Alaska Birds (Pocket Naturalist - Waterford Press)
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Alaska Birds Field Guide
  • Alaska Birds
Alaska Birds (Pocket Naturalist - Waterford Press)
James Kavanagh
Manufacturer: Waterford Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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  1. Alaska Wildlife: An Introduction to Familiar Plants and Animals (Pocket Naturalist - Waterford Press) Alaska Wildlife: An Introduction to Familiar Plants and Animals (Pocket Naturalist - Waterford Press)
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  4. The Nature of Alaska, 2nd: An Introduction to Familiar Plants and Animals and Natural Attractions (Field Guides - Waterford Press) The Nature of Alaska, 2nd: An Introduction to Familiar Plants and Animals and Natural Attractions (Field Guides - Waterford Press)
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ASIN: 1583551220

Book Description

Alaska Birds, An Introduction to Familiar Species, is a must-have, reference guide for beginners and experts alike. Whether you're on a nature hike or in your own backyard, you'll want to take along a copy of this indispensable guide. The Pocket Naturalist(tm) series is an introduction to common plants and animals and natural phenomena. Each pocket-sized, folding guide highlights up to 150 species and most feature a map highlighting prominent sanctuaries and outstanding natural attractions. Each is laminated for durability.

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Alaska Birds Field Guide.......2007-10-04

This is a decent field guide for quick reference. But there is only one example for each species and the birds are in their breeding plumage. Good if you are in Alaska during the spring time and only looking for one gender.

5 out of 5 stars Alaska Birds.......2006-07-05

I have several of these for my class. Great for bird identification for kids!
John Muir: The Eight Wilderness Discovery Books
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Want a detailed description of a snow-banner? the nut-pine?
John Muir: The Eight Wilderness Discovery Books
John Muir
Manufacturer: Diadem Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 089886335X

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Want a detailed description of a snow-banner? the nut-pine?.......1997-08-01

Or numerous other natural phenomena? Come browse Muir's collection of books. Yes, browse the 1,030 pages which comprise his writings. This book is excellent for the student of nature because his descriptive writing takes you to the high Sierra, the redwood forests, the 1,000 mile trek through Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. You are there and you want to be THERE! While much of the description was written over 100 years ago, the magnificence of a Sequoia, the humidity of a Florida swamp and the curiosity of a Douglas squirrel is still REAL today. A true travelogue for nature lovers and mountainmen wannabes alike
Steller's Island: Adventures of a Pioneer Naturalist in Alaska
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • A wide audience will find this absorbing
  • Voyages of Discovery
  • Steller's Island
  • Great book; too bad we don't have more of Steller's research
  • Science History at its Best
Steller's Island: Adventures of a Pioneer Naturalist in Alaska
Dean Littlepage
Manufacturer: Mountaineers Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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  1. Journal of a Voyage with Bering, 1741-1742 Journal of a Voyage with Bering, 1741-1742
  2. Where the Sea Breaks Its Back: The Epic Story of Early Naturalist Georg Steller and the Russian Exploration of Alaska Where the Sea Breaks Its Back: The Epic Story of Early Naturalist Georg Steller and the Russian Exploration of Alaska
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ASIN: 1594850577

Book Description

History, adventure, and science—the 18th century naturalist, Georg Steller, sailed to the north coast of North America and introduced its biological wonders to the world. · Introduces a naturalist and explorer who predated Lewis and Clark and John Muir · Examines the historical legacy of the man whose name graces the Steller's jay, Steller sea lion, Steller's eider, and more · Places Steller's journey in context for today, following the impact of his discoveries to the present In 1741, a Russian expedition ship captained by Vitus Bering carried the first scientist to set foot anywhere on the western half of North America. Georg Steller would introduce the world to the staggering wealth and diversity of life of the North Pacific, providing the first European accounts of the sea otter, sea lion, northern fur seal, native Chugach people, and more. Steller's Island is a fascinating tale of the rewards and perils of exploration in this era. It is about the courage of scientific curiosity, even in uncharted waters, alien lands, and desperate circumstances, including storms, scurvy, and shipwreck.

Steller traveled deep into the wild with little on his back. In the one day Bering permitted him to explore Kayak Island along the southern Alaskan coast, he catalogued more than one hundred previously unknown plants. He was the only European naturalist to see the spectacled cormorant alive and his is our one and only account of the now extinct Steller's sea cow. In accounts of the Chugach and Aleut people, Steller was the first scientist to hypothesize an Asian origin for Native Americans. The crew of the St. Peter credited him with their lives: His novel prescription of wild greens cured their scurvy, and his knowledge of sea mammals and Native hunting techniques meant food for the starving.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars A wide audience will find this absorbing.......2007-05-17

History, true adventure, travel and science blend in the vivid survey STELLER'S ISLAND: ADVENTURES OF A PIONEER NATURALIST IN ALASKA. Georg Steller predated Lewis and Clark and John Muir and made some amazing discoveries - so it's surprising to note this provides some of rare insights on the man and his legacy - including the only scientific account of the Steller's sea cow before it became extinct. A wide audience will find this absorbing, from any library specializing in Alaskan history to general-interest holdings where patrons seek true-life adventure or tales of scientific discovery.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

5 out of 5 stars Voyages of Discovery.......2007-04-22

Traveling the breadth of Russia and sailing east from Kamchatka with Bering across the north Pacific, Steller encounters frustrating, and at times harrowing, conditions and amazing creatures in his explorations of what we now know as maritime Alaska. The author weaves his own journey to one of Steller's study sites into an historic account of these voyages of discovery. Simply a great read. Looking forward to more stories of Alaska and the people of the maritime Pacific Northwest by this author.
Highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars Steller's Island.......2007-02-26

Interesting account of Steller's explorations, juxtaposed with a modern journey -- reminds me in that sense of Jonathan Waterman's Mount St. Elias book, which is also recommended. Contains information on Pacific Northwest wildlife, but also on native people, shipwrecks, truly stupid explorer mistakes, and more; entertainingly written. Kind of makes one think, to realize how many species either barely survived the advent of Europeans or didn't survive at all, and to be reminded how many of them are in danger again today.

5 out of 5 stars Great book; too bad we don't have more of Steller's research.......2006-12-28

Georg Steller was a German scientist who eventually went to Russia and became a naturalist on Vitus Bering's second expedition to eastern Siberia and the eastern Arctic.

He identified hundreds of plant species in just a few hours of landfall on an Alaskan island. He also was the first European to closely examine animals such as the Steller's sea lion, Steller's sea cow (now extinct) and others.

Unfortunately, many of his research samples didn't make it back to Russia. Bering's flagship, St. Peter, became separated from his other ship, St. Paul, on the way east to Alaska. And, it didn't make it all the way back to Kamchatka. Eventually, after wintering on a sub-arctic island, the crew made a small hooker out of St. Peter's remains and completed the trip.

The crew who were left, that is. Many died from scurvy, though Steller saved many others with his knowledge of plants, and observation of Siberian and Aleut customs.

The remaining crew forced Steller to leave behind his specimen slides and his dissected sea cow, among other things. He wrote up what he could after getting back to European Russia, but his samples were lost forever.

An excellent book on science, natural history, and Arctic exploration, all in one.

5 out of 5 stars Science History at its Best.......2006-12-12

Ever since the publication of Thomas Kuhn's 'Structure of Scientific Revolutions' science history has been preoccupied with changing paradigms and social influence upon scientific thought. This focus has offered many benefits, but a decided negative is that there are fewer traditional biographies of significant but forgotten scientists. This short volume by Dean Littlepage is an exception to the rule. A throwback to an older style of historiography, it is an excellent account of the life and contributions of Georg Steller, the first naturalist to write an account of the Northwestern Pacific Coast.

Georg Steller was a German naturalist, a predecessor of Linneaus, and a member of the early Russian expeditions to map the Pacific coast of North America. Steller was a multi-talented product of the Enlightenment. He spoke several languages and received formal training in theology, medicine, and biology. After teaching in Germany for a short stint, he moved to Russia and joined the newly formed Russian Academy of Science. He joined Captain Bering (for whom the Bering strait is named) and in a visit to Kayak Island began the first scientific exploration of the Northwest. But Steller was much more than just a talented naturalist (he collected 140 specimens in a mere 6 hours on Kayak Island.) He was also an extraordinary physician who correctly hypothesized that a diet heavy in green vegetables would fend of scurvy centuries before the discovery of vitamin C. His scientific background ultimately saved the crew of the St. Peter, Bering's ship, in the face of disaster. The challenges facing the crew shipwrecked for the winter are truly gripping and it is hard to put the book down as Littlepage recounts this period.

This book makes a for a fascinating read. The author not only notes the breadth of Steller's scientific discoveries, but traces the fates of the animals he wrote about in his best known work 'Beasts of the Sea.' Many were nearly hunted to extinction while environmental changes threaten others. The Steller Sea Cow is now extinct and all that remains is Seller's description. In all, this makes for a wonderful book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading some traditional science history with profound implications for today's world.
Where the Sea Breaks Its Back: The Epic Story of Early Naturalist Georg Steller and the Russian Exploration of Alaska
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Dynamic as the Bering Sea
  • Ford scores a home run.
  • A great account of the first explorers to discover Alaska.
  • Great adventure book
Where the Sea Breaks Its Back: The Epic Story of Early Naturalist Georg Steller and the Russian Exploration of Alaska
Corey Ford
Manufacturer: Alaska Northwest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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  1. Journal of a Voyage with Bering, 1741-1742 Journal of a Voyage with Bering, 1741-1742
  2. Steller's Island: Adventures of a Pioneer Naturalist in Alaska Steller's Island: Adventures of a Pioneer Naturalist in Alaska
  3. Bering: The Russian Discovery of America Bering: The Russian Discovery of America
  4. The Last Great Sea: A Voyage Through the Human and Natural History of the North Pacific Ocean The Last Great Sea: A Voyage Through the Human and Natural History of the North Pacific Ocean
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ASIN: 088240394X

Book Description

Author Corey Ford documents the moving story of naturalist Georg Steller, who served on the 1741-42 Russian Alaska expedition with explorer Vitus Bering.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Dynamic as the Bering Sea.......2007-10-01

Great historical read of the Russian Bering/Stellar voyage to Alaska. Corey Ford's writing is vivid, flowing, has first hand knowledge of the Bering Sea islands, gifted nature writer. I've given this book as a must read to several friends.

5 out of 5 stars Ford scores a home run........2001-08-29

This was a terrific story about the quest to find what is now Alaska. It gives insight into just how courageous these early exployers were. I can't comprehend of enduring those sort of hardships. Ford is also a good biologist and gives interesting commentary on the animal life. He also describes what may have been the first observation of a diving reflex in a marine mammal, the now extinct Northern sea cow. If you read this, it would be hard to complain about our current quality of life.

5 out of 5 stars A great account of the first explorers to discover Alaska........1998-11-06

A true account of Vitus Bering's voyage from Russia to discover what is now Alaska. Anyone interested in the history of Alaska should start by reading this book, or someone looking for an actual true life adventure story that makes one appreciate the dangers encounted in the 1700's by these amazing explorers. This book is written from the journals of Georg Stellar, the naturalist on-board the boat that discovered Alaska. The first written account and identification of many species that Stellar discovered and writes about in his journals. One of which is extinct today and his writings are the only account of the massive Stellar Sea Cow. A fabulous account of these adventurors and their interaction with the beautiful, but deadly, Alaska coast and it's native people.

5 out of 5 stars Great adventure book.......1998-08-17

Excellent story of the discovery of Alaska by the famous explorer,Vitus Bering and naturalist, Georg Steller. Combines text from Steller's extensive notes and observations of the author.
Naturalist in Alaska
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • For Love of Wilderness
  • A must-read for travelers to Denali park
Naturalist in Alaska
Adolph Murie
Manufacturer: Devin-Adair Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0815963122

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars For Love of Wilderness.......2004-09-13

I came upon Murie's "A Naturalist in Alaska" after having read two of his other books, "The Wolves of Mt. McKinley" and "The Grizzlies of Mt. McKinley," and I found "A Naturalist in Alaska" to be the most readable of the three. In fact, if one is interested in reading Murie's descriptions of the lives and interrelationships of the lynxes, wolves, bears, wolverines, foxes, Dall sheep, caribou, and even the haymice that frequent the far flung state that calls itself "The Last Frontier," but must select only one of Murie's published works, then "A Naturalist in Alaska" is the book to choose.

"Wolves" and "Grizzlies," while very rewarding to anyone curious about the real behavior of wild creatures, are perhaps best described as dispassionate and objective records of Murie's extensive observations of those animals in their native, largely unmolested habitat. In "A Naturalist," however, Murie gives vent to his admiration for these creatures and for the land they inhabit. While never stinting on his objective observations, Murie interweaves his objectivity with a sense of wonder, and his descriptive writing is nearly as good as a camera lens for portraying the rolling tundra, the meandering glacial rivers, the rocky spires of the Alaska Range, and, of course, the creatures that live and die in this magnificent setting.

The sociability of wolves with others of their pack, their ingenuity in forcing sheep down rocky bottoms where they can be outrun, the apparent games eagles play on wolves and sheep, and even the amazing ingenuity of the tiny haymouse are all skillfully portrayed in "A Naturalist" Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this book is its ability to teach and entertain equally. The reader will enjoy the vivid descriptions of the land and its denizens while learning about the almost limitless interactions of the wild creatures with one another and, sometimes, with humankind.

If there is any weakness in "A Naturalist," it is that there is some overlap with Murie's other books, "Wolves" and "Grizzlies," in that some of his field observations seem to be repeated. Of course, if one is coming to Murie for the first time, this repetition will not be apparent, and I actually enjoyed re-reading some of the antics observed in the members of the East Fork wolf den, so any criticism I have concerning the repetition is very mild indeed.

Who will find reading this book to be time well spent? Those interested in Alaska in particular or vast wilderness areas in general should find it rewarding. Those interested in the habits, traits, activities, and personalities of wild creatures that are only beginning to adapt to the spread of humankind into their pristine land will also enjoy Murie's writing. Aspiring writers should find inspirational examples of descriptive writing here. Do not, however, seek to find adrenaline-raising stories of harrowing encounters between hapless humans and ravenous bears or crazed wolverines, for that is seldom real life, and Murie's books are all about real life (although there are a couple of stories of some near encounters that make the reader wonder how he or she would have reacted in Murie's place).

I account my own time in reading this book to have been well spent, and I believe that you will, too. And if reading "A Naturalist" leaves you feeling a little humbled at your place on this earth, then I believe that you will feel as Murie himself felt and that he would be pleased with the success of his book.

4 out of 5 stars A must-read for travelers to Denali park.......2000-12-16

Adolph Murie was a naturalist who spent most of his career, and most of this century working in Denali park in Alaska. I heard about him from the tour guides while taking the bus tour through the park. He is their paton saint. The book tells various stories about the various animals Murie studied. It wonderfully captures the sense of that great park and the wildlife that dwells within. After reading his book, I'm inspired to make my next trip to Denali a camping trip where I sit on a high ridge with my binoculars and camera and watch.

--Dan Arias
Travels in Alaska
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Southeast Alaska, Once Upon A Time
  • Don't know what to make of this
  • Muir in southeast Alaska.
  • The Literary Side of Science
  • Don't start your Muir education with this one
Travels in Alaska
John Muir
Manufacturer: Sierra Club Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0871567830

Amazon.com

Take a trip to last century's Alaska through Muir's clean, easy-going, enthusiastic prose. He wrote the way he took pictures, with insight, attention, care and genuine feeling. It's a lovely look into a beautiful land and its inhabitants the way it used to be, told in a flowing narrative that is far less rushed than contemporary travel tales.

Book Description

This classic account of John Muir's adventures and discoveries during three visits to Alaska in 1879, 1880, and 1890 is now available in a handsomely designed edition as part of the John Muir Library Series. This book, which Muir was working on at the time of his death, vividly recreates his explorations (including the discovery of Alaska's largest tidal glacier, now named in his honor), his sojourn among Indian tribes, and his unbounded awe of, and delight in, the untamed Alaskan wilderness.
Venturing on foot, by canoe and dogsled, Muir was equally excited by his first view of an unfamiliar species of flower, bird, or tree, or the "supreme, serene, supernatural beauty" of Alaskan auroras. Here also are his harrowing accounts of near death between grinding walls of glacial ice and of rescuing a companion from a thousand-foot precipice.

Download Description

The most interesting of the short excursions we made from Fort Wrangell was the one up the Stickeen River to the head of steam navigation. From Mt. St. Elias the coast range extends in a broad, lofty chain beyond the southern boundary of the territory, gashed by stupendous canyons, each of which carries a lively river, though most of them are comparatively short, as their highest sources lie in the icy solitudes of the range within forty or fifty miles of the coast. A few, however, of these foaming, roaring streams--the Alsek, Chilcat, Chilcoot, Taku, Stickeen, and perhaps others--head beyond the range with some of the southwest branches of the Mackenzie and Yukon.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Southeast Alaska, Once Upon A Time.......2007-02-19

John Muir's "Travels In Alaska" is his accouts of his trips to Southeast Alaska in 1879, 1880, and 1890. Southeast Alaska 125 years ago was sparsely settled and poorly explored; Muir's adventurous spirit and enquiring mind led him to investigate the numerous inlets and glaciers in the area, including the magnificent and much-celebrated Glacier Bay.

Muir's simple, muscular prose weaves a fascinating narrative out of descriptions of the people, wildlife, and geology he encounters on his journey, suffused with his endless sense of wonder at the landscapes in which he saw the hand of God. The reader can hardly help but be carried along by Muir's enthusiasm. Muir's descriptions may be most relevant to those traveling Southeast Alaska by cruise ship, for a sense of what the landscape looked like before the population reached today's size and spread. Those not interested in the travel aspects of the book and in numerous descriptions of glaciers may find this book less interesting.

This book is highly recommended to fans of John Muir's writings, and to those planning a trip through Southeast Alaska.

3 out of 5 stars Don't know what to make of this.......2002-10-29

From the title, one would think this a type of travel journal, a panorama of episodes along the way, a sequence of stations between the starting off point and the destination. Instead, the overall weight of the book is given to glaciers, their descriptions, their influence on the landscape, their geological record, the discovery of new glaciers, and other characteristics of these moving rivers of ice. While Muir offers descriptive powers unequaled among authors on nature, never repeating himself though constantly repeating his subject, the sheer repetition tends to bog the work down. Two whole pages might contribute to our view of a particular glacier, and suddenly Muir reports that he's finished a 200-mile leg of his journey on foot. He tells us when he's climbed a glacier, and along the way we've missed an entire week. Time and space almost have no medium in this publication, utterly lost when gazing upon a glacier. For nature lovers who will never go to Alaska, the descriptions in this book make the ranges and glaciers come alive in print, but as a dramatic journey, a travelogue, or a field manual for the Alaskan bush, this book forms only a vague shadow.

4 out of 5 stars Muir in southeast Alaska........2002-09-25

I confess up front, it's been a few years since I read Muir's Travels in Alaska. Yet significant aspects I remember well. Given Muir's exuberance for life and almost everything he encounters in his travels, one almost looses view of Muir the botanist and geologist. But not quite. Here we find the author contemplating the activity of glaciers and documenting the flora of southeast Alaska. Muir (who tended strongly toward vegetarianism) gleefully entertaining himself by foiling duck hunters. Baffling the locals by happily wandering out into major storms.
The book is a journal of Muir's 1879, 1880, and 1890 trips (he wouldn't mind if we called them adventures) to SE Alaska's glaciers, rivers, and temperate rain forests. He died while preparing this volume for publication.
I remind myself, and anyone reading this, that Muir isn't for every reader. And, as other reviewers have stated, this may not be the volume in which to introduce oneself to the one-of-a-kind John Muir. One reviewer doesn't think that Muir is entirely credible in these accounts. I won't say whether or not this is wrong, but I tend to a different view. For some of us -- and certainly for Muir -- wilderness is a medicine, a spiritual tonic, so to speak. For the individual effected in this way, physical impediments and frailties rather dissolve away when he is alone in wildness. I once heard Graham Mackintosh (author of Into a Desert Place) speak of this. In all of his travels alone in the desert, he doesn't recall having ever been sick. This may not sound credible to some, but I strongly suspect it is true.
If you like Muir's writings, read this book. If you like the stuff of Best Sellers, perhaps you should look elsewhere.

3 out of 5 stars The Literary Side of Science.......2002-03-12

Nature is a beautiful and highly complicated phenomena of this world. Many have sought to understand it and capture its essence in writing. The nature writings of John Muir succeed in capturing the beauty of nature as well as the scientific aspect. I have to be honest, I wasn't that enthused about reading a book about science. I expected Muir's book to be identical to a science textbook, definitely not my idea of enjoyment. However, his book was actually full of detailed descriptions and creative uses of similes, metaphors, and analogies. In fact, it completely changed my perception of a scientific novel.

In his book, "Travels in Alaska", Muir brings alive the magnificence of the vast expanses of unexplored Alaskan territory. His prose reveals his enthusiasm for nature, and he weaves clear and distinct pictures through his words. Muir's writing is very personal. His favorable feelings toward the land are very apparent, and reading the book is like reading his diary or journal. He avoids using scientific jargon that would confuse and frustrate the average reader; his words are easily understood.

Muir also uses very detailed descriptions throughout "Travels in Alaska". Although at times his painstaking description is a plus, at others, he seems to take it a little too far. Numerous times throughout the book, Muir spent a paragraph or two talking about something slightly insignificant. He would go off on a tangent of enthusiasm for something as simple as a sunrise or the rain. While his careful observances make the book enjoyable, the sometimes excessive detail tends to detract from the point he was trying to make. The description also reveals that his heart and soul was in his research; this became very evident upon reading the long and thoughtful descriptions.

"Travels in Alaska" can be appreciated by a wide audience. Muir shines light upon the Alaskan territory, and he is detailed in his account of the many people he meets. Anyone could read the book and find enjoyment learning about Alaska when it was for the most part unsettled. Muir shares with the readers his keen insight upon the various Indian tribes that lived in Alaska. At one point in the book, he gives a very detailed description of one tribe's feasting and dancing. His observances capture exactly what he saw and the feelings these observances evoked in him.

John Muir's writing is of high quality. He incorporates beautiful and creative similes, metaphors, and analogies. His prose is very poetic, which makes it an enjoyable read. For example, Muir says that "when we contemplate the world as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty." His work is also very organized. The book is divided into 3 sections, or parts of his trip, as well as separate chapters devoted to specific subjects. Muir spends one chapter describing his trip to Puget Sound, another on Wrangell Island, etc. The book follows a specific format that ensures that everything is easily followed and understood.

Truthfully, I was impressed with the writing, and the fact that it was nothing like a textbook. It incorporated the literary aspect so well, that the book held my interest whereas a textbook would not have. I had the wrong impression of a scientific novel, and I urge anyone unfamiliar with the genre, to give "Travels in Alaska" a fair try. It may just change your mind about scientific writing.

3 out of 5 stars Don't start your Muir education with this one.......2002-03-03

If you're new to John Muir's writings, please don't start with this one. It's a worthwhile read in its own right, don't get me wrong. But read _My First Summer in the Sierra_ or a Muir biography like Michael P. Cohen's _The Pathless Way_ before you move on to this one. Get a good dose of what the naturalist is like and learn some of his background, and then you'll be in the proper frame of mind to tackle _Travels in Alaska_. Otherwise, this book is just one glacier after another. And bless his heart, Muir wants to see them all. And climb them and explore them and sketch them and hike their entire lengths and write about them ad nauseum. He leaves his companions in his wake and puts himself squarely in the face of isolated danger over and over again. Read this book first, and you'll think he's insane. Know his roots in Wisconsin and his good work in California, and you'll be better able to appreciate what he thinks of and does in the Alaska of the late 1800s.
Alaska Wildlife: An Introduction to Familiar Plants and Animals (Pocket Naturalist - Waterford Press)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Alaska Wildlife
Alaska Wildlife: An Introduction to Familiar Plants and Animals (Pocket Naturalist - Waterford Press)
James Kavanagh
Manufacturer: Waterford Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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  2. Alaska Trees & Wildflowers Alaska Trees & Wildflowers
  3. The Nature of Alaska, 2nd: An Introduction to Familiar Plants and Animals and Natural Attractions (Field Guides - Waterford Press) The Nature of Alaska, 2nd: An Introduction to Familiar Plants and Animals and Natural Attractions (Field Guides - Waterford Press)
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ASIN: 1583551069

Book Description

The Pocket Naturalist card is a pocket-sized, folding card which provides simplified, easy-to-use reference to what everyone should know about familiar plants, animals, and natural history. Maps are included to highlight prominent sanctuaries and outstanding natural attractions. Every card is laminated so that it is waterproof and practical for use in the field. This card highlights over 100 of Alaska's most familiar mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Alaska Wildlife.......2007-06-27

These are the best thing to make you study the surrounding of which you visit. I have all of the Alaska pocket naturalist subject now. I love them.
Snowshoes and Spotted Dick: Letters from a Wilderness Dweller
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    Snowshoes and Spotted Dick: Letters from a Wilderness Dweller
    Chris Czajkowski
    Manufacturer: Harbour Publishing
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 1550172794

    Book Description

    Chris Czajkowski chose to build her life and small ecotourism business on the shore of a high-altitude lake near the southern tip of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. It is a formidable landscape of lake-dotted alpine plateaus abutting the glacier-swathed backbone of the central Coast Range.

    Snowshoes and Spotted Dick describes Czajkowski's experiences as she builds her fourth cabin in the wilderness with hand tools, two chainsaws, an Alaskan Mill and some helpful friends. One of her helpers is Nick Berwain, a quiet but literary young German who corresponds with Czajkowski long after his return home.

    In these fascinating letters to Berwain, Czajkowski details her often solitary life: how she breaks trails by snowshoe with her two pack dogs, encounters grizzly bears, builds a custom stone oven and learns how to use it to bake bread -and spotted dick, a traditional English steamed pudding. The letters also chronicle Czajkowski's challenges and triumphs as she tries to finish her cabin. Food and building supplies must be flown in and Czajkowski must hike more than 30 kilometres to the nearest road to lead guiding trips and to attend craft fairs and book promotions to supplement her income.

    Lyrically written, Snowshoes and Spotted Dick provides a close look at a simpler way of life that most of us only dream about, one that cleaves to nature with beauty, resilience and independence.
    Of Landscape and Longing: Finding a Home at the Water's Edge (World As Home, The)
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • Home IS where the heart is.
    Of Landscape and Longing: Finding a Home at the Water's Edge (World As Home, The)
    Carolyn Servid
    Manufacturer: Milkweed Editions
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    Accessories:
    1. Oxford Garden Designs CD60  5-Foot English Garden Bench Oxford Garden Designs CD60 5-Foot English Garden Bench

    ASIN: 1571312382

    Amazon.com

    Carolyn Servid, the child of American parents, grew up in a village in tropical India. America seemed to her, she writes in Of Landscape and Longing, "a world apart," a foreign country in which she could never quite fit. Small wonder, then, that she chose to settle in a once-remote and distant pocket of America, in the little Alaskan town of Sitka, to work as a writer and teacher. Her slender book gathers essays inspired by her time in India, Alaska, and places in between, essays that return to questions of how one finds and makes a home, a place of rootedness and belonging, a place in which to battle homesickness for all the other places we've known. A keen, spiritually inclined observer of the natural world, and a committed defender of the untamed forests that surround her, she writes easily of salmon and eagles, of clouds and spruce trees. And while Servid sometimes lapses into sentimentality--you might not guess, reading her, that humpback whales sing for their own purposes, and not strictly to awaken noble and loving thoughts in the humans who happen to overhear them--her exaltation at living at the water's edge, close to wild animals and the wild ocean, rings true. --Gregory McNamee

    Book Description

    Though Americans move frequently and often live far from the place they were born, they retain a memory of the landscape of childhood. For Carolyn Servid, and for others who love shorelines and boats, this imprinted place is where water meets trees. Using memoir as a means of meditation, Servid writes about connections to the land and the ways our love of a place can lead us to see it as an adversary, as she once felt during an ascent in Glacier Bay; as something to be consumed, as in the sprouting of mansions in the valleys of Colorado; or as a lover, as in her intimate, abiding knowledge of the shore near her home, where her greatest pleasure is to row her Banks dory among the whales and nearby islands.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Home IS where the heart is........2000-06-11

    In her several essays on the landscapes through which Carolyn Servid has traveled, from India to Alaska, she lets us understand her secret longing, the drive of her restlessness and her seeking for something outside herself. She also takes us into the journey with memories and descriptions that are powerful and simple. She describes India so you feel the heat and hear the music. She gives us Alaska as close to the way it is, which is impossible to capture completely, but Carolyn comes as close as anyone I know.

    The economy in Southeast Alaska depended for a long time on timber harvest as one of its foundations. That is changing and has changed. In her chapter "Thoughts on Trees: Who Could Live Without This Grace?" Carolyn takes us on a very different journey than one might expect. This is no purely "greenie" diatribe but a thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation about value, comunity, value-added, nature and humanity in its intricate struggle for survival and our constant battle to find and place meaning where it can do either harm or much good.

    It is clear throughout this book that Carolyn loves this land and its people and its problems. Falling in love with the landscape over and over again, she reminds us how fragile we are, how implacable are all of nature's forces, and how, if we listen, we can learn.

    This is on my "I recommend this book to everyone I know" list. It is also a very good introduction to life in Southeast Alaska.
    Denali : Reflections of a Naturalist
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Denali : Reflections of a Naturalist
      Kennan Ward
      Manufacturer: Creative Publishing International
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

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      ASIN: 1559717165

      Book Description

      Author/photographer Kennan Ward uses spectacular images to guide readers on an intimate journey that lovingly reveals this very special place and shares some of his many personal experiences. For this book, Ward was given unprecedented access to areas of the park that is home to Mt. McKinely, North America's highest peak.

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      1. Alpine Flower Finder: The Key to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers Found Above Timberline
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