The Last Undiscovered Place

Book Description

With warmth and a keen eye for the nuances of history and place, David K. Leff offers this affectionate, insightful portrait of his adopted home of Collinsville, Connecticut, a village that looked perfectly ordinary until he fell prey to its rhythms and charm. The town taught him a new way of seeing his environment, and through this process he discovered what many Americans long for amid the suburban sprawl decried in James H. Kunstler's 'The Geography of Nowhere' and many other recent books: a sense of community.

When Leff began to look for a suitable place to raise a family, his criteria were familiar: an affordable fixer-upper with some historical character, pleasant neighbors, good schools, walkable streets, and attractive natural surroundings. The suburbs around Hartford were uninviting, so he settled sixteen miles away in Collinsville, a small village that grew up around -- indeed was largely built by -- The Collins Company, once the world's leading maker of edge tools.

Collins, which supplied the pikes for John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, went out of business in 1966, and Collinsville settled into the familiar decrepitude of many New England mill towns. In spite of its half-alive state, Leff found in its battered factory buildings and struggling main street an extraordinary place. Built before the restrictive zoning codes that today keep most Americans in their cars for hours on end, Collinsville's mixed-use center has been preserved by industrious residents and a hilly topography marked by the presence of the Farmington River, which once drove the mill. The landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. lived here at a time when Samuel Collins, the socially minded founder of the company, was laying out his ideal village for workers and managers.

Leff feels Olmsted's presence as he walks the village's uneven streets, often in the company of his children, musing on its history, politics, and architecture. Living at the center of Collins's creation years later, Leff has come to believe, like Olmsted, that human beings are deeply affected by their experience of landscape, and that local interaction -- between parents and teachers, store owners and customers, bar regulars and volunteer firefighters -- matters. 'The Last Undiscovered Place' argues quietly but forcefully for looking at our landscapes more carefully, as Leff strives for a metaphorical Collinsville that can serve as a way to rediscover other places, those that already exist and those that are still on the drawing boards of developers and planners.

The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American History (Creating the North American Landscape)
Average customer rating:

Scholarly work on the history of American cemeteries

An excellent study

Excellent overview

REQURIED READING FOR ALL CEMETERIANS!

The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American History (Creating the North American Landscape)
David Charles Sloane
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Landscape | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0801840686

Customer Reviews:

Scholarly work on the history of American cemeteries.......2001-05-07

A comprehensive discussion of the history of cemetery design and management rather than graves, this resource is organized by historic periods and traces the shift from cemetery churchyards to memorial gardens within a social context. Concerned primarily with large eastern cemeteries. About 50 illustrations, a nice bibliographic essay which discusses sources, and a very complete index.

An excellent study.......2000-10-24

This book is without any doubt the best book written on cemeteries in the English language. Anyone with even a remote interest in the way that culture shapes the spaces of death should read this informative, accessible and well-illustrated text. Cemetery studies needs more work of this high quality.

Excellent overview.......2000-10-24

After reading a few score of cemetery-related histories, and being someone that checks every index of every history book for cemeteries, death, funerals, and graveyards, Sloan was a revelation. Most cemetery books drill down into a single cemetery or a single region's cemeteries, and ultimately give us no tools for understanding other cemeteries. Sloan provides a roadmap that can be used in any cemetery. You can walk the grounds and identify when sections were opened, which stones of what type were used when, and so forth. But he does not simply throw out a hundred chronological tables. He weaves everything into a cogent narrative. Along the way the book throws light on politics, law, culture, religion, and the powerful influence of public opinion on our individual choices.

There are weaknesses, but they are minor compared to the scholarship poured into this book. Sloan focuses to some extent on New York State, but this merely means most of his examples are from there. Very little coverage of the west, except Forest Lawn. Personally, I would have liked to have seen more on western cemeteries. I also felt that the cemetery types he identifies are accurate and instructive, but in reality we tend to see hybrids of these. They act for most cemeteries as strong influences rather than as a mold.

This is well worth the purchase, however, for cemeterians, historians, and those that just enjoy good nonfiction.

REQURIED READING FOR ALL CEMETERIANS!.......1997-09-04

FINALLY! After years of unscholarly, pun filled "studies" (eg. "Ripley's Believe it or Not Book of Graveyards") and having to read between the lines of books about English cemeteries, Sloane has put together an intellectual, insightful study of American cemeteries. In the past decade or so, American cemeteries have received good press and a few decent books. Until Sloane, however, most authors allowed themselves to be seduced and manipulated by the emotional art and landscape of America's rural cemeteries, thus misinterpreting later cemeteries of differing styles and making value judgements about the monuments and the people they commemorate. While I'm not quite in agreement with Sloane's psychological assessment of Victorian society, as an until-recently-disgruntled American Cemeterian, I hereby proclain this book to be canonical, required reading for any cemetery buff who wants to get beyond bad research and worn out jokes.

Audubon Arctic: The Last Great Wilderness Calendar 2007

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Audubon Arctic: The Last Great Wilderness Calendar 2007
National Audubon Society
Manufacturer: Artisan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Calendar

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Audubon Raptors Calendar 2007
Audubon Engagement Diary Calendar 2007
Audubon Walking America: A Year on Wilderness Trails 2007
Audubon 365 Birds Page-A-Day Calendar 2007
Sierra Club 2007 Engagement Calendar

ASIN: 1579653073

Book Description

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a touchstone for all people, one of the few remaining ecosystems on our planet unaltered by human impact. A stunning calendar that reveals the greatness of the Refuge through all its seasons and moods, Audubon Arctic: The Last Great Wilderness displays many breathtaking images: a musk ox herd on foothills along the Hulahula River, anemones blooming on the tundra, pregnant porcupine caribou migrating across the frozen Coleen River, migrating Baird’s sandpipers, and semipalmated plovers nesting on the tundra. Arresting, inspiring, resplendent, the Arctic is a symbol of our natural heritage, a remnant of frontier America that our first settlers once called wilderness.

Rivers of Life: Southwest Alaska, the Last Great Salmon Fishery

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From high up
Rivers of Life: Spectacular photography. Poignant history.

Rivers of Life: Southwest Alaska, the Last Great Salmon Fishery
Bruce Hampton
Manufacturer: Aperture
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Wood-Tikchik: Alaska's Largest State Park
The Tongass: Alaska's Vanishing Rain Forest
Top Water: Fly-Fishing Alaska, the Last Frontier

ASIN: 0893819670

Book Description

In his most stunningly beautiful book to date, renowned landscape photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum turns his encompassing and color-rich vision to the vast habitat and fisheries resources of southwest Alaska and Bristol Bay. With his artist's eye for color, texture, and extraordinary detail, Ketchum's large and powerful images capture the immense richness of this magnificently wild country.

Framed between some of Alaska's most spectacular mountain ranges and the northern Pacific, here lies the spawning ground of the world's largest population of sockeye salmon. It is also one of the last productive wild fisheries remaining on earth, providing bountiful harvests for a host of dependent creatures—from whales to grizzlies to fishermen.

Co-author Bruce Hampton provides an engaging and comprehensive essay on the life history of sockeye salmon, the region's commercial and sport fisheries, and their crucial importance to the region's environment and the people who depend on salmon for survival. Greg Syverson’s intimate photographs of fish and their aquatic habitat further illuminate the text.

Customer Reviews:

From high up.......2006-02-15

Much of the photos in this book are taken from fairly high up, helicopter or aircraft. Composition is better than anything in the genre. Medium format Pentax 645 ensures a high level of detail. Printing quality is among the best i've seen. This is not just another book on the beauty of Alaskan wilderness. Interesting text for those with little background on salmon and their rivers.
A masterpiece!

Rivers of Life: Spectacular photography. Poignant history........2004-07-31

Rivers of Life has stunningly beautiful photography of the rivers and fish of Bristol Bay, Alaska. Although I have been there several times, Ketchum and Hampton's book reveals so much more about this remote region than a visitor would typically see or learn. It also documents the poignant inside story of the history of this, the world's greatest wild salmon fishery, and the century-long struggle among the natives, commercial fishermen, sport-fishermen, and government to conserve the resource and use it wisely.

Last Landscapes: The Architecture of the Cemetery in the West

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Last Landscapes: The Architecture of the Cemetery in the West
Ken Worpole
Manufacturer: Reaktion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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Stories in Stone
Cemeteries Gravemarkers
Gone Home: Southern Folk Gravestone Art
Brief History of Death (Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion)
Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial

ASIN: 186189161X

Book Description

Last Landscapes is an exploration of the cult and celebration of death, loss and memory. It traces the history and design of burial places throughout Europe and the USA, ranging from the picturesque tradition of the village churchyard to tightly packed "cities of the dead", such as the Jewish Cemetery in Prague and Père Lachaise in Paris. Other landscapes that feature in this book include the war cemeteries of northern France, Viking burial islands in central Sweden, Etruscan tombs and early Christian catacombs in Italy, the 17th-century Portuguese–Jewish cemetery "Beth Haim" at Ouderkerk in the Netherlands, Forest Lawns in California, Derek Jarman’s garden in Kent and the Stockholm Woodland Cemetery.

It is a fact that architecture "began with the tomb", yet, as Ken Worpole shows us in Last Landscapes, many historic cemeteries have been demolished or abandoned in recent times (notably the case with Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe), and there has been an increasing loss of inscription and memorialization in the modern urban cemetery. Too often cemeteries today are both poorly designed and physically and culturally marginalized. Worse, cremation denies a full architectural response to the mystery and solemnity of death.

The author explores how modes of disposal – burial, cremation, inhumation in mausoleums and wall tombs – vary across Europe and North America, according to religious and other cultural influences. And Last Landscapes raises profound questions as to how, in an age of mass cremation, architects and landscape designers might create meaningful structures and settings in the absence of a body, since for most of history the human body itself has provided the fundamental structural scale. This evocative book also contemplates other forms of memorialization within modern societies, from sculptures to parks, most notably the extraordinary Duisberg Park, set in a former giant steelworks in Germany’s Ruhr Valley.

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The Last Landscape
William Hollingsworth. Whyte
Manufacturer: DoubleDay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The Experience of Place: A New Way of Looking at and Dealing With our Radically Changing Cities and Countryside
The Image of the City
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Design with Nature (Wiley Series in Sustainable Design)

ASIN: 0385043899

Average customer rating:

Wonderfully subtle pictures
A great book by a great man
Disappointing
Lovely book
A Beautifully Portrayed Work!

Kentucky's Last Great Places
Thomas G. Barnes
Manufacturer: University Press of Kentucky
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0813122309

Book Description

Most Kentuckians and visitors to the state are unaware of the Commonwealth's unique biological heritage—much less that much of it is in danger of disappearing forever.

With over 100 glorious full-color photographs and insightful text, Kentucky's Last Great Places highlights the incredible natural beauty found in the Commonwealth's old-growth forests, prairies, wetlands, and other distinctive biological habitats. More than 3,000 vascular plants, 230 fish, 105 amphibians and reptiles, 350 birds, 75 mammals, and 12,000 insects call Kentucky home. Many of these species and their habitats are considered rare, threatened or endangered. Overall, less than one percent of Kentucky is classified ecologically as being in a “pre-European” condition that deserves significant protection.

Award-winning photographer and author Thomas G. Barnes combines his strikingly beautiful photographs with essays describing the splendor found in more than forty of Kentucky's diverse natural preserves or ecological areas, including the old-growth Blanton Forest near Pine Mountain in Harlan County, Axe Lake Swamp in Ballard County near the Mississippi River, Red River Gorge, the Kentucky River Palisades, Mammoth Cave, and many others.

This spectacular oversized book provides an awareness of the biodiversity of Kentucky, what challenges there are to protecting its biological heritage, and how organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, the National Park Service, and others have protected and are continuing to protect the state's unique biological legacy.

Kentucky's Last Great Places is both a stunning collection of nature photographs and a means for increasing our understanding of the fragile beauty of Kentucky.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderfully subtle pictures.......2006-10-16

Although perhaps some of the grand Kentucky scenery is missing, there are some wonderful pictures in this book. Barnes best photographs are perhaps in the subtle colors of the prairie, the Pennyrile and Barren. flowers and insects. Some of the snow dusted scenery, such as Rock Bridge in Daniel Boone National Forest is also well done.

Sometimes the writing tries to be too antidotal; for example he writes that he forgot the price that a five pound mussel would fetch in the commercial market; but I would have preferred knowing the price rather than his forgetting of it. The chapter on biodiversity provides an introduction to each of the regions, but a good map of each each of the regions would have helped me relate to the preserves he discusses.

A great book by a great man.......2006-03-28

I might be a little biased as Tom Barnes is my uncle... ok, ok, so I'm really biased, but I have read it all the way through and looked at the pictures on numerous separate occasions, and it never ceases to amaze and inspire me. It makes me wish I lived in Kentucky. :) He truly is a skilled and passionate photographer/writer. Buy this book!

Disappointing.......2006-02-15

I bought this book to show friends here in Germany how lovely my home state is, since so few of them even know it exists. I was very disappointed. The photography is okay, but far from inspiring, and does not really capture the "great" places of Kentucky, nor why they can be so lovely. The response from people who have looked at the book at my house is just a shrug -- no "ooohs" or "aaaahs". It really doesn't do Kentucky justice.

Lovely book.......2005-07-04

This author's photographic work is gorgeous but this is not only a "picture book". It is a book of nature, ecology and environment and is worth exploring. I love Kentucky and grieve for the assaults and damages it has suffered for so long. It is my hope that if Kentuckians can see their home state as this book shows it, they will be more protective of it. Greed and exploitation have harmed Kentucky as have poverty and ignorance. The state and the nation need to protect Kentucky's natural environment. One complaint about the book: it needs a state map showing the regions the author writes about! There was no way to refer to the regions because there was no map of that sort. (There was a very limited map but not cross-referenced to the regions covered in the book.) This was an annoying omission from the book, but the book still merits high ratings for its beauty and information.

A Beautifully Portrayed Work!.......2004-12-15

I thought the photography and composure of this book was well done. The pictures are beautiful and make you want to explore the unknown places. I live in Kentucky and love to travel. My logo is: Simple Life~~~Simple Books. This falls into that category- simple yet breath-taking. Please get this book. Travel to Kentucky!

Average customer rating:

A hundred works by Degas provides a new focus on this aspect of his vision and influence.

Edgar Degas: The Last Landscapes
Ann Dumas , Richard Kendall , Flemming Friborg , and Line Clausen Pedersen
Manufacturer: Merrell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Impressionism | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Degas Landscapes
Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications)
The Girl With the Gallery: Edith Gregor Halpert And the Making of the Modern Art Market
Edgar Degas: Six Friends at Dieppe
Canaletto in England: A Venetian Artist Abroad, 1746-1755 (Yale Center for British Art)

ASIN: 1858943434

Book Description

Edgar Degas is regarded, above all, as a painter of the human figure and of city life, and yet both his early notebooks and the practice of his later years attest to his consistent interest in landscape painting. In tracing Degas's response to landscape, including, most notably, his visits to the small resort of Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme, in Picardy, and in closely analysing his painterly practice, this book cogently reassesses the importance of landscape painting to his career. By revealing Degas's little-known love of this genre, it challenges our assumptions about one of the giants of Impressionist art.

Customer Reviews:

A hundred works by Degas provides a new focus on this aspect of his vision and influence........2007-01-04

There have been so many books on the market covering the life and works of Degas that we're almost hesitant to recommend yet another, but what makes Edgar Degas: The Last Landscapes stand out from the crowd is its in-depth focus on a surprisingly little-known aspect of his work: his scenery of northern France and the small town of his childhood. Here he experimented with painting and print-making techniques and used his sketchbook drawings to integrate landscape painting into his more notable works. A hundred works by Degas provides a new focus on this aspect of his vision and influence.

Yearning Wild: Exploring the Last Frontier and the Landscape of the Heart

Average customer rating:

An Adventure Centered in the Last Frontier
Yearning Wild: Exploring The Last Frontier and the Landscape
"Tough Guy" Grows Up
"Tough Guy" Grows Up
Davy Crockett Meets H. D. Thoreau

Yearning Wild: Exploring the Last Frontier and the Landscape of the Heart
R. Glendon Brunk
Manufacturer: Invisible Cities Press Llc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Arroyo: A Novel

ASIN: 1931229120

Book Description

In 1968, Glendon Brunk moved to Alaska to pursue his childhood dream of living in the wilds of the last American frontier. He built his own log cabin, hunted and fished, worked with the native Inuit, and became one of the world's top sled-dog racers. But he also watched the land he loved being destroyed by the tools of the very society he represented. Disgusted and distraught, Brunk left Alaska and hitchhiked across Africa, Asia, and North America, where he witnessed continuing destruction from the hands of humans. He returned to Alaska, committed to fight to save what is left of the wilderness. This personal story explores the deeply American contradictions that make up modern Alaska and questions our cultural inability to both love and protect the land.

Customer Reviews:

An Adventure Centered in the Last Frontier.......2002-02-14

Glendon's down-to-earth writing style and his epic adventure story make this book an addictive page turner. Included is everything from running world class dog teams across the icy tundra, to sipping Kava in the South Pacific. Read it for yourself and find out what draws a man to Alaska.

Yearning Wild: Exploring The Last Frontier and the Landscape.......2002-02-06

What an honest and brave guy to write this book. Glendon Brunk, one of those ultra-manly men, writes so honestly about what it means to be a man in a world dominated by men, and how, through the amalgamating forces of pain and growing self-awareness, came to see a different way. It's a book set in Alaska, with all the raw power of conquering the wilderness and living wild, with facing grizzly bears and extreme cold, but it's really not about Alaska. It's about growth and coming into consciousness. It's about driving sled dogs competively and coming to realize that winning the world championship of sled dog racing - a feat akin to any great athletic endeavor - was empty. It was because of a single-minded obsession to win, to conquer, to be the best, to control, all the manly perceptions that have the world in so much trouble today. Yearning Wild is about one man coming to see his responsibility for wounding, not only himself, but women and children and the land. It's about awakening. This book is a brave beginning, and it needs to be out there. I - a man - would encourage every man, every woman to buy it and to pass it on. Because it's one of those books that's desparately needed for the times we live in. Do it, please.

"Tough Guy" Grows Up.......2002-01-28

This is a heartfelt account of one man's struggle to overcome the archetpe of the "tough guy" and to soften into a realization of the power of love. R. Glendon Brunk, who could be one of the men in Pam Houston's "Cowboys are my Weakness" , shares his life with us in an engaging way -- sometimes sad, often funny, always keeping my attention. I wish that every man I know, from my brother and my father, to my cousins, to all my male friends would read it, too. Our world needs to find a new way, a way that isn't hung up onto the patriarchal ways of domination, the raw male energy that , undirected, may turn so quickly to violence and destruction. And here's a guy who was one of the toughest (he admits that that was the way he thought he should be) who openly shares his journey to become open and loving - therefore ultimately stronger. This is a great book about gender issues. Men and women alike should read it, discuss it, let it inspire new paths, and greater connected-ness with eachother and the world around us.

"Tough Guy" Grows Up.......2002-01-28

Davy Crockett Meets H. D. Thoreau.......2001-11-28

Here's a book with the romanticism of Davy Crockett, weather the likes of A Perfect Storm, herds of caribou familiar through Never Cry Wolf, and a cast of sled dogs paling Lassie, Old Yeller, Sounder, and Where the Red Fern Grows.
It's a book for children because of the raw adventure: watch our protagonist shoot a bear that's about to knock down his cabin door and eat his baby daughter (and then watch him leave, tossing his wife butchering instructions). Hear him call "Trail" as he and his sixteen world champions pass the favored dog team and head into Fairbanks and the crowd's cheers.
It's a book for women because its central figure is the stuff of endless heartbreak: a doer, a pacifist, a romantic, a man with a guitar and songs and dreams as big as all outdoors, a man whose restlessness is the stuff (in women's eyes) of pathology. This man from Mars retreats not just to his cave; he moves to Fiji, to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Guatemala, Mexico, and Africa.
It's a book for men because this writer lived most men's dreams. Brunk's woods were not Thoreau-sized; his peace required the presence of Alaskan wildlife which had never before seen a human.
He yearned really wild, and, as Mary Renault says, "Longing performs all things." R. Glendon Brunk performed.
It almost killed him. The real gifts in this amazing book are Brunk's courageous candor in addressing the essential emptiness he found once he realized his dreams. He does not flinch in the face of his paradoxes: he admits, for example - acknowledging a tension that must exist among almost all men -- that having a child was not in his dream. But this is a healing book. The adventure stories are only preliminary to Brunk's more central journey here: the one inward and the one backwards: back to the courage it takes to stay.
Read this book. Give it to your husband, your son, your son's teacher, your ex-husband, your boss, your mailperson. This is a great book.

Traces of Eden: The Last of the American Wilderness

Average customer rating:

Natural Wonder
A gorgeous presentation; especially recommended for gift-giving
Dreams Become Reallity
Spectacular!
Three Years of Wandering Through the Wonders of Nature

Traces of Eden: The Last of the American Wilderness
Nishantha Gunawardena
Manufacturer: TOE Foundation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Nature & Wildlife | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0976997207

Product Description

Traces of Eden is one of the most stunning nature photo essays seen in years. It is an experience of the grandeur and the splendor of the American wilderness as captured by Nishantha Gunawardena during his three-year journey traversing the last remaining pristine wilderness areas in the United States. This books features over 120 breathtaking photographs, an evocative essay on conservation, and excerpts from the travel journal. Senator Sheila Kiscaden writes "these photographs inspire the viewer as they lovingly capture the beauty of our country. Nishantha's journey and these images cry out to us to open our own eyes to rejoice in the splendor of our country and preserve its vanishing natural spaces. The glories of nature revealed within this book stir the soul and call us to contemplation, reflection, and wonder. We are asked to consider all that is lost when we fail to be in harmony with and do not safeguard our environment." Chicago Tribune writes, "Traces of Eden is a simmering volume. Nishantha Gunawardena's photographs eloquently remind us of the Eden that greeted Meriwether Lewis and William Clark some two hundred years ago, but cautions us that if we do not embrace this gift with our minds as well as our hearts we are in danger of squandering it completely. ... The lush photographs are accompanied by Gunawardenas own anecdotes of adventurous travels to create the pictures, which put you in the shoes of a lone traveler awestruck by the humbling mountain ranges, verdant river valleys, foreboding deserts and diverse prairies that comprise this country. To look at these landscapes, these beautiful animals, is to wonder what we have given up, at what price and why. ... Nishantha Gunawardena is a witness for the defense of nature in all its forms. Traces of Eden showcases the beauty of America, and thereby gives us a challenge to preserve and expand the land that sustains us."

Customer Reviews:

Natural Wonder.......2006-06-02

"The vastness of the United States seems endless and the variety of ecosystems incredible. Deserts, rain forests, grasslands, wetlands, coasts, glacier-clad mountains, and temperate woodlands each brim with its own distinctive character. The spirit of the land caresses and engulfs the one seeking solitude in it. It is possible to hear the essence of the terrain resounding and relating its story in tranquility." ~Nishantha Gunawardena

Traces of Eden is a beautiful introspective work displaying natural wonders and soul-nourishing landscapes. Like a photographic meditation, each page presents images to inspire a love of nature.

Nishantha Gunawaredena's poetic prose throughout make this as much an emotional journey as a visual experience. He sets up camp outdoors in order to capture a perfect picture of the moon, the glossy reflection like sprinkles of stardust across the North Shore of Lake Superior. He lives in Minnesota, but traveled across America to capture the rest of the pictures.

Lavender mountains from Wyoming seem to be awakening in a sunrise and gorgeous watery landscapes contrast with old growth forests.

After waiting for hours in the snow, a perfect moment is captured at Crater Lake Oregon. The colors in many of the pictures make them seem more like artwork than winding blue rivers from an aerial view. Sea green glaciers almost look like angular emerald green waves. I had to look at the picture for a few minutes to figure out what I was seeing.

The use of lighting adds a shimmering glow to many of the photographs. They contrast in warm and cool tones with mist-drenched valleys on one page and horses running in dry pastures a few pages later. One picture of a duck with water beading across its feathers is truly spectacular.

Nishantha Gunawardena has created a world of beauty to inspire awe and a sense of nostalgia for areas of America we have visited or wish to visit. His writing enhances the artistic experience and leaves you with a warm glow of appreciation.

~The Rebecca Review

A gorgeous presentation; especially recommended for gift-giving.......2006-05-20

Humanity has disrupted the very elements of nature which it seeks to preserve, yet the vastness of the U.S. and its ecosystems abide, as TRACES OF NATURE: THE LAST OF THE AMERICAN WILDERNESS seeks to capture forever under its book cover. Gorgeous color photos of American parks and wild areas accompany Gunawardena's own evocative prose based on his personal travels to these regions. From Alaska impressions to California' Mojave Desert and the vanishing Everglades, each lovely and often quite dramatic full-page color representation is faced with a blend of personal observation, photographic insight and natural history reflection. A gorgeous presentation; especially recommended for gift-giving.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

Dreams Become Reallity.......2006-05-10

Considering our natural land is retreating, the photos take us to a landscape some dream to discover. From cover to cover we are able to dive into the last of the North American wilderness and camp out in our favorite retreats. The colors in the photos are vibrant and illuminating. Mr. Gunawardena's hard work paid off in delivering a true work of art. What a beautiful tribute!

Spectacular!.......2006-05-02

"We are but one thread within it. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth...Whatever he does to the web he does to himself." Chief Seattle

This quote opens this book of photography, and the sentiment is woven throughout the photos and text.

This is a visually beautiful book, and that's what first drew me to it. When I looked at the pictures, particularly the luminous and lush landscapes, I felt Icould step right into the photo, that I was actually there. But when I took the time to read the text accompanying the photos, I truly understood why the author undertook a three-year journey to document the "few remaining traces of a once lush Eden" in our 50 United States.

His is a deep and heartfelt need to accurately portray to those of us who aren't paying attention just what it is that we are in danger of losing in our never-ending preoccupation with our self-gratifying, self-indulgent lifestyles, our "frivolous desires."

We are neglecting the land, which asks so little from us, yet is so necessary to our very survival. What will it take for our environmental apathy to end? What will it take to finally get our attention, and show us just how utterly dependent we truly are on the health of the land and all of the Earth?

Unfortunately, it seems to me that our short-term avarice trumps any thought to the long-term consequences of our actions and decisions, and it will take major economic and environmental impacts before the majority of people will sit up and take notice. And by then it just might be too late.

Armchair Interviews: A spectacular photo book with a very strong ecological message everyone needs to hear.

Three Years of Wandering Through the Wonders of Nature.......2006-03-21

Nishantha Gunawardena is a journalistic photographer from Sri Lanka whose previous photographs have been directed toward reportage of events such as floods, poverty, disasters and man's ability to cope. In this grand yet quiet book he continues his ability of reportage, this time directing our attention to the endangered wilderness grandeur of this country.

Gunawardena's images in rich color capture leaves/ twigs/ branches/ trees/ forests at dawn, noon, sunset and night in an effort to bring the viewers' appreciation to the majesty of nature unfettered by human touch. His photographs range from astute close-up shots of flowers or petals to vistas of fields, mountain ranges, and skies. The quality of the photography is magnificent and the book's reproduction is excellent.

But nature books abound on the shelves of our bookstores, so why is this volume so different? The answer is in Gunawardena's eloquent comments on his three year journey that resulted in the treasures of nature captured in this volume. His writing encourages the response of awe in the reader, a response that hopefully will eventually be manifested in our more cautious care for the great American wilderness, a place that simply must be protected from the greed of resource exploitation. Highly recommended viewing and reading and contemplation. Grady Harp, March 06

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