Blogcritics Category: Books: Outdoors

Book Review: African Diaries: Sketches & Observations by David G. Derrick Jr.

Fitz — Wed, 7 Jan 2009 06:36:45 EST

Experience Africa through the eyes of an artist.
With two young daughters deeply enjoying art at home and in school, I find myself in the new position of having to look for books that combine art with education. Sometimes these books document the lives of famous artists while showing some of their more well known works. Sometimes I stumble on books that combine travel, education, and art in a...

Book Review: Visions of Paradise edited by Bronwen Latimer

El Bicho — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:14:31 EST

National Geographic reveals heaven on Earth.
Published by the National Geographic Society, Visions of Paradise is a glorious collection of black and white and color photographs taken all over the world based on editor Bronwen Latimer’s question, “where is heaven on Earth?” The 88 participants submitted snapshots of the assignment that not only cover the obvious natural...

Book Review:The Final Frontiersman - Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness by James Campbell

Jennifer Bogart — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:22:02 EST

Mail every 3 months, 70 below with the windchill, an unserviced 14' x 16' cabin - welcome to the final frontier, Alaska.
Meet Heimo Korth – a rare specimen of a man. Leaving his native Wisconsin as a young man in the 1970s he followed the call of his wild heart to Alaska, settling over 100 miles from his nearest neighbour – far north of the Arctic circle. There he taught himself the skills necessary to survive in the harsh, demanding Alaska wilds. ...

Book Review: Canoeing with the Cree by Eric Sevareid

Ryne Barber — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:49:52 EST

Sevareid has a real knack for providing detailed imagery of the environment; the importance of the journey requires commendation.
Eric Sevareid once took a journey, one which most normal individuals wouldn't even dream up. For his buddy, Walter Port, and him, the dangers and terrors of an outdoors adventure were just what they were looking for. Canoeing with the Cree lets us in on that adventure, in a non-fiction account that sees Sevareid giving a narrative of their...

Book Review: Near Death In The Mountains - True Stories Of Disaster And Survival Edited By Cecil Kuhne

El Bicho — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:25:38 EDT

A gripping collection for those who climb up mountains and those who climb into comfortable chairs to read.
Editor Cecil Kuhne’s second entry in his Near Death true-adventure series is set In The Mountains. It presents excerpts from stories of climbers in different parts and altitudes around the globe risking life and limbs to follow their passions. While the motivation behind the drive and desire of the men On The High Seas may not, and possibly...

Book Review: Wind River by Tom Morrisey

Violet Nesdoly — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:48:18 EDT

Whether you�re after an outdoor adventure or a story of how to face the sins of the past, Wind River won�t disappoint.
Tyler Perkins returns from the war in Iraq weighed down by what has happened to him. To his wife Angie he seems like a different man. So when Ty’s 86-year-old friend Soren Andeman drops strong hints that he’d like Ty to take him on one last hike to Clear Lake in their beloved Wyoming mountains, Angie urges him to go.Right from the start...

Book Review: Weasel by Cynthia DeFelice

Mel Odom — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:32:04 EDT

This coming-of-age young adult novel is compact, compelling, and suspenseful as young Nathan Fowler deals with a deadly killer.
Weasel by Cynthia DeFelice is one of those great books for kids that I read to all five of my children. My ten year old and I just read it this weekend, and he enjoyed it just as much as my oldest kids. Quite frankly, I never get tired of it myself. Over the span of eighteen years of reading the Sequoia award-winning novel to my kids, I’ve...

Book Review: Templeton Turtle Goes Exploring by Ron Pridmore

Jennifer Bogart — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:23:21 EDT

An adventurous hatchling turtle, friendly neighbours and a dash of adventure make for a delightful trip around the pond.
Templeton the turtle is an adventurous young tyke. A real go-getter, he’s barely hatched when he asks his mother if he can go exploring. She consents with the condition that he remains nearby so that she can keep an eye on him. Like many youngsters he soon strays beyond his mother’s surveillance and is off on a solitary journey.On this...

Book Review - The Last Season by Eric Blehm

Eric Whelchel — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 23:36:27 EDT

Eric Blehm's book explores the life and death of ranger Randy Morgenson.
Eric Blehm’s The Last Season examines the life and death of Randy Morgenson, a backcountry ranger in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon mountain range who mysteriously disappeared in 1996. Despite a massive search effort in the days after Morgenson’s disappearance, no trace of the ranger was found until 2001. Even despite this grisly...

Book Review: The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane

Jessica Schneider — Mon, 4 Aug 2008 02:47:44 EDT

For a book that is celebrating the wild, it is ironic that these essays seem to be bundled up in cages.
Whenever I read a book that isn’t great but merely good, the writer will fall into two categories. The first is where the writer could be great, if only some trimming and tweaking were done. Frank McCourt falls into this category with his classic memoir Angela’s Ashes, for while the book is filled with terrific scenes and description,...