Need a good book

"Buddy" wrote in message
...
I've spent weeks figuring out ways to take weight out of my backpack and
still have everything I need for a four-day flyfishing
trip in October (two hiking days and two fishing days from basecamp). To
celebrate shedding those pounds I'd like to add a paperback book: I'm in
the habit of reading at night, and could need to hole up in the tent if my
zeal for fishing in a constant rain wears thin. I found Colin Fletcher's
"The Thousand Mile Summer" on my bookshelf and realized I'd never read it,
so it's on my list at less than 5 ounces. Also found two unread Harry
Middleton books ("The Earth is Enough" and "The Bright Country") but
frankly was not that fond of "On the Spine of Time." Favorites from the
past include "Coming Into the Country" by John McPhee and "A Fly
Fisherman's Blue Ridge" by Christopher Camuto, and over twenty-five years
ago I remember staying up late one night on a backpacking trip reading one
Robert Service poem after another.

I'd like an engaging outdoors tale, at least plausibly non-fiction and
including hook-and-bullet press if well written, with a carefully measured
infusion of philosophy that may challenge my own. Anthologies are good.
Nothing scary: when I'm camping alone I hear enough going bump in the
night without any encouragement. Of course, it needs to be available in a
lightweight paperback. Any suggestions?

Buddy


"Fly-Fishing the 41st, From Connecticut to Mongolia and Home again: a
fishermans's Odyssey" by John Prosek is the best fishing book I have read in
quite some time

Brent

"Buddy" wrote in message
...

To celebrate shedding those pounds I'd like to add a paperback book:

Poetry gives you more mental bulk in fewer pages.
For a multi-day trip, try long works like Tennyson's
Idylls of the King (Arthurian tales but you must
know you enjoy a poet before packing him.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

On 8/29/05 8:33 AM, in article , "Conan The
Librarian" wrote:


Robert Traver is another one who would be nice for some light
reading after a day on the water. His _Trout Magic_ and _Trout Madness_
are both nice. (They are available in paperback.)

And speaking of Traver, Chuck, I hear there are still openings for the Save
A Trout, Eat a Pasty Clave next month...

Word is we're gonna fish 'til we see ol' Death himself barreling down M-28
on the back of a logging truck.

:-)

B

(And color me strange, but I've always liked to take along something other
than outdoor writing when I'm outdoors.)

William Claspy wrote:

And speaking of Traver, Chuck, I hear there are still openings for the Save
A Trout, Eat a Pasty Clave next month...

I would love to crash that party, Bill, but SWMBO'ette #2 is
starting college this month, so while the heart may be willing, the bank
account is suffering.

Word is we're gonna fish 'til we see ol' Death himself barreling down M-28
on the back of a logging truck.

:-)

Hmmm ... throw in some 'shine (or single malt ... or is that
redundant?) and that sounds more like those NC claves. ;-)

B

(And color me strange, but I've always liked to take along something other
than outdoor writing when I'm outdoors.)

Yep, you're strange. :-) I dunno ... for me it just seems natural
to read something related to fly fishing when I'm on a trip. And if I
don't have anything new, I'll get out Datus Proper's _What The Trout
Said_ again and look at the pictures. ;-)


Chuck Vance

"William Claspy" wrote in message
...
On 8/29/05 8:33 AM, in article , "Conan The
Librarian" wrote:


Robert Traver is another one who would be nice for some light
reading after a day on the water. His _Trout Magic_ and _Trout Madness_
are both nice. (They are available in paperback.)

And speaking of Traver, Chuck, I hear there are still openings for the
Save
A Trout, Eat a Pasty Clave next month...

Hell yes, our dance cards ain't nearly full!

Word is we're gonna fish 'til we see ol' Death himself barreling down M-28
on the back of a logging truck.

Which, as you probably recall, is exactly what happened to Steamboat
Bill.......um.......among many others.

Wolfgang

"Buddy" wrote in message
...
...I'd like to add a paperback book: I'm in the habit of reading at
night, and could need to hole up in the tent if my zeal for fishing in a
constant rain wears thin.....


For light weight camping what type of light do you use for reading?? I
tried holding a flashlight in my mouth but had problem sipping on my
manhatrten
Joe

"graycat" wrote in message
...
I just got through re-reading "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat Moon.
It is very well written. I am not a voracious reader, but this book really
speaks to me. Check it out. Let me know what you think.

At some point during most of Dad's visits, he looks at two walls in my
office that are mostly filled with books from floor to ceiling until he
finds the copy of "Blue Highways" that he gave me after he finished it, then
asks if I've read it yet. I tried once but found it very dark and profane.
Maybe I'll try it again...

"GaryM" wrote ...

I am just finishing up "Young Men and Fire" by Norman MacLean. Based on
a true story of 13 Smokejumpers who perished in the Mann Gulch fire in
1949. An incredibly well written account that is hard to put down.

Great choice, Gary. I read this several years ago and also found it
riveting. The main point I remember was the berating of Wag Dodge for being
ahead of his time, by starting a small fire to survive before this technique
was formally recognized. I also remember feeling a little nauseous every
time I read the word "upgulch," and it was used a lot. I believe MacLean
died before finishing this book and someone else actually got it ready for
publication. --Buddy

"Joe McIntosh" wrote in message
...
....
For light weight camping what type of light do you use for reading?? I
tried holding a flashlight in my mouth but had problem sipping on my
manhatrten
Joe
I just replaced my Princeton Tec Yukon with a Princeton Tec Scout, and
replaced my old AAA Maglite with a Princeton Tec Eclipse, both to save
considerable weight. I can read with the Scout on its headband, but now
you've got me thinking about soaking that little Eclipse in whiskey and
popping it in with a cherry cough drop for a backwoods Manhattan ;) --Buddy

Buddy wrote:


Great choice, Gary. I read this several years ago and also found it
riveting. The main point I remember was the berating of Wag Dodge for being
ahead of his time, by starting a small fire to survive before this technique
was formally recognized. I also remember feeling a little nauseous every
time I read the word "upgulch," and it was used a lot. I believe MacLean
died before finishing this book and someone else actually got it ready for
publication. --Buddy



Thanks Buddy. I had picked it up 3 times and could not get into it, but
I started it again last Wednesday for the 4th time and could not put it
down.

Your memory is correct re Wag Dodge and I think my jaw dropped when I
read that part. MacLean does explain that the technique was used in
Plains fires by native Americans and settlers.

The families came after the Forest Service saying his safety fire
stopped the others from escaping. MacLean, by this own investigations,
found the place where Dodge set the fire (it was marked by a wooden
cross the day following the fire, and MacLean triangulated the spot
using a old photo, finding this same cross ... over 30 years on!!!). He
concluded that they could not have been impeded by it.

Your memory is also correct that the press finished it off, mostly
chapterizing it, checking and sometimes correcting facts, removing
repititions.

My favorite parts were the description of the wildfire, how fast it
moved, how it fuels itself into a whirl that can consume a square mile
in an hour.

A damn good read full of MacLean's beautiful imagery and metaphysical
language.

BTW, I looked up Mann Gulch today on Google Earth. Has not changed a bit
since the fire nearly 60 years ago ...

Gary