An excellant first book for the soon to be fly fishing addict. Clear, concise and extremely well illustrated, "Fishing Nymphs, Wet Flies & Streamers: Subsurface Techniques for Trout in Streams", introduces the novice fly fisherman to terminology, fly presentation, stream entomology and an understanding of the stream environment enough so one could enter their local fly shop and feel they have a starting point from which to ask questions. The photos and illustrations are not gratuitous but lend extreme clarity to the trouts behavior. The text is concise enough to move you through a broad introduction to the subject quickly and clearly but you will certainly want to explore more books on the sport to round out your understanding. I wish this series by "The Complete Fly Fisherman" (check out the other titles) had been my first books because they are so clear. Buy them as a gift for yourself or someone you know that is starting out. They'll like it.

If you are looking for a good book to help you cope with problems shade can create in a garden, keep looking.

Despite the title, this is not so much about shade as a general gardening book (including sections on installing an irrigation system and building a garden structure) filled with pep talks about how nice shade can be. It keeps coming back to the theme of color in the shade as it skims over design basics (color wheels and graph paper) and gardening basics (planting and pruning, etc.).

The book presents nice ideas about different types of shade gardens, but says nothing about how to create them. It recommends creating a design on paper or on computer, but says nothing about what a good design entails. And the majority of plants listed in the Encyclopedia of Shade Plants prefer "Light to moderate shade", also known as morning sun. I saw nothing to help me with replacing the English ivy under the deck, also known as deep shade.

Given the title, this should be a book which treats one subject, shade, in depth. Instead, it covers a wide range of gardening basics cursorily, with repeated encouragement to enjoy your (lightly) shady garden.

Many people associate the coziness of gardens with "cool, comfortable, shady garden nooks surrounded by deep-green foliage and brilliant flowers sprinkled with light . . . ." If so, this book is for you.

I located this book when my wife began asking me what else we could plant to add color to our yard. I found that everything I said began with, "You have to consider how much sun is available." Because we live in a heavily treed part of New England, no parts of our yard receive full sun except in winter when nothing is growing. During the growing season, we have from 2 hours of sun a day to no sun as our range. This is great for coolness, but limits the flower choices quite a lot.

Growing up in a family that did gardening for a living, the degree of shade that plants like is something that I am acutely aware of. On the other hand, I am less sure around the kind of soil moisture and acidity that are desirable. This book was extremely valuable for its encyclopedia of 100 of the most common shade plants. Each listing describes the type of shade, soil, moisture, and care that is best for the plant. For the purposes of this book, shade is considered any area that has less than six hours of direct sunlight a day.

If you live in sunny areas, the book also has many valuable ideas for creating shade with screens. There is also an excellent section on how to use sprinkling systems to add moisture.

Regardless of where you live in North America, you can use this book because it describes whether each of the plants will do well in your climate zone. If you live in the desert, there are also good ideas for using cacti.

The book also gives you a process for evaluating your potential garden sites, adapting them to your desires, planning your garden, and planting and caring for the trees, shrubs, flowers, ferns, and ground cover you choose.

So whether you are thinking about impatiens, clivia, hydrangeas, daylilies, forget-me-nots, fuschias or pansies, this book will help you with annuals and perennials. Also, don't forget to think about azaleas, camellias, wisteria and foxglove. If you're not sure what all of these plants are, the many beautiful photographs in the book will fill you in.

After you finish thinking about the wonderful choices for your shady areas, I suggest that you think about what you would like to do there. What else do you need to make it perfect? Would a bench suit? Or would a garden swing be better? Or, if you have lots of room, what about a gazebo? Is there room for a bird bath or hummingbird feeder?

Help nature weave her magic enchantment into your life!