This book was very imformative and valuable on a recent road trip to the parks with my kids. I provided a consise resource of information and facts in an easily readable form. A valuable addition to your glove box at the start of your trip, or reading material on the flight to Jackson. Highly recommended.

There are many travel guides which will tell you where to eat, where to stay, and how much you can expect to spend. Some contain maps, important phone numbers, and local attractions. This book goes well beyond that. You will come away with a deep appreciation of the area and a better understanding of the wildlife. You will come to understand the differences between a black, brown, and grizzly bear and how to peacefully coexist with them in the park. You will learn how geysers work, what dangers exist, and how to help preserve the park for future generations.

I just returned from a visit to Yellowstone and found this book extremely helpful both in planning the trip and as a reference while there. I particularly liked the author's reviews of the accomodations within the park, which I found to be accurate, especially his reviews of the accomodations at the Old Faithful area, Canyon, and Lake Yellowstone.

The book contains excellent, accurate maps and the descriptions of touring the park contain lots of little-known sites that were worth seeing. Also, the book contains great information on hikes within the park.

I looked at several other guides to Yellowstone, this one by far outshines the other ones that I saw.

Enjoy your visit to this wonderful park!

One of the best modern American adventure stories. A relatively easy read. These guys swam more than 100 rapids on the frigid Colorado River wearing nothing but rubber shirts and wool longjohns - carrying thier sleeping bags, food and camera equipment in rubber boxes. Absolutely amazing - and their story had me with butterflys in my stomach just reading about what they did.

This was a good book!

Easy to read and captivating....These guys are Canyon legends and their story is told in this first-hand account of what happened.

Interesting to see how the Canyon has changed since Glen Canyon was created post swim....

Only took two days, but I really enjoyed the author's first hand account of his awesome journey down the river.

Interesting to compare the Canyon of the 50's to that of today and the impact that man has made on the canyon.

Illustrations/Photo's were point-of-fact and captivating also....

Grand Prix motor racing, despite a long parade of contenders to the pinnacle of motor sport, remains the ultimate distillation of technology and driver courage/skill. The 50 years since WWII, thoughtfully framed by a "Before the War" chapter for historical perspective, are recorded superbly in this magnificent book. No significant aspects of the cars and drivers of this eventful half century have been neglected. Sidebars constantly divert and inform. Even the advertising is captivating.
The reader comes away in awe, sated by the integrity of the text under Alan Henry's meticulous editing and the wonderful photographs of Bernard and Paul-Henri Cahier.
Younger enthusiasts who read this book, who have been watching the boring, little-passing parades of advertising-festooned F1 slot cars of recent years, will acquire essential perspective from this great book and will note--perhaps wistfully--the transition from a high-risk driver's sport to a technology-money game in which the driver has become increasingly subordinated to the machinery and lawyers manipulate the rules. They may also note, by studying the evolution of Grand Prix machinery, the transition (not only in GP but in prototype sports cars) from vehicles that could be driven on road courses to caricatures that can only be driven on billiard-table-smooth tracks, whose characteristics (mile-wide slicks, ground effects, minimal ground clearance, bizarre aerodynamics aids, engine lifetimes measures in minutes or hours of running) have virtually nothing to do with any other kind of road vehicle. The great Stirling Moss, one of the finest drivers who ever raced, railed against this loss of relevance to 'real' cars when interviewed by me on the microphone at Sears Point (where he was Grand Marshall of a historics event). Beyond nostalgia, who is to say that he is not right in decrying this disconnect between racing cars and real cars? Don't suggest NASCAR, fake into the bones, as representative of any remotely real road vehicle.
Alan Henry sensibly avoids much of the recent controversy over rules and money, which have effected so many not-so-subtle changes in what used to be a sport and not a business, although he does gum the issues of the tobacco wars and the rise of lovable Bernie Ecclestone to the role of F1 dictator. The book was published in 2000 and thus could not have anticipated the struggle of F1 in the new Millennium, blandly asserting its posture as "firm and secure." Well, maybe.
In the end, nothing that the recent philistines can do diminishes the ultimate greatness of this world motorsports arena or the care with which this book and brilliant historical record has been assembled.

This title is even more precious than the other already outstanding Autocourse Annuals. You can see how it looked when it all started back in 1950. Live through different eras of the past 50 years in F1 racing. I suggect all F1 fans get this book asap or it will disappear from book stores very soon. The team of Henry and Cahier(s) should get more than 5 stars just for this outstanding work.

The Formula One world driving championship was inaugurated in 1950, making 1999 it's 50th season. The people of AUTOCOURSE have chronicled the sport since 1951, and have never had any equals. This AUTOCOURSE history of the first 50 years is absolutely breathtaking. An "art" book of immensely high quality, it marries the journalistic expertise of veteran correspondent Alan Henry (editor of AUTOCOURSE since 1988) with the photographic brilliance of Bernard Cahier (covering primarily the 50's, 60's and into the 70's) and his son, the imcomparable photographic artist, Paul-Henri Cahier (primarily 80's and 90's). Their photos are simply stunning. The decision to restrict the photographic content of a 50-year history to just 2 men was a brave one, but considering that they chose the true artists of their eras, the choice was clearly inspired. It puts the book on another level entirely. A comprehensive championship table (season-by-season) is present at the back, but there is nothing dry or statistical about this book. Rather than comprehensively document the series "race-by-race", this is a book in which the essence of each era and the true character of its participants (and the cars involved) is brought to life. The people at AUTOCOURE have no peers, and with this book, they've truly outdone themselves. A "desert island" F1 book for sure. Congrats!

this book is my bible and comfort, its a shame it is so often overlooked

Simply breathtaking - a unique account in magical prose poetry of all consuming love, which you will return to again and again. Almost too painfully visceral at times, snapshots of sheer beauty leap out of the page as you ride the non-stop vertical drop on the rollercoaster of their relationship - not for the faint or hard hearted.

Scathing, deeply poetic rant of obssessive love forced into obssessive hate. Deep and lasting, based on the author's actual experiences.

This book is one of the best books that I've ever read. It does not concentrate on the stats or indeed particularly on the winners of the World Championship. It takes a personal look at the people, races and years that have shaped F1 from it's very begining. It is a great read for any F1 fan as Roebuck succeeds in not only jogging our memory of the past but also telling untold behind the scenes stories in detail not to mention a tinge of humour. I trully love this book, in fact I think I've read it cover to cover at least 3 times if not more.

Nigel Roebuck, one of the finest journalists to cover motorsport in general and Formula One in particular, presents in this book a wonderful series of sharp vignettes covering the entire period of the modern World Championship. Roebuck begins at Imola in 1994, when, as he puts it aptly, "everything changed" with the tragic death of Ayrton Senna and the introduction of knee-jerk "safety" improvements which have led only to boring racing and have not, as we learned earlier this season, prevented what are, given the nature of the sport, inevitable tragedies. Hard as it is to believe, the "turbo years" of the late 70s and 80s are beginning to look suspiciously like a final golden age, which they certainly weren't at the time, but, given the emasculation of tracks, over-dominance by a few teams, and drivers who do not understand the history of the sport and drive like they're the only man on the track, they're beginning to look pretty good in retrospect. But I digress. Between the covers of this book you'll find incisive portraits of several great drivers (among them Phil Hill, Piers Courage, James Hunt, Ayrton Senna, and Jochen Rindt), car owners (the great Rob Walker, who long after his car-owning days were over wrote wonderful F1 journalism for Road & Track when R&T was still a great magazine), and others associated with the F1 scene (journalist Denis Jenkinson, F1's official doctor Professor Sid Watkins, and current F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone). He also writes of several races - the great slipstreaming duel at Monza in 1971, the first win for Renault in 1979, Dallas 1984 which ended with Nigel Mansell trying to push his car over the finish line in the blazing heat. As an added incentive, there are sections of black and white and color photographs. More and more nonfiction books seem to be doing away with illustrations, and with F1 being the visual spectacle that it is, we can be glad that Roebuck and his publisher resisted this new and unfortunate trend. Turn to the section of color plates and feast your eyes on the first photograph - Fangio in the Maserati 250F at Monaco in 1957. The greatest driver, the greatest car, the greatest race; one picture says it all. Highly recommended to anyone interested in Formula One.

When I first saw this book's title, I nearly gave it a pass, thinking it was just one more in an already well-covered niche. But Nigel Roebuck's name was enough for me to chance it. (If you've read his columns you know he's always interesting.) This book is really unique. Despite the title, it's not an attempt to condense a history of 50 years of racing. It's more like a collection of essays about people and events that are not well covered elsewhere. I've read a LOT of books about F1 (cars, teams, drivers, ...) but each chapter of this book had new and intriguing things to say. It was a really enjoyable read, as well.

This is the best and most complete document about the life and work of Astor Piazzolla. The authors inter-link Piazzolla's work with the major events of his life and the artistic and political context of the time. If you are really interested in learning about Piazzolla, you should go ahead and buy this book.

Nearly ten years after Astor Piazzolla's death, the debate still rages about whether or not his music is "tango". Well, some of it is, and some of it isn't. But the roots of all his music lie deep in the tango tradition and whether or not a particular piece is or isn't tango is of no real importance. The fact is that Astor Piazzolla composed some of the finest music in any genre and all Argentines can take pride in that. I have been a fan of Astor Piazzolla for nearly 30 years but only knew the music. After having read Le Grand Tango, I now feel as though I know the man. Having "met" him, my understanding and admiration of both the music and the man has increased exponentially. Azzi and Collier have authored an easy to follow, entertaining and informative book about El Maestro. One learns not only about his music but about his forceful personality and the forces which shaped Piazzolla and drove him to be the most dazzling musician of the 20th century. His life, his loves, his triumphs and his failures all spring to life here. Though most readers will likely be hardcore fans of Piazzolla, its flowing style makes it an engaging hagiographical read for anyone who has even a mild interest in music history or in the forces and personalities which have shaped and regenerated tango throughout second half of the 20th century.

Piazzola means tango for many people. The first tango music I ever purchased was Piazzola's music. His music dominated Sally Porter's movie, "Tango Lesson." This is a man that you must know about if you like tango, the dance and the music. Even if your interest is 20th century music, you will be fascinated. The story of Piazzola's life is a story of how cultures, music, and people are interrelated. As a person who was born in Argentina, his music was tango; as a kid named "Lefty" who grew up in Manhattan, he felt the influence of jazz. As a musician known as "El Gato," he built on the tango traditions of Troilo, Sarli, and Pugliese.

He began his musical career as a musician who could not read music. Anibal Troilo hired Piazzola because he had memorized the band's repertoire. He studied music and composition while playing in tango groups, and went on for more formal training in Paris. Piazzola loved everything from the classical music of Rubenstein to the jazz of Gershwin. Although we think of Piazzola in terms of tango, many of his contemporary tango aficionados hated his music because it was nontraditional, evolutionary, and avant gard.

This book was of value to me because it increased my understanding not just of Piazzola, but also of the major twentieth century tango musicians and composers. It may not make me a better dancer, but the increase of knowledge added to my appreciation of the music not just of Piazzola, but also of Pablo Ziegler, Romulo Larrea, and Felix Leclerc. It was a fitting complement to "Tango!" a collaborative book by Simon Collier, Artemis Cooper, Maria Susana Azzi, and Richard Martin. You don't have to be a serious student of music to enjoy either book. It will add to your appreciation of tango.

This book is an excellent choice if you are looking for an easy-to-read history of the development of particle physics in the twentieth century. The book almost reads like a novel. The authors lead us on a tour of the most critical breakthroughs from the discovery of the electron to that of the top quark. Each episode describes not only the physics but also provides interesting insights into the physicists who made the contributions. It is a great diary of man's attempts to discover the smallest components of matter.

This book has proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the telling of the story of 20th century fundamental physics is a task that should not be entrusted to physicists. No, it appears a journalist and a philosopher are not only able to bring the story to life in a way that almost all physics text books fail to do, but at the same time to never lose sight of the important scientific issues.

I thought that I understood these issues well, having been a researcher in the area myself until 1987, but I have to report that they filled embarrassingly large gaps in my knowledge, particularly in relation to experiments, including in subjects that I used to teach to undergraduates.

I would recommend this book to anyone, but most of all to those who call themselves practitioners in the subject, to remind them of how, if at all, what they do fits in to the bigger picture, and also to remind them, to quote Murray Gell Mann (who was probably quoting someone else at the time), that "the best instrument that a theoretician has is his waste paper basket". As the mathematical tangents that theoreticians have gone off on in the last twenty years get ever more bizarre and disconnected from reality, I fully expect this to be full to overflowing soon.

One of the consolations of being a graduate student at a big ten university is having marvellous libraries at your disposal. I picked this one up two years ago in one of my favorite sections: general physics and biography of physicists. This book gives a clear account of how we got from the physics of the turn of the centry, when some wag suggested all that was left to do was to measure constants to the next decimal place, to today where... uh... gee, it looks like we are stuck in the same bind again! But what a century it has been. It was a treat to see how the problems of the "ultraviolet catastrophe" (quantization of light), X-rays and other radiation (atomic structure), and the non-existance of the aether (relativity) spawned whole new areas of inquiry. The interesting thing is that we have indeed come full circle... probing nature to provide support for the "Theories of Everything" will either require ingenuity and precision in measurement that defies belief, or accelerators far beyond our ability (let alone will!) to build. Meanwhile, are there any small, nagging inconsistancies lying about that will provide rich fodder for the next generation? But that is a tale for a book yet to be written. Until then, if you want the low down on 20C physics, this is an excellent place to start. The authors give especially warm and entrancing accounts of their interviews with some of the movers and shakers in the field that give a nice helping of human color to what could have been much too dry a book.

firstly, this book is from the "golden age" of science fiction - generally, the time span of the 1950s - late 1960s. of course, there is quite the sf debate to be had as to whether this was really a "golden age" or not, but that's left out of this review ;) there are three volumes, each containing assorted works by five grandmaster award winners.

essentially, the grandmaster award "may not be awarded more than six times in ten years" and is given to a contemporary (re: living) science fiction author.

heinlein's stories are very good - they take up approximately 1/3 of the book, though. "the roads must roll" was quite dated, and definitely the worst of the bunch; though that alone is completely relative, by itself it wouldn't have been nearly so bad. the rest of his stories are magnificant, and he remains arguably one of the best science fiction writers to ever put the pen to the paper.

jack williamson, clifford simak, l. sprague de camp, and fritz leiber all produce fantastic stories for this anthology, as well.

one of the best aspects of this anthology is that it offers stories which may not otherwise have been discovered. frederick pohl does an appropriate and respectful job introducing the authors, and his love of the genre is apparant. this book should not be overlooked and is one of the most valuable science fiction short story anthologies i have come across. highly recommended.

I'd been frustrated by the "Golden Age" because it is often written or talked about and is often impossible to find, even in used bookstores. Heinlein can still be found, but even works of his, some considered classics, are out-of-print. Anthologies of those times are difficult to find, and modern anthologies often throw in a "Golden Age" story as an afterthought.

This anthology is different. Each of the authors featured in this volume (Heinlein, Williamson, Simak, de Camp, and Leiber) were the "Golden Age".

With the exception of two stories by Fritz Leiber ("Sanity" & "A Bad Day for Sales") whose pessimism put me off, each story in this volume captured and held my attention throughout. The themes of these stories inspired my own speculations, and unlike much of modern science fiction, the entertainment value alone makes this volume worth purchasing.

Frederik Pohl has written succinct, informative introductions and recommends further reading which has sent me to the used bookstores already. More importantly, however, he has chosen great stories and has let the authors speak for themselves.

Personally, I would recommend "The Year of the Lottery" ( a humorous story about the ultimate bad day), "With Folded Hands" (inhuman "perfection" taken to the extreme), all of Clifford D. Simak, and "Gun for Dinosaur" (30 years ahead of Jurassic Park and infinitely superior). However, cracking this book at any place will lead to good results.

Frederik Pohl has done a fantastic job of assembling this collection of material. Himself one of the first 15 SFWA grand masters, Pohl's personal reflections on each of these authors are worth the purchase price by themselves.

For each writer, Pohl has selected at least one seminal gem from their body of work, and at least one neglected treasure, with additional pieces that show the tremendous range each of these authors was/is capable of.

Although most of Heinlein's fiction is still in print, these days it can be hard to find the work of these other Grand Masters, especially the older material. That makes this volume especially valuable.

For myself, Clifford Simak and Fritz Leiber are two of my all-time favorite writers, and I am happy to see there work exposed to a new generation of readers, especially in this context. Both the Science Fiction Writers of America and Frederik Pohl should be applauded for this worthy tribute.

Frederick Dellaenbaugh was a young man when John Wesley Powell tapped him to participate in Powell's second trip down the Colorado River. Powell had made the journey already a few years before, so the second voyage was less pure exploration and more science; the crew included Almon Harris Thompson (called affectionately "Prof." throughout), a professional geographer who also happened to be Powell's brother-in-law. With several boats and men of widely varying experience, the expedition sailed the Green river (thought at that time to be the upper Colorado) to its junction with the Colorado, and the Colorado itself as far as the middle of the Grand Canyon. Swirling rapids, maggotty food, blistering heat, sudden blizzards beset the adventurers, who still though it all made their geographical, geological, and ethnographical observations which resulted in (among other things) the first maps of the four corners region and the Grand Canyon (reproduced in the book).
While wild adventure, humor, and a real sense of the Old West permeate the book, there is a certain sadness, too. The Native Americans whom Dellenbaugh encounters are people clearly already defeated -- fearful, distrusting, sad. We catch glimpses of the Navaho trying to accommodate themselves to the new reality of white (especially Mormon) settlement, creating new networks of trade focused on growing frontier towns. But the seeds of the end are planted already in the irrigated fields of the Mormon settlers, and sometimes it seems as if the natives knew this too. Also, the topography through which the explorers travelled has now partly vanished behind the dams that have ruined Glen Canyon and other stretches of white water and canyon scenery. No one can now do what Dellenbaugh and his companions did; the sense of loss hovers unintentionally about every page.
Dellenbaugh was a keen observer (though perhaps a bit naive) with a talent for making even the monotony of running rapid after rapid spellbinding. One does feel that he may have veiled some of the conflicts that must have arisen in two (non-continuous) years of isolation, though if so this trait is refreshing in a world where we now expect everyone to tattle on everyone else. Every now and then just a shimmer of impatience with one of the crew seeps through. But the real hero who emerges from this book, somewhat surprisingly, is not the leader Powell -- the young Dellenbaugh seems never to have gotten close to him -- but rather the Prof., who rises to every challenge with decency and humaneness, and of whom Dellenbaugh seems to have been genuinely, and for good reason, in awe. Like Powell he is buried in Arlington Cemetery. He deserved that honor, but where he lives is in the pages of this book.

Love and respect for the Green and Colorado Rivers is greatly enhanced by Dellenbaugh's narritive of the 2nd Powell expadition. Well written, accurate history, and spell binding from start to finish. An adventure that can only be partially accomplished today is TOTALLY available in "A Canyon Voyage!"

At the time of the 2nd voyage down the Colorado, Dellenbaugh was on about 19 years old. He didn't write the book until many years later. What a wonderful/spellbinding look at the most beautiful place in North America (The Colorado Plateau). Not only that but I found it extremely hunorous as well. Great Great book!!!

This is a good book on F1 history, with plenty of detailed technical and apisodic information concerning teams, drivers and cars. The author shows a profound knowledge on the subject of F1 grand prix racing, and the book is a very good source of season by season information, from 1950 to 1996. It will please all fans of this most important category of car racing, although an updated edition is now needed.

This was a Christmas present from my wife and this was the best present I can remember receiving. Everything about F1 from Bugatti, Nuvolari & Fangio to Senna, Prost & McLaren. This book is for the dedicated F1 fan. It is well researched and written and follows the development and technical specs of F1 cars past & present. It contains numerous rare photographs as well as some cutaway drawings of cars and engines. A MUST!

This book truly surprised me. First off this book is very big and is absolutely filled with fascinating information! So many questions can be answered in this book and so much information to take in. Impress your friends with your vast Grand Prix and Formula One knowledge! I would buy this one today! Thank you for making it available....great stuff!