Collaboratively written by fly-fishing experts Brad Befus and John Berryman, Basic Techniques For Successful Fly Tying: A Lesson By Lesson Approach is a meticulous, step-by-step, "user friendly" guide which is wonderfully illustrated with numerous, full-color, instructional photographs. Specifically divided into lesson plans that cover everything from different types of fly wings to dry flies to selecting the right materials and hackle, Basic Techniques for Successful Fly Tying is an excellent and enthusiastically recommended training guide for fly fishers from novice through intermediate skill levels.

As the title implies, this book covers a step by step basic approach to fly tying. After having read and tried, more than a dozen entry level books on this subject, all I can say is buy this book!
The authors take you step by step through each process, accumulating in a finished fly. They are meticulous in each step, repeating the last steps, while moving on to the next.
They also heed a valuable warning after each step, practice!
This book will not make you an instant fly tyer, nor is it meant to. It is designed to bring you along slowly, and methodically.
By far the best I have seen on the subject.

This book is a very good discertation on fly fishing for species other than trout. It covers warm water species, bass bluegill/sunfish, perch and crappie as well as other cool water species, like walleye and pike, and even includes catfish. The author covers each species in a seperate chapter. Covering items such as prefered habitat, spawning, water temperature, fishing methods, and fly recommendations. If you like to fly fish, but trout aren't readily available in your area, this book could give you some insight into fish you might not have considered as fly rod fish.

This book is a great place to start, or if you already have that is okay, in warmwater fly-fishing. The information is very helpful. A must for the angler who can't go to the trout stream every weekend and a local lake is much closer.

Westward Go! presents the exciting story of how John C. Fremont, Kit Carson, and twelve-year old Rand Benton explored the American west in the Fremont expedition's 1842 Map-Making sojourn from St. Louis, Missouri to the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. This lively, energetic text is enhanced with line-drawings and marginal notes as the expedition encountered Native Americans, buffalo herds, Sacajawea's son, mountainmen, rivers, and the vast unexplored horizon. Westward Go! is fun, informative reading for anyone with an interest in the Old West generally, and the John C. Fremont expedition in particular.

It's always a pleasure to discover the occasional historical novel that both educates AND entertains. This is not the tedious textbook presentation of America's past that I remember (and so painfully endured) over the years in required American history courses. Ms. Loftin's book is engrossing, with dialogue as dazzling as its illustrations. More significantly, she proves something I've always believed but rarely experienced--namely, that we can learn about America's remarkable past without being bored into a stupor.

"Eight American Poets," edited by Joel Conarroe, is a fine anthology. The introduction notes that this book was "designed as a companion volume to 'Six American Poets,'" also edited by Conarroe. "Eight" follows the same plan as "Six": rather than anthologize a huge company of poets who are represented by only a few pieces each, each of Conarroe's books focuses on a relatively small group of poets, each of whom is represented by a substantial selection. Conarroe's approach allows the reader to get a fuller feel of each poet in the anthology format.

The poets of "Eight" are Theodore Roethke, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsburg, and James Merrill. Each poet's work is prefaced by a substantial individual introduction.

There are many masterpieces in this book. Curiously, I found the most compelling poems to be those that focus on nature: Roethke's "The Meadow Mouse," Bishop's "The Fish," Plath's "Mushrooms," and Merrill's "The Octopus." Poems like these combine skillfully used language with keen insight, and reveal these poets to be true heirs of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson (two of the featured artists in "Six American Poets").

Overall, I felt that "Eight" was not as strong as its sister volume, "Six." Although there are many poetic masterpieces in "Eight," there is also much material which, in my opinion, hasn't aged well. The so-called "confessional poetry" of some of these writers strikes me as overwrought. Some of the longer poems failed to resonate with me. I was particularly disappointed by Berryman's "Homage to Mistress Bradstreet," especially since I am an admirer of Anne Bradtreet's own work. Admittedly, this criticism may merely reflect my own personal tastes, but I submit it for the reader's consideration.

The fact that so many of these poets either wrote about each other, or pop up in the editor's introductions to each others' work, sometimes gives the book as a whole a creepy, incestuous feel. And the fact that so many of these poets committed suicide, had long-term mental health problems, and/or suffered from addictions further gives the book as a whole a rather morbid feel. On second thought, maybe this group of eight is a bit problematic!

Still, editor Conarroe has assembled an impressive anthology that I would recommend for students and teachers, as well as to a general readership. Although a mixed bag, "Eight American Poets" contains some truly enduring work by an octet whose legacy is secure.

.........the best known and loved poetry of eight well-known twentieth century American poets. Includes well known poems such as Bishop's "The Fish", Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz", Berryman's "Dream Songs", Merrill's "Lost in Translation", Sexton's "Ringing the Bells", and many others.

Like Conarroe's "Six American Poets", the anthology introduces us to each poet with a short biography that is presented before the poet's work. We learn about their lives and come to understand some of the primary forces that have shaped their poetry. I have found that this greatly enriches the experience of reading poetry because I better see the struggles that lead to each individual creation. After each collection, Conarroe offers a list of books and anthologies where each poet has been published so that we, should we wish, can come to know the work of a given poet much better.

This anthology is a wonderful starting place for someone who, like me, desires an introduction to some of the greatest American poetry ever produced. Personally, I feel, after reading this anthology that I have come to truly appreciate the work of Elizabeth Bishop and Theodore Roethke, in particular. I had never known their work well, but suddenly each jumped off the page at me, Bishop for her wonderfully vivid descriptions and Roethke for his intensely moving subjects. Plath and Sexton also really spoke to me, their work so reflecting their lives. Overall, this anthology is superbly worthwhile reading!

Ah, a fine comparison and contrast in studies on the eight best American confessional poets ever. Kudos to the editor on a fine choice of poems, and candid biographies on each poet. Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Allen Ginsberg, John Berryman, Theodore Roethke, Elizabeth Bishop and the other guy, here's to you.

John Berryman's unprecedented, idiosyncratic, jazzy use of language in poetry earned his a permanent place in the annals of 20th century poetry. & he's talked about all the time in modern poetry. If you want to know modern poetry, this is one of the most important books of 20th century poetry you must familiarize yourself with.

I just went back over a few of the poems in this book. Everything I chanced to read was brilliant but not so memorable. But then I came across Number 29 again. I'd forgotten. There is nothing like #29.

...this book, a masterpiece of syntax and characterization. I first read Berryman's Dream Song 69 over 12 years ago. That poem drew me to this book, which has never left me since then. I have moved to other continents, and this is the one volume I would not think of leaving behind. Even when I have been in the hospital, I am sure to pack "The Dream Songs." I cannot explain why this strange and marvelous book affects me so deeply, but I could not possibly give it any higher praise. Yes, there are lulls. Certainly, there are poems which pale in comparison to others, but the work as a whole is a dazzling accomplishment. No one sounds quite like Berryman: he heaves a word like an axe and in the next stroke caresses the reader with infinite tenderness. Berryman is unique, his conversations unmistakable, and his genius lies in his wit and honesty. No other book-length poem compares to this. Throughout the elegies, the arias, the schizoid self-confidence and despair, Henry emerges a character not easily surpassed in poetry, or in literature at all.

Compared to Murray's Flyfishing for Smallmouth Bass, expect vague generalizations without enough specifics to sink your teeth into.

I had the privilege to work on a TV show called HIGH COUNTRY OUTDOORS with Barry the same year he and John wrote PIKE ON THE FLY. I devoured this book and still have it on my shelf in close reach. The techniques aren't just old hackneyed phrases but are true tested tactics gleaned from Barry's experiences. I know of no better way to understand the ways of flyfishing for pike and other large gamefish than to read this book over and over. I refer to it for much more than just pike and muskie, its a great handbook to have when I want to think like a fish.

I read this book then went to Canada fly fishing for Pike. I found out that Barry Reynolds knows fly fishing for Pike. Take the advice of this book and you WILL catch Pike, lots of Pike on a fly rod.

A good recount of all the pain (much of it self-induced) Berryman went through to be able to find the voice that emerged in the Dream Songs. His childhood, parents, education, heroes, friends, addictions...all of them given appropriate weight in this biography. If you like his poetry, you'll like this book.

I didn't know much about John Berryman despite being an English major in college. However, I ran across a magazine article about Paul Mariani and the series of biogrphies he wrote on American poets. It intrigued me enough to pick up Dream Song. All I can say is "WOW!!"
Mariani brings Berryman to life and what a life Berryman had. Yes, Berryman was self destructive but he was also brilliant. Mariani tells the story in such a poignant way that I found myself looking forward each night to the time I could spend reading this book.
If you like biographies, especially literary biographies, then treat yourself to this book. You might also read Mariani's other books. I read his book about Robert Lowell and that was well done. However, Berryman is my favorite of the two.

I was a little confused by what Berryman was trying to do in this book. Like "Love and Fame," "Carp on the Fly" shows a different Berryman from the one we meet in "The Dream Songs." Here the emphasis seems to be on man's relationship with nature, both outer and inner, and the predatory nature of our connections with that larger world. The use of fish imagery also, perhaps, suggests the pre-birth, womb-nestled state which haunts Berryman's work and, I imagine, haunted his life as well -- in the anti-poetic society in which he lived, he was truly a fish out of water. Berryman's complicated attitude toward Christianity is reflected in the image of the fisherman, whose bright hooks draw fish upwards toward the surface, where they meet a kind of death that is also a transcendence, a shudder of pure, mortal joy.

I can finally come out of the closet! Yes, I fish for Carp. Initially with bait but now with a fly rod. This book is a super introduction to the freshwater Bonefish. Carpfishing on the Fly has all you need to get started. Whether it's tackle, tactics or fly patterns you're looking for it's in this book. Of course, there is a great section on why to fish for carp as well as sections on the life cycle and biology of the Golden Salmon. Chances are good you'll find carp near where you live. Grab this book and your fly rod and head for the water.

This book is great for any carp angler even if you don't fly fish. It talks about in debth the behavore of a feeding and non feeding carp. I give it 15 thumbs up

probably, because he was sober; an aria rather than a jazz riff.

Illuminating account of life with a manic alcohol abuser and his obsession with being America's "number one" poet. Eilene Simpson writes well and tells it all.