Living in the Appalachian Forest: True Tales of Sustainable Forestry

Book Description

A thought-provoking look at how man and nature coexist, somewhat uneasily, within the Appalachian Forest, the world's most diverse temperate woodlands, 80 percent of which is privately owned-by the ancestors of homesteaders, outsiders who've bought large and small tracts, absentee landlords and landowners, private groups and institutions, and giant corporations. Interviews with a diverse group of landowners-a horse logger, a selective cutter, a ginseng grower, a clear cutter, a forest steward, a summer-camp owner, and others-and the author's own experiences as a landowner illustrate the private forest's past, present, and future.

Customer Reviews:

One of The Top Three.......2003-08-24

...Ms Bolgiano is both a skilled researcher and a talented writer.

The newest of Ms Bolgiano's books, Living in the Appalachian Forest, zeros in on relationships between man and the wooded lands of our eastern mountains. In its pages, the reader meets people who care enough about the trees to dedicate their lives and often to risk their livelihoods to develop sustainable ways for humans to live with the forests, to use them wisely and in ways that keep the woods growing more and more healthy instead of descending into destruction. Of course, the folks who care about nothing but a quick profit appear here and there. The emphasis of Living in the Appalachian Forest, however, is on the conscientious, caring people who love the forest and the hope their activities inspire.

There's some interesting history in this book. Though I grew up in West Virginia, I had never before heard the real stories of the 1920 Matewan Massacre or the famous feud between the Hatfields and McCoys. Ms Bolgiano shares well written accounts of both these incidents, and many more.

In the pages of Living in the Appalachians, I learned quite a bit about forestry. I also became aware of several government and private organizations that involve themselves in the forest industries. Some are harmful, while many others are working diligently for sustainability.

There is a fine account with a lot of excellent description of the odious practice of mountaintop removal. This mining technique, a giant step beyond the destructiveness of even poorly managed strip mining, is used widely in the Appalachians by supposedly legitimate mining companies under the watch of supposedly honest government agencies.

Living in the Appalachian Forest is truly a fine book. It is a work of considerable insight and love and of hard research and fine writing. It holds the reader's interest like a really good novel...

Living in the Appalachian Forest: True Tales of Sustainable.......2003-03-20

Fun, serious, and thoroughly readable. Chris Bolgiano weaves grounded environmentalism and ecological awareness with history and stories/case studies to bring our awareness to a complex subject. This book presents solid Appalachian forest information to the reader in a manner that keeps one reading. Forests are complex, there are many approaches and techniques to sustainability, and Ms. Bolgiano seems to get to most. Simply, I found this book a delight to read and I learned so much from it.

Sustainable Forestry from the Roots Up.......2002-08-21

Those of us who own and/or treasure portions of Appalachia's forest will find in Chris Bolgiano's concise 200 pages a wealth of useful information. She interviews a wide spectrum of foresters, loggers, strip-miners, nature lovers, and other "shareholders"---bringing us up-to-date about the use (and too often the abuse) of what might be the most diverse temperate forest in the world. When Bolgiano visited mountaintop- removal stripmine sites, she found that over 99 percent of the natural diversity had been destroyed---but that western elk had been imported to the stripmined land as a sort of fig leaf to cover the devastation. She describes ways that land can be put in trust and legally protected against such abuse--including against abuse by future owners. One of the book's main themes is sustainable logging---which can best be done with horses rather than machines, and which increasingly now rejects the "high-grading" system of timber selection in favor of "low-grading"---thereby leaving the best trees in place to reproduce. These practices are spreading fast in Appalachia with the help of Smartwood certification and also thanks to professional forestry consultants such as Appalachian Sustainable Development, based in southwestern Virginia. In first-person prose that often sparkles, Bolgiano relates her adventures while visiting all sorts of people whose lives and livelihoods revolve around the forest. She embeds a major delivery of crucial history and current facts in a light-hearted telling of her personal adventures. Her book is not only a pleasure to read but highly informative. It's a major resource for anyone who wants to pitch in and try to save some special part of the Appalachian region from becoming a national sacrifice area. -Paul Salstrom

Book Description

The Rob Roy Way is a new Scottish long-distance walk running 77 miles from Drymen (on the West Highland Way) to Pitlochry in the highlands, passing some of Scotland's finest lochs, glens, and mountains. It links forest tracks, footpaths, part of a bicycle route, moorland tracks, and some minor roads. Some of these paths have been used for centuries and are steeped in fascinating history. Much of the Way is linked with the famous cattle rustler Rob Roy MacGregor (1671-1734).

The book provides everything you need to know for your holiday, in a backpack-friendly format: € full-color fold-out map (scale 1:100,000) € the Way in sections, with summaries of distance, terrain, and where to find food and drink € concise background on the area and its wildlife € information about side-trips and visitor attractions € planning information for travel by car, train, bus, or plane € special notes for novices and checklists of equipment

Customer Reviews:

The Rob Roy Way.......2004-08-29

The Rob Roy Way is a guide detailing a long distance walking trail along the Rob Roy Way. This trail leads from Drymen, Scotland (about 29 kilometers or 18 miles north of Glasglow) to Pitlochry. This route is a total of 106 kilometers or 66.5 miles taking from five to eight days to traverse on foot.

The exciting adventures of Rob Roy are detailed in the novels of Sir Walter Scott. Rob Roy MacGregor was born in 1671. He was a property owner, the co-inventor of the Lennox Watch (a system of cattle protection in exchange for monetary compensation), and clan chief by the time he was 30 years old. Then, in 1712, when an employee stole a large sum of money and his patron Duke of Montrose turned against him, Rob Roy was left bankrupt and outlawed. In retaliation, Rob Roy took vengeance upon his former patron by stealing his cattle and kidnapping his servants. Rob Roy was caught several times, made several daring escapes, and eventually received the King's pardon in 1725. Rob Roy died peacefully in 1734.

The Rob Roy Way is located along the trails and areas frequented by Rob Roy during his daring adventures. The trail also includes stops at Rob Roy's grave and at the Rob Roy Visitor Center. Moreover, various archeological and historical sites from early prehistory through historical sites can also be enjoyed while undertaking this trail. However, the high point of this tour is the breathtaking highland scenery as well as the beautiful flora and abundant fauna.

The Rob Roy Way outlines not only the background story of Rob Roy and the various stops along this walking trail (including waterproof full color maps) but also details various long walking and hiking fundamentals. These details include what types of equipment the participant should bring to complete the walk, how long the various legs of the journey will take, and how weather and seasonally may potentially affect the trail. There are also helpful tips especially for novices about daily mileage, feet, weight, and the right gear.

Book Description

Awesome Neurochemicals The Essence Of Sex

by Carl Tant ***************************************************************************** The chemical basis of human sexuality is always an interesting - and sometimes controversial - topic. (So is almost everything else related to sexual behavior!) Explore the submicroscopic world of minute molecules produced by nerve cells which control sexual determination and function. Author Carl Tant translates over 100 references to the scientific literature into understandable terms. Separate fact from fiction and superstition. The last chapter, "The Final Doom: No More Males," addresses frightening environmental effects on the reproductive system.

Book Description

This book considers problems of optimization arising in the design of electromagnetic radiators and receivers. The authors develop a systematic general theory that can be applied to a wide class of structures. The theory is illustrated with familiar, simple examples and indications of how the results can be applied to more complicated structures. The final chapter introduces techniques from multicriteria optimization in antenna design. The material is intended for a dual audience of mathematicians and mathematically-sophisticated engineers. References to both the mathematics and engineering literature help guide the reader through the necessary mathematical background.

Book Description

arsenalpulp.com :

Published well ahead of its time, in 1966 by Greenleaf Classics, Song of the Loon is a lusty gay frontier romance that tells the story of Ephraim MacIver, a 19th-century outdoorsman, and his travels through the American wilderness, where he meets a number of characters who share with him stories, wisdom and homosexual encounters. The most popular erotic gay book of the 1960s, Song of the Loon was the inspiration for two sequels, a 1970 film of the same name, at least one porn movie, and a parody novel. Unique among pulp novels of the time, the gay characters in Song of the Loon are strong and romantically drawn, traits which have earned the book a place in the canon of gay American literature.

With an introduction by Michael Bronski, author of Pulp Friction and The Pleasure Principle.

"Song of the Loon—the novel, not the skittish film version thereof—changed my fantasy life forever. My friends have never understood why I drag them on canoe trips, dash naked into rivers and recite poetry to them at the drop of a hat. Arsenal Pulp is making an inestimable contribution in bringing Richard Amory's monumental novel back into print after these momentous decades, just in time to replace my tattered original edition that is still handy beside my bed after forty years. Michael Bronski's comprehensive introduction is an important bonus, a superb delineation of the historical and literary context. Of course the New Age flakiness has dated as much as the dubious native ethnography, but that's part of its magic, and this new edition is certain to have the same impact on the today's generations of queer young cowboys as it did on mine."
—Thomas Waugh, author of Hard to Imagine, Out/Lines, and Lust Unearthed

Little Sister's Classics is a new series of books from Arsenal Pulp Press, reviving lost and out-of-print classics of gay and lesbian literature. The books in the series are produced in conjunction with Little Sister's, the Vancouver bookstore well-known for its anti-censorship efforts.

Customer Reviews:

The Real Brokeback Mountain.......2006-03-28

Even if the book wasn't attached, Michael Bronski's introduction would be reason enough to buy this edition of SONG OF THE LOON by the late "Richard Amory."

But this way you get the novel too, a groundbreaking, yet oddly ultra traditional novel--really a romance in Northrop Frye's terms--in which the white man and the Indian meet on a field of Eros rather than Thanatos. Yes folks, this is the real Brokeback Mountain in which buckskinned pioneers meet up with and pursue Indian braves on the banks of the "Umpqua" in a territory of long ago. Thinking about the storyline, you realize how ridiculous the plot is, for there aren't very many people on the frontier and every last one of them is a man and every last one of them is either openly or secretly a member of the Loon Brotherhood. Yes, it strains plausibility but Amory's power as a writer is such that while it is taking place you don't really quibble, Sybil.

He was a great poet as well, and the book gets a haunting resonance from Amory's descriptions of American nature, its flora and fauna, in the days before heavy industry moved in to shovel it into parking lots. The skies are an amazing blue, the rivers swift and clear. Over the great forests you can hear every animal's step in the fallen twigs, and the insects hum. "Darker green, the waters of the Umpqua fell in tiny crystals from the paddle--the waves from the canoe sighed in the shadows of white elders and lacy vine maples. A pair of jays screamed high in the treetops, then streaked far into the woods, crying hoarsely."

And because it is porn, it has men galore, all of them with heavily veined, vibrant, pulsating members under their loincloths. Ephraim is a white man on the run from a miserable relationship with Montgomery, a self-hating homosexual who could only have sex when he was drunk, who showed his naked form only to taunt the besotted Ephraim. Breaking free, Ephraim is on a long canoe ride into Indian territory where he meets one man after another, each more luscious than the last, and the members of the tribe teach him about polygamy and the joys of giving up your virginity in the scented wigwam rings. If it isn't Singing Heron, it's Bear Who Dreams--even an elderly medicine man, nice to see that old people have sex in the porn of the 1960s. And finally Ephraim meets his opposite number, the dreamy Cyrus, who is so big it takes three hands to hold all of him steady.

The book comes packaged with a dossier of contemporary reviews, interviews, photos and other invaluable documents, just as though we were reading some "classic" by Dreiser or Balzac or Cather.

It is a wonderful version of time travel and comes highly recommended by thousands and thousands of one-handed readers. What a way to kick off this promising series from Vancouver's estimable Arsenal Pulp Press in tandem with the venerable Little Sister's bookstore of BC.

A Trail-Blazer....so to speak!.......2006-01-10

Given the age of this book, and the fact that it was revolutionary when it was published, this book is well worth reading, if only for the "historical" perspective. The writing is STILTED, the situations, CONTRIVED, and the sex, PREDICTABLE, but...and I must hesitate here in reviewing this book, in it's HISTORICAL CONTEXT, i.e., the period in which it was written and published, it is ground breaking. Is it a scorcer?..Nah!...is it entertaining?...Yes!...will it have you breathing heavily?...uh..that depends upon your imagination and libido. Read it and make up your own mind.

Excellent Book.......2005-07-24

One of my all time favorite gay stories. I'm glad it's back in print for the youger people to read.

The Gay Man's Bible - Should Never Go Out of Print!.......2005-07-12

I have two copies of this book, one a tattered original Greenleaf edition, and the other this wonderful reprint. I've never read a book like "Song of The Loon." From the perspective of history, it's clear that Richard Love anticipated some of what later became major aspects of so-called gay culture - the Radical Faerie movement, the Bear movement, the reaction against monogamy. This book is highly political - inbetween the steamy hot (but always tender) sex scenes is a fairly explicit blueprint for how the author felt gay men should conduct their lives. What will strike most readers - and which certainly struck me - is the unbridled celebration of male-on-male love and desire. How refreshing! It's unashamed. There's no self-consciousness. There's nothing the least bit apologetic. And no trace of the word "queer" anywhere. Totally affirming. There should be a lesbian counterpart to this book. There should be a new film made of it, either for screen or television. There should be far more reviews of this reissue in the gay media. EVERY GAY MAN NEEDS TO READ "SONG OF THE LOON!!!!!!"

Reissue of a milestone in gay literature.......2005-06-15

Richard Amory's legendary novel of a gay Arcadia in the Pacific Northwest captured the hearts and minds, as well as other body parts, of gay readers from its first publication in the 1960s. It is back in a deluxe edition with an extensive preface by Michael Bronski, providing historical and literary context, as well as reprints of interviews with the author that deal with such topics as his difficulties with publishers and his disgust at the liberties taken by the 1970 film version of the novel.

Is "Song of the Loon" worth all the fuss? Although I'd heard a lot about the novel over the years this was my first actual reading. In some ways Amory's work is not much different from a heterosexual romance novel. It is set in a nineteenth-century wilderness that never existed, with stalwart white heroes, and Indians (not Native Americans) who are models of the "noble savage." Everyone is handsome of face, muscular of body and enormous of endowment. The stately, grammatically elaborate fashion in which the characters speak (quite frequently they break into poetry, giving Amory's work an odd kinship with, of all people, Tolkien) further increases the distance from any reality. The frequent sexual encounters are similarly recounted in a strange mix of clinical realism and elaborate metaphor.

Thus, the cynical reader may be tempted to dismiss "Song of the Loon" as a dated period piece. However, this coming-of-age story about Ephraim MacIver, a man fleeing a cruel and manipulative lover, who meets sundry hunky, horny native men on a river journey before finding true love with Cyrus Wheelwright, a trapper, can still exert its unique spell if one accepts it for what it is: a portrait of an entirely closed, Utopian system, in which women, guilt, homophobia and sexually transmitted diseases do not exist (though an unfortunate, probably unconscious racism does--despite his numerous satisfying encounters with various Indians, it is impossible not to notice that MacIver in the end chooses a fellow white man as his partner) . In such a universe these unimpeachably masculine, perpetually cruising men can kiss, speak freely of love and recite poetry to each other, while gravely discussing issues of monogamy and fidelity. The few villains are men who are unwilling to admit their desires for other men, or whose desires are twisted by self-hatred. They are dispatched with ease, converted, not killed--what little violence there is in "Song of the Loon" takes place in hallucinatory visions, not reality. In a present-day America where violence against GLBT citizens and legislated homophobia seem to be on the ascendancy, Amory's vision of a peaceable gay world is extraordinarily moving. I started this book prepared to dismiss it, but ended up falling under the author's spell.

Incidentally, the end of "Loon" leaves Ephraim's and Cyrus' relationship in a somewhat ambiguous state: may readers expect reissues of the two sequels Amory wrote, I hope?

Average customer rating:

Loons, Song of the Wild

Loons: Song of the Wild
Michael Dregni
Manufacturer: Voyageur Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Birds | Field Guides | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0896582795

Book Description

A first-of-its-kind anthology bringing together the best writing and photography available on loons. Includes loon myths and legends.

Customer Reviews:

Loons, Song of the Wild.......2000-03-31

I purchased this book shortly after it was first published ... and read and reread it numerous times, always enjoying the experience and always picking up a new tidbit of information that I had previously missed. The photography is excellent ... it makes you feel like you are there with the loons ... transported to a beautiful, peaceful place.

Average customer rating:

Birdwashing Song: The Willow Tree Loon
Jacqueline Briggs Martin , and Nancy Carpenter
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0027624420

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Christmas Songs
Hendrik Willem and Grace Castagnetta Van Loon
Manufacturer: American Artists Group, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IY6ZIE

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Folk Songs of Many Lands
Hendrik Willem van Loon
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000CR18UW

Product Description

A beautifully illustrated showcase for 24 of the most beloved folk songs from around the world past and present. Selections range from "Sumer Is Icumen In" to "Auld Lang Syne." Full color prints accompany each folk song. The backround for each song is included as well. The authors say about the historical notes at the end of the book: "A few little items of interest about the songs in this book, that you may see for yourself what curious personal histories these melodies have had and how old many of them are and how they are apt to go places without anybody knowing how they ever got there."

In Wilderness Song: Litany of the Common Loon

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In Wilderness Song: Litany of the Common Loon
Stephen Kirkpatrick
Manufacturer: Thy Marvelous Works
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Birds | Field Guides | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

LISTEN, THE LOON SINGS... Final Volume of the Loon Songs Trilogy

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LISTEN, THE LOON SINGS... Final Volume of the Loon Songs Trilogy
Richard Amory
Manufacturer: Greenleaf Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VFN83K

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Loon Song Reads Like a Dream
A must for every child and most adults

Loon Song
Marcia Wakeland
Manufacturer: Misty Mountain Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0963508369

Book Description

Crazy old loon? Maybe not! A lyrical tale of a girl's enchantment with a loon at her lake side cabin. With the help of the insects and animals around the lake, she tries to discover the secret of the loon's strange behavior. Loon facts are interwoven with her gentle teaching to not judge too soon.

Customer Reviews:

Loon Song Reads Like a Dream.......2002-06-30

This wonderful book reads as soft and lovely as a poem. It is the perfect book to read as a 'bedtime' story - for readers of any age. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. This book is a real, true delight.

A must for every child and most adults.......2001-01-04

LOON SONG is a beautifully written story for children (and adults). I recently read it to a women in her eighties. She loved the story and talked of the loons she admired in Canada. Marcia Wakeland is a sensitive writer who educates us as she tells her story. The artist is a master. I will give LOON SONG to every child I know.

Average customer rating:

Song of the Loon
A touching story!
Great read that makes you think and feel.
Song of the Loon
A great memior

Song of the Loon
L. Frank Hadley
Manufacturer: Larry Frank Hadley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0970122101

Book Description

Historical novel:

On the eve of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Vietnam War comes a novel so intriguing it will transport you back to the rain forest of Vietnam.

'Song of the Loon' ushers you into a world of romance, ageless Indian lore and the stark reality of war that captures the heart and imagination. It is written as a memoir by Cole Morgan, the main character. It opens on the battlefield of Vietnam, and as Cole tells his story he returns the reader to the peaceful countryside of his youth in northwestern Montana. It abounds with Indian wisdom and mystique in the form of a half-Indian grandfather with a Ph.D in mountian lore and Indian legend.

'Song of the Loon' is an epic tale of three children, two boys and a girl that grow up together during a era of prosperity and innocences. The book then continues through one of the most unsettled times America has faced since the Civil War, The Vietnam conflict. The young men's friendship ,loyalty and honor are battle hardened and tested during a tour of duty as helichopter pilots. Cole shares his thought with the reader as he struggles daily to maintain life, limb and sanity in an environment of hostility and hatred.

'Song of the Loon' is also the heartwarming story of the extraordinary love of a man for a woman. It weaves together a richly textured narrative that evokes the Majestic mystery of the American west and the traumatic reality of war into a novel that has a haunting love story at its heart. It is not just a romance novel or a war story, but a uniquely written combination of both, and will appeal to men and woman alike.

Customer Reviews:

Song of the Loon.......2002-04-17

Mr. Hadley is a wonderful author.. he has brought forth so many different aspects of the Vietnam War and how people tried to cope.. this is a wonderful book for those that served and for those that don't know much or anything about the war. I found myself getting caught up in the story and amazed at how it affected me. Mr. Hadley is a wonderul person, I met him, and he is so kind and caring and I am completely empressed with his novel and ability to bring out the "hidden" part of this War so many were affected by and so many try to forget. Congratulations Mr. Hadley!!!!!

A touching story!.......2002-02-11

This book had me laughing and crying in the first read. It was so captivating. From a young boy to a man with a heart warming love story in between. You'll love the guidance from the wise Indian grandfather. Though I am not really into war stories, I am still glad I read it to know what happened over in Vietnam. I am telling everyone that will listen to read this book. This book goes on my bookshelf to be read again with my other favorites such as Gone with the Wind, Embraced by the light and Bridges of Madison County.

Great read that makes you think and feel........2001-05-08

This is a great book that's hard to put down. It has all the elements to keep an audience interested thru to the end. Normally, my wife and I have different tastes when it comes to books but, we both enjoyed this one. This book will go up on my read again shelf....

Song of the Loon.......2001-02-09

I couldn't put the book down. Im normally a slow reader and it takes me a while to read a book. This one I finished extremly fast. Everytime I wanted to put it down I couldn't stop thinking of what was going to happen next. GREAT BOOK...READ IT!

A great memior.......2001-01-02

Montana at its best and Vietnam at its worst. A great read for those who want to know what really went on over there. My wife loved the book as much as I did, we've read it twice now. Rather haunting, to say the least.

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