John and Beth Ross are naturalists who are moved to poetic writing, in the traditions of Thoreau, Annie Dillard, and of course Aldo Leopold. Their descriptions are both scientifically detailed and poetic. The Wisconsin prairie is their inspiration, which they have studied and explored for many years.

John Ross, the writer, is time conscious: the book is organized around solstices and equinoxes, and early on he admonishes us that to truly experience the prairie one must be up before dawn. As we follow him in this close adherence to time we find that he leads us to a sense of timelessness, even eternity. In the process, we come to see the seasons in our own lives, and feel a sense of place in our own universe.

At times Ross shows us the prairie close in, on hands and knees. Other times the perspective is larger and we see the prairie in the context of the world that encroaches it on all sides. Finally, he brings us to realize that the prairie reflects the cosmos.

Beth Ross' photos illustrate the book perfectly. These photos also bring a sense of timelessness. It seems that because she walks the prairie often, she can afford to wait for the perfect light, the moment of blossoming, and it clearly shows in the luminous photos.

If you love nature and want to know more about the prairie, or know the prairie and want to find a sense of awe and inspiration, this book is for you.

The diaries published gave me some insight into how the pioneer women stabilized the home. Their lives were full of dreary mundane daily tasks that had to be done for survival. These women often looked at the migration to Iowa as a family opportunity to make a new life. Having grown up in Iowa, I can visualize Iowa as a new frontier and remember the culture I grew up with. The culture in Iowa of pitching in and helping the community grow has not changed.

This book was good I got to see what I wanted to see like a map of michigan that I have been looking for, it took me a long time to find what I needed to find and I found it thanks to this book.

It shows all of the major highways and interstates and is very easy to read.

This is a great map of St. Louis if you're interested in the downtown area, Forest Park and the areas near it, and a few of the closer suburban areas like Clayton and University City. The level of detail is great, it's easy to read, and the stiff folding format is much easier to handle and more durable than traditional paper maps. So this is a great map to keep handy for touring or if you live in these parts of the city. For areas farther west or out of town in other directions the small scale map on the reverse isn't detailed enough to be really helpful.

As I recreational touring bicyclist (1500 to 2000 miles per year)I have looked at many guidebooks, and have found this series to be the best suited to my needs.
This is a map based guidebook. Each trail gets a one or two page layout, depending on the length of the trail. The maps show communities and highways also, so the trails are placed in context.
The book also includes several bonus maps which show how trails are connected, and some linkages using city streets are also shown.
This book sticks to its purpose, describing the trails only and not straying into restaurant reviews, hotel listings, etc.
Some new trails have been completed in Wisconsin since this book was published, it's age is the only thing which keeps it from rating 5 stars.

I have both guidebooks available for Desolation Canyon, and I have run the river twice the past two years. I prefer this one to the Belknap waterproof guide. Belknap is in color and lists where the rapids are, but with Rampton's book you get a better description and rating of each rapid. You have marks on the map denoting where you can get out to scout. You have a more thorough list of side trips and hikes available, at least the mile marker at which they are located, although the details of the hikes ie. how long it takes and so forth are not good. It makes a good effort at listing all available camp sites, and even highlights a few of my favorites.

The map has a more topographic details as well, and makes it easier to tell exactly where you are as you go downriver.

All in all, a better and more informational guide than its counterpart (which isn't available on Amazon for some reason), but like with all river guides, its limitations include the fact that no river is the same each time. It changes with river volume, season, and the natural erosion and rockshifting that goes on year to year. It's a no frills book in black and white but I highly recommend it to anyone who got lucky and won a permit to run this beautiful river.

I found this book in a Marquette bookstore. If you are interested in waterfalls of Michigan's U.P. and photography this will probably be worthwhile. It is full of B&W photographs of various waterfalls. It is not the best reference guide for finding the waterfalls (for this look to Penrose's Guide to 199 Michigan Waterfalls). However, it is full of large format camera (i.e. sharp detail) pictures of the waterfalls. I personally think this is one of C.J Elfont's better efforts compared to his other books. In addition there are no other books which try to present the U.P.'s waterfalls with such nice photographs. For photographers there is nice documentation of the camera settings and type of camera used. Again it is all black and white photos.

While not as famous as Lewis and Clark, Henry Schoolcraft conducted the first of his many expenditions with similar care and attention to detail. One needs to excuse some of the poetic descriptions. The book gives an excellent insight into the very early development of the region shortly after the Voyage of Discovery.

The author has considerable personal research with Schoolcraft's travels as a college professor leading field trips on portions of the expedition. The most helpful is the author's appendix which keys the days of travel to current day locations.

For anyone studying the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks, this is a must-have. It provides the only contemporary vision of this part of the United States prior to the rapid development in the years prior to the Civil War.

This is a large hard cover coffee table book that covers many popular areas and locations of the Saginaw County area. The photos taken by Gary Bubliitz are from a new and fresh perspective making this book distinguishable from previous books about Saginaw of the same scale. The commentary from Greg Branch (a lifetme Saginaw resident) are both interesting and accurate and only add to the enjoyment of the book. The only drawback is that the scope of the book is limited to the businesses that funded the book which has left out many of the smaller companies that have made Saginaw the comunity which it is. Overall this book is still a must have for any Saginaw County resident or lover of Saginaw County past or present.