I was deeply disappointed in this book. It reads like a graduate student's thesis; full of statistics and graphs. I guess this is o.k., if one is interested in raw data. But, as for the average reader, it might take some effort to complete it and not just "skip through" to the end, which is what I did.

At the begining of each chapter, one of the authors tells an aluring story which captures the reader's imagination and interest, but the book immediately reverts to the same old boring statistics.

This is a graduate study paper made into a book.

An excellent book full of great scientific data from an extended study. For those of us that want detailed data for a greater understanding of these magnificent creatures, this book is a must!!!

Most books about bears are filled with nonsense and drivel; A Shadow In The Forest provides facts you can trust from two Idaho bear biologists. Outstanding. I'm the author of Backcountry Bear Basics, and this is one of the few books about bears I can recommend with no reservations.

I enjoyed the first book in this series enough to seek out this second book. I enjoyed it just as much as the first, maybe even more so because Michele took us on a wonderful travel adventure through Europe. But I was still frustrated by the lack of thorough editing this book had before hitting publication. Forms of words were misused, punctuation was hit and miss, and the tenses even got switched a couple of times. It's too bad, because these errors really pulled me out of the story, hurting an otherwise very good story.

This book is great. First you need to read "An Unexpected Love" and then read this book, and then read "A Forever Love". These books start out with an avid fitness instructor and her struggle with anorexia. She takes time off work and is living with her sister who is LDS. She and her mother are very much against the LDS church. The first day she is at her sisters she meets a guy and of course he is LDS too. This book takes you through her struggles with anorexia and finding herself in the church. Don't read this book unless you have time to not put it down.

I'd been looking for it for quite a while, because it is, shamefully, out of print. I can't think why! For fans and students of Frank Lloyd Wright's work, 'Teater's Knoll' is even better than 'Frank Lloyd Wright's Hanna House: The Client's Report'. The Archie Teater Studio is the only FLLW house in Idaho, and one of his most fascinating. Not only is it a beautiful design, it is one of the best-documented FLLW houses; the original owners saved every scrap of paper with any bearing on the house's design and construction. After falling on hard times and disrepair, the house was saved by Henry Whiting II, who found the Teater archives when he bought the place in near-derelict condition. Whiting has used that material to tell the story of the house's construction. It nearly didn't get built at all, owing to the irascibility of the clients; they hired, fired, and sued contractors and labourers with what can only be called mad abandon. Whiting goes on from this tale of woe to tell of his hands-on restoration of the house; it's one of the few FLLW restorations done by an owner, albeit an owner with a background in architecture. There's also interesting material in the book on Whiting's uncle, Alden Dow, a friend and disciple of Wright's. This one gets four stars- I'm docking it one star only because the photography of the restoration fails to give much sense of the flow of spaces within the house. HIGHLY recommended, nonetheless! You won't regret it.

Amazon helped me find this book, and I am grateful, indeed. I'd been looking for it for quite a while, because it is, shamefully, out of print. I can't think why! For fans and students of Frank Lloyd Wright's work, 'Teater's Knoll' is even better than 'Frank Lloyd Wright's Hanna House: The Client's Report'. The Archie Teater Studio is the only FLLW house in Idaho, and one of his most fascinating. Not only is it a beautiful design, it is one of the best-documented FLLW houses; the original owners saved every scrap of paper with any bearing on the house's design and construction. ....Whiting goes on from this tale of woe to tell of his hands-on restoration of the house; it's one of the few FLLW restorations done by an owner, albeit an owner with a background in architecture. There's also interesting material in the book on Whiting's uncle, Alden Dow, a friend and disciple of Wright's. This one gets four stars- I'm docking it one star only because the photography of the restoration fails to give much sense of the flow of spaces within the house. HIGHLY recommended, nonetheless! Put Amazon on the case and get a copy. You won't regret it.

With Washed by a Wave of Wind, M. Shayne Bell has produced a unique and fascinating anthology which will become increasingly significant and more frequently analyzed as years go by. This book is a must have for any serious reader of Western science fiction, LDS science fiction, or regional/ethnic science fiction. It is also full of unusual, well-written fiction that any adventurous reader should enjoy.

M. Shayne Bell has done an amazing job of obtaining top-quality stories from a talented and diverse group of writers. The contributors to this anthology represent a wide range of viewpoints, from very mainstream LDS authors who teach at BYU and have books sold by Deseret Book (Glenn L. Anderson), to people who are LDS but interestingly "unorthodox", to people who have never been LDS but live in the region. The stories run the gamut as well. Some could be published without causing a stir in the New Era. Others are definitely "subversive" (to use the word from the book's back cover blurb). But none of them are simply mean or "anti."

Many stories contain plot points and ideas and speculations about future that many Latter-day Saints would find offensive. But there is nothing that readers widely read in either science fiction or LDS fiction will be driven to apostacy by. The viewpoints are so diverse, there are only two "messages" a person could take away from the anthology as a whole: Utah/LDS writers are an extremely talented, diverse bunch and Utah/LDS culture is unarguably unique. A book of this sort, so bound to place and so culturally marked, never has been and never could be produced by "science fiction writers from Ohio," for example.

Edited by Hugo-nominated author M. Shayne Bell, this anthology is the first work to collect short fiction by all the major (and many of the minor) science fiction writers to have emerged from Utah in the past two decades. Included are reprinted stories by Orson Scott Card, Michaelene Pendleton, and Bell himself; also showcased are strong original works by the likes of Dave Wolverton, Elizabeth H. Boyer, Virginia Baker, Glenn L. Anderson, Pat Bezzant, Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury, Diann Thornley, and D. William Shunn. Uneven, but on the whole quite interesting and worthwhile.

It should come as no surprise that the second book published by an author is frequently not up to the same high quality of the first one. After all, that first one (probably) was not written to a deadline, but was, rather, fueled by the inner passion of the author. It's not at all uncommon to finish writing that first book, heave a tremendous sigh of relief, and vow to never touch another typewriter, or computer, as the case may be. Thankfully, in most cases, that latter sentiment doesn't last long, (although in some instances, it doesn't last long enough!) and in a day or so, the author is inspired enough to begin the second book. Even with luck, however, if there is a contract staring him or her in the face, time can interfere with the creative process.

I don't know if that happened with this book, but it has certainly happened to many others. I LOVED McCalls's first book Dead Aim, and vowed to read all his others. It appears there are only three, so far, with just a year or two between the first two, but several years between the latter two.

Not that this book is in any way insufficient, mind you; it just isn't quite sufficient enough. Chris and Lyel are still in Idaho, still loving--and enjoying--the countryside, while indulging in the occasional bit of work, as necessary. For Chris, this is tracing lost musicians to whom royalty payments are due. Lyel's work is mostly clipping coupons. And not the cents-off-at-the-grocery-store-variety, either.

After a fatal crash at the local airport (and the two buddies are volunteer firefighters, providing us with vivid descriptions of such an activity) Chris is asked to help a local woman find her missing sister. And thus begins the chase. That's the really good part, with the loving look at souped-up 50s and 60s hot-rods (if you're old enough to remember when this was being done, you'll really cherish this part of the book!) and a bit of spy-type activity in California as Chris looks for the owner of a building who doesn't want to be found.

Published in 1990, the book is still up to the minute, with environmental concerns mixed with politics, and, underneath it all, the steadily beating heart of an appealing, yet lonely man. Now, to find that third book, and hope for a fourth. And a fifth. Maybe even a sixth?

The recent surge in popularity of on-line genealogical searches shows that as we move into the 21st century we are still looking backward at our family roots. How fortunate for history that author Kristi M. Youngdahl has taken the time to help an Idaho family chronicle its past in a remarkable book called The Arams of Idaho: Pioneers of Camas Prairie and Joseph Plains. I was impressed with how the author used family interviews and records, newspaper accounts and the like and wove them seamlessly into the narrative. This wealth of detail draws the reader into the story, making it come alive, and what a story it is! The Arams trace their lineage back to England (and to a notorious criminal and folk hero, Eugene Aram). The Arams became part of the westward migration after immigration to the U.S. in 1806. After stops in the Midwest, California and Oregon, members of this pioneer family helped settle one of our last wildernesses, central Idaho, starting in 1864. Ms. Youngdahl ably portrays the challenges of living in this rugged territory, as the family works to build shelter and plant crops, faces the Nez Perce Indian War of 1877 and establishes a cattle ranch. When James Aram loses this ranch in 1930 to foreclosure, this sad event feels to the reader as if it were a setback to one's own family because the author has shown the years of toil and tears leading up to this day. Son Jim (with one arm amputated due to an accident) helps his father rebuild through the Depression years, but finally the time comes when the Arams all have "scattered like so many seeds in the wind" to the world outside their remote ancestral home. This brought a real sense of loss to me. But fortunately memories of this period of history have been preserved in this book: memories of everyday ranch life, of cowboys and cattle rustlers, of Saturday night dances and basket socials, of surreptitious sampling of "moonshine" whiskey on holidays, of a family's love and loyalty to each other and to their home through generations. And at the end of this story the author says that the Arams still have the strength "inherited from their pioneer parents and grandparents--a strength tested daily in their youth by a wild and beautiful land." And we --and succeeding eras--have this wonderful book. I recommend it highly.

Brigham Madsen provides a good through history of the Bannock nation. His focus/speculation on how they became seperate from the Snake nation and on their continued existance in regards to buffaloe hunting provide an excellent benefit to reading this book. Though somewhat dry in parts, this book gives a reader insight into the life of the Bannock and the history of the american west. Great for anyone interested in the history of southern Idaho, Oregon, NA history or History of the American West.

This book is as fine as a float down the Boise River on a sunny day. Although the writing isn't as clear as the Wood River's waters(That's what the Boise River was more commonly called pre-1836) it pleasantly meanders about Boise's rich history. Your eyes will strike gold with the many fascinating pictures of old Boise. Mine the words and there too you'll tap a vein of history as keen as any yellow nugget.

Madsen(the foremost authority on the Shoshoni and Bannock Indians of Idaho and Utah) here gives us a portrait of the real Chief. According to Madsen, Pocatello was simply a Chief who was interested in feeding his people and making peace with the white man. While it is true that Pocatello led many raids on wagon trains most notable at Massacre Rock, Madsen says that he was credited with many more raids than he was actually involved in. Madsen also sets for the many fanciful tales that the anti-Pocatello media attributed to him. But the thing that Pocatello is most famous for is the small Idaho town that has his name.

I believe that "Idaho" has to be the definitive guide for anyone interested in things to do including historical information. My wife and I purchased this guide book to find out that it is more than a mere guide book, it is more of an almanac on the Gem State.

I've always been fascinated by the Gem State for its remoteness, rugged beauty and for the lack of information I've had on it. It certainly is one of the more hidden secrets of America and I'm sure that Idahoans would like to keep it that way. There's much more to the place than potatoes!

Gottberg breaks the book up into five regions and gives a good break down on sites, things to do and general interest points whether off the beaten path or mainstream. In his book includes information on natural history, geology, geography, wildlife, climate, maps, getting around, annual events including rodeos, ski areas, cultural attractions, historical sites, park and wilderness areas, sources of information, lodging, restaurants including maps and more. There are beautiful photos both past and present and the book is certainly up-to-date (second revision, current last printing is (C)2001. It is a paperback book but it stands up very well against wear and tear (waxey coating on the cover) and it has good bounding that doesn't flake off. Trust me, we used and abused the book when we traveled throughout Idaho last autumn and it's still in relatively pristine condition!

If you are planning on a venture to Idaho, this book is a must. Heck, if you live in Idaho, you are likely to learn things you never knew before with information that will give you something to do and get away from the television set!