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Read Review: The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters, and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists " The Great Lakes are a geographical force to be reckoned with. “Drained, they would cover the continental United States to a depth of nine-and-a-half feet.” They have shaped the geography and climate of their environs just as surely as they have directed the lives, enterprises, and culture of countless generations of inhabitants. In 2005, writer Ted McClelland set out on a 9,600-mile journey...>> back to top |
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Read Review: Life is a verb: 37 days to wake up, be mindful, and live intentionally " For somebody, somewhere, unbeknownst to them, today is the first day of the 37 days that will precede their death. What if it’s me? Or you? The unyielding paradigm of biology promises each of us that we will sooner or later cross that threshold. Patti Digh wants us to reflect upon this stark truth...>> back to top |
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Read Review: Health Hazards Manual for Artists, 6th edition " Art is an expression of the artist’s effort to communicate the intangible, ineffable qualities of a beguiling idea or image. It is the stuff of dreams and hopes and wishes. Unfortunately, the process can be deadly...>> back to top |
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Read Review: Wilderness Pleasures: A Practical Guide to Camping Bliss " “Biting insects, nuisance bears, and bad weather” have been fodder for veteran canoeist and adventure writer Kevin Callan who has regaled readers with stories of mishap and misadventure for years. In his latest book, Wilderness Pleasures, Callan takes a light-hearted and engaging look at the “pleasures” of wilderness...>> back to top |
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Read Review: A Spring without Bees: How Colony Collapse Disorder Has Endangered Our Food Supply " “The apple trees bloomed but no bees droned among the blossoms.” So wrote Rachel Carson in Silent Spring, her seminal book on the impending environmental dangers of unchecked chemical proliferation and dependency. The year was 1962. In 2008, another voice is sounding an urgent alarm that we ignore at our imminent peril...>> back to top |
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Read Review: 50 Hikes in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula " Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, affectionately dubbed the “U.P.”, accounts for one third of the state’s land mass. Yet, less than 3% of Michiganders live in this remote paradise. If these two facts set your heart to beating a little faster, then Thomas Funke’s 50 Hikes In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula makes a powerful case for cinching on a pack and heading north...>> back to top |
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Read Review: 101 Trees of Indiana " Whether you wish to acquaint yourself for the first time, renew a lost friendship or delve deeper into the mystery, 101 Trees of Indiana by Marion T. Jackson is an excellent ambassador. This comprehensive field guide covers basics such as the definition, naming and identification of trees and their component leaves, bark, twigs, crowns and fruit. Also included are a brief history of...>> back to top |
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Read
Review:
Ardent Birder "Birding puts us in nature with such a wide sweep and yet such a precise focus that it invites peculiarly intense moments…Sometimes the occasion is so surpassing, so breathtaking, so superb, we turn to one another and declare in exhilaration, “An Audubon Moment!”
If this sums up the
essential pleasure of birdwatching then it also describes the joy of
reading The Ardent Birder. The author has...
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Read Review: Backroads of Michigan"There are many things we may take for granted – our health; our marriage; the place we live, work, and call home. Fortunately, every once in a while, we may be awakened from this trance and really appreciate what we have. Backroads of Michigan by Robert W. Domm will, for we who live in Michigan, make us fall in love all over again with the Wolverine State. And if you have never explored the many... >> back to top |
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Read Review: Birds of the Lake Erie Region"Birds of the Lake Erie Region by Carolyn V. Platt explores the avian life of a unique ecosystem unprescribed by political boundaries. Illustrated with photography by Gary Meszaros whose images capture the subtle nature and delicate harmony of birds in their intimate habitats this is a stunning look at the diversity in the Lake Erie region. Despite the ongoing habitat loss... >> back to top |
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Read Review: Borne of the Wind"Dennis A. Albert’s Borne of the Wind: Michigan Sand Dunes is an excellent reference with which to familiarize ourselves with these salient geographical features. In a clear and concise manner the author details the formation of dunes, the various associated ecological zones, and the flora and fauna typical to these areas. There are explanatory diagrams; aerial photographs; and lists of accessible sand dunes in Michigan to facilitate our understanding of the... >> back to top |
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Read
Review:
Complete Sea Kayak Touring
"It starts with a dream…the dream could be of a forbidding yet stunning
Arctic coastline, or a warm desert sea bordered by sand beaches, or a
cool forested island chain where orcas roll from the water just yards
offshore.” If you've ever paddled a kayak, enjoyed the sensation of
moving on a river, felt the momentary tautness of water as the paddle
dips in then perhaps you have been captivated by... >> back to top |
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Read Review: Cuyahoga Valley National Park Handbook"In Ohio’s northeastern corner, between Cleveland on Lake Erie’s southern shore and Akron forty miles to the south lies the Cuyahoga Valley. That it is now known as “the green-shrouded miracle” is not due solely to its formidable topography but to the unflagging support of dedicated individuals, law makers, and the community at large. Located at a geographical crossroads where the Allegheny Plateau meets the lowlands stretching westward to the Mississippi, the valley developed interesting characteristics as... >> back to top |
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Read
Review:
Essential Grizzly
"We live in a world crowded by thoughts. Our minds reel with needs,
wants, and desires; with the past; with the future. The dialogue between
heart and mind and nature has all but ceased as has the intimate dance
of body and soul with the landscape. Enter the world of the grizzly and
the conversation resumes. The bear can be our guide to this forgotten
freedom. Doug and Andrea Peacock, authors of The Essential Grizzly,
eloquently write about...
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Read Review: Flatted Fauna"Enter the surrealistic habitat of Flattened Fauna with an open mind, strong stomach, and a firm grip on reality. As observers, lovers and protectors of nature we come to know our muse through our direct experiences, through images, and through the written word. While Roger M. Knutson’s field guide to “flattened fauna” may leave you feeling as stunned as a car-crash victim – or a nearly flattened fauna specimen yourself – it will also leave you laughing. And definitely you will... >> back to top |
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Read Review: Great Lakes Nature - An Outdoor Year "From January through December Mary Blocksma shares her observations of the natural world that surrounds us and often goes unnoticed. In a year-long “naming” project the author familiarizes herself with the flora and fauna of her environment. Learning the name and salient or quirky characteristics of her finds affords her a “gently, playful way to say hello”. Often, these encounters occur unexpectedly and in... >> back to top |
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Read Review: Great Lakes Coastal Plants"Ellen Elliott Weatherbee’s Guide to Great Lakes Coastal Plants is a wonderful companion to the exploration of coastal plants and their stories. The author starts with a brief account of the Great Lakes glaciers that created the present-day landscape. Six beach zones as well as specialized beach habitats are then identified and described to set the stage for each plant’s unique role. Plants are listed in alphabetical order based on...
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Read
Review:
Guide to Wildlife Sounds
"Enter the auditory world of Lang Elliott in A Guide to Wildlife Sounds
where throughout the seasons “every journey outdoors will become a new
exercise in deep listening.” If you ever wanted to ask a Woodchuck “how
much wood could a Woodchuck chuck?” this audio guide will help you
listen for its answer. You will learn how to easily distinguish between
the calls of...
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Read
Review:
Kelly of Hazel Ridge
"I am in trouble." So starts Kelly of Hazel Ridge, the latest in a
series of children's books featuring Hazel Ridge Farm. Written by Robbyn
Smith van Frankenhuyzen and beautifully illustrated by Gijsbert van
Frankenhuyzen this book follows young Kelly as she explores the family's
farm in search of a story. Like many of us in time of need, Kelly turns
to the land for...
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Read
Review:
Lake Superior Secrets
"Landscapes of rock, water and ice measure time in eons. We mortal
creatures live within the realm of hours, days, seasons and years. Bruce
Montagne explores the interface between these eternal and ephemeral
worlds. Lake Superior serves as his muse; photography is his portal into
this secret world. Lake
Superior Secrets is an
invitation... >> back to top |
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Read
Review:
Lipsmackin' Vegetarian Backpackin'
"As more people choose some form of vegetarian lifestyle the demand for
meat-free food has gone up. Grocery stores carry more prepared foods
that meet vegetarians' needs (sometimes even vegans' needs). Restaurants
have revised their menus and added vegetarian appetizers and entrees.
These changes have made it possible for more people to adopt and
maintain... >> back to top |
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Read
Review:
Living with Bears
"As more and more people seek “wilderness” experiences of one sort or
another – from homes in heretofore unpopulated areas to backcountry
excursions – encounters with black bears are on the rise. Living with
Bears contains essential... >> back to top |
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Read Review: Lost in The Woods
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Read Review: Michigan's State Forests"Close examination of a map of the state of Michigan reveals a patchwork of “state forests”. These areas represent nearly 4 million acres of land that have been restored from “largely abandoned, depleted, cutover wastelands into the prosperous, thriving state forests of today”. Areas blighted by wasteful cutting and destructive fires in the late 1800s today provide residents and tourists ample recreational opportunities in a beautiful landscape; create diverse wildlife habitats; protect watersheds; produce oxygen and filter the atmosphere; and supply us with wood. The benefits we presently enjoy are the results of... >> back to top |
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Read
Review:
North American Mushrooms
"Walk through a rain-soaked forest in late summer or early autumn and
brilliantly colored mushrooms seem to leap out. Some angle out of old
oak trees, some string along a mossy log, and some form beautiful
solitary sculptures. Despite their alien appearance they are an
essential link in the chain of life on this planet. If your curiosity
has... |
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Read Review: Our Native Trees"Harriet Keeler was born in 1844. Her book Our Native Trees, first published in 1900, was reprinted a dozen times between 1901 and 1937. We are now blessed, in 2006, with a reproduction of the original from 1900. Her elegant prose, comprehensive research, exhaustive descriptive details, and unquestionable love of subject have infused her work with a timeless spirit. More than a guide to trees, this hefty volume is a compendium of... >> back to top |
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Read Review: Pippa's First Summer"Meet Pippa and her twin brother Click, big brown bats that live on the rafters of an old red barn, as we follow them through their first summer’s trials, tribulations, and adventures. The size of large bumblebees at birth, they quickly mature in body and spirit as they learn to fly, echolocate, and experience the world. Pippa’s sweet innocence, her loving family relationships, and friends within the small colony are sure to delight and gently introduce readers to... >> back to top |
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Read
Review:
Running with Champions
"A midlife journey; a journey through 1200 miles of Alaskan wilderness in
the company of sixteen huskies; a journey to the depths of the human
soul, to the outer limits of courage, determination, and endurance. How
many of us dare to dream so large? Who among us has the courage to
harness such passion and fully embrace the adventure? Running with
Champions by Lisa Frederic is... >> back to top |
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Read Review: Swimming With Frogs"Swimming with Frogs is a love story; a celebration of the transformative powers of love in all its myriad manifestations; an invitation into the life and world of Ruth Ann Ingraham as she and her husband carve out a niche for themselves in the Brown County Hills of Indiana. Accessible and unaffected writing fosters a feeling of openness and intimacy as the author shares her successes and failures, her joys and... >> back to top |
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Read Review: The Complete Guide to Michigan Sand Dunes "Unbeknownst to many, Michigan is graced with the largest collection of freshwater dunes in the world. We live in a landscape that was covered with glaciers up to a mile thick for more than a million years. With their retreat they left behind the deep basins that became the Great Lakes, ridged deposits of sediments called moraines, and sand. Acting upon these are prevailing southwesterly winds that have sculpted a variety of dune structures along the shoreline with especially spectacular results. The State of Michigan has roughly 275 000 acres of dune land with about half of that... >> back to top |
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Read Review: The Indiana Dunes Revealed "This beautiful catalog of Frank Dudley’s work was published to complement the exhibition entitled The Indiana Dunes Revealed: the Art of Frank V. Dudley that was assembled by the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University in 2006. Frank Dudley’s relationship to the dune land of northwest Indiana spanned several decades. Born in Delavan, Wisconsin in 1868, Dudley expressed an early interest in the making of art and was encouraged by his father to attend the Art Institute of Chicago. It is around 1910 that he starts visiting the dunes on a regular basis and...>> back to top |
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Read Review: The Legend of Punzel's Pond Enter the wonderful fairyland of Punzel and her grandfather Arne as they travel from Sweden across the ocean to the magical land of the Tidendal Valley, a turn-of-the-century Eden. The valley and its inhabitants, nurtured by waters that “contained more than the sustenance of life… united them with the gift of understandable speech”, is a model of peaceful coexistence where all creatures communicate with each other and...>> back to top |
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Read Review: The Muskegon"The Muskegon stretches 219 miles across Michigan from Houghton Lake southwest into Lake Michigan. Does this surprise you? It is the second longest river in the state and is considered one of the greatest rivers with respect to its ecological complexity and biological diversity in the Great Lakes Basin. Many of us blithely cross its bridges oblivious even to its presence. Lucky for us, one day in the late 1990s, writer Jeff Alexander noticed small yellow letters on a brown background: “Muskegon River”. The story behind the name is both a compelling and cautionary tale about the power and vulnerability of a river system and... >> back to top |
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Read Review: The Nature Conservancy's Guide to Indiana Preserves"We cannot love that we do not know. If “a majority of our residents remain unconvinced that protected nature is essential to their comfort, well-being, or survival” and development of land remains unchecked then even the last vestiges of an incredibly rich and varied landscape may be lost forever. The Nature Conservancy’s Guide to Indiana Preserves is a superb effort on the part of the Nature Conservancy to both illustrate Indiana’s natural treasures and the work, partnerships and funding necessary to preserve them. The diversity of landscape is truly surprising: waterfalls, limestone cliffs, bottomland hardwood forests, bald cypress stands, ghost towns, sand prairies and post-glacial streams are all to be found in Indiana. Each of the 55 preserves... >> back to top |
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Read Review: The Superior Peninsula"Every once in a while a writer’s enthusiasm towards, his love for, and his dedication to his subject matter reaches out to the reader and fairly leaps beyond the page. If you wish to travel with Emerick to The Superior Peninsula then hang on to your hat. The spirit within him that “leaped over the edge and plunged down the steep sandy incline; in huge bounds covering more than... >> back to top |
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Read Review: The Wonders of Nature Sketchbook "Anyone who has exclaimed this in frustration may rest assured that no straight lines are needed when following Michael Glenn Monroe’s drawing techniques. In easy-to-follow steps, children (and adults!) can learn to develop basic shapes to represent overall forms for many animals. Once this is accomplished, there is plenty of illustrated advice to help fill in the details. With over a dozen species, ranging from frogs to white-tailed deer, each feature also contains pertinent information written by Colleen Monroe about the behavior and habitat of the animal. This is not only interesting but useful information for the aspiring artist to consider when... >> back to top |
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Read Review: Unexpected Indiana"It is an unfortunate reality that many of us carry mental maps of our world based on too little information. Thankfully, there are people willing and able to set the record straight. If you thought Indiana was “just flat cornfields and interstate highways” then Unexpected Indiana will assuredly disabuse you of that notion. Whereas some people casually dismiss the landscape as “subtle” and “quiet”, photographers Ron Leonetti and Christopher Johnson have traveled to 38 preserves, parks, forests, and refuges to uncover Indiana’s hidden drama. As Leonetti points out in his comments, this state hosts a confluence of northern and southern ecological communities. From the dune landscape of northwest Indiana to the bald cypress in... >> back to top |
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Read
Review:
Wilderness Survival
“There was no other place in the world I wanted to be at that moment; I
was content”. How many of us can truly say this? Mark Elbroch wrote
these words 36 days after having voluntarily undertaken a primitive
survival odyssey with his friends Mike Pewtherer and David MacDonald. A
decade later... >> back to top |
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Read
Review:
Wild
Grace Great truths often manifest themselves during our most unguarded moments. English philosopher and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton irrevocably altered the world of physics with an epiphany gleaned from a prone position beneath an apple tree. For Eric Alan, as ideas and thoughts about the latent spirituality inherent in both the smallest and largest details of nature coalesced, the author and photographer “laid back on the grass for a minute and stared at the sycamore canopy far above.” Galvanized by the experience he found the necessary courage and affirmation to set out on... >> back to top |
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Read Review: Wild Plants in Flower - Wetlands and Quiet Waters of the Midwest"It is poetry, meditation, art, science and manifesto. The breadth of vision and strength of conviction echoing through the words of the late ecologist and writer Robert O. Petty resonate loudly in this unassuming little gem of a book: Wild Plants in Flower – Wetlands and Quiet Waters of the Midwest. Equally compelling are the photographs by the late Torkel Korling that illuminate the text with their quiet beauty and exquisite attention to both detail and context. Together they help us relive and understand our relationship to... >> back to top |