Roadside Kansas: A Traveler's Guide to Its Geology and Landmarks Review

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Roadside Kansas: A Traveler's Guide to Its Geology and Landmarks ReviewI found Roadside Kansas by chance in the gift shop at the Old Mill in Lindsborg. I had been showing my wife and daughter some of the sights I knew about from growing up in Ellinwood, Kansas which is located right on the Santa Fe Trail (Highway 56).
Little did I know what a treasure we had found. Beginning as a geological research project by the authors the book took on a life of its' own as a very nice directory of various interesting attractions and oddities in Kansas. Its' photographs also prove to readers once and for all that Kansas IS NOT FLAT.
The first item of note we found was that we were just minutes from Coronado Heights, named after the Spanish explorer. We also found that wheel ruts from wagons traveling the Santa Fe Trail were still visible only a few miles east of my hometown. And I found that after having spent the better part of 27 years driving past and through Fort Zarah that the old cemetery still exists just north of the park out in a field only a few yards from where I had spent many evening hours with female companionship. Imagine my surprise!
Additionally, we found that about 25 miles west of Castle Rock, which I had visited and photographed many times while in college at Fort Hays, are what is known as the Kansas or Chalk Pyramids (just off Highway 83).
Needless to say I was excited and impressed. We spent the rest of our trip running the roads looking for mile markers and the treasures that lay beyond.
The book is laid out quite simply. Find the highway number you are traveling and what mile marker you are at and the book tells you what attraction is coming up with excellent directions for the directionally impaired. Oh, and I guess the geological information is pretty good too.
Since I found this text in 1995 I have wholeheartedly recommended it to anyone traveling the Land of Ahs, both visitor and resident, and all have been impressed. If you like to seek out items of interest off the beaten path, then this is your guide. I only wish those guys would do a book like this for every state in the Union.Roadside Kansas: A Traveler's Guide to Its Geology and Landmarks Overview

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This Land: A Guide to Western National Forests Review

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This Land: A Guide to Western National Forests ReviewI purchased this book wanting to give it a positive review. Western national forests deserve a good recreational survey, and I was hoping Mohlenbrock, a prominent botanist from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, would be able to add some fascinating insights that most recreational authors could not. And indeed, this part of the book did not disappoint. Mohlenbrock reprints a selection from nearly 20 years of articles he wrote for Natural History magazine in this guidebook. All of these articles cover areas with unique biological, geological, or historical features. Thus readers are treated to Clinton Hart Merriam's discovery of biological life zones as his observations of a century ago are recounted in an essay on the San Francisco Peaks north of Phoenix. Similarly, those who cling to a young earth chronology will be disappointed when they read of Edward Schulman's contributions to dendrochronology in the White Mountains of California. Here some hardy trees, the Bristlecone Pines, live to over 4,000 years and the record of tree rings now extends back almost 13,000 years. Even smaller sites, like my own (San Bernardino Mountains) Cushenbury Canyon, home to a number of rare plants, receive almost loving treatment in the writing of Mohlenbrock.
With so much going for a book like this, and especially considering what a disaster the last survey of California National Forests was (the entirely forgettable Recreational Guide to California National Forests), one would think it would merit high marks. But unfortunately the "guide" portion of this book is simply riddled with the most basic of factual errors. Indeed, reading some chapters, I get the impression Mohlenbrock simply glanced at a recreational map or a web page before writing large parts of this book. Consider this brief quote from Mohlenbrock's discussion of the Cleveland National Forest in California. "North of the [San Mateo] wilderness is Juan Canyon, which is much easier to traverse. The 11-mile San Juan Loop Trail circles the canyon with a side trip to Chiquito Falls."(p.84) It is hard for me to see how anyone could pack more errors and misconceptions into two sentences. The canyon is San Juan Canyon, and the San Juan Loop trail is only two miles. There is a separate 11 mile San Juan Trail running from Blue Jay campground to the former Hot Springs resort. This trail does not circle the canyon (neither does the shorter loop trail) but stays on the northern edge. And yes this canyon is easier to "traverse" because state highway 74 runs through it, unlike the nearby wilderness, but you would never guess the presence of this thoroughfare from Mohlenbrock's narrative. This is hardly an isolated incident. The Desert View trail in the Laguna Mountains offers spectacular views over Anza Borrego State Park, the floor of which Mohlenbrock says is "more than 1,000 feet below."(p.83) Quite a bit more in fact...like 4,000 feet. We are told that hikers climbing Mt. Whitney make the trip in two days "usually stopping to camp in the vicinity of Mirror Lake,..."(p.91). Usually not, since camping has been prohibited at Mirror Lake since the 1980s at least. Mohlenbrock recommends you approach the Bristlecone Pine Forest from Highway 168 in Lone Pine. Big Pine is the correct turnoff for 168, and it is about forty miles north of Lone Pine. And what are we to make of the claim that only 5,500 residents live full time in the Tahoe basin? As of the 2000 census, there were 23,609 residents of South Lake Tahoe alone, and that is not counting the communities of Tahoe City, Incline Village, etc. Furthermore, failing to mention the recently completed Tahoe Rim Trail while discussing recreational opportunities in the Tahoe management district is inexplicable. But the big problem with the guide descriptions is that, in general, they are so brief they have to omit a lot of information. That much of the information they include is also inaccurate does not help matters.
In the final analysis, this is really two books. A collection of natural history articles which are both interesting and informative, and a guidebook fraught with errors. I cannot recommend it for readers seeking recreational outlets, but if you are on the fence in buying the book, the nice plates do somewhat make up for the factual errors. If you want some light popular science reading, then this is your book.This Land: A Guide to Western National Forests Overview

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Hiking Oregon's Geology (Hiking Geology) Review

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Hiking Oregon's Geology (Hiking Geology) ReviewThis is a great book for anyone wanting to take hikes to see representative geology and to read a geological description of what they're seeing. The author details ninety hikes, mostly day hikes, in all corners of the state. The 'trailhead' directions are clear and easy to follow as are the descriptions of the trails. The book opens with an excellent 14 page introduction to Oregon's geological history and a nice appendix on indentifying rocks minerals. Dr. Bishop also wrote the 'In search of ancient Oregon', an outstanding overview of the states geological history.Hiking Oregon's Geology (Hiking Geology) Overview

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Last Barriers: Photographs of Wilderness in the Gulf Islands National Seashore Review

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Last Barriers: Photographs of Wilderness in the Gulf Islands National Seashore ReviewOne can only be thankful that such a beautiful sliver of American wilderness was saved for future generations. Bradburn captures the beauty of the island and fought for its preservation, a combination of artist and activist that comes along all too rarely. What a journey this book illustrates and provides for its reader! My gratitude to the author!!Last Barriers: Photographs of Wilderness in the Gulf Islands National Seashore Overview

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Beyond Walden: The Hidden History of America's Kettle Lakes and Ponds Review

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Beyond Walden: The Hidden History of America's Kettle Lakes and Ponds ReviewI had read Thorson's fascinating book on stone walls, and I am interested in the glacial landscape of my native New England, so I was prepared to like this book. What surprised and delighted me was how he connects so many dots: hydrological, yes, but also historical and cultural. I especially enjoyed the chapters describing the development of "lake culture", the succession of loggers and miners and pioneer farmers, then sport fishermen and hunters, and then, as we became urbanized , weekend and summer migrants from the cities who came to inhabit our northern lake shores. Thorson evokes the special joy of lakeside cabins, camps, and cottages and the long summer days spent there in our youth, and successfully passes along his passion for protecting and preserving these special, fragile ecosystems.Beyond Walden: The Hidden History of America's Kettle Lakes and Ponds Overview

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Assembling California Review

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Assembling California ReviewIf anyone tells you "science destroys beauty," respond by handing them a McPhee. Any of his works will suffice, but this one is a special treasure. It's the completion of a continent-wide tour across the United State. McPhee escorts a succession of geologists who have explained to him why the theory of continental drift requires revision. The modifiers are local geological conditions, each region telling its own tale of lithic activity. In California, the story becomes almost bizarre. John McPhee might well be considered the only writer of science who could present the story in understandable fashion. Perhaps, but he would counter that in Eldridge Moores, he enjoyed a tutor of exceptional value to guide him.
The idea of plate tectonics was a revolution in viewing the earth. Previous thinking was nearly all limited to regional, often arcane, activity. Plate tectonics was the first truly global image of the planet's workings. It was elegant, universal, and it explained so much, so well, that fitting it to conditions was almost simple. Plates move, crunch one another, raise mountains, often with spewing volcanoes, and end their career by sinking below the crust. Look at a map of California [easy to do, since there's one at the front of the book]. It all seems so manifestly organized. Parallel mountain ranges running north-south, separated by logically placed valleys. But the Sierra Nevada stands in lofty majesty compared to the Coast Range standing west across the Great Valley. It shouldn't.
According to Moores, that's symptomatic. By plate tectonics' definition, it should be the Coast Range that should rising in reaction to the pressure of the continental movement. And why is the Great Valley so wide if a whole continent is trying to crowd the Sierra Nevada west? Moores suggests that it's because the real western boundary of the North American Plate is around Salt Lake City. The Mormon capital as a Monterey or Santa Barbara requires some reflective thinking, but Moores knows how to read the rocks. And McPhee knows how to tell us what he sees.
What Moores sees could be compared to a geologic highway accident where a string of vehicles reduce order to chaos. Plate tectonics is too simple because it fails to take into account wandering island chains. These are micro-continents with a wanderlust. Moores sees the likelihood of three island chains pranging the West Coast at different times. Each time, instead of being pushed aside by the mass of the North American Plate, they simply attached themselves like limpets. The extra pressure and mass pushed up the High Sierras and the Coast Range. Positioning, erosion and subsidence left the Great Valley, one of the flattest places in the United States, but rich with alluvial soil. The soil produces the world's best wine grapes, and McPhee and Moores justifiably pause in the Sonoma Valley.
McPhee moves from Moores' analysis of mountain building to the study of earthquakes and fault lines in the Golden State. Moores' view of California's disorganization is reinforced by the many directions faults take around the state. Garlock, Hayward, White Wolf are names that impinge on the notoriety of San Andreas. San Andreas, for all its fame, is not a fault, but a melange of fault structures, due to those impinging island arcs. McPhee's timing was fortuitous. As he was preparing the text, the earth was preparing a fitting conclusion to his story. In October of 1989 the earth moved and presented "an invoice of six billion dollars for a few moments of shaking." McPhee, like a diarist recording a life, follows the 'quake from its origins through the state. It's more compelling reading than any mystery novel. Wherever you live, you will come away from this book with an enlightened view of what the earth can tell you. And you will seek out more McPhee.Assembling California Overview

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Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, Revised and Updated Edition Review

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Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, Revised and Updated Edition ReviewA thorough examination of the consequences of the tar sands project in Alberta. The author looks at this situation from a number of angles, including the project's water and methane usage, the wasting of the Athabascan watershed and millions of acres of boreal forest, the ruinous air quality in the area where the bitumen is refined, the devastation of community and economy in the area surrounding Fort McMurray, the contribution dirty oil makes to climate change, the possibility of nuclear reactors being used simply to help power the project, the failure of the project to benefit the citizens of Alberta, the redirection of the oil itself to the United States, and the growing "Saudi Arabization" of Canada and particularly of Alberta.
My biggest complaint with the book is that the author all but ignored making any consideration for the Dene people, whose ancestral land is being turned into a moonscape in the name of "energy security". I also disliked the author's nonsensical belief that driving less is an effective means of helping to halt the tar sands project. As a non-driver, I do not believe this. I can understand a corporation using the "It's up to individual consumers to change things" remedy to social and environmental ills, but it's depressing to hear it come from the social and environmental activists themselves.Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, Revised and Updated Edition Overview

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This Land: A Guide to Eastern National Forests Review

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This Land: A Guide to Eastern National Forests ReviewA very useful and worthwhile book. It contains information about many natural areas that are not well-described in other readily available sources, and is particularly valuable for people with an interest in forest and plant ecology and botany. Its only major weakness seems to be in the lack of detailed maps showing trails and specific locations within different national forests.This Land: A Guide to Eastern National Forests Overview

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The Nature of North Carolina's Southern Coast: Barrier Islands, Coastal Waters, and Wetlands Review

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The Nature of North Carolina's Southern Coast: Barrier Islands, Coastal Waters, and Wetlands ReviewI read this book before moving to coastal NC this year and refer to it often as I live among 80-foot maritime pines near Bald Head Island. All of it is fascinating, but the figure explaining how the barrier islands form is worth the cost alone. The ibis, once nesting abundantly on Boundary Island, have suddenly and sadly disappeared. I hope a new edition will explain how best to protect what is still here and provide more focus on salt marsh habitat.The Nature of North Carolina's Southern Coast: Barrier Islands, Coastal Waters, and Wetlands Overview

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