A highly informative book that grips your attention once you mange to overlook or get used to the distracting in-text citations.

This is a classic for anyone interested in the history of logging in the Pacific Northwest. Together with Andrews other companion book, "This Was Sawmilling" the reader will gain a great understanding how trees were harvest, transported to mills and converted into the resources which built this Country. There's hundreds of wonderful photos from the woods along with many contraptions which loggers created to make their tasks either easier or more likely, more productive. Can you imagine a raft 1000 feet long and 30 feet wide and deep made out of logs laced together with huge chains? These structures containing millions of board feet of trees would be created in the far Northwest and floated down the coast to San Diego, CA and further. There's photos in the book. There's a great photo of a logger standing on the top of a tree hundreds of feet in the air just after he has completed preparation for high-lead logging. The book is separated into geographic regions from British Columbia and each of the States of the Northwest. It has numerous poems written about loggers. (Please don't call them lumber-jacks. I never heard a man who works in the woods called a lumber-jack all my years going up in Oregon. Yet a recent TV show about the worlds most dangerous jobs constantly referred to them a lumber-jacks.) Distraction of this classic includes the lack of a table of contents, index, and the disconnect between the photos and the stories. Which is to be expected. Andrews rarely had photos of the people in the stories and vice versa. Why this short-comings. Superior Publishing printed many of these books by folks who simply wanted to document the hard work of others. Regardless whether it was logging, railroading, or shipping they were willing to publish the books. Thank goodness they did or we'd never have had these classics. If you have an interest in the history of logging this book will be a great addition to your collection.

As an experienced fire lookout I can vouch for the authenticity of these stories. This book is the real thing. It was a joy for me to read the accounts of my brothers and sisters on the mountaintops. These stories bring it all back: the lonely splendors, the hair raising lightning strikes, the columns of smoke on the horizon. being a lookout, like being a lighthouse keeper, is one of the last occupations performed in total solitude. For those of us that could hack it, it was a religious experience. Alas like the lighthouses, the lookouts are going the way of the dodo. Here's a chance, readers, to see what its like to spend a summer on the mountaintop.

This is not a book but a laminated, fold over pamplet. Good respresentative of flora from the area. Description of evergreens very good, of broad leaf plants could use more information. Classifying wilflowers in groups by color of flower makes ID of plants quick and easy. Pictures could be larger, would make it easier to distinguish difference among leaf types that appear similar.

Having grown up not 50 miles from the setting of the Heart of a Distant Forest, I recognized the reality of the characters immediately. Philip Lee Williams' debut novel is a deeply insightful tale of a search for meaning at life's closing. The protagonist, Andrew Lachlan, is drawn with the finest pen, a beautifully captured representative of the academic Southern Gentleman. Lachlan finds himself betrayed by a body whose physical strength had been so important and perhaps more importantly, torn between a conservative heart and a liberal mind. Seeking acceptance and understanding of his life he retires to contemplate the end of his days in solitude. The novel is told as Lachlan's journal and is primarily a character study of this contradictory man, caught between his need for an almost paralyzing self-analysis and a desire to embrace life without regard for the consequences. Fear and love, intimacy and reserve, all do quiet battle for Lachlan's soul.

This is a very adventurous book. It shows how little kids can prove themselves responsible. It shows how young children, know ho to act in scary situations. Some people have to learn that young children can be trusted, but they should be able to prove themsleves first. Sometimes young kids just want to grow up, so they wanbt to explore and learn how to do things for themselves.

I like the character Henry in this book. When Henry and his dog sent out on a journey to explore the mountians, they do not know what to expect. They have a good time exploring and take extra precautions. They meet some friendly and unfriendly characters, yet they know how to handle the situations. Henry takes controll of the bad situation and turns it into a learning experience. This book teaches a lot about how to act when on a journey. It also shows how kids get regconized for the good deeds they do.

In many climates around the world, forest is the natural state of vegetation. It grows without anyone's say-so. It takes no human effort at all for nature to be sustainable, diverse, productive, multi-dimensional, and beautiful. However, most people's gardens, even food gardens, are really none of these, despite large amounts of effort on the part of the gardeners. So what would it be like to garden in tune with nature, to grow a forest garden, with many of the features of a natural forest, and little of the labour usually involved in gardening? Robert Hart pioneered this approach to growing food sustainably, based on his long experience of agro-forestry around the world. He applied his wisdom to his backyard and wrote about it in the classics, 'Forest Gardening' and 'Beyond the Forest Garden'. However, much of what Hart wrote was general and philosophical - explaining the 'why' perhaps more than the 'how'. Patrick Whitefield has produced this intensely practical guide to the 'how' of forest gardening, starting from first principles and including all manner of precise details. Whitefield is an experienced permaculture practicioner and teacher, and he rightly places the forest garden in context as a very useful component of a larger system of sustainable living. On the strength of this book I am in the process of transforming my standard suburban plot into a beautiful forest garden, with apples, pears, cherries, raspberries, loganberries, figs, redcurrants, perennial herbs and salads. It has proved to be an invaluable and much thumbed manual, and an inspirational work. It is directly applicable to temperate climates, and will be of use to those living elsewhere too.

This book covers a broad range of issues that are neccessary for someone to be a successful tree farmer. It could use more depth in some areas but over all it is a very good source of knowledge. It should be on every tree farmer's shelf.

The book is slim and light and is therefore ideal to take with you on holiday to use whilst walking or hiking. The information is concise and helpful in identifying facts about the different Hawaiian species of birds and plants and also in identifying the species that have been imported to the islands. There are large colour photographs for each species shown, although the quality of the photographs is a bit disappointing as they are often slightly out of focus and at times over-exposed. However, this is a handy book to have with you on site or even after your holiday in Hawaii, if you want to identiyy any plant or animals you may have photographed.

This is a good book about a very fascinating topic. The author, a London-based journalist, reports about several of the issues concerning the corrupt government of Peru. In this book, Simpson describes such things as the Incan civilization, President Fujimori, Abimael Guzman, and the Shining Path. Much of the book centers on the inner-workings of Peruvian drug-running and how Guzman was able to avoid apprehension. Not only was Guzman the head of the Shining Path, a left-wing terrorist organization, he was also protected by Fujimori. The author does a good job of making this book interesting. Simpson is very informative, thorough, and witty. For all of these reasons, I would recommend this book. This book, however, is not for the faint of heart. Simpson does not paint a pretty picture of South American politics or Peruvan life.