Just finished: The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
Up next is: The last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen
Up next is: The last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen
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Happy Marine Mammal Rescue Day! 🐳🐬🦭🦦
What are you reading?
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Just finished Many Rivers To Cross: Of Good Running Water, Native Trout, and The Remains of Wilderness by M.R. Montgomery. I liked it so much that I bought The Way of the Trout: Anglers, Wild Fish and Running Water by the same author at the Lion's Club Book Sale today.
Just starting Ordinary Grace, a non-Cork O'Conner mystery by William Kent Krueger.
Just starting Ordinary Grace, a non-Cork O'Conner mystery by William Kent Krueger.
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Today’s fascinating Obit, John Craigshead.
Created a WWII survival course for downed fliers and wrote “How to Survive on Land and Sea”. Helped write the National Wild and Scenic River Act . Best known for conservation research on Yellowstone Grizzlies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...bc2274-8028-11e6-b002-307601806392_story.html
Created a WWII survival course for downed fliers and wrote “How to Survive on Land and Sea”. Helped write the National Wild and Scenic River Act . Best known for conservation research on Yellowstone Grizzlies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...bc2274-8028-11e6-b002-307601806392_story.html
I just got four books in the mail! Two by Grey Owl (Men of the Last Frontier and Tales of an Empty Cabin, which I bought for one penny) and two by Sigurd Olson (Reflections from the North Country and The Singing Wilderness). Very excited to get started on them.
Cold Summer Wind by Clayton Klein. It really goes well with Allan Gage's present thread. Old book, good read for $10 bucks includes shipping from Amozon
Tied all my summer reading up by finally finishing the last few chapters of, "Fatal Passage" Ken McGoogan. The story of John Rae, another iron man expeditionary adventurer, similar to Samuel Hearne (see above recommendation) ...he got involved in the search for the missing Franklin Arctic expedition, the whole Northwest Passage thing. This guy was prolific in his travels and explorations, living off the land, adopting native ways of survival...a true iron man.
Ultimately he paid a heavy social price for his success and discovery of the grisly end of the Franklin bunch, tangling with the likes of noted author Charles Dickens, instigator Lady Jane Franklin and other high minded members of Victorian England society.
Coincidentally while trying to find a good map online of his route, I read with astonishment of the recent finding of the 2nd of Franklin's ships, HMS Terror in September, some 170 years after their disappearance, (setting off unprecedented search and rescue missions over a dozen years and more). The second ship, HMS Erebus was found almost exactly a year prior by the same scientific search group.
For history geeks, it's fun to note that HMS Terror was a converted Royal Navy bomb ship, that had participated in the shelling of Fort McHenry, which led to Francis Scott Key's famed, "Star Spangled Banner"...
It was a much 'smaller' world back then...for me it's fun and rewarding to see all the historical connections that can be made if you think them through.
Ultimately he paid a heavy social price for his success and discovery of the grisly end of the Franklin bunch, tangling with the likes of noted author Charles Dickens, instigator Lady Jane Franklin and other high minded members of Victorian England society.
Coincidentally while trying to find a good map online of his route, I read with astonishment of the recent finding of the 2nd of Franklin's ships, HMS Terror in September, some 170 years after their disappearance, (setting off unprecedented search and rescue missions over a dozen years and more). The second ship, HMS Erebus was found almost exactly a year prior by the same scientific search group.
For history geeks, it's fun to note that HMS Terror was a converted Royal Navy bomb ship, that had participated in the shelling of Fort McHenry, which led to Francis Scott Key's famed, "Star Spangled Banner"...
It was a much 'smaller' world back then...for me it's fun and rewarding to see all the historical connections that can be made if you think them through.
I'm halfway through a delightful book about water, but there's no canoes involved. It's about swimming.
Waterlog - A Swimmer's Journey through Britain by Roger Deakin is just as the title suggests, but so much more.
"Inspired by John Cheever's short story The Swimmer, Roger Deakin set out to swim through the British Isles. The result is Waterlog, a uniquely personal view of an island race and a people with a deep affinity for water. From the sea, from rock pools, from rivers and streams, tarns, lakes, lochs, ponds, lidos, swimming pools and spas, from fens, dykes, moats, aqueducts, waterfalls, flooded quarries, even canals, Deakin gains a fascinating perspective on modern Britain . Encompassing cultural history, autobiography, travel writing and natural history, Waterlog is a personal journey, a bold assertion of the native swimmer's right to roam, and an unforgettable celebration of the magic of water."
Although I'm a toad in water, I love to go for a dip whenever possible on canoe trips. For me, it's a thrill to go "wild swimming" in natural places.
Waterlog - A Swimmer's Journey through Britain by Roger Deakin is just as the title suggests, but so much more.
"Inspired by John Cheever's short story The Swimmer, Roger Deakin set out to swim through the British Isles. The result is Waterlog, a uniquely personal view of an island race and a people with a deep affinity for water. From the sea, from rock pools, from rivers and streams, tarns, lakes, lochs, ponds, lidos, swimming pools and spas, from fens, dykes, moats, aqueducts, waterfalls, flooded quarries, even canals, Deakin gains a fascinating perspective on modern Britain . Encompassing cultural history, autobiography, travel writing and natural history, Waterlog is a personal journey, a bold assertion of the native swimmer's right to roam, and an unforgettable celebration of the magic of water."
Although I'm a toad in water, I love to go for a dip whenever possible on canoe trips. For me, it's a thrill to go "wild swimming" in natural places.
I've been boning up on the ADK. On the way home I stopping in Long Lake and found the 'ADK Paddler's Guide' and order the 'North' map off Amazon. I starting to plan trips that way for next year. There's a nice 6-7 day trip in the Little Tupper/Lows Lake area that I have my eye on.
I assume you have been into Hoss's Country Store there...hard to come out of there without some damage to your CC...books and more books!
I did go into HCS and managed to come out with only a coffee. I found the book at Northern Borne Store and Grocery across the street from the ADK Hotel on Long Lake.
Just found this one for the young paddlers.
In this story Fred and Ted go camping, and as usual, their uniquely different approaches to doing things (such as packing equipment, setting up camp, and fishing techniques) have humorous—and sometimes surprising—results. A charming introduction to opposites that beginner readers will find ruff to put down!
I had a $30 bid on it at our Library fund raising auction tonight but some out bid me. I came home and checked Amazon $8.29 - points $0.00 A Xmas present for my grandson.
https://www.amazon.com/Fred-Ted-Camp.../dp/0375829652
In this story Fred and Ted go camping, and as usual, their uniquely different approaches to doing things (such as packing equipment, setting up camp, and fishing techniques) have humorous—and sometimes surprising—results. A charming introduction to opposites that beginner readers will find ruff to put down!
I had a $30 bid on it at our Library fund raising auction tonight but some out bid me. I came home and checked Amazon $8.29 - points $0.00 A Xmas present for my grandson.
https://www.amazon.com/Fred-Ted-Camp.../dp/0375829652
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Alright - who's the Joker who put me on to Walden? As I was just discussing with my bookworm niece (and she agreed), that was the most verbage I've ever seen employed for such little substance. I guess it might be inspiring to someone who isn't (yet) in the woods much. Maybe I'm just not enough of a romantic.
Recent events and arguments have prompted me to drag out and re-read Miracle at Philadelphia, by Catherine Drinker Bowen. An account of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, iit's probably of little interest to those of you north of the border. The author pored over direct source material (diaries, news articles, personal letters, etc) in researching her subject. Quite interesting and informative - and challenges some modern assumptions.
I think after this, I sshall continue with some more unreal ERB.
Recent events and arguments have prompted me to drag out and re-read Miracle at Philadelphia, by Catherine Drinker Bowen. An account of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, iit's probably of little interest to those of you north of the border. The author pored over direct source material (diaries, news articles, personal letters, etc) in researching her subject. Quite interesting and informative - and challenges some modern assumptions.
I think after this, I sshall continue with some more unreal ERB.
Nahanni Journals - R.M. Patterson's 1927 - 1929 Journals. Edited by Richard C. Davis. Patterson's journals from which The Dangerous River later was written in 1954. Picked it up in my local library.
Currently got several books on the go
fiction
The final Game of Thrones book so far - A dance with dragons after the feast - G R R martin
Star wars novella Outbound Flight - Timothy Zhan
Factual
Swedish carving techniques - Sundqvist
Bronze age metal work in England and wales - Nancy G Langmaid
Psychedelics Encyclopedia - Peter Stafford
Baskets from natures bounty - Jensen
Seashore Life of Britain and Europe - Bob gibbons
Food of the Gods - Terrence Mckenna
fiction
The final Game of Thrones book so far - A dance with dragons after the feast - G R R martin
Star wars novella Outbound Flight - Timothy Zhan
Factual
Swedish carving techniques - Sundqvist
Bronze age metal work in England and wales - Nancy G Langmaid
Psychedelics Encyclopedia - Peter Stafford
Baskets from natures bounty - Jensen
Seashore Life of Britain and Europe - Bob gibbons
Food of the Gods - Terrence Mckenna
"The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula Le Guin. Though I'm reading it lazily. I've mostly grown disinterested in science fiction, but I picked this one up anyway.
I vaguely remember that book from the 70's. If you like it check out her 'Earthsea' trilogy one of my personal favorites
Loved her Earthsea Trilogy. That was years ago, when the fantasy section in any bookstore barely filled one small shelf. I was in a used bookstore last week and decided to see what they had, "Maybe I'll dip my toe into those waters again." There was an entire room just devoted to fantasy. It's a shame we emptied our bookcases of our treasured tomes. Moving house several times over the years seemed easier without so many possessions. (That's also what happened to my vinyl collection.) We've been slowly rebuilding a library the past couple years, and repurchasing old friends and favourites to put on our shelves. LeGuin is one author we're revisiting. One problem is that we've forgotten authors and titles. "Remember that story by, um...it was called, um...it was about a magician and..."
Fitz Leiber was a large collection of book I had to give up on. The only thing I kept from the past was Tolkien and have almost everything he wrote or his son edited.
Finishing up In The Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. Based on accounts of survivors, the story of the Essex supposedly inspired Moby Dick by Herman Melville. (Warning: the tale involves extreme human privation and cannabelism.)
Up next, The Long Portage by Harold Bindloss. Picked the book up at an antique 'mall'. I don't know anything about the book except that it's a novel, published in 1932 and has a terrific frontispiece color illustration showing 2 men and a woman in a birchbark canoe with the caption "All day long they paddled up the gleaming lake." The truth is, I probably bought for this illustration as much as anything.
Up next, The Long Portage by Harold Bindloss. Picked the book up at an antique 'mall'. I don't know anything about the book except that it's a novel, published in 1932 and has a terrific frontispiece color illustration showing 2 men and a woman in a birchbark canoe with the caption "All day long they paddled up the gleaming lake." The truth is, I probably bought for this illustration as much as anything.
I really loved Moby Dick so this one has been sitting on my to-read pile. I have to get my nose out of business leadership books long enough to spend some more time with some good fiction.
My to-read pile is more like an antilibrary.
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