Richard Armour's simple, entertaining book (with memorable illusrations by Leonard Everett Fisher) is a great introduction to American political history -- fun for the newcomer and the expert alike. Even many years later, whenever the name of an obscure President is mentioned, one of Mr. Armour's quotes is likely to pop to mind (such as, regarding Franklin Pierce, "the most that most remember, is that he was handsome," or of Eisenhower, "let Ike but grin that boyish grin, and those at outs with him were in," and dozens more). I've always wanted to thank Armour and Fisher for such a delightful book, and it's great this review gives me a chance to do so. Thanks guys!

Mr. Fisher, besides being a world-renowned volcanologist, is also an amazing storyteller. I enjoyed every page of his book. What is wonderful about this professional journal is its appeal to all types of audiences. A young adult reader to a professional in earth sciences can enjoy this type of non-fiction literature. Not only did I learn general information about volcanology & pyroclastic eruptions, but I also laughed out loud when reading about Mr. Fisher's travelling mishaps -specially about Napoleon, the cantankerous mule he met in Mexico. The career path he chose was a result of significant events in his life, including being witness to two atom bomb explosions at Bikini atoll. The passion he holds for his career is felt as a reader and it truly is "geologically and culturally stimulating" as he describes the culture and geology of his research sites around the world.

I decided to purchase this book after reading one of Richard Louv's columns in the San Diego Union-Tribune. His column presented a fresh and thought provoking take on urban grow. I ultimately found the same level of thoughtfulness in Fly-Fishing for Sharks. His writing is first-class and his style is personal but not over-powering. What's most obvious thoughout the book is his fondness for all things angling. The book manages to cover a range of topics that are as varied as the places he visits. You'll find yourself on an adventure in the remote inland areas of Baja California one moment, and at a fly tackle trade-show in Denver the next.

The single knock I would give the book is the focus given to the "fishing industry" and not the average angler. The book isn't so much about the average American who you'll find fishing their weekends away as it is about the well-known personalities who have shaped fishing and promoted the sport.

"Fly-Fishing for Sharks" reminded me of "Blue Highways," in some ways, but for the most part it's in a class by itself. I guess you could call it "fishing literature," but it's mainly a book of stories about people who don't usually get written about. As you meet the fishing guides, fly-fishermen, bass people and so on, from all parts of the country, you find out what it is like to stand in their shoes. A number of women are included here, and that's a little unusual for books related to fishing. Writer Studs Terkel shows people this way, but Louv weaves it all into a story that kept me turning pages. I am better informed now about ecology, early television, Pacific Northwest fishing heroes, New Mexico politics, Florida sport-fishing captains, Montana high-roller fishing lodges and a hatful of other things. On another level, this is a road trip. Lots of facts and figures on the state of contemporary America. But it's the stories about the people met along the way that stick in my mind. This is a wonderful book. Important and entertaining.

This 76 year old lady -- me -- from a midwest farming area -- Waupum, Wisconsin -- lover of all nature -- a constant reader of books all my life of all varieties and subjects -- just now reading your book about fishing and the vivid picture of the outdoors and the people connected with it -- wanting to thank you for writing this super book which I've read every word enjoying your description of your travels, life, outdoors, fishing and the people met along the journey of your life. I don't fish. Never have. But you are a great author and writer...so thank you again for the enjoyment you have placed in my hands with your book and in my mind with your words...Books and reading have been my life -- carry one with me every day, where ever I go. So many have seen your book and asked about it.

I read this book, and not only found it to be extremely interesting, but also educational. I am so sorry to know that it is out of print, that is a major loss of society. It is suspenseful, easy to understand, has a good plot line, and makes you think. It is a great portrayal of how a young boy in the USA deals with a major change in his life, and I would reccommend it strongly to any one of any age. I loved that book!

This was absolutely the best book! I homeschool my children and we are learning French. This book integrates french vocabulary words throughout. We kept a list of all the new words we were learning and by the time we got to the last chapter--which was completely in French, we could read and understand it. It was fabulous. The plot was very intriguing,keeping us on the edge of our seats. It was educational as well as entertaining. I just wish this author wrote more books on this order of integrating French into the English. What a painless way to learn a language!

"The Avion My Uncle Flew" is a classic, a book that I use in the classroom as a teacher, year in and year out. My students find it full of suspense, intrigue, history and humor. They also like to keep track of the French they have learned as they read-- which amounts to pages and pages. If you can't find it in print, I recommend that you scour your library shelves or ask your child's librarian if they have it somewhere in the school district to borrow. Johnny Littlehorn is a very realistic hero and fun role model. At the time that it was written, Homefront Americans took on patriotic roles to support our men and women fighting the Axis overseas, whether it was recycling, rationing, etc. Johnny Littlehorn gets to take a more active role while visiting his uncle in France, even though the war is over. Intrigue and spies go up against All-American Johnny, whose dream it is to have a three-speed bicycle with a lighting dynamo. Refreshing and fun.

I found that this book has some positives and negatives: Positives: 1. the authors have compiled a wealth of information about volcanoes all over the world: Mt. St. Helens catastrophe, planes flying over eruption clouds, eruption accounts from Krakatua, etc, etc. 2. For a geologist like me, when we study about volcanoes, we tend to forget the human factor, not only hazards, but also how it affects agriculture, tourism, etc. Which I think this book pinpoints very well. Negatives: 1. The book doesn't flow: lots of information, but in my opinion disorganized. Except for the chapter about Mt. St. Helens, I didn't understand the point that the authors were trying to make (or probably there was no point, and it was just a plain description). 2. Any time you touch a scientific subject, you are immersed in having to use scientific terms. Since this book is trying to reach a general audience (I think), it will benefit a lot by having a glossary. 3. Some chapters are really weak, like the one that talks about plate tectonics. Plate tectonics is the driving force of volcanoes (mostly) and should have more emphasis on the book, and be explained in more simple terms. 4. The decimal metric system is used throughout the book. This is good when you are writing a paper to publish on a specialized journal, but not for a book aimed at general audiences. The equivalence in the English system should probably go in parentheses.

Neither too little or too much, Volcanoes: Crucibles of Change is the best volume I have ever read on Volcanology. Written for the intelligent layperson, the book never talks down to its reader or loses them in mult-semicolon sentances of unintelligble jargon as so many other books by scientists do. If you want the latest theories on volcanoes, this is th book for you. I was especially surprised by how many dormant/active volcanoes there are in the lower 48. And as one who has flown from the U.S. to Japan, the chapter on planes and volcanoes was both fascinating and scary.

A brilliant book for any volcanoholic. I am a geology student hoping to proceed to volcanology, and thoroughly enjoyed this book just for the sake of a good read on a great subject.

Ron Fisher wrote this "bookazine" in a very plain, homespun style which causes one to learn tons of information about people and places of the Blue Ridge without realizing it. There was too-scant mention of the region's physiography and natural history; however, once I got far enough inside to notice that, I was already sufficiently captivated by the tales of human history and folklore that the book was well worth finishing. Like Fisher, I cruised the Blue Ridge Parkway on a cool, misty weekday; and he captured the peaceful mood perfectly in his description of that jaunt. Whether from watching a Salem Buccaneers minor league game, interviewing Foxfire writers, or recording the tales of an elderly wood whittler, the hundreds of micro-stories of Blue Ridge folk life come out well done. Of course, as is the Geographic's gold standard, the photography is splendid. Any high school or college student writing about the Appalachian way of life must have this work in his reference list. And I strongly recommend this book for anyone planning a driving trip (off the interstates!) through western Virginia, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee or far northern Georgia.

I am from the Blue Ridge Mountains and I think this magazine was great. It has alot of information about the people, parks and places of the Blue Ridge. There are tons of pictures and suggestions of places to visit. READ IT!

I have used this book as a skill drill for most of my classes. The falw however, is that if you don't follow the same order in your curriculum, the students get lost in the "review" excercises. The addition and multiplication skill drills are a bonus.

This book by Richard Fisher really tells the tale. Students are not strong in their basic skills. This book gives each teacher a chance to put the students best foot forward. The speed drills were looked forward to each day in my classroom. We use this book at the 6th,7th and 8th grade and have had no problems with it being repetitive. The students testing better on the SAT 9 and the MAC.

From the opening lines of this story, you feel like you're traveling with Sam Minard (renamed Jeremiah Johnson in the Robert Redford film) in the old west. Vardis Fisher weaves a tale that you can touch, smell, taste and see. I first read this book in 1980, and several times since then... and it always brings me back to a renewed appreciation for the American wilds. The movie was good, but doesn't begin to give you the flavor of the book.

The story of Sam Minard, based on the life of the 'Crow Killer,' the real Jeremiah Johnson, is a beautiful tale that combines the reality of the life of the mountain men in its most brutal form and the myth of the mountain man as we would like him to be. Sam Minard is the most accomplished of the mountain men, the best trapper, the best fighting man and absolutely ruthless as he applies his craft, but not far beneath the rugged exterior is a man of enormous sensitivity able to describe the beauty of the wilderness in detail that allows the reader to be there. In Chapter 18, Minard, still mourning the death of his wife, spends the winter in what is today Yellowstone Park. Minard's (Fisher's) description of the winter in the magical land of Yellowstone is one that has remained with me all my life and inspired me to perform my own explorations of wild country. If you have any interest in the mountain men, the west before it became the 'Old West,' or just like a damn well told story, this book will not disappoint.

This novel is a lifelong passion for me. I read Mountain Man as a project with my father when I was 11, some 22 years ago. I associate this work with wide-eyed boyhood and love of nature. It rings of a time when America was still a wild frontier of hard men, bent on survival and self government. I refuse to apply 90s political correctness to this novel. Such intellectual revisionism had no place in Sam Minard's world, and therefore it has no place in the assessment of the work itself after the fact. I have read this novel at least 25 times, and find new and more rapturous moments in it each successive time. The love that Sam had for Lotus and the regard he had for Kate are two of the most shining examples of literary love I have ever encountered. This book is a glorious orchestration of a seldom taught period of American history and an Old West adventure tale of the first order. It recounts a time of great courage and brutality, portrayed fairly and with much class and distinction. It would have been easy to make it sappy and formulaic, but Fisher deftly avoids such tactics. Instead, he is as detached from this novel as "The Almighty" was from the characters of Sam, Lotus, Kate and the Big Sky wilderness: He created, then set free his creation to fend for itself. Waugh! This is as solid a novel as there is on this subject, if not the finest ever.

This is going to be short. After having read "Living On The Edge" I thought I was getting another tale of life as a fisherman.Instead, what I got was life as a fisherman at town council meetings. The book is currently being used under the short leg of my pool table. ...

Being a New England fisherman (hehe-rather, woman) I found the day-to-day lives of the fisherman very interesting-who knew scallops had blue eyes? However, I had a difficult time following the time frame of events because of the way Mr. Carey jumped around. I couldn't even tell exactly what year this book was taking place without some re-reading. The politics involved are sickening in the amount of time wasted and the fact that the committees could get nothing accomplished, evidenced with the ongoing cod crisis in New England today. Too bad none of the politicians involved happened to read this book.

If you read The Perfect Storm and came away wanting to know more about the commercial fishing industry, this is the book. Carey explains the views of the men and women who risk life, limb, and fortune in the waters off Cape Cod. He also explains the tedium of public hearings and governmental rule making which impact the lives of the fishermen.

I spent the summer in a rented house overlooking the commercial fishing fleet in Bodega Bay, California. I often wondered what happened on those boats once they left the harbor, and what regulations governed them. Against the Tide explains it all.

By way of criticism, I found the characters a bit hard to follow and the discussions of the regulations a bit tedious, but overall I learned a lot.