Winter Sports Books

Filled from cover to cover with glorious full-color photographs, Dogs Of The Iditarod by Anchorage-based professional photographer Jeff Schultz celebrates the canine participants in Alaska's famous Iditarod Sled Dog Race. These dogs' athletic endeavors, their incredible endurance, and their very special bonding with their owners are all showcased in this fantastically visual and highly recommended read for dog lovers everywhere.

Being partial to sled dogs myself (I am owned by two) I very much enjoyed leafing through this book. I actually bought it as a gift for my brother who adopted an Alaskan Husky last year, but I may have to buy another copy for myself!

Good portraits of the various types of dogs which nowadays run this intense and challenging race. The photos and text give you a glimpse into the world of sled dog racing, yet the book also shows the "gentler" and "calmer" side of these magnificent animals (lets enjoy the quiet times, as we know, calm or slow is not really an important part of their vocabulary!).

If you love sled dogs, get this book, it is worth it.

I bought this book and donated it as a birthday book at the elementary school I work at. The librarian has been reading it to the classes that come in for library. I have gotten so many hugs and THANK YOUS from the kids at school. They have all said it is a "Great Book" or "Awesome Book". They were doing a unit on the iditarod races and sled dogs, so I checked with the librarian to see if the library had this book and if they would be interested in it for the library.

Having met the author and heard her tell the story at my school, it was wonderful to read the book! Pam Flowers tells an exciting true story well and my students hung on every word! The illustrations are absolutely beautiful as well as the story.

I have read all of Beverly Lewis adult books and long for more. I am intrigued by the stories of Lancaster County Pa. Looking forward to more tales of the simple life. Beverly, thank you very much for soothing "winter" reading. I really enjoyed your stories.

Dreams On Ice by Beverly Lewis is a fabulous story about an eleven year old girl named Olivia Hudson. Her dreams of becoming a professional figure skater are put on hold when she and her dad move to Alpine Lake, Colorado after her mom dies from cancer. Olivia makes friends in some unexpected places and begins to really enjoy her new home. I love it when she gets to meet her pen pal and finds a place to skate. I enjoyed this book because I like to ice skate like Olivia. I have read nearly all of Beverly Lewis' Cul-De-Sac Kids books and this book in the Girls Only series is just as wonderful. I'm looking forward to reading the 3 other books in this series. by Kaitlyn Drennan, 10 years old

This is a book about one of the all time great male figure skaters. The author has written book that will be enjoyed by either adult or child. The text is informative and the book is filled with pictures of this great skater. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as well as the three other books in the series. Anyone who loves figure skating will enjoy this book

This is a fantastic book written by Linda. She sent me a copy of it (and the other three books - Scott, Michelle (Kwan), and Oksana), and this is deffinately my favorite. There's a lot of fantastic pictures, and great writing on Elvis, and who he is. At the beginning of each chapter, there's also a quote (by the skater), which really reflects his (or her) personality. If your just starting to learn about skating, don't worry, this book has been written in a way that is easy to understand, even by the beginner, and has a glossary at the end.See ya on the ice, -Kathy :)

Kayak rolling is a difficult technique to learn, because it involves several steps, all carefully coordinated under conditions that invite panic. Despite the difficulty of teaching and learning the technique, I taught myself to roll with this book. Derek Hutchinson's descriptions are clear and informative. He gives descriptions of a wide variety of techniques; though many are of historical, rather than practical, interest, they're all worth a good read. He includes a number of first-person accounts, some of which are funny and some of which are cautionary. This book is one treasure in my paddling library!

I learned to Eskimo roll, Pawlata style, from John Dowd's Sea Kayaking book, which covered Eskimo rolling in ~10 pages. In Pawlata rolls, you hold the paddle with one hand on the end of the paddle and the other on the shaft. My kayaking best friend helped me learn the Screw Roll, wherein you roll with your hands on the paddleshaft in the same place you have them while paddling. This came in very handy when I capsized once while goofing off and once while deflecting overhanging branches. Of course, learning to slide the paddle helps obtain the best leverage if you don't have total confidence in your screw roll. I bought this book to learn other kinds of rolls, including the hand roll.

The book also teaches sculling support strokes which kayakers, myself included, should learn to avoid panicking after a botched roll, to buy time for thinking about the next roll attempt. Avoid deadly hypothermia--dress for the water temperature, learn when not to go out, don't go alone, learn to brace, learn to Eskimo roll, learn to wet exit and re-enter, take all precautions--then practice frequently.
The price above seems high.

Its one of the few books on turkey hunting that zeros in on fall and winter hunting as opposed to spring hunting. Steve Hickoff has an easy to follow layout which makes it like the FAQs of fall and winter turkey hunting. Many of his examples come from New York and the northeast, where I hunt, so that is another plus for me. Additionally it also has great photographs which are sometimes instuctive and other times simply inspire one to grab the shotgun go turkey hunting.

The author went to great effort to produce a high quality book on fall hunting. It is written for one who has not hunted turkeys before. It has lots of color photos. It is absolutly not a book (as many are) quickly thrown together to make a quick dollar or two.
I pre ordered this book as there are no modern books devoted exclusively to fall hunting. I was not disappointed. I've hunted spring birds for many, many years but only started fall hunting three years ago as seasons opened. It was tough going. I had a lot to learn and I learned a lot from this book. The author covers all aspects ,in great detail, of fall hunting and leaves nothing out. Hickoff is a professional writer and it is obvious he has much experience with fall birds. This combination resulted in a great book. I highly recommend it.
One negative comment however: Turkey hunting is my passion.I also like to spend a lot of time in the woods. The book caused me to have a very short season (unlike past unsuccessful seasons).But, when you punch your tag you are done.
Buy and read this book and you will also have a shorter season.

After having just read Gary Paulsen's book Winterdance, I was anxious to learn more about the iditarod race and this book answered every question I could have dreamed up and more including history of mushing and the race, how mushers and dogs prepare for the race, what kind of equiptment they carry, and descriptions of the trail itself. It also has a very large bibliography which gave me a list of other books I would like to read.

This is a great book. The training section helped me with ideas for my dogs, as did the parts on equipment and feeding.

Linda Gerber is a superb writer and I make a point in reading all of her books. She can transcend any genre to make a lasting story.

I enjoyed Linda Gerber's first SASS book, Now and Zen, so I was looking forward to seeing what she would do with a second book, this time set in Finland. Again, Linda takes a typically frothy genre and adds a little heft--all without burdening her story line.

The Finnish Line is an account of "Mo" Clark's semester abroad, which she spends honing her competitive ski jumping skills. One nice thing about this book is that I'm pretty sure most American teens (and adults!) are unfamiliar with Finnish history and culture. Gerber manages to weave some of both into the book. (Imagine rolling naked in the snow and then heading into a sauna, for example.)

The reason Mo Clark goes to Finland is to get away from the influence of her high-profile skiing family--which doesn't always work out the way she planned it. She encounters a prickly roommate, Kirsti; an intriguing Romani boy named Leevi; and her own limitations as a ski jumper. The subplots weave together nicely, with questions about prejudice against gypsies being raised in the strand about Leevi. Mo is frustrated to find that her ski jumping doesn't cut it in this group of athletes, and Leevi offers to help her improve her distance. Though Leevi helps Mo, there comes a point when she goes it alone and really takes her ski jumping to the next level. I'm pleased that Gerber decided to let Mo make this crucial effort on her own, showing us the meaning of the Finnish term sisu.

At one point, the author offers an intriguing riff on her fun but seemingly frivolous title. As Leevi tells Mo, "You're not getting it. You can never reach the finish line, Clark. Not in your sport and not in your life. You come close, you set the line back. That way, you keep moving forward, keep getting better. When you think you're done, it's all over."

Finally, this book gives us insight into a sport that's an arena for the ongoing gender-rights struggles of women athletes. Ski jumping IS an Olympic sport for men, but as Gerber's endnote explains, the International Olympic Committee has balked at making it an Olympic sport for women--apparently on the grounds of good old-fashioned sexism.

The Finnish Line is mostly as light as powder snow, but it has unexpected depths. And Mo, like Gerber's main character in Now and Zen, is a girl worth accompanying on her semester abroad in Finland.

This handbook is a gem. Being a longtime boarder, I decided to make a point to increase my awareness of terrain and route selection in the backcountry and get more familliar with avies. This book is helping me accomplish that goal.

Info is straight forward, has practice examples to test your knowledge on when to ride and when to walk away from certain conditions, lots of pics to help explain terrain features and in depth "how to's" on testing snow strength, as well as detailed instructions on correct probing technique.

Added bonus: Craig Kelly helped contribute to the info in this book, and hence there are many pictures of him throughout. Much love to our fallen hero.

Worth $8.00? Oh heck yeah. Small price to pay to save the life of your friends and your own.

Great book. Excellent infomation and pictures. Not too tech. Good first book to read on the subject or to reinforce current knowledge.

I never snowboard. Read this book. And was able to make link turns in 3 days! Now I ride the lift and make really nice carve turns on the greens. Hopefully, the blues next. My friends are better than me but then I was watching a video of one of them after I read this book and I realized their technique is not as smooth as the books says which means I'll be riding better than him in no time!

I've never snowboard before. This book tough me how to stand and turn plus it has included DVD with detailed instructions. If I compare it to other books and DVD's I've ordered this product is the best.
My recommendation for beginners.