In The Barefoot Fisherman Guide To The Emerald Coast, Gregory Dew reveals forty very special spots to fish along the Gulf Shores, Alabama, to Apalachicola, Florida. Also included for the angler is a wealth of sound advice on rigging an outfit, basic angling techniques, special fishing techniques, picking a prime location (considering tides, currents, wind, water, and geography), fish species and habitats, even local recipes! The Barefoot Fisherman Guide To The Emerald Coast is enhanced further with a chapter dedicated to resource websites, addresses, telephone numbers, tackle shops, and selected fishing charters. If you are planning a fishing trip anywhere along this spectacular Gulf of Mexico shoreline, begin with browsing through Gregory Dew's The Barefoot Fisherman Guide To The Emerald Coast!

I am from the midwest and had only engaged in freshwater fishing so it was breaking unfamiliar ground (or water) when my Florida vacation was to include fishing in beautiful St. Joe's Bay. I had no idea what kind of fish were there let alone how to catch them. I purchased Gregory Dew's book, "The Barefoot Fisherman Guide To The Emerald Coast from Gulf Shores Alabama To Apalachicola, Florida" and was not disappointed. The book was easy to read, packed with information and ultimately helped me to catch some fish. The book discusses the proper tackle, rigs, angling techniques in the first chapter. The second chapter is dedicated to picking a prime location. Chapters 3 and 4 were of great interest to me and I read them in detail. Chapter three covers the entire coast from Gulf Shores, Alabama to Apalachicola, Florida and highlights some of the hotspots there. I was delighted to see that one section was dedicated to St. Joseph's bay. Chapter 4 contained great information on the species of fish one might catch and how to fish for them. He also included a rating for edibility. He rated each species of fish on a scale of 1-10 for how good they are to eat. We found his scale to be accurate with the species we caught. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss recipes and gives some Fishing Links for more information. The ultimate measure of the books effectiveness was catching fish. I caught one Speckled Trout that was a keeper and a 23 inch Red Fish (Red Drum). The book helped make my vacation more enjoyable and makes me want to return for more "Barefoot Fishing".

If you are looking for a good history book about the Chicago South Bend and South Shore Railroad this is it. This is not a 'coffee table' book of pictures about the railroad, it is a good look inside how the South Shore came to be and managed to stay around when other interurban railroads failed. Included are historical photos and documents, mainly from the late 60's but some date back to the construction of the line in 1907. The narrative runs from 1907 until 1970. Good diagrams for modelers of the old cars (replaced in 1982) as well as the track layout as it existed in 1970. Definately a book for the reference section.

With today's new developements there might be more (new) interurbans in America, but up to now the South Bend is the last Interurban. This book tells us all we need to know: the (sometimes reallly entangled) history of the CSS&SB, how she was renewed by Mr. Insull; how she survived until today. The book desribes the South Bend's history in depth - and very readably, it includes a wealth of photos. One of the pix I enjoyed most is one of a 1980's Interurban riding thru an Indiana town - beautiful.

Mr. Bansemer's drawings of the southern shores of the US and the activities that take place there are unsurpasssed. In addition to paintings, each is described in prose that sometimes makes you want to cry and sometimes makes you want to laugh. An excellent coffee table book to browse through again and again.

Ackerman delivers a series of short, easy-to-read essays on life on the Delaware shore. In exploring nature's finely tuned patterns in the shore's flora and fauna, the author finds insight into the human existence. The science presented is often intriguing and her perceptions moving. However, the book is ambitious in the breadth of its focus and seems to only skim the surface of a subject matter in which Ackerman has only begun to show her mastery. I would have been more satisfied with deeper detail and exposition on the science behind and insights drawn from a narrower scope of observations and events. It must be confessed, though, that Ackerman's essays have whetted my enchantment with and interest in the world around me and this alone makes the book well worth reading.

This is what a nonfiction book should be--thoughtful but packed with info. The author doesn't just give you a laundry list of flora and fauna--she adds her own layer of meaning. I loved it. Cried at the bit with her dad, and would like to know more, but it's probably just as well she didn't dwell on it. Recommended for a blustery day at the shore...or even for inlanders who wish they were there!

In Notes From the Shore, Jenny Ackerman makes her mark as an important young writer. Her educated and imaginative relationship with nature makes this a unique and lovely book. The language is lyrical and sometimes startling ("stamps mate shamelessly"). Anyone with an appreciation of the natural world or fine writing will enjoy Notes from the Shore.

We will never see these lovely posters on the hoardings in Chicagoland or Northwestern Indiana, but this wonderful book does as much as is possible to capture the glory of that long-gone, pre-Depression advertising age. The articles are interesting to railway aficianados and help to put the artworks in their proper context, but the crowning glories of the book are the full-page reproductions of all the known surviving South Shore Line posters. Yes, it was a simpler time; and No, the artists were not on the forefront and fringes of experimentation. But the posters do not pretend to be anything other than what they are--railway advertising--and they are superb examples of that, comparing favorably with the contemporaneous works of the Big Four in Britain, who were themselves experiencing a Golden Age at the time. Now if only someone would do for North Shore Line posters what this book does for the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railway! Buy two copies: one for the shelf, and one to cannibalize for prints to frame. (I know, I know, the thought of cutting up a book was anathema to me at first, but the results were spectacular.)

"Moonlight in Duneland" is a wonderfully subtle exploration of a marriage between the golden age of advertising and twilight of passenger rail service in suburban Chicago and northwest Indiana.

The Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad has served the region for about ninety years, but in the 1920s the once floundering commuter train became a sudden success due to the advertising campaign commissioned by new owner Samuel Insull.

Intending to create a ridership for the line, the ad campaign showed sophisticated Chicagoans what wonderful scenery and activities waited for them a short ride east in Indiana. The lithographs reprinted on the pages of "Moonlight in Duneland" are wonderfully rendered in the style of such illustrators as Maxfield Parrish and the Prairie Deco artists of the day. Each poster illustrates one of the many activities in different seasons. One could see Notre Dame football in the fall; relax on the Lake Michigan beaches in the summer; or snow ski on the Dunes in winter. The pages are mainly full page reprints of the photos with just enough text in the front of the book for explanation.

This book is very well made and the prints are very well reproduced. I recommend it to anyone, but fans of Art Deco design and railroad enthusiasts will enjoy it.

A must-have coffee table book for anyone connected to N.W. Indiana. Living history in a medium long past.

The book wreck valley 2 By Daniel Berg is an excelent guide for sports divers and tech divers alike. Daniel Berg brings out and discribes the history of the ships that once sailed the long island sound and Atlantic . If anyone,. not just divers is interested in north east ship wrecks this is the book for you

I found this book very useful in gathering information about the different ship wrecks I have dove on in New Jersey. I highly recomend this book to all wreck divers and ship wreck enthusiasts alike. This book has lots of good photographs and drawings pertaining to the wrecks. You will not be disappointed in purchasing this book.

If you want shark stories, stear clear of this book. Make no mistake; Marriot makes an incredible journey and has some amazing experiences. However, he has direct encounters with only three sharks and those all occured in one day. I would say 75% of this book is about Nicaragua's history and politics, 10% discusses shark mythology and 10% is a heavy handed attempt to draw metaphors between the two. This leaves 5% for actual sharks.

In short, a big disappoint for shark fans. Instead, check out Shark Attacks : Their Causes and Avoidance by Thomas B. Allen.

Our son sent us this book,after reading it while in Nicaragua.
My husband comes from a GREAT story-telling family and this book feels like it belongs in our family tales!Who would believe a book about the near-disappearance of shark fishing in Nicaragua would be SO compeling?

A few of the human kind can be found in places like Bluefields, Nicaragua, where if this book had instead been set in the wild west of the US, the only proper name for some of the residents would be desperados. Although conditions are definitely frontier-like the characters are very 20th century, and uniquely Nicaraguan. Interspersed throughout SAVAGE SHORE are referrences to, and the occasional crossing of paths with, Sandinistas, Contras, Colombian drug dealers and the odd modern day pirate. These characters though are not even the central focus, but they certainly add to what is already a fascinating and well written travelogue, cultural study, nature journal, and critique on human greed, economic exploitation, and political chaos.

The central characters are not men at all but bull sharks that live, breed, and hunt in the Caribbean waters of Nicaragua's east coast. It is the "most willful and aggressive of all tropical sharks" and what makes it unique and worthy of a book, is that "like no other shark, it possessed the ability to cross from salt water to freshwater, hunting far upriver". That means that the bull shark can be found up the Escondido river near Bluefields or more impressively, 60 miles up the San Juan river, all the way to Lake Nicaragua. It is as the author says "shark where shark should not be - in fresh water, on human territory."

The book tells the tale of this shark and the men who hunt it, as they have for generations, - bravely, in open dugout canoes with hand held lines. The sharks are hunted for their body oils, the fins are used to make soup and the skin is tanned into leather. Poverty means that resource management is non-existent and overfishing means that the shark itself may soon be gone from its last great freshwater holdout - lake Nicaragua.

Fear and greed, the author says, are the two most common human emotions the bull shark elicits. Perhaps it's fitting then that this also best describes the pervasive feeling that one gets from this rough and tumble area. History has a part to play. In the 17th century Bluefields was the capital of the British protectorate - the Mosquito Coast - which stretched the length of Nicaragua's Caribbean shoreline to Puerto Cabeza in the north, and beyond into what is now Honduras. This explains how a town with an Anglo name exists in a Latin country. Slaves from Jamaica were brought in and their descendants are now the large, patois/english speaking Creole population. Co-existence with the Miskito, Sumu, and Ramu indians has not always been peaceful but the natives of this area have at times pulled together, usually in the face of some external threat, whether natural as in the many hurricanes that have devastated the area, or man made as in the political tribalism and battles between Sandinistas and Contras.

This story of sharks, at sea and on land, makes the place most appropriately named SAVAGE SHORE. Yet in an irony fitting for this book, the area is also the focal point of Nicaragua's tourism industry.

This book should be required reading for anyone contemplating a purchase of property on the eastern coast. While the "pulpit preacher" tone gets tired, we are seldom aware of just how much change occurs over a relatively brief period of time. Pay your money now or a million when your lot is under water in another 30 years.

I read this book while vacationing at Folly Beach, South Carolina. I loved the factual information especially the history of the development of the barrier islands However, the doom and gloom undertone predications got a little heavy handed after a while. It seemed like the book was a warning to anyone thinking about moving the the coast to stay away. Upon further inspection, it turns out that the "living with the coast" series was underwritten by FEMA!. An enjoyable read anyway.

For any person living or planning to live on the South Carolina I truly recommend this superb book. It is a perfect example of a strong combination of science and practicality. Of particular interest is the work of, Matthew Stutz. Stutz is a budding young star whose breakthrough work will we certainly be hearing more about in the future. I highly recommend you pick up this book for the knowledge of the South Carolina Coast and to get a preview of the genius of Dr. Stutz.

There are more books in this series. These books are about beach migration and practical (and impractical) ways to deal with it. Each book begins with the science of barrier islands and man's efforts to control the beach. Each book ends with how to build or buy a beach house. In the middle there is a complete analysis of each inch of shoreline. Sound dry? If you like maps and want to know some geology about your favorite beach, these books are required.