This book gives you a spectacular, vivid, and unique look at the mountains of New England as only Thoreau could provide. This book is a compilation of peak-by-peak short stories which include Thoreaus' own journal writings along with commentary by the author. You join Thoreau as he explores many of New England's more famous mountains. Originally published in the 19th Century, Thoreau gives a glimpse of the mountains before roads, well-graded paths, or even maps gave the average tourist easy access to their beautiful heights. Thoreau explores such peaks as Katahdin in Maine, Lafayette, Monadnock, and Washington in New Hampshire, as well as Greylock and Wachusett in his home state of Massachusetts. The author gives modern day reference points as you follow Thoreau on his adventures across New England. Thoreau even teaches, unintentionaly, some important do's and don'ts for the modern day explorer. As you will discover Thoreau even learned a few lessons that can still be seen to this day! Overall, a very interesting read, especially for anyone at home in the mountains of New England. A book sure to bring out the adventurer in you.

Unfortunately this book has not been updated in over 25 years. Taxonomic changes in some groups of mammals have left this rather inadequate. The illustrations aren't bad except for sea mammals which have black and white sketches for illustrations. It may have been a decent guide when it came out, but I don't see the point in publishing a book which may not have the animal you're looking at in it! This book needs a revision.

This book was issued in 1976 not in 1998 as I was led to believe...... I just received my copy and it is a 3rd edition, clearly copyrighted in 1976. Apparently it was reprinted recently, but not updated. Who knows how much has changed on our knowledge of mammals over the past 25 years? Also, the binding on this paperback has left little space for the inside margin which will make this a little difficult to use and probably shortern its lifespan. RK

Peterson's field guide to mammals is one of my standard references as a mammology student. I constantly use the range maps,color identification plates, and animal descriptions. The book provides you with good identification characteristics indicated by arrows on the illustrations of each animal and a brief life history of every species north of the border. There are skull plates at the back of the book that are good for comparing different families but do not include every species and in some cases are poor positions to see defining attributes. The color plates for the most part have good illustrations but a few look hoaky like the Mountain Lion. Nevertheless, they all still provide good size comparisons and coloration of the animals. Consistant with other Peterson guides.

I picked up this book looking for a unique, personal perspective on life on Cape Cod. What I got was long-winded discussions of fishing. If you're into long descriptions of and justifications for fishing and duck hunting--you might like this book. The book is also annoyingly written. The author switches voice all over the place: back and for from "I" to "you" to "one." I found that very distracting. He doesn't seem to know that much about the Cape either. If you want ruminations on the quiet of nature--don't bother; try Thoreau's Cape Cod or Henry Beston's The Outermost House.

Wyman Richardson's account of life on Cape Cod, first published in 1947, is a delight to read even tho' much has changed on the Cape since then. This is a book to treasure in the dead of winter when one longs to 'feel the whims of the sea'or 'hear the slow low pitch of a cricket's song.' Richardson, besides being a physician, is a first rate nature writer. His 'other' life comes alive as he describes morning in the old farmhouse where 'you can look out the south windows over the ...grassy hills...over the blue water of Nauset Marsh' and in the early morning 'an orange moon slipping behind the western horizon.' Richardson paints pictures with words that draw the reader, however briefly, into the pages of his book. First rate. I loved it.

Set in a small farm house on a Cape Cod marsh in a the 1940s and early 50s, it portrays the Cape in a time before masses of visitors changed it from an isolated backwater to an overrun tourist destination (a change that seems to have taken over so many parts of our country). I spent summers on the Cape as a young boy in the late 50s and early sixties, and Richardson's writing brings back that sense of wild emptiness and special light that used to make Cape Cod so special. The writing and lovely illustrations recall a time when you could have a hand in the gathering of your own food and take joy in the beauty of the process. We have gained much smugness and lost so much else since then; the House on Nauset Marsh brings back a sense of how lives connected to nature used to be.

The editors have tried to add value to this rather unexciting collection of letters and brief diary by interspersing their own comments among the letters. This is all very well when they stick to facts, but too often they inflict their own 20th-century political beliefs upon the readers. That's particularly annoying considering the lip service paid to "objectivity" in the foreword.

The letters themselves are not exactly thrilling. The soldier in question saw little action and his letters (typically of Civil War letters) concern themselves mostly with relatives he's met and what he wants to have sent from home. His prison diary is interesting mostly in that its tone differs markedly from that of the letters; it's emotional and romantic, whereas the letters are downright dull. Still, the diary offers little factual information -- though he does undermine his editors' hoopla by stating that he was actually treated reasonably well. Whether he was "unreconstructed", as the editors claim, is unknown, because no post-war writings of his own are included.

I'd skip this. The editing is annoying and the primary material adds nothing new or entertaining to the wealth of Civil War primary sources already in print.

Sojourns of a Patriot is a compelling read. It esentially follows the life a Confederate infantryman, Corporal A.P. Adamson, throughout his tenure of the War Between the States. The book is composed primarily of his letters home and a journal he kept for the last year of the war. Secondarily, the editors provide comment and explanation to some of the entries. Most revealing were the roles that camp gossip played in his thoughts on the morale of the Southern troops. Also quite interesting were the false or incomplete pieces of "news" that reached Southern camps. This aspect of the book provides the reader with an insight that is often not present in regimental or campaign histories. Often, readers know the outcome of the battle, the makeup of the casualty list, or the result of a particular election. The letters in this book permit the reader an escape from that biased knowledge and to live through the life of the writer. The love of the writer for his home, his yearning for a return to his previous life, and his concern for the future are poignantly brought to the fore through his letters to various family members. However, some of the best writing is not included in these letters, but is in his later journal. These entries are poetry disguised as prose. The images brought forth by his writings are disturbing, comforting, melancholic, and often heart-wrenching. Brief though they are, they are some of the most powerful writings of the War this reader has encountered. The only detractor to the book is in the commentaries by the editors. They focussed a little more than was perhaps necessary on the personal histories of peripheral protagonists. Some of the information was repititious. However, in their defence, the editors do warn the reader of this in the beginning and they do have personal bias to this information. Additionally, the other commentaries they provide would be useful to readers who may not be as familiar with the conflict (in fact, these could have been expanded somewhat, but there is a conscious effort by the editors to provide suggested readings which are appropriate for each entry). Overall, I highly recommend this book to any person interested in the War Between the States. It will be especially appealling to readers with interest in the personal experiences of the war and an informative diversion to those readers who generally limit themselves to straight histories.

This is an excellent effort on the British field artillery of the Napoleonic period. There is interesting and useful information throughout the book. The subject is covered quite thoroughly, and there are sections on, among others, organization, ammunition, tactics, drill, and the guns and limbers that were used to pull them. It is a ready reference work, but a few things could have been done to make it better.

There are no illustrations of British caissons, which would have been very helpful. The section on the Indian artillery, with one of the attendant color prints in the center of the booklet could have been left out. That was a very minor theater during the wars, and the space devoted to it could have been better used for material, such as Congreve's rockets, that would be more helpful for the period.

Further, there are only four data tables, which seriously hurts the overall presentation. Three of these were taken directly from Adye's indispensable Bombardier and Pocket Gunner, the other being done for the book. There is nothing, data wise, on ranges in table form which would have been useful and something that is a must for an artillery presentation.

The period illustrations which permeate the text are excellent and picture everything from guns in the field, to the use of an artillery gin, to showing the interior of the Royal Brass Foundry at Woolwich. The illustration of the 9-pounder field gun in the center color portion of the booklet has two errors: the axle and the trunnions are misidentified.

The illustrations of the 6-pounder gun team, the 5.5-inch howitzer and crew, and the gun tubes and gin are really excellent, especially as one of the howitzer drawings shows the chambered bore. The glossary at the end of the text is both useful and accurate and is a plus for the volume.

All in all this is a valuable booklet for British artillery and is recommended. It has a companion volume on British siege artillery of the period by the same author, which is actually the better of the two. It is highly recommended. Taken as a set, these two booklets should be owned by every historian and enthusiast interested in the artillery of the period. It is another 'arrow in the quiver' so to speak, and the information is solid and reliable, just like the guns that are described therein.

I spent my mornings from April 2001 to April 2002 reading each days entry in this book. I certainly learned quite a bit from it. I felt like Cliffy from Cheers some mornings at work. I enjoyed the book, but not every day was a winner. The story about the Crocodile attack on the Japanese troops in World War II was amazing.

The only disappointment was the neglecting of King Solomon, the bible mentions him as one of the greatest Natural Historians ever. Oh well, I'm pretty sure the author is an atheist anyhoo.

This was a great book in 1902 - the first popular spider guide by someone who knew what he was talking about. Unfortunately, the publishers who reprinted the book never updated its contents. Dover editions contain exactly one page of new material - a "key to families" by an insect specialist (spiders are not insects) which is guaranteed to lead beginners wrong. Now, 100 years after Emerton wrote, essentially every spider species he discussed is known by a different name. The natural-history information, while largely correct, is also 100 years out of date. An arachnologist who already knows the current names of Emerton's spiders can still make use of his excellent drawings and photos, but an interested layperson will only be misled, and would be better off with something more current, such as Levi's "Spiders and their Kin." Incidentally, the reason there are no common names in the book is that 95% of spiders have none!

This is a fairly decent reference guide for the more scientific minded reader. The book is full of detailed sketches of spiders, their pieces and their parts.The book falls short, however, in its lack of color photos and its propensity for being altogether too technical. Most people only know spiders by their common names (ie. Black widow- Latrodectus Mactans), so figuring out what your looking at may be difficult while using this book. Saying that, I would recommend the text for spider enthusiasts.

In this lusty tale of cape cod's lush countryside, Thoreaumanages to do everything wrong! I give it a two only because ofThoreau's thorough description of a beaver frolicking in a pond.