Reviews (7)

A sublime experience, but not for everyone
I keep this book on my nightstand and read an essay or two after my pj's are on and before going to bed. My bookmark is a pencil for making notes in the margin when particularly wonderful passages are encountered.The margins are very full.
The first of its kind, and still the best
"Thus always does history, whether of marsh or market place, end in paradox. The ultimate value in these marshes is wildness, and the crane is wildness incarnate. But all conservation of wildness is self-defeating, for to cherish we must see and fondle, and when enough have seen and fondled, there is no wilderness left to cherish." (from "Marshland Elegy")
Wonderful
Read Walden, then read Sand County Almanac.They might just change the way you think about the world. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Ecology    3. Fiction    4. Life Sciences - Ecology    5. Literature: Classics    6. Natural history    7. Nature conservation    8. Nature study    9. Nature/Ecology    10. Outdoor books    11. Travel - United States    12. United States    13. United States - General    14. Conservation of the environment    15. Life Sciences | Ecology | Conservation Biology    16. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    17. Nature / Ecology   

Subjects:  1. Travel Guides - U.S.    2. Travel - General    3. Travel - United States    4. United States - General    5. North America    6. Restaurant & pub guides    7. USA    8. Restaurants    9. Quantity Food Production And Service    10. Travel   

Reviews (3)

Make that 3 1/2 stars
Actually, I would have given "Making Your Move" 4 stars had I found the descriptions of the individual towns more interesting.But, what I did find was a witty style of writing, some laugh-out-loud moments, and some very down-to-earth advice on the pearls and perils of small-town life.One might apply Norm's smart and insightful guidelines to just about any sparsely populated area in the quest for new habitation.So even though his selections failed to fire me up, they did make me realize that I may not be cut out for small-town living after all.And that, in itself, is worth far more than the price of a book.Thanks, Norm, and make that four stars.
Part of the story
This book is a good place to start if you're thinking of moving to a town of 15,000 or less. It will point you to many interesting communities. However, having used his previous book to guide my last move, and as a resident of one of the towns highlighted in this book (Grinnell), I can honestly say that data only carries you so far. Crampton could provide readers with a great benefit by lengthening the amount of description and flavor for each town. In particular, one key element missing is the 'dynamic' of a town: is it progressive? conservative? excited about education? quick to vote down taxes and bonds? These elements form the 'culture' of a small town, and believe me, the culture of a small town will be *very* important to you!

A good guide to start
As a resident of one of the 120 "best small towns" recommended by Norman Crampton, I was delighted to see Silver City on the list. Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Census And General Statistics    3. Cities and towns    4. Environmental Planning And Management    5. Public Policy - Regional Planning    6. Rating    7. Ratings    8. Real Estate - Buying/Selling Homes    9. Statistics    10. Travel    11. United States    12. United States - General    13. Urban-rural migration    14. House maintenance    15. Housing & property for the individual    16. USA   

Reviews (5)

5th edition
I purchased a copy of the fifth edition sometime last year and keep it on the dash of my vehicle - to have handy while traveling. I found it contains details of local "hidden treasures" that are usually only discovered by the locals of the given community. I loaned it to a friend and now he is ordering his copy.
Texas - Off the Beaten Path (3rd Edition)
This book is very handy when searching the back roads for interesting information, buildings, history, etc. of Texas. In Texas, Some Roadrunners are Eleven Feet Tall...
If you're planning to travel at all throughout the Lone Star State, this book will be an indispensable guide for your travels.Read more

Subjects:  1. Travel    2. Travel - United States    3. United States - South - Texas    4. United States - South - West South Central (General)    5. Travel / United States / South / West South Central (AR, LA, OK, TX)   

Reviews (1)

Fantastic book!
As someone who was raised in Lake Geneva, and one who went to school with the author, it was a delight to see these great pictures of a Lake Geneva that I have been away from for too long of a time.I would highly recommend this book to everyone. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Subjects & Themes - Travel - General    2. Travel    3. Travel - United States    4. United States - Midwest - East North Central (General)    5. Places & peoples: general interest    6. Switzerland    7. Travel / United States / Midwest / East North Central (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI)   

Reviews (5)

Take a hike
I was hoping this would be as excellent as the Maine Gazeteer, but it isn't.It is a topographical map, which is fine if all you want to do is hike mountains. But if you want street names and town names better grab a magnifying glass.Tiny print and roads drawn in pastel colors is not really helpful.Disappointing.

It's a map
It's a map.That's what it is.And a very detailed and useful one, at that.It's difficult to write a review for a...map.But this is the one you should buy.

Pennsylania Perfect
It's Wednesday evening.You're trying to think of something new and different to do with you weekend.Your loved one(s) are bored and restless and want to do something different.It's all up to you...What to do...Read more

Subjects:  1. Atlases    2. Atlases - General    3. Maps & Road Atlases    4. Reference    5. Travel - United States    6. United States - Mid Atlantic - Pennsylvania   

Reviews (4)

Wrong Information
I picked up this book out of facination. I realized that in the County where I live they spoke of the Olivas Adobe. But they had the facts of the place all wrong. Once instant, they had the owner and builder of the Adobe, who in fact was a part of the Mexican Army under General Santa Ana, serving under General Santa Barbara. There never was a General Santa Barbara. Too bad. The legend of this ghostly place has a great story but told by the wrong people. They need to do a little bit more research than just crank out books with misinformation.

Entertaining, but lacking important key info.
Photos, illustrations and stories are great.But I found the overall book lacking in one key area:Maps to show you where these places are located.Or even where some of the cities are located.Very fun book but but I felt I wanted more info. with greater detail.

Strange Days
The book is definitely a good source of 'Americana' at its finest and is extremely entertaining.While some excerpts go on in detail of exactly where to find things, others are hazy if not incorrect.A little fact checking is needed.All said, purchasers will not be disappointed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. California    2. Curiosities and wonders    3. Folklore & Mythology    4. Miscellanea    5. Reference - Guides (General)    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. Special Interest - General    9. Travel - United States    10. United States - Pacific - California    11. CALIFORNIA - CA Folklore/HumorTRD HC    12. Travel & holiday guides    13. Travel / United States / West / General   

Reviews (3)

The Only Way to "Experience" Charleston
"Complete Charleston" is a must-have guide for those many visitors drawn to visiting this history-rich city. The Moore's guideprovides an easy-to-use book for those who are adventurous and want to explore a city by walking around and "smelling the flowers." Together, they've compiled a reference to the historical background of many of Charleston's buildings, homes and gardens, which define this beautiful city. Their guide includes side trips, within one day, as well as an all important restaurant guide.
Architecture and Foodies dream guidebook
I just came back from an architectural conference in Charleston and over half of the attendees had this guide in their back pocket. This is really the only quidebook one needs for a visit to Charleston - and even for newcomers as it is full of history and gets you up to speed on the local issues.Written by passionate preservationists and serious epicures, this book gets to the heart of the matter quickly and puts you right into the Charleston scene with short walking tours and easy to read maps.This is the third and updated edition and is right up to date with easy to locate restaurant and hotel information.I take it with me every time I'm in town.

Beautiful City, Wonderful Guide
In 1996, while working on a study entitled "Preserving the World's Great Cities: The Destruction and Renewal of the Historic Metropolis," Peg and Truman Moore asked my advice about architectural guidebooks. So I pulled out my favorites from around the world. One year later, "Complete Charleston" was in print: handsomely photographed, thoroughly researched, smartly written, easy to use. Essential.
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Subjects:  1. Travel    2. United States - South - South Atlantic (General)   

Reviews (8)

hard to get a good overview of a trip
This atlas shows very few states on a single spread, so you have to constantly flip between different pages when trying to plan a route. I found this very infuriating during a recent road trip in New England. It was always a hassle when we had to pull the map out because there was so much page turning.

Top
I am very happy with this Road Atlas. I am always looking streets, cities and the whole USA. Next Summer I will spend my vacation there and my Atlas will be a very good help.

Quality Made Road Atlas
I gave it 5 stars, but more accurately rate it at 4.6.It is a durably made booklet.It should last for many years, much because of the spiral binding and fairly thick, water resistant pages.It is easy to flip pages and the page you want stays open because of the spiral binding.My only negative comment is that although the state maps are detailed, they could be even more so; there is room on the pages for (more) county roads.Individual state maps provided for free at state welcome centers provide more details.Regardless, I'm glad that I bought it.It's a good value.When not on the road, it looks quite respectable on a book shelf.The more common staple-binding Rand McNally road atlas - now on sale as the year winds down - is a good supplement to throw in the trunk, but it is not nearly as durable. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Atlases    2. Atlases - General    3. Reference    4. Travel    5. Travel - United States    6. United States - General    7. Travel / road maps & atlases    8. USA   

Editorial Review

It's rare to find a travel guide and a memoir joined neatly together in a single, highly readable 176-page volume. But Chuck Palahniuk (Read more

Reviews (32)

Interesting, offbeat
This collection is an idiosyncratic and appealing mix of off-the-beaten-path sights for the visitor to Portland, personal anecdotes of the author, and brief essays about the history of Portland and its defining vibes. Entertaining and enjoyable.

Doesn't make you want to visit
Palahniuk puts you right into his world of an overgrown small town with its carnival attractions.
a puking bore
As he writes in his epilogue, "This is not Portland, Oregon." Just scads of non-site-specific deegradation written in clipped New Yorker prose. Elliptical descriptions of perversion after perversion, spilling over the pages to become one big bore. And on top of all this, there's no index to the places he touches on, so even if you wanted to go there, you'd be hardput. Self-indulgent yet simultaneously unrevealing, as uninteresting a discovery of spirit of place as one can get. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative lifestyles    2. Curiosities and wonders    3. Essays & Travelogues    4. Guidebooks    5. Oregon    6. Portland    7. Portland (Or.)    8. Tours    9. Travel    10. Travel - United States    11. United States - Pacific - Oregon    12. United States - State & Local - General    13. Walking    14. Travel / Essays & Travelogues   

Reviews (4)

Good overall
We bought the Mobile book, the "Everything" book and this book.Of the three, this had the most detailed information.The maps are not great but the rest of the book makes up for that.The regional grouping was a great help.

A travel guide for readers
Let's face it; most travel books are a glance-and-go proposition. Most of them do a passable job providing key information, but they aren't exactly a pleasure to read. Frommer's New England 2003 changes all that. Not only are the cititations clear, correct, and complete, many of them are laugh-out-loud funny or wickedly sly. At the end of a busy day on the road, I actually found myself reading the guide for fun (while happily settled in one of the recommended accommodations).A literate guide obviously written by folks in the know.

Frommer's New England 2003
Great for a recent trip to Boston and Newport, RI.Read more

Subjects:  1. Guidebooks    2. New England    3. Travel    4. Travel - United States    5. Travel Guides - U.S.    6. United States - Northeast - New England (General)    7. Northeastern & North Atlantic states    8. TRAVEL & HOLIDAY    9. Travel / United States / Northeast / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)    10. USA   

Reviews (2)

EXCELLANT -MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE THERE
THIS WAS THE SECOND BOOK I HAVE READ BY AND ABOUT DICK PROENNEKE. LIKE ONE MAN'S WILDERNESS, THIS BOOK IS A COMPILATION AND DAILY ACCOUNT OF DICKS' LIFE IN THE ALASKAN WILDERNESS. THE SIMPLE PROSE AND WRITING STYLE OF PROENNEKE IS EASY TO READ AND MAKES THE READER FEEL AS HE IS TALKING TO DICK IN PERSON. THERE IS ALOT OF READING AND THE BOOK IS LONG, BUT AFTER I FINISHED IT, I FOUND MYSELF YEARNING FOR MORE. I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT THE ALASKAN PARK SERVICE( WHO PRINTED THIS BOOK) ALSO PRINT THE REMAINDER OF THE PROENNEKE JOURNALS.
Splendid sequel to One man's wilderness
A great book from a great writer I loved it A++++ ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Personal Memoirs    2. Special Interest - Adventure    3. Travel - United States    4. United States - West - Pacific (General)    5. Travel / United States / West / Pacific (AK, CA, HI, NV, OR, WA)   

Reviews (4)

as good as gps
If you don't have gps, then this map book is for you. It is very easy to use.

Best Maps Ever!
The Vermont Atlas and Gazetteer (as well as the NH and Maine versions) are simply the best maps I have ever bought and used. Every road in every town is shown, and well as topographical features, landmarks, waterways, etc.
Decent Atlas; Others May Be More Detailed
DeLorme has been establishing a name for themselves, having issued a set of road atlas and gazetteer books for each state, including this one for Vermont. Showing every back road in the state is rather impressive. Couple that with the amount of "gazetteer" information, such as landmarks, points of interest, museums, etc., it can be a very handy trip companion.Read more

Subjects:  1. Atlases    2. Atlases - General    3. Maps & Road Atlases    4. Reference    5. Travel - United States    6. United States - New England - Vermont   

Reviews (1)

Finally!An authentic guide to Latin New York.
For anyone who wants to discover all that Latin New York has to offer, this is the book for you.Loved it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ethnic Studies - Hispanic American Studies    2. Guidebooks    3. Intellectual life    4. New York (N.Y.)    5. Social life and customs    6. Travel    7. Travel - United States    8. United States - Mid Atlantic - New York City    9. United States - Northeast - Middle Atlantic (General)    10. Travel / United States / Northeast / Middle Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA)   

Subjects:  1. Beverages - Wine & Spirits    2. Individual Photographer    3. Photoessays & Documentaries    4. Photography    5. Subjects & Themes - Travel - U.S./West    6. Travel    7. United States - West - Pacific (General)   

Reviews (1)

An absolute must if you love architecture and Charleston.
Mr. Poston has done an excellent and exhaustive job with this book.To my knowledge it is the most comprehensive compilation to date.As well as photographs of the houses plans are also shown for many.A 9+ only because I'm reluctant to say that the "perfect" book has ever been published. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Buildings, structures, etc    3. Charleston    4. Charleston (S.C.)    5. General    6. South Carolina    7. U.S. Architecture - South    8. United States - South Atlantic - South Carolina    9. Urban Architecture    10. American history    11. Local history    12. Public buildings: civic, commercial, industrial, etc    13. Residential buildings, domestic buildings    14. USA   

Reviews (19)

Great Historical/Adventure Literature
This would be, if I could do it, a two-part review.To the source material itself, the journals, I would award five stars out of five--six out of five, even, spelling errors and all, for it's absolutely superb stuff.I have read a fair bit in the adventure and exploration line of literature, but nothing as good as these journals for conveying what it felt like to be on such an expedition.Often, it is the little detail at the end of a day's entry that works the magic; for example, when you read several dozen times about the mosquitoes and gnats being "verry troublesome," or "exceedingly troublesome," it tells you something.As does Lewis's quiet contentment with a bellyful of fresh meat after a long and weary hike.And, as Stephen Ambrose notes in his moving and evocative foreword to this book, the fact that these are on-the-fly journal entries--not memoirs--means that the reader sees the good and the bad choices, the discovery that went on along the way.You will probably recognize at once, for instance, that not all grizzlies will be as easy to kill as the first one the corps encounters, but they don't know that, and you are there to read of their changing opinion of these bears as they meet more and more of them.So the raw material is first rate. Hard to overpraise
The powerful experience of reading this book leads me to search my memory for comparisons.This was an Event in my literary life, but comparable to what, whom?Canetti's "Crowds and Power," Eliot's "Middlemarch," Shakespeare's plays?All quite different.Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways?"Unfair to that book to compare.No, this was a singular experience, unlikely to be repeated in its, or any other, genre. I want to say it was the most moving and exhilarating tome by any NON-professional writers in memory. Awesome Book
You have to read this book to consider yourself an American Citizen.This is a great book about a great time.It takes out all of the boring facts and figures and tells you the story of the greatest expedition of all time. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. (1804-1806)    2. Description and travel    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: American    6. Lewis and Clark Expedition    7. To 1848    8. U.S. - Discovery And Exploration    9. United States - 19th Century    10. United States - Antebellum Era    11. United States - West - General    12. West (U.S.)    13. Biography: general    14. Clark, William    15. History / United States / 19th Century    16. Lewis, Meriwether    17. North America    18. TRAVEL & HOLIDAY    19. USA   

Subjects:  1. Colorado    2. Description and travel    3. Individual Photographer    4. Landscape    5. Pictorial works    6. Subjects & Themes - Landscapes    7. Subjects & Themes - Travel - U.S./West    8. Travel    9. Travel - United States    10. United States - West - Mountain (General)    11. Antiques & Collectibles / Americana    12. Photographs: collections    13. Places & peoples: general interest   

Reviews (6)

Well researched, a complete package
Having personally visited three of this book's advertised ten sites last summer, I only wish that I would have known about this 2006 publication before I had flown away that July 4th. This is the type of material that ought to be read in the car going from one site to the next. Shaara is interesting as well as factual, and I saw nothing here that contradicted anything else I had read or observed during my time at the three parks. In fact, the information I had was confirmed in this book. Shaara includes maps of the battles--nicely done!--as well as pictures of some of the more important sites to look for. I plan to return to the south in a couple of summers so I can hit another three or four of his sites, and I definitely will be taking this book along for company.

Civil War for the reader not the critic
Mr. Shaara has taken the civil war and made it into a story that anyone can follow. The trip thru the parks has enspired me to read Gods and Generals

A well-written overview of 10 major Civil War battlefields
"In the summer of 1964, a twelve-year-old boy followed his father across a mile of open grassy fields that separated the Union and Confederate lines at Gettysburg. They walked in the footsteps of the men who crossed this same ground on July 3, 1863, Confederate soldiers who made one of the most tragic attacks in our history. . . . That boy was me. My father, Michael Shaara, was so inspired by the experience of walking the ground at Gettysburg that he spent the next seven years writing a novel about what happened there. That novel, published in 1974, was titled The Killer Angels."
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Subjects:  1. Battlefields    2. Guidebooks    3. Historic sites    4. History - U.S.    5. Travel    6. Travel - United States    7. Travel Guides - U.S.    8. U.S. History - Civil War And Reconstruction (1860-1877)    9. United States    10. United States - Civil War    11. United States - General    12. Travel / United States / General   

Reviews (6)

Great Arizona Topo map
We needed to locate some undeveloped property in the Show Low Pines area.This map and the internet were great in assisting us.We use our Colorado and Wyoming ones all the time.They are a great resource for people who like to do beyond the end of the road!

GREAT map for exploring Arizona
I used this map when exploring Arizona on two separate occasions.Delorme makes these maps for nearly all states in the US.If you're ever going to explore a state - USE THIS MAP by Delorme.It's well organized, provides information on parks, unique spots like waterfalls, historical sites, etc.You can also find obscure roads not normally seen on tourist maps.I bought the Delorme maps for Colorado, New York, and Virginia as well.

REVISED EDITION IS EVEN BETTER
Jack Purcell is pretty thorough in his review.As for the nitpickers, if they really want to get names and numbers of backroads, they can contact the forest service and BLM, as well as the park service, who publishes maps of logging roads, and other limited use roadways.At 1:250,000, who could expect a name or number tag anyway of off-the-beaten trail access roads anyway?Read more

Subjects:  1. Atlases    2. Atlases - General    3. Maps & Road Atlases    4. Reference    5. Travel - United States    6. United States - Mountain - Arizona