I first discovered this book at my local library, and read it two times, and shared it with my husband to read before returning it, reluctantly, to the library's collection. I hastily decided that I had to have my own copy, and ordered one here, in the bundle with "From the Ground Up" which I also recommend.
Meg DesCamp takes you on a journey from the beginnings of home ownership, with mild self depricating humor similar to author Anne Lammott. Through interior decorating mishaps, adventures with her cats, sisters and husband, and adventures in gardening, we're there as her first garden becomes part of her family.

I learned so much about gardening from this book, and especially appreciate its Pacific Northwest climate references-being set in Portland, OR. I enjoyed her approach and prose, and look forward to another book by this great storyteller.

Plant journals may sound dull, but if you find the right one to read you will not only laugh your head off, but you'll learn a lot about plants as well. After reading Gayla's Plant Journal on YouGrowGirl.com, and then attempting to write my own, I was lucky enough to find this book crammed in the back of the gardening section of my favorite used bookstore. Slug Tossing: And Other Adventures of a Reluctant Gardener by Meg DesCamp is the hilarious saga of her attempt to grow flowers at her home in Portland. While she learns about soil, compost, feeding plants and so on, you do too. It's like taking a horticulture class where you spy on the worst student in the room. You'll find yourself giggling while reading about evil slugs, peat moss (as DesCamp says, "Peat moss. What the hell is peat moss?"), ladybugs and weed pulling. By the way, this is a great book to give as presents for your gardener pals.

I read this book in one day, and could not stop laughing. I learned a lot about gardening in the process. I think many of us come to love gardening in the same way. Great book!

I'm a history student who has researched the Nez Perce history for several classes. I first read this book long before college and it sparked a life long interest in the Nez Perce history and the Nez Perce War of 1877. I live in Montana so my "backyard" is where most of this history took place. Yellow Wolf is, in my mind, the MOST credible book on the war I have read. Reading Yellow Wolf and then the book by Gen O.O. Howard it is simple to see the half truths and blatant lies the Government published in its efforts to remove the Nez Perces from their land. McWhorter took Yellow Wolf to several sites where Yellow Wolf pointed out things such as rifle pits in the distance that, until McWhorter was right next to them, were invisible to the eye. An excellent book that I have used time and again in giving lectures and writing papers. A must have for anyone researching the Nez Perce Tribal history.

As a child growing up on the Camas Prairie. I was told by my Great Grandma. How her mother as a child & her parents had gone to the Fort at Mount Idaho to seek refuge from the NezPerce in 1877. Years later I was working in a small bar in the town of Whitebird, Idaho (Where the first battle occured.) One day a friend brought me this book and told me that he thought that I might be interested in reading it. That was almost 12 years ago, and I think I've read "Yellow Wolf" at least once a year sense then. Me,my husband and my 2 daughters (19 & 11) have traveled almost all of the NezPerce Trail. This book brings you into the lives of the non-treaty NezPerce on their flight for freedom. They were not a hostile people, but were forced from their homes & their way of life. You feel their pain and suffering from the begining to the end of this book. I feel it is a must read for all poeple. Another good book by L.V. McWhorter "Hear Me My Chiefs!" NezPerce legand & history

Go back in time and live, travel and fight with the Nez Perce as they seek to return to their own lands. Feel their utter despair as gradually they are chased down by the US Army murdered, and finally with so few left, forced to live the lives of captives on a reservation. This book brings home the enormity of the crime committed by the US Government of the day, not only against the Nez Perce but all of the Native Americans, it should be compulsive reading for all US schoolchildren. It is without doubt one of the most absorbing books I have read on the subject of Native Americans. Dont take my word for it, read it yourself, you will not regret it.

Patterson makes a 200 mile snowshoe trek in 50 below weather to pick up the mail seem like slightly unusual walk to the post office!

"Dangerous River" is one of the finest Far North adventures ever written. R. M. Patterson and his partner Gordon Matthews were the last of a breed of men who tackled the Far North with nothing but stamina, courage, and consummate skill with rifle, pack and canoe. Trapping and searching for gold in the legendary South Nahanni River country in the 1920's, Patterson describes their adventures in language that makes the reader yearn to see one the premier rivers of the world. Patterson's style is laced with wonderfully dry British humor as well as a poet's skill in describing the breathtaking landscapes. You feel as though you're right beside him throughout his adventures and hungering to go there yourself. You can't ask more a writer and his book than that!

This tale of wilderness adventure is set in the unexplored region of the South Nahanni river valley in the Nortwest Territories, Canada. It tells of unexplained deaths (the reason it was called Dead-Man's Valley), and the survival tactics and techniques of explorers during the gold-rush days of the area. Patterson spins the tale in a way which makes you feel the icy cold winters and the lavish and wildlife filled summers. His writings are non-fictional, and he includes maps and photographs taken while he was there. It is exciting, and laden with danger about the rapids, ice-flows, and Indian legends. I highly recommend it to anyone with a love of the outdoors, adventure, or wilderness history!

I have an autographeed copy the ©1946 edition of Driftwood Valley. I had the privilege of growing up in the same rural Pennsylvania town as Ms. Fletcher. When I was a teenager, I was employed by Ms. Fletcher to clean house for her one summer while she was away. She is a very nice woman with a remarkable background. She has set aside a nature conservatory in Northeast Pennsylvania which is open to the public. She has always been active in protecting the environment and wildlife. I re-read Driftwood Valley every couple of years and just love the adventure and challenges of this true-life story. What made it even more exiting for me is that the author was from my hometown.

I am pleased to see this book has recently been reissued. I have an old, but treasured paperback copy. The author is observant of, informative about, and acutely responsive to the environment she describes. Having experienced winters in that region I would say she is especially adept at rendering the harsh, but radiant winters.

This book is an amazing journey into the frontiers of nature, exploration and science in the 1930's.

This collection of poems, stories, narratives, folktales, oral histories and essays very aptly portrays the vital importance of salmon to the native peoples of the entire northern Pacific rim - not just as a food resource, but as a basis for their culture and a component of their identities. Several of the contributions, particularly an essay by Jeanette Armstrong, note how sustainable yield was applied in salmon fishing for thousands of years and how the discarding of this principle in modern times has led to the excessive depletion and near extinction of this species. Since I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, I am more or less familiar with the importance of salmon to the local economies and the Native American cultures of the region, so I found the sections of the book dealing with the Ainu of Japan, the Ulchi of eastern Siberia and the Nyvkhs of Sakhalin particularly informative and enjoyable. It is also a bit depressing to learn that like the U.S. and Canada (although not nearly as brutally), Japan and the USSR/Russia similarly mistreated the local populations by, among other things, limiting or restricting their access to traditional salmon runs and/or trying to force them to adopt non-traditional ways of life (assimilation). "First Fish, First People" may be attractively published, with striking cover art and attractive photos and illustrations, but it is not a coffee-table book - its diverse contributions, taken together, outline a philosophy of respect for and wise use of natural resources, as well as (and just as importantly) respect for different cultures and different ways of life. It is almost a cliche to say that it is high time that such lessons sink in at all levels of our modern globalized and hyper-industrial societies.

This book is a work of art, and provides evidence that the University of Washington Press, through its cooperation with other smaller publishers (such as One Reel) is doing the work that needs to be done in Northwest history and cultural studies.

This book is a collection of perpectives on salmon from representatives of the peoples around the pacific rim whose lives have centered on salmon for thousands of years. The contributors are talented indigenous writers from the United States, Canada, Japan, and Siberia. The engaging text is amply illustrated with historic and contemporary photographs, as well as drawings. The historic photographs are not the same ones that usually appear. For example, nearly every book on salmon in the nortwest has a twentieth century photograph of Indians fishing at Celilo Falls. Most books use the same photo. This book uses one that features in the forground the cable system that was used to get down to the fishing platforms, with the fishing platforms themselves in the background.

Some of the work in this book has been published elsewhere. But the context it is given here accentuates it in useful ways. For example, Sherman Alexie's poem, "The Place Where Ghosts of Salmon Jump," is engraved into a sculpture in Overlook Park behind the Spokane Public Library and is published in _The Summer of Black Widows_. But in this book it appears beside a nice photograph of the falls as it appears today, and a photo of Mr. Alexie standing on the footbridge above a section of the falls pointing downstream.

Aba book of the Year!!

Bill Hess is a very gifted photographer, who works almost exclusively in black and white. He has spent a great deal of time with the people the people of the North Slope whose lives are shared in this book. For a number of years he was under contract to the North Slope Borough to produce a magazine about life on the North Slope (Uinniq-The Open Lead, which makes it clear that the people of the North Slope felt that he represents them clearly and fairly.

One could enjoy this book for the photography alone, but it is so much more than that. Whaling is a central focus of North Slope Inupiat culture; it is an inextricable part. People here know that; and the whalers carry it out as a sacred trust on behalf of the whole community.

This is a stunning visual presentation combined with a moving, unpretentious text. The drama of the three grey whales, the search for footprints . . . it is all powerful stuff. I have only been living in Barrow for nine months but so far there isn't a word that doesn't ring true.

I have done a great deal of reading in my life, yet never have I been more absorbed in a book than I have in 'Gift of the Whale'. I highly recommend this elegant, enjoyable and informative piece of work.

This is by far the best cookbook I have ever used. I received this as a gift from a friend who lived in Spokane (as I collect Junior League cookbooks) and it's been one of my favorites ever since. My friend also bought one for my cousin as a gift and she and I enjoy sharing our enthusiasm about this cookbook. The quality of the printing is excellent as well, with thorough instructions, nice thick pages and perfect organization. This is a great gift to anyone that enjoys cooking, from the novice to the professional chef!

I am not a great cook, and I don't have time to cook extravagant meals, but whenever I cook something from this book, people always ask for the recipe. They never guess that dishes with such gourmet flair are so simple to prepare.

This is a great cookbook! Recipes are easy to follow and unique. It provides a great combination of creative family fare to fantastic dinner party ideas.Will appeal to people from all over the country not just the Northwest!

In a similar manner to Paula Scher and Charles Anderson, one of the main themes of Art Chantry's work is to take old images and give them a twist. While you can see an echo of this look in almost every graphic design award annual today, Chantry has been working in this style since the late 70's. And while many have borrowed his approach, few have been able to imitate it with the same sense of grit, humor, color and power.

True to the title of the book "Some People Can't Surf" there isn't one website design to be found, but that may not be a bad thing as Chantry is a master within his medium. A very large body of work that spans three decades is showcased which includes everything from his very first poster design for a school concert to promotional work for major Hollywood record labels. One pleasant surprise is seeing quite a bit of logo design work which involves the charm and craft of hand lettering. In end Chantry reminds one of a later day Milton Glaser with a punk rock point of view.

At some points the book can become too crammed by trying to jam several posters onto a page by shrinking them down to matchbook size, however the work holds up pretty well under the strain. This volume would be valuable to any graphic designer looking for inspiration or anyone who is a fan of the Seattle music from the 90's.

...is that Art Chantry's groundbreaking artwork (and yes--unlike some snooty traditionalist art-weenies--I DO consider graphic design to be "art"!) is more often than not gobs more compelling than the work of the people who have directly benefitted from his work (i.e. most of the so-called grunge bands from the Pacific Northwest). Yet almost nobody outside of Seattle, Tacoma or underground graphic-design circles knows who the hell he is, even though almost everyone has seen his work in one form or other (The Sub Pop logo is one example that immediately comes to mind).

In early 1991, I discovered and became obsessed with underground garagepunk & instro-surf music, the most exciting of which was coming out of the Pacific Northwest, and specifically Estrus Records, in Bellingham, Washington. It was the Estrus label that started my appreciation, and later, reverence, for Art Chantry's ir-reverent style of graphic design. When Nirvana's "Nevermind" was released later that year, the wall that previously kept mainstream riffraff from crashing "our" underground party came crumbling down, and as a result, grungy Northwest music had become suddenly (and inexplicably) marketable. The sudden onslaught of new bands inspired by this alleged "rebirth" of punkrock quickly caused the quality of Estrus' releases to assume an inversely proportional relationship to the quantity of records they put out (well, that's MY theory, at least...). Simply put, the really good music on Estrus soon became a rare commodity. Thankfully, what didn't change was the brilliant package design that thier slabs o' vinyl and silver frisbees were encased in. Art Chantry was responsible for the bulk of these designs, and is the only reason why a big chunk of my record and CD collection isn't fermenting in some used-record store somewhere. His artwork transcended the actual product it was emblazoned on, and made it worth keeping even if the music it promoted was supremely lame.

Chantry's work led me to notice and gain an appreciation for artists such as Stealworks' John Yates, Frank Kozik and even Roy Lichtenstein. But as great as those artists are, Chantry's work is the perfect amalgam of irony, humor, subversion, obnoxiousness and kitsch, and no one that I'm aware of has yet to outshadow him in this regard, even though he is without a doubt a man with many imitators. In fact, many people directly point the finger at him for popularizing the now passè movement in "grunge" design and layout. Whether this is actually true or not is debatable (although it certainly makes sense), but "Some People Can't Surf" is interesting in that it showcases a non-"grunge" (god, I hate that term) side of Chantry that most people would be very surprised to see. The same man responsible for some of the most outrageous and iconoclastic posters and album covers in music history was at the same time designing nondescript logos and brochures for boring, faceless corporations--biotech companies, architectural firms, airlines, etc.--and it's extremely interesting to see this real-world dichotomy brought to light in this book.

Another notable section of the book recalls the time when Art creatively attempted to get around a draconian 1994 Seattle anti-postering ordinance by posting up 'zine-like tabloids to telephone poles instead, ostensibly daring the city to attempt to fine him for what is fundamentally a First Amendment issue. As someone who firmly believes that graphic design and traditional "art" are not mutually exclusive, I found it refreshing to read this shining example of how designers can use their talent to actively influence and challenge the cultural status quo, instead of simply generating pretty pictures for passive consumer consumption.

When I first saw Art years ago in the documentary film, "Hype!" (which I also HIGHLY recommend), talking about the early Northwest music scene, and then proceeding to chop up his super-rare (and super-expensive) posters with a paper cutter, it completely validated what I always thought--this man is an ironic and wonderfully irreverent genius. "Some People Can't Surf" bolsters this fact even further, and I enjoyed reading this book's narrative at /least/ as much as looking at all the cool, full-color images of his brilliant work. I highly recommend this to any graphic designer who is tired of all the c.r.a.p. that tries to pass itself off as "cool", "grungy" or "retro" nowadays.

Thee-anti-cool-subversive-godfather-backroad-bar-b-que shack-genius. If you are in school but this book. If you are over 50 buy this book. If you are successful buy this book. If you are struggling-steal this book.

I was surprized by the quality of the works presented but more particularly the idea of "the architecture of adventure". The premise of this book is "right on." These get-aways are not just comfortable, but expose their owner's attitudes on being at home in nature.

From the Seattle AIA Reviewer, Peter Sackett:

Trying to convince a reader that architecture is
good by telling them it's good is an exercise in
futility. In Coastal Retreats: The Pacific Northwest
and the Architecture of Adventure (Universe,
2002) author Linda Leigh Paul understands the
burden of her responsibility as a writer. Her
contributions reflect what images, on their own,
cannot. Coastal Retreats offers a broad
photographic sampling of Northwest vacation
homes designed over the last half-century with
editorial work that provides context for their
creation, including anecdotes from both owner and
architect, taking the architecture out of the
showroom and into the lives of the people who use
it.

A couple of years ago I ranted for eight hundred
words or so in the pages of Arcade about a
newly-published monographic account on the work
of architect Roland Terry. My beef wasn't that the
architect's work wasn't up to snuff, rather that the
book's author had done little to flatter the
architecture nor contribute a compelling narrative to
describe its significance. To judge from the editorial
content, he seemed less than convinced that
Terry's work could stand on its own without
bolstering it with sentences of fawning admiration
to make projects appear buoyant on the page.

Paul, instead, takes the trouble to tell stories
behind the homes' creation using relaxed, informal
language to describe the likes and dislikes of
clients as well as quirks of the landscape that
provide a setting for enjoyment of their
investment. The approach is both entertaining and
instructive. She includes the following in a chapter
on "Decatur Island Haven" by George Suyama
Architects:

"In the mid-1990s, while flying over the San Juan
Islands, designer Christian Grevstad's instincts led
him to alert his pilot that they were off course and
lost. As the pilot corrected the flight path, Grevstad
glanced down at a flowering meadow sitting atop a high
bluff. Below him lay the site he had envisioned for his
ideal island getaway. He headed for Seattle, where he
did the necessary footwork, and found that the price
was right."

Grevstad may enjoy a vexingly privileged lifestyle,
but it makes for a cool story.

This is a beautiful book full of beautiful houses in beautiful places. There is a wide range of projects and styles, illustrating the quality of design in the Pacific Northwest region. An attractive book in its own right, this would be a great resource for anybody thinking of building a vacation house.

Having been away from the Pacifc Northwest 60's music scene too long, I was pleased to see many familiar names of bands and musicians I knew from those years. At the same time, I was disappointed to see that the late 50's to mid-60's music scene in Tacoma was largely missing. This seems to be the norm for books on PNW rock history.

Except for the standard Wailers, Sonics, Ventures, and Bluenotes, it seems Tacoma continues to be skipped over. That is a shame, because Tacoma also had a huge and vibrant rock music scene during those years. I was pleased to finally see more written on the Dynamics and Frantics, but only a "mentioned by name" for the Statics, and no mention at all for the Galaxies, Beachcombers, and dozens of other really fine bands.

Still, this is a valuable reference and resource tool for those wanting to learn more about Rock music history of the PNW, particularly if your interests are Seattle or Portland. Eventhough disappointed in content because of my Tacoma roots, I am glad I bought this book. I know how hard James Bush must have worked on it, as my research into the Tacoma rock scene of the early to mid 60's has also consumed much of my time and I'm not even writing a book (yet).

Sammy Carlson, bassist for The Regents (Tacoma), 1963-1967. SamCarlson@TheRegents.net

From classical recordings to classic rock, Encyclopedia of Northwest Music identifies the unique sounds of Northwest musicians, revealing the lives and influences of those who have made not only a regional name for themselves, but who've influenced music around the world. Profiles of the Kingsmen, Treepeople, Quincy Jones, and others are provided in a fine guide to a range of local styles from rock and pop to jazz and folk.

FINALLY A BOOK ABOUT NORTHWEST MUSIC, ESPECIALLY ROCK AND ROLL OF THE 60'S AND 70'S.THE PREVIOUS DON ROGERS BOOK IN 1989 WAS GOOD FROM THE OREGON PERSPECTIVE BUT THIS BOOK COVERS A LOT OF BANDS WHO HAVE NEVER REALLY BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED IN PRINT. BANDS LIKE MARK GALLAGHER & THE FRAGILE LIME, THE CITY ZU, AND GABRIEL.NEIL SKOK HAS DONE AN EXCELLENT JOB!I SAY THANK YOU TO ALL THE WRITERS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO MR.BUSH'S BOOK!