The first edition of this book was written in 1993 and has been thoroughly updated since the 1995 microburst. With 84 hikes described in detail, Mr. O'Shea calculates distance and time, fascinating history of the areas and descriptions of the flora and possible animal sightings. Seasons of the year are also described according to what trails are reasonable in winter or summer as well as appropriate safety recommendations. Sights most hikers might missed are noted and most trails have simple accurate maps. The back envelope of this guide contains a very detailed topo map of the Cranberry Lake Region and the Upper Saranac Lake Region. This guide not only improves your trip but can save you great distress with the analysis of lesser traveled trails. The 1995 microburst destroyed many popular trails and one will have second thoughts about traveling these routes. However, there are so many fantastic places to visit, you'll have no trouble finding a hike to remember.

Let's face it, it's hard enough to get a book focusing strictly on the Northern Adirondacks. I went to school in Potsdam, New York and needed something to get me through the year. This book did it. Hikes are broken down even further into sections, such as Paul Smiths, Tupper Lake & Cranberry Lake. It includes distances, alternative routes, along the way, etc... all the typical stuff in a good hiking guide. It also includes a large topographical map of the region. One my favorite aspects of this book is that the author let's you know which trails are great for hiking in spring/summer/fall and if these same trails are recommended for cross-country skiing in the Fall. This book covers as far North as the boundaries of the Adirondack parks, as far West as Star Lake, as far South as Great Sacandaga Lake, and as far East as Lake Champlain. Enjoy, it's a great guide.

We purchased this book in Yosemite and talked with Stephen Botti at length. He is a conscientious student, and now master, of Yosemite plants. Before our hike, we studied his book and were rewarded on the trail with plants he described. The book is full of color pictures; a nice reminder of what we saw in Yosemite this summer on those cold days back home in winter.

this long awaited nature book, although expensive, is worth every single penny. AS a long time lover of yosemite I thought I had fairly well explored its flora wonders---wrong. For the last two months I have consulted its index, made lists and notations, and dreamed about next spring.

Jurassic Park Adventures One Book Review

Jurassic Park Adventures One is a book about a kid named Eric Kirby who has to get to a test safe house to escape dinosaurs on an island. When he tries to get out of the test house, he can't. Some people have to save him. Their plane crashes in the rescue. If you like dinosaurs, this is the book for you. The stars of the book are Spinosaurus, T- Rex & Raptor. Eric makes friends with an Iguanadon & names it Iggy. Eric is a hero. He goes out to save a man, but does not know who he is.

By James

All thirteen-year-old Eric Kirby wanted was a chance to get to see real, live dinosaurs up close. So when his mom's boyfriend, Ben, offered him the opportunity, he jumped at the chance. Eric and Ben will get to parasail over the Jurassic Park Island, observing the dinosaurs from a safe distance. But something goes very wrong, and the two fall from the sky onto the island. Only Eric survives the fall, and he is trapped in a hostile prehistoric environment where he is the prey. It will take all of his wits and courage to stay alive until help arrives - but how can one kid survive among the deadliest predators ever to walk the earth? This was a thrilling story, not only for fans of the movies, but for readers who like adventure stories. The book ended with a cliffhanger that will lead into the new Jurassic Park movie, so now I have to wait until the movie comes out to find out what happens to Eric, which won't be for a whole month, or read the novelization. Still, this was an exciting, although short, book.

A fascinating look at every conceivable aspect of the building of Camden Yards, from the political and legal fighting and the Orioles' crucial demand for and use of design oversight to the farm where the grass was grown. If your community is considering building a ballpark, you'll find the book interesting.

The information in this book is priceless. It gives a good idea of some of the mishaps that might happen at events and it gives helpful tips on avoiding disasters. Very informative too.

If you love maps, Grand Canyon, and geology, you will want to have this marvelous map on your wall. It's a big, dramatically colorful geologic map, covering the entire eastern region of the Canyon, where most of the hiking trails are located. Grand Canyon geology is simple and bold, and therefore eminently accessible to the amateur. This map, which makes it even more accessible, is a wonderful companion piece to the handful of geology books about the Canyon, and will inspire you to purchase one if you have not already done so. With a little effort, using the legend in the margin, you will soon learn to pick out every layer of rock that you can observe from the rim or encounter on your hike or float. Needless to say, the map is even more of a treasure-trove to the professional. More than a map, the beautifully printed sheet also includes several cross-sections of the Canyon, revealing what is going on beneath the surface. If you have visited the South Rim you may have seen this map. Two copies are on display in the entrance hall / cocktail lounge of the Arizona Steak House, adjacent to Bright Angel Lodge. Because of its size, it is not a map you would want to carry in your pack, but, tacked up on your wall or unrolled on a table, it will provide plenty of rock-solid lore as you plan your next Canyon adventure or remember the magic of your last visit.

Peter Harnik had his own reasons having to do with population densities for determining which 25 cities to choose for description in his book. Many theoretical books about landscape architecture or public recreation discuss city parks in a summary manner, as, for example, "The Politics of Park Design," by Galen Crantz, but they do not focus on individual parks nor draw their conclusions from close observations. Harnik chose landscape architect Joe Brown, EDAW, Inc., to write the introduction. This was not a wise choice for though Brown is complimentary, he is anxious to justify his own work which he describes as belonging to a "smart park" concept, which to him means the opposite of what Frederick Law Olmsted and his associates were doing in creating "pastoral" parks. It may be inevitable for landscape architects to believe that anybody but themselves is out of touch with the times, but such is not Harnik's view. He claims that administrators and politicians have made mistakes when they failed to heed the advice of the pioneer planners of this country's most famous city parks. Tellingly, it is the 19th century parks designed by Olmsted and followers, such as Central Park (New York), Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Franklin Park (Boston), Jackson Park (Chicago), Forest Park (St. Louis) and Golden Gate Park (San Francisco) that today evoke the most praise from park enthusiasts.

"Inside City Parks" is an invaluable resource for anybody interested in contemporary parks. It highlights common problems, such as underfunding, crime, vandalism, dogs, mountain bicycles, cars, parking lots, crosspark expressways, buildings and the sometimes willful, sometimes unconscious destruction wrought by the homeless which, in city after city, have become nuisances to a number of park visitors.

Harnik tries to maintain a neutral stance in his survey of cities. He does not question the practices of park departments though he is critical of politicians, such as Mayor Rudolph Guiliani (New York City) and Mayor Wille Brown (San Francisco). Conversely, Mayor Ray Flynn (Boston) and Richard Daley (Chicago) get high marks for their support of old and new park activities. Harnik gives the blemish to Chicago's famous Lake Shore Parks by the unsightly McCormick Place Exposition Center passing mention, claiming the creation of 16 acres of new park land will mitigate the Center's massive expansion. He concentrates on what park departments are doing. Since what they are doing is anticipating the future, it is not clear what will happen next. Will the city parks get their appropriations, hire the right managers, appease conflicting park users, generate support? Will the Hudson River Park, the Bronx Greenway, a Harbor Islands Park and Greenway over Boston's now building underground highway, the conversion of Meigs Field Airport into Chicago's Northerly Island Park, or San Francisco's 1,480-acre Presidio Park --- a national park and thus not part of Harnik's study (though hard to ignore) --- become assets promoting recreation and business?

While not suggesting that anyone solution is applicable to all park systems, Harnik favors exploiting all avenues for park support . . . grants, bond issues, taxes, donations, fees for services, private and commercial sponsorship. He describes how the Urban Land Institute, the Trust for Public Land, park conservancies, business improvement districts and similar organizations have stepped in to acquire park land or to protect lands which are in danger of slipping away. The influence of Jane Jacobs, one of the three people to whom Harnik dedicated his book and the author of "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," may be detected in Harnik's comments favoring multiple use parks, such as a contemplated 123-acre park on the site of a former USX South Works Steel Mill in Chicago or the 1.7-acre Post Office Square Park in Boston that replaced a run-down garage with automobile parking and a park with outdoor cafe, fountains, sculptures, movable chairs and landscaping on top.

Since it does not conform with the Bureau of Census 1998 population estimates, Harnik's choice of cities may show his partiality for some cities. His ordering of parks within the three density classifications --- high, medium and low --- may indicate a personal bias rather than a formal rating system: New York City, first in the high, Detroit first in the medium, and San Diego first in the low. If the book is the start of a continuing study, perhaps Harnik will cover missing cities later.

It may be that some of Harnik's statistics are suspect. There is an abundance of them from lists of cities profiting from developer impact fees, to tables showing total parks and open spaces by acres in cities, to the number of public swimming pools per 100,000 city residents. Park Departments may exaggerate their figures to show that they are best in one way or another. To say that a city has so many acres of park land may not be true. Is it "dedicated" park land that cannot be taken away except by vote of the people? Is it "open space" that can be seen but not visited? Is it a view point, a play field, a school lot, a community center, or an abandoned lot that is used temporarily for gardens or play courts? Is it, in the case of Houston, a 10,534-acre flood-control facility leased by Houston from the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers and equipped with sports fields, trails, restrooms and picnic tables that is periodically inundated by 10,000 acres of water? This is not to say that Harnik's figures are not important as indications of how a city is developing or how it compares with others. It is, however, a caution that statistical information can change over time or when different methods of evaluation are employed.

Despite these cavils, park lovers in the cities covered, including Philadelphia, Miami, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Cincinnati, Portland, Oregon, Denver, Phoenix, Tampa and Kansas City, and in those no less important cities that are not, including San Antonio, San Jose, Jacksonville, Columbus, El Paso, Memphis, Milwaukee, Austin, Washington, Nashville and Charlotte, should read "Inside City Parks" because it shows the weaknesses and strengths of today's park systems and indicates means to make them better.

As with all of the National Audubon Society's field guides, the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Rocky Mountain States" is a most worthwhile purchase, perfect as a gift or for your own collection. The guide is durable and very portable, which makes it well suited for use in the outdoors. More importantly, it has excellent content. Despite its small size, the field guide contains a wealth of information. In addition to the usual focus on flora and fauna species, there is information on constellations, parks, ecosystems, and more. While the depth and detail of the information in the various sections is not vast, the breadth of subject matter more than makes up for this; the information presented is ideal for a general field guide. Moreover, the book is beautiful, filled with gorgeous color photographs. Residents of the Rocky Mountain states and non-residents will both love it.

Really nice drawings, much more detail, interest and discussion than with regular coloring books. Nice write-ups about each park and a map of the US with parks located on it.

Every fan of the the Giants should get this book and wallow in the beauty of Pacific Bell Park, if you can't get there yourself. The park really is probably the most beautiful ballpark in baseball, a tiny little gem that nevertheless plays like a huge pitcher's stadium thanks to the bizarre asymmetry of its outfield (and a San Francisco wind that the park's engineering turned into an ally, instead of the vicious Hawk it was at Candlestick Park.)

But it's also a great collection of essays from baseball writers including George Will and Peter Gammons, and local writers sharing memories of the team and the long years of waiting in the cold and fog for a world championship that still hasn't come. Those essays are some of the best parts of the book, moving and nostalgic in the best sense.

The body text, that tracks the long road from New York through Candlestick to the drama of building a new ballpark without the safety net of public money, then chronicles the great 2000 season, is little more than acceptable, but in a coffee table book what you want is gorgeous photographs and insightful vignettes, and "Splash Hit" has that in aces.

Great pictures of what has to be one of the nicest sports facilities in the world. I've been to one game here - and as a resident of Seattle, I honestly think that Safeco is a better place to watch a game. However, no stadium can match the asthetic views and its situation in one of the most beautiful cities in the world makes Pac Bell #1.

Pac Bell Park is one of the newest and one of the best ball parks in America. This book is a great tribute to that new park and the Giants' first year playing in it. The book goes into the history and politics behind the park and has a lot of good pictures of the 2000 Giants players in action. Peter Magowan and local and national writers also added illuminating essays to the text. There are a lot of spectacular pictures of the park from all different angles and some interesting construction shots.

A little disappointing was that the book did not have much on the Polo Grounds, Seals Stadium, and Candlestick Park. Even though the Giants no longer play at the old parks, their history is indelibly intertwined with the newer ball park and they deserved more space.

This belongs on any Giants fan's coffee table, especially if they have visited the park.