhere else, and they have led me to a lot of insights I wouldn't have had without the book. The highlight for me was the PQS pitching log, which turns a subjective look at starting pitcher performance into a valuable quantitative tool. I also enjoyed the essays that he and his staff put together, looking into the minutia of baseball performance.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain an edge in fantasy baseball or to anyone with an unsatisfied curiosity about predicting baseball players' stats.

I started participating in fantasy baseball last year. It was a great time, but I became inundated with magazines and endless articles on what to do. It was too overwhelming that in retro I choked when it came to picks from rounds 5-10.
This book puts the mind at ease and also is a great read if you're getting into baseball and wanna understand the natural progression of talent and skill. Yes, it does come with an oh-so-handy spreadsheet and chart, but it does give you the tools needed to make educated choices and sleeper choices that are above "sleeper" quality.
Definitely a great tool to use and parlay come draft day. If anything you'll appreciate the number 26!

I just got the 2005 Baseball Forecaster. The tech analysis is great and it broken down very well.

It wiil be a great addition to your fantasty baseball draft overall.

Have subscribed to Shandler's Forecaster since 1997. Believe me, I've been through all the other mags and publications, both by noted fantasy gurus such as Bill James, John Benson, etc in addition to Spoting News, Fantasy Sports and so on. I still read and buy the others, as I consider them interesting and enjoyable reads. Yet, when I want the crucial info that will lead me to league titles, I refer to Baseball HQ. The Forecaster has guided my preseason and in season ship for 6 yrs now. The best, no questions asked. Projections based on empirical data, trends and base skill indicators. I could go on and on..... Play Ball!!!!!!!

Baseball Prospectus is a must-have for any hard-core baseball fan. These guys do a fantastic job of stripping away the nonsense and the myths and really analyzing the facts to come up with some really useful observations. Also, the manner in which they do it is fun, funny and engrossing; never just a cold statistical survey. All fantasy league players should buy this book immediately, but it will be a great read to any fan of the game.

Where once there was only Bill James, now it seems there are oodles of annuals offering scientific analysis of baseball, and a zillion more offering fantasy advice. What makes Prospectus far and away the best? Yes, its analysis is spot on, and contrary to the review above, they have nothing against the Colorado Rockies. Yes, its comments would be helpful at a fantasy draft, although this book is much more about "Real" baseball. No, what makes the Prospectus the best book is the humor. You'll laugh out loud more often than reading any comedian's book on the NYT best sellers list, that's for sure.

If every general manager in baseball (Ed Lynch, are you reading this! ) was forced to study this book, entire paradigms of baseball lore would suddenly be pushed aside in favor or fresh, rational, and rigorous principles of management. All of the statistics provided in the prospectus are, of course, second to none, but Michael Wolverton's relief ratings (ARP, ARA, etc.) are truly something special. I have always been amazed at how even the most "knowledgable" baseball minds accept simplistic statistics like ERA and saves as valuable appraisals of a relief pitcher's talents. It's as if the baseball gurus have failed to adjust to post-1950 baseball with its growing reliance on bullpens and decreasing reliance on starting pitchers, and the completely different conditions in which relief pitchers work in comparison to their starting compatriots. Yet these same "experts" have accepted without question the notion that a team must have a real "closer" in order to be a contender. Wolverton blasts these assumptions to smithereens with his analyses, and his elaborate calculations, yet pristine conclusions should revolutionize how the later innings of games are viewed. Throw in the authors' passionate defense of wise treatment of young pitchers, their funny yet consistently incisive comments about hundreds of players, their willingness to challenge age-old fallacies like "veteran leadership" and the genuinely historical perspective they bring to the table of baseball debate, and you have one of the most informative and entertaining baseball books I've ever read.

BP debunks myths, explodes fallacies, and takes sabermetrics to a new height. It has an excellent method for evaluating and projecting performance, but many other credible methods can found elsewhere. BP's riches are found in the essays and player commentaries. Its insights will reshape the baseball debate in the coming years. Roster management, pitcher abuse, big markets v. small markets, tools v. skills -- the debates defining our age and the age to come are all discussed fully and insightfully here.

BP readers will in short time find themselves looking at baseball in a much more complex and accurate way. They will find themselves at greater and greater distance from the newsstand knowledge of those who rely on magazines and Baseball Weekly. They'll be better fans for having read BP. No other book provides so much. BP2K is the best value on the market.

All of the reviews of Baseball Prospectus above are spot-on -- it's easily one of the most insightful and ENTERTAINING baseball publications (are you listening, John Benson?) and a must-read for those who take the game seriously.

But be warned -- if you think that baseball analysts "look at stats too much" or still believe that batting average is a pretty good way of assessing a hitter's performance, then you will be way out of your league. Even after 2+ years of studying the Prospectus' methodology, I'm still occasionally befuddled by the statistical measurements used.

Let's just put it this way: there are NO REAL STATS in Baseball Prospectus -- all stats are adjusted (based on park factors, team factors, etc.) or projections for the upcoming year. It's the ultimate in "fantasy" baseball -- yet it tells you more about the "real" game than any non-STATS book out there. And -- to repeat -- it's extremely well-written, provocative and hilarious.

I would just like to confirm what a previous reviewer stated for Mr. Wirkmaa's book. I took the reviewer's advice, bought the book on Amazon, and also went ahead and bought "The Scorekeeper's Friend" available at Mr. Glasco's website. The two taken together offer a winning combination for those aspiring to become competent baseball/softball scorekeepers. The former comprehensively explains the reasoning behind the scoring rules of baseball, while the latter shows you how to do it on a scorecard. Two thumbs up!

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn the basics of score keeping. It is about as simple as it can get as the offensive numbers goes.

If you're an official scorer at any level you need this book. I'm an official scorer for a minor league baseball team, and I keep mine handy during the games. Every now and then I'll need to pull it out to check a rule when something odd happens. Without it I would have been able to find answers in the official rule book, but not nearly as quickly or definitively.

I hope the author is working on an updated edition to reflect the scoring rule changes put into place in 2007! I'll buy this book again if he does!

This book does a very solid job of clarifying some of the finer points of scorekeeping that are somewhat vague and difficult to comprehend in the baseball rule book. I highly recommend it for anyone who is truly serious about improving the accuracy of their scorekeeping skills. Even novice baseball fans that like to score a game just for kicks while sitting at the ballpark can benefit from reading it.

Mr. Wirkmaa patterns his book directly on the Rules of Baseball, therefore making it simple to go from the Rules to his interpretation of how the scoring would be handled for that particular situation. This type of editing lays out what is still a complicated subject in at least a methodical fashion.

My only disappointment on receiving the book was that he includes no diagrams on the scorekeeping itself. I wanted to see the actual scribblings when someone "runs the book." Not in there. I purchased another excellent book (not available through Amazon) entitled "The Scorekeeper's Friend" by Bill Glasco that has the level of diagramming (and explanations) that I was initially seeking.

All in all, any person serious about their scorekeeping should own Mr. Wirkmaa's book. I hope he follows it up with another.

This has been a remarkable year for books about Louis Sockalexis, the long-forgotten nineteenth century Penobscot outfielder. When he was signed with the Cleveland national team, he became the first Indian to play in the major leagues.

This book by Maine author Ed Rice tells Sock's story from a local point of view as well as extensively covering his outstanding career at Holy Cross and games with Cleveland, before drink and injury destroyed his career. Sockalexis broke the color barrier fifty years before Jackie Robinson, but his love of the high life and the overwhelming pressures of racism led him astray.

Mr. Rice's book is lavishly illustrated and vividly recreates the rough-and-tumble world of nineteenth-century baseball. The author also describes Sock's career in the minors, where he played better than people think, and his final years on Indian Island as a well-respected baseball coach and umpire.
This is a great piece of Americana and a must-read for baseball fans everywhere!

For years, Louis Sockalexis wasn't much more than a trivia question: who were the Cleveland Indians named for? Now there are THREE new books about him.

"Sock" was an outstanding athlete in his time and showed great promise. If drink hadn't ruined his major league career, he could have ranked as one of the all-time greats. Still, he deserves to be remembered as a baseball pioneer, the first Native American player not long after the Wild West was still killing off Indians. He had to put up with rough treatment from the crowds, but it didn't seem to bother him. In fact, he was well-liked by nearly everyone--too much, sad to say. Everyone wanted to buy him a round, and he loved to party. Finally, a foot injury wrecked his playing for good.

Ed Rice, a Maine author, includes a nice local view of Sockalexis's later life and interviews with people who knew him. There are fond memories and funny anecdotes about Sock, who never lost his ability to throw like a cannon or hit the ball out of the park. He coached a Penobscot team and sent five players to the New England leagues. He was such a good umpire you didn't dare argue with him. His last years were quiet but he always kept up with the latest news on baseball. They say when he died, he had clippings from his magical rookie year in his pocket. He's buried on Indian Island near Bangor, Maine, where fellow Mainers and visitors from all over can pay their respects to "Baseball's First Indian."

This is an outstanding book--I give it two thumbs up!

For part of one magical season in 1897, Louis Sockalexis, "Baseball's First Indian," had wings on his feet in the outfield. The fastest runner in the country, he ran down line drives and made spectacular diving catches followed by bullet-like throws to the plate. He went on a hot hitting streak that seemed unstoppable. Though he was showered with racial abuse at first, he soon won over the crowds with his calm demeanor and easy smile. It helped that he was rugged and handsome. If only the magic had lasted!

Louis had an alcohol addiction that soon made itself known. It wrecked his career when he injured himself and lost his lightning-quick speed and reflexes. The Cleveland Spiders (now Indians) gave him several chances to shape up, but he couldn't stop drinking. Finally they let him go in 1899. He drank himself off several minor league teams as well but occasionally showed flashes of his former brilliance. He played one complete season with the Lowell Tigers, posting a .288 average. In 1902 he went home to Indian Island for good. He quit drinking and won respect as an umpire and coach for Penobscot youths who were proud to learn from the best.

Of the three new books on Sockalexis, this one by Ed Rice is the most complete, covering each game of "Sock's" career and giving us a close look at his last years among his tribesmen, who honor his memory to this day. Mr. Rice grew up in Maine with the legend of Sockalexis close by, and decided many years ago his story was worth telling. This book is a remarkable portrait of a gifted ballplayer who's finally getting the attention he deserves.

This is the story of Louis Sockalexis, the first Indian ballplayer who had a great college career but fizzled out in the majors. Maine author Ed Rice tells us all about this player who became a national sensation in one short season. This exciting bio is crammed with baseball lore and play-by plays of Sockalexis's games with Holy Cross and the early Cleveland Indians. Without TV or radio, the fans had to imagine Sock's sizzling throws to the plate from deep right field and hot line drives. He was so fast he could steal bases at will. He had to face war whoops and taunting crowds, but like Jackie Robinson, he just quietly played the game. Sadly, drinking cut his career short but he holds a special place in baseball history as a pioneer and great player who could have become a champion if he'd lasted long enough. This book makes great reading during baseball season!

This new book by Ed Rice has everything--stats, rare photos of Louis Sockalexis and Hall-of-Famers such as "Cy" Young and Jesse Burkett, and game-by-game summaries. We learn about "Sock's" short, brilliant career as an outfielder with an arm like a rifle and the fastest feet in the league. But too much drinking and an ankle injury ruined Louis's speed and fielding. He was let go after 3 seasons and drifted around the minor leagues. Occasionally he played well but he never regained his former brilliance.

Sockalexis went home to Maine and worked as a logger and ferry operator. He also stopped drinking, and earned respect as an umpire for the rough Maine leagues. "Coach Sockalexis" taught young Penobscots the game and proudly sent five of them to the New England League.

Ed Rice gives us a nice glimpse into "Sock's" later years when he was much admired by friends and colleagues. His fellow tribesmen honor him to this day as a great athlete. Enjoy this interesting bio as you count the days to spring training!

Tony Salin's collection of stories in "Baseball's Forgotten Heroes" is a reminder that baseball's charm is created by more than the superstars that the media cling to when trying to get the average fan's attention. As much as I enjoy reading about Williams or DiMaggio, Baseball's Forgotten Heroes is a fresh approach that I hope will set a standard for future volumes. Throughout history, baseball has presented many men with fascinating stories that have been otherwise overlooked. Fortunately, there is at least one author with the desire and perseverance to publish some of these unsung-heroes' stories. The style of this book would appeal to anyone regardless of his or her degree of passion for baseball or knowledge of the sport, but it is a "must-have" for any baseball enthusiast's library. I hope Salin is able to produce many sequels to this wonderful model of baseball literature. HOF!

Baseball is a game rich in history and stories abound about those who have played the game. Author Tony Salin has provided us with stories of players who are known to true fans such as Chuck Connors, Billy Jurges, Frenchy Bordagaray, and Larry Jansen. A number of stories of very obscure players who have interesting tales to tell as well is also in the book. I especially enjoyed the pronounciation of names in the back of the book. I had hoped to see the name Chris Van Cuyk listed, but, alas, that one will continue to mystify me. The book is a quick read and is worth your time.

This is a book written by someone with a lot of love for the game of baseball. It will mostly benefit others with the same love: Salin has found sufficiently obscure figures that I had only heard of half of them. Where feasible, he lets them tell their own stories, thus preserving their style of speech and bringing them to life (very important as most are very elderly or since deceased).

Salin must be a persuasive fellow and is certainly a persistent one; he wangled an interview with the very reclusive Pete Gray, who played major league baseball with only one arm (true story). He has gathered a collection of amusing and interesting stories that tell a lot about the times in which his subjects played.

And as if all that weren't enough, there's a great bonus at the end: a pronunciation guide to baseball people's names. How is someone like myself, born in the early 1960s, supposed to know how to pronounce a lot of the names of the past? What a superb inclusion, and the list is both long and phonetically clear. I couldn't believe my good fortune when I got to that part, having thought that the book was over, and was so pleasantly surprised. It was like a performer coming out for a superb encore.

Well worth the money and time for enthusiasts of baseball history. I'm going to keep my eye on this author, and I hope we get more.

Are you tired of reading the same stories about the same baseball players? Pick up this great little book for a different look at the game. Instead of rehashing old stories the author delves into the careers of some little known but colorful characters. The interviews, though somewhat rough around the edges, allow the author to give you the conversational type of history, as if you were sitting across the kitchen table from these baseball nomads. It's the kind of book you find yourself saying, "I could have written this book". But hey, the author followed through on his idea, and I look forward to seeing more of the same type material from him.

This book, like Andrew Torrez's critically acclaimed _Off Base_, appears to be part of a growing trend among baseball authors to encourage their readers to think "outside the box." Salin's ideas, like Torrez's, are provocative and entertaining.

The children's sandwiches in "Beach Lover's Guide to the Perfect Sandwich" would be great to make with the kids while reading the book.

Elisha Cooper's BEACH captures a day at the beach using a picturebook pairing of lovely poetic text and realistic drawings. From sandcastles and a crab race to covering up, all kinds of fun beach activities are the attraction.

I got this book out the library for my son who is soon to turn 7. Each summer when spend a week at the beach and this book captured perfectly so many of the things we have experienced. The only thing missing was a passing ferry boat (we go to an island off the New England coast), but both my son and I could easily imagine seeing one in the distant of the lovely sketches.
I've asked his grandmother to get this book for him for his birthday. It is a treasure!

One of the most beautifully illustrated books I've seen in the past few years, I still have to give "Beach" a small demerit for the frustratingly small mini-pictures of beach activites. Otherwise this is just a gorgeous, well written paeon to everything beachy, with impressionistic panoramas and straightforward sentences that get to the heart of the beach scene.

The delicately shaded, bright watercolors capture place, people, and movement like few other picture books. The book unfolds just as a day at the beach might, as people gather and populate the beach, so do clouds and birds, waves and umbrellas. The books engulfs you with these pictures, inviting you to play with the cloud images and the various activities both in and out of the water. You can smell it. You can taste it. Even though the content and style of the pictures has a slightly 1960's feeling to it, the images are transcendant, and their quality gives this "classic" status.

I'll return to that one misgiving. Every few pages, Cooper crowds some very small pictures onto one page. These unframed pictures have plenty of white space around them--the problem is they're just too small. Toddlers and older small fry may have trouble distinguishing some of the activities (especially if they're unfamiliar with water activities), and just forget about these pages in group settings. I'd suggest holding the panoramas high for everyone to see, with an invitation to view the "little pictures" later. (Alternately, you could photocopy those pages and hand then out to prevent sharing difficulties!)

Some of my fondest memories (and one frightening one) are of the beaches where I grew up, and I've never lived more than 20 miles away from the coast. "Beach" is an antidote to cloudy days, a vision for those who've never been, and a visual delight for adults and their young-uns. Cooper portrays the constant magic in the everchanging beach scene, and balances the grandly majestic with the smaller-scale diversity of the beachgoers. Recommended for all ages: Non-readers, pre-readers, and veteran readers. All will rejoice in Cooper's illuminated/illuminating watercolors.

Recently I've been shying away from reviewing picture books. Not out of any particular dislike of them, of course. I just hadn't run across one recently that really whet my whistle. Earlier in the year I heard some librarians commenting on the various picture books of 2006 that struck them as particularly fine. One title that cropped up was Elisha Cooper's, "Beach". I'd seen the cover before and there wasn't much there to lead me to think of it as a strong contender for awards. Pretty cover, yes. Oh, the same author as created "Magic Thinks Big"? Nice, nice. Big format, so that's enjoyable. With all these thoughts sloshing about in my head, it wasn't really until I was on my lunch break one day that I thought to go ahead and, oh I don't know, pick it up and read it. I found myself charmed. Utterly and wholly charmed. I'm not saying "Beach" is gonna totally blow away all your conceptions of what a beach picture book constitutes. I'm just saying that alongside David Wiesner's, "Flotsam", and Chris Gall's, "Dear Fish", there has never been a better time for shore-related picture book fare.

Open the book and we've a two-page spread of an empty beach, blue sky above, water stretching far into the distance. Says the book cheerily, "Away to the beach! Away to sand and salt water, to rolling dunes and pounding waves". Turn the page and three separate images of the beach meet your eye. In each one, more and more people crop up. This section is without text. Turn the page again then. Twelve small scenarios are here, each one showing different people settling into their beachgoing routines. They're all familiar. The people who inch into the water a miniscule centimeter at a time. Or the person who inflates a large inner tube... and then just walks into the water up to her ankles. The people frolic and the waves, "come in hills and valleys, in mountains and canyons, in craggy peaks and sweeping plains". Meticulously Cooper captures the sounds, the tastes, and even the detritus that constitutes a day at the beach. And at the end, the three panels of the shore become six, and people start to go home. "Sand is everywhere - between toes and in bathing suits and inside ears. Inside, too, is the motion of the waves, the knowledge of a day well spent, a day to remember when the beach is far away".

First of all, this book stands at an impressive 12.3 x 10.2 inches. So right off the bat you find that you're dealing with an impressive beastie. Then the color scheme starts to hit you. The endpapers are all soft sea-friendly greens, pinks, blues, and brown/purples. These are the colors you find near the ocean, captured perfectly by Mr. Cooper. Now in the past I've always found Cooper's people and animals to be almost too bulky to thoroughly enjoy. With "Beach" this problem is perfectly alleviated. It's like Cooper went to the Chris Ware School of Tiny Humans (albeit with a child-friendly touch). The people in this book are little more than small, penciled figures. You cannot make out their individual features or digits, and it doesn't matter a bit. Somehow, Cooper is able to suggest a whole range of emotion, movement, and energy with his tiny people. The woman who changes into her swimsuit under her towel makes all the awkward movements, arms akimbo and body twisted, you'd expect from such an attempt. The dog that dives into the waves to retrieve some driftwood splashes and cavorts in a thoroughly canine manner. This kind of miniscule study of the human (or animal) figure is deeply impressive. More importantly, it's interesting in a way that kids will find particularly fun.

But it was Cooper's language that surprised me the most about this book. First of all, the little situations involving the beachgoing crowd are almost Zen at times. "A woman lathers on sunscreen and reaches for the spot that cannot be reached". Or better still, "A boy and a girl ride their parents in a crab race". "A man wades with his baby, keeping an eye out for jellyfish". "Seagulls pull their heads tight into their shoulders and watch everyone leave". And then the descriptions grow broader as the illustrator starts to pull back from the individuals. We see a couple benches under a roof and the text reads, "Picnic baskets open with peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, peaches, cookies, and iced tea. Towels get sticky. After lunch, children walk past the outdoor showers to the truck that sells ice-cream sandwiches". This book is now begging to be read aloud. And, quite frankly, you'd have to be made out of stone itself not to crave an ice-cream sandwich after the reading.

Maybe because "Beach" brought to mind all those wonderful Anno books I read as a child ("Anno's Journey", "Anno's USA", "Anno's Spain", and so forth) I really connected with this tale of average people doing something as basic and familiar as relaxing on the shore. This has all the makings of a personal family classic to be treasured for years to come. I don't know if the hungry masses will be as taken in by its charms, but I personally feel that this is a wonder of a picture book. A pure unadulterated delight.

What a great book. Gary Smith isn't a writer, he is a poet. His articles are something to be savored, not skimmed. Each and every word has a purpose. In today's world of "blurbs" it is refreshing to read a book by someone who has honed his craft so superbly you never want to finish reading the book. He's not a sportswriter, he's a writer of human nature. By far the best book of collected articles I have ever read.

Gary Smith, a veteran of the sports writing game has brilliantly pieced together this collection of past articles that have made him the most popular sportswriter in the business. A gift to Sports Illustrated Magazine, Smith goes beyond the game to capture the truth in situations the reader never knew about sports legends as well as sports tragic failures. Smith writes about John Malangone a.k.a. the "Damned Yankee," who was foreseen to be the next Yogi Berra. Malangone's story shows Smith's ability to add emotion to his writing, especially in this first instalment to this collection. Muhammad Ali's story is a great one but in Smith's book, he looks at the lives up the people around the public life of Ali. The lives of Ali's entourage according to Smith had it's ups and downs through Ali's struggles and triumphant moments. Perhaps the most fascinating piece in Smith's book is his view of the young Mike Tyson growing up in Brooklyn. From Tyson's ill-temper, and petty theft to his encounter with the great Cus D'Amato, Smith shows the reader what made Tyson a raw and gritty character in the boxing world today. Smith's magnificent collection of sports writing takes the average sports fan to a new level as he truly takes the reader beyond the game.

I recently received this book as a gift, after having raved for years about the quality of Mr. Smiths writing. Sports happens to be the world in which these stories are set, but he writes about what it is to be human. His compassion and understanding of his subject is so complete that I feel as if I know these people better than most of my friends. His ability to indicate the unspoken thoughts and feelings of his subjects leads the reader to a deeper understanding of humanity, triumphs and failures both.
My only disapointment, as pointed out by an earlier reviewer, is that the collection is not long enough.
I recently re-read a story he wrote for Sports Illustrated back in march of 2001, about a black man who became the basketball coach for a high school in a small Amish community and how he affected the entire town.
I challenge anyone to read this article without feeling uplifted.
A must read for anyone who enjoys great writing.

Gary Smith is a great writer who happens to write about sports. My only complaint: I wish the collection was twice as long as it is. Whether or not you're a sports fan, you should read this book to get a feel for what a master prose stylist can accomplish. Terrific reading.

i'm thrilled to see gary smith's work in a nice collection like this one. in an age of writing catered to us as if we have attention deficit disorder, it's refreshing to have such illuminating work readily available. in college a few years back i was working on a very touchy feature about an athlete, so i called sports illustrated just hoping to consult with mr. smith to get a better understanding of entering intimate and personal boundaries. amazingly enough, he called me back the following day and we talked for about a half an hour. and for a young writer to speak with one of the greatest, i was deeply inspired. needless to say, the story ended up winning a feature award and i am very grateful to him. i hope he not only gets his writing out to more people now, but that he makes a nice buck off it too! the book is worth every cent!

Very engaging story. The transformation from everyday life to a simpler one connected with nature and a spiritual awareness is inspiring.

This book reads like a novel about the cruising experience and why people want to sail to far away places. It's not a How-To book; Beth's other book "The Voyagers Handbook" is an excellent How-To reference for offshore sailing. In Blue Horizon Beth shares her reasons for sailing to far away places and her inner feelings and awareness during her travels. She describes the beauty, the satisfactions, the thrills and the fears she experiences. This book can be enjoyed by the non sailor as well as the sailor. An added treat is to put the Lat & Long for each destination into Google Earth and view photos that travelers have inserted. The photos provide a view of the scenes that Beth and Evan enjoyed.

Outstanding. There is a reason we sail that goes beyond wind, water and something to do. Read the book...

Blue Horizons is a collection of articles originally appearing in Blue Water Sailing magazine. Presented as a series of expanded log entries or perhaps long letters home, Leonard chronicles a six year sailing adventure through the high latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres. Blue Horizons is more than a travelogue or the story of a sailing adventure, it is one woman's journey of self-exploration as she and her partner Evans sail around the world.

Leonard explores her relationship with her partner, her friends and family, herself and her world. Along the way we are treated to vivid descriptions of the majesty of the high latitudes and the generosity of those who live in the far corners of the world. Leonard's accounts are frank and honest. No, it is not all paradise; one can get seasick, one does get angry with one's partner. Perhaps the most poignant passages are those addressing her relationship with the sea, and the personal transformations that occur on long ocean passages. Sailing brings one closer to the natural world, a world Leonard aptly describes.

Blue Horizons is a compelling read. If you're considering an ocean voyage, Blue Horizons is a must read. For the rest of us, it is enjoyable read of one woman's exploration of seldom traveled lands and herself.

Dave Lochner
NauticalReads

Sailing journey books-- the Pardy's most notably, but other as well- usually follow a trip from start to finish. The little mediations you find on nature, self-reliance and self-realization are embedded within a longer narrative about storms, calms, pirates and other near disasters. This book is different and I'm not sure what to make of it. Leonard has the poet's gift for observation and description and pretty much what this book is is a collection of these meditations, within the frame of a few pages of log entries. Don't get me wrong, you know she's on a sailboat, this book doesn't read like "Daily Mediations for Sailors" but as much as I admire her writerly skill, I do prefer a bit more story in my sea stories.

Still, the book's keeper. And I don't keep anything except for books that really interest me.

I know what the title says, but I had hoped for a bit more info on inshore and reef fish as well, espescially since many of Terry's hunts still take place within sight of land. Good book though. Don't dive in California or Australia without a will written though- thats what this book says.

This book exceeded my expectations. Unlike some other intro / how to books I have consulted on other subjects which seamed to me to be a thinly veiled recycling of stock photos, this book is what it claims. I was impressed by its comprehensiveness, detail, and great pictures. Not being a freediver, I was amazed by the freediving accounts described within. Disclaimer: I am not a freediver. Before ordering the book I hardly knew what freediving was.

This is a great book if you are a novice, intermediate or advanced spearo. The information on gear is clear and concise, especially in regards to rigging your gun. The chapters on the various types of pelagic fish that are hunted is thorough and informative. Dr. Maas writes not so much as a person that did a lot of research, but more importantly as a person who has experience in the areas he is writing about. His first hand accounts are entertaining and educational.

This book is a must have for anyone in this sport. It will want to make you get in the water.

This book contains a plethora of interesting stories,as well as useful information for the aspiring blue water hunter. One learns that not all spearfishermen desire to shoot everything in the sea, but that their involvemnt in the preservation of the ocean's resources is tempered with an attitude of respectful game gathering.

I am an avid scuba diver who likes to hunt for lobster and fish. I was not prepared for what I found in this book. The casual approach to entering the ocean food chain to hunt large tuna and marlin among large great white sharks left me wondering if Terry Maas (the author) has a death wish. Nevertheless, I think I will try this sport on a smaller scale and hopefully venture to south of Cabo to try my hand at large yellowfin. I found this book to be very matter of fact about a not so standard way to kill some time on your vacation. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves diving, extreme adventure, and the ocean.

The stories are very touching and good, just it is a huge book and
there are too many of them and inherently they are quite similar.

I have read literally dozens of climbing books. Without a doubt, Boardman's "Shining Mountain" is the best climbing book ever written. The only books that come close are "The White Spider" (Harrer), "The Mountains of My Life" (Bonatti) and "Touching the Void" (Simpson) which is not really a climbing but an epic survival book.

The other books in this omnibus are also good, but not as good as The Shining Mountain. I have read it about 5 times and have enjoyed it every time.

The writing is clear and engaging and the expeditions are covered thoroughly. The last book of the Omnibus about a Tasker Omnibus is not as good as the rest. Book is partly a credit to the writing ability of the two authors and partly due to the nature of small expeditions documented where the story is intimate and human, rather than the unholy literary messes encountered in books about large expeditions.

Having read inumerable books on mountaineering, I wasn't prepared for the impact of this one. I've read "Fragile Edge" by Maria Coffey, (it is excellent, she was Tasker's girlfriend)about her and Hillary Boardman's experiences following the deaths of Boardman and Tasker, and wasn't prepared for the emotional impact of this book. It is probably one of the best I've read. Boardman's style gripped me, and brought home what a terrible tragedy his death was for the literary community. I believe there are "writing climbers" and "climbing writers"; Boardman was definitely a gifted climber who wrote beautifully. This book should be in anyone's library who loves mountains and adventure travel.

This book delivers one of the most comprehensive perspective on climbing in the Himalayas. With vivid descriptions of successful (and unsuccessful) climbs of a variety of peaks in the Himalayas plus descriptions of the North Face of the Eiger and the Snow Mountains of New Guinea, this book demonstrates the versatility of these two gentlemen.

The drama and imagery shines through the writing of both Tasker and Boardman. With details on the first ascents of the West Face of Changabang, the Southeast ridge of Dunagiri, the Northwest ridge of Kangchenjunga and more, this book is a treasure trove of great climbing. There are occasional technical terms but they demonstrate the effort and intensity of these two climbers. A great choice.