A wonderful book, which allows the reader to enter the world of Reverend Howard Finster, the greatest of the outsider artists to and visit Paradise Garden, his environmental creation. Reading this book is like visiting Howard and it is filled with great examples of his artwork. This is the sort of wonderful book which goes out of print and becomes collectable, so get it now!

Reclamation and Transformation is the 104-page catalogue that accompanied a 1994 exhibition of three self-taught Chicago artists at the Terra Museum of American Art. In addition to residency status and lack of formal art school training, all three artists share the common denominator of creating their works from found materials. The best known artist is Gregory Warmack, better known by his pseudonym, Mr. Imagination. Mention of Warmack is usually accompanied by the legend that he turned to art after being shot and lapsing into a coma, where he had visions of himself in past lives as African kings. However, this biographical profile debunks that myth. (Although Warmack does say here that shortly before he was shot, he had a premonition of himself in a regal outfit with a crown.) Warmack's art ranges from sandstone carvings to bottle cap creations to discarded paintbrushes painted and molded to look like people with very tall crew cuts. Transplanted Buckeye Kevin Orth's section features the painted and decorated discarded bottles that comprise King Orthy's Cathedral of Dreams, as well as his wood assemblages and hubcap faces. David Philpot rounds out the trio, discussing his staffs carved from ailanthus trees, embellished with mirrors, glass eyes, cowry shells and inticate entwined snakes. Each artist receives 6-8 pages of biographical material, extensively quoting from interviews with the artists, written by exhibit curator Tom Patterson. The essays are followed by 10-14 pages of color photos of each artist's work. Essential to any fan of these artists, as well as a worthy addition to the growing field of outsider art.

Nice pictures, but has so little text that it can hardly be called a book. Not much discription of the trail or of New Mexico. The author must be saving that for the trail guide which has been postphoned at least twice now by the publisher. Save your money. Buy "Where Waters Divide."

I just finished reading the book "Along New Mexico's Continental Divide Trail", with text written by David Patterson. Through the well-composed description and excellent, colorful photographs, the reader can get an idea what the land along the CDT is like, and what it's like to hike it. Initially, I was captivated because I have never hiked in New Mexico. In fact, I haven't even been to the state since 1974! I just wanted to get a glimpse of the region and the trail. As it turns out, the book was so enjoyable that I have decided to hike a portion of the New Mexico CDT this spring!

Although not a detailed guidebook, David's description of his hike, the people he met and the never-ending challenges of hiking in such unforgiving terrain were more than enough to help me understand the New Mexico CDT. Having thru-hiked the PCT, I know what hiking in a desert state is like. With its unique culture, topography and ambiguous CDT route, themes that David deals in, hiking in New Mexico is a whole new ball game! I could not have imagined hiking it without first reading the book. Early on David writes, "Except for the rusty barbed wire fence that marks the border between Mexico and the United States, this land knows no boundaries, natural or artificial, as far as I can see." Hiking in an environment that not long ago was home to indigenous cultures, he adds, "It's amazing how the tools, clothing and weapons of these previous cultures are merely modifications of the natural environment: rock, wood, and bone." Well said!

Each region of David's route is written in much the same way I mentally categorize and remember my 1996 PCT hike. For example, the Gila National Forest is described as a place where mining camps little the landscape, high desert plants such as prickly pear thrive, but there's some shade provided by the pines and junipers. "Bushwacking isn't necessarily my favorite pastime, but it's what we have to do to get beyond Diamond Peak." This section of David's route through the Gila had a big fire some years ago and it presents this challenge: "It's almost as if a bulldozer piled all the trees on top of each other, but then again Mother Nature's power is awesome. When the wind howls the few standing dead snags sway, and I can hear their eerie voices shrieking from the flames that licked them not long ago." Classic!

In the end he pays homage to this wonderful area of the CDT. "Weathered ranchers, forest rangers, mountain men, and friendly strangers- it's natures own character, silently revealing herself to me in the canyons, deserts, and mountains of New Mexico, that has made my journey through the Land of Enchantment an everlasting experience." Additionally, the photographs by Tom Till and William Stone provide a great background to David Patterson's description of the New Mexico CDT.

what does it take to put a book together and get an exhibition done at a regional museum, with funding from a major foundation? apparently nothing. this book does nothing to further the cause of art and artists of the south. why doesn't somebody do a good survey book on self-taught art? and why does the university of mississippi press publish every book on self-taught art? black folk art 1930-1980 was a decent book on a then emerging field, but that was done in 1981. that was almost twenty years ago. and here we are in the year 2000, and no one has done a book that is any better than that. there is great art out there by these talented artists, there must be someone out there with half a brain to do a good book. when they do, email me and i'll buy it. i wonder if because the artists are self-taught, someone out there thinks it is cute to let elementary school students write about them. much of the art is very sophisticated and cerebral, and it is time the scholarship in this field rises to the level of quality that the art deserves.