I got a copy of Eliot Porter's Glen Canyon book after reading Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire," a chapter of which is devoted to a downriver rafting trip along this stretch of the Colorado River just before the dam was built. While Abbey's descriptions are vivid, I wanted to see with my own eyes what he was describing. And Porter's camera is the closest you can get to doing that today.

His pictures are, of course, not the real thing, but they are about as breathtaking as photography can be. The colors, textures, reflections, and the play of light and shadow are wonderful, and each photograph is distinctly different. His own description of the canyon's display of color and light in the introductory essay "The Living Canyon" give an instructive insight into the eye of the photographer. His awareness of what he is looking at and his ways of choosing to look help the reader to see even more in the 80 photographs that follow.

While some of the photographs capture the monumental scale of the canyon walls and formations, many focus on the myriad surfaces that are revealed to the eye: erosion patterns, lichen, rippling water flow, the dark streaking mineral stains extending from seeps, the rough texture of weathered sandstone in glancing sunlight, smooth river stones, the layered stripes of exposed sediment, the trickling spread of water falling from overhead springs, the hanging tapestry coloration of the walls, whorled and striated rock, dry sand. There are also photographs of plants: moonflower, maidenhair fern, willow, tamarisk, redbud, columbine, cane. Above all, there is the rich array of colors, capturing a great variety of moods and attitudes.

Porter was recognized for his photography of birds, and while there are no birds visible in these photographs, his introductory essay makes mention of them, and when looked at with that awareness, many of the pictures also seem to capture a sense of "air space" for flight. Before turning to photography, Porter was a Harvard professor of biochemistry and bacteriology, and it's interesting to see the somewhat dispassionate eye of the scientist in the way he uses the camera. While the story of Glen Canyon may induce sorrow or anger, the photographs are strong for their lack of sentimentality.

The pictures also excite a curiosity about the geology of the river, and the book concludes with a short essay describing how the canyon walls reveal the geological ages that have gone into forming this part of the earth, going back millions of years. The book also includes a catalog of all the plants and animals that inhabited Glen Canyon before its inundation. Altogether, with its quotes from other writers, including Loren Eiseley, Joseph Wood Krutch, Wallace Stegner, and members of John Wesley Powell's expedition in the 19th century, this book is a fitting record of a great lost national treasure.

These photographs are just about all that is left of Glen Canyon. After the Sierra Club and other environmentalists had lost the battle to prevent the Glen Canyon River Dam from being built, Eliot Porter took this extraordinary series of photographs to memorialize the gorgeous area that has been lost forever. Few people at the time knew much about the Canyon. It was too remote, too difficult to get to. Although it was one of the areas that John Wesley Powell found most beautiful in his first expedition down the Green and Colorado Rivers, no access roads or paths were ever built to make it possible for many people to view the areas firsthand. As a result, very few people knew precisely what we were about to lose.

The tragedy is that these areas are really, truly are gone. Even if the Glen Canyon River Dam were magically removed, many of the areas viewed in these gorgeous photographs have already been silted up. The Green and Colorado Rivers carry extreme quantities of minerals, and when the dam stops the flow to form a reservoir, they tend to drop to the bottom. All dams have a limited life. They don't last for as long as one might imagine. Basically, they create a new landmass behind them over the course of a century or so. Many of the spots photographed in these pictures are now solid earth.

One would hope that such beautiful photographs as these, photos that create tremendous longing for what we have already lost, would make us more concerned to preserve what is left. But with the current presidency even today as I write this review opening the national parks to snowmobiles and with people speculating that there will be new attempts to open arctic areas in Alaska to oil exploration, we can't assume that in the least. These photographs may end up being emblematic of all endangered areas, of the ongoing fragility of all of nature.

I was expecting a reprint similar to the small-sized Ballantine issue of the late 1960s. I was surprised to receive a book almost as large as the original Sierra Club hardback! The color in several of the photographs is even better than in the original (and difficult to find/very expensive) book, thanks in part to the cooperation of the museum which received Porter's works as a bequest.

I read her first novel "Fiery Dunes" last year while at the Coast and enjoyed it so much I had to get "Rodeo Man", her newest book. It's GREAT!!!! Her characters come to life and the storyline keeps you going until you HAVE TO finish the book. Miss Sinclair is a fantastic writer and I'm looking forward to her next novel which I hope will be soon.

In "Rodeo Man: Colorado Leather Meets Alabama Lace," Jennifer Sinclair offers an ideal example of a thoughtful regional tale that is full of local color, respectful of her people, and free of condescension. EXCELLENT WRITING from a very talented novelist.

The drama, setting, characterization and story rate A++++. I loved this book and recommend it to all. Combining two cultures into an amazing story was believable and quite touching. The emotional pull of his novel is well done and I'm looking forward to Jennifer Sinclair's next novel.

Absolutely tremendous. It is my favorite book of color Colorado photographs.

Photographers are a dime a dozen. Kathleen Norris Cook with Western Relfections Publishing shows that there are a few good photographers. Get the book!

How then does light return to our world in the San Juan Mountains after the setting of the sun? Miraculously. Boldly. In broad stripes. It hangs like a glass cage. It is a hoop that seemingly cannot be captured.

Next moment a flash of a camera. Then an image is recorded as if earth were breathing in and out, once, twice, as if for the first time. In this camera sharp place where the only electricity is in such thunderous lightning, there are no sounds in an afternoon save the hum of a rainbow. It is so spectacular, so luminous, so fresh, that we intruders feel also quiet, intense and strangely tiptoe, as if in anticipation.

The mountains throb purple and green, and gradually the valleys below drink in red, brown and gold. Suddenly a mountain stream snatches a blue light. The earth absorbs color like a sponge, slowly drinking the mountain sun. It puts on weight; rounds itself; hangs pendent; settles and sways beneath our feet through the lens of Kathleen Norris Cook. There's no telling what a collection of such beauty, power and insight might inspire.

A truly great book of poetry leaves me with few ways to speak about it except to say, "Read the book." Still have questions? Read the book again. It's like when you are on a bus in a town that is not your home and you overhear a stranger, who is just getting out, utter to someone who is not you the exact words you have been searching for all your life to describe the one thought and feeling you've been having for all of your life but have been unable to even formulate much less articulate it in any way, ever. The bus pulls back into traffic, and you're like, "Wait," but the moment has passed, and you can't remember the words when you go to tell somebody else what you just heard. That's "A Summer Evening."

This is a mysterious and singular little book. The poetry inside is neither "hard" nor "easy". Each 10-line poem has its own logic, and also relates in dreamlike ways to its bookmates. It reminds me of reading the Tao Te Ching, where one can find in every handful of lines both vexation and inspiration. You can amuse or stump yourself trying to untangle each little 10-line knot. Or you can just open the book at random and be taken to a specific, inexplicable spot that is the intersection of a memory, a mood, a place, a season, a smell, a thought, a history.

A Summer Evening creates a world of interlinked linguistic and imagistic elements that weave their way in and out of the individual poems, evoking a sense both of momentum and of a motionless eternity, a world turning and yet utterly still: "Because I can find no fault can this be named Paradise." Each poem represents a moment in time, and yet there is no progression, only succession: this summer evening is infinite, and can be entered or exited at any instant. Each of the end-stopped lines (largely declaratives, asserting "This is so"-as one line goes, "You said, 'This exists,' you knew it existed") is both a complete poem in itself, a kind of occidental haiku--"In the evening the sun is a scientist," "The sky says Yes by landing in the tree," "The world is not round, it is more beautiful than that, a kind of blue gas," "Deep down, some predators may generate a purple light to hunt by"--and one of the building blocks of larger poetic units. As readers, we participate in the assembling of the poem, and in each poem's process of constructing the book's two sections ("A Summer Evening" and "Ming") and finally of the book as a whole, which is both a collection of poems and a single long, potentially unendingly ongoing poem.

I really enjoyed this but I can't seem to find the rest of the Women of the West "Series". Please let me know how to get them. Mariann98@aol.com

If you've read and loved Gear's other works (like People of the Lakes, etc.) or even if you haven't. you're sure to fall in love with gear's writing all over again. Gear has a gift for blending historical fact into believable fiction. This novel made me re-think the way I imagined the Civil War and held me entranced until it was finished/

I walked around the house like a zombie, my eyes glued to the page. Not the inconvenience of cooking nor the movie playing on T.V. succeeded of dragging my eyes from between the pages. The characters are so REAL. Garry is such a sympathetic character, not at all macho like many romance novels, but deffinatly a man. Jeremy, Robin's son is an adorable scared little boy and his affection for his toy horse, Traveller, that he made with his own hands just makes you want to cry. Robin is one of the strongest women I have ever read about. Every character portraid in the novel seemed very real and human to me. Even Major Corley. I found myself feeling sorry for him, even though he was the next thing to evil. This is a keeper for sure, I'd recommend it to ANYONE!!

Since buying this book, I've tried to run a new trail each weekend. I've only been trail running for a couple of years and have found this book extremely helpful (and funny) in finding new trails to run without getting in over my head. This book makes it easy to find nearby trails pretty quickly and find the ones that are right for your abilities. It really helps to keep your running fun and to let you set some new goals "off the beaten path." Definitely buy this book if you live in Colorado or are planning to visit and want to experience some great parts of our state.

I recently started trail running within the last year, and found this book to be very insightful, easy and entertaining to read. The format is straightforward, and they offer a witty "Norm"al guy view of all the trails. This is helpful for me because I probably can't handle (yet) some of the runs shown. Trails are rated from easy to extremely difficult (the "Norm"al guy didn't run those). I would suggest this book for ANYBODY who enjoys running - trails or not!

Great book with great information. As a novice trail-runner, this book removed a lot of the "unknowns" of the trail-running experience for me. But it's also easy to see that the Trail Runner's Guide has a complete package of information for the experienced trail-runner. The authors have done a superlative job of compiling and editing the most useful and applicable information for all skill levels. The diversity and cross-section of trails covered is also fantastic. Excellent work.

For anyone who loves the West -- Old or New -- this innovative atlas must find a place on your bookshelf. Created at the University of Colorado's Center of the American West, it charts beautifully and eloquently how the American West has evolved. This volume will help you understand how some myths of the West grew out of proportion to the facts, and how some are not myths at all, but semi-fantastic truths.

To understand the contemporary West, this book would be a good starting place.

One of the best introductions to social, economic and environmental trends taking place in the Western United States. The graphs and photos highlight the new trends from water usage to ethic population patterns. The 7 chapters and two essays provide telling examples of how communtities are adapting to the changes (or not adapting in some cases). The work is footnoted to provide jumping off points for more research. Also, I found the quotes that are placed throughout the margins of the text to be extremely insightful.

The book shines at showing how the West is moving away from a culture of exploiting natural resources for basic industry and instead exploiting the natural beauty to draw ever increasing numbers of residents and visitors.

The University of Colorado's School of Geography uses basic demographic and economic data to profile in understandable maps and graphs the population explosion occurring in the Western United States. The Atlas gives a dramatic presentation of the net in migration into an area with little water and vast amounts of open space. It chronicles the shift in economic activity from traditional industries such as mining and logging, to new industries such as information technologies and service activities. The latter having a special, and economically, rewarding basis in tourism. The Atlas portrays, in graphic form the perdictions made in Cadillac Deseret. It is a must read for anyone concerned about perserving western heritage for future generations.

If you are at all interested in the Plains Indians, Native American Art, or the history of the Cheyenne, do everything you can to get a hold of this CD, which takes you on a tour of an exhibit at the Denver Historical Society Museum. The center piece is the legder art of the this fiece warrior society, but many other artistic and historical items are also included.

I have read extensively on this subject, and visited any number of museums, yet I still learned a lot from the text and the narration. In addition you can click on any of the items in the virtual tour and get a detailed description along with a history-and there are many, many items. There is also a separate section on the ledger art which is clearly displayed a beautiful.

Kids will love going through the virtual exhibit, though I found clicking the next button, and viewing items one by one more helpful. There is also a special kids section, so the entire family can enjoy it.

This is well worth the price!

This CD is unlike anything I've ever seen. Especially in history and art subjects. It even translates all 100 or so works of ledger art and speaks it out loud in Cheyenne! By a real person!

The Virtual walk through of the History museum gives you the feeling of having visited the exhibit.

Every single drawing is detailed with indian and soldier accounts of the drawings; subject, date, etc.

Schools should require this kind of history lesson.

In the Chicago Tribune Travel Section: "This book contains something that many a big-name travel guide does not: the authors' first-hand experiences, cover-to-cover, of the places being written about. In their folksy style, they describe a guided driving tour through the state, much as your favorite aunt and uncle would: retelling interesting bits of history, advising you where to take a break and sharing their personal favorites."

In Chicagoland's major suburban newspaper, the Daily Herald:
"Seven Perfect Days in Colorado," subtitled "A Guided Driving Tour," guides you on a seven-day, 950-mile trip that includes time in Denver, at Estes and Rocky Mountain National Park, a tour of the heart of the gold and silver country, crossing the Divide and visiting the National Mining Musrum, exploring a ghost town, hiking the Colorado Trail and driving across the Royal Gorge Suspension bridge, a stop at a Cripple Creek gold mine and time in and around Colorado Springs.
Half-week tours are also given.
This is a great book if you are visiting Colorado for the first time and wonder how you're going to see the best parts of a huge state in a reasonable time.
The authors take the traveler by the hand and tell you where to turn, what to expect to see as you drive, where to find camping areas and which museums are worth visiting.
The reader could take any one of the areas or days outlined and do it as a day trip. This slim volume will help with pretrip planning, then will fit in your glove compartment and come handy on the road.

From the first breathtaking view of the Rocky Mountains to the sunset stroll through the Garden of the Gods, our seven perfect days in Colorado were perfectly delightful. Whether you prefer leisurely strolls in museums or exploring the mountainside, this book gives you plenty of options. As we traveled along the suggested route, it was obvious that the Ginnodos had carefuly studied every detail. Their guided tour without the timetable helped us avoid crowds, learn about Colorado history, enjoy nature, and choose our own pace. This book accompanied our every move, acting as a reference and guide. It made a significant difference in how much we experienced and how deeply we experienced it. Don't leave for Colorado without it!

While yearning for more Tony Hillerman after reading his last book, I accidently came across The Shaman's Bones. I absolutely loved it. I could easily imagine neighbors from my childhood that could easily play some of the characters in this book. The only problem I had with this novel were the few dream sequences, which I thought tended to be unnecessarily long and disruptive to the flow of the the plot. Regardless, I intend to read the other 'Shaman' novels.

Mr. Doss writes in a style that gives the reader vivid mental pictures of what is happening with each of his characters. I have not enjoyed any murder mystery this much before. The Shaman's Bones integrates humor, murder, and mystery with emotion and Ute mysticism and lore.

Anyone who likes Tony Hillerman's books will LOVE the Shaman series by James D. Doss. I recommend that anyone who wants to step into Mr. Doss' world, begin with the first book in the series (The Shaman Sings) and work their way through the series. Warning: If you read one, you'll have to read them all!

Always enjoyable reading and a good yarn. Great characters.