Despite the hectic nature of life, here at the Traveler we still managed to read a few books during the past 12 months. Here's a look at those books, and where you can find our reviews.
Cairns: Messengers In Stone
If you're hiking across the landscape at Arches National Park, following rock cairns across the slickrock, how would you know when to turn right or left? The answer is found within the pages of Cairns: Messengers in Stone, a wonderful little book that traces the history of these rock piles.
Yellowstone Yesterday & Today
Does time change all? Sometimes, to some degree. But a new book on Yellowstone National Park places photographs side by side to show that sometimes that change is not as much as you might imagine over a period of decades.
Reconstructing the View: The Grand Canyon Photographs Of Mark Klett And Byron Wolfe
In Reconstructing the View: The Grand Canyon Photographs of Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe we are treated to a Jigsaw puzzle of sorts that spans 150 years of Grand Canyon photography, paintings, sketches, and even postcards, a seamless melding of the past and present as seen through works of such giants as Ansel Adams and Thomas Moran.
Rare Birds: The Extraordinary Tale Of The Bermuda Petrel And The Man Who Brought It Back From Extinction
Rebuilding habitat to what it once was is no easy task, but David Wingate's success in largely reassembling the flora and fauna on one of Bermuda's island can be seen not only in the vegetation, but in a bird once thought extinct.
Moon Handbooks: Acadia National Park
The winter months are a great time to research next summer's vacations, and if you're considering Acadia National Park, well, Moon Handbooks has an updated guide for you to use.
Who Pooped In The Park: Scat And Tracks For Kids
Scatalogically speaked, this book delivers all the poop on Big Bend National Park. So to speak.
The Laws Guide To Drawing Birds
Interested in learning how to draw birds? This book can help move you in that direction.
Hiking The Wonderland Trail: The Complete Guide To Mount Rainier's Premier Trail
Fall is on its way, deciduous forests will soon be shedding their colors, snows will be falling. It's probably getting too late to plan a complete hike of the 93-mile Wonderland Trail that loops Mount Rainier National Park, but it's the perfect time to begin planning for next year!
Almost Somewhere: Twenty-Eight Days On The John Muir Trail
Though it's set in the rugged landscape of the High Sierra running from Sequoia National Park to Yosemite National Park, Almost Somewhere could have played out anywhere as three young women go in search of themselves.
Mr. Hornaday's War: How A Peculiar Zookeeper Waged A Lonely Crusade For Wildlife That Changed The World
William Temple Hornaday was a very extraordinary man who we should be honoring for his crusade to save wildlife, including bison, and yet history shunted him off to a dusty side table until Stefan Bechtel happened accidentally upon him.
World War II Memorial: "Jewel Of The Mall"
In his book on the "Jewel of the Mall," the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., photographer Stephen R. Brown not only captures the solemnity of the memorial, as well as its magnificent architecture and design, but also goes behind the scene to document the bronze castings, granite carvings, and erection of the memorial.
Empire Of Shadows: The Epic Story Of Yellowstone
In Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone, author George Black pulls on three main threads that went into the creation of Yellowstone National Park: America's lust for exploring its new lands, a determination to drive Native Americans from their homelands, and the political backstory of Yellowstone.
Tidewater: The Chesapeake Bay In Photographs
You can get a feel for the Chesapeake Bay setting that greeted Captain John Smith 400 years ago in Tidewater: The Chesapeake Bay in Photographs, a book compiled through the lens of Stephen R. Brown that reflects the past and the present on the bay's waters.
How To Be A Better Birder
Sure, I’d like to be a better birder! Who takes up any hobby endeavor with no desire to keep becoming better at it? Half the fun is continually learning new ways to have fun with your hobby.
Atlas Of Yellowstone
At first glance, the Atlas of Yellowstone is a trivia lover's guide to Yellowstone National Park, with additional insights to neighboring Grand Teton National Park. But the heart and soul of this fact- and map-filled book is Yellowstone and its landscape, its occupants both human and animal, and the reach and impact of this wondrous terrain.
Worth Fighting For
This is a cautionary tale for those National Park Service employees who believe that whistle blowers will be protected from reprisal by their agency; they won’t be. It is also a look at agency behavior that is hard to imagine.
The Soul Of Yosemite: Finding, Defending, And Saving The Valley's Sacred Wild Nature
Does the National Park Service always make the correct choices? This book presents an insider's view of what can go wrong in the decision-making process.
Read more for the review by Rick Smith
Read more for the review by Alfred Runte
One Night In The Everglades
Much time is spent wondering how to connect today's youth with national parks, how to instill a life-lasting bond between these wondrous places and younger generations, to give them places to enjoy and appreciate, and to nurture tomorrow's stewards. Laurel Larsen, with the help of Joyce Mihran Turley, make strides in that direction with One Night in the Everglades.
Your Guide To The National Parks: The Complete Guide To All 58 National Parks
Coming soon to book dealers is a hefty new guide to the national parks -- the 58 "national parks" -- that strives to go a step further than the texts offered by publishers such as Fodor's, Frommers, and Falcon Guides.
Before They're Gone, A Family's Year-Long Quest To Explore America's Most Endangered National Parks
In approaching Before They're Gone, A Family's Year-Long Quest to Explore America's Most Endangered National Parks, Michael Lanza desires to take his young son and daughter to places that most amazed him -- national parks -- before climate change alters their appearance too greatly.
National Geographic Guide To National Parks of the United States
National Geographic Guide to National Parks of the United States 7th edition describes the 58 National Parks of the United States. It has all the practical details to start planning. But the beautiful book also serves as an outdoor person's wish book. What park would you like to visit this year?
Reshaping Our National Parks And Their Guardians, The Legacy of George B. Hartzog, Jr.
Rising from a South Carolina cotton patch to become the seventh director of the National Park Service, George Hartzog Jr. is considered by many to be one of the finest directors of the agency.
Images Of America - Grand Canyon's Phantom Ranch There aren't many places in national parks where you can venture well into the backcountry by foot, raft or saddle and then enjoy a good meal you didn't cook yourself and sleep in a bed you didn't tote. One of them is the subject of a new book, Images of America - Grand Canyon's Phantom Ranch, and it's worth a read.
In The Heart Of The Sea, The Tragedy Of The Whale Ship Essex
Weaving together narratives from more than a century ago, Nathaniel Philbrick tells the backstory of Moby Dick, a story that spins out from a real case of a sperm whale attacking an early 19th century whaleship.
National Parks, A Kid's Guide To America's Parks, Monuments And Landmarks
This is a good idea for a book, but its many weaknesses undercut its promise.
The Ultimate Hiker's Gear Guide You would think someone who has circumnavigated Alaska by foot, skis, and raft would know a little something about backpacking gear, and Andrew Skurka certainly does.
Snake In The Grass: An Everglades Invasion
In Snake in the Grass: An Everglades Invasion, Larry Perez takes us into the green leafy realm of Everglades National Park not in pursuit of the python, but rather in its wake. And it is a wide wake at that.
Glacier National Park: Past And Present For lovers of Glacier National Park specifically, and for those intrigued by national park history in general, there's a great new book out that looks at the past and present of Glacier through postcards and photographs.
The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader If you can't find yourself out on a trail, then perhaps the next best thing is reading about trails, no? Which is a good reason to invest in The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader, a two-volume collection of narratives that share in common the Pacific Crest Trail.
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