2 comments about Animal Tracks of the Great Lakes States: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.

1. Again, the pictures in the book are easy enough to use for my 3 year old. The information contained in the book is useful. We enjoy using this book and look forward to the spring and summer when we can travel further than our backyard.



2. Very basic book that misses the mark. The drawings of animal tracks are poor in quality and clarity. In a book illustrating animal tracks I would expect a photo of the animal that made the tracks. This is a great book for a youth.

3 comments about The Tuscarawas Valley in Indian Days 1750-1797: Original Journals and Old Maps.

1. This beautiful book is filled with many wonderful maps as well as early western journals desribing the first explorations of the Ohio Country by white settlers and their encounters with the many native tribes that called Ohio home in the mid to late 18th century. Including such important accounts as Christopher Gist, who was the first white man to chronicle his explorations of the Ohio wilderness, John Heckewelder and David Zeisberger, the famous Moravian missionaries who founded a number of Christian Indian towns in eastern Ohio and who help support the American cause during the Revolution in the west, Col. Henry Bouquet, the leader of a military expedition into Ohio in 1764 to help put down Pontiac's Rebellion, as well as many others whose explorations and contact with the Indians proved valuable to posterity. Early maps are compared with modern versions to try to locate a number of vanished Indian villages in a way never done before, thus providing a new perspective on the locations of modern roads and cities to their old Indian counterparts, particularly in the areas around modern Coshocton at the Forks of the Muskingum River. This area was also the site of the ill-fated Fort Laurens, the first American military installation in the Ohio Country. This is a wonderful reference book and is highly recommended to anyone with an interst in Ohio or frontier history.



2. From a book such as this I want two things: first, to get to know the historical characters personally and intimately, to achieve empathy with their world view and their values sufficient even to feel that I could engage and interact with them; and second, to find surprises in their use of the English language.

   By prudently selecting and meticulously editing the journals included therein and by preferring narratives to inventories, Booth has satisfied what I wanted. (As for the hermeneutics and reconciliation of geography, maps and written descriptions ... well, ok, I'm glad he belabored that material but I'm gladder still that he grouped it such that I could skip over it. It's pretty dry.)

   The journal keepers do reveal themselves. They are like us and they are decidedly not like us. The boy who recognizes, matter of factly, his mother's scalp on an Indian's belt ... the Indians who did not kill prisoners except by prolonged torture ... the criminal Indian tracked down by revenge minded tribesmen meekly submitting to execution ... the white man observing captive (from childhood) white women who exhibited the behavior and mannerisms of Indian women and then made the truly giant leap, thinking that perhaps Indian children if raised by white families might grow up to be just like the whites ... the Moravians who cast lots for decision making and interpreted the outcomes as divine intervention. These are just a few.

   Having read a history of the OED (The Meaning of Everything by S. Winchester) just before this book, I was on the lookout for surprises (maybe not to another, but to me). From the 1760-1780 time period I wasn't expecting to read the missionaries' complaints about the Indians "boozing." I should have expected to read that lines of march were often "Indian file," but I guess I thought that was a dime novel affectation. It isn't. Then there was the diarist who wrote that provisions could not be had "for love or money." And there are other treats to be had, if you relish this sort of thing.

   This is one of those books that should be more than read; it should be savored. When you finish it, snip out the pages and boil them in a kettle and make yourself a tea from it. That is how much you will like this book.




3. Great book, especially if you are from the area the book deals with. You can learn much information about the history of this area of Ohio.

No comments about Hidden Ohio Map and Guide, 2nd Edition.

No comments about American Map Greater Cleveland Ohio: Street Atlas.

No comments about Rand Mcnally Ohio: Highways & Interstates (Rand McNally Folded Map: States).

2 comments about 50 Hikes in Ohio: Day Hikes & Backpacking Trips in the Buckeye State, Third Edition.

1. I really enjoyed this book. I have taken many of these hikes and they fit the descriptions. I was hoping to find the best hikes for my area (northwest Ohio), but there were not many around here. Check the map before you buy to make sure there are hikes in the region you hope to frequent. I should have known there would be few hikes in this area, just given the area and that I could not find any good hikes on my own either. I would prefer to have all hikes listing if pets are permitted or not and this book only occasionally lists info on pets.



2. I bought this for my son-in-law for Christmas and he loved it! Every time I go to their house, I see the book in a different place and it looks like he reads it alot. He really appreciated the guide that shows what kind of camping, if any, is available at each hike location.

3 comments about 50 Hikes in West Virginia: From the Allegheny Mountains to the Ohio River.

1. Great book. Well written, interesting background on the hikes--both human and natural history as well as detailed descriptions. All of the hikes I've done so far have been very accurately described. Has some well known hikes, but also many others that are just as good, or better. I've used many other guides to the Mountain State--this one is the best.



2. I agree--great book
   I live in Marlinton, almost in the center of hiking in West Virginia, and just bought this book about a month ago. I have found it to be helpful in learning about new places that I have never heard of (and I thought I was a well-seasoned WV hiker). I also like the author's style of writing in that it flows nicely from point to point as it gives the directions you need to find your way along with wonderful pieces of information about the place you are hiking through. Again, I agree with the previous review. This is the best WV hiking guide I have come across.



3. 50 hikes in West Virginia has provided me with information on places that I have been hiking for years, but never knew the background on them, such as the history of the place, why it looks like it does, what plants and animals make their homes there and what their lives are like. So many guidebooks just tell you how to get to a hike and how long it is, but 50 Hikes in West Virginia is so much more than that.
   
   I enjoy sitting down and reading the book before I go on the hike, so that I will know what to be looking for while I'm out there. Get this book and you will have a great time in the wilds of West Virginia.

3 comments about Canoeing and Kayaking Ohio's Streams: An Access Guide for Paddlers and Anglers (Backcountry Guides).

1. Originally published in 1984, this guide is less than useful now. We've discovered that Lake Erie having dropped 3 feet in the last few years has significantly changed the river levels. Maybe the authors/editors could make a return trip?



2. Within two days of reading this book, My brother and I had one of the most memorable canoe canoe trips we've ever had. The authors have done the necessary legwork in not only identifying all of Ohio's rivers, but they give you detailed descriptions of each river, maps that show access points, including distances between points in both river miles, and shuttle miles for your car. They also list any hazards/portages in each river such as dams, etc. I was amazed to find several excellent canoeing river within an hour of home, with all the information I needed to make a quick escape from the daily grind. Excellent!!!



3. there are a lot of waterways in Ohio, but it isn't easy to find information on where to put in and take out. This book describes those locations as well as dangers that lie ahead on the river. I am anxious for spring so that I can try some of the unfamiliar waters.

5 comments about The C&O Canal Companion.

1. Wonderful guide to the C & O Canal park that includes history and detailed information about the various mile marks. This edition is revised from the original. However, with the make-over of the Monocacy Aqueduct in 2005 and other changes the book should again be updated to include this information.
   
   Still this book covers every aspect of this unique national park that spans almost 185 miles from Georgetown to Cumberland, Maryland, whether you are a hiker or biker or just a traveler visiting the various sites along the canal.



2. One of the best books I have ever read on the C&O Canal. Great combination of history and facts.



3. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal is a living dream. Early Virginians envisioned a water route to the vast American interior--onward even to the Pacific. Jefferson urged Washington to make the Potomac navigable thereby creating an inland route to the Ohio.
   
   Great republics need freedom to dream. They undertake experiments not all of which succeed. On the 4th of July, 1848, John Quincy Adams, sixth President, son of John and Abigail, broke ground for this canal. The setting was a sylvan glade overlooking the Potomac gorge a few miles above Georgetown.
   
   The C&O Canal itself was a colossal failure considering its original purpose, overtaken by its competitor the B&O Railroad and never to reach its intended destination.
   
   Mike High's guide, on the other hand, is a huge success. The C&O Canal Companion is far more than a "complete guide." High provides full narration of the canal's history, including numerous historical events that intertwine with the waterway: the French and Indian War, John Brown's Raid, and the bloodiest day in American History, September 17th, 1862, the Battle of Antietam. The the Union with 12,401 casualties lost 2,108 dead; the Confederacy with 10,318 casualties lost 1,546 dead.
   
   High is particularly good on structures along the canal. We gain a true feel for the canal's operation as a living and working thing from his descriptions: locks and their operation; spillways; culverts--and that engineering marvel, the Georgetown inclined plane to lower boats from the canal to the Potomac.
   
   My favorites of all are the magnificent aqueducts, ingenious designs for carrying the waterway above rushing creeks and rivers that must cross below to reach the Potomac. The very names of these structures, Seneca, Monocacy, Catoctin (fallen but now in the process of being repaired) and the picturesque Antietam, are themselves poetry. These stone beauties, the finest structures one can view in a wild setting, like the canal itself, have become so integral to their surroundings they seem a part of nature, not man-made.
   
   Many miles have I run and hiked, preferring to travel on foot so as to take in canal sights, sounds and odors to their full, at times with a hiking companion, other times alone, and on some of my favorite long stretches with Athena, my trusted Golden Retriever. Many times have I brought Mike High's book along on my rambles.
   
   A great American of the last Century, Justice William O. Douglas, preserved the Canal, helping make it what it is today--not the intended highway of interstate commerce--no, something better: a corridor for wildlife reaching from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake. A preserver of the entire eastern shoreline of one of America's most beautiful rivers. Thank Douglas for his advocacy in the form of a widely publicized 1954 hike of the entire canal, a man of action who preserved a dream and made it better.
   
   When human beings stretch their legs and breathe deeply, they are better able to exercise their rights and freedoms. What kind of a place would you dream of for this stretching and breathing?
   
   In days of turmoil or congestion, dream a place to be alone among beautiful things, where history, nature, and wilderness are real, the rest of the world become a dream. Do you have a deep need to see and absorb this truth, the majesty of which can only be contemplated while alone in a place of beauty?
   
   Freedom begins with dreams. "The right to be let alone," Justice Douglas reminds us, "is indeed the beginning of all freedoms."
   
   Dream a canal.
   
   



4. I can honestly say that this is the best guide book I have ever read (and I have read and used many of them). The first half of the book described the history, the engineering structures and recreational activities of and along the canal. The second part is a mile-by-mile guide of the entire canal itself, often cross-referencing the history and structures described in the first part. It really is wonderful as well as practical. Another strength of the book is that it uses many historical photos. As I hike the canal, I can use the book to compare the canal's present state with its historical renditions, which makes the hike all that more enjoyable! I like to also read the book at night after a hike so I can re-live and imprint my experience in my mind.
   
   I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn more about the C&O Canal, who is looking for a hiking guide, or even a mini-encyclopedia of the C&O Canal, or all of the above!



5. My interest in this book is as a tourning bicycle rider. It was of interest but not an invaluable guide for the bicycler.
   
   I read it cover to cover. The old black and white photos are interesting. There is some practical information about exploring the canal. The extensive historical background is where the real value of this book lies.
   
   It leans more towards history as a subject rather than touring.

5 comments about Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer.

1. these maps are wonderful!!!
   It lists all the main streets.
   they help me get around road construction, highway backups and help me get back on my way when I get lost.



2. If you don't own a gazeteer for your state I would suggest buying one. It is nice to be able to take the path less traveled and these show all of the county roads, etc. It also helps if something has closed an interstate and you need to find another way.



3. This whole series is great if you love to get off the main highways to really see a state. The back roads are well mapped as are sights to see and topographical features.



4. I am very pleased with the Ohio DeLorme Atlas I purchased. It arrived quickly and was in fine shape.



5. Great coverage of all of Ohio roadways, and backroads.
   Love using this for easy, lovley touring.