Books

Earth, Sweet Earth

Hiking the Grand Canyon
John Annerino
Sierra Club Books; February 2006

Fully revised and updated, the third edition of this celebrated Sierra Club Totebook is an information-packed guide to America's best-known national park--destination of more than four and a half million visitors annually. Hiking the Grand Canyon provides detailed, authoritative descriptions of more than one hundred of the best trails--from easy, level day hikes along the Canyon's North and South Rims, to rigorous but rewarding rim-to-river and trans-canyon expeditions. Author and seasoned Grand Canyon adventurer John Annerino offers invaluable information to help visitors plan their trips, ensure their safety and comfort, and enhance their enjoyment of the Grand Canyon's natural wonders--including sage advice on hiking equipment and technique, clothing and food requirements, and map selection; vital information on water sources and on climate and weather; and tips on lodging and camping, as well as on how to book guided hiking, rafting, muleback and horseback trips, and climbing and caving expeditions. Also included are chapters on the park's natural history and geology and on its Native American history. For adventurers familiar with the Canyon's many attractions and first-time visitors alike, this is the most "user friendly" and comprehensive guide available to one of the world's premier natural wonders.

Earth from the Above
Yann Arthur-Bertrand
HNA Books; November 2005

The result of a five-year airborne odyssey across five continents and 60 countries, Earth from Above is the most revealing and spectacular portrait of our world ever created. From a heart-shaped mangrove forest in New Caledonia to a flock of red ibises in Venezuela, from a caravan of camels in Mauritania to Mt. Everest and Mammoth Hot Springs, renowned aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand presents nearly 200 striking color images that put our home planet in a whole new perspective. Produced under the sponsorship of UNESCO, the book is also a unique documentary record of the earth's fragile ecosystems at the dawn of the new millennium. Commentaries by noted specialists illuminate what we see-and explain exactly what we stand to lose as demographic pressures put more stress on the environment.

From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow
Mark Monmonier
University of Chicago Press; April 2006

In the early twentieth century, it was common for towns and geographical features to have salacious, bawdy, and even derogatory names. In the age before political correctness, mapmakers readily accepted any local preference for place names, prizing accurate representation over standards of decorum. Thus, summits such as Squaw Titwhich towered above valleys in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Californiafound their way into the cartographic annals. Later, when sanctions prohibited local use of racially, ethnically, and scatalogically offensive toponyms, town names like Jap Valley, California, were erased from the national and cultural map forever. From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow probes this little-known chapter in American cartographic history by considering the intersecting efforts to computerize mapmaking, standardize geographic names, and respond to public concern over ethnically offensive appellations. Interweaving cartographic history with tales of politics and power, celebrated geographer Mark Monmonier locates his story within the past and present struggles of mapmakers to create an orderly process for naming that avoids confusion, preserves history, and serves different political aims. Anchored by a diverse selection of naming controversiesin the United States, Canada, Cyprus, Israel, Palestine, and Antarctica; on the ocean floor and the surface of the moon; and in other parts of our solar systemFrom Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow richly reveals the map's role as a mediated portrait of the cultural landscape. And unlike other books that consider placenames, this is the first to reflect on both the real cartographic and political imbroglios they engender. This book is a learned analysis of a timely and controversial subject rendered accessible and even entertainingto the general reader.

Compiled by SANYAT SATTAR

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