What an excellent set of tapes!

As a displaced Alaskan myself, I can fully appreciate the characters in Bodett's books: simple, straightforward folks. People who love their freedom and value the Alaskan way of life.

But you don't have to be an Alaskan to enjoy these tapes. Bodett spins fascinating and humorous tales of smalltown Alaska that *all* can enjoy. And when the last tape is played, the listener will find themselves wanting to hear more about Stormy Storbock, Ed and Emily Flannigan, Tamara Dupree and the infamous Doug McDoogan.

Bodett's writing style is simple, yet entertaining...and when he reads his own work, as he does on these tapes, his matter-of-fact humor is showcased perfectely.

I highly recommend these tapes - they will turn your next big-city commute into a trip to Alaska!

Tom Bodett narrates his own stories about fictional, colorful characters living in a small Alaskan town. The stories are simple and bring out humor and emotion. His deadpan style of narration is Bodett's trademark, telling the listener about the humorous and unusual events that take place among the significant townspeople. So good are the stories, they almost make a person want to pack up and head for Alaska to live with these folks. I personnally enjoy these stories very much and listen to them while I commute to back and forth to work, which allow me to enjoy hearing about people who enjoy close friendships and lessons on life.

This book was one of the five i used in my presentation, although it gave me the best and the most information. I recommend it to anyone that's intersted in cars at all!!

A book to have it!! A lot of information about how they work every single day. Very easy to read.

A little to perfect, for me. However i really recomend it!! Have fun, get closer to the racing sport in formula 1.

Thanks, :)

I read Dellenbaugh's reprinted "Canyon Voyage" (the much abbreviated title) as a young man in the flatlands of western Kansas in the 1960's. The romance of the period of Dellenbaugh's youth, and the Powell Expeditions in particular (1869-72), stimulated in me an ongoing interest in the history of the region. I have read the edited and published diaries of most of the participants of the two expeditions, and continue to invest in an array of scholarly and coffee table books that even remotely address the subject. My annual crossings of the Colorado and Dirty Devil rivers to pursue research interests in southeastern Utah never fail to regenerate my own wish to have participated in such an epic adventure. Thus, when I saw the notice of publication of Maurer's book about Dellenbaugh on the second Powell expedition, with the expression in the title "the true adventures," I was expecting something on the order of D.D. Fowler's book about Jack Hiller's, another expedition participant. That is, a pretty serious biography of the man and a pretty faithful reproduction of the daily diary kept during his time in the field. Well, it might be the former, but it is certainly not the latter. Unlike the other expeditioners who kept diaries, Dellenbaugh's original diary has never been published. Perhaps this is because his 1908 "Canyon Voyage" was a timeline-based (albeit compressed) narrative and researchers may have believed there was nothing more of value in the original diary. While Maurer read the diaries of all the participants, including Dellenbaugh's, as well as Dellenbaugh's "Canyon Voyage" and the earlier "Romance of the Colorado River," Maurer's timeline is even more compressed than Dellenbaugh's. Consequently the book lacks the rich detail of Dellenbaugh's diary and earlier publications. For example, unlike the present book, the consecutive daily diary entries of "Looked for the Major today but of course he did not come; carried the rations over," "Looked for the Major again," and "Still waiting,"conveys a real sense of frustration at being in the same camp, on the bank of the Colorado, day after day, laying up under a boat to avoid the oppressive August heat, with nothing to do, waiting for the Major and Prof to come in so the party can continue the trip down the river through the Grand Canyon. Maurer acknowledged that in the writing of the book he "sometimes resorted to the methods of historical fiction to flesh out some of the stories" and that "footnotes would be out of place in a book like this." Thus despite having the best possible materials at hand from which to draw, this book was never intended as a scholarly work. In that context, the writing was a success. Maurer did locate some great historical photographs and drawings not published elsewhere, and that alone is an important contribution. More than that, though, the book was a really entertaining read. I can well imagine some person, like me once, never having heard of either Powell or Dellenbaugh, picking up the book and just marveling at what they did. And, interest aroused, they have an avocation.

Richard Maurer's new book chronicles Powell's second expedition through the eyes, words, and illustrations of Fred Dellenbaugh - a 17-year-old boy from Buffalo, NY who, along with some rowing experience on the turbulent Niagara River and a facility for drawing, had the gumption to make his dream come true. This story is very well written and quite compelling and will appeal to those who love adventure stories set in the Old West. The photographs and illustrations are remarkable. My hats off to the author!

Of all the guide books to take along to Yellowstone, this is the most helpful. Helpful details, yet compact, easy to carry.

The Free Wheeling Travel Guides (which also cover the Grand Canyon area and Glacier-Waterton national parks) are the best designed and "user friendly" driving guides to any national park areas. The handy mileage charts, landmark spotter illustrations, and interesting bits of natural and human history can keep visitors from missing the "must-sees" and greatly add to a visit. I've used the Yellowstone guide with both auto and buss tours with equal success. At [price], this book is a great deal!
M. Hughes

The cover caught my eye, the title cracked me up, so I gave it a try and am very glad I did! I love Steve Breen's sense of humor, his artwork and am looking forward to following his work. Now to get my hands on his previous stuff!

Steve Breen is the best. I love all his work. His Grand
Ave family is great. It makes me laugh. Rudy reminds me of my own pup.

I will buy more of Steve Breens books, I just love that mans
work.

I have cruised the Bahamas aboard all kinds of small boats for over 30 years, and I wouldn't go without Stephen P's books. There have been many Bahamas cruising guides written but many fall far short of the complete story.
Stephen P. has spent many years in the Bahamas. His guide info is virtually faultless. His charts are the best and amazingly accurate. This is not always the case with other guides. His stories and "local knowlege" is historic. He spends countless hundreds of hours on sight to obtain the information needed to produce a really good guide. He is an active ham radio operator so you can talk to him anytime and discuss his works.
I guess it's obvious that I love the Guide. Stephen Crow K4CPX

"Advice to a grand-daughter" is a collection of letters from Queen Victoria to her granddaughter, Princess Victoria of Hesse, wonderfully selected and edited by Richard Hough. The letters date from April 1870 to July 1900. Victoria of Hesse was the oldest daughter of Queen Victoria's Hessian grandchildren, and after their mother (the Queen's daughter Alice) died in 1878, Queen Victoria undertook to raise them long-distance, often by barraging Princess Victoria with instructions on how to deal with the younger children.

As always, the Queen's charming and forceful-- if occasionally overbearing-- personality makes itself felt in her letters. The Hessian royal children grew up to be forceful personalities in their own right. Princess Victoria married Prince Louis of Battenberg; the family changed their name to Mountbatten towards the end of the First World War; Victoria's youngest son is best known as the late Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and one of her grandsons is Prince Philip, the current Duke of Edinburgh. The second girl, Princess Elizabeth, married a son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and, after his murder by anarchists, took the veil and was herself murdered during the Russian Revolution. The third, Princess Irene, married the only brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The youngest daughter, Alix (or "Alicky", as she appears in these letters), married Tsar Nicholas II of Russia; she and her entire family were killed during the Revolution. The boy, Ernest Louis ("Ernie"), was the last reigning Grand Duke of Hesse, a patron of the arts.

These letters provide a detailed and fascinating recounting of some of the childhood events of the Hessians-- Princess Victoria's marriage, the Queen's hissy fits over each marriage, in turn, of the three youngest girls', family births and family deaths, the Queen's trips to Europe. An absorbing book, highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Queen Victoria and the intertwined relationships of European royalty of the period.

Get this book before you go to the Grand Canyon and you'll make the most of your visit--whether you stay for a few hours, or over a week. With over 44 full color photographs (2 of them panoramic canyon views measuring 17" x 7"), four easy-to-read maps, accompanied by concisely well-written text (just over 50 pages), this beautiful book gives you a scenic viewpoint-to-viewpoint guided tour of the best sights, rim trails, and hikes the Grand Canyon has to offer--plus as a bonus, its soft cover and unique shape (9-1/4" x 7-3/4") make it perfect for rolling up and sticking in a fanny pack. And at just under $5.00, it's the best bargain you'll find in Grand Canyon Village (but don't wait until you get there to buy it--there are very few copies remaining on the shelves!)

What I especially appreciated about the book was the logical arrangement of the Table of Contents by viewpoint, beginning from the south as you drive into the main entrance (Grand Canyon Village) and then west to east. Even more valuable is the information preceding each viewpoint description telling the distance to the next viewpoint (in miles and kilometers)--handy statistics that help you decide whether to hoof it to the next viewpoint or wait for the next shuttle bus, as much of the South Rim is closed to passenger car traffic.

In addition to the accurate information and beautiful presentation, this book also includes interesting history of the Grand Canyon with colorful descriptions of the pioneers who first explored, mapped, and took political action to preserve this natural wonder. Told with quotes, anecdotal stories, journal entries and black and white photos (from the late 1800's and early 1900's), the author weaves a tale as deep as the Colorado River itself winding through the Grand Canyon walls far below. Here you'll learn the history behind the buildings still standing on the edge of the rim, and the train that still visits daily, as well as be introduced to the geological history and modern day plant life and animal life that call the Grand Canyon their home.