I'm an amateur naturalist -- and had the plants of the Eastern US pretty well under control. All that went out the window when I moved to Nicaragua. This is the first broad, clear, complete guide to neo-tropical woody plants (and lots of the herbaceous plants as well) I've seen. Although it was written for Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru, it does well enough for Central America. Just leafing through the illustrations has given me the family, and often the genus, of lots of the plants I've seen in our cloud forests. The author has a very readable style, laced with an understated sense of humour that bubbles to the surface on several occasions. See the entry for Euphorbiaceae, for example.

The book is not, however, for the complete beginner. Unless you are thoroughly familiar with the arcane botanical terminology, you will need a botanical dictionary. "Plant Identification Terminology" by Harris is a good one.

This book is the only one to cover so extensively the flora of Colombia in such an accessible way. You won't regret this purchase. It certainly deserves five stars.

Freight Weather is the complete railroad book. You can enjoy it simply for the beautiful photos, or for the great writing, or for the details about trains. This is one of the few books that combines all three -- words, photos and info. I have looked at a lot of railroad books and I highly recommend this one. Well worth owning.

I now have all three of this author's books and this one is by far the finest of the trio. The photography is breathtaking and the anecdotes are quite interesting. I would highly recommend the book to anyone who likes trains or even anyone who just appreciates some of the fine scenery this country has to offer.

The story is easy to read aloud and the illustrations are rivetting. I bought this for my three-year-old son, but find myself using it as a teaching tool in my second grade classroom, as well. It is very similar to a story my grandparents (Quinault-Cowlitz/Coast Salish) used to tell me when I was growing up. The message about taking care of all our relations is an important one. The story ignited a new interest in volcanoes and pond-life in my son's imagination. His interest in volcanoes and caves became so keen because of this book that we spent hours in the volcano exhibits at the Natural History Museum and made a special trip to Carlsbad Caverns! Bravo Paul Owen Lewis.

This is a title that will entertain both the adult reader and the child. An adventure regarding stewardship of the earth. The dream-like images and intriguing story draw one right in. Would make a nice gift.

I was given the opportunity to catalog Dr. Gentry's herbarium collection at the Desert Botanical Garden in 1987-88. I haven't seen the new edition mentioned here, but read the original work at the time I was cataloging his herbarium specimens. Through it, I was able to share his experience as an explorer in the spirit of John Wesley Powell, someone who knew that the American southwest is best delineated by watersheds, not along false lat/long lines. I met Dr. Gentry a couple of times, and remember the occasions well. Last time I saw him, when I was cataloging his collection, I overheard a conversation between him and a consultant for the Fort McDowell Indian Community. The consultant was asking about desert-adapted crop plants. Dr. Gentry went into great detail describing many desert plants suited to agriculture - tepary beans, jojoba, Lippia (Mexican oregano), agave, chiltepines, gum arabic, etc. I learned a lot just by eavesdropping. The consultant listened, but did not hear the words. He recommended that the Fort McDowell people plant cotton. Not because it was best suited to desert agriculture - far from that. They planted cotton because it needs vast quantities of water. They did not want the best desert-adapted crops. What they wanted, instead, was the best crop for wasting water, so that they could establish valid rights to the water. Worse, I watched them clear off vast acreages of mesquite forests to make room for the water-wasting cotton crop. The Hopi call this koyaanisqatsi. This book should help folks in southwestern north America realize that we have a bounteous resource, if we can only learn to use it.

Located in a transition zone between the Sonoran Desert and the tropics,this region is well known for its biodiversity, thanks to a 1942 study by botanist Howard Scott Gentry. Revision of his classic work began before his death in 1993. For researchers, this is a must-read book. It provides a clear overview of botanical studies of the Rio Mayo, a contemporary view of the vegatation, excerpts from the original text and an annotated list of plants.

Kim Stafford's Having Everything Right is a beautiful nature book, full of quiet observation and fine, original description. I could have been satisfied with that, but the pleasing bonus is Stafford's openness, both to himself and to the reader, about his reactions, "random" associations, memories and plans evoked by what he sees and hears. Whether poetic, quirky, amusing, really unique or just nuts, he puts his thoughts out there in a way that opens the reader to him and his subject. The transparency of the observation increases the transparency of the subject. A book to read over and over.

Kim Stafford is a natural storyteller. By that I mean he has an inherent gift for telling stories, and he pays attention to nature. In HAVING EVERYTHING RIGHT, the author takes a moment to look around him, at a place you or I might notice and walk past, or not notice at all. What he discovers he relates with skill. His essays resonate with interest, care, humor and sometimes even awe. In some ways it is a quiet book, but offers surprises and delight. Surely you will come away with an appreciation of how stories are not just published in books or magazines, but are part of who we are, and where we are.

"The Healing Forest" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy." http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy

Technical, but excellent. Photos are stunning

I'm just ordering this book because oysters are my earlier memory. I live on pure-oyster beaches in Dabob Bay. So my friend who's a marine biologist got the book at Anthony's Oyster Olympics last weekend (an annual event) and says she sat up and read it straight through.

So, as oysters are an obsession for my parents and their 55 years of marriage and life on this beach, I'm buying it for Mom's upcoming birthday.

This is the first complete history of the oyster industry. Within the covers is a story that could have been lost had it not been for the research done to preserve the origins of Oystering in the Northwest.Congats to the authors.
It is a fun read taking you from the early days of the Willipa Bay oystermen to the present time.Love of the oyster continues to grow.
Yes, NW oysters have pearls, and this book is a Pearl as well.

The "Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest . . ." is an excellent read for anyone living in the Pacific Northwest from Coos Bay/North Bend to Nome, even if you aren't into maps. As someone who relocated here from the Midwest five years ago, this book has helped put the webbing between my toes.

The map research is impressive. Derek Hayes has reproduced maps in this book that I never would have known existed. The narative history is good reading as well (I detect the influence of Ken Burns here). The book has greatly increase my knowlege of the place I have chosen to live, both in terms of its history and the physical landscape.

I also recommend it to any history or geography buff, even if you mispronounce Oregon "Or E Gone!"

Ok, so I love maps and I live in the area, but this is still a rightly highly-acclaimed wonderful piece of work! Map fans will love it; locals will love it; others will learn (many) things from it. As well as the maps themselves, you also get a sweeping series of historical vignettes associated with each map. The least you'll get from it is the sheer joy of looking at a fantastic collection of wonderful old maps!

I had low expectations for this when I ordered it. I figured it would be one of those overly general "how to" books that leave out much of the important information. I was surprised to find that it has very specific plans for a variety of garden situations, plans which already show specific groupings of specific plants.

I found this very helpful because I'm not particularly experienced in designing a landscape, nor am I wealthy enough to afford a landscape designer. There is a design for every corner of my new house, tailored to sunlight, etc. I can follow the plans verbatim and end up with a landscape that looks like it was professionally designed, or I can make small changes to personalize it. This is, as the previous reviewer commented, much easier than starting from scratch.

Definately worth the money.

THE BACKGROUND: I know next to nothing about plants, and what little I do know is mainly for plants that grow well in the Deep South, where I grew up. I now have a cute house with a remarkably boring yard 2500 miles away from the "Deep South" - in Seattle, to be exact.

THE GOAL: create some nice-looking, *low maintenance* landscaping for the yard, but without having to become an avid amateur gardener, carpenter or landscape designer.

THE TECHNIQUE: as is my style, I go in for complete overkill and immediately buy a dozen books on the subject of landscaping and gardening - must be thorough in my research, you understand. I pour through them, make lists, check with local nurseries, draw detailed plans, etc., and after many hours of work and decision-making, finally decide what to buy and where to plant them.

THE RESULT: 90% of the plants I finally choose as appropriate to the area, low maintenance, and nifty looking, are in this ONE BOOK already, and there were plenty of others in this one book that could have substituted for the remaining 10%. My planting layouts also fairly strongly resemble several of the suggested layouts detailed in this book.

THE LESSON: Should have started and stopped with this one. I coulda fit in tuba lessons or something!

Buy this book, Cascadia gardeners and landscapers! It's what you need! Oh, and it also has tons of useful information on creating walls, fences, gates, paths, garden layouts, pruning, planting, etc.

VERY highly recommended.

As a local history buff, I was pleased to encounter this book at the bookstore. Professor Madison does a nice job outlining Indiana's history in a way that the average arm-chair historian can understand without any difficulty whatsoever. The first section is devoted to the land and the early people who inhabited the land. He does a great job getting the geographical history down in a concise manner. It's easy to ramble about the topic, but Madison does a nice job of being brief, but also impeccable with content. He covers all the bases.
I particulary enjoy the social history, which talks about race-relations and also about people who helped form the State.

Most major events in American History are taken from the Hoosier perspective as well. While reading, you can tell that Madison has a particular love for the State of Indiana. He writes about it in such a way that demonstrates his admiration for the early settlers, but also he looks at them from a realistic point of view. He does not write history from rose-colored glasses, and writes in a honest and refreshing sort of way.

My only complaint would be that there needs to be more pictures. I do have to add that the photos included are obviously carefully selected, as they make silent statements in themselves. For example, the one of Klan members exiting a church in rural Knox, Indiana, or the one of a one-room delapitated school house in northern Clinton Co. He did a great job in selecting appropriate photos... I only wish there were more.

I took Indiana History at Indiana University from Dr. Madison and I loved the class. THE INDIANA WAY complimented the lectures very well. I learned a new thing from each chapter. Did you know that George Rogers Clark was an indian scalper? Did you know that the Confederates crossed the Ohio River during the Civil War? Did you know that in the 1920s the KKK had the governor in their pocket? Did you know that Wendell Willkie and Paul V. McNutt were in the same graduating class at Indiana University? I did not know these things before reading THE INDIANA WAY, and I cannot wait for the second edition to come out.