A Walk In The Park - Acadia's Hiking Guide by Tom St. Germain

$13.00 on Amazon

Have a vacation to Maine's Acadia National Park planned and want to go hiking while you are there? A very useful reference for your hike planning would be Tom St. Germain's A Walk in the Park, Acadia's Hiking Guide. In this small book, St. Germain provides a really good overview of the hiking opportunities in the park and has produced a reference guide that should well serve all but the most ardent explorers of Acadia National Park.

The book is an excellent reference guide and provides trail descriptions, maps and elevation profiles of each of the hikes. The book couldn't possibly describe all the trails in Acadia and remain the size that it is, so the main hikes in the region are chronicled, along with information on the other trails, especially with maps showing all of the trails in a certain area.

Book Basics 

There are five main sections to the book, which correspond to different areas of Mount Desert Island, home to Acadia National Park. The sections are:

The Bar Harbor Region
The Ocean Drive Region
The Jordan Pond Area
Western Mountain
Somes Sound and Seawall Hikes
The sections basically work from east to west across the island and cover the vast majority of the park where you will find trails.

Within each of those sections you'll find descriptions for the major trails in those areas. Each section averages about fifteen or so trail descriptions with a few having a couple more and the others having less. The most trails are described around the Bar Harbor area and the Jordan Pond area. Those with the least include the Ocean Drive region and the Somes Sound area.

In addition to the trail descriptions, the book includes a short introduction from the author talking about his experiences in Acadia along with an index to all the hikes and a glossary for all the trails. I thought the glossary was an interesting touch – something I hadn't seen in any other guidebook. Basically every trail in the book has an entry and there's a one sentence description of the trail following its name. Think of it as cliff notes for trails.

Trail Descriptions 

Of course the trail descriptions are really what make this book. I've found them to be very helpful, for both planning hikes and as a resource as you are hiking. That's because the trails of Acadia can be very dense – trail junctions are all over the place and there are multiple trails diverging from various places. Thus you need to have a good map and guide with you to make sure that you are staying on the hike that you wanted to complete in the first place.

With A Walk in the Park this is easy to do. The description does a good job at giving you an idea of what to expect on the trail. It'll describe the walk itself, what you are going to see on the hike and where to go when you come to various trail intersections. The maps are just as good, if not better. They show the topographic relief of the area along with the roadways, town areas, parking and the other trails in the area. There's also a locus map which shows you whereabouts on Mount Desert Island the trail is. My favorite reference though is the vertical profile on each trail description. This shows you how much elevation you are going to gain and lose while you are hiking and gives you a good idea of what to expect beyond the map and the description while you are hiking. In addition, a few of the descriptions include small black and white photographs of sights along the trail.

Experiences

Every time I get to Acadia I make sure to take at least one hike since you really can't have a bad hiking experience in the park. All of the trails are just that amazing. However I like to plan ahead and Tom St. Germain's A Walk in the Park does a really good at making that easy. I can find, figure out what to expect on the hike and find its trailhead and parking via the included maps.

I really like the book and considering the number of trails in the Acadia region, St. Germain has done a good job at providing descriptions for the best of the bunch.

Final Thoughts 

I would recommend this book for anyone traveling to Acadia National Park who is looking to do some hiking. You'll most likely be completely bewildered without a guidebook and for an introductory guide to many of the Park's best hikes, definitely pick up a copy of Tom St. Germain's A Walk in the Park, Acadia's Hiking Guide, you won't be disappointed.

More information on Hiking in Acadia National Park at Adventures in the Outdoors.

ACCESS Gay USA

The Access guides claim to “make the world your neighborhood,” and their Gay USA travel guide is no exception, except that you’ll just be making major US cities into your neighborhood in this guide.

While nowhere near a comprehensive guide to gay life and activities throughout the country, Gay USA does a good job focusing on 23 cities and destinations in the United States that are arguably some of the most popular destinations for the Gay and Lesbian community. 

The cities and places covered include: Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Fire Island; Ft. Lauderdale; Honolulu; Houston; Key West; Los Angeles; Miami Beach and Miami; New Orleans; New York City; Palm Springs; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Provincetown; San Diego; San Francisco; San Juan; Seattle; and Washington DC. 

The Guide’s Layout 

Each city in Gay USA gets a chapter that follows a simple and basic format to provide the most information about that location in a fairly concise and easy to read way. Each chapter starts with a fairly detailed map (you’ll still need to pick up a map) that gives a general overview of the city and highlights the various locations identified in the text, or identifies where close-up maps are available further into the chapter. 

Then you’ll get an introduction to that city that hits on the history and highlights, especially for Gay and Lesbian travelers. It’s not required reading if you’re trying to figure out what is in a city, but it does give some nice background and helps you appreciate wherever you are visiting. 

Beyond the introduction you’ll find out how to get to the city, by plane, by bus, and by train, along with information on how to get around once you’re there. 

Still more basic information on the city is given, with quick highlights of all the important topics such as accommodations, personal safety, eating, smoking, street plans, taxes, festivals and more. 

The actual descriptions are broken down by the neighborhoods (or different regions) of each location. Gay USA provides basic information on services, dining, and attractions that are of interest to gay men. 

Each entry is color-coded (red – restaurants/clubs; blue – hotels; green – shops/outdoors; and black – sights/culture). There are several other symbols used in the descriptions, but all are fairly self-explanatory. They include the male and female symbols (alone one means that a location caters to gay men or lesbians, together it means they cater to both), a small wheelchair to represent accessibility; dollar signs to designate how expensive a restaurant, along with 1 to 4 stars rating the various restaurants. 

Each neighborhood’s (or region’s) description begins with a small close-up map of that neighborhood and highlights all of the places described in the text. The sites (accommodations, restaurants, clubs, etc) are numbered in the text and you’ll find the numbers on the map to help you figure out your vacation. 

Descriptions for all of the various locations (the accommodations, clubs, etc) are all quick descriptions. Generally there’s a short paragraph on the destination, maybe if it’s a restaurant it’ll be on a good dish, or for clubs, a description of the various theme nights they offer. After the quick description, you’ll find information on when the destination is open, its address and its phone number. 

You’ll also find quick little bites of information scattered throughout the destination descritiptions and a few more in-depth stories. For example in Atlanta, there’s a section on “Draglanta,” and you learn that in the 1980s Atlanta was the place to be for the world’s highest profile cross-dressers. There’s information on drag hotspots, along with some history. All in all, it’s a welcome addition to the fairly bland “here’s this and here’s that,” that makes up most travel guides and gives you a better understanding of the city. 

FYI 

Several sub-areas are included in Gay USA but aren’t evident from the original listing of various cities covered. For example the Boston section covers Northampton, MA and Ogunquit, ME, while Chicago also includes Saugatuck and Douglas. Other areas included are: Fort Worth; Aspen; Galveston Island; Laguna Beach; New Hope; Sedona; Jerome; Tijuana, Mexico; Russian River; and Rehoboth Beach. 

Experiences 

Call it my altruistic nature, but I seem to have collected an inordinate amount of gay stuff. I mean, I’ve never really been one who likes guidebooks, or needed a guide to gay destinations, but somehow Gay USA, along with several other guides have appeared on my bookshelves. I think my boyfriend must be putting it in my stack of books at Barnes and Noble (or the discount book warehouse) when I’m not looking, but either way, once I’ve gotten them, they have been useful, including Gay USA. 

I even managed to find out a thing or two about Boston while I was reading the book, including the fact that Boston’s Gay Pride Day is the single largest annual event in Boston. No wonder it seems like such a party every June! 

The information in the pages of Gay USA is extensive, but focused on the various cities that are covered. For Gay and Lesbian travel information outside of these major destinations, you’ll be left lacking and need to look elsewhere, like Damron’s guidebooks. 

Unlike some other guidebooks, Gay USA has left out the sex clubs and various cruisy places for gay men. Thus I guess for the more timid amongst us, you won’t have to blush when flipping through the pages of this book. 

While I know that there have been plenty of trips where my boyfriend and I never end up visiting a single place mentioned in the book, it’s a great start when you’re considering traveling and want to know what’s available to you if you are planning on being in the locations that are profiled. 

The book is also a great reference for people living in these cities, especially if you are new. Simply put, you’re never going to know every single place out there and the guidebook can help you discover a wonder that was just under your nose that you never noticed. 

Considerations 

I found this book in the discount bookstore for about $7 a year ago and I haven’t seen a newer edition than the 2000 edition that I have. While I’m not sure if there are newer editions available, Gay USA still proves to be a useful reference guide. While businesses may come and go, even an older guide like this one gives you a good idea of what is around and you should always be calling ahead anyway – and then you’ll find out if it’s still there. However, in a few years a good part of the information will be quite out of date, especially room rates and restaurant prices. 

Final Thoughts 

While not as indispensable as some other gay guidebooks, Access Gay USA does do a good job highlighting what’s available for Gay and Lesbian travelers in the various cities that are highlighted by the book. Though with time, if newer editions aren’t published, the information in this book will become more and more out of date and less useful. 

For now though, Gay USA is still a helpful guide.

Originally published on Epinions

Rocks and Routes of the North Country

Learn the Story Behind the Rocks and Routes of the North Country written Bradford VanDiver

Have you been looking for a straightforward introduction to the geology of New York’s North Country (the Adirondack region – I use the two interchangeably)? Rocks and Routes of the North Country, written Bradford VanDiver, is an easily understood introduction to basic geologic concepts, the geology of the Adirondack region, and provides information on various geologic tours throughout the Adirondacks.

Part I 

Beginning with an introduction to basic geologic concepts, VanDiver explains enough geology so that readers will be able to understand concepts deeper in the book, but not so many that the average reader is lost in detail. He goes over basic concepts in mineralogy, rock types and formations and basic geologic processes.

Continuing on in Chapters 2 through 4, he continues introducing the reader to progressively more and more site-specific geology. He starts with an overview of the rocks that exist in the North Country, followed by the geology and physiographic setting of the Adirondacks in the greater geological context and finally closes his introduction to the North Country with a geological history of the area.

Part II 

Part II of Rocks and Routes of the North Country outlines seven different driving field trips throughout the North Country to better explain and explore the geology of the area. These includes trips throughout the lowlands and St. Lawrence Valley, the Potsdam area, the Whiteface Mountain area and the geology along the Northway just to name a few.

Each field trip is broken down into its respective components and directions from each site to the next are given. The directions are clear and easy to follow and the descriptions of various sites to stop at are well described and easy to find. Anyone who picks up this book will be able to follow along on the field trips and learn something new about the geology of the area.

Part III 

In Part III, VanDiver focuses on mineral collecting throughout the Adirondacks. He reviews the various minerals that are in existence throughout the North Country and provides information on where they can be collected, along with the rules and regulations pertaining to collecting samples.

For people interested in finding specific minerals, this section is quite interesting and useful. The Adirondacks contain a diverse assemblage of minerals and prospecting for them can be a fun and challenging pastime.

VanDiver also provides a bibliography of other books and writings on mineral exploration and prospecting in this section, which provides an excellent resource, should you be looking to find additional help on your rockhounding quests.

Part IV 

Finally in the fourth section of Rocks and Routes of the North Country, Van Diver looks at how geology impacts recreation in the North Country. His review includes issues related to rock climbing, whitewater rafting and the hidden beauty of geologic features in the North Country. This section is an interesting and entertaining read on the various real world impacts that geology has (and you thought geology was just looking at rocks).

Is It Worth Buying? 

The answer to that question is an unqualified “yes.” Rocks and Routes of the North Country is an excellent introduction to the geology of the entire North Country region of New York state. It is both a primer on geologic science in the area and a field guide that introduces readers to geology first hand on field trips. Then it’s also both a guide to mineral collecting in the area and a introduction to how geology impacts recreation in the area. It’s a whole bunch of things, but one of which it’s not, is overwhelming.

Rocks and Routes of the North Country is written for the average reader without much geologic background in mind. Concepts are laid out and identified in the beginning and the discussed more fully throughout the book. In addition there is a glossary defining any technical terms used throughout the book and extensive bibliographies that can point you in the direction of more information should you want to research a topic further.

So get this book, read some history, then get out in the field and look at some rocks and then have a better understanding of the geologic history of the North Country and how that impacts the area today.

Originally published on Epinions

GPS Made Easy

Find Yourself Anywhere In The World - GPS Made Easy by Lawrence Letham and Alex Letham

Have a GPS (Global Positioning System) and don’t really know what do with it or thinking about getting a GPS receiver but don’t have any experience with GPS? 

Then get your hands on a copy of GPS Made Easy. 

In GPS Made Easy, Lawrence Letham provides a good overview of the GPS system and how to use GPS in the outdoors. The book is written for people without any GPS experience and breaks down GPS into its components and its various uses. 

Starting with an introduction to global positioning, Letham provides a simple and great explanation of the constellation of satellites that orbit the Earth that can provide location information with an error of only between 15 to 100 meters. This kind of accuracy, anywhere on the face of the Earth at any time and in any weather, makes GPS an excellent addition to any outdoorsperson’s toolkit. 

15 to 100 meter accuracy isn’t that good you say? Often GPS accuracy is higher than that, down to a few meters, however due to the government’s “selective availability” policy, civilian GPS receivers have a certain amount of error built in, usually several meters. The accuracy all depends on how many satellites your receiver can connect to and the dynamics of your location. But on the whole, even at 100-meter accuracy (300 feet), you should have no problems in navigating and locating various areas. Horizontal sub-meter accuracy is generally only needed in precise surveying work. 

Following an overview of the GPS system and the history of navigational aides, Letham delves into more of the intricacies of using a GPS system. These include a review of GPS receivers that are available and how to convert and work with UTM coordinates (the coordinate system that GPS uses, as opposed to the more well-known latitude and longitude system). 

The next several chapters deal with using GPS in various situations and provide examples of how the GPS can help with outdoor adventures. The real world examples include navigation in a whiteout, figuring out latitude and longitude on a kayak trip and on a sailboat rally, using GPS with small scale maps on a road trip, and recovering from the loss of a GPS receiver while in the outdoors. These examples are good to read because they cover many of the areas that people will find themselves in (well I don’t compete in sailboat rallies, but you get the point) and by seeing how to use GPS (or in the last case, navigate without GPS), you will have a better handle on what GPS can do and what its limitations are. 

After the examples, Letham reviews how GPS receivers can work with personal computers. This book was written before the advent of many handhelds – but the concepts introduced with computers are applicable to today’s generation of handhelds and laptops. This includes real-time mapping and navigation (where you basically see yourself on a map on the handheld or laptop) and logging of the point information you are saving in the GPS. 

Letham closes GPS Made Easy, with discussions on other coordinate grids that are sometimes used in GPS and navigation and an introduction to differential GPS and a discussion of degrees, minutes and seconds in the latitude and longitude system (since the accuracy of GPS can be down to seconds and even mils at times). 

GPS Made Easy contains a well rounded glossary that defines many of the more technical terms used throughout the book, a list of resources and other books on GPS systems, and a checklist of information to look for in your GPS receiver. 

Anyone unfamiliar with the inner workings of GPS or with their own GPS receiver would be better off with a copy of GPS Made Easy - it is a great introduction to the world of GPS based navigation and is clearly written with the novice in mind. 

Originally published on Epinions

501 Great Things About Being Gay

A tongue-in-cheek look at the things that make being gay great, Edward Taussig provides 501 reasons why we, over on the queer team should be happy with the way we are. 

No chapters, no stories, just 501 one or two sentence reasons why being gay can be great – that’s all that you should expect to find in this book. There are two or three reasons per page for all 232 pages of the book (which is a smaller, undersized book – about 5 by 7 inches). 

You have to wonder, how much time did it take Mr. Taussig to sit down and figure out these 501 reasons – most are forgettable, but some are genuinely funny. 

Now you are probably wondering what could possibly be so great about being gay? 

You’re the only one at the reunion who looks a lot better than you did in high school. 

or how about… 

You never have to find her “G” spot 

You see, this is a fun little book filled with reasons why being gay can be great at times. 

I’m not advocating however, that this is some sort of self-help book or anything of the sort. 501 Great Things About Being Gay, is simply a fun read for yourself and your friends. My partner and I will read through it at times and you can hear the laugh from the other room when he or I get to a funny reason for loving being gay. In my weaker moments of party planning, I’ve even been known to pull it out and use it to bring some laughs to everyone. Especially since… 

You know where to get impressive party nibbles 

and I couldn’t let my nibbles be wasted in a boring party. 

So in the end, 501 Great Things is a funny book that is worth having around to bring out a laugh or two when you need it. 

Well… 

Okay, maybe sometimes being gay isn’t so great all of the time – but books like this help us all see the lighter side of life. If you’re a gay guy out there looking for the occasional smile, this book is a worthy addition to that bookshelf. 

Some parting reasons on why being gay is great… 

If your mattress could talk, it would be Joan Rivers 
Brunch was invented for you 
You know that some of the worst social functions can be redeemed by two magical words: Open Bar 
You didn’t choose to be gay, it was sheer luck 

and my personal favorite (and summing up the tongue-in-cheek nature of this book at the same time: 

You resent any assumptions made about you because of your sexuality – including about half the ones in this book 

The Devil's Tramping Ground and Other North Carolina Mystery Stories

Are you curious about the unknown or unexplained in North Carolina? The Devil’s Tramping Ground is a good introduction to the bizarre and inexplicable in the State since its first colonization. 

First settled by Europeans in 1585 on Roanoke Island, the first colonists in North Carolina disappeared without a trace by the time that the explorers reached the colony again in 1591. The buildings had been razed, a large palisade built around the colony and on a single tree, the word Croatoan had been inscribed – but not a single soul in the area and the forest had begun to cover everything, signaling that the colony had been abandoned for sometime. None of the original colonists were ever found and no one really knows what happened to the original Roanoke Colony. 

So stories of the strange and inexplicable go back quite far in North Carolina, right back to the first attempts at colonizing the new world. 

What’s the Devil tramp around? 

The author, John Harden takes the reader on a journey through North Carolina’s mysteries in twenty different stories of the strange, the unexplained and the mysterious. From strange hoof marks attributed to the Devil in Bath and lights on Brown Mountain to the ghost ship of Diamond Shoals and the story of Vera Cruz, The Devil’s Tramping Ground gives the reader an overview of North Carolina’s supernatural mysteries. 

Coming in at almost 200 pages, detail on the various stories is well developed and each story runs about 10 pages. The Devil’s Tramping Ground provides an overview of these various mysteries and unexplained occurrences. It gives readers enough to wet their appetite for more of North Carolina’s mysteries. 

The book is filled with many interesting stories that go to show that not everything can easily and neatly fit into the realm of the ordinary. Why is it at the Devil’s Tramping Ground, no grass grows in the ground? Whatever happened to the Roanoke Colony? The Devil’s Tramping Ground might not provide answers to these questions, but does an excellent job describing what has happened and leaves readers to draw their own conclusions. 

An easy read for anyone interested in the supernatural and strange, The Devil’s Tramping Ground’schapters read more like an individual stories than a coherent book. Chapters themselves are disjointed from one another and it is easy to pick up the book and read one at a time. 

The Devil’s Tramping Ground is a reprint of a book originally published back in the 1940s. Readers might notice that some of the text is a bit dated, but it is not bothersome and is definitely not a problem. One of the few real faults of this book though is the fact that no bibliography or list of books for additional information is given. Should you want to read more, you will have to find the literature on your own. For those interested in more (and who don’t want to dig too hard), John Harden also published Tar Heel Ghosts, which is a collection of North Carolina Ghost stories. 

Final Thoughts 

Anywhere in the world has strange and unexplained mysteries and North Carolina is no exception. The Devil’s Tramping Ground is a good introduction to the strange and mysterious in North Carolina. We may never know what happened to the Roanoke Colonists or if the Devil really did walk over someone’s roof in Bath, but whatever you end up believing in, you should enjoy reading The Devil’s Tramping Ground. 

Draw your own conclusions on the inexplicable and unknown, but enjoy learning more about the supernatural inThe Devil’s Tramping Ground. 

Long Trail Guide

The Green Mountain Club’s Long Trail Guide is the only book you’ll need if you are considering a hiking trip along Vermont’s Long Trail.

A long distance trail running from the Massachusetts/Vermont border north through Vermont to its border with Canada, the Long Trail follows the ridges of the Green Mountains for 270 miles.

The Details 

The Long Trail Guide provides a thorough and complete guide to the entire 270-mile length of the Long Path, in addition to descriptions of various side trails and also of the Appalachian Trail through Vermont (which shares portions of its trail with the Long Trail). The sections, or divisions as they are called in the book are broken down into discrete geographical units and are covered in order from south to north. The Trail travels through several gaps and crosses different roads, many of which are used here to break up the trail into manageable units in the book.

This kind of formatting makes it easy for hikers not looking to hike the entire trail, find trail sections that are in areas that they are interested in and also makes it easy to link up various divisions into longer hikes.

Each division of the trail is first generally introduced, and then each trail description goes into further detail and subdivisions of the Trail within the main division. Major features along the Trail are described; as are any steep sections, trail junctions, side trails and more. Time is also given for descriptions of the various side trails that the Long Trail encounters along its route. The descriptions are detail orientated and almost seem like they were written as someone was walking the trails. The descriptions for each subdivision also contain information on the vertical elevation you will be gaining and losing on the hike, the mileage for each subdivision and an estimated trip time for that portion of the Trail.

Detailed maps are provided in a separate map section and cover each of the divisions identified in the book. The maps are printed within the book and should you want to bring one with you, you’ll either need to tear it out, or copy it out of the book. There are also two pocket maps included with the Long Trail Guide - a Vermont map that shows the Long Trail (very little detail though) and maps of both the Camel’s Hump and Mount Mansfield areas.

In addition to the Trail description within the various divisions and the maps, the Long Trail Guide includes several other sections to aide Trail users. The sections include:

- An introduction and how-to for the book
- An overview of the Long Trail
- Guidelines for the use of the Trail
- Introduction to the Green Mountain Club
- Trail Management
- Natural History of the Green Mountains
- List of Post Offices and stores near the Trail
- List of Public Campgrounds near the trail
- Useful addresses
- Guide to additional reading

There is a well-built index in the back of the Long Trail Guide that should fulfill anyone’s needs when they are looking for information on various trail locations, shelters/campgrounds, and/or mountain peaks along the trail.

The book is fairly small (roughly 4x6 inches) and can easily be packed in your backpack. Because the maps are printed directly in the book – you’re more likely than not to be carrying the book with you on your hikes and its small size is a definite plus then.

Who Needs This Book 

Hikers interested in the Long Trail, any of its side trails, or the Appalachian Trail through Vermont would be well served by having a copy of the Long Trail Guide. The book is an excellent resource for both written trail descriptions and map information on these trails and should be a great starting point for anyone planning anything from a day-hike to a trek along the entire Long Trail’s length.

Exploring Planetary Worlds

A book read more for it’s pictures than the text surrounding them, Exploring Planetary Worlds is a guide to our Solar System.

Setup in six chapters with an extended prologue and epilogue, author David Morrison takes us on a grand tour of the planets that make up or Solar System. From little Mercury, close to the sun to frozen Pluto, Morrison provides extensive photographs (when available), diagrams and text to explore the differences and similarities between the various planets that make up the Solar System. 

The prologue provides a fairly extensive introduction to the history of Astronomy and exploration of the Solar System. Knowledge from the Greeks and other ancient civilizations are compared and contrasted to the discoveries in the Renaissance by those such as Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. Basic information on planetary motion and gravity is provided and is explained in a way that is easy to understand for both scientists and non-scientists. 

The heart of Exploring Planetary Worlds consists of 6 chapters. These chapters include: 

Giants – the Jovian planets 

Cratered Worlds – the Moon and Mercury 

Strange Twins – Venus and Earth 

Destination Mars – The planet most like Earth 

Fire and Ice – small bodies in the outer Solar System 

Remnants of Creation – comets, asteroids, and the origin of the Solar System 

The chapters are all filled with amazing photographs from space probes that have visited the various planets and their systems. These include photographs from the Mariner missions, the Galileo mission, the Voyager missions, Apollo missions, Viking missions and more. Some of the shots are simply amazing, others most people have probably seen in the news. In addition to the photographs, Morrison includes sketches and diagrams to explain various concepts that are introduced in the text, such as planetary magnetic fields, and rotational anomalies. 

The text in each chapter clearly goes over the history of exploration for each planet, the craft that have visited it, the current state of knowledge (as of 1993) and any future missions planned for the planets. The text is easy to read without becoming too bogged down in simplicity or in detail. Astronomy can be an incredibly exciting topic, but can get very tedious for the average reader when too much detail is provided - Exploring Planetary Worlds strikes a good balance, providing enough information to explain basic concepts, while not going so in-depth that the average reader loses interest. 

The prologue of the book takes in a topic that didn’t fit in elsewhere, that of impacts to the planetary bodies. This idea is explored here on earth and what a catastrophic impact would mean (or has meant) for life on earth. It’s thought that 65 million years ago, an asteroid impact hastened (or caused) the extinction of dinosaurs and even as recently as the early twentieth century, a major comet or asteroid exploded over Tunguska region of Siberia flattening a 30 kilometer radius of forest. This asteroid or comet didn’t even reach the surface, exploding about 10 kilometers up in the atmosphere, just imagine if it had made it all the way down or exploded further down in the atmosphere. Morrison’s explanation of this topic is fascinating and timely, considering that NASA is now considering how to notify and warn people if an asteroid were hitting the Earth. 

Rounding out the rest of Exploring Planetary Worlds, is a list of further reading for anyone interested in finding out more about various planets or the Solar System in general, a list of all the sources of the illustrations and photographs and finally an index that makes it easy to find specific information in the book. 

Thoughts 

I find this book fascinating. I’ve always loved astronomy and Exploring Planetary Worlds is a great way to expand my knowledge and get some great pictures of the various planets. While it’s a bit basic, it nevertheless grabs my attention and I’ve found myself flipping through it time and time again taking a glimpse at the Solar System we are a part of. 

If anyone is looking for a basic introduction to the bodies of the Solar System, they can’t go wrong with Exploring Planetary Worlds by David Morrison.

Classic Northeastern Whitewater Guide

Have a kayak but nowhere to go? With the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Classic Northeastern Whitewater Guide, no whitewater enthusiast in the northeastern United States should be without a place to go.

The book covers rivers from New York and throughout New England, offering river runs in almost every area of each state. From the Hudson River Gorge in New York, to the Vermont’s Black River and Maine’s Kennebec, all the high points are hit and so are plenty of other in-between runs that you may or may not already be familiar with.

What do you find in the book? 

Part One of the guide is an introduction to northeastern whitewater providing information on river running in general and providing a broken down look at the river descriptions that follow in the next section. This is helpful for less experienced rafters, or those of us who haven’t generally used a guidebook to plan out our trips. Each characteristic that is reviewed in the river descriptions (difficult, trip distance, average gradient, etc.) are pulled out in Section One and reviewed so that readers have a general understanding of how and why rivers were reviewed the way they were in Section Two.

The second part of Part One talks about paddling safety. This is a major concern with some of these rivers – northeastern whitewater might not be as famous as say the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, but there’s plenty of difficult and highly technical runs out there that can challenge even the best paddlers. Plus accidents can happen anywhere – even in a smoothly flowing stream – so it’s always better to be careful. Information on water temperature, flotation devices, helmets, river scouting and river hazards are included here. I’d suggest that everyone reads this section before planning out trips – because we always need a safety refresher.

Part Two of the guide delves into the river descriptions. It starts out with a quick (much quicker than Part One’s discussion) guide to interpreting the river information, a discussion of wild and scenic rivers, a quick review of paddling on dam-controlled rivers and ways to maintain that access, location maps and keys for each state or area and finally Part Two dives into the river descriptions.

I won’t bore you with a list of all the rivers that are covered, but as an example, here are some of the highlights from the various states:

New York
Esopus Creek
Hudson River/Indian River
Moose River
Sacandaga River

VT/NH/Maine
Ammonoosuc River
Androscoggin River
Black River
Connecticut River
Dead River
Ellis River
Kennebec River
Mad River
Penobscot River
Saco River
Swift River

Massachusetts/CT/RI
Chickley River
Choasset River
Cold River
Deerfield River
Farmington River
Millers River
Housatonic River
Quaboag River
Westfield River

And that’s probably only about a third of the rivers that are covered in the Classic Northeastern Whitewater Guide.

Each river’s introductory description includes:

-The distance of the river run (the river itself is longer, this is the distance of the run that is covered in the description)
-The shuttle length (in miles driving) that is needed to have cars at both the put-in and take-out points along the river
-The average drop in feet per mile of the river over the run
-The maximum drop in feet per mile on the run
-The difficulty of the run – in the whitewater classification system (class I through V with higher numbers being more difficult)
-The scenery around the river
-The last time the river was field checked for the guide
-The type of water to expect due to runoff on the river
-A look at when the river is too low, low, medium, high and too high in regards to the measured height of the river at a selected gauge and where that gauge is
-Where to find out information on the water level of the river

Beyond this quick introduction (which is the 1st thing you will run across on each river’s description) you are given a two to three page written description of the run on the river, starting with a general description of the run. This is followed by information on the put-in point, and then a play-by-play guide to the river until you reach the take-out point. Information on large rapids, river constrictions, hazards, drops and landmarks are given to make your trip down the river easier and to allow you to plan ahead for your trip. Locations where you should scout the river ahead before running (getting out of your boat and walking along shore to check out the river) are called out, as is information on the take-out point and how the river changes its characteristics in different levels of water flow (a river that is easy at low flow might be extremely difficult in very high water).

With each river description and guide, you are also given a simple map of the run that provides basic information on the river – including the location of difficult rapids and the put-in and take-out points. These maps are good enough for planning, but you should get more detailed maps for the actual trips.

After the descriptions, a short glossary is included, as is the author’s biography and some information about the Appalachian Mountain Club. There is no index or guide to further reading in the book.

Experiences 

I can’t say I’ve run every river in this book – but I have used it several times to plan trips and the information is both easy to access and easy to use. The descriptions are generally accurate, but as with anything in nature – rivers are continually changing – so precise descriptions of the river will quickly go out of date. The basic information is what is helpful – you get an idea of what to expect and what you need to do for a multitude of different rivers.

I wouldn’t suggest that this be the only guide to these rivers you get – if you are considering running any of them – the Classic Northeastern Whitewater Guide provides a good starting point. Once you’ve picked where you want to go and have a general idea of what you are going to do, search out more recent and more detailed information on the river – which should be fairly easy – as the descriptions include information to find out the latest details on the river.

I would have liked an index – especially considering this is a guidebook. However the table of contents is quite thorough and if you can think of a river name, or a location, with some flipping back and forth, you should be able to find what you are looking for.

Final Thoughts 

The Classic Northeastern Whitewater Guide is a great general guide to all of the whitewater opportunities in the northeastern United States. You’ll finish the book with a better understanding of the opportunities available and you’ll be able to plan the outlines of your whitewater trips. The book won’t however provide all the details you need for the toughest of the rivers and it is always best to further study your destination (through more up-to-date resources) before you jump in the boat.

Gay Men's Wellness Guide

At first glance this book looks pretty intimidating. It clocks in at almost 600 pages and it is billed as “The National Lesbian and Gay Health Association’s complete book of physical, emotional, and mental health and well-being for every gay male.” 

And you know what? It doesn’t do a bad job covering all of that information – though I doubt anyone is going to sit down and read this book like a novel. It’s more for reference and referral. The chapters and even the individual sections of the book can be read alone when you have a concern about a particular topic. 

Just like many people have first aid or health books tucked away for emergencies, the Gay Men’s Wellness Guideis a book that can help just about any gay man when they need a quick answer to a question or have a concern about their health. Even if you don’t ever read some of the book’s sections, it’s nice to have a comprehensive reference for our health and well-being. 

What’s covered? 

It’s a whole bunch of information. The Gay Men’s Wellness Guide has six distinct parts that cover the major areas in any gay man’s life. They include: 

Health Care 
Here you’ll find information on finding a gay friendly health-care provider, information on mental health, common physical ailments, addictions, and alternative medicines. 

Sex, Safely: Coping in a Sex-Negative Culture 
Want to know about sex? You’ll find information on the mechanics of sex, orgasms, safe-sex, types of sexual encounters and for those of you who play both sides of the field, there’s a short section on what to expect if you ever have sex with a women (ok, I admit it, I’ve never read that one). 

You Are Not Alone 
Can you still be a masculine man if you’re gay? Questions like this are covered in this portion of the book. Self-images and body images are explored, as is attraction, aging, transsexuals, HIV and AIDS, intimacy, and you can learn how to better love yourself. 

The Big Picture: Awareness and the Visible Gay Man 
What’s the easiest way to fight heterosexism? It’s really for gay men to be open and visible to show the world that we aren’t any different from anyone else. Of course you’ll also find my favorite chapter here, “Women who Want to Fix Gay Men.” If you’re gay, you’ll totally understand. 

There’s also information on violence and abuse in the gay community, gay harassment and coping mechanisms. 

Men Can Have It All 
We’re no different than anyone else and we can have what we want. We create our own families we have one of the strongest communities of support out there. If you want to do it, you can – and you’ll find ideas on how to accomplish those goals here. 

Hope 
Being a gay man can be hard, there’s no doubt about it and the single topic in this part of the book is on dealing with the anger and the attitude that can easily develop in any gay man from dealing with the world. 

As you’d expect, each of six parts in the book are further broken down into individual chapters and those chapters are then broken down into the topics of that chapter. Therefore it’s very easy, right from the table of contents to find exactly what you’re looking for and flip right to that section. 

Perhaps you have concerns about steroids. Look under “You Are Not Alone” and find the “Body Image” chapter and then within that chapter, there’s a section on steroids. That’s just one example, but it’s not hard to find out any information you need. 

There are also seven appendices at the end of the book that cover a lot of ground. First you’ll find a glossary that does a good job covering many of the medical terms and more esoteric terms that are used throughout the book. Then there’s a list of medical and mental health organizations with gay and lesbian policy statements, followed by a selected list of state and local gay-rights laws. For those of us having trouble with insurance companies, there’s a list of state insurance regulatory hotlines. The other appendices have various bits of information including groups for gay and lesbian health-care professionals. 

Finally there is a fairly comprehensive index at the end of the Gay Men’s Wellness Guide. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the detailed table of contents, then you should be able to find it in the index. 

Is it useful? 

Yeah, it really is. I keep my copy next to my big Harvard Medical School Health Guide on my bookshelf, so that I can always find them if I need them. While other books (like the Harvard book I have) might focus on the nitty-gritty diagnosis and explanation of disease and afflictions, The Gay Men’s Wellness Guide instead provides a gay man a great basic overview of how to be a healthy gay man. It covers everything from coming out, to having sex, to finding your community. 

Not so greats? 

The book was published back in 1997 and has been slightly updated over the years. However with any book that includes timely information (such as the contact information in the appendices, or the information on health care organizations), it will go out of date. 

A lot of the writing also becomes dated just because so many things change so quickly. For example back in 1997, I don’t think any gay man would have imagined that they could become legally married in Massachusetts, but it can happen now. None of the information on the gay marriage struggle is included. 

National Lesbian and Gay Health Association 

The National Lesbian and Gay Health Association published this book with the author, Robert Penn. They are a gay affirming health-care network for gay and bisexual men. There are clinics in Boston, Hartford, New York City, Washington DC, Baltimore, San Juan, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. 

Final Thoughts 

No one is going to sit down and read this book (well, I’m sure a few will) – what the Gay Men’s Wellness Guidereally is for, is to be a health reference guide for gay men. You can find answers on almost any wellbeing topic out there – from physical to emotional. 

The Real Real World

One of my very guilty pleasures on television is MTV’s The Real World reality television show. The basic premise of the show is that it is the “true story of seven strangers, picked to live in a house and have their lives taped to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start being real.” What it comes down to for me, especially in the earlier seasons of the show is that it’s an interesting look at how people get along and interact with each other.

I think another reason I really got into watching The Real World is because of its inclusion, right from the beginning of gay characters – just about every season has at least one gay person and as a young guy in the mid-90’s on the verge of coming out, a positive portrayal of a gay person on TV was pretty rare.

I also can’t say that I wasn’t affected by the San Francisco series, where Pedro died of AIDS. I know it colored the way I looked at AIDS and safe-sex. Plus Pedro’s courage in doing what he did helped to inspire me as I went to college.

So it was that I found The Real Real World in the bargain section at my local bookstore and I just couldn’t pass it up. The book provides a behind the scenes look at the first four seasons of the show: New York; Los Angeles; San Francisco; and London and includes information on the making of the Real World series, a behind the scenes look at filming and production on the show in London, and personal essays from the production crews from the various seasons.

What’s in the book… 

There are seven main chapters to The Real Real World, four of which are devoted to the first four seasons on the The Real World, two look at the production and making of The Real World and the last provides information on how to get onto a season of The Real World.

The first thing to realize though about this book is that much like the television show, the book seems like a random collection of thoughts, images and conversations edited into a somewhat coherent whole. There’s no over-arching narrative to the book, instead it’s a collection of photographs, facts, quotes and quick stories on the cast members. I know this is probably a turn-off for some readers, but if you’re familiar with The Real World, you probably won’t even bat an eyelash with the format.

For the four chapters that deal with the first four seasons of the show, each one goes into the same basic details for each season. It starts out with pictures of each cast mate and their basic facts (age, hometown, job, favorites, etc) and follows up with a synopsis of the season followed by a look at the city that hosted The Real World.

Following that, each cast member is profiled more in-depth with quotes from the other cast members along with their own thoughts about the Real World experience. That’s followed by a look at the ‘high-points’ of each series – you know, Kevin and Julie’s fight in New York, the blanket incident in Los Angeles, Pedro and Puck in San Francisco, the tongue-biting in London, Pedro’s death after the San Francisco season was wrapped. That is then followed up with some background information on the season.

Then it’s a “where are they now” for each cast member – but just remember that this was published in 1995, so the information is a bit out of date and for the London cast, the show had really just wrapped up, so there’s not much information for them.

The behind the scenes chapter looks at the The Real World from the eyes of the Executive Producers and the Director, along with several other members of the production staff in personal essays from each member of the crew. It’s interesting to hear The Real World story from the other side – we see the show and there are plenty of opportunities to hear from cast mates, but it’s rare that we see a show from the side of the people making it.

The production chapter (really just a section it’s so small) focuses on how The Real World, London was produced and put together. The book uses a photo-timeline with quick blurbs to explain the process of getting the show from the raw footage to what you see each week. It’s nothing earth shattering, but it’s cool to see and gives you idea the level of effort that’s needed for just a single episode.

Even though much of the remaining information on applying for The Real World is outdated, you’ll find everything from an application form with hints, tips and ideas to sample applications that have been received by the show. I wouldn’t suggest relying on this information if you’re interested in trying to be on the show, but it’s a good starting point and should give you an idea of what they’re looking if you are interested in becoming a cast member.

Finally the book closes out with information on the Pedro Zamora Fund, which was set up when Pedro from the San Francisco cast passed away after losing his battle with AIDS. He was an AIDS activist and since the show and his death, several of the cast members from that season worked to set up this fund and continue to work to raise AIDS awareness.

Why read this book? 

I can remember watching The Real World and being mesmerized by the show. I wasn’t that much younger (I was 15 when the show first started) than some of the cast and I guess in a way I was living vicariously through the show.

Then when it came to The Real World, San Francisco I was just taken by the entire Pedro storyline – from him being openly gay to his battle with AIDS. I was just becoming aware of my sexuality (well I knew I was gay, but I was scared to death to admit it to anyone) and seeing a show like The Real World lifted my spirits. If Pedro, his partner and his friends could be openly gay, so could I. That season even opened the door for me to talk to my mother about my sexuality – she too watched it and I think that in part, the portrayal of Pedro and his life (along with Norm from the NYC season) helped my Mom see that being gay wasn’t something bad, it was just part of me.

So when I saw this book, even years later – I knew I had to get it, if not just to relive some of what I enjoyed when I was younger. It was fun to flip through the memories and I liked the way it was set up – sort of as a collage of pictures, facts, quotes and stories, it really captures the feeling of the show.

For me, the first three seasons were and continue to be the best seasons of The Real World. The show was less polished, the cast members weren’t playing up their roles as much and especially in the San Francisco season, really important issues were explored in the show. This book gave me a chance to look back over those seasons, find a little more out about the cast members, take a look back at those ‘big events,’ and see a bit of the show from the other side of things.

Final Thoughts 

No one should buy this book expecting an in-depth exploration of MTV’s The Real World. What you get is a basic overview of the first four seasons, a closer look at each cast member and a look at what it takes to produce The Real World.

The book doesn’t offer much for readers who aren’t interested in the television show. If you fall into that group, I’d suggest that you pass this book by, unless you have an urge to see what the show itself is all about – the book will give you a good idea.

If you like The Real World and you’re looking for all you can about the first four seasons of the television show, then The Real Real World is worth reading.