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POPULAR FALL/WINTER 07-08 TITLES POPULAR SPRING/SUMMER 08 TITLES
PDF SAMPLES FOR FALL/WINTER 08 TITLES
- The Owl and the Woodpecker: Encounters with North America's Most Iconic birds (October 2008) - 836 KB
- The Salvage Studio: Sustainable Home Comforts to Organize, Entertain, and Inspire (October 2008) - 2 MB
- Chefs on the Farm: Recipes and Inspiration from the Quillisascut Farm School of the Domestic Arts (October 2008) - 475 KB
Backcountry Betty For some the great outdoors means beautiful vistas, fascinating wildlife, and energizing fresh air, for others it means dirty clothes, no hair dryers for miles, and chipped nail polish. Backcountry Betty to the rescue! Whether you prefer REI or Prada, this humorous outdoor guide has everything a girl needs to know to rough it with comfort, class and style.
Backcountry Betty demystifies packing and gearing up for a camping trip with tips on how to prepare for and, most importantly, enjoy a date with nature. The stylish guide covers a variety of outdoor quandaries, such as what beauty products can double as survival gear, how to turn your tent into a comfortable pleasure palace, and tips for throwing a mean campsite party (complete with Crystal Light cocktails). Backcountry Betty will inform and motivate Betties everywhere to hit the backcountry in a safe yet oh-so-stylish way.
Jennifer Worick is the author of 19 books on dating, pop culture, crafts, and chick-friendly topics, including the New York Times bestseller, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Dating and Sex (Chronicle Books), and Girl Group Confidential: The Ultimate Guide to Starting, Running, and Enjoying Your Own Women's Group (Stewart, Tabori & Chang). Her writing has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Women's Health, Allure, and Philadelphia Magazine. She is currently a columnist for Match.com and Yarn Market News. Jennifer lives in Seattle, WA.
Excerpts: Get Your Glam On (three short, fun excerpts)
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Wake Up and Smell the Planet
Wake Up and Smell the Planet is an antidote to the overwhelming amount of choices we all face regarding our individual impact on the globe. A compact, humorous and resourceful handbook, Wake Up and Smell the Planet covers a full 24 hours of the confusing and often contradictory options that lie in wait everyday. What to eat, what to wear, how to dispose of dog poop or diapers, how to travel from point A to B-like a friendly, funny guide who isn't afraid to share secret tips, Wake Up and Smell the Planet offers advice on how to "green" all sorts of daily decisions. From the moment you get up in the morning, until you finally lay your head down at night, Wake Up and Smell the Planet will get you through the day with your sanity-and values-intact.
Grist's news about green issues and sustainable living is far from predictable, and so is the advice in Wake Up and Smell the Planet.
Grist (www.grist.org), a self-proclaimed "beacon in the smog," is one of the most established and respected voices in environmental journalism, providing a refreshing and knowledgeable perspective on how to live wisely and promote a healthy world. Launched in 1999, the Grist website has a voice and tone all its own: funny, opinionated, practical and intelligent. Grist offers in-depth reporting, opinions, reviews, advice, and a popular blog-all tailored to inform, entertain, provoke and encourage its readers to think creatively about environmental problems and solutions. Grist has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Newsweek, and dozens of other national publications and earned WebbyT People's Voice awards in both 2005 and 2006 as the Internet's best magazine.
Wake Up and Smell the Planet brings Grist's edgy and well earned authority, impeccable research, and planetary cheerleading to the offline world inhabited by everyone who gets up in the morning and treads on the planet we call home. Grist.org provides one of the most knowledgeable voices out there in the ether on how to live wisely and promote a healthy world.
Katharine Wroth has been an environmental writer for more than a decade, and a member of Grist's editorial team since 2004. She is the editor of Ask Umbra, the popular advice column that served as the inspiration for Wake Up and Smell the Planet. Wroth has contributed to outdoor-themed books including Time-Life's Greatest Adventures of All Time and a history of Outward Bound. She lives in Massachusetts . Katharine is available for press interviews about Wake Up and Smell the Planet.
Excerpts: "Helping You Help the Environment Each Morning" and three others
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Forget Me Not
By Jennifer Lowe-Anker
High in the Himalaya , a world-class adventurer dies, leaving a wife, three young sons and a best friend to cope with their grief.
In 1999, well-known mountaineer, Alex Lowe, died tragically in an avalanche on the remote Himalayan Mountain Shishapangma, leaving his wife Jennifer alone to raise their three children. Alex was widely considered one of the greatest modern climbers of our time, and the world mourned his loss. Tom Brokaw interviewed Jennifer Lowe for Dateline, and Sting narrated and composed music for a tribute film, The Endless Knot.
While Jenni and her sons faced the absence of a husband and father, Alex's longtime climbing partner, Conrad Anker, who survived the accident that killed Lowe, faced his own grief and survivor's guilt. Jenni and Conrad gradually, and unexpectedly, found solace in each other, fell in love, and were married in Italy in 2001. Conrad is now the adoptive father of the three Lowe children, Max, Sam and Isaac.
Through letters and expedition notes from Alex, Forget Me Not spans continents and tells the story of three people whose lives intertwine to a degree they could never have imagined. Jenni's account takes readers inside a woman's heart and mind as she navigates her shattered life and survives, ultimately finding transformative love through loss. From the valleys of Montana to the peaks of the Himalayas , this is the story of growing up, falling in love, finding adventure, rejoicing in parenthood, living through heartbreak, and believing in possibility.
Readers will be thrown from their armchairs, soaring through the heights of the highest mountains, and into the heart of the American west with the voice of a dear friend, guiding their path. Jennifer Lowe-Anker is a world traveler, artist, author, mother, and foundation president. Growing up in the wilds of Montana exposed Jenni to the pleasure of the natural world early on, releasing in her an affinity for nature, adventure and the outdoors. She deftly captures these experiences on the page as well as the canvas.
An accomplished painter, Jennifer Lowe-Anker renders whimsical, vividly colored contemporary Western paintings that draw on her imagination and childhood memories from working in the fields of her grandparents' homesteaded property in Montana . Her work hangs in the private collections of Peter Fonda, Michael Keaton and Jeff Bridges, as well as in the corporate collections of Patagonia .
The widow of renowned mountaineer Alex Lowe, Jenni is the founder of the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation and its Khumbu Climbing School . The foundation celebrates Lowe's legacy by training Nepalese Sherpa who risk their lives to make Himalayan climbing accessible to thousands. Ms. Lowe-Anker's story and art have been featured on Dateline NBC and in magazines including Women's Adventure, Distinctly Montana, Big Sky Journal, Southwest Art, Rock and Ice, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Climbing and Cowboy & Indian. She lives in Bozeman , Montana with her husband, Conrad Anker.
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The Blue Tarp Bible
By Ron Judd
Ron Judd says, "For better or worse, it's part of the very fabric of our being." He's talking about blue tarp -- and whether its being used as wall-to-wall "tarpeting," an umbrella, or bear bait, this all-purpose material can be found anywhere cars, trucks, boats, construction sites, camp sites and rednecks are found. The Blue Tarp Bible is a humorous guide to forty creative applications for blue tarp from an Emergency Weekend Kite to a Replacement Side Car Window.
If you have a dead 1967 Pontiac Le Mans lying around the yard, a blue tarp is the perfect cover up. With a glue gun, a stapler and some clothesline, you can design a blue tarp "man purse"-perfect for necessities like your Junior Ranger Certification Card, jerky strips and Leatherman tool. When the kids drive you mad this summer, send them outside with a blue tarp and petroleum jelly for the Poor Man's Slip 'n Slide. Warning to older kids when adult beverages are concerned. "Sliding under the influence" is prohibited in most states.
The Blue Tarp Bible not only describes the "what fors" and the "why comes" of blue tarp; it also provides useful tips such as how to turn an otherwise drab affair into a grand fete with a tarp tablecloth and drapes. Coupled with his signature wit and easy-to-follow project instructions, Ron Judd explores the variety of uses and abuses for what he considers to be "a red badge of courage in a lifelong war against mildew and other moisture-related unpleasantries."
Ron Judd is the author of several hiking guides and the humorous field guide The Roof Rack Chronicles (Sasquatch Books.) He writes two columns for the Seattle Times-"Trail Mix," which focuses on the Northwest great outdoors and "The Wrap," which provides a punch line to the week's news headlines.
Excerpt: Tarp Application 29: The Man Purse (back to top)
How to Knit in the Woods
By Shannon Okey
When you combine the great outdoors with one of the nation's hottest hobbies, there's bound to be a little Zen inspired euphoria taking place. Learn How to Knit in the Woods, and you, too, can experience constructive ways to pass the time around a campfire, while stitching up a jazzy pillow for your sleeping bag, or a fisherman's sweater for that special someone.
Chicks with sticks, and stitch-and-bitchers aren't the only ones who will go nuts for Shannon Okey's craft patterns for unique wilderness items such as a S'mores chair (a folding camp stool with a knitted seat) and propane pot holders. Gals who find themselves on yet another expedition made possible by a "mountain man" significant other, or ladies who truly adore a weekend romp through the woods will delight in this guide to more than twenty knitting patterns specifically designed for sprucing up an otherwise drab campsite.
With tips on yarns to consider for durability and weather, and a refresher course on the basics ofcasting on and off, Okey also points out that each project is portable, versatile and more soothing than text messaging friends when you're supposed to be "getting away" and reconnecting with the great outdoors. Whether it's a Woodsy Washcloth or an Ell Pond Naglene Cozy you fancy, How to Knit in the Woods will satisfy your creative urge for both.
Shannon Okey, of the ever-popular Knitgrrl series, has written several knitting books including Spin to Knit, Felt Frenzy, Crochet Style, Just Socks, The Pillow Book, and AlterNation and has contributed to a host of other books including Charmed Knits and Teen Knits. She is a columnist for knit.1 magazine and contributes to Adorn, CRAFT, and Yarn Market News. She has made television appearances on HGTV's Crafters Coast to Coast, DIY Network's Uncommon Threads and Knitty Gritty, and is currently teaching workshops across the country. She designs for several yarn companies, and runs a craft store in Cleveland, Ohio.
Excerpt: Campfire Cushions (pattern) (back to top)
Dog Park Wisdom
By Lisa Wogan, Photography by Bev Sparks
Man's best friend will agree: their masters know them best. Dogs have become surrogate babies in many households-the sweet, adoring and innocent member of the family that is also demanding, time consuming and always hungry. There's a lot to learn about the proper care for a pet, and who better to glean advice from, than other pet owners. In Dog Park Wisdom: Real-World Advice on Choosing, Caring For, and Understanding Your Canine Companion (Skipstone, $18.95, May 2008, 978-1-59485-073-8) Lisa Wogan has compiled tried and true answers to popular pet concerns and procedure from neophyte and veteran dog owners.
Broken into manageable sections, Dog Park Wisdom explores bringing home a new pooch, getting the digs ready, introducing them to a routine, socializing at parks and trails, and travelling with furry baggage. Want to know what types of furniture are pet friendly, or how to select the appropriate dog bed? Fighting indoor accidents? Turn to the "Home" section. If leash-free options, dog park dating or a career with canines sounds appealing, discover these and other social topics in "At the Park."
From breaking bad habits to understanding canine emotions, Wogan covers everything from potty training tips to grooming, proper playtime and off-leash etiquette. Like humans, dogs go through the stages of life, from the cuddly puppy phase to the trying teenage years, into adulthood and beyond. Gather ideas and activities to work with dogs through all levels of maturation from mood changes, eating patterns, tantrums, aggression, illness, hyper activity and social interaction.
Excerpt: At the Park (longer feature story) (back to top)
Live Generously
Unscrabble those scruples by taking a cue from The Live Generous Project. With homilies such as do unto others, and pay it forward ingrained in our cultural ethos, most of us know what it means to give back to society, the planet, the homeless, a co-worker, or spouse. In a social climate that presses ever forward, both in pace and over-consumption, it's hard to be mindful of the impact our lives have on one another. In Live Generously (Skipstone, 128 pages, $14.95, April) simple ideas and activities illustrate ways to celebrate the world around us by taking care of each other and our communal habitat. With more than fifty options to choose from, along with accompanying action tips like websites and next steps to guide the way, beginning a new year never looked so good.
Here are some practical suggestions for adding fulfillment to your day:
The United States produces roughly 230 million tons of trash a year-about 4.6 pounds per person, per day. For the next regularly scheduled caffeine fix, ask the barista at the local café to fill a travel mug rather than toting that trendy logo-laden paper cup. Consider investing in reusable water bottles, instead of adding to the already over burdened landfill of plastic bottles. These are just a sampling of useful tips to implement in a revamped life of generosity.
Donate blood, canned goods, your time, books to the local library. Call an old friend, send a card to a soldier or grandparent, plant a vegetable patch. Don't just bake a pie for the neighbor-invite them over, do it together, and take it to the local retirement home. Living generously is all about connection, and forming stronger links to one another, the community, and the planet.
The Live Generous Project
In 2004, a group of 100 concerned citizens of the U.K. decided to try living generously for one year. Armed with a "shared hunch" that looking after this planet and its people is what we're all here for, the group endeavored to conserve water, eliminate unnecessary amounts of trash and donate time and material resources to the betterment of their communities. Stirred were the onlookers and soon 100 became 300, which multiplied into a bevy of productive good conscience. Households as far flung as Israel , the United Arab Emirates , Canada , and the Philippines are participating in the global goodwill that is the Live Generous Project.
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