Colorado Books

WHAT A JOY TO SEE A PUBLISHED MASTERPIECE ...OF ONE OF THE WORLD'S FOREMOST CUTTING EDGE EXAMPLES OF CIVIC ARCHITECTURE.

Denver International Airport obviously derives it's superb design FORM, from it's context in the native locale and region of the majestic 14,000 foot high mountains of DENVER. "Gateway to the West" contains the best published architectural photography anyone could expect.It could be argued that the informed reader would make comparisons or analogies of Denver airport with Sarinnen's Dulles Airport or his soaring TWA airport at JFK, in N.Y.

The success of the airport's execution by Master ARCHITECTS Fentress & Bradburn (& winters) sets the standard for future airports world-wide.

In fact we see that this internationally world-class Architectural Firm has already accomplished a self-fullfilling prophecy, by accepting several more world-flung Airport Design comissions in the Middle East and Far East, as well as in the U.S.

Architect Curtiss Fentress & his "gang" know what they're up to, in creating majestic uplifting roof structures to symbolize air travel. This publication cements the architect' ideas into a philosophy of "FORM FOLLOWS VISION", rather than the more prosaic "FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION", and the publisher deserves credit for devoting 200+ pages of how private expression (on the drawing boards) becomes public expression (to millions of passengers who arrive at "Gateway to the West" ).

This poetry anthology by 12 Colorado writers is a real keeper. The backgrounds of the poets are as diverse as their poetry. Whatever your taste in poetry you are sure to find something that speaks to you. Humor, regret, nature, politicss, love, and a dash of magic are all represented in light and darkness. The diversity of the poetry is amazing considering the writers all reside on the common ground of the Western Slope of Colorado. Wallace Stegner, dean of writers of the West, wrote that "...no place is a place until it has had a poet..." If that is true, the Western Slope of Colorado is truly a place thanks to these poets. This collection, now in it's second edition, is a must have for anyone remotely interested in contemporary poetry of the first rank.

Compiled, organized, and written by Colorado native and former tour guide Richard Harris, The Getaway Guide To Colorado is a fun and practical introduction to the sights and excitements of America's highest state, ranging from newly created national parks and monuments; to ghost towns, gold mines, and Victorian-era historic hotels; to paths for hiking, biking, and whitewater rafting, and so much more. Maps, descriptions, contact information, and a great deal of enthusiasm pack the pages of this wonderful and enthusiastically recommended sightseeing guide.

Muriel Sibell Wolle (nee Muriel V Sibell)was a long time professor at the University of Colorado. In the early 30's she visited many "young" ghost mining towns in Colorado, sketching and researching the towns and buildings.
The ravages of time, weather and curiosity seekers have all but destroyed these specimens of Colorado's mining heritage. Over 70 years since Wolle visited Blackhawk, Central City and Nevadaville, the book is a priceless volume of sketches and historical notes.
This is one of two companion volumes she wrote in '33 and '34, the latter being "Cloud Cites of Colorado:Leadville, Kokomo, Robinson, Climax, Fairplay, Breckenridge". Ms. Wolle continued her sketching and historical writing in the landmark "Stampede To Timberline" first published in 1949.

After reading this material, I would strongly recommend the avid frontiersman to the novice to take advantage of Brown's testimony to lost and unseen towns that "once were." Brown's attention to detail is above no other; the exquisit portraits he provides makes you shiver in anticipation and almost to a point, turn back in time to actually see how we might have lived during this now lost and not too distant era.

I recommend this book highly.

This is going to be in the "Reference Section" at your local library years from now. This one goes into detail about the lost communities of Colorado boom and bust past. Read this one, and you will want the other volumes in this series. Don't put this on your wish list - get it - you won't regret it.

This is the best book I've seen on ArcView, and I looked hard. Most other books are very bloated books which concentrate on step by step instructions but don't give you the broad view of what a GIS is and why and how to use it. This book successfully integrates GIS theory and motivation and strategy with how to do it in ArcView. Information is effectively and concisely presented and you get lots of depth. This book assumes you have no GIS information but leads you to some quite sophisticated usage (e.g. scripts and programming). It also presents lots of nice nice items that aren't evident in the documentation, and neat tricks (e.g. how to make an ArcView project portable so that it can run on more than one computer without all the file links being broken).

If you have never used a computer and are uncomfortable with menus, etc., you might want to get one of the more introductory books. (But then, you are unlikely to be reading this review if that is who you are).

If you are comfortable with computers and just want to get the details on how to do interesting things with ArcView, this is the book for you.

Glenwood Springs - The History of a Rocky Mountain Resort is not the typical history book. All of the information is there - from the formation of the geology up to the present day, along with a wealth of vintage photographs. However, Nelson's easy writing style makes the history a treat to read.

This is an excellent book for anyone planning to move to, or already living in, Colorado. Though not a book that most people would sit down and read cover-to-cover, it provides a broad overview of issues that are important as a reference guide. It is divided into concise chapters and written in language that is technical but understandable. From legal issues such as land stewardship and basics of Colorado law to a tongue-in-cheek interview with "Colorado Red", the book provides us with useful information so that we can all be better neighbors.

If you are looking for a tasty sampling of writings about the Grand Canyon this may be your book. In its 253+ pages you get the flavor of writings by dozens of authors, and enough of each flavor for you to decide whether you've had enough with that one taste, or if you need to digest that author's entire work. The writings range from serious to the silly, from inspirational to scary, and from experiential to philosophical. There's probably something here for everyone - a vast variety of perspectives and experiences from canyon rim to beyond the river's edge. None of the selections are over 16 pages (and many far shorter) so even if you're less than delighted with any of them you're quickly on to the next. This is a surprisingly quick and delightful read, and you'll probably get to the end wishing for more.

This book is designed to give you enough interest in the Grand Canyon from an armchair perspective to induce you to actually go there. Accordingly there are 14 pages of information devoted to The Next Step - what you need to know to visit and safely enjoy the real Grand Canyon.

Read the book and then go!