This is the most accurate representation of the true experience one gets in hiking the Grand Canyon. Other books I have read, actually written by super-hikers, can seriously misrepresent what a typical hiker will get into down there. Her style is also a very comfortable read. Nobody should hike in the Canyon without reading this book!

This book is full of wonderful stories and very useful information on particular South Rim trails. It is not a trail guide, but rather a well-written and very interesting report on what it is like to backpack in the Grand Canyon.

I have a rather extensive National Park library, and this book is one of the best. It is much more comprehensive than most books of its genre. Unlike many works on this topic, this volume avoids "preaching" about essentially political considerations and, instead, only addresses the geology, biota, climate and features of the parks themselves.

The maps are very precise and get you where you want to go. The color photographs and artwork are exceptionally beautiful. It would appear they were chosen from a different lot than the ordinary David Muench telephoto variety. This enables the reader to obtain an excellent grasp of what he or she may actually expect to see at each park. The traveler is not deceived in arriving at the intended destination.

Each park, 52 in all, is covered separately, usually in a 4-8, or so, page text, admixed with photos, maps, and also drawings, if any. The text is very well drafted, and easily moves the reader through the various features of each park, while simultaneously offering a great deal of useful back ground information. Again, the traveler is given a very good idea of what to anticipate, and how to prepare for the visit.

My girlfrind and I have visited 37 National Parks over the years, We have found this book, along with the National Geographic guide, to be the most useful works in preparing for each trip. Neither work has ever disappointed or misled us; a rare feat in this day of careless proofing and poor research. I value this book very highly.

This is a beautiful and very informative book. I have several books on national parks; and this one is definitely one of the best.
This book has GORGEOUS pictures of each national park--with full size glossy photos.This is a very in-depth book with @ 350 pages.
It covers 52 national parks with great description and with lots of color pictures. However, this edition may need to be updated relatively soon as Sand Dunes National Monument in Colorado is soon to be a national park.
I highly recommend this book.

Collaboratively written by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson, Out Of The Deep is an exciting mystery novel for young adults which is set in the beautiful Acadia National Park. A baby whale among other marine mammals has beached upon the park shores, and it's up to the intrepid Landon kids to figure out why. Out Of The Deep is a genuinely captivating story that blends adventure with respect for nature and wildlife. Also very highly recommended is another Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson title in the eleven volume "Mysteries In Our National Parks" series from National Geographic Society, Running Scared (0792282329).

Jack and Ashley Landon love to travel with their mother, a wildlife veterinarian, who is often called to solve animal mysteries, and their father, who hopes to have a career as a photographer. This time they are on their way to Acadia National Park in Maine to investigate why the marine animals are beaching. But Jack and Ashley have a problem. Bindy Callister, the 14- year-old temporary foster child who has just come to live with the Landon family. Bindy is a liar, or at least Jack thinks so. She claims to know the reason for the animal behavior, and the kids find her near a beached baby whale. Bindy slips away during the rescue operation, determined to prove she know why this is happening, and Jack and Ashley get themselves in deeper than they planned for.The mystery is fascinating reading and an educational experience all rolled into one. I think it's the best one yet in this series for upper elementary or older readers. The mother/daughter author team never fail to teach about science, geography, and human behavior.

Our family used this guide to prepare for our vacation. It is loaded with detailed information on dozens of locations in the Park. It's all presented in an easy to follow format with hikes grouped by location. If I had one gripe, it would be that there's *too* much information - my head was swimming after reading through it all, and I needed help narrowing the choices down. There's basic information on fishing, horseback riding and other activities as well. It's an excellent guide to the area that would serve you well on multiple trips.

We completed a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park with two children and found this book to be an invaluable guide. It provides an overview of the park and descriptions of 56 separate hikes. It has very clear directions on how to find the starting points for each trail as well as information on the difficulty and distance of the trail. The book also includes a lot of terrific information and ideas about hiking and camping with children. We found everything at the park to be as described in this book. We highly recommend it to anyone visiting Rocky Mountain National Park espcecially those travelling with children.

A beautiful & informative book if you love the great North. A must-have for outdoor lovers.

Some of the most beautiful photos I have ever seen. With rivers, mountains, tundra, animals, these scenes are gorgeous. Informative text with specific info. on outdoor activities for each region.

I have used this guide for 10 years in all parts of the park. It is very accurate and helpful in finding your way as well as campsites, Indian pictographs and fishing tips. I highly recommend it as you plan your trips to the Quetico.

We have made several trips to Quetico Provincial Park, with route-planning based on his descriptions of the area. We have found his assessments of difficulty accurate; his observations of historical artifacts added to the pleasure of the trip, and his information on how to plan such a trip is practical and pertinent

I have read everything that can be found pertaining to the rain forest areas of southeast Peru, as an adjunct to my in-the-field research into the legend of the legendary "Paititi," ultimate refuge of the Incas. The information that writer/film-maker Kim MacQuarrie compiled and put into words for Manu is among the most informative and interesting to be found on the subject in English (or Spanish, as the text is bi-lingual). The author obviously did his homework, and presents the facts and current theories in clear and colorful prose. The book gives a good representation of various ecological zones found within "Manu," from the harsh and frigid highlands, the "alturas," on the west; to the penetrating cold mists dripping moisture onto the dense vegetation of the "ceja de la selva," the "eyebrow of the jungle" that lies just below the highlands, along the high eastern edge of the Andes; down into the eastern rim of the Amazon basin, the dense riot of vegetation that is the "selva alta," the high altitude jungle; and finally down into the endless carpet of jungle that makes up the "selva baja," the lowland jungle that spreads away from Manu ever deeper into the Amazon. The text covers all aspects of the Manu area, from history to archaeology to ecology to anthropology. The photographer Andre Bartschi's photographs, which grace most of the book, are lush and exquisitely sharp, capturing fully the riot of color and feeling that are a part of the Manu experience. This is one "coffee table" size book that is as worth reading as any thriller, with illustrations that are a real "turn on" for anyone interested in the exotic or natural history. An additional interesting and useful feature is found in the fold out "bird's eye view" maps, which help one understand and "feel" the unique topography that makes up this pristine and magical place, Manu.

MANU is an absolutely first rate book, with superb photography by Andre Bartshe, an extraordianry talent, and text in both English and Spanish by world traveler and adventurer, Kim MacQuarrie. Mr MacQuarrie and Mr. Bartshe have each lived and explored Peru for several years. They are authorities on the region. Mr. MacQuarrie has also made several award winning films for the Discovery Channel on Manu as well as on Siberian Grizzly bears of Kamtchatka. This MANU book is also a pleasure for its production value. It is a joy to hold and turn the pages. The color process used is excellent and the paper is of the highest quality. MANU is a treasure. Highest recommendation for serious book lovers.

Loved it. Kept me busy for hours!! Would like to have more for each state we visit!!

The puzzles in this book are excellent! Any kid would love it, and most adults too!

This book is further evidence of the tremendous influence that quantum physics, especially quantum field theory and superstring theory, has had on modern mathematics. Very rich mathematical structures and simplified methods of proof have resulted from looking at mathematics from a quantum point of view. Because of the enormous success of viewpoint, examples being proofs of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem, the Jones polynomial, and the Seiberg-Witten equations, one could justify a rephrasing of the remark by Eugene Wigner and now speak of "the reasonable effectiveness of physics in mathematics".
The book gives a fine overview of a field that has only been around for a few decades, and is manifested by brilliant developments. Those who have worked with the Yang-Baxter equations from the theory of exactly solved models in statistical mechanics will see these equations come alive here in a much more general form. In addition, knot theorists and geometric topologists will appreciate the discussion of how their constructions can be cast in the tensor and tangle categories that are explained in detail in this book. The title of the book is a little strange, given that the structures treated are more specific than groups, but the author has explained well the theory of quantum groups, as is it is now referrred to in journal classification schemes.

An in-depth reading of the book is time-consuming, and no doubt the average reader will not read it from cover to cover but instead will peruse only the areas of immediate interest. Part One of the book is an overview of what the author calls quantum SL(2), which is an example of a Hopf algebra. The first two chapters are purely a review of algebra, with the third being an introduction to coalgebras, which the author, in a categorical sense, identifies as being dual to an algebra. The notion of a bialgebra is also discussed, which is essentially a vector space equipped with both an algebra structure and a coalgebra structure. Taking a tensor product of this vector space with itself and examining certain morphisms between these structures gives a set of compatibility conditions that define the bialgebra structure. A Hopf algebra is then a bialgebra that has a special endomorphism of the underlying vector space. The algebraic topologist reader will be familiar with Hopf algebras via studies of product manifolds such as Lie groups. Quantum groups have given many examples of non-commutative non-cocommutative bialgebras than were known before this research area had taken off. The author also discusses the quantum plane as an object that generalizes the affine plane, namely the two variables x, y generating the plane no longer commute but instead satisfy yx = q xy. The author investigates in detail the quantum group SLq(n), which is based on the classical Lie group. References are given for quantum groups based on the other Lie groups, such as the orthogonal and symplectic groups. The Lie algebra Uq(sl(2)) is given a detailed treatment by the author when q is not a root of unity. This Hopf algebra is a 1-parameter deformation of the enveloping algebra of the Lie algebra sl(2) considered in earlier chapters. The reader interested in the renormalization is strongly urged to read this first part, as recently it has been shown that for any quantum field theory, the combinatorics of Feynman diagrams gives rise to a Hopf algebra which is commutative as an algebra, and is the dual Hopf algebra of the enveloping algebra of a Lie algebra whose basis is labelled by one particle irreducible Feynman diagrams. The Lie bracket of two diagrams is computed from insertions of one graph in the other and vice versa, and the Lie group G is the group of characters of the Hopf algebra. This structure is used to go on and formulate the renormalization problem rigorously.

Part two is an overview of the famous Yang-Baxter equation whose exact solutions in terms of R-matrices have generated a vast amount of research. The author introduces the concept of a braided bialgebra, which contain a "universal" R-matrix which induces a solution of the Yang-Baxter equation on all of their modules, and thus giving a systematic method for constructing solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation. The duals of these bialgebras give a cobraided bialgebra, and the author shows how to construct a cobraided bialgebra out of any solution of the Yang-Baxter equation. It is also shown how the quantum groups GLq(2) and SLq(2) can be obtained by this method, and it is proven that they are cobraided. The famous Drinfeld quantum double, yielding a braided Hopf algebra out of any finite-dimensional Hopf algebra with invertible antipode, is discussed in great detail.

The next part is basically low-dimensional topology in the form of knots, links, and braids, wherein the author discusses the relationship between the Jones polynomial and R-matrices. The connection between knot theory and quantum groups is given by the representation theory of Hopf algebras, this connection taking place in the tensor category. A certain strict tensor category is built out of tangles, and shown to give isotopy invariants of links. Braiding in the tensor category is used to formalize the notion of crossing in link and tangle diagrams. Tensor categories modeled on framed tangles or "ribbons" are introduced to illustrate duality. The concept of a quasi-bialgebra is introduced and braid group representations of these are constructed. When quasi-bialgebras are equivalent under a "gauge transformation" introduced here, they have the same braid group representation.

The last part considers the role of monodromy in the theory of quantum groups. The quantum enveloping algebras due to Drinfeld and Jimbo are discussed and shown to provide isotopy invariants of links. The monodromy of the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov system is shown to be equivalent to the braid group representation of this system. Knot invariants of finite type are shown to be universal invariants for quantum groups.

This is a very well-written book covering not only quantum groups but also the connections with low-dimensional topology. When comparing the presentation in the book with other presentations in the literature I realized how much work the author put in trying to make the material accessible. Part I covers Hopf algebras and quantum SL(2). Part II covers the Yang-Baxter equation and its solutions (R-matrices) and Drinfeld's quantum double construction. Part III deals with the applications to low-dimensional topology, i.e., the construction of knot invariants via braided tensor categories, in particular the construction of the Jones-Conway polynomial. Part IV is an account of Drinfeld's treatment of the monodromy of the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations. The last chapter discusses finite type knot invariants, and discusses Cartier's combinatorial version of Kontsevich's universal knot invariant.

This book was a quick reading history of a wonderful area in the south entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. Anyone visiting Grand Lake should give this a read, well worth the money.

Having visited Grand Lake several times in my life, I was very pleased to get "A Quick History of Grand Lake" as a gift from my family. In this book, Geary offers historical insight and interesting anecdotes on the Grand Lake region couched within comfortable prose. Yes, it's a quick history - but it's hardly dull. Whether you've visited Grand Lake once or 1,000 times, there's something in this book for you.