The John Day River is one of the hidden gems of the northwest. Located in the desert canyonlands of Oregon, northeast of Bend, it offers boaters multiple trip options, including an 85 mile stretch uninterrupted by roads or bridges, which makes an exquisite 4-6 day canoe, kayak, raft or driftboat trip.

Art Campbell's drift and historical guide is the comprehensive John Day guide. It provides detailed maps and descriptions of every section of the river - but also a fascinating account of the history of the region, along with historical anecdotes for each stretch of the river. The region was briefly populated by ranching communities 100 years ago, but has returned to primarily a state of wilderness, with a small amount of ranching remaining. As you drift past side-canyons, it's fascinating to read that rustlers were captured at this spot, that this is where a ranchhand accidentally drowned a child while playing with her in the river, or that here is where a man lost everything gambling, including his clothes, and had to ride home wearing only his long-johns.

The only drawback to the book is that it hasn't been updated recently. A few landmarks have changed, and, as rivers do, some rapids have changed slightly. Still, the changes are minor enough that the boater who trusts the guide will not go wrong (as of 1999 anyway).

The John Day is seasonal, depending on snowmelt from Oregon's Ochoco and Blue Mountains. The prime boating season is June. Later in the season the water level may be too low. The ideal flow level for canoes is between 800 and 2000 cfs. The river is uncontrolled by dams, and flow level may fluctuate significantly, revealing or obscuring some obstacles. Don't go without Art Campbell's guide! It's worth far more than it costs.

This book is just fantastic. There's so much that's good to say about it, but if you're an Irving fan like I am, it's essential to your reading. She looks at his work in parts and as a whole, and does it wonderfully. I can't recommend this too highly.

If you like science fiction in general and these three authors specifically, this is a great book! It gives an interesting insight to what these authors were like in their spare time and how they interacted with each other.

This is a truly lovely book: beautifully produced in paper-back with quality materials (so a joy to handle), interesting and insightful commentaries written in styles that aren't bound up by artistic jargon, and a wonderful, comprehensive collection of images in colour, put in meaningful order. I highly recommend it.

This fine book of black and white photography and accompanying text portrays a period of Western development that flourished in the early 20th century and then died with the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s. The author, an archaeologist by profession, has taken his camera to the states in the western Great Plains and the Great Basin of the Northwest and photographed the remains of homesteads that were once part of a thriving dry-land farming economy. There are photographs of abandoned farm houses, barns, schools, post offices, hotels, cemeteries, farm machinery and vehicles, and he has written a lengthy account of the period, based on research and personal interviews with descendants of homesteaders.

Today, where once stood prosperous farming communities joined by a network of roads and railways and served by a scattering of rural towns, fulfilling Thomas Jefferson's dream of a nation of small farmers, there is thinly populated ranchland, large hay fields, and expansive wheat growing operations. After decades of unusually high rainfall, these regions have returned to their normal arid conditions, which are unsuitable for dry-land farming. In some places, the prairie grass has reclaimed the land, obliterating evidence that the earth here was ever tilled. Only a few abandoned structures remain.

Campbell's photographs are fascinating and haunting. In many of them the vast sky looms overhead. Often in the distance there is a range of mountains, sometimes snow covered. The sunlight is bright and the shadows deep; the only signs of life are the grass and occasional trees. In all of them, the details are crisply focused, and where the landscape is flat and open, everything is sharply clear right to the horizon. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the West, images of the plains, and the history of homesteading.

In The Mechanics Of Wonder: The Creation Of The Idea Of Science Fiction, Gary Westfahl presents a sustained and documented argument for the importance of magazine editor Hugo Gernsback as being the true creator of what has become known as the science fiction genre. After initial chapters on Gernsback, Westfahl goes on to examine the way in which the Gernsback tradition was adopted and modified by later magazine editors and early critics., including a re-evaluation of the importance of John W. Campbell to the history of science fiction. The Mechanics Of Wonder will prove of immense interest to scholars of science fiction literary history and scifi enthusiasts with an appreciation of how a literary subgenre came to be a commonly accepted category of American literature and popular culture.

this book is wonderful I loved the book the picture are great and its a good story line I hope you parents read this to your children.

Parker carefully balances his focus on Milton's life and the poet's immortal works. Parker begins his study by letting the reader know that he is both a lover of Milton's art and an admirer of Milton the individual. One who devotes time to this considerable study will certainly obtain similar sentiments.

If you have a serious interest in John Northrop's Flying Wings, this is absolutely the best book available on the subject. Authors did a wonderful job pulling together photos, including many in color. The color photo section also includes some B-2 pictures.

But more important, the written narrative is excellent. The book covers Northrop's earliest days in aircraft design, and deals with all of his flying wing and tailless aircraft designs, especially the N-1, N-9, B-35, & B-49 projects.

Worth the money if you're a flying wing fan!

Note : I would like to bring the attention to professor A. K. S. Jardine review of this book that appeared in the Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering volume 5 No.2 pages 149-151.