Thanks to Outside magazine, which has been systematically cultivating a stable of fine writers for years now, we have a collection of what I'll call the "nouveau adventure" genre. Yes, there are traditional, edge-of-your-seat adventure stories by familiar names like Jon Krakauer, Sebastian Junger and Dave Roberts, but to me the real pleasure of reading this book is derived from pieces like Ian Frazier's "Keeping America's Trees Safe from Small-Curd Bubble Wrap," and Randy Wayne White's "Why Do We Fish?" Their topics are just a bit off the wall, poke gentle fun at the human condition, and still manage to offer some real insight into subjects that most of us would never have thought of.

I have also savored the several pieces in the anthology that touch a deeper chord. "The High Cost of Being David Bower," a sensitive portrait of a man literally driven by the urgency of his dream, and "The Blackfoot Years," dealing with the importance of a river to the lives of a family that has had to cope with tragedy, are two favorites.

Here you will find adventure of all kinds, insightful social commentary, high risk moments, and just enough oddball humor to keep you entertained for hours. Like other readers, I find myself returning to this collection just for the fun and pleasure of rereading my favorites. Many thanks to Outside for having the vision and sense to give these authors a home in print.

I must have re-read this book for the twentieth time by now. And I already have this whole stack of Outside magazines on the shelf! Every time I read this book I would discover something interesting and new between the lines and in the stories -- whether it's emotional, descriptive or implied. I feel terrified when I read Krakauer's take on the Everest accident; inspired by the story on David Brower and his environmental stand; and I laughed myself silly with The King of the Ferret Leggers. In short, this book take me through the whole gamut of emotions. It's a great compilation and an even greater buy.

Years and years ago an office-mate brought in a copy Outside magazine with an article on "Ferret-legging," and read to all of us. By the end of it we were dying with laughter. I made a xerox, which I saved for years, until I finally made the mistake of loaning to a friend (ex, now, obviously) WHO DID NOT RETURN IT.
Now this compendium of Outside's comes out, and blessed Mary mother of God, it includes the ferret-legging piece.
You must buy this, flip to "King of the ferret-leggers," and read the piece. You'll thank me, honest you will.
And I'm told there're some other stories in here as well. Think of them as gravy.

This book can serve as a great endtable book with itslarge-page (12.5" x 9") format and accurate paintings of avariety of sharks by R. Ellis, but this book is more than that.

The book has excellent illustrations, paintings, and photographs, and biographies of several prominent shark researchers, conservationists, and shark-hunters. But more importantly, this book does a good job of summarizing aspects of the biology, ecology, and evolution of this amazing and intruiging group of animals.

Is this "the" definitive shark book? I would say that's a safe statement for the non-technical crowd. The only thing it needs to keep the technical crowd happy is a comprehensive list of references to scientific literature that was used to provide the information detailed in the book.

If you are interested in marine life, and in the lives and times of this group of top predators, then this book is for you.

Top marks, even though some of the information is becoming somewhat dated.

Mr Ellis has written the most informative, detailed book on every species of shark there is. Anything you want to know about sharks is in this book. I have read many shark books and myself and my husband are shark lovers and we believe this book is superb. Definitely recommendable.

When i was a kid growing up, sharks were (and still are) the greatest thing on earth. This book was the first book i ever read about sharks, although back then all i did was look at the pictures. I own the book still, and now that i am older, i know that is is one of the most thorough, and thought prevoking books dealing with this subject. It is a worthy entry in any shark lovers collection

The Villagers by Edward Field & Neil Derrick is a wonderfully rich, rewarding novel about the fictional 'Endicott' family from 1845 to 1975 in Greenwich Village, New York. While the Endicotts are the main characters in this long, eventful story, Greenwich Village itself is a background character of sorts. From a small, separate village to the north of the city in 1845, to the integral, exciting and lively neighborhood of 1975, the village 'lives' in the background, growing and changing over time as do the Endicotts themselves. This is essentially the story of three generations: Tom's in the 1840's, Patrick's in the 1880's, and Polly's in the 1930's. It is rich, varied, touching. The authors manage to make you care about these characters, drawing each one deftly, fully, making each main character real and believable. It is amazing to me that two separate authors could create so unified a fictional story and do it so successfully.

The authors of this novel have created a very real family. To bring this story alive, many famous people (and events) of the past become minor characters: Walt Whitman, Henry James, The Civil War, the Stock Market Crash of the 20's, the Stonewall Riots of the late 60's. This helps to place the family saga into the context of the various time periods. This is an excellent book, a rewarding book. The frequent tragedy is countered by the strength of many of the characters, especially Patrick, Elizabeth, and Polly. While it is very long, it is great fun to read.

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Plot Summary: The story begins when young Tom Endicott and his bride, Fanny move to the village from the city in 1845. Tom doesn't realize the fragile hold Fanny has on her sanity yet, nor that her family had literally married her off to be rid of her and exiled the two to the then far-off village of Greenwich. Sexual frustrations mount as Tom, due to Fanny's resistance, is unable to make love with his wife after their first time. They have a child from that first time, but when Tom in a fit of frustrated passion forces himself upon Fanny, the resulting child, Claude is rejected by its mother and grows up to be a withdrawn, quiet boy, who dies an early death from an opium addiction. Tom, in frustration turns to the family's Irish maid, Molly, a lusty woman who enjoys sex. This passionate affair leads to a pregnancy. It is a boy, Tom's illegitimate son, Patrick. Patrick grows up with his mother Molly in the Irish ghetto and it is he who will eventually carry the Endicott name into the next generation.

Patrick eventually is reunited with the Endicotts when Claude and Molly die. He becomes the son Tom always wanted. Patrick marries Elizabeth, Claude's childhood friend and produces the next generation of Endicotts. This becomes the longest saga in the Endicott story as Patrick becomes one of the movers and shakers in the growth and development of the village and the growing metropolis of New York. When his 10-year-old son dies, Patrick turns inward and his wife Elizabeth turns to an old family friend for solace which results in another illegitimate child, Polly. But Patrick, thinking Polly is his daughter, is rejuvenated and he fathers a second son, Eugene. Eugene is a supreme disappointment to Patrick and 'daughter' Polly is his life now. When Eugene marries and has a son himself, Seth, Patrick accepts his grandson with great joy. However, Eugene, confused and unhappy, leaves his wife and young son and returns to his family home in Greenwich Village.

The next great turn of events is when Patrick catches Eugene in the basement having sex with a workman modernizing the family house with new electrical wiring. Shame drives Eugene away to self-destructiveness. His sister Polly cannot forgive him but his mother Elizabeth tries to protect him from his own downward spiral. Patrick never really recovers. When Patrick finally dies, the family saga shifts to Polly and Eugene. Eugene, finally accepting his gay sexuality becomes a writer of note, even a celebrated playwright. Polly more and more accepts her gay brother as her own life becomes entangled in sex and alcohol. Eugene suddenly dies in a horrible accident, just as he is getting to know his own son Seth. Through much anguish, Polly finally defeats her own demons and becomes a strong, giving woman. Polly works hard to keep her extended family of cousins, nephews, and other relatives together. Much tragedy follows this family, but Polly triumphs, saving her family members from their own self-destructiveness over and over. In the end Polly herself, now well into her 80's in 1975, dies a quiet, peaceful death, the last Endicott in Greenwich Village.

It has been a long time since I've enjoyed a book so much that it has kept me off the computer for hours at a time. This wonderful book is full of characters you really come to care about. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next while at the same time dreading it coming to an end. If ever a family saga deserved a sequel this is the one! The only complaint I have is that it wasn't twice as long...

"I am five hundred pages through "The Villagers" and am already feeling bereft that the tale is nearly finished. I would love to see a production on PBS! The characters are wonderful, all so different [...], and of course I admire the treatment of the women."

Crosslines Essential Field Guide to Afghanistan tells the full story about Afghanistan in a way I can't find in any other book. Whether it's politics, culture or humanitarian information you're after - it's all in there. I never realised how big those Buddhas were that the Taliban blew up until I saw a picture in this book! If you want to understand more about the country at the centre of world news, this is the book to buy!

CROSSLINES ESSENTIAL FIELD GUIDE TO AFGHANISTAN

Published by CROSSLINES Global Report and Media Action International (formerly the International Centre for Humanitarian Reporting-ICHR)

The Crosslines Essential Field Guide to AFGHANISTAN Is the only detailed guidebook dealing with the current situation of the country available in English. Although certain elements in the book have been overtaken by recent events, the field guide is still essential reading for all journalists, aid workers, diplomats and military personnel operating in the region or otherwise interested in Afghanistan. Journalists and relief workers from the BBC, TIME, UNHCR, UNICEF and other media or aid groups have already informed us that the Essential Guide to AFGHANISTAN is the best thing going for quick and informed background information.

The book features over 500 pages of political, humanitarian and military analysis, biographies of key Taliban and opposition players, essential information briefs on agriculture, medical relief, environment, culture etc. as well as all regions of the country, street maps, advice on health and security, phrasebooks in Persian and Pashto, contact details for diplomats, aid agencies and journalists. Specially commissioned essays written leading experts analyse the country's political, military, humanitarian, and cultural situation. All country data was collated through first hand field research the editors.

The editors are Edward Girardet (a journalist and former correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor; also author of Afghanistan - the Soviet War) and Jonathan Walter (a former officer with the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas, and editor of the World Disasters Report)

This book was made for the use of relief workers working in Afghanistan. Aid for Aid participated in helping provide the maps for this book .

This is the kind of poetry book you read in bed before you go to sleep. You poke your husband with your elbow and say, "Listen to this one." He does.

Some of the most amazing poetry written in recent times is contained in this book. The works truly exemplify the American poetry scene.

This book of poetry will stay with you. You will take it off the shelf time after time to reread a poem that had a distinctive ring of truth and feeling of place about it.

My favorite poem, "Dr. Invisible and Mr. Hide" by Charles Webb. Close second was "Mean and Stupid" by Christopher Howell.

I moved to Florida from NJ. Betrocks Florida Plant Guide has been a life saver for me. The pictures are great. Because I am near the ocean I was very concerned about plants withstanding the salt spray and constant winds. I refer to this book very often and have recommended it to everyone who asks. Great reference.

Betrock has provided a wonderful source for the Florida gardener. This book provides the hardiness zone for each and every plant they review, which is very helpfull for the northern Florida gardener that is trying to plant a tropical looking garden, and does not want to replant each year. There are color pictures of every plant, many of them when they are in bloom, and they are on the same page as the subject matter (no looking all over the book for the pictures). Everything from how to culture, care for, and plant, to special notes specific to each plant. The notes frequently cover what happens to that tropical plant, that you plant in zone 8 when you really should have planted it in zone 9-10, like will it come back from the ground in the spring or are you going to have to be looking for that Lowe's/Home Depot reciept. If you are a serious botanist this is not your book, but if you are the weekend warrior, that is aspiring for greatness, this is the book for you. You will love the simplicity.

This reference provides a solid overview of amphibians, and has long been used as a university textbook on the subject. While other references are more suitable for amphibian neuroanatomy, this reference provides a rich description of amphibian reproductive behavior, development from egg to larvae to metamorphosis, ecology and evolution, as well as a chapter on the musculoskeletal system and another on other anatomical/physiological aspects of amphibians.

As a herpetologist, I find this book very complete and still up to date. The contents are well chosen and include every single aspect of their biology. The authors succeeded in making a extremely well chosen summary of the complex biology of the Amphibians.

What a fantastic journey this book was! The myriad adaptations that these creatures have made to various different challenges is truly fascinating. The photos of different ant species and the many detailed behaviours are very exciting. I would recommend this book to anyone with the slightest bit of curiosity. My only complaint (and certainly not a criticism) is that the writing in this book is clearly aimed at a 12-14 age level. Others may find the descriptions of behaviours and experiments a tad facile...

There are only a few writers who truly capture the natural world's complex structure, presenting it in a readable manner. Edward Wilson is one of these. Here, he's joined by Bert Holldobler in picturing one of our world's more enigmatic creatures - the ants. This book is a joy to read, whether you seriously study evolution or simply want a grander picture of life's mysteries. This book is a collector's item in reviewing what is known about ants and calling on students to consider how much remains to be studied.

The ants are one of the dominant forms of life on this planet. They've spread to nearly every environmental niche, adapting their habits and colony structure successfully. Wilson and Holldobler willingly convey their awe at this variety to anyone wishing to share it. Among the amazing accounts they relate, perhaps two stand out. The finding of the earliest known fossil specimens by a New Jersey family, and the night-foraging ants of Australia. Holldobler and Wilson's journeys have taken them to remote sites around the planet. They have a fine sense of how to bring the reader into their camps and excursions, sharing their discoveries and their tribulations.

Along the way, we learn how ants form their colonies, breed, forage, make war and enslave or absorb their fellows or other creatures. "Ants all look the same to the naked eye" they state, then show what a fallacy it is to continue believing that outlook. Beginning as solitary ground wasps, the ants have become one of the most complex social creatures in life. Their colonies range from simple bivouacs to huge structures. They can remove tonnes of soil to build a nest or range over extensive territories, terrifying even people with waves of migrating insects.

Anyone seeking to understand even a little of the diversity of life should own this book.

This book is easy to read. Could easily be used by elementary, middle school, and secondary school teachers to prepare a number of interesting lessons and scientific projects. Not only can insects (ants in particular, of course) but society, community, non-linguistic communication, evolution, and putting the universe into a size perspective provides many areas for class discussion. "Ants are oblivious to human existence." An incredible statement that will spark great conversation. Ants do not even know we are here! And they wont miss us when we are gone. After we have destroyed our natural habitat, they will continue to live in their microwildernesses. Text also provides a brief chapter on how to collect and observe ants and ant colonies. I am a language teacher but found reading this text simple and interesting.

This is a fine collect of 10 early hikes and float trips Abbey made mostly in the high deserts of the American Southwest. The last takes place in Alaska. In "A Walk in the Desert Hills" Abbey tells of a solo hike across more than 100 miles with only his backpack and the hope that water will be found in natural tanks. What, the reader may ask, compels a man to undertake such a trek with only a belief that salvation lies ahead in a bowl shaped stone (tanks) filled with rain water, and then further on, perhaps another, and hopefully another still? Throughout the book he answers this question by showing us the hidden beauty of slot canyons, how the Colorado looked beneath the flooded Glen Canyon before the dam and shares with us his discovery of petroglyphs and pictographs whose meanings still remains unknown. This is Abbey when his desert world was still new, before the roads and bridges and dams he hated changed it all. This is the world beyond the wall, his world. "Beyond the wall of the unreal city, beyond the security fences topped with barbed wire and razor wire, beyond the asphalt belting of superhighways, beyond the cemented banksides of our temporarily stopped and mutilated rivers, beyond the rage of lies that poison the air, there is another world waiting for you. It is the old true world of the deserts, the mountains, the forests, the islands, the shores, the open plains, Go there ...into the ancient blood-thrilling primeval freedom of those vast and democratic vistas. You will never understand the secret essence of the word freedom until you do."

Abbey was as about as free as a man can get.

The first two pieces in this collection provide the best introduction to Abbey I can think of. "A Walk in the Desert Hills" describes a 115-mile walk across the Sonoran Desert, in search of adventure, wisdom, and water. "How It Was" describes his first incursions into the Four Corners and Glen Canyon area, before the pavement came. "How It Was" will make you understand what got Abbey intoxicated with the desert. "A Walk ..." tells why it was still more magical than bourbon even thirty years later. For these two pieces alone this is my favorite of Abbey's books. The remainder of the pieces in the book, which describe forays around the Colorado River region, the Sea of Cortez, and a rafting trip in northern Alaska, are pure, delightful gravy.

Although Desert Solitaire is Abbey's most popular work of non-fiction and is an undeniable American masterpiece, Beyond the Wall in many ways surpasses it in its praise of the beauty and granduer of nature and as a meditation on humanity's place in it. As a work primarily concerned with Abbey's experiences on several hiking/camping trips alone in the Desert, from Southern Colorado, and West Texas, through theNew Mexico and Arizona wilds to the Sea of Cortez, the reader is allowed an glimpse into his psyche that is unsurpassed in these quiet revelations, documented in many a lonely, but not lonesome walk. In Beyond the Wall, Abbey is closest to his comparison with Thoreau, in the way that the simple description of Nature itself is the focus of this work. In many ways this book is both a eulogy and a celebration of Glen Canyon and raw unspoiled Nature.
Whether narrating "a Walk Through Desert Hills" or a "float trip down the doomed Glen Canyon, Abbey's awareness of the subtle force of nature is everpresent, and is expressed in the metaphoric image of Freedom and Wilderness versus industrial insanity and slavery. In many ways, what is beyond the wall is the possibility of our unmeditated communion with nature. And although this wall seems forminable, it can be overcome simply by venturing off the beaten path into a wilderness unknown to many. His solution lies in the simple concept of reestablishing an intimate relationship with Nature, which is deprived of so many today. Thus, in becoming acquainted with our environments and surroundings we will be much more involved in saving what is there. The case of Glen Canyon is a sad illustration of this, for despite its stunning beauty and granduer, which Abbey claimed surpassed even that of the Grand Canyon, it was destroyed simply because not enough people had experienced it and too few cared enough to save it.
In reading the essays in Beyond the wall, Ed introduces us to one way that we can all get beyond the walls that alienate us from nature and ultimately ourselves. And since this book can only guide us so far, it is we that must take the next step and decide on what side of the wall we want to live our lives.

I enjoyed this book. Though not a literary classic, it's a great book for a lazy summer afternoon. Written in a very traditional style, you can easily picture the scences being described. The characters are believable, especially if you're familiar with rural life.

Ralph Moody had the knack for "art-for-art's-sake" disguise. One important ingredient of his books that is seldom included in the reviews is the historical reality of the characters. If one was brought up ( as I was ) in Maine, farming with horses - the reality of the narrative is apparent. Reviewers not intimate with this culture and time still use terms such as "believable" in describing this book. The reason for this believability is simple - Moody was writing about real people who actually existed! Tom Gould ( the Grandfather ) was a Civil War Vet - Company I, 16th Maine; he actually did work the farm described in the book; his father, Jacob, actually did clear the farm from the wilderness; Tom actually was born when his father was 72, etc., etc. A boulder in nearby Hillside Cemetery in Lisbon memorializes Jacob, Tom and the farm which is the setting for this book. This is a cultural thumbprint of turn-of-the-century Maine . One might also explore the writings of another of Tom's grandsons ( and Ralph Moody's first cousin ), Maine author, John Gould.

The whole set of Ralph Moody books rank at the very top of read-aloud books with our children. We have read them all several times. This is my favorite. What a powerful story of the contending of wills between an old man and his grandson. You won't forget this story.