What are you reading?

[Black_Fly]

As a colonial explorer era aficionado, I can’t recommend these more highly. For me, it’s
about time for a reread of both of these outstanding titles. We’re planning a stop in T Roosevelt NP and I’m currently reading a biography about Roosevelt, who I’m sure I would follow up that hill. Tropical expeditions were more dangerous that anything the sub-arctic can muster, with chronic diseases, snakes, parasites and cannibals topping my list of things to avoid when traveling.

 

[Marc Ornstein]

I just discovered and finished Survival of the Bark Canoe by John Mcphee.

How have I not heard of this book before? Just a wonderful read about a mid-1970's canoe trip in the Maine wilderness in birch bark canoes with a young canoe builder who is trying to keep the craft alive. Lots of excellent information about birch canoes and their construction and great descriptions of tripping highs and lows with insights into group dynamics and individual quirks and mentalities. It's a quick read at just over 100 pages.

I found John McPhee after becoming interested in geology and picking up his series Annals of the Former World. I expected to learn a lot about geology but what I did not expect was to find great writing by an excellent author. I began exploring his other works and found many. He also has a book on the NJ Pine Barrens which some on here might find interesting. I have not read it. @Glenn MacGrady @Marc Ornstein

The Survival of the Bark Canoe

In Greenville, New Hampshire, a small town in the south…

goodreads.com

The Pine Barrens

First published in 1968, 'The Pine Barrens' delves into…

www.goodreads.com

Annals of the Former World

The Pulitzer Prize-winning view of the continent, acros…

www.goodreads.com

I'm becoming hooked on John Mcphee. I just finished reading Encounters With the Archdruid. It's about a series of outdoor adventures; all with the founder of the Sierra club. On each adventure, along with him were either a geologist, interested in the extraction of minerals, a dam builder, or a land developer. The interplay, mostly but not exclusively polite, between these men and their often conflicting views of the environment is engaging and as relevant today as it was 55 years ago, when the book was published.

 

[tketcham]

I'm becoming hooked on John Mcphee. I just finished reading Encounters With the Archdruid.

That's one of his I haven't read, I'll have to find a copy. I appreciate how he incorporates the social aspects of natural resource management into his stories.