My copy of this book is nearly destroyed from all the use it receives. This book is not just for winter. Many of the tours described have also turned out to be excellent mountain bike routes and hiking trips. The descriptions of the areas the routes traverse could be expanded, but the route information itself is first class.

I had the first (1985) edition and find the second (1995) edition greatly expanded. It went from 78 to 102 tours in 167 to 256 pages. The maps are more detailed--about 2 inches per mile instead of 1 inch. I find more detailed descriptions of side trips than before.

The tours are described with a mileage log instead of a narrative format. I find it easier to find where I am in this format.

The only thing I would add is an index, but due to its detailedness, I still rate the book excellent and worth buying, even if you have the old edition.

This practical guide to buying, financing and insuring a car (new or used) comes in compact format, so you can bring it along as you go car-shopping. It gives comprehensive coverage on negotiating on a deal, choosing the right financing alternatives, shopping for insurance, and even has a chapter on selling your car. While price negotiation coverage is not as deep as that in the excellent "What Car Dealers Don't Want You to Know," this book explains clearly the myriad terms used by the car industry, terms that are designed to confuse you into paying more than necessary.

Armed with this book, you'll be able to better understand how to get the best deal for the car you want as well as gain the confidence to do it. Highly recommended.

From the consumer's perspective, the new and used automobile marketplace has changed dramatically in recent months. Smart Wheels/Hot Deals: A Guide To The Best Car For The Right Money provides readers with all of the background information and bargaining tools they need to make smart, dollar-wise decisions about acquiring any car or truck for their personal or professional use. The topics covered including making a deal for a new car; buying versus leasing; finding the right used car; negotiating over a used car; how auto insurance works; shopping for auto insurance; making an auto insurance claim; warranties and service contracts; managing repairs; dealing with a lemon; sell a car; and getting out of a lease. If you are considering the purchase of a new or used vehicle, begin with a careful reading of Smart Wheels/Hot Deals to save money, time, and aggravation.

As someone who has sailed on Great Lakes steamships, I found this book to pretty well capture the essense of the trade. One innacuracy in the book deals with women on board. The author states that women are more likely to sail on freighters these days because there is little if any hard physical labor. While many women would be more than capable of working shipboard, I can assure you there is PLENTY of physically demanding jobs to do on board. Also note that the industry is constantly evolving so many of the fleets have gotten smaller in the years since the book was penned. All in all, though, if you have ever been intrigued by Great Lakes shipping, this book is the most comprehensive review I have ever seen. A good book.

Mark Thompson is a excellent author that tells things how they are. He does not "sugar coat" life on the lakes or about the Great lakes Shipping industry. If you want a easy to read truthful acount of Great Lakes Shipping then this is the book for you.

This charming book tells the story of a young woman and her first year of teaching school in the Midwest in the 1800's. As she goes off to board with a young family near her school, she learns about relationships in a small town. When a surly, abusive neighbor turns up dead, the townspeople look for clues. The story evolves with wit, rich characters, and a hearty dose of intrigue!

Based on facts gleaned from her mother's experiences as a teacher in the 1920's, Gutteridge has written a story describing the period in all of its glory; bitter mid-west winters, small town charm, pre-electric farm life, and party line telephones. It is a fascinating read!

Each essay in STIRRING THE MUD is a hybrid of poetry and prose well suited to its swampy, mysterious content, which often varies widely from paragraph to paragraph. In fact, Hurd sometimes weaves together several topics within a paragraph, traveling with the speed of poetry rather than prose. It is no accident that poets have written blurbs of praise for the back of this book's jacket.

This is a book in which the gorgeous paragraphs reign. Don't miss them! The one downfall is that the book does not read well as the united whole its numbered chapters would suggest it is. We consistently and disruptively at the beginning of each chapter enter the swamp, again. And again. It would have been a welcome change of pace to stay in the swamp for two consecutive chapters once or twice. Without also having edited to further diminish repetition, better to have let them stand obviously as individual essays.

I suspect that Hurd must have been torn, the naturalist in her dared not leaver her beloved swamps only to the essayist but had to summon the poet also. No wonder this multiple talent struggled with form. She created a sort of hybrid that resists categorization. I hope her next work will emerge with a form even more unique.

This is a marvelous book, the best of its kind since Barry Lopez's ARCTIC DREAMS. In it, she traverses swamps and bogs with an expert's eye, and with concerns that keep resonating into the lives we live or might live, and those we repress. No one has written more lovingly (or is it fearlessly?) about sinking into the muck or enduring, even seeking out uncertainties. With language as lyrical as it is precise, Hurd speculates about "how it's possible to be on the ridge and in the thicket at the exact same time." I can't remember when I've felt so aesthetically satisfied while learning so much.

It lists difficulty of trails and whether bikes, horses, and pets are welcome. Appears well researched and gives accurate directions and descriptions of the area.

Thank you Rich & Sue! Your book saved us from getting completely lost. My best friend and I took our kids on a hike at Hi Tor - we took the Conklin Gully Trail. If we had not had your book with us, we wouldn't have had a clue where to go, and would probably have had 4 to 6-hour hike, which we would have been totally unprepared for.

Your book is exceptionally well organized and well written. I only have the Take A Hike! Finger Lakes and Genesee Valley Region, but I will be getting others. I also have a lot of friends who love to hike and bike and will be recommending your books to them.

Keep up the good work. With this quality of work I hope your book is selling well. I also hope that you will be able to publish similar books for widespread geographic regions.
Malcolm Gillespie

Many canoeing guidebooks cater to the whitewater enthusiast. Here's one for the flatwater folks. Good descriptions of padding locations, with excellent maps and referrals to additional resources. Not a complete guidebook, but contains enough suggestions to keep the quietwater paddler busy for some time.

This book is perfect for beginner to intermediate canoers and kayakers in the Sacramento and Sierra Foothills. Although the lakes listed in this book are limited to only a handful though-out this area, the discription of those lakes are excellent. Included is trip length,(time and miles), directions to the lake, access, difficulty, size of area, and recomended maps to use. Also included are detailed hiking, camping, historical background and natural history along with some highlights of the area of each lake or river. Special waterfalls and sites to look for or hike to at some of the lakes and rivers are a treat to read about. My only regret is that more lakes in this area where not included.

According to some of three of my friends the book 'Wainwright's Coast to Coast' has a lot to answer for. At a party on New Years Eve, 1994, the hostess passed around the book in question. I just had time to read a bit of the introductory material inside the dust jacket, and look through the photographs, taken by Derry Brabbs. Loads of excellent pictures of the wilds of northern England, taken throughout the year in all types of lighting conditions from blue summer skies to overcast darkness brooding over snow covered mountains.

Before the end of January 1995, I had booked accommodation on the walk for four adults at the end of August. Well my web site lists the trials and tribulations of that long trek in Wainwright's footsteps.

The text of the book describes the stages of the walk, and gives some of the history of the places visited, without going into the actual details of the route in much depth. The book is not so much a walkers guide book, like some of Wainwright's work on the mountains of the Lake District, but rather a coffee table book, which may inspire some brave souls to actually try it for themselves.

The photos are what make up the largest part of the book, and they are indeed excellent. All the best views of the route are shown, plus some which are quite a way off the path, like the pictures of the various ancient crosses in the North York Moors. Although it isn't raining or thick with mist in any of the shots, there are many which show dark clouds, rivers swollen with rain, and some rather wintery scenes with ice and snow. This tries to show the hills as they really, not like the pretty blue skied postcards one so often sees. Although I did wonder how he managed to get shots of some the Lake District areas without any people in them? He probably got up very early in the morning.

September 1998 Paul Gallwey, Manchester, England

According to some of three of my friends the book 'Wainwright's Coast to Coast' has a lot to answer for. At a party on New Years Eve, 1994, the hostess passed around the book in question. I just had time to read a bit of the introductory material inside the dust jacket, and look through the photographs, taken by Derry Brabbs. Loads of excellent pictures of the wilds of northern England, taken throughout the year in all types of lighting conditions from blue summer skies to overcast darkness brooding over snow covered mountains.

Before the end of January 1995, I had booked accommodation on the walk for four adults at the end of August. Well my web site lists the trials and tribulations of that long trek in Wainwright's footsteps.

The text of the book describes the stages of the walk, and gives some of the history of the places visited, without going into the actual details of the route in much depth. The book is not so much a walkers guide book, like some of Wainwright's work on the mountains of the Lake District, but rather a coffee table book, which may inspire some brave souls to actually try it for themselves.

The photos are what make up the largest part of the book, and they are indeed excellent. All the best views of the route are shown, plus some which are quite a way off the path, like the pictures of the various ancient crosses in the North York Moors. Although it isn't raining or thick with mist in any of the shots, there are many which show dark clouds, rivers swollen with rain, and some rather wintery scenes with ice and snow. This tries to show the hills as they really, not like the pretty blue skied postcards one so often sees. Although I did wonder how he managed to get shots of some the Lake District areas without any people in them? He probably got up very early in the morning.

What does surprise me is that Amazon lists the book as being 'out of print'.

September 1998 Paul Gallwey, Manchester, England

First of all, don't let the cover art fool you. This is not some sort of surrealist or postmodern collection. Paul Lake is a poet very much grounded in narrative and form. The book is divided into three sections. The first section is the weakest of the book. Lake has several good narrative poems throughout the collection ('Thorn' 'Inspectors'). Included in the first section is the narrative "Walking Backward" which is a great story told by a draft dodger or his draft dodging and of life's treatment of people. Section 2 only contains the long narrative poem "Seeing the Elephant" which is a great poem about a survivor of the Donner party. Section three, the strongest in the collection ends with one of the best poems, "Two Hitchhikers" which is not only a great ancedote, but has a hilarious ending. The collection has some very well done dramatic monologues, but where it weakens is in the lyric poems. "Pieces" and "Revised Standard Version" are pretty much the only lyric poems worthwhile. The rest bring down the collection as a whole. I wish that Lake had just included the narratives, a few of the dramatic monologues and those two lyrics. Perhaps to round the collection out more he could have included another narrative poem, which seems to be his strong suit.

The intense lyrics and harrowing narratives of Walking Backward explore the web of values and obligations that bind people into neighborhoods and nations. Paul Lake's poetry reflects a blending of artful language with imaginative expression to present a lucid, articulate imagery that is as impressive as it is memorable. Pieces: The queen moves with unbounded liberty./Slant-eyed, a bishop offers up a prayer./A horse-faced gallant full of chivalry/Enters the family trade, an officer./A rook, high as a silo, lets fire fall,/Then ends its run behind a remnant pawn./The king strolls past his garden's rose-grown wall/To issue statements from the castle lawn./Only the pawns, bald-domed as army ants,/Urged to the common good by stripes and prayers,/regard the board, cursed with their consciousness/Of all the horror of those empty squares.

This is a very beautiful field guide, but where are the crayfish?

This is the 3rd book in the "Audubon Society Nature Guides" series that I've purchased, and they continue to be a pleasure to read and use. For anyone who lives near, will be travelling to, or has a general interest in Wetlands, this book is an essential. Not only is it beautifully illustrated and easy to use, but it's also a great general guide to Wetlands in the US. I am in the Chicagoland region, and almost all of the book applies to our area. Highly reccomeded for anyone from the novice to Wetland professional.