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These books should provide a great holiday read
By Tim Renken Of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
12/02/2000
Some are important books, some just fun. Some are instructional, some just entertaining.
High quality and variety mark the annual Post-Dispatch list of outdoor books for Christmas giving. All of these newly published books are available at or through bookstores or via online outlets.
"Focus Guide to the Birds of North America," by Kenn Kaufman, Houton Mifflin, $20.
"What the heck was that huge bird at my feeder?" This is another good book, a pocket-size paperback, to help answer that question.
With 2,000 photographs, digitally edited to show field marks, and organization aimed at the taxonomically challenged, this book might be quicker and easier to use than Petersen's for many people. Kaufman is a field editor for Audubon magazine and the author of several important books on birds and birding.
"National Audubon Society Birder's Handbook," by Stephen W. Kress, Dorling Kindersley Books, $24.95. Kress' book includes lots of useful information about the sport of birding, including location, photography, etc.
"Fishing Arkansas," a Year-Round Guide to Angling Adventures in The Natural State, by Keith B. Sutton, University of Arkansas Press, $24.95, paperback.
OK, maybe you don't want to know where to go bowfin fishing in August, but Arkansas does have a lot of fine fishing that you might never know about without this book.
The editor of Arkansas Wildlife Magazine, Sutton is a good writer who takes good pictures and probably knows more about the state's fishing than anyone else.
"Saving America's Treasures," National Geographic, $35. This book illustrates the efforts of Save America's Treasures, a preservation program based in Washington. After the first few chapters you'll be writing your congressman and reaching for your wallet.
In essays and 150 color and black-and-white photos, the White House Millennium Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation show us how much of America's history we are losing to age and neglect. If you're the kind who always visits the historic sights as you travel, you'll treasure this fine coffee-table book.
"Hiking Mid-Missouri, Scenic Trails of the Heartland," by Darcy and Robert Folzenlogen, Willow Press, $12.95.
For 120 hikes in 40 areas you'll learn where, how and why. The Folzenlogens are physicians at the University of Missouri, and this is their ninth title, all about hiking, birding and natural history.
"L.L. Bean Hiking and Backpacking Handbook," by Keith McCafferty, Lyons Press, $18.95, paperback. An excellent guide for the novice, this no-nonsense book explores clothing, gear, packing, planning, etc. McCafferty writes the Health & Safety column for Field & Stream.
"Bass Bug Fishing," by William G. Tapply, Lyons Press, $25, hardcover.
Fly-rodding might not be the best way to catch bass, but it surely is the most fun. Tapply shows flycasters how to get more enjoyment out of their flyrods by fishing warm waters.
The best chapter is The Art & Craft of Bugmaking.
"Antlers, Nature's Majestic Crown," text by Erwin A. Bauer, photographs by Erwin and Peggy Bauer, Voyageur Press, $19.95 in 8 1/2X11 paperback.
The Bauers' incomparable pictures in spectacular settings carry this book, which focuses on antlers of whitetails, moose, caribou, elk and European deer. You'll learn what they are for, what they're made of and how they grow.
"The Complete Outdoors Encyclopedia," by Vin T. Sparano, Thomas Dunn Books, $22.95 in softcover. You want to know how to fillet a pike, how to plank a cruiser, how to string a compound bow? Here it is, everything about fishing, hunting, camping, boating, first aid, dogs, hunting organizations, government information sources, etc.
This is the fourth edition of this one-book outdoor library, revised and updated.
Here are three more titles your gift recipients might enjoy:
"Cold Beer and Crocodiles, a Bicycle Journey into Australia," by Roff Smith, National Geographic Adventure Press, $26, hardcover. A 10,000-mile odyssey across one of the most interesting places in the world.
"MiMoto Fidel, Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba," by Christopher P. Baker, National Geographic Adventure Press, $26, hardcover. A 7,000-mile journey facilitated by a wonderful people's obsession with Americana, chrome and motorized wheels.
"Dangerous Games, Ice Climbing, Storm Kayaking and Other Adventures from The Extreme Edge of Sports," by Andrew Todhunter, Doubleday, $23.95, hardcover Adventure tales of death and triumph by an excellent storyteller.
By Tim Renken Of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
12/02/2000
Some are important books, some just fun. Some are instructional, some just entertaining.
High quality and variety mark the annual Post-Dispatch list of outdoor books for Christmas giving. All of these newly published books are available at or through bookstores or via online outlets.
"Focus Guide to the Birds of North America," by Kenn Kaufman, Houton Mifflin, $20.
"What the heck was that huge bird at my feeder?" This is another good book, a pocket-size paperback, to help answer that question.
With 2,000 photographs, digitally edited to show field marks, and organization aimed at the taxonomically challenged, this book might be quicker and easier to use than Petersen's for many people. Kaufman is a field editor for Audubon magazine and the author of several important books on birds and birding.
"National Audubon Society Birder's Handbook," by Stephen W. Kress, Dorling Kindersley Books, $24.95. Kress' book includes lots of useful information about the sport of birding, including location, photography, etc.
"Fishing Arkansas," a Year-Round Guide to Angling Adventures in The Natural State, by Keith B. Sutton, University of Arkansas Press, $24.95, paperback.
OK, maybe you don't want to know where to go bowfin fishing in August, but Arkansas does have a lot of fine fishing that you might never know about without this book.
The editor of Arkansas Wildlife Magazine, Sutton is a good writer who takes good pictures and probably knows more about the state's fishing than anyone else.
"Saving America's Treasures," National Geographic, $35. This book illustrates the efforts of Save America's Treasures, a preservation program based in Washington. After the first few chapters you'll be writing your congressman and reaching for your wallet.
In essays and 150 color and black-and-white photos, the White House Millennium Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation show us how much of America's history we are losing to age and neglect. If you're the kind who always visits the historic sights as you travel, you'll treasure this fine coffee-table book.
"Hiking Mid-Missouri, Scenic Trails of the Heartland," by Darcy and Robert Folzenlogen, Willow Press, $12.95.
For 120 hikes in 40 areas you'll learn where, how and why. The Folzenlogens are physicians at the University of Missouri, and this is their ninth title, all about hiking, birding and natural history.
"L.L. Bean Hiking and Backpacking Handbook," by Keith McCafferty, Lyons Press, $18.95, paperback. An excellent guide for the novice, this no-nonsense book explores clothing, gear, packing, planning, etc. McCafferty writes the Health & Safety column for Field & Stream.
"Bass Bug Fishing," by William G. Tapply, Lyons Press, $25, hardcover.
Fly-rodding might not be the best way to catch bass, but it surely is the most fun. Tapply shows flycasters how to get more enjoyment out of their flyrods by fishing warm waters.
The best chapter is The Art & Craft of Bugmaking.
"Antlers, Nature's Majestic Crown," text by Erwin A. Bauer, photographs by Erwin and Peggy Bauer, Voyageur Press, $19.95 in 8 1/2X11 paperback.
The Bauers' incomparable pictures in spectacular settings carry this book, which focuses on antlers of whitetails, moose, caribou, elk and European deer. You'll learn what they are for, what they're made of and how they grow.
"The Complete Outdoors Encyclopedia," by Vin T. Sparano, Thomas Dunn Books, $22.95 in softcover. You want to know how to fillet a pike, how to plank a cruiser, how to string a compound bow? Here it is, everything about fishing, hunting, camping, boating, first aid, dogs, hunting organizations, government information sources, etc.
This is the fourth edition of this one-book outdoor library, revised and updated.
Here are three more titles your gift recipients might enjoy:
"Cold Beer and Crocodiles, a Bicycle Journey into Australia," by Roff Smith, National Geographic Adventure Press, $26, hardcover. A 10,000-mile odyssey across one of the most interesting places in the world.
"MiMoto Fidel, Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba," by Christopher P. Baker, National Geographic Adventure Press, $26, hardcover. A 7,000-mile journey facilitated by a wonderful people's obsession with Americana, chrome and motorized wheels.
"Dangerous Games, Ice Climbing, Storm Kayaking and Other Adventures from The Extreme Edge of Sports," by Andrew Todhunter, Doubleday, $23.95, hardcover Adventure tales of death and triumph by an excellent storyteller.
