In the great state of Ohio, football is a year-round fixation. Especially for fanatics of the Ohio State Buckeyes, who measure each season's success with the ghosts of its legendary past. When not anticipating the current team's fortunes, they're busy mining for factual nuggets reaffirming the program's glory years.

Buckeye enthusiasts have struck gold with the latter. THE OFFICIAL OHIO STATE FOOTBALL ENCYCLOPEDIA is an informational jackpot, a whopping 683 pages of pure pigskin bliss, chronicling the entire history of one of sports most storied traditions. Either a lifelong follower or an Ohio State alumnus could architect such a massive undertaking; fortunately, it fell into the able hands of Jack Park, who is both, in addition to his duties as a commentator and columnist. With over four-hundred college football games to his credit--including nearly every OSU home contest since the late-1940's--he is simply the foremost authority on Buckeye football.

Unlike most proverbial encyclopedias with the A to Z format, this one is chronologically recorded, from their humble beginnings in 1890 through the modern-day mania of the 2000 campaign. Amazingly, not one season or game slips through the cracks; each one is vividly recalled with various accounts and statistics.

What really distinguishes the book from the typical almanac, though, is Park's inclusion of the many colorful anecdotes scattered throughout. Within the gray-shaded blocks lie some wonderful tales involving famous and little-known individuals whose passion and spirit have helped to shape the Buckeyes' saga as much as the many great coaches and All-American players. If the myriad of information isn't enough, the appendix offers twenty-four more pages of records and statistics, while the feast concludes with an alphabetical listing of every letterwinner in their illustrious 111-year history.

Bringing the sea of words and numbers to life are the visuals, beautifully arranged with scads of archived photos, newspaper headlines, game programs, and ticket stubs. Rather than clutter the path, they perfectly enhance its charm, balancing the formality of a textbook with the casualness of a scrapbook.

Park's warm but direct approach works effectively. Although his own experiences with OSU date more than a half-century, his reports on each season prior are equally as fresh and seamless, as though he were actually there. These recollections also subtly echo the sentiments of true Buckeye loyalists while still remaining neutral, a deft touch for a work of this type. That personal flair ensures that it's not just compiled by some factory or computer; it makes the whole experience less like a rigid research and more similar to a batch of stories told by a friendly old neighbor.

An essential bible for Buckeye nuts, THE OFFICIAL OHIO STATE FOOTBALL ENCYCLOPEDIA should be required reading for even the remote sports fan curious to gain insight into the history of a major collegiate athletic program, and in Ohio State University's, one of the nation's proudest.

My husband Lance went to Ohio State and wathches football and follows his alma mater, of course. I bought one of these books for him and for his dad. Wow...I finally bought a gift they both like, which meant a lot to me.

He likes different parts about the book, especially reviewing the years from when he attended OSU up through the most recent football campaigns. His father most enjoyed reading the section on Paul Brown, whose success at Ohio State was just part of a great coaching career.

They both liked the abundant photos throughout the book. My husband gets into sports stats, and this book was full of information on the teams and the individual players and coaches.

They both liked reading about Woody Hayes, Ohio State's legendary coach. My husband, who was a journalist at OSU, said he was able to interview Woody twice and the famous coach was extremely cordial both times. Of course, my husband said he never had to interview Woody after an Ohio State defeat.

So thank you for helping me make this holiday season successful and memorable.

A great book filled with everything and everyone of Ohio State Football lore. I recommend Highly.

As an experienced Everglades paddler who has logged over 400 miles in the Everglades backcountry, I can't say enough about this book. Johnny Molloy has provided a level of detail that is truly extraordinary, and his descriptions of the trails and campsites are dead on the money. The maps alone make this book worth having. This book should find a permanent place of your list of indispensable equipment for planning and conducting an Everglades backcountry expedition.

I spent four days paddling in the Everglades in January. This book was essential in choosing a route, where to camp, etc. Highly recommended if you canoe or kayak in the glades

I have done numerous loop trips in Everglades National Park by kayak. However, I have never done the entire Wilderness Waterway Trail end to end. I needed a guide to plan my next trip and after some searching, I came across A Paddler's Guide. Having read and used Molloy's "The Best in Tent Camping Florida" with much success, I ordered his new Paddler's Guide. I was really impressed with the amount of information, detailed maps, important campsite descriptions and very good general advice for anyone paddling this area. He gives you many trip options with the best possible route to get there. Even if you only have a couple of days to enjoy this wonderful area, you can easily pick from an overnight to a week long adventure. I highly recommend this book to anyone planning a paddling trip to the Everglades. I certainly will use it to plan my next journey through the wilderness waterway!

All of the books written by Robert Thayer convey the true beauty of Acadia National Park. Robert is an outstanding photographer/ author and is an inspiration for my own work. I have seen many slides of Roberts work and I am always impressed. I give this book my highest recommendation for any person interested in learning about Acadia, nature, wildlife, and especially photography. He also has 3 other books available on Amazon.com of an equal caliber.

After throughly reading this book through 3 times I have come to the conclusion it is a wonderful book full of useful information. The pictures alone are beautifuly taken giving reason enough to purchase this book. Also Mr Thayer is an excellent chemistry teacher and I hope after reviewing this comment he will raise our grades

An excellent overall introduction to Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island. Good overview of geology and natural and cultural history. Provides up-to-date information on roads and hiking trails. A wonderful guide or souvenir of the Acadian experience.

David Hays, author of this book and editor of The Bugle, captures the spirit of wildness in his essays and captured my heart from the first page. With each essay I felt his passion for the land he loved and his homage to simplicity. Those who find respite in the wonderous western outdoors will feel their hearts swell as each essay is read. This author and his cat enjoyed a life that many of us can only dream of....but then, David Hays taught us that the dreams we have neatly boxed away are meant to be taken off the shelf and lived.

This is a real surprize for anyone unfamiliar with the author or with rich essays that were once part of a newpaere column. They are full of wisdom, humor, and mystery.

David, I am sorry I didn't tell you how much I liked "Passion below zero." I had been meaning to flirt with you more often. Know that I will flirt more often, and wisely, and I will think of you while I do so.

Please don't go to Yosemite without this book!!!!!
It tells you everything you need to know. With or without a camera,this one you must have.

I love this book!! Thank-you to Michael Frye for taking on this project. I hope he goes to other national parks and writes more books. Michael not only shows photos and tells where to get them, he goes into great detail about what time of day, type of film, use of filters, depth of field, exposure... everything a "professional photographer-in-the-making" can use.

...It has illustrations for all kinds of photographic techniques including advice on seasons, film, lenses needed, important time of days etc. Definitely worth buying it. You can finish reading this book in couple of hours in car while somebody else is driving. i did the same. In my opinion it would really help if the authur included some kind of readmap you can follow so that u can be at right places at right time. (although considering the vastness of yosemite, i am sure it will be a difficult job) All in all great little book. i would recommend to buy it in advance...to take full advantage of authur's suggessions.

Like a good naturalist or interpreter, this guide provides not only a concise way to identify the most common flora and fauna, but adds interesting facts and folklore. It will surely make the living things in and around Rainier very accessible, and provide even the most knowledgeable biologist/naturalist with enjoyable new information. Illustrations are detailed and beautiful, and the general information and references are an added bonus. And it all fits into your pocket! Great!

The problem with most field guides is that they've forgotten they are field guides and not coffee-table art books.

Not so with Joe Dreimiller's POCKET GUIDE TO THE PLANTS AND ANIMALS OF MOUNT RAINIER!

Sure, this book has plenty of pretty color pictures made by its three illustrators, but they are diagnostic illustrations, just like Roger Tory Peterson emphasized in his bird books. So, you have something pretty to look at but you also have something that will help you identify the common plants and animals to be seen in Mt Rainier National Park.

Pictures are nice, but after you've used the illustrations to identify an Elephant-head pedicularis, Golden-mantled ground squirrel, a Varied thrush, or a Mountain hemlock, Dreimiller tells you the field marks so you'll know what makes these things different from their closest relitives. That way, if you don't have his book next time, you've learned what distingushes each plant or animal from every other plant or animal.

And the help you get from this little gem doesn't stop there. Let's say you've used this pocket guide to identify a False hellebore [Veratrum viride]. Next time you're in the Park, hiking with a friend, and you spot it, you can say, "Oh! Look at that False hellebore! Did you know its botanic name means 'green plant with the black roots?'" And so you look at the roots and, "Wow! They're black."

For all the organisms in this book, there are not only field marks but an extensive list of notes to help you remember why each is so important to know.

Not only that, but there are descriptions of all the groups so you'll learn why mammals are different from birds which are different from amphibians. There is an extensive bird list for the Park including accidentals. And, unsual for this kind of book, there is a mammal list too. And to top off the list catagory, each habitat has a list of common plants as well as suggestions for places to walk.

Did I mention that Dreimiller's book is also pocket sized? How many field guides have you bought in recent years that don't even fit in the pocket of your daypack?

I also liked the short reference list at the end of the book, referring me to other helpful resources. The index is short, but complete.

Evidently Dreimiller worked as a ranger at Mount Rainier for a number of years and it shows. He knows his plants and his animals. All in all, I would reccomend this little gem to anybody who wants to know more about what they see while in the Park. And the best thing about this field guide is that it teaches you things that can be used elsewhere in the Cascades.

I write for a number of newspapers in the Seattle area and I'm pretty sensitive to writers who wastes my time trying to copy the prose of Muir, Leopold, Pyle, and all the other good nature writers. I liked this book because it tells me what I need to know without the usual cumbersome "awesome beauty of nature" rhetoric that encumbers so many field guides. Leave the literature for the coffee table. Take Dreimiller's book into the field.

An excellent guidebook to the Mount Rainier area. As a former Mount Rainier Ranger, I would recommend this book to anyone considering a visit to Mount Rainier National Park. The illustrations are beautifully rendered and the accompanying text is accurate and insightful. The book is small enough to fit in a daypack or take it along for a backpack along the Wonderland Trail.

A study in the perserverance and dedication of a group of people to bring the wolf back to its own enviroment in the wildernesses of Yellowstone Montanna. Full of information this book will elate you as well as sadden you, but the winner here of course is the wolf who once more runs free on his land.

Jim Brandenberg always brings the wolf into our homes vividly and with great skill through his photographs, and in this book, these exquisite photos are paired up with the informative writing of Stephen Swinburne. Swinburne covers an excellent range of topics in this short (but highly-informative) book, including the history of the wolf's extermination in this country, early conservationists, wolf behavior and social structure, myth-busting, the Yellowstone project, and the wolf's future prospects.

He brings in quotes and information from Leopold, Mech, Bangs, Askins, and many other notable figures in the wolf conservation movement to give correct facts and information. I wouldn't call this a book for younger children; it's written at perhaps a teenager's level, and younger children might find the statistics and assorted other information boring. However, Swinburne does cover the bittersweet story of wolves Numbers Nine and Ten, which personalizes the struggles wolves today face.

Swinburne manages to succinctly cover most of the important issues in this relatively brief book (about a half hour's read, perhaps 45 minutes,) and it's a great way to educate yourself or someone else on the basics of wolf conservation. Highly-recommended!

I just took a look at this book and was so impressed. The subject is fascinating, of course, but I'm especially taken with the clear, cogent writing, the terrific quotes, and the truly remarkable photographs. I definitely recommend this for any kid (or adult, for that matter) with an interest in wildlife.

I bought this book because I needed a good PHP reference, and I don't regret it. It is current through PHP 4.2 and it describes many features that are available in Zend Engine 2 (ZE2 wasn't released yet at time of publication).

It is an easy read (an important element often overlooked in technical references), without leaving out any of the requisite technical 'goodies', but I would have liked a little more in-depth advanced information. While technically correct, several 'advanced' topics only received the most superficial of explanations, and in one case, a common (and beguiling) misconception involving Object Oriented Programming techniques was explained away as "Obscure".

There are plenty of excellent discussions about the most awkward aspects of PHP development, and it is obvious that the authors are experienced web developers. I learned much that I didn't know, and I enjoyed the authors' candor when, in several instances, they admit that they were confused or stumped at first by one feature or another.

I think most beginning to intermediate web developers, whether independent or as part of a team, will find this book very useful and full of good information; but if you need a truly advanced understanding of PHP, you'd better look elsewhere.

I'm a PHP beginner-intermediate, and I use this book on an open source project called mod_pubsub as my primary PHP reference for PHP through 4.2. The authors have an easy-to-read style, and they are very honest when it comes to what PHP can and cannot do. I definitely recommend this book for other PHP beginners and intermediates.

There's not much more that can be asked for from this book. An excellent book to say the least.

I will admit that maybe I am not the ordinary cookbook purchaser. My cookbooks are bought for comfort and general knowledge as much a for hands-on recipes; I read them to lull myself to sleep. But this book is not solely for those as obsessed as I. It also provides recipes for the cook who is willing to work moderately hard to produce extraordinately good, hardy, and interesting food.

Page after page is loaded with information, a tip and guideline for everyday cooking on each page. The recipes require little else than a bit of enterprise and a willingness to work for your meal.

And let me tell you, it's worth it. The book is a wealth of imformation. Ruby Ann Boxcar holds nothing back. She does not simply give you the way she prepares her oysters, but rather a story on her first oyster, an explanation on how, where, and when to pick them, a thorough run-through of oyster classification, the way to shuck them, and a simple method of serving. Five pages. Seven pages on her theory and stories behind duck confit. Fifty-seven pages on introductory cooking technique and theory.

Boxcar focuses on simple (some may disagree with me about that) French, Italian, and Mediteranean food with a light-handed California touch. "This book gives the cook and the reader two accessible temptations: to read from cover to cover, and to cook from cover to cover." Too true.

The recipes are wonderfully hearty and simple. "Mock Porcetta" (a simple herby pork roast) is great for any small dinner party. "Zuni Salt-Cured Anchovies" are a fun but not extreme break from what most would consider ordinary and a great jump-off point to begin experimentation. "Beef Carpaccio and Four Ways to Serve It" is an elegantly fresh way to start off a small dinner party, and likewise, so is "Rosemary-Grilled Chicken Livers and Bacon With Balsamic-Onion Marmalade Toasts." "Asparagus and Rice Soup with Pancetta and Black Pepper," her ricotta gnocchi, her CHAPTER on eggs. They are all wonderful. This is a lovely book.

But I do have a few small complaints. Though this may seem frivolous, I was vexed by the deficit of photos, an element I find to be nearly imperitive in a fun cookbook. As well, some of her views on food, such as her not being crazy about rich desserts sadly carries out in the number of like recipes.

Though some might say that this book is not for the faint-hearted chef, I would say that it is such a chef's fault and not the author's. This book welcomes anyone who is willing to cross away from just "conviency cooking" for boring sustenance. Ruby Ann's Down Home Trailer Park Cookbook transcends that idea. It is a great cookbook. So well worth the ONLY 25 DOLLARS.

My wife and I moved into a new home and one of the gifts was a box with all three of Ruby Ann's books inside. At the moving party we all started to read aloud little selections from the books. I started out with Ruby Ann's Down Home Trailer Park Cookbook. Within seconds the entire room was filled with laughter. Before we knew it, it was 11 PM. Every thing else like the planned party games and such had taken a backseat because of the laughter that all of us, including my 57 year old boss and his wife, my grand parents, and even the teenagers in the room, shared will reading Ms. Boxcars books. Even if you don't like to cook, the stories alone are well worth the price. Since that evening, we have tried the food and to be honest, it is as tasty as the rest of the books are funny. TWO THUMBS WAY UP FOR RUBY ANN AND HER BOOKS!

Well darlins, if youse was to ast me I'd tell ya right out that we New Yorkers is the nactuuarl readership for Ms. Ruby Ann Boxcar. We have, especially since we was attakt by terorists, a powerful need for comfort food, good clean humor, warm Baptist hugs and trailer park kisses--lots more need than those folks in Pangburn, Arkansaw who in my opinion are already just about too blessed. This is one fenomenal book --- and the reciepes is the least of it!!!

I thought this was a good book. Until I got to the ending. I thought it was a dissapointing ending! If I could rewrite this book, I would change the ending so it's more exciting. The characters are cool. It's about a boy who wants to find his dad who work's in Candlestick Park (now 3com park) Or so he thinks. On his trip from Seattle to California, he runs into all kinds of obstacles. He has to find food, money, and his cat foxy, who runs away in a place that he's never been to before. I loved the book! I reccomend it to anyone who likes Baseball or if you've ever run away!

This book is about a boy named Spencer that is 12 years old. He had to move to Seattle with his mom to his Aunts house because his mom wasn't paying the rent.He has a cat that he brings but his aunt doesn't like the cat so Spencer runs away from home to go and find his dad in San Francisco. His dad is a big Giants fan. Spencer finds his dad but Spencer can't live with him because now his dad has a girl friend and there is not enough room for all of them. So Spencers dad buys him an airplane ticket to go home and now Spencer and his mom moved back to there old house because now they have enough money.This is a very good book!

At first I was bothered that Spencer was lying and stealing to run away from his aunt's Seattle area home, where he was living with his mother, so he could search for his father in San Francisco. But once I realized that he was keeping a list of all the things he "borrowed" from people so he could pay them back, I relaxed and found myself getting involved in this bicycle/hitch-hike/bus ride adventure. While it's easy to get the impression that "Searching for Candlestick Park" glamorizes running away, in the end it serves as a warning for how dangerous this can be.

We added this book to our school library at the insistent request of a sixth grader who had read it in another school. After we acquired several copies, it was constantly checked out, including one copy that this same boy read at least two more times!

Another good "on the road" adventure with a happy ending is "Bud, Not Buddy." Enjoy.