The Big Book Review

Grand Canyons Worldwide, by Richard D. Fisher, Sunracer Publications, 2006, 341 pages: Peripatetic photographer Richard Fisher has taken years to deliberately travel the world to take pictures of the other grand canyons. While we in the United States might like to think we've got the grandest of massive chasms, Fisher uses his book to help us understand that size isn't always what matters. He features a diverse selection of grand canyons, be it the Mekong in Central Asia, Copper Canyon in Mexico's Sierra mountains or Ethiopia - Africa's own grand. Besides the photographs, Fisher provides much history of these places. Essays may include lessons about Hohokam agricultural strategies or the evolving ways humans have carried heavy loads worldwide. The book is interesting and engaging. At times, there are too many photos to digest, sometimes becoming too much of a distraction on one page. And although not the majority, some photographs (man, appear at least 20 years old) have a svelte female posing rather unnaturally in natural landscapes. It's cheesy and unnecessary; try not to let it color your perception too much, if you can.

Landscapes of Colorado: Mountains and Plains, by Ann Scarlett Daley and Michael Paglia, Fresco Fine Art Publications, September 2007, 286 pages, $85: This impressive coffee-table art book does a superb job of bringing Colorado to readers. It has 200 color plates with text interspersed. The art is a mix of paintings and photographs selected by art curator Ann Daley. In total, the landscapes are portrayed by more than 50 artists. Michael Paglia, an art critic, provides a profile of each of them. The book is as grand as the art. The landscapes range from aspen in the mountains transitioning colors in the autumn to the unassuming and simple grass waves on the eastern plains. Whether it's Karen Kitchel's innocent, neo-traditional oil on wood art of otherwise mundane and dying dandelions or photographs of "Valley Curtain" installation by Christo outside Rifle, Colo., Landscapes of Colorado represents very well the unending beauty of arguably one of the grandest states in the West.

Bear River: Last Chance to Change Course, by Craig Denton, Utah State University Press, August 2007, 256 pages, $24.95: Nothing will make a writer take extra caution when reviewing a book than when it's written by a former professor. Craig Denton, professor of communication at the University of Utah (this writer's alma mater and former student of Denton's 20 years ago), tackles one of the West's squirrliest and important issues: water. In this book, Denton tells the ongoing saga of the Bear River in the Uinta Mountains. It meanders through Wyoming and Idaho before entering the huge Great Salt Lake. The river, as Denton explains through his essays about its history, biology and ecology, is in danger. Rapid growth in Salt Lake City threatens the river because agencies have designs on it to use as an option for future water. To emphasize the drama, Denton writes about and photographs the river, its stakeholders and its history to, as he says, put into perspective how the Bear still has a last chance to be saved from economics and politics.

Hiking Colorado's Roadless Trails: A Colorado Mountain Club Pack Guide, by Penelope Purdy, Colorado Mountain Club, August 2007, 112 pages, $12.95: We are living in a time when one of the hottest political issues is preserving roadless forests. During his time in office, former Pres. Bill Clinton instituted one of the most sweeping land-preservation measures in decades by making about 60 million acres of national forest off limits to road-building and logging. Since that time, the roadless rules have been bandied about by a different administration in attempts to overturn the Clinton-era rule. We are not yet out of the woods, so to speak, about the issue and its longevity. That makes this new trail guide special. In it, Penelope Purdy features 20 backcountry hikes in roadless areas. The hikes are concentrated in the more northern part of Colorado, specifically the Arapaho-Roosevelt, Grand Mesa, Pike-San Isabel, Uncompahgre and White River national forests. True to form for guide books from the Colorado Mountain Club, the 4-inch-by-7-inch book is perfectly sized for a pocket or day pack. The four-color photographs are crisp and beautiful. Besides the specifics: distance, difficulty, location, Purdy provides personal comments, detailed directions to trailheads, detailed route descriptions and GPS waypoints.

Colorado's Quiet Winter Trails, by Dave Muller, Colorado Mountain Club, January 2007, 216 pages, $21.95: Where some winter enthusiasts prefer mechanical motors, others prefer natural motors. Predictably, there are conflicts. That makes it more challenging to find routes that offer noise-free dalliances in the winter snow. Use this new guide book to find 99 of them. Dave Muller writes about snowshoe and cross-country ski trails that are free of snowmobiles (as designated by state or federal regulations). Again, the book concentrates largely on northern Colorado places, specifically east and north of the Denver metro area. Perhaps the largest concentration is in Summit County. Still, there is a diverse selection of the types of trails and range of difficulty for the snowshoeing and skiing masses. Muller provides comments, directions for getting there and the tour. Beyond that, he provides critical winter information such as gear, weather threats, hypothermia, first aid and all of the other season-specific tips that promise a safe snow trek.

Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways: The 275 Best Drives in the U.S., National Geographic, Third Edition, National Geographic Books, April 2007, 464 pages, $25: National Geographic has updated its best-selling guide to America's designated byways and other spectacular drives. This edition has 30 percent more pages, drives and color photos. Woe that we all had the time to take this book, our cars and energy to start at point A and travel the country from coast to coast by following the 275 drives written about here. Many of us don't, so we can rely for now on the 350 four-color gorgeous photographs that accompany the driving descriptions, accompanied by map, road conditions, driving times, addresses, visiting hours, admission fees and personal advice from travel writers. It is jam-packed with solid, simple information. This guide is a keeper and a testament to America's endless beauty. National Geographic does a top-notch job in making sure those with wanderlust find satisfaction.

Roadside Guide to Indian Ruins & Rock Art of the Southwest, by Gordon and Cathie Sullivan, Westcliffe Publishers, 2005, 240 pages, $22.95: Montana residents Gordon and Cathie Sullivan share their passion for indigenous cultures in this new guide book. It has information about 64 sites to explore in national, state and tribal parks in the Four Corners. There are untold and undiscovered ruins and art that exist in this region, so as time moves on, we are treated to more of them as nature and archaeologists allow. Meanwhile, use books like the Sullivans' to whet your appetite to learn about how those who came before us lived and where. The authors enhance the book with clear, meaningful photographs. Different than other guides, this one offers information about nearest supply centers to ancient sites, highlights, interpretive information, fees, hours and directions. Their information is cleanly written, informative and sometimes evocative. Without overdoing it with superlatives or mush, the Sullivans clearly show in their writing that the love the places.

Rock Art Along the Way, by Janet Webb Farnsworth, photographs by Bernadette Heath, Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2006, 160 pages, $18.95: In this new book by Arizona-based writer and photographer, we learn again how all the world is a canvas. Janet Webb Farnsworth writes easy-to-understand history tidbits about rock art in the Four Corners. She includes the cultures of ancestral Puebloans, Archaic, Fremont, Hohokam, Mogollon, Navajo, Pale-Indian and Ute people. She groups the rock art sites by state, making it simple to find information or determine if while traveling you'll be near a place to stop. She's frank about the sites, making sure readers and explorers understand what they are getting into if hiking is necessary and what is unique about the exploration. Bernadette Heath's photographs help with the initial view and finding of the rock art so that readers can be sure they've reached their destination.

Cycling's Greatest Misadventures, edited by Erich Schweikher, Casagrande Press, 2007, 254 pages, $16.95: Let's just admit this upfront, humans like to laugh at others' foibles. You see someone biff it on ice and slip underneath a parked car, and you laugh. The uneven sidewalks send someone doing the forward-momentum stumble, and you laugh. This book will make you do the same. The good thing is, it comes without the guilt, because you are sitting there reading 27 first-person accounts of things gone wrong with cyclists. They can't see you laugh at them. But even so, they contributed their stories to make you cut up. The stories certainly are wacky - one man gets pelted by a flying dead dog while he's riding, another does a near endo on a Spin bike during a class at the gym. The level of humor ranges in this book - and it seems the editors had good intentions. But it falls short of being a laugh-riot. The writing isn't very sophisticated, and here or there a story is sophomoric (laying tacks on a race course in an attempt to get a date?). This book shows that humor is subjective.

Hey Ranger 2: More True Tales of Humor & Misadventure from the Great Outdoors, by Jim Burnett, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2007, 264 pages, $16.95: This book is a sequel to author Jim Burnett's first book of stories culled from incidents in national parks, at which he worked as a ranger for 30 years. Regularly interacting with the public, the encounters gave Burnett plenty of fodder to share in this second book, which he broadens to include global experiences. Combining his outdoor knowledge and true stories (he changes names occasionally to protect, as he writes, "the guilty and the innocent"), Burnett choose some interesting, hilarious and perplexing incidents. At times you'll wonder what in the h-e-double-toothpicks the person was thinking. But one man's foolishness is another man's amusement. This book is a fun trip away from the usual writings about outdoor experiences.

Playing for Real: Stories from Rocky Mountain Rescue, by Mark Scott-Nash, Mountaineers Books, 2007, 128 pages, $11.95: As long as there have been outdoor enthusiasts, there has been tragedy. Often, well-prepared and well-intentioned people set out to accomplish an outdoor journey or sport, only to meet obstacles along the way. In those times, it's search-and-rescue groups that become models of true outdoor adventurers. Playing for Real features one such prominent and long-established group, Rocky Mountain Rescue. The all-volunteer group is based in Boulder, Colo. During its 60 years in existence, group members have taken part in triumph and tragedy. Select stories about outdoor rescues are shared in this book, which includes first-hand narratives of searches. Inherent in the stories is an element of suspense. Though not on the level of thriller novels, the stories included are engaging enough that you will undoubtedly read to the end to find out what happened. Sometimes the ending is sad; other times the ending is victory. Regardless, the book underscores the heroics of a group that exists to make sure each of us who ventures into the wild has the chance to come home safely. They are remarkable men and women who deserve recognition - and a whole load of thanks.

Drifting West: The Calamities of James White and Charles Baker, by Virginia McConnell Simmons, University Press of Colorado, 2007, 210 pages, $29.95: John Wesley Powell's feats are so ubiquitous and documented that many people don't realize controversies - however small they may be - about some of his expeditions. One such is written about in Drifting West, a historical book about two men who came West in search of something better, something different. Virginia Simmons explores the notion that James White traversed the Grand Canyon on a makeshift raft two years before Powell's expedition. There are plenty of people who dispel the notion that someone beat Powell (even if it was accidental), so the author uses history, reason and storytelling to let readers know the facts. Charles Baker was a prominent prospector of Colorado's San Juan Mountains. In his prospecting, there are plenty of anecdotes to create drama and legacy. The stories about both men give compelling information about history in the Four Corners, the West and the folklore that endures.

Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon, by Elias Butler and Tom Myers, Puma Press, 2007, 455 pages, $19.95: Harvey Butchart had a 40-year love affair with the Grand Canyon. A University of Northern Arizona mathematics professor who taught nearby the world wonder, he became a legend during his lifetime from amassing an amazing stat: he climbed, hiked, floated and bushwhacked 12,000 miles below the Grand Canyon rim. The authors did extensive research to tell Butchart's life story, from a small child and what influenced his love for nature to his expeditions in the canyons. The story includes tons of photos, maps, journal entries and correspondence. But the book isn't a beginning to end timeline. Rather, it's full of captivating accounts of trips, anticipation and drama. It tells about how Butchart's obsession affected his family life, his profession and his friendships. Each of them, at one time or another, suffered from it. Of course, there are few places more magnificent than the Grand Canyon to spend a lifetime of exploration. Through Butchart's experiences, readers get a feel for how impressive, humbling, unforgiving and fascinating this place is. Read it.

A Buffalo in the House: The True Story of a Man, an Animal, and the American West, by R. D. Rosen, New Press, 2007, 256 pages, $24.95: With the buffalo being the icon of the American West, the image of tough, strong animals prevails. But in this book, readers soon see through the tough exterior of the mighty animal and into the heart of an orphaned buffalo that found a home. The story is about Charlie, who was abandoned a week after birth and given what was to be a temporary home with a two animal lovers in Santa Fe, N.M. Charlie's charm created a strong bond between man and animal that is tender and surprising. One of the caretakers, Veryl Goodnight, is a sculptor who uses Charlie as a model. Veryl is a descendant of Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight, a couple who was part of a group that saved buffalo form extinction in the late 1800s. That weaves an uplifting and sometimes heartbreaking story, enhanced by readers learning about the effort in early America to exterminate buffalos and the current crisis in Yellowstone National Park that threatens the wild herds living there.

The Very Hard Way: Bert Loper and the Colorado River, by Brad Dimock, Fretwater Press, 2007, 457 pages, $17.95: The Four Corners' resident river guru Brad Dimock brings to readers another story about a Grand Canyon river legend, Bert Loper. Dimock's previous book was about Glen and Bessie Hyde, newlyweds who set out on the Colorado River to have their honeymoon. That was the end for them. Now, Dimock brings another fascinating story about adventure and anxiety on the Colorado. Loper was a tough dude who at 16 years old began to spend time living and working in the Southwest, doing various jobs in Durango and the Montezuma Valley, then north to Telluride and Rico. In 1893, he started his lifelong passion with the river and became a river runner after serving as a lead boatman in 1921 for a government trip on the San Juan River. From there, the story takes off and tells about how Loper found love on the river late in life. He ran the Grand Canyon for the first time when he was 70 years old. But he still managed to cover more miles of the Colorado River than anyone.

House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest, by Craig Childs, Little, Brown, 2007, 512 pages, $24.99: Were it not for Craig Childs' wanderings and astonishing curiosity, many of us readers in the Four Corners would be less entertained and educated about some of the deepest reaches of this land. In House of Rain, Childs takes readers on another rugged backcountry journey to try to find out how the ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi) vanished in Pre-Columbia America. Childs' curiosity about how the once-thriving culture left the area and made an indelible mark on our culture is told in easy prose, without pretenses and eloquence. Over the course of several years, Childs makes his way from Chaco Canyon and on through Colorado, Utah and Arizona, during which he endured some of the harshest conditions of nature and time - much like, we can safely assume - the very people he was tracking.

Mesa Verde Centennial Series, Durango Herald Small Press, 2005-2006, $15.95 each or $109.99 for the collection. Includes: Fire on the Mesa, by Tracey L. Chavis and William R. Morris; Travels and Travails: Tourism at Mesa Verde, by Duane A. Smith and William C. Winkler; The Wetherills: Friends of Mesa Verde, by Fred M. Blackburn; Photographing Mesa Verde: Nordenskiöld and Now, by William G. Howard, Douglas J. Hamilton and Kathleen L. Howard; New Deal Days: The CCC at Mesa Verde, by Ronald C. Brown and Duane A. Smith; Dirt, Water, Stone: A Century of Preserving Mesa Verde, by Kathleen Fiero; Women to the Rescue: Creating Mesa Verde National Park, by Duane A. Smith: This seven-book collection celebrates the centennial anniversary of Mesa Verde National Park. Long the gem of Southwest Colorado, the park's 100th year in existence and its status among the American public helped make each of these books come to fruition. Each is a story worth reading to understand the rich and complex history of a park that holds so many clues, secrets and representation of our past. Fire on the Mesa tells about how wildfires always change the makeup of the land, unearthing relics and being a constant challenge for cultural preservationists in a time of increasing fire destruction. Travels and Travails explains the early visitors, discoverers and changing demographics of the more than 577,000 people who visit it each year. Widely known and respected archaeologist Fred Blackburn writes in The Wetherills about the Southwest's first family of southwestern archaeology. The family was one of the early explorers of the park, from which they drew much cultural information to help preserve information. In it, Blackburn dispels some myths about the family legacy. Gustaf Nordenskiöld was a Swedish scientist who explored and photographed the park in the late 1800s. Photographing Mesa Verde showcases many of Nordenskiöld's 150-plus photos, laying them out side by side to see how the subjects have changed over time. The historic Civilian Conservation Corps worked at Mesa Verde from 1933 to 1942, where its young men built roads, fought fires, landscaped and generally improved the parks natural appearance. The various anecdotes in New Deal Days are amusing, surprising and admirable. Dirt Water, Stone is a fascinating account of the efforts made by a score of people to preserve Mesa Verde's ancient dwellings and other artifacts. Finally, in Women to the Rescue, well-respected historian Duane Smith tells the story of victorious women who led more than one charge to compel Congress to establish the park.

Counting Sparrows, by Kathleen Browning, Shadows Ink Publications, 2007, 40 pages, $9.95: From all of the writing talent in the Four Corners, a refreshing voice is emerging in the form of poetry. Farmington, N.M., resident Kathleen Browning has published her first collection of poems in Counting Sparrows. In it she introduces readers to 40 of her poems - highly readable and touching ones at that. For some, reading poetry is a chore, beset with a lack of understanding the nuances, obscurity and English degrees. None of that is true with Browning. Hers are poetically pleasurable and accessible to any reader. You don't feel as if you are reading literary experimentation. Rather, they are her deeply personal words that she willingly shares with readers in a simply beautiful way. She writes her poems with fire and tenacity; they are a statement of her individuality. Browning's subjects are ones we all understand. I'd share some standout poems from the collection, but they all deserve equal attention (except, perhaps, the exceptionally touching and smile-inducing "Unsleeved"). It's a book that you'll pick up time and again because you understand the ideas and feelings of which Browning shares. She explores seasons, walled-off hearts, her father, her mother, wildlife and love.