No comments about Measuring Mother Earth: How Joe the Kid became Tyrrell of the North.

No comments about Daniel Boone.

1 comments about Hudson's Bay Company Adventures: The Rollicking Saga of Canada's Fur Traders (Amazing Stories) (Amazing Stories).

1. The early fur-trading history of Canada was not about exploring as much as it was about making money...and the author has brought to the book some of the most exciting stories and adventurers of that era. I liked how the author included stories about Native peoples and their importance to the fur-trade in early Canada.

4 comments about With The Possum And The Eagle: A Memoir Of A Navigator's War Over Germany And Japan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series).

1. Possum was General Haywood Hansell; Eagle, General Curtis LeMay.
   
   Ralph Nutter was a student at Harvard Law when Pearl Harbour occurred. A few weeks later he was in the Army Air Corp headed to navigator school. (A few years later he was the only survivor of his 22 fellow graduates.) A few months later and he was in England as a navigator on a B-17. In an incident where he knew where they were and none of the others did, Eagle made him the lead navigator of the group.
   
   As the European was was winding down, he was transferred to the Pacific and B-29's. Again he was made lead navigator. Eventually LeMay was sent to the Pacific and Nutter returned to work with him.
   
   This book is both a story of the war, and a story of leadership in war time. His insights on LeMay are enlightening and impressed me. LeMay's general reputation is a lot lower than that held by Mr. Nutter.



2. Although we had to wait until after General LeMay's death, we finally find within "With the Possum and the Eagle" the real story of the leadership of General Curtis LeMay. If you're interested in the history of World War II and the significant role aviation had in both the European and Pacific campaigns, Ralph Nutter's account is difficult to put down. Nutter's close proximity to senior aviation leadership during the war gives the reader a rare glimpse into what those wartime leaders faced and the decisions they had to make vis-a-vis both logistical and environmental constraints to operations. A superb account.



3. Ralph Nutter writes with extraordinary candor and clarity about a period in our history when he and others of his generation faced terrible odds in the struggle to save the world from Fascism. His account is as compelling as it is straightforward and unvarnished. A must-read for anyone fascinated by the true meaning of courage under fire.



4. Reads like a good, fast paced novel. Exciting, building chronicle of the air war over Europe and the Pacific.
   
   Explains with starteling clarity the cockpit horrors that left no alternatives to the area bombing of Dresden and Tokyo. Makes it very clear that the A-Bombs were redundant and unnecessary.
   
   A terribly real sense of our "losing years" and the desperate process of a war of attrition. The author, being one of only two survivors of his navigator's class of 22, lets us glimpse the terror and the heroism of an air war where victory would finally go to the combatant who had more young men to "expend"...

No comments about West Coast Adventures: Shipwrecks, Lighthouses, And Rescues Along Canada's West Coast (Amazing Stories).

No comments about Mary Schäffer: An Adventurous Woman's Exploits in the Canadian Rockies (An Amazing Stories Book).

No comments about Poles Apart.

1 comments about Voices: African American and Latina Women Share Their Stories of Success.

1. This book looks like a coffee-table book...it is just gorgeous and the photo-portraits by Darcy Padilla are quite beautiful, but its purpose is much deeper. When I saw Oprah and a panel of minority men and women discussing the "Imus" controversy, the unanimous conclusion was that minority girls are in dire need of role models...I thought Oprah should hold up this book and say "Here are 50 amazing role models and they're not all 'celebrities' and one of the women profiled, C Delores Tucker, fought until her last breath to free girls from some of the ugly misogynistic, sexist messages of popular culture...every African American and Latina teenage girl in America should be given a copy of this book...what a PERFECT gift it would provide...role models, hope, mentors, positive messages in a beautiful volume. Hats off to the author and publisher!"

No comments about Safari Doctor: Life and Adventures of a Texas Wildlife Park Veterinarian.

5 comments about Sahara.

1. Although not a travel book per se, there is a lot of useful information on the areas and people that Palin visits. His sense of humor makes this book entertaining without trivializing the information on local customs and peoples. The book is also a perfect companion to the DVDs.



2. Another great travelogue by Michael Palin who beyond being a comedian is also a very detailed, although typical humorous, professional writer. Always with a gift for detailed descriptions, as noted in his recently released Monty Python Diaries, Palin captures the people, the land, history and customs while traveling from Gibraltor in a broad circuit through numerous countries along the Sahara. Perhaps not as light, as one reviewer notes, in contrast to earlier books but that is not relevant as Palin and his film crew (usually made into a TV series) migrate from Morocco, the disputed western territory of Western Sahara through numerous countries along the desert and infamous Niger River among people who are friendly but with limited means. What makes Palin's travelogues so unique is aside from his excellent observations, he has a self deprecating humor that amuses the different people along the way, generally creating bonds that the typical explorer or tourist could not have. This travelogue is a bit more serious as Palin and crew observe and experience some extreme levels of poverty along the way. However, virtually all the people they make contact with share their resouces no matter how simply or limited. Palin crosses the desert at one point in a camel train for 5 days and one of the many great pictures along the trip demonstrates the unique bond that palin forms with all who he meets as there is a picture of Palin being playfully grabbed by the camel drivers trying to keep him from leaving. From intermingling with the Polisario military in the disputed Western Sahara through Algiers and their Civil War and into Libya, the trip covers multiple cultures, modes of travel and an uncanny ability to stay supplied thgat could use some explanation.
   Athough being quite careful with water they consume, Palin and crew often share food with their guests with Palin ocasionally making the gross error of using both hands as opposed to the restricted single right in the land of limited water. The latter of the book turns serious, as it does when learning of the horrific 9/11 terrorist attack, when they re-enter Algiers along the coast with the increased security required of any level of celebrity. As always, well written, excellent color phtographs and Palin even quotes the notable explorers that had come before him including those that did not survive the journey. Also comes with a two page large map to help you figure where the crew is along the way.



3. having never read michael palin's work, i found his style refreshingly easy to read. whereas some travel journals get bogged down with loads of facts and figures that i could find in any encyclopedia, he keeps up the pace with a well written, concise, yet entertaining, tour through the sahara. i really enjoyed his views on the political and social aspects of the north african culture as well.



4. Michael Palin, who did such a marvelous job with his Hemingway and Himalayan travel adventures in both TV and book forms, brings similar success to a less palatable subject: Sahara. This lovely book, filled with colorful and excellent photography, is Palin's very personal story of his 9 country/10,000 mile odyssey. He is a wonderful raconteur and guide.
   
   The Sahara, as beautiful and vibrant as it is dangerous and deadly is exquisitely revealed...warts and all.



5. I listened to this book on CD while I wallpapered my bathroom and it made the time go so fast! It is beautifully written and so easy to listen to. Palin is a master story teller and brings Africa to life with this book. Wonderful!!