MO

This is easily the most superbly detailed hiking guidebook for the St. Louis area that I've ever seen. The author has actually hiked every trail he writes about and I plan to make good use of this book.

60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: St. Louis by bicycler, backpacker, and travel writer Steve Henry presents maps, easy-to-follow directions, descriptions, nearby activity lists and a great deal more for avid hikers who look to enjoy trails in and around the great city of St. Louis, Missouri. A perfect travel planning resource for hiker daytrips and excursions, the "At-a-glance" information sidebars summarize the highlights of each offered hike in this superbly presented and organized walker's guidebook.

This book will hardly fit back on the shelf: Yellow post-it notes hang from its margins, nearly a pad-ful so far, each marking a high-taste recipe. I've only had the book a year, but it has fast become a favorite.

I have prepared many of the recipes from this book and have found all I have tried to be wonderful. They are easy to follow, and the collection of recipes is diverse and appeals to the most discriminating of tastes. This book also provides visuals on the art of artistic meal presentation. Of the cookbooks that I own, I know if a meal is prepared from this book all will be happy, especially me!

I bought this book for my grandmother, who loves country music and who has visited Branson, for her birthday. She absolutely loved it! The pictures in the book are really colorful and fun to look at. I recommend this book for hard-to-shop-for friends and relatives, especially country music lovers.

Indicates trends, Branson has re-invented itself,doesnt want to lose to Myrtle Beach

This book is a must-have gem. I've been acquainted with Kansas City, my mother's hometown, all my life, and never had any idea of the richness and diversity the city has to offer. This book is an extensively (one could even say obsessively) researched tool that has chapters on every conceivable topic, from the outdoors to religious organizations to fine cuisine. Volunteer opportunities and other ways to really engage in the community abound. Connect with Kansas City is a truly unique resource that will improve your experience in Kansas City whether you are a first time visitor, an infrequent visitor (like myself) or a lifetime resident. The author's insights about the value of "social capital" were clearly a guiding force in both the conception and the implementation of the book. Worth its weight in gold!

Order this book now! It is full of things to do and ways to engage in our community. Sandy James makes it easy for us to enjoy Kansas City and all our community provides. A must read for anyone new to our city but also for those of us who have been here for awhile and need some fresh ideas.

My first introduction to Nero Wolfe was an audiobook I picked up on a trip. He seemed slothful, arrogant, pompous, and disagreeable. His assistant Archie Goodwin seemed like a somewhat deductively challenged Sam Spade.

My next encounter with Wolfe came in the form of the Radio Spirits editions of the old Nero Wolfe series starring Sydney Greenstreet. Greenstreet was a natural for Wolfe, bringing out Wolfe's better qualities while minimizing the flaws. I got hooked on the A&E Nero Wolfe series. What seemed like serious character flaws in the audiobook became endearing eccentricities in the TV series. I wish it a long run.

The A&E series sent me scurrying to Amazon.com for some Nero Wolfe novels. Good exercises in logical deduction as a method of solving crimes. But the endearing eccentricities of the TV shows once again became off-putting character flaws.

Enter the CBC radio dramas. The CBC plays are every bit as good as the A&E TV series. Since you can drive a car and listen to the CBC plays, I consider them even better.

"Eeny Meeny Murder Mo" is a dramatization of a Wolfe novel that was also done by A&E. I wouldn't give you two cents for the difference in entertainment values and production qualities between the two shows. The musical score of the radio play could have been improved, but that was the only sour note in the whole production.

On the flip side, we find "The Squirt and the Monkey." The back panel has this to say about "The Squirt and the Monkey": "It's an all-out assault on Wolfe and Goodwin when one is framed for murder and the other is sued for a fortune. A liar is playing with fire."

Apparently without leaving his specially made chair, and certainly without leaving the front stoop of his brownstone house, Wolfe solves the mystery with a tour de force exercise in deduction.

The CBC radio production of 13 of Rex Stout's "Nero Wolfe" stories is the best Wolfe adaptation that I have come across in any media. The voice casting is excellent, production quality is excellent, and the writing is so true to the tone of the stories that it could almost have been done by Rex Stout himself.

My biggest regret with these shows is that the CBC did not adapt more of the stories.

My wife and I vacationed in St. Louis with our 2-year-old son and used this book to plan our trip. It was invaluable, pointing out activities we never would have known about otherwise. This book helped make our trip one of the best vacations we've ever had.

I keep 2 copies of this book handy: one in the car and one by the phone. I have recently purchased an updated copy and found the information current and accurate. It gives information on places as diverse as parks, restaurants, bookstores, museums, and the zoo. There are many fun ideas included that I would have never thought of myself. For example, you can ride the Amtrak train from Kirkwood to Downtown very cheaply and the kids have a ball. My 4-year-old son used the facilities twice in the 1/2 hour it took just because it was such a unique experience! Anyone living in St Louis or just visiting shouldn't be without this book!

Sheer genius. Is there anyone in this genre better than Shea

A funny, heart-warming, masterpiece. Shea has done it again

This book gives general principles of gardens with prairie plants, examples of actual gardens, a few plans and lots of information on specific plants. The information on the plants is the highlight of the book. The plans that they show are excellent.

[Gardening with Prairie Plants by Sally Wasowski], Native Plant Society of Texas News, 20 (March April 2002): 5.

Convincing people that native flora are ideal for their home landscape should be easy. Colorful native plants flower as early as late February and continue to bloom until late June. After a respite during the intense heat and withering drought of summer, a riot of blossoms emerge again from September until the first frost of late autumn. Few gardens comprised of commercially popular non-native plants can compete with the duration of such a showy display. And few can match the low maintenance, the reduced water requirements, and the environmental benefits of native-flora horticulture.

Sally Wasowski's latest book, Gardening with Prairie Plants, is aimed at converting skeptics who doubt that native-plant landscapes can make any difference in the world. These are people who argue the futility of trying to reverse the course of things in any given region. In reply, Wasowski points to native-plant landscaping as one way to preserve biodiversity. Biodiversity is like the human auto-immune system; it provides an eco-system with the means for successfully adjusting to disruptive new conditions.
Wasowski has a good chance of succeeding against the skeptics because her volume-reasonably-priced and readily available in Texas bookstores-is excellently produced. Not only is her well-informed commentary accessible to the average reader, but Andy Wasowski's accompanying color photographs are spectacular. The publisher wisely opted to print large illustrations, and the 241 that appear in Gardening with Prairie Plants prove the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. Since Texas is a prairie state, there are attractive photos of Brown County, Quitaque, Gruene, Fort Worth and Lubbock, among other Lone Star State locales.

Gardening with Prairie Plants commences with several instructive definitions, such as the difference between short-grass prairies, which tend to be found in dry regions subject to very hot weather, and long-grass prairies, which tend to be found in wet regions subject to very cold weather. But such distinctions can become somewhat more complex, and Wasowski negotiates various qualifications in an easy-to-understand way. Her book then proceeds to consider the design, installation and maintenance of prairie gardens. This section is highlighted by photographs of homes, schools and museums exemplifying successful transitions to native landscaping. The impressive experiment at Selah Ranch in Johnson City is also featured.

Most of Wasowski's book is devoted to plant profiles, which comprise a richly illustrated section of the volume and are accompanied by helpful horticultural data and numerous floral distribution maps. The flowers populating this portion of the book are so appealingly presented that it will be hard for some readers to resist wanting to adopt all of them. Consider, for example, the allure of the beautiful photograph of needle-and-thread (Hesperostipa comata), accompanied by this description: "Needle-and-thread sways in the slightest wind with a motion like water, and the awns have a silvery cast. ... Wind blows the 'needle' onto the soil. The threadlike 5-to-8-inch awn is twisted behind the needle, and as it unwinds, the seed is literally drilled into the soil."

Gardening with Prairie Plants is an admirable work. It will be cherished by anyone devoted to native flora, but it will appeal equally to those who have as yet made only a modest foray into native-plant landscaping. Gardening with Prairie Plants is not only extraordinarily useful, it is also exceptionally beautiful-a lavishly designed book for enthusiast and dreamer alike.

William J. Scheick, a former NPSOT vice-president, is also a member of the Central Texas Horticulture Council and a frequent contributor to Texas Gardener.

Hiking The Bitterroots helped me to explore new trails and see new sites in my area, armed with the knowledge of what might lay over that next hill. Includes trail details such as recommended fishing & camping sites, scenery, milage, elevations, driving directions, and how often the trail is used. Very helpful for someone new to the area and does not know where to begin hiking in the Bitterroot forests and wilderness.

Mort Arkava's "Hiking the Bitterroots" is a definite winner with "rec heads" locally and otherwise.

His book leads you to the trailheads of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Montana and Idaho with it's pristine forests, rushing creeks, alpine meadows and towering peaks.

Each of the 41 hikes varies in length as well as endurance. Each hike's description is accurate as well as descriptive and detailed. Mort provides you with trailhead directions, trail descriptions and sketch maps. You know that Arkava has hiked every trail more than once.

He has made it easy for beginners and experts alike to get out there and explore. So let's go! Let's get out there! And don't forget your moleskin, your extra pair of socks and of course, "Hiking the Bitterroots" by Mort Arkava.