Some say this is Muir's finest work. As the only other Muir book I've read (at this writing) is Travels in Alaska, I cannot comment on this, other than to say that I enjoyed this book a great deal.
From almost any vantage point in California, whether near or on a distant horizon, there are mountains. A fact not lost on Muir, whose sense of wonder and love of life endear him to his readers.
"God's glacial-mills grind slowly, but they have been kept in motion long enough in California to grind sufficient soil for a glorious abundance of life ... In so wild and so beautiful a region [was spent my day], every sight and sound inspiring, leading one far out of himself, yet feeding and building up his individuality."
Muir was the consummate man in nature. Anyone who is indifferent to Muir's writing may simply be indifferent to wonderment itself. I have no doubt that if Muir were placed in a room with the great kings and generals and tycoons and empire builders of history, he would appear singularly as a man among men. Unimpressed with their pomp and bluster over rotting empire, he might soon command more attention than they, and many would be happily listening to Muir in spite of their self importance. Why? He would have the most interesting insights, offered poetically and in a most humble and charming way. ... (in fact Muir was sought out by the great politicians and philosophers of his day).
If you like mountains, if you like California, if you like trees and glacier-fed streams, you will like this book.

muir describes the sierras with detail and love. he is one of the few authors who is content just to be in and describe a landscape. and what a description!. he describes the evolution of glaciaral lakes to the hights of mount ritter and the migrations of deer and native peoples. a great book i recoment it to anyone who loves the outdoors.

This book was a true classic, if you are looking for complete information on the Peyote Cactus, this is the book for you to buy. I cannot recommend it enough, it is one of my favorite books in my collection. It is professional, well written, and informative.

The most complete authority on the peyote cactus, Lophophora williamsii. E. Anderson includes every aspects of peyote- history and religious uses to ethnobotanical, phytochemistry and pharmacology. For anyone interested in learning all aspects of this mystifying plant, Peyote: The Divine Cactus, will allow just that.

I find that this book is excellent for providing accurate background information on the animals and plants as well as portraying each species with characteristic body language. This is by far my favorite photography book as a piece of art as well as a biological reference tool.

Amazing, beautiful photos of some of North Americas rarest species. A "must have" coffee-table book!

I laughed, I cried; two thumbs up! A science-based book, complete with citations of all the current literature, coupled with a readable, flowing style of writing. An important repository of all the scientific knowledge of these species in this region and issues affecting them (e.g., fire, climate change), yet engaging even to younger amateur herpetologists. Or, of interest to anyone who simply loves Yellowstone and the Tetons.

Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by lifelong naturalists Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller, Big Thicket Legacy is a compendium of engaging and informative anecdotes about life and living in the Big Thicket country, which is a nearly impassable area of Texas territory that only a few pioneers dared to brave. In those days, only the heartiest of individuals and families could call a place within the heart of the Big Thicket home; their tales have become a part of Texas folklore, and in Big Thicket Legacy are preserved to available to the general reading public, thereby recounting a very special experienced wisdom for new generations of Texans.

LOVING the "music" of birds the way I do, and my passionate infinity for trees,
-where birds live and play, this book was the perfect wealth of knowledge I needed to
create a "Sacred Space" for some of the some of most incredible creatures found upon
Mother Earth... Thank you Scott, for being a vessel inwhich to bring BIRDSONG
into MY back yard!

We camped for a week in the Davis Mountains in west Texas in a section of the Chihuahuan desert last summer. This was not our first desert experience - we have hiked and camped across much of the Southwest over the last twenty years or so. This was an unplanned trip as we were headed toward southern Colorado, but we became fascinated by the Chihuahuan desert and somehow we never drove any further.

We were similarly quite lucky to find a copy of the first edition of Peggy Larson's Sierra Guidebook in a bookstore in Alpine, Texas. She presents the deserts of the American southwest (and northern Mexico) in a literate and educated fashion. She manages to discuss individual plants and animals in some detail while painting a large scale, beautiful portrait of the four major deserts of North America. Detailed ink drawings - landscape, geology, plants, and animals - are scattered throughout the narrative and add considerable value. She knows her subject and shares her knowledge in an intriguing fashion. She effectively uses scientific names of desert plants and animals interchangeably with common (but less unique) names without intimidating the reader. This is not a novel and it is quite possible to skip to selected chapters of personal interest, but I highly recommend exploring all chapters, all topics. Peggy Larson's style is really quite good.

If you are already familiar with the American deserts, you will find "The Deserts of the Southwest" a rewarding visit with an old friend. If you are somewhat new to the deserts and possibly have only sampled the deserts from a highway perspective, I suspect that after reading Peggy Larson's book you will likely change your travel plans to include a personal visit to an American desert.

What a fascinating theory: that electrodynamic fields can indicate moods and other psychological characteristics. A most interesting application of this theory was for birth control: the data showed that, through non-instrusive methods, one can determine exact moments of ovulation.

Why hasn't anybody followed up on this theory? I'd love to see data developed by more recent experiments using the most modern equipment.

Code Name Ginger was an excellent profile of Dean Kamen as well as the engineers who brought Segway to market. Even though I had been following the Ginger/IT story since January 2001, this book revealed a darker side of Kamen that I didn't know existed before -- a side that elicits the imperfect humanity of this technological genius. Kamen is depicted as a benevolent patriarch, hero, paranoid control freak, liar, and a genius inventor. The story of Segway's former CEO and marketing people is aptly told as well. They were believed to be incompetent dunces by Kamen and his investors, but Steve Kemper depicts them as unfairly treated leaders. The most exciting chapters in the book were "West Coast Ambush", "The Leak" and "The Reveal". There were parts of the book that were a little dull, due to the fact that I seem to be one of those unfortunate people that isn't able to "get [understand] IT." While reading the endless discussion between the engineers as they worked on Segway's most intricate details, I couldn't detach myself from the belief that the Segway HT falls far short of a truly exciting/revolutionary invention. Had it really been something as important as the first TV, or PC etc. I think I would have been more intrigued by such dialogue. Paragraphs about an LCD screen on the handlebars were enough to put me to sleep. Moreover, the well read Ginger/IT fanatic would be disappointed to find no mention of Bob Metcalfe's (apparently bogus) claim that Segway wasn't the true IT invention, among other oddities that occurred over the past few years. However, perhaps such details are unnecessary, since Steve Kemper did a fine job of zipping up the IT mystery for any stragglers that still believed IT would be something more than just a new kind of scooter. Possibly the most gripping and heartbreaking part of the book is watching Kamen and the venture capitalists unravel and attempt to rewrite history as the rug is torn out from under them on January 9th 2001.

Mmmm... tough to reconcile the "customer" reviews I read hear with the VERY positive New York Times and Washington Post reviews this past week. I've heard from a couple of engineer types who raved ... saying Kemper really captured their world ..and then I happened to have an opportunity to see Kemper at UW Thurs evening for a reading. Interesting stuff. I read it for myself. If you are interested in the process of invention (hey, its messy!), if you like to see how some of the remarkable minds of our time work (Jobs, Bezos, not to mention Kamen), if you ever wondered what it was REALLY like inside the Skunkworks, or Edison's Lab, or the Wright Brother's bicycle shop ... this book is for you. This story about really remarkable people on a quest to change the world was engrossing. The success (or failure) of the Segway device itself seems irrelevant to me.

In 1999, Dean Kamen called journalist Steve Kemper and invited him to chronicle the development of a new invention, "the biggest thing I've ever done." Kemper bit, and the result is this gem of a book.

You may have heard of Dean Kamen as the archetypical American inventor, whose ideas made him a millionaire in his twenties, but who wears his uniform of a denim shirt, jeans and boots everywhere, from the workshop to the Oval Office to the boardroom. Or you may have seen the Dateline story on the revolutionary wheelchair (It climbs stairs! It rears up and balances on two wheels!) his company is even now jumping through FDA approval hoops. Or maybe you know a high-school kid competing in the FIRST robot-building team competition that is another of Kamen's brainchildren.

I loved this book, for a lot of reasons. First, it's unflinchingly honest. This is no worshipful paen to Kamen and the Segway, It is a balanced (pardon the pun) look at the inventor, his company, and the engineering and business behind the creation of the Segway, warts and all. Kemper writes an even-handed account, but the way he cares about his subjects shines through the entire book.

The author respects Kamen's genius, creativity, and sheer chutzpah, but also shines a merciless light on his many shortcomings. And Kamen IS likeable, and every bit the visionary wunderkind that the media paints. But reading how his team sometimes suffered in the Great Man's shadow made me squirm.

Although he professes to be neither an engineer nor a business guy, Kemper captures the spirit and creativity of engineering art AND business. He explores the sometimes-twisted and sometimes-sublime group dynamics that manifest when a group of people are pushing the technical envelope. He accurately describes both the "Eureka!" moments and the bone-numbing tedium necessary to turn a great idea into a complex, working whole.

Finally, the book is a great look inside the twenty-first century dream lab that is DEKA Research. The author gives tantalizing glimpses of the other on-going projects along with Project Ginger. And I pretty much drooled over the descriptions of Kamen's house. [...]