I have been a paddler since 1973 when my husband and I bought a used aluminum canoe. Back then there were almost no comprehensive, well-written texts on the subject. How I wish a book like Mr. Grant's had been available to me.

In 1982 I became a certified canoeing instructor and have regularly taught canoe classes since that time. We supplement our canoeing instruction with numerous handouts. One handout is a list of recommended books and videos to help the students advance their knowledge of the sport.

I never envisioned that we would replace Bill Mason's Path of the Paddle at the top of the list but we have done so with Canoeing, A Trailside Guide. We now recommend it as the very FIRST book the students should acquire.

The manner in which the information is presented is so similar to the way we teach, we tell our students they will actually hear our voices coming from the pages. On our recommendation, the principal canoe retailer in the area keeps this book in stock and we have encouraged the local book stores to also carry it. The illustrations are quite well done, much better than most canoeing instruction texts.

I am delighted to have a book I can so enthusiastically recommend and that can be of significant value to new and to experienced paddlers also. Reading and practicing the instructions in this book will do more to assure you a safe and satisfying canoeing experience than any other text I have encountered. Happy paddling.

Memories of hours upon hours spent with my father, canoeing the ozark's rivers and lakes in the "Green Hornet", has stayed within my very soul. December 7th, my husband gave me a 16' "green" canoe with all the accessoriees for our 35th wedding anniversary. After 40 years-I can't wait to make my first trip! I immediately went to the book store and after reviewing every book on the shelf, I chose, "Canoeing-A Trialside Guide". The simplistic explanations and clear illustrtions grabbed my attention immediately. Christmas eve found me immersed in study, reviewing and learning from this easy to understand publication. Gordon Grant's writing technique has me anxioux to feel the tug of the waters - at my paddle and at my soul.

Armed with no more knowledge than provided by this book, my twelve year old son and I purchased our first canoe, practiced its use and successfully ran 12 miles of Class III river last summer. Several experienced kayakers that we met at the river (and paddled with for safety) were impressed with the skills we had achieved - this was a section of river not generally navigated by canoeists. We only flipped once and confidently avoided any dangerous situations. This was a good kick start to a lifestyle that I think we both will enjoy for many years to come. The book is straightforward but very thorough. Mr. Grant's writing style makes what could have been a dry technical treatise an enjoyable read. The appendices at the end with gear manufacturers and additional sources of information are concise and very useful.

for 1-886508-28-3 and for 1-886508-10-0 : They are NO LONGER SHOWING, UNDER THE PUBLSISHERS REVIEWS/COMMENTS, as they did previously! What's happening?

Wow - its like condensed orange juice! Clearly explains the how, what, why of healing. The chapter and chart on Price versus Value of supplements was the clearest and easiest explanation in a few short pages, that I've ever read. The doctors and pharmacists involved in writing it, deserve applause - first time I got the whole picture, along with clear and easy to understand information about everything from herbs to vitamins, flower remedies and everything in between. Dr. Pettles one page description on his natural menopausal hormone replecment therapy and natural choices versus the drug approach, made getting the book worth every cent! I copied the page for a friend, who ended up getting the book and showing it to her doctor. She said it was so simple and clear, her doctor stopped trying to push the drugs and gave her a prescription for Dr Pettles natural hormone replacement therapy - on top of that its working for her. Not since I read Mindells Vitamin Bible, have I read such a clear, information packed book! A must have for anyone interested in natural remedies and supplements - fanstastic value for the money. Incidently, I am NOT related to the authors.

Buffalo: Sacred & Sacrificed by historian, animal husbandry expert, and environmentalist Grant MacEwan is a comprehensive survey and compelling examination spanning centuries at a wild species of animal whose very existence was nearly eliminated by the expanse of New World colonialism. From the buffalo's ecology, to its unique place in Native American history and lore, to its modern-day existence relegated to a role on ranches and farms, Buffalo: Sacred And Sacrificed covers just about everything there is to know about this majestic beast, and how human beings have interacted with it across changing times. A superb reference, printed on heavy glossy stock paper and illustrated with black-and-white photographs and sketches, Buffalo: Sacred & Sacrificed is an enthusiastically recommended addition to school and community library wildlife reference collections.

This book describes the work of an extensive survey into the feelings of adolsecents. 1634 teenagers (aged between 13.5 and 14.5 years) filled in questionnaries. This was a project of the Health Promotion Department, Greater Glascow Health Board.

If you are looking for solutions - a 'how to do this' type book - this may not be the book for you. What this book does is openly reveal the feelings of teenagers. Significantly this is done using the words of teenagers.

The book provides invaluable background information for teachers (what's really going on in the heads of those we teach) and parents.

The survey used to collect the information is included as an appendix at the back of the book.

Fee's commentary is thoughtful and helpful for the pastor. Among the commentaries that have come out recently, it is not as technical as the one by Peter O'Brien, but it is more thorough than that by Moises Silva. Evangelical readers will appreciate Fee's pastoral and devotional comments. The weakness of Fee's commentary is its overt egalitarianism and slight misunderstanding of the cultural context of friendship in the ancient Greco-Roman world. For input on this context, search for works by B. W. Winter. Fee's commentary fills a needed place in Philippians commentaries.

If you are looking for a readable commentary that goes deeper into the meaning of Phillipians and it's application today but you aren't a pastor or a bible school student, then I would highly recommend this one. I thought his comments on the structure and intent of the letter were outstanding and a revelation to me. I think there is also much in this book for the serious student but for a layman like me just wanting to understand what God could say to me through Paul's little letter, this book is a dream come true!

I have been doing a Sunday School classes on Philippians and have found this commentary indispensible. It is thorough beyond expectation, insightful to the core and complete with life applicaiton sections following each section. I have been blessed and challenged so often by what he has to say. The Christ Hymn (so some - I prefer Christ Story), 2:5-11, had me in tears of joy and worship. It's a must have for any serious student of the Word. You won't regret this purchase.

Penrod Schofield is a very bad little boy. Well it is not even that he is a bad child it is just that he gets blamed for every thing that happens; for instance when his sisters dress disappears and ends up in dukes dog house and Penrod got blamed for it even though duke took it. He enjoys writing, and playing with his dog Duke who is almost always with him. Penrod thinks of himself as the class clown and tends not to be very truthful. Penrod has an unimportant role in the school production of The Round Table, but do not tell him that because he thinks if he dose not go the show will not go on with out him. Through out the book Penrod grows up a lot in my opinion for example he tell his father the truth at the end of the book which I did not think would happen. He does get in a lot of trouble whether it's eating too much candy or squealing on his sister.

I did not like Penrod because it was in my opinion aimed more for boys and not as much towards girls or maybe it was just me but I was not entertained through out the whole book. There were most definitely parts I liked for example parts were Penrod is in conversation; one part I did not like was the excerpts from Penrod's book about how Mr. Wilson is killed. I liked the conversational parts because through out the book you are kind of in Penrod's head, and I did not like that. But in conversation you sort of get both views from both people not just what Penrod thinks. Don't lie because no one will believe you even if you are right, that is the moral of this story. I hope my review helped.

The Penrod series of novels is one of the most effective evocations of the experience of being a child ever written. They deal with the daily life and trials of a boy of eleven and twelve in turn of the century (1900) Indiana. The humor is found in the petty hypocrisies of the adults and the naivete of the children and how those two things intertwine. If you have ever day-dreamed in school or yearned for the favor of the prettiest girl in your class, you will appreciate these stories. NB. They are period pieces of the purest kind, so you should expect terms and attitudes to reflect the age from which they come.

"Penrod" is a great novel -- interesting, enlightening, profound, grandiloquent and one of the most hilarious books ever written.

Aspects of the subject matter, however, while generally accepted in the early 1900s and treated kindly herein by the author, would simply not fly under today's political-correctness coercion. As far as popular literature is concerned, it is effectively a banned book. Consequently, "Penrod" eventually will fade from general literary consciousness, and linger only in the memories of those who truly appreciate a fine novel.

An intriguing interlude in the Overland Campaign of 1864 between the battles of Spotsylvania Courthouse and Cold Harbor, Gordon Rhea continues his impressive study of this period with "To the North Anna River". Manuever, as opposed to carnage, dominate this work and shows Rhea's continued evolvement as a writer as well as an historian.

We start where "The Battles for Spotsylvania Courthouse" left off with both armies entrenched before the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania. Rhea discusses the thinking of both Generals Lee and Grant as each labors to decide what to do next. Another unsuccessful attack at the salient is orchestrated by Grant before he makes the first move by deciding to disengage and manuever Lee out of his trenches. He advances Winfield Hancock to the southeast with the idea of using him as bait to get Lee to follow. This strategy works as Lee starts his army southward toward the North Anna river. Troop movements and lost opportunities dominate this portion of the book as Grant and Lee engage on the next portion of the campaign. Cavalry battles also are covered at this point as Union General Philip Sheridan drives the Federal cavalry on a threatening movement towards the Confederate capital at Richmond. Rhea then discusses how this movement, although somewhat successful, ultimately hurt the Union cause.

Lee then wins the race to the North Anna by taking advantage of Grant's lack of intelligence that Sheridan's cavalry would have provided. He (Lee) then entrenches south of the river as he waits to see what Grant will do. The battles at Henagan's Redoubt and Jericho Mills (both Union victories in the maneuver to the North Anna) set the stage for the highlight of the book which is the defensive posture that Lee now incorporates. Rhea shows how Confederate chief field engineer Martin Smith "proposes an ingenious solution" that results in the famous inverted "V" entrenchment below the river. This fortification has the added advantage of splitting Grant's army below the river and (if Grant attacks) would give Lee a stunning victory. Grant initiates offensive probes and becomes increasingly concerned that his troops are trapped. The little known battle at Ox Ford on the North Anna is the final proof that he needs. Lee meanwhile becomes ill and fails to delegate to his subordinates his instinctive thought to attack and the opportunity is lost. Rhea ties all this together with some of his best writing to date: "Lee had slept little in the twenty harrowing days since Grant had crossed the Rapidan. He often worked after midnight and was generally awake by 3:00 A.M. Dysentery was endemic in the Army of Norhtern Virginia, and Lee had contracted the illness by the time he had reached the North Anna. Normally even-tempered and robust, he was now irritable and rode in a carriage. On the afternoon of May 24 Lee was seized with violent intestinal distress and his aide pronounced him 'quite unwell'. The Confederate commander lay confined to his tent, 'prostrated by his sickness' with a single thought dominating his mind 'We must strike a blow'. But the Army of Northern Virginia could not strike a blow. It required a firm hand to coordinate so complex an undertaking. In better times, when Jackson and Longstreet commanded the wings of the Confederate army, Lee had liberally delegated responsibility. But Jackson was dead and Longstreet disabled and Lee lacked confidence in their successors." Grant then realizes the danger of his position and extricates his forces to the Northern side of the river. His decision to maneuver again "by the left flank" to the southeast closes out the text portion of the book.

Rhea then ends the book with an excellent Epilogue section in which he discusses the heretofore unknown battle at Wilson's Wharf on the James River showing for the first time the fighting tenacity of the Federal's black troops and also whereby he draws conclusions that differ somewhat with the contemporary standard: "Historians have considered Lee's inability to attack on the afternoon of May 24 a lost opportunity of major proportions. In retrospect, it is doubtful that even a healthy Lee could have dealt a decisive blow. He would most certainly have wrecked much of Hancock's corps, but he would have lacked the strength and time to exploit the localized victory. Nightfall would likely have prevented him from crossing the North Anna. Grant could take severe casualties in stride. Terrible subtractions in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania Court House did not deter him, nor did severe losses at Cold Harbor in the coming weeks. It is difficult to imagine Hancock's defeat inducing him to abandon his campaign. Sickness doubtless cost Lee a superb opportunity to damage an isolated portion of Grant's army at the North Anna River, but the lost opportunity should not be exaggerated. Judging from Grant's reaction to earlier and later setbacks, he likely would have treated defeat at the North Anna as a tactical reverse and gone on with his campaign."

Judiciously written and masterfully researched (Rhea discloses in the Introduction that little of any substance has been written on this period due to the confusing state of exisiting material), Gordon Rhea has created (in my opinion) another masterpiece, further fortifying his standing as one of the outstanding contemporary Civil War historians. I give this book a very high recommendation.

Gordon Rhea continues his study of Ulysses S. Grant's grinding Overland Campaign against Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The third volume continues where his the first two volumes left off. Like the first two books, the tone is lively and interesting. Rhea does an excellent job conveying the thought process and difficulties involved in the major decisions made by both Lee and Grant. Rhea makes clear the reasons Lee was losing faith in Hill and Ewell. He continues an excellent analysis of the fractured Union command structure from the first two volumes expanding on the rift between Meade and Grant and the lack of talent among the corps commanders.

Rhea poignantly portrayed the misery and destruction in the Wilderness and at the Mule Shoe in his first two books. Those types of scenes are not in this work, but he successfully portrays the every day life of the common soldier on both sides. One such example is his vivid description of how fast the Confederate cavalry disintegrated after the disasterous battle at Yellow Tavern.

For the individual interested learning about the Civil War and the men of the conflict, this book is a necessary bridge between Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor. This period is marked more by confusion and maneuver than bloody fighting. This work is a pause from the effusive bloodshed of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor where the reader can learn more about how Lee and Grant thought and how they adapted to the most competent foe either general faced in his career. We can only hope Mr. Rhea continues his study beyond Cold Harbor into the trenches of Petersburg.

Gordon C. Rhea's account of the Civil War in Northern Virginia covering the period after the Wilderness Battle through the fighting south of the North Anna River in late May 1864 is well written. During this period, Lee and Grant took measure of each other. Grant had only experienced Confederate generals in the West and probably had limited respect for Lee's generalship. The general officers of the Army of the Potomac, having fought Lee since June 1862, had few reservations regarding Lee's ability prompting Grant to remark to his staff on May 6 to "Think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do." Lee lacked direct experience with Grant but there is no indication that he questioned Grant's ability. Lee's problem was he didn't know how Grant thinks, reacts, etc. In many respects this book is an account of how Grant and Lee got to know each others abilities.

Chapter II details Sheridan' raid threatening Richmond . Grant and Sheridan took great pleasure in the defeat of J.E.B. Stuart. Sheridan had defeated his cavalry and killed Stuart. However, the Confederate Cavalry Sheridan defeated in May 1864 was not the same splendid cavalry that J.E.B. Stuart had led on his June 12-15, 1862 ride around McClellan.. By May 1864 Stuart's mounts were tired, worn out and hungry with no replacements. His cavalrymen were also tired, hungry and replacements were at best limited. Perhaps stung by Lincoln's remark "Who ever saw a dead cavalryman?" Sheridan seems to have had a personal vendetta against Stuart. As Rhea notes serious criticism can be leveled against Sheridan's campaign as it deprived Grant of badly needed scouting thus "severely handicapped Grant in his battles against Lee." Grant should have learned this lesson in the Wilderness when critical union cavalry scouting was also absent.

The major battles/engagements from Spotsylvania Court House to the North Anna River are narrated. However, this book is primarily a discussion of commands with emphasis on Grant and his subordinates. Failure to react to promising situations are documented for both Lee and Grant with both failing to capitalize on significant opportunities. Referring to Lee the author noted that "His performance was a masterpiece of defensive fighting . ."; however Rhea notes several cases where Lee missed a significant opportunity and/or incorrectly judged Grants intended course of action.

The author notes an interesting situation regarding the frequent remoteness of Grant and his commanders from the field commanders at critical times. Referring to Lee's army moving down Telegraph Road virtually unmolested the author wrote regarding Grant and Meade "After nightfall they made no attempt to coordinate the movements of their corps and seemed content to leave decisions in the hands of local commanders. The union army floundered like a force without a head for several critical hours."

Finally, Rhea stated that this campaign suggests the two generals had "suprisingly similar military temperaments. Both were aggressive and willing to try unorthodox maneuvers." In essence both generals came out about equal. Grant's great strength laid in his firm support of the strategy to destroy Lee's army which was Lincoln's strategy. While Lee's true strength was his ability to turn unfavorable situations to his advantage.

Most contemporary histories of the Civil War cover the 1864 Overland Campaign as a series of maneuvers from the Rapidan river ultimately to Appomattox with emphasis on the major battles fought at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna River, Cold Harbor and the siege at Petersburg. Little is publicized concerning the planning and marches to and from these prestigous battlefields, until Gordon Rhea's study of this series of battles. In Cold Harbor, Rhea's latest in this series, he comes clean with the details of the maneuvers from the North Anna river to Cold Harbor and the ensuing battles on June 1st and 3rd, 1864. By providing such a complete and comprehensive campaign history, Rhea sacrifices (in my opinion) some of his previous improvements in "readability" and essentially redefines what a "campaign history" reads like.

Even though this period does encompass a significant amount of maneuvering, cavalry battles, small infantry engagements and entrenchments, Rhea, as in his previous works, feels obligated to discuss all of it in detail. While he does accomplish an amazingingly organized study of this amazingly complex series of movements, he loses many a reader to these details and ultimately the whole book suffers somewhat in terms of quality.

This isn't to say that this is a bad book...on the contrary, as I've previously stated, Rhea presents an impressive study, taking no liberties in his research to uncover what really happened and when. We start out with the armies facing each other at the North Anna river. U.S. Grant, having realized that R.E. Lee's inverted "V" entrenchment south of the river is indeed a trap, decides to again move "by the left flank" and steals a march on Lee by crossing the Pamunkey river with his sights set on Richmond. Lee finally discovers this and sets up strong defenses along Totopotomoy creek between Grant and Richmond. Cavalry battles at Haw's Shop/Enon Church, Bethesda Church and Matadequin Creek presage the infantry "skirmishes" along Shady Grove Road and Old Church Road.

Then "a fateful cascade of events had brought Cold Harbor to the forefront Grant's and Lee's attention. Federal commanders initially had no intention of using the place in their offensive operations. They considered the road junction significant only because Confederates might exploit it as a staging area to harass Union supply lines and thwart (Union General Baldy) Smith's arrival." Lee, sensing Grant's intention to capture the crossrads and use it as a launching pad for an invasion of Richmond, sends Cavalry to Cold Harbor to prevent them from taking it. Union Cavalry under Phil Sheridan fears that the Confederates plan to attack him there and goes on the offensive. Lee conversely thinks that the Cavalry attack is the vanguard for a major Union attack and shifts an entire infantry corps there. Grant sees this and starts his infantry there and the engagement is on.

The famous confrontations on June 1st and 3rd mark the true battles at Cold Harbor and Rhea hits his stride in discussing them: "Writers later alluded to a 'Cold Harbor' syndrome, claiming that the carnage Union soldiers witnessed in the fighting there persuaded them to shy away from assaulting entrenched positions. In fact, by the time the Army of the Potomac reached Cold Harbor, veterans had already learned that valuable lesson. Cold Harbor is where newcomers discovered what old timers already knew." Famous engagements involving the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery and the 8th New York Heavy Artillery are detailed here making these stories a remarkable companion for the History Channel's "Civil War Combat" episode on Cold Harbor. These army-wide assaults against the entrenched Confederate positions have driven many historians to indict Grant for mis-management of this battle and garnering him the reputation of a "butcher". Rhea dispels these myths: "When viewed in the war's larger context, the June 3 attack falls short of it's popular reputation for slaughter. Grant lost more men each day in the Wilderness and on two different days at Spotsylvania Court House than he did on Jume 3, making his main effort at Cold Harbor only the fifth bloodiest day for the Federals since crossing the Rapidan." What Grant and the Union army is guilty of is army-wide coordination. Time and again, they have an advantage taken away when coordinated movements go awry and the Confederates are able to capitalize...Rhea documents these in his closing chapter and discusses Grant's feeling that this was not a major defeat, but just another obstacle in his road to defeating Lee's army.

A study not for the general reader, but an essential component for historians and of Civil War history, Gordon Rhea's latest book continues his impressive documantation of the close of the war in Virginia and I would encourage all Civil War buffs to read these books.

Gordon C. Rhea marshals an impressive mass of detail about the events between Ulysses S Grant's movement from the lines on the North Anna River to the end of the Battle of Cold Harbor proper on June 3, 1864. I have heard many of the opinions about the battle ranging from the judgment of Grant as an unfeeling butcher on a large scale to Rhea's revisionist approach, which puts the casualties into some perspective for the campaign and the war as a whole.

The title of my review, which comes from a quote by Lt Col Charles Cummings of the 17th Vermont, is a good description of the main battle. Cold Harbor looks forward to the grim battle lines of the First World War, where men dug in and ventured from their trenches at their peril. As the war went on, the veteran troops on both sides learned to dig in. It was the gung-ho new regiments from the North that had the heaviest casualties: They had not yet developed the basic survival skills.

Rhea's study went in for such heavy detail that at times, I yearned for an occasional editorial perspective, which this author pretty much restricted to the first and last chapters.

Robert E Lee came out relatively unsinged from Cold Harbor, but Grant has taken much of the blame for the unfortunate general staff culture of the Army of the Potomac. Remember that it was only a short time before that he took over the command, and he had to make do with prima donnas like Meade -- who comes off particularly badly -- as well as Burnside, Warren, and Wright. Even Baldy Smith, Grant's friend whom he had rescued from the country club atmosphere of Butler's command at Bermuda Hundred, spent most of the time (though somewhat justifiably) complaining about lack of food and ammunition, and contradictory commands from the top.

After I finished reading this book, I looked up Grant's own memoirs and saw an interesting bit that Rhea omits entirely: After the battle, there was an exchange of letters between Grant and Lee (which Grant quotes verbatim) in which the Union general requests a truce to collect the dead and wounded. Lee refused repeatedly, until several days later, by which time only two of the many thousands wounded left on the battlefield survived. This is a serious charge and should be addressed in any book on Cold Harbor, if only to dismiss it. Perhaps Rhea will put it in his next volume?

I was enchanted by Lee's inherent ability to create good ground for a battle by his knowledge of the countryside and his superior relationship to his staff officers. He was for certain a formidable and great adversary. Grant, on his side, was walking on eggshells. The nominating convention to select a candidate to run against Lincoln was about to take place: A complete route of the Union forces would have led to, God save us all, a President George B. McClellan.

Mr. Rhea has provided a clear, lucid account of that portion of the Overland Campaign from the North Anna River to Grant's decision to invest Petersberg instead of Richmond. Although somewhat over generous in presenting minor details concerning the movements of the Armies and details of the various assaults,
his narrative is fairly easy to follow and to comprehend. I especially appreciated the numerous, detailed maps which did not overlook showing locations whose place names appeared in the text.

If you're looking for a good interpretation of excellent illustrations, then this is your book! The illustrations are par none, but the writing lacks substance. Much of the descriptions are but interpretations, some based on fact, but many imagined. Readers looking for a very broad overview will enjoy this book. Those looking for detail about the ship or about the history of the time-period would do better with something else.

Essentially a reprint of a book published originally in 1924, the book manages to have both modern prose and a dated (nonpajorative in this case) perspective. Because the author is chronologically close to his subject, his focus on the meat of the matter is excellent. Complemented by excellent illustrations from Gordon Grant, Culver's prose flows forth, at once detailed, humourous, and filled with romance. An easy read that will probably be enjoyed by enthousiast, history buff, and devout non-fiction reader alike. We can only hope that this book does not go out of print for another 75 years.

This book, if one can really call it so, can best be described as propaganda for an architecture practice whose entire claim to fame is based on the architecture of its original founder, Albert Kahn. Unfortunately the architecture of the present firm Kahn and Associates has nothing to do with the great Detroit pioneer. It might be of interest to persons researching how great firms have gone bad.
A waste of paper.