Gifts of the Wild: A Woman's Book of Adventure (Adventura Books)

Amazon.com

Wilderness offers our jaded age a way to test our soft and hard spots. The 34 writers in Gifts of the Wild touch down in Patagonia and Nepal and skip across vast expanses of America. Visiting college professor Pam Houston dips a toe into freezing waters and the bonds between men by joining a group of fly-fishing male poets on their after-midnight jaunts. Susana Levin's sharply honed "Night Skates" follows a loose-knit clan of deranged urban guerrillas who cruise the huffing rise and stomach-churning drops of San Francisco's streets on in-line skates at night. Spilling down the long, dizzy ski jump of Golden Gate Avenue, says Levin, "I was having the kind of rush you only get when you're doing something really fun, really stupid and illegal." Whether read in an armchair or stuffed into a backpack, this lively collection calls to the wild in all of us. --Francesca Coltrera

Customer Reviews:

Excellent. Uplifting and Positive........1998-12-29

I bought this book for a friend for Christmas on a whim. When I previewed it, I decided that I needed a copy as well. This is a fantastic book.

Inspirational.......1998-05-27

What a fabulous book! It's a collection of writings by women about their experiences in the outdoors...ranging from a terrifying night skate down the hills of San Francisco to a swim with wild dolphins to ice climbing to a walk in the forest. Every story is wonderfully written and inspires me to experience life to the fullest.

Gifts of the Wild:A Woman's Book of Adventure

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Gifts of the Wild:A Woman's Book of Adventure
Adventura Books Editors:
Manufacturer: Seal
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JLI59S

Customer Reviews:

A wealth of information though not well organized.......2001-05-07

This volume is dense with information though it's not organized in a way that makes finding specific information effortless. Chapters cover the history of cemeteries, the history in cemeteries, buried body parts, epitaphs and animal cemeteries. No illustrations, but a good bibliography and decent index.

Customer Reviews:

The Thief with 20 faces.......2006-08-30

Akira seems like your normal 4th grader. He goes to school, participates on the student council and cooks breakfast for his moms every morning. But he really is the mysterious 20 Faces, a "gentleman thief" who steals whatever his parents ask him to. One night while hiding from the police he meets a young girl who instantly falls in love with him. But can a thief really find true love?

CLAMP has a wonderful knack for coming up with unique stories, and this is no exception. The characters are very memorable and the art is beautiful. However, it lacks some of the reality and depth of their better works, making this seem weak compared to their other books. A good read, but if you are looking for something exciting I would try Cardcaptor Sakura.

This is adorable! I love it!.......2003-05-16

I personally think that the characters of Clamp School Detectives are the anime version of Alvin and the Chipmunks. This book, however, does a little bit to discourage that notion.
For one thing, I like the Detectives better than the Chipmunks. Nokuru, Suoh, and Akira are not half as annoying as their furry counterparts, and they don't sing. Actually, the list could go on.

Anyway, the art in this (like in all CLAMP works) is top-notch, cream-of-the-crop, absolutely perfect. The story is cute (unbelievable at some parts, kinda goofy at others), and the characters are likable (most of them).

Here's a quick rundown of the plot of this first book. Akira Ijuyin works as the youngest member of the Student Council and Detectives at Clamp School. By night he is the master thief 20 faces, who steals strange things at the whim of a pair of crimelords--his beautiful young mothers! Yes, he has two mothers. Don't ask me, I'm still trying to figure that one out. Anyway, while hiding from the cops, he meets a pretty kindergartener named Utako. He carries on a secret friendship with her by sneaking into her room to visit her every week.

The second book will explore the depths of the relationship as they grow older.

This book is not to be missed, Clamp fan or not!

Book Description

Highlighting achievements of the past and challenges of the future, this volume presents the most important ecological issues. Major topics are addressed in evolution and population biology; functional and community ecology; the ecology of changing environments; and the ecology of ecosystems, management and human impacts. Key aspects of contemporary ecology and its interfaces with related disciplines, such as genetics and economics, are also considered.

Using the chemical literature: A practical guide (Books in library and information science)
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Using the chemical literature: A practical guide (Books in library and information science)
Henry M Woodburn
Manufacturer: M. Dekker
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books
General & Reference | Chemistry | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0824762606

Customer Reviews:

Very interesting!.......2004-09-05

This book tells it all. The book is very informative and if you are ever planning on saving with funeral costs, you must read this. You should check with your local funeral home regarding buying your own casket. They are not all as receptive as they should be to receiving your own pre-purchased one. My mother said the so true words at my fathers' funeral 14 years ago. She said to the undertaker "Boy you guys sure have a racket going!"
READ THIS BOOK!

A Book Everyone Should Read !!.......2000-12-14

This 238 page book is loaded with the facts we all need to intelligently make final arrangements for our loved ones, or pre-need for ourselves. Everyone should read this book as it guides you and makes it easier for you to make funeral arrangements. It will help you arrange for the most appropriate funeral cost-effectively, and you'll avoid the pitfalls that can occur at your time of need. Major topics include: Caskets, embalming, vaults, visiting the mortuary, memorial gardens, FTC rules, paying for the funeral, how to deal with the funeral director and more. It exposes rip-offs, and exposes some of the tactics used that can result in your spending more than is necessary. Most funeral directors are very helpful and honest at your time of need. This book will help you make the decisions that must be made. It is written by someone well experienced in the field, and is written honestly and with wit. You will gain by reading this book. It WILL help you get through a difficult period.

Very Enlightening Reading.......1999-08-25

I quite enjoyed this book. I have been interested in the funeral industry as my father was once a mortician. I believe that anyone who wants to educate themselves about the industry should read this expose.

Astonishing insight into the death care industry........1998-08-25

Profits of Death is tremendously well-written and presents important information that affects each of us at some point in our lives. No one wants to think about death, but Darryl presents his information in an empowering, yet "light" and somewhat entertaining manner. A must read for everyone! Darryl not only provides readers with insights into what goes on when you plan a funeral, but provides specific tips to prevent one from being scammed.

Book Description

While best known for the immensely popular and controversial novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe is also the author of an extensive body of additional work on American culture and politics. Playing many roles--journalist, pamphleteer, novelist, preacher, and advisor on domestic affairs--Stowe used the written word as a vehicle for religious, social, and political commentaries, often leavening them with entertainment in order to reach a broad audience. She had a profound effect on American culture, not because her ideas were unique, but because they were common. What made her so radical was that she insisted on putting her ideas into action. The Oxford Harriet Beecher Stowe Reader offers a focused collection of Stowe's writings from the 1830s through the 1860s. Illustrating her broad range, rhetorical strategies, and cultural designs on the world, it is ideal for courses in nineteenth-century American literature, women's literature, and American history. The volume collects those selections best suited for classroom use, reprinting many pieces here for the first time. Editor Joan D. Hedrick provides a substantial introduction that assesses Stowe's vital impact on nineteenth-century American literature, politics, and culture. The readings are divided into three sections: Early Sketches, Antislavery Writings, and Domestic Culture and Politics. Early Sketches presents the finest writing of Stowe's literary apprenticeship. Antislavery Writings includes Uncle Tom's Cabin in its entirety, placing it in the context of Stowe's considerable and often-overlooked body of other antislavery writings. This section also includes a generous selection from A Key To Uncle Tom's Cabin, a companion volume to the novel. Domestic Culture and Politics shows the scope of Stowe's thinking on the Victorian home, for which she was a major propagandist. The inclusion here of "The True Story of Lady Byron's Life," an expose of male debauchery and incest at the core of a nineteenth-century home, represents Stowe's willingness to tackle the most challenging political and social issues of her time.

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Oxford Harriet Beecher Stowe Reader.
Joan D. (ed) Hedrick
Manufacturer: Publisher Unknown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UYIITQ

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The Oxford Harriet Beecher Stowe Reader
Joan D. Hedrick
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKQ640

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Oxford Harriet Beecher Stowe Reader.

Manufacturer: 1999
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IC5RAI

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Oxford Harriet Beecher Stowe Reader.
Joan D. (ed) Hedrick
Manufacturer: 1999
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TABVLI

Posada's Popular Mexican Prints: 273 Cuts By Jose Guadalupe Posada
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Posada's Popular Mexican Prints: 273 Cuts By Jose Guadalupe Posada
Roberto Berdecio
Manufacturer: Dover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K13BQO

Book Description

On 7th June 1981 a group of F-16 fighter-bombers from the Israeli Air Force bombed the newly completed French-built Iraqi nuclear reactor at Tuwaitha, south-east of Baghdad. The F-16s dived in low and dropped 2000lb iron bombs and 900lb HE bombs on the main reactor building destroying the reactor, yet leaving only one casualty. Up above six F-15 fighters flew "top cover" while on the border of Iraq CH-53 Air Rescue helicopters were ready to retrieve any pilots who were shot down. The Iraqi air defences around the reactor were formidable with SA-6 (Gainful), SA-2 and SA-3 anti-aircraft missiles and ZSU-57-2 and ZSU-23-4 radar guided anti-aircraft guns and MIG-21 and MIG-23MF fighter interceptors based at a nearby airfield.
What was more remarkable was that the Israeli strike team had to fly over several Arab countries to reach Iraq and fly within range of Saudi and US AWACs planes which were fully capable of spotting them hundreds of miles to the north.
Fully updated with new, formerly classified information, this work includes new photographs taken during the mission and from US spy satellites showing the damage to the reactor. For the first time the names of the pilots are revealed, one of them was Israel's first astronaut who was sadly killed in the Space Shuttle crash in February 2003.
Media opinion, which was very hostile back in 1982, has over time come round to the idea that this was correct and timely action by Israel.

Customer Reviews:

The chronicle of a daring air strike .......2007-09-11

This book is really useful today, since all indicators show that an Israeli air strike against Iran seems to be just a matter of time. During the 1970s Israel faced the same problem of national extinction (or so it assumed) at the hands of a hated enemy, when Saddam's regime made great efforts to construct nuclear reactors (with French help) and probably to develop nuclear weapons. The Israelis reacted with a campaign of preventive assasinations and diplomatic pressure worldwide which didn't bear fruit, thus they had to resort to a well planned air strike by their newest fighters, the F-16s. The book focuses more on the political than the military matters (for which it loses one star in my opinion) and shows how Tel Aviv took the decision to unlease its fighters and why it chose the specific time to do so, taking into account pure political considerations regarding the opposition parties in Israel and the need for a decive action before a possible change of government. There are some very good black and white photos and also some maps. For the aviation fans I would recommend also the older book "Bullseye One Reactor" which is excellent in covering the military aspects of the raid, although it does't give any name of the Israeli pilots who executed it (this book does reveal the names and the faces of the protagonists).

A Cardboard Castle? An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955-1991 (National Security Archive Cold War Readers)
Average customer rating:

A mammoth collection

An excellent historical source

A Cardboard Castle? An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955-1991 (National Security Archive Cold War Readers)

Manufacturer: Central European University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Eastern | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Cold War : A New History

Nuclear First Strike: Consequences of a Broken Taboo

The Cold War: A Military History

Colossus Reborn: The Red Army At War, 1941-1943 (Modern War Studies)

Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary

ASIN: 9637326073

Product Description

A Cardboard Castle? is the first book to document, analyze, and interpret the history of the Warsaw Pact based on the archives of the alliance itself. As suggested by the title, the Soviet bloc military machine that held the West in awe for most of the Cold War does not appear from the inside as formidable as outsiders often believed, nor were its strengths and weaknesses the same at different times in its surprisingly long history, extending for almost half a century. The introductory study by Mastny assesses the controversial origins of the "superfluous" alliance, its subsequent search for a purpose, its crisis and consolidation despite congenital weaknesses, as well as its unexpected demise. Most of the 193 documents included in the book were top secret and have only recently been obtained from Eastern European archives by the PHP project. The majority of the documents were translated specifically for this volume and have never appeared in English before. The introductory remarks to individual documents by co-editor Byrne explain the particular significance of each item. A chronology of the main events in the history of the Warsaw Pact, a list of its leading officials, a selective multilingual bibliography, and an analytical index add to the importance of a publication that sets the new standard as a reference work on the subject and facilitate its use by both students and general readers.

Customer Reviews:

A mammoth collection.......2007-03-25

Back in 2004 when I translated some of the documents for the book, I wondered how the authors would tie them into a readable narrative. But the book works very well. Mastny's introduction gives a sweeping overview of the Warsaw Pact: its potential, its problems, its quarrels and its downfall.

Some of the book's arguments are exceptionally interesting. Among these is Mastny's claim that the Warsaw Pact shifted to an essentially offensive strategy in 1961, and that the military planning reflected Moscow's readiness to take the war deep into Western Europe should it come to it. But the underlying question could be explored in greater depth - why 1961? How did these plans square with Khrushchev's political agenda?

The book's discussion of Romania's obstruction of the Warsaw Pact shows both the Pact's weakness, and also the remarkable tolerance of the Soviet leadership of Romania's persistent sabotage of Moscow's policies.

Mastny makes an interesting point, persuasively in my opinion, that the Brezhnev doctrine preceded the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

China comes up again and again in the narrative, showing the Soviet obsession with Beijing, and how this obsession overshadowed the Warsaw Pact with its emphasis on the Soviet enemies in the West.

The authors' conclusion that the Warsaw Pact was not a cardboard castle, but a "formidable military machine" may be challenged taken the evidence the book itself presents. Readers may get an impression that it was a colossus on clay legs.

Many of the arguments and documents presented in the volume have been previously posted on the website of the Parallel History Project, but it is great to have them in a form of a book.

Overall, the book is indispensable to any scholar of Cold War history; it is an excellent example of the kind of international collaborative effort, which has become a trademark of new Cold War scholarship.

An excellent historical source.......2005-10-16

"A Cardboard Castle?" is an impressively extensive collection of original documents and transcripts of the Warsaw Pact from its beginning in 1955 to its dissolution in 1991. The two main themes in the documents is that the Pact seemed to have no intention of a preemptive attack on Western Europe. The other is that the Pact was not all as united as outside observers believed. This is a great book for historians and for anyone else who is interested in this subject.

However, the book's binding is not the best, so you have to be careful handling it.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful....
Cardboard Castles, the best book I've read yet.

Cardboard Castles
Dimitri Radoyce
Manufacturer: Pacific Writers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0944870082

Book Description

It would be easy to discard the encomium "an innovative writer" as being an overworked phrase, cliched even; but in Axelrod's case, that's not so. After publishing the "feature novel" Bombay California, one might have thought there would be little else one could do with the novel. Though Cardboard Castles does pay homage to the fathers of the modern text (Quevedo, Cervantes, Rabelais, Machado de Assis), Axelrod also establishes himself as innovative in ways unlike the novels of other postmodern Latin American writers such as Garc'a Marquez, Cortazar, Marcio Souza and Borges, the latter of whom Axelrod knew personally. Axelrod slowly dismembers the architectonics of the 19th century "realistic" novel (which continues today under labored breathing) and buries it, albeit with civility and grace, in the archives of what the French structuralist critic Alain Vieux-Sottise has called "the labyrinth of long ago." It's difficult to approach Axelrod's novel (which it surely is) without discussing a bit of its structure. The novel is divided into 130 chapters, which range in length from three lines to thirty pages; it includes a table of contents (an accoutrement that falsely gives the impression that the book can be read at any part); and is replete with visual effects such as: musical notes, resumes, physical exam charts, crossword puzzles, multiple choice exams, and typographic alterations which would have made Joyce envious, all of which significantly alter, if not bombard, the reader's sensibilities of what constitutes a novel. One could easily label his techniques as "gimmicky" if it weren't for the fact that none of the devices are used indiscriminately for their own sakes, but are used precisely within the contextuality. Because of its construction it would be difficult to give an account of what the novel is "about," though the action (if one can call it that) takes place in the United States (Minnesota mainly where Axelrod finished his PhD), England, and France. Though the plot deals essentially with the protagonist's, (the Brazilian-American Duncan Katz) adventures while living in and visiting America, London, Paris, and the south of France, the plot is merely a conveyance for the words he has to use and for the "digressions" that seem to possess him. Unlike Sterne, Axelrod's digressions always seem to mean something, whether he's talking about nostalgia or world hunger, the Jewish Holocaust or basketball. From the outset of the novel, Axelrod is constantly juggling the reader's sensibilities. His prologue is a tour de force of literary wit, irony, and perspicacity as he explains the protagonist's early experiences with books and their effect on him. From that point on, the reader is well aware that what's to follow will not, in most cases, reflect anything like a Balzac novel. From the chapter titled "The Trial," in which Duncan takes God to court to the "split-brain" chapter titled "Rave Gauche, Rave Droit," it is obvious that Axelrod's fiction is in no way some dalliance with literary convention. The comparison that some might make between Axelrod's texts and Joyce's will obviously do a disservice to them both. Joyce's penchant for the portmanteau, metaplasmus and other forms of enallage don't have any significance in Axelrod. Axelrod makes literary use of seemingly non-literary objects and does it in such a way that Joyce, who lacked Axelrod's graphic sense, could not have done. For example, in one chapter titled "Dying, Hadara...," Axelrod uses a simulated telegram complete with sender, receiver, address, and miscopied message in order to emphasize the apparent futility in technological communication. Two chapters later in "...Almost," we discover another telegram stating that the former telegram was incorrect. Undoubtedly, Axelrod's experience with the Noigandres (the Brazilian school of "concrete poetry") prepared him for using these techniques in fiction. Likewise, Axelrod's characters are as diverse as the novel structures of the novel. Katz runs into such characters as Jean-Christophe, a homosexual gardener who becomes famous for his metaphysical treatise titled Meliora Speramus; Hadara Halevi, Katz's lover and an Israeli spy; and, of course, "Death" whom Axelrod first meets while the two of them are sunbathing on the French Riviera. These characters appear and disappear and reappear throughout the 130 chapters which, like his apparent digressions, seem to be randomly arranged, but which, upon closer analysis, one discovers are tightly and neatly organized. Axelrod constantly deals with evanescences, with appearances, with the relativity of truth and how we, as humans, perceive it. Not all of his prose reminds one of some Kafka vagary dressed in Gogol's overcoat; there are those times when the echo of Beckett (a long-time friend) appears as well. But beyond the polyphonia in the novel, the myriad voices of his characters, the exquisite metaphors and limpid rhythms, there is the urgency of Axelrod's prose which pleads to us in so many different ways that in order to survive, we, as humans, must understand that we, as humans, must understand each other. That may be his only truth in a novel that is constantly deprecating the idea that there is a truth. What is more apparent than what may be the truth, is that Axelrod, has, with this single work, established himself as one of the premier novelists, of international fiction today. Axelrod is more than a thread from Cervantes' cape or a stitch from Machado de Assis; he is a seam in the fabric of 21st century fiction.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful...........2007-04-25

I read this book and found it wonderful.

The prose is as nimble as any I've read. The language hops, whoops, and contorts. Readers who read for prose, for the sheer joy of CRAFT expressed on a page, will find it a Godsend.

"Cardboard Castles" achieves its greatness without pretense. Axelrod, throughout a narrative rich with invention, expounds his themes with a lucid eloquence.

It's a dense book--I won't claim more than a sampling of its depths--but, at the same time, it's a tremendously exciting one.

It was hard to put down. I read it in two days. I recommended it in public to people I didn't even know.

Cardboard Castles, the best book I've read yet........1998-06-07

Out of all the books I have read, I feel that this is one of those books that can not be overlooked. I would never have run across this book normally, and now I feel that it is, by far, one of the most cleverly written, and philisophical books I have ever read. It is a book of 127 chapters, and aproxamately 250 pages. It makes for an interesting read. And I feel it is one that is the best for those with short attention span. It deals mainly with life, death, and love. Contained there in are all the comments that you always thought about saying, but never did, with the twist of the Minnesota WICHFA. It is a twisting between Vonnegut and Hugo, with real-life humor. Knowing the author personally, it is a master work of mind challenging humor. So,If you like a little subtle, obscure humor about the trials and tribulations, this is the book for you.

Cardboard Heroes Castles Walls & Tower (Cardboard Heroes)

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Cardboard Heroes Castles Walls & Tower (Cardboard Heroes)

Manufacturer: Steve Jackson Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Misc. Supplies

Product Description

Put a castle in your backpack! Cardboard Heroes Castles are great-looking 3-D structures that fold up for play, and fold down again for travel and storage! They're heavy cardstock, but they're die-cut and pre-scored to make them easy to build, and they're designed to fold and unfold without damage. This set continues the Cardboard Heroes tradition of great miniatures and accessories at a low price. Each set gives you four towers and four walls (plus assorted castle goodies) -- set them up as a full castle or two smaller strongpoints. And you can add sets to make your fortress the envy of the surrounding kingdoms! Cardboard Heroes Castles: Walls and Towers are full-color (of course), gorgeous, and totally portable. When the game's over, just fold 'em up and go!

Cardboard Heroes Castles: The Keep (Cardboard Heroes)

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Cardboard Heroes Castles: The Keep (Cardboard Heroes)
Alex Fernandez
Manufacturer: Steve Jackson Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

How Santa Found the Cobbler's Shop with The Cardboard Castle and The Town of the Clock Makers

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How Santa Found the Cobbler's Shop with The Cardboard Castle and The Town of the Clock Makers
Margaretta Harmon and Jean Muir and Loretta Moore
Manufacturer: SUTTONHOUSE LTD
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TXDEUG

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Knights Cardboard Castle Mpb
Elisabeth Beresford
Manufacturer: Methuen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

A Cardboard Castle: An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955-1991

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A Cardboard Castle: An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955-1991
Vojtech; Byrne, Malcolm Mastny
Manufacturer: Central European University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N7KFY6

Book Description

A reporter and columnist for The Mountain-Ear newspaper in Nederland, Colorado, for 20 years, Liz Caile spent her entire life in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, building relationships with people and with the landscape. This book was culled from the awe-inspiring collection of columns she left behind when she died.

Customer Reviews:

Awe-inspiring views from the treeline........2001-10-11

"I want my stories to come from places and things I know in nature," Liz Caile writes. "I want to take some of my craziness and bury it ritually in the right place in the earth, to find a cure for my restlessness in plants and planets, roots and rituals" (p. 50). Before her death, Caile wrote for "The Mountain Ear" in Nederland, Colorado, a mountain town in the Rockies just west of Boulder (where I live). This book is a collection of the columns Caile contributed to that newspaper for twenty years. These essays are about living an authentic life, walking softly, and living simply.

Caile was a minimalist who practiced what she preached. "People should adapt to nature, rather than the other way around" (p. 49), she writes. She lived in a primitive mountain cabin, and prefered walking to driving a car. "So my kids learned to walk, a skill that will be one of the most valuable things I taught them," Caile says. "You can always get from here to there on your own two feet" (p. 6). She considered pavement a "form of imprisonment" (p. 103), and encourages her readers to walk. "If you live in town, walk at least to its edge, and better yet, beyond it" (p. 234). "I pray with my feet," she says. Her loving friends tell us that Liz "believed in living lightly on the earth, in using our resources carefully and thoughtfully. She believed in being conscious of the impacts of our actions, as a nation and as individuals" (p. v). The Sierra Club cup represents an ideal for Caile. "Let's face it," she writes, "the fewer dishes you dirty, the fewer you have to wash. It represents an economy of utensils that I wish we all could take into our lives. It says some basic things about our habit of consumption, drawing a line between what we really need and what is superfluous" (pp. 9-10). In her essays, Caile urges us to simplify our lives, to "act with responsibility to all species, not just ourselves" (p. 124), to commune with the power of nature, then vote, run for office, read about the issues, write and make phone calls (p. 96).

Caile's essays are organized into sections on simple living, changing seasons, environmental ethics, social values, war and peace, life at treeline, family, and walking. Each essay reveals her knack for seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. "What counts is the seeing," she reflects. "I don't know what it is," she writes, "except that if everyone were to discover the pleasures of just looking at things and listening to things, they'd probably stop spending money at breakneck speed--they might even stop working at certain jobs that, when clearly observed, appear to be counterproductive to a healthy society" (p. 14). "A moth," she confides, "only a moth, brings life to my life" (p. 73).

Caile wrote with integrity and courage. She was progressive even by Nederland and Boulder standards, confronting subjects including overpopulation, pavement, mountain bikers, mall shopping, advertising, pollution, consumption, species loss, the Forest Service, the death penalty and jet noise over Boulder in her columns. Caile's essays have a truthful ring, and she wrote from her heart. "I talk to the trees, I talk to the sky," she writes. "I talk sense and nonsense, and now and then I remember to say thanks. Thanks for the beauty. Thanks for the firewood. Thanks for the oxygen. Thanks for the ground cover. Thanks for the rain and snow" (p. 142).

This book is filled with local color, and the colors of nature. It offers us a breath of sweet, cool, Rocky Mountain air. And from Caile's TREELINE, you'll experience the most amazing views.

G. Merritt

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