Two years ago I took my first vacation all by myself. I had a brand new car, a little money, and a lot of time. I found this book while browsing and bought it to take it on my vacation. Each night, I selected a different trip for the next day, highlighted the route, and studied the points of interest I'd be most interested in taking. This small amount of planning gave me great confidence to strike out alone on my vacation.

One year ago, I took a similar vacation, this time with a very special friend. We repeated some of my favorite trips of the previous year and we planned a few new ones. Again, we would spend the evening marking maps and studying points of interest.

"Roaming the Backroads" was so useful on these two trips because the author gave maps, historical information and points of interest along the way. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to explore Northern California and who wants to get off the major highways to do it. Now the book lives on my coffee table and we still pick it up to plan a day trip or to remind ourselves of the pleasures of past trips.

I would recommend Days Afield to anyone interested in the natural environment, and especially students and educators studying the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay region. The text is easy to read and follow, and personalizes the author's scientific endeavors in the region, as an employee first of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, then later the EPA, as an instructor for the USDA's Graduate School, and also as a concerned citizen and dedicated naturalist.

In Chapter 1, the author assumes the role of instructor, and takes the reader on a composite of one of his many overnight field trips down the Delmarva peninsula. The reader follows along as the trip begins in the freshwater marshes of the Choptank River in Maryland, moves on to Watts Creek in Delaware, then returns to the deciduous swamps of the Nanticoke River in Maryland. On day two, the trip moves to the marshes of Chincoteague in Virginia, onward to the Assateague impoundments and wash flats, and concludes with the dunes, beach, and ocean.

The remaining chapters detail the natural environment of freshwater, brackish, and salt marshes; the Pocomoke and Nanticoke Rivers; Delmarva potholes; and several Western Shore streams. The book also incorporates a fair amount of botanical exploits, some in the form of excerpts from the author's nature journals, which will be enjoyed by anyone with such interests.

The valuable scientific information contained in this book is conveyed in a reader-friendly manner. The language is very descriptive, enabling one to visualize while reading. The book also contains a number of personal anecdotes that make the text fun to read.

The many lists and tables throughout the text, as well as the comprehensive "Literature Cited" section and detailed indexes of plant and animal scientific and common names that appear at the end of the book should be especially useful to the scientific-minded and studious.

Set on a pine-covered island int he 1940s, Deal: An Island On Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore is the debut novel of Tom Robinson and as at its core a daily portrayal of survival, greed, deceit, in the form of a hotly contested dispute between a corporation and the island's independent watermen. A powerful written story of conflicting ways of life and turbulent changes forever leaving their mark, Deal is an impressive read and not to be missed.

Eve Elliot has a bummer of a 40th birthday party. She's separated from her straying husband of 20+ years, she's sick and tired of the dog-eat-dog world of New York City high power advertising, and the spector of middle-age has reared its ugly gray head.

So an invitation to visit her favorite, elderly aunt, in the charming waterfront Maryland community near Chesapeake Bay, sounds like the perfect anecdote to encroaching burn-out and an inevitable divorce.

Aunt Lillian runs a small Real Estate office, faltering in the past year since the death of her beloved husband, Max. Eve's drive over to view the property of curmudgeonly Ray, whose waterfront holdings include a small cove, results in a gruesome discovery. It seems the old man is busy fishing the body of a large white out of the water, obviously someone's beloved pet.

Discovering the yellow nylon rope cinched tightly around the limp body, Eve can only imagine the worst. When the old man's body turns up floating the almost the exact same spot less than 24 hours later, close knit town folk begin to mutter and gossip, comparing this to another questionable drowning, in the identical location, 25 years ago!

While Eve struggles to come to grips with her failed marriage, and takes leave from her high pressure job, she also decides to take up residence in the dead man's cottage. Her sense of ownership, she found the man's body, lead her to ruffle more than a few feathers in the Pines. The hornet's nest she stirs up may come at a high cost: her life.

A number of locals come under suspicion as Eve seeks to unravel mysteries that most would prefer to ignore. The Police Department takes the view that these deaths are accidental, and takes little action, if any, toward solving what Eve is certain are linked murders. The final showdown is graphic, exciting and ultimately satisfying.

Lee's first novel gives a good sense of place, offers several deftly created, and likeable characters, and provides a highly enjoyable, plot-driven tale that you will be hard pressed to put down. Somewhere between a cozy and more sharply etched mystery, Barbara Lee has created a heroine that will have you seeking out her two other volumes in this highly regarded series: Final Closing and Dead Man's Fingers.

Reminds me of legends of many haunted lighthouse islands. A woman
is commissioned to paint the lighthouse, encourage tourist
dollars to the area. But locals are mixed, they want the funds but not the sacrifice of privacy. As Elizabeth works, she allows
her heart to soften for a certain boat skipper named Matt. But
there is something very dark kept in his silent demeanor and too-easy smile...
Great stuff!

A beautiful book! The photos were magnificent! Some of the organisms in the have never been seen before. My biggest gripe is that there weren't enough pictures.

An educational book that's been in print since 1971 has gotta be good. This book basically taught me how to play guitar. I learned all of my chords and such from it. It's laid out very clearly with both diagrams and photos to show you how to make each chord. Definitely get this one.

The Devilfish story describes the scenic beauty of the primeval forest and complex culture of the Tlingit Nations of Southeastern Alaska. The story combines romance, intrigue, adventure, pathos and tragedy into a concise narrative about what it means to be Native-American. It also describes the dangers that lurked in the mountains and in the waters of the Alaskan islands as Tlingit hunters and fishermen struggled against the natural forces to harvest the prodigious food resources of this region. The Tlingit people placed a high priority upon value of respect: respect for the Creator, respect for all creatures, respect for other persons, and respect for oneself. When any one of these four kinds of respect was missing, an individual's life was considered to be out of balance. Thus, dire consequences were believed to result in sorrow and turmoil. In order to restore order to the life of an individual or community, the offender must provide restitution equal to the severity of the offense at a future gathering known as a "potlatch." Devilfish Bay describes the consequences that transpire when the rule of respect is broken. Aspirations are dashed, lives are lost, heroic efforts are required to bring order out of this imminent chaos. Strong emotions, that tug at the heart of the brave and test the courage of the intrepid, reveal both the best and the worst of motivations that lurk in the hearts of man and beast. This is the stuff out of which classics are created and cowards forged. Thus, the reader is drawn into the vortex of the ensuing conflict and struggles with the problems of revenge and justice. Historically, the Tlingit nation numbered in the multiple thousands and they subsisted from hunting, gathering and fishing. They continue to be divided into two ceremonial groups -- Raven and Eagle. Every Tlingit belongs to a community longhouse, a clan, and a moiety which is either Raven or Eagle. In some communitites the symbol of the Wolf was used interchangeably with the Eagle. Each clan had its own traditions and stories. Devilfish Bay is a gripping saga of human love and loyalty, danger and disaster and turmoil and triumph. The narrative depicts those values and valor that make life worth living and forces the reader to reflect upon one's own culture to decipher what is meaningful and sacred. It demonstrates that critical times provide the arena for true gallantry. The Devilfish story is an unforgettable saga about a family that put their honor above their very lives. It suggests why the Tlingit people still cling so tenaciously to their land and culture in an era of forced assimiliation. This story seems destined to become a classic in the literature on the Indigenous Nations of North America. --Kenneth D. Tollefson, Ph.D Emeritus Professor of Anthropology Seattle Pacific University

The journal of Miguel Costanso is a credible 'picture' of the what we now call California before the landmass west of the Sierra Nevada was grossly alterred by European man in the name of 'progress'. Any individual attempting to understand the extent of loss from the invasion of techno-industrial man (a.k.a hydrocarbon man) should read this book.

Great book. Picks right up where the Lord's Oyster left off. It really is nice to read a book of historical nature that has a sort of recognizability to it. I am from the Eastern Shore of Md and perhaps I am some-what biased in opinion. Read it for yourself though, you'll be suprised to see how much like Huckleberry Finn this is. (but on the bay not the Mississippi.)