Ralph Edwards of lonesome lake is a book about carving out a life for ones family in a remote wilderness. This book is such a contrast to our technical world with cell phones, internet, e mail "Big Box shopping" malls. Our lives are so full but really so empty. I felt an extreme feeling of sadness after having read this book. Ralph Edwards and his wife are now dead after having lived a hard but full life. We all struggle through life with different goals and yet we all have to face death. I felt the sadness of Ralph Edwards when he realised that he was too old to be independant and look after himself. This book has to make us all stop and concider what we are doing and what is the purpose of life. What could possibly be more important than these questions?

Salmon Nation is a fascinating look at how the people, and salmon, of the Pacific Northwest have lived together for so long, and how they are now both threatened. Very informative, evocative read.

This an excellent overview of everything you wanted to know about shark attacks, statistics and the like. Great true stories are told, ranging from numerous amazing survival stories, to general patterns of attacks (and how to avoid one), historical and mythical stories, scientific facts, (eg fossils sets of teeth have been found which indicate extinct species of predators to 50 feet or more!), and analyses of attitudes to sharks over the years.

Some of the stories described are simply amazing, and frightening. From people stalked by sharks for days whilst lost at sea, and survived to tell, to whole ships going down while sharks picked out their buddies one by one, to attacks in canals remote from the coast, to serial-type attacks and shark rogues, to sharks attacking rescuers, to picking out people in the middle rather than the edges of a crowd of swimmers, to people dragging the shark onto the shore whilst it held on and was then beaten to death, to lucky escapes, and so on. There are some tragic stories, but also some very inspiring survivals stories of people who fought off monsters, to people who survived for days swimming lost in the open ocean and coming onto dry reefs in the middle of nowhere. Not many people know that a former prime minister of Australia is beleived by some to have been taken by a shark whilst in office, having disappeared without trace off the Australian coast, nor do many know of attacks on small boats, whilst people were in them. It's all pretty frightenening, but the author puts it into perspective, there are many other creatures which are more dangerous, it is only the general unknown and our vulnerability in the sea which gives us our fears.

There are patterns to attacks which the book goes into in some detail, by various researchers. In many cases attacks are by mistake, such as wetsuits resembling seals and so on. Colour of attire on those attacked seems to also play a part (bright orange on life jackets is not good). 35% of attacks are fatal. 62% occur in five feet of less of water. 63% of sharks were not seen by victims before attack. Only one in seven is the shark persistant after the intial attack. Divers fatality is smaller because they can see their attacker better, but divers form a high proportion of victims. No pattern is shown on skin colour, except that sharks are attracted to contrasts (eg suntanning). Great Whites have a higher fatality rate. Average length of shark attacking was 2.1m. 94% were made by single sharks. In most cases victims had their backs to the sea. In many cases they were left alone in the water after several people went to shore, such as in catching a wave. etc etc. There is much other useful information in the book, including how to avoid becoming a statistic.

The book is an excellent overview of statistics and stories relating to attacks, and sharks in general. Recommended for aspiring sea-goers, and amatuer marine biologists at heart, as well as for the story teller on those dark cold nights at sea-in the safety of a sturdy ocean-going vessel one hopes.

This is perhaps the best book that I have read on environmental history. Davis contends that the Southern Appalachian Mountains have been raped, robbed, and pillaged for centuries and casts new light on a largely ignored subject. The strengths of the work are Davis' illustrations of the cultural and environmental developments that have occurred in southern Appalachia from an interdisciplinary approach. The work is well-written and Davis displays an excellent knowledge of the literature using both primary and secondary sources. The sources are current and the bibliography is a useful tool for scholars wanting to do further work in Appalachia. Most scholars who have written on Appalachia have largely ignored Native Americans but Davis has shown in the same manner as William Cronan (Changes in the Land) and Alfred Crosby (The Columbian Exchange) in other areas of America, the consequences that European explorers had on Native American populations. Davis certainly executes and conveys with a skill understanding of the precontact environment, ecology, and landscape for the reader. This book could be used in history courses, folklore, Appalachian studies, sociology/anthropology, and a host of other classes. Also, it is written so well it is good for just general reading. This is a powerful, forceful, well-organized, and convincing work.

If you have been to Moab, Utah and the surrounding red rock country of Southern Utah then this book is an absolute must read.
If you have never been to Moab or Arches National Park, read this book and let Ed Abbey take you there. This is one of my favorite books and I come back to it often. Abbey's tranquil descriptions
of the beautiful yet harsh red rock environment of what was then Arches National Monument is the quintessential narrative of this lovely desert landscape. In this volume the history, geology and
mood of the red rock country comes alive with Abbey's economic prose. Abbey served as a park ranger during Arches' infancy and his love for the desert and disdain for convention and oppression
served him well during his brief tenure as Arches' caretaker. My favorite chapter: "The Deadman at Grandview Point". Gallows humor
at its finest. Read this book and love it the way Abbey loved Arches.

Edward Abbey was an outspoken wilderness advocate, and his nonfiction writing falls somewhere between Thoreau and Hunter Thompson. "Desert Solitaire" is classic Abbey, written in the latter 1960s, when he was about 30, and it recounts a handful of summers spent ten years earlier in and around Arches National Monument in southeastern Utah. Here he was a park ranger, when the park was still mostly undeveloped. Living in a small trailer, keeping an eye on the campers and tourists, he mostly relishes the quiet, beauty, and indifference of the desert under its hot sun.

The book begins with his arrival in April and concludes with his departure at season's end in September. In between are chapters devoted to descriptions of his rambles across the terrain, helping a local cattleman round up cows in the side canyons, trying to capture a one-eyed feral horse, camping on a 13,000-foot local mountain, hiking with a friend into an uncharted wilderness call the Maze, and retrieving the body of a dead tourist. There's also a dark story concerning the unfortunate fate of some uranium prospectors. The longest chapter is a rapturous account of a week spent rafting down the Colorado River, he and a friend among the last to see the canyons about to be inundated by the Glen Canyon Dam and the creation of Lake Powell.

Along the way, there are ruminations on the meaning of it all and diatribes against urbanization, intrusive government, the tourist industry, and the destruction of wilderness. The word "solitaire" in the title is an apt choice, as much of the time Abbey is alone, thinking his thoughts and observing this desert world, its plants and wild life, geological formations, and the big sky with its turns of weather. Even when paired up with a companion, he is often off alone, on a walkabout of his own, like as not shedding his clothes.

His thoughts, meanwhile, are informed by wide reading in philosophy, history, natural sciences, and literature. As a writer, he's frequently quotable: "Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless." "It's a great country: you can say whatever you like so long as it is strictly true -- nobody will ever take you seriously."

The vistas he describes so eloquently are not hard to picture in the imagination, but I recommend an accompanying volume of photography, such as Eliot Porter's "The Place No One Knew: Glen Canyon on the Colorado." Unless you're familiar with borage, paintbrush, globemallow, and dozens of other desert species, a picture guidebook to the flora of the region would also be helpful. I thoroughly enjoyed Abbey's book, shared the excitement of his adventures, found his cranky, ornery, sometimes self-indulgent perspective refreshing, and felt saddened by the end-of-season farewell with which it closes. In any list of nonfiction books about the West, it should be near the top.

I was raised between a rock and a cactus in southern Arizona I then lived in the desert Southwest for more than forty years before leaving the "cancerous madness" of Phoenix (p. 127) for Boulder. Although our paths never crossed, for awhile I even shared the same Tucson canyon Ed Abbey called his home. I have desert dust in my blood. I have read many books about the Southwest, and Abbey's DESERT SOLITAIRE is the best. In fact, it even changed my life. Written in the 1960s while Abbey lived as a park ranger--"the sole inhabitant, usufructuary, observer and custodian"--in the 33,000 acres of Arches National Park, DESERT SOLITAIRE takes us into "into the center of the world, God's navel, Abbey's country, the red wasteland" (pp. 4-5). But in his prophetic Introduction to this 1968 classic, Abbey says, "what I write about in this book is already gone or going under fast. This is not a travel guide but an elegy. A memorial. You're holding a tombstone in your hands. A bloody rock. Don't drop it on your foot--throw it at something big and glassy" (p. xiv).

"I am not an athiest but an earthiest," Abbey said. He loved his earthly life, "the grasp of a child's hand in your own, the flavor of an apple, the embrace of a friend or lover, the silk of a girl's thigh, the sunlight on rocks and leaves, the feel of music, the bark of a tree, the abrasion of granite and sand, the plunge of clear water into a pool, the face of the wind" (p. xiii) And he loved wilderness, especially the desert. "Noontime here is like a drug. The light is psychedelic, the dry electric air narcotic. The desert is stimulating, exciting, exacting" (p. 135). Alone in the desert, Abbey loved finding sublime meaning in its contrasts and its critters, "scorpions and tarantulas and flies, rattlesnakes and Gila monsters, sandstorms, volcanoes and earthquakes, bacteria and bear, cactus, yucca, bladderweed, ocotillo and mesquite, flash floods and quicksand" (p. 167). "The desert reveals itself nakedly and cruelly, with no meaning but its own existence" (p. 135).

DESERT SOLITAIRE is Abbey's desert love story. And it is a love story with a simple message: "Be true to the earth" (p. 184). Abbey recognized that wilderness is a necessary part of civilization (p. 47). Long before our parks became congested with traffic and our campgrounds overcrowded with too many loud tourists, he advocated keeping cars and roads out of national parks, and putting park rangers to work by removing them from their patrol cars to lead "the dudes over hill and dale, safely into and back out of the wilderness" (pp. 52-55). Cactus Ed was a true desert prophet, and DESERT SOLITAIRE remains as relevant as ever.

G. Merritt

This a really cool book! I read it from cover to cover. I learned stuff about horses that I never knew and learned about breeds of horses that I never knew existed! This a good book for beginner horsenuts.

I have been taking riding for two years.Just a couple of days ago my instructor said I was the smart intellect of my age group at the barn.I think getting this book really helped. It covers a lot of breeds and information on them.This book is great so if your horse crazy I would reccomend getting this book!!!

I am so glad that I purchased this book. I needed a reference guide to help me identify different breeds of horses and ponies for the Photo Model Horse Shows that I have been participating in. Since I will eventually judge a show, I needed to be prepared to classify horse breeds from the photograph entries that will be sent to me. It is easy to read, the photographs are lovely, and there were only a few breeds not listed. Good job!

Many things I liked about this book was that it had alot of addventure and excitment. The characters always have exciting attitude's. Jessice is the main character she is 15 and only has a dad. She gets along with all group members once she gets to meet them.
One of the things I didn't like about this book was that they really didn't tell about their home lives much. like why pug was sent to this camp.
P.S. For the most part I thought that this book was extoridanory.

As a longtime Abbey fan, down the river is as powerful and exciting as any. The stories capture the imagination, and are filled with flowing, humorous, forceful prose. a gem to read!

After "Desert Solitaire" this is my favorite Edward Abbey book. The essay on rafting the Glen Canyon before the dam was built is sublime and makes you ponder the true value of wilderness to the soul-- a value which can't be tabulated because it is immeasurable.

Abbey's a rebel, defending the West from the industrialists and profiteers. He makes no apologies for being passionate about his cause, and why should he. His passion may not be "fashionable," but Abbey is a true American original, and the kind of person we need more of. His writing is edgy, beautiful, makes you want to grab a raft and head down the Colorado. Nature is where he finds himself-- as harsh and uncompromising as it is, it's real.

I also love Abbey's sense of humor. I wonder if he ever met Hunter Thompson-- that would have been a great conversation. One of the funniest essays I've ever read is in this book: "The Legend of Josiah Gregg." Watching Abbey debunk a book about the life of this supposed great frontiersman had me on the floor. Probably the funniest part was Abbey's interpretation of his memoirs: the way thunderstorms appeared over his head bellowing at him in a purposeful way, the way his campfire got out of control and he fled from it across the plains. His assessment of the Great Plains as a "barren wasteland devoid of life." In Abbey's eyes, Gregg is the Inspector Clouseau of the frontier.

All in all, a great read. Spending time with Abbey is a pleasure.

I want to start my review by saying, don't judge a book by its cover or its title for that matter. Although the Condor's Shadow
speaks very little about the Condor, it does symbolize the species of the United States that have disappeared or have become endagered. But to put it blunty, I was quite TICKED, because I was lead to believe that the book was about the Condor and his shadow! The book's overall entertainment level was low, but it was a real eye opener, no doubt. It explained the impact of humans on the environment and how fragile wildlife is to the world. All and all this book put fourth a whole lot of knowledge about the environment.

I read this book for my AP Environmental class in high school. I thought this was an easy book to read. It talks about the loss and recovery of wildlife in america. It is divided up into different sections for example the east, mid-west, west, and the coastal regions. Condor's shadow can easily be used in research projects and papers. In the back of the book is a handy notes, lit cited, and index sections making it easier for further research. The author does not seem to write with any bias and keeps his point of view until the end of the book. I would recomend this book for both nature lovers and students.

David Wilcove takes the reader on a tour of biodiversity loss and renewal throughout the United States. Each chapter focuses on a region, highlights the unique environmental problems of that region, and comprehensively addresses the extinction of vertebrates in that area. He also showcases those (sadly few) species that have flirted with extinction but which are now on the rebound. The book is both amazingly easy to read and thoroughly researched. Happily, the details of the research are tucked at the book of the book so they don't interrupt the flow of the tale, but are available for to the most exacting reader. Wilcove's passion as a birdwatcher shines through and his personality manifests itself on every page. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the state of conservation in the US.

This book accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do: provide a realistic overview of the life of a real estate agent. I am considering getting my license and found this book answered many of the basic questions about the job: the risks faced by a new agent, how to succeed in your first year and beyond, and the rewards of a long career. A good book if your just starting to do your research on the topic.

Any who dream of making a career change and working with people would do well to think of real estate and the tips offered by Kenneth Edwards, who provides guidelines to getting involved in the industry. From obtaining a license and winning clients to avoiding problems and making career choices, Your Successful Real Estate Career tells of the positives and pitfalls of a career as a real estate agent.

First and foremost I think one of the best parts of this book is the survey at the back which outlines "why most new agents fail" is fantastic. It addresses the key characteristics and traits that are required to be a successful new agent.

At the beginning I was sort of put off by Mr. Edwards "this is why you would fail" attitude but as I got through more of the specifics in the individual chapters I realized that he was setting up a dialog of what to do as well as what not to do. There are TONS of realistic, specific ideas about how to get yourself off to a great start during what can very easily be a very difficult first year in real estate sales.

Since I purchased the book I have taken my licensing class, taken my salesperson's exam and found a firm to work with. I think this book and one other are why I made my way through that process so smoothly. The other book I'd highly recommend is Dirk Zeller's "Your First Year in Real Estate".

Ed Kanze's Kangaroo Dreaming should provide a healthy counterbalance to "Survivor II" with its kitschy evocation of aboriginal ceremony and the Australian landscape. In the popular show, the only genuine elements were the landscape of the outback itself and the glimpses of wildlife. In Kanze's clear-eyed view of the same landscape, the aborigines, like our Native Americans, displaying the "ugly and all-too-universal result of western mercantile culture mixing with a tribal society." The aborigines encountered near Alice Springs - unsmiling, clutching whiskey bottles - provide one of the human portraits that truly makes Kanze's book stand out among travelogues of natural history. But as always, Kanze's eye for flora and fauna predominates and his descriptive powers are masterful: "Suddenly, bubbles appeared in the water before me. I cocked my camera, switched on the flash, and held my breath. There - there -there - I was struck dumb by my good fortune. A black, rubbery bill wider than a duck's pushed through the surface immediately before me. It was followed by webbed feet, a hairy face with beady black eyes, and a furry brown body about the size of a muskrat's. I fiddled with the camera. The platypus was so close that my lens could not focus." The frame of Kanze's story is a nine-month, 25,000-mile odyssey he and his wife Debbie took around the rim of, and to the center of, Australia. (In fact, the author has used the sections of The Odyssey itself to parallel their journey.) Along the way they meet friendly and helpful nature enthusiasts - as well as characters they'd as soon never see again. For those of us who will visit "the America on the other side of the world" (Melville's phrase) only via the armchair, the Kanzes make irresistible, funny and erudite traveling companions.

For one who has not been to Australia yet, reading about this wildlife journey has been great fun. The author gives his readers a real sense of the joy of discovery and excitement of the search. Along the way, he imparts a great amount of fascinating information about the countryside and the people encountered during their travels.

I highly recommend Kanze's book for armchair travelers who have an interest in wildlife, or those who may be contemplating such an adventure for themselves. The view of Australia, its people, and its wildlife is extraordinary!

Great armchair rideabout through the land down under! Witty and intelligent, Kanze has a knack for making one feel as if he and his wife were sitting in rockers in your den telling these tales. He is able to balance intelligence and knowledge with humor and candor of his own foibles. I want to go to Australia!