Best of the Year Reviews
Best of the Year Books of 2015 includes:
Winners of the National Outdoor Book Awards
.
And the following . . .
All Fishermen Are Liars By John Gierach. Simon & Schuster, NY. ISBN 9781451618310
Best of 2015 Award
John Gierach is surely in the top echelon of outdoor writers, but there is nothing rarefied about his writing. He emerges from his books and articles as an easy going, down-to-earth guy, not much into fancy clothes, who simply loves to fish.
It comes, then, as no surprise that his writing style isn't fancy either. He doesn't write at his readers. He writes with his readers.
But there's something else, a quality evident just below the surface, that makes Gierach such a pleasure to read, and that's his warmth. Reading his books is like sitting down with a favorite uncle and listening to his stories while a fire crackles and pops in a nearby wood stove. What could be better?
All Fisherman are Liars consists 22 stories, ranging far and wide from way up north in Canada to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to his home fishing streams in Colorado. In all of these, his simple but highly effective story telling skills are on full display.
Thoreau who once wrote that "many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." There's no better proof of that truism in the writings of John Gierach.
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Defending Idaho's Natural Heritage By Ken Robison. Boise, ID. ISBN 9870578140933
Best of 2015 Award
Defending Idaho's Natural Heritage is an impressive and penetrating history of Idaho's conservation movement, and there was no better person to write that history than Ken Robison.
Ken Robison is a journalist and for many years served as the editorial editor at Idaho's flagship newspaper, the Idaho Statesman. He was later elected to the Idaho legislature, but he continued reporting and writing on environmental issues, founding a magazine called the Idaho Citizen.
He was present on the scene, a keen-eyed observer and reporter, during the most tumultuous — and productive — times in the Idaho conservation movement.
It was during the three decades of the 1960's, 70's and 80's that monumental battles were waged over Idaho's wild lands and rivers. These were David and Goliath battles: small Idaho-based conservation groups and individuals with little or no funds up against business lobbyists and corporate lawyers with unlimited expense accounts. What came from those struggles are such national treasures as the River of No Return Wilderness, the Sawtooth Recreation Area, the Selway-Bitterrroot Wilderness, and Hell's Canyon National Recreation Area.
Robison's book is one of the most important works on the Idaho conservation movement ever to be published, and it will long be a reliable source of historical information.
For a more lengthy review, see Defending Idaho's Natural Heritage
Defending Idaho can be purchased directly with the author's site: Defending Idaho
Best of 2014
The Last Voyageur: Amos Burg and the Rivers of the West by Vince Welch The Mountaineers Books, Seattle. ISBN 9781594857010
Best of 2014 Award
This labor-of-love book is a vivid portrait of a pioneering river explorer and a welcomed addition to outdoor literature.
Vince Welch co-authored the Doing of the Thing, an outstanding biography about another pioneering river runner Buzz Holmstrom which won the National Outdoor Book Award in 1998.
After a long period of research, he is back with a new book, this time about Amos Burg. Entitled The Last Voyager, the book fills in the blanks and has greatly expanded our knowledge of this adventurer extraordinaire.
In a burst of activity over a 20-year period from 1920 to 1940, Burg ran the Columbia, Snake, Green, Colorado, Yukon, Mackenzie, Yellowstone, Missouri, and Mississippi Rivers. Gone for months at a time, he was both consumed and seduced by rivers and never married until very late in life.
Burg was determined and ambitious, but he was also refreshingly modest. “Burg would have been embarrassed to find himself hoisted on a pedestal,” Welch writes. “Nevertheless, he serves as a marker on the river of time, a witness to change who wore his heart on his sleeve when it came to rivers. He traveled the western waterways in pursuit of beauty, adventure and excitement . . . . His explorations were as much of the landscape as the human heart.”
Bravo to Welch for putting an equal amount of heart into this fine biography and giving us front row seat into Amos Burg’s fascinating life.
For a more lengthy review, see The Last Voyageur
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Adventure Inward: A Risk Taker’s Book of Quotes by Jonathan Wunrow, Life is Twisted Press. ISBN 9780985188146.
Best of 2014 Award
I have several books of quotes on my bookshelf, but with the publication of Jonathan Wunrow’s Adventure Inward, I’ve moved all of the others aside. This 200-page volume is packed full of quotes by famous writers, poets, climbers, and philosophers. It also includes quite a few names that you probably won’t recognize and which gives the book a down-to-earth feel, adding to its appeal.
It’s an eclectic collection of quotes, from the ancient words of Li Po and his love of a
mountain . . .
We never grow tired of each other,
the mountain and I
To Edward Abbey’s benediction of the outdoor life . . .
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.
You’ll find plenty of gems. There are words of inspiration . . .
Twenty years from now you’ll be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. (Mark Twain)
And the humorous . . .
You have to stay in shape. My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. Now she’s ninety-seven and we don’t know where the hell she is. (Ellen DeGeneres)
Wunrow divides the book into sixteen sections. Here are a few: “Why Play a Risky Game,” “The Beauty of Nature,” “The Moment,” “Find Your Path in Life,” and “Being Open to the Possible.” Each section is introduced by Wunrow with brief commentary which nicely sums up the collection of quotes that follow.
As I read through them, every so often I’d wonder about the author of the quote – particularly those by little known authors. Did Wunrow overhear it? Is it re-quoted by someone else? Did he come across it in a book or an article? Albeit, it is understandable that Wurow wasn’t able to include source notes. Books are expensive to print and there’s only so much space, but perhaps we can prevail upon Wunrow to include source information some day on his website.
But I’m splitting hairs here. What’s important is that Wunrow has done a commendable job with Adventure Inward — and done us all a favor by putting together this fine assemblage of quotes.
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Cabin Creek Chronicle: The History of the Most Remote Ranch in America By G. Wayne Minshall, Streamside Scribe Press. ISBN 9780984949014
Best of 2014 Award
The central Idaho wilderness has left an indelible mark on author Wayne Minshall. It was plainly evident in his first historical work, a fascinating account of the Caswell brothers who through plain hard work and inventiveness eked out a living along Big Creek, a major stream in what is now known as the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.
Minshall returns to the Big Creek country in his second book Cabin Creek Chronicles, and once again, recounts the drama of human life far away from civilization.
Even in this remote country where only a handful of people live, there are murders, adultery, and greed intermixed with a modicum neighborly goodness. His book is all focused on one piece of ground — and the succession of changes that occurred there — at the mouth of Cabin Creek, first homesteaded by the Caswells.
Cabin Creek Chronicle is another exceptional work by a fine historical writer. Put this one on your “must read” list. You won’t be disappointed.
For a more lengthy review, see Cabin Creek Chronicle
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Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey Inoto the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon. By Paul Rosolie. HarperCollins, NY. ISBN 9780062259516
Best of 2014 Award
At the age of 18, Paul Rosolie travelled to and spent time in the Amazonian rain forest. Upon returning to his home in New Jersey, he was a changed person.
The Amazon drew him back again and again, and each time, he travelled farther and farther away from civilized outposts, lured by a biology gone wild, spellbound by an explosion of life forms unequalled anywhere in the world: trees covered in mosses, lichens and vines, merging into a continuous green canopy above, strange smells and sounds, colorful soaring birds, crawling insects, floating forests, shambling giant anacondas, and prowling jaguars.
Rosolie is an adventurer in the full sense of the word, but his book is more than a gripping adventure story; it's also an appeal to halt the deforestation of the Amazon which, left unchecked, may have world-wide climate and ecological repercussions. It's a fine book, written with passion and insightfulness, and offering a true picture of the South American rain forest.
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Flying Off Everest: A Journey from Summit to Sea. By Dave Costello. Lyons Press, Guilford, CT. ISBN 9780762789665
Best of 2014 Award
In the spring of 2011, two young Nepalise men embarked on an adventure of a lifetime. It was an improbable adventure: to climb Everest, paraglide from the top and then kayak 400 miles to the ocean. One of the men had no real climbing experience. The other had never been kayaking. But those were minor obstacles to the two strong hearted, starry eyed Nepalis. What was important was the dream.
Author Dave Costello brings this remarkable story to life in this well-researched and well-written account. You'll laugh and you'll be amazed what they did with practically no money and using begged and borrowed gear. This is what true adventure is all about.
Did they actually accomplish what they set out to do? I won't give it away, but I will give you a hint: flying off of Everest was the easy part.
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Best of 2013
The Sparks Fly Upward: A Novel. By Jon Correll, Inkwater Press, Portland, OR. ISBN 9781592998883
Best of 2013 Award
Sparks Fly Upward takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in the early 1970's. It’s about Nate Miller as he finishes high school, leaves his rural home, and goes on to college in the big city. It’s about young romance and homespun decency - and one inevitable, fatal flaw, the consequences of which are foreshadowed on a hunting trip taken by Miller in which he drives himself to near collapse tracking a deer that he has wounded.
What impressed me most about this book is the author's ability to capture dialog. There's nothing contrived about the characters. They are well developed, and real enough that you feel like you're in the midst of the hill country, standing with Nate Miller as he interacts with family and friends. I found it a fine first effort by a new author and quite worthy of having a look.
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The Milepost: Alaska Travel Planner. Edited by Kris Valencia, Morris Communications Company, Anchorage, AK. ISBN 9781892154309.
Best of 2013 Honorable Mention
Since 1949, the Milepost has been the bible of North Country travel. This is the 2013 version. Like the versions before, it provides mile-by-mile descriptions of all major highways and roads in Alaska and northwestern Canada. It's indispensible if you drive from the lower 48 to Alaska as well as a useful resource if you travel by plane, ferry or even bicycle.
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Best of Year: 2012
Best of 2012
Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest. By Wade Davis. Alfred A. Knoff, New York. ISBN 9780375408892
Every so often a book comes along that is so good that you have to slow down, turn the pages languidly, and savor the time you spend with it. Into the Silence is one of those books.
It is the story of George Mallory and his attempts to reach the summit of Everest. There has been much written about Mallory, but Wade Davis creates a picture of the man like none other.
Mallory was a part of Great Britain’s World War I generation, a generation that was almost entirely wiped out in the trenches of the Western Front. Yet, from the mud and filth of those trenches arose a cadre of climbers who set their sights on a far more laudable goal: the airy summits of the Himalayas.
Their quest became the quest of a nation, a way for Britain to cleanse itself and to seek a more hopeful future by putting the horrors of the war behind. Wade traces Mallory, and the primary players of the Everest quest, through those terrible years until they finally arrive at the foot of the great mountain.
But climbing Everest was only half the battle. Both Nepal and Tibet, wary of foreigners, had closed their borders to outsiders. Nepal was clearly unreachable. Thus, early expeditions focused on Tibet, and through sensitive diplomatic maneuvering, obtained permission for expeditions in 1921, 1922 and 1924.
On the first expedition in1921, very little time was spent climbing. Almost all of their energies went into finding a way to the base of the mountain, and once reached, locating a possible route to the top.
By 1924, however, climbers had done all that and had pioneered a route which they believe could lead them to success. It was late in the 1924 expedition, with the summit still unattained, that Mallory and his climbing partner Andrew Irvine positioned themselves for one final attempt. An observer lower on the mountain watched them ascend and then disappear into the mists of the upper mountain . . . disappearing forever into the silence.
Don’t miss out on this one. Into the Silence is outstanding on all counts: a richly told, sweeping historical narrative. But take your time. Read it slowly and savor every minute.
Best of 2012
Canyons and Ice: the Wilderness Travels of Dick Griffith. By Kaylene Johnson, Ember Press, Eagle River, AK. ISBN 9781467509343
There is no doubt in my mind. Alaskan Dick Griffith is the most hardened and experienced wilderness traveler of our age. Canyons and Ice is his story.
Griffith has walked and skied more than 6,000 miles across Alaska and the Canadian Arctic. Think about that. It's just under 3,000 miles across the entire U.S. from Albany, New York to San Francisco. Dick Griffith did that distance twice over - twice over! He had no roads to follow, no trails to guide his way - persevering, alone, through wild, remote country and bitter cold temperatures.
That's not all. Griffith was among the early river runners of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. He was the first to run the formidable Lava Falls in an inflatable raft. Along with his wife, he traversed the length of Copper Canyon in Mexico.
Canyons and Ice is Dick Griffith's story - and it's one story well worth reading.
For a more lengthy review, see Canyons and Ice
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Best of 2012
Big Water, Little Boats. By Tom Martin, Vishnu Temple Press, Flagstaff, AZ. ISBN 9780979505560
In this elegantly designed book, Tom Martin chroncles the adventures of the pioneers of wooden dories on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Martin focuses on Moulty Fulmer and Fulmer's innovative and ground breaking dory that he constructed named the "Gem."
The river was truly wild then before the advent of the Glen Canyon Dam, and in one chapter, Martin tells the story of a 1957 trip when the Colorado was running at an amazing 126,000 cubic feet per second. (The average flow on the Colorado River these days is 15,000 cubic feet per second.)
His descriptions of 1950's river trips are a joy to read and revealing, in many ways, of the dynamics of egos and personalities when a group of people live closely together and face the challenges of a wilderness river.
At the conclusion of the book, Martin re-constructs a replica of Fulmer's "Gem" and with it attempts a run down the canyon. It turns out to be the perfect finishing touch to this fine, new historical text, certain a find a place among exceptional works about the river runners of the Grand Canyon.
For a more complete review, see Big Water, Little Boats
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Honorable Mention: Best of 2012
Walking the Amazon: 860 Days. One Step at a Time. By Ed Stafford, Penguin Group, New York. ISBN 9780452298262
Tangled jungles, sweltering humidity, fetid swamps, bitting ants, lethal snakes, and a beaucratic maze of governmental and native permits, author Ed Stafford lived and survived a nightmare. He set out with a friend at the Pacific Ocean in Peru and together they crossed the Andes, reaching the real starting point of the journey: the source of the Amazon.
Somewhere afterwards, his friend bows out and others join him from time to time, but finally, he ends up with forestry worker "Cho" Rivera who, committed as he is, walks all but four months of the twenty-eight month epic.
There's nothing fancy about Stafford's writing. It's a plainly told narrative, but I guarentee that once you start the book, you won't be able to put it down - even if you're like me and don't have a particular affinity for jungles. He re-creates the journey: the day-to-day grind, the dark and wet, steamy forest, and the internal debate going on his mind which leads him chillingly close to madness.
The Amazon is not all tangled jungle. We learn that towns and roads have increasingly encroached on this last outpost of rain forest wilderness, and where they lie close to the river, he follows roads and forest trails. At night, when near outposts of civilization, he stays with families, or recovers in hotels in small and large cities. Frequently, he is re-stocked with food and supplies. He keeps admirers informed of his progress with regular blog reports.
But, he is never lured away from his goal, and along with his trusty and grounded companion Cho, he heads back again and again for days and weeks at a time in the dark Amazon forest.
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Best of the Year - Honorable Mention
Wilderness Brothers: Prospecting, Horse Packing & Homesteading on the Western Frontier. By G. Wayne Minshall. Steamside Scribe Press, Inkom, ID. ISBN 9780984949007
Honorable Mention: Best of 2012
The book centers on the diaries of Luman Caswell who along with his brother in the 1800's, take a 2,500-mile journey by buckboard wagon and horseback, eventually settling along Big Creek deep in the mountainous wilderness of central Idaho. It is, in fact, still wilderness to this day.
There's much here more than homesteading. In the wilderness, a day or two journey from their small ranch, Caswell and his brothers eventually discover enough gold that they set off what would become one the last great gold rushes: the Thunder Mountain rush.
For a more complete review, see: Wilderness Brothers
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Links to the Best Books of Other Years: See List