2004 NATIONAL OUTDOOR BOOK AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
The great naturalist, John Muir
called them snow flowers.
American
literary icon, Henry David Thoreau described them as sweepings from the floor
of heaven.
However they are described, the
simple beauty of snowflakes has always enthralled and captivated us.
Snowflakes also captured the
attention of the judges in the recently announced 2004 National Outdoor Book
Awards.
The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty won the top honors in the Nature
and the Environment category.
The National Outdoor Book Awards
represent some of the finest outdoor writing and artwork being published
today.
The program honors books across
nine individual categories.
The
Snowflake was written by Cal Tech physics professor, Kenneth Libbrecht and
represents significant new work in natural history.
Over the last couple of decades, scientists
have learned much about these minute wonders.
Yet little of that scientific information had been available to the
layman--until the release of
Snowflake.
Without an over reliance on
technical jargon, Libbrecht explains the processes by which snow flakes are
formed.
Libbrecht's clear and concise text
is backed by the exquisite and mesmerizing photography of Patricia Rasumussen.
It's all packaged in a beautifully designed
book that's certain find its way into homes and cabins of snow country.
The winner of the Literature
category is
Out There: In the Wild in a
Wired Age by Ted Kerasote.
While
running a remote river in
Canada's
Northwest Territories, Kerasote grapples
with the use of GPS and satellite phones and other technology in the
wilderness.
Instantaneous voice and email communication
is now possible from the wildest and most remote corners of the earth.
More and more outdoorsmen and women are
taking such technology with them into the outdoors.
What, Kerasote asks, has that done to the outdoor
experience?
Is it really a wilderness trip
if you can phone a friend for a chat or catch up on your email?
Out
There is a perceptive and insightful look into those questions.
The announcement of the award winners
was made at a special evening ceremony at the International Conference on
Outdoor Recreation and Education.
This
year's conference was held at
Montgomery
Bell State Park
in Burns,
Tennessee.
NOBA is the largest and most
prestigious national award program for authors and publishers of outdoor
books.
The non-profit program is
sponsored by the NOBA Foundation,
Idaho
State University
and the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education.
Here is a list of the winners.
Nature and the Environment Category.
Winner.
The Snowflake: Winter's Secret
Beauty.
By Kenneth Libbrecht.
Photography by Patricia Rasmussen.
Voyageur Press,
Stillwater,
Minnesota.
ISBN 0896586308
Outdoor Literature.
Winner.
Out There: In the Wild in a Wired Age. By Ted Kerasote.
Voyageur Press,
Stillwater,
Minnesota.
ISBN 0896585565
Outdoor Literature.
Winner.
Where The Mountain Casts Its Shadow: The Dark Side of Extreme
Adventure.
By Maria Coffey.
St. Martin's Press,
New
York.
ISBN
0312290659
Outdoor Literature.
Honorable Mention.
A Blistered Kind of Love.
By Angela and Duffy Ballard.
The Mountaineers Books,
Seattle.
ISBN 0898869021
History/Biography Category.
Winner.
Ways to the Sky: A Historical Guide to North American Mountaineering.
By Andy Selters.
American Alpine Club Press, Golden,
Colorado.
ISBN 0930410831
Design and Artistic Merit Category.
Winner.
Edge of the Earth, Corner of the
Sky. Photography by Art Wolfe.
Essays by Art Davidson.
Wildlands Press, Seattle.
ISBN 0967591821
Design and Artistic Merit Category.
Winner.
The Mountains Know Arizona.
Photographs by Michael Collier.
Text by Rose Houk.
Designed by
Mary Winkelmann Velgos.
Arizona
Highways,
Phoenix.
ISBN 1893860876
Classic Category.
Winner.
Walden. By Henry David Thoreau.
Edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer.
Yale
University Press,
New
Haven.
ISBN
0300104669
Children's Category.
Winner.
Whose Garden Is It? By Mary
Ann Hoberman.
Illustrated by Jane
Dyer.
Harcourt,
New York.
ISBN 0152026312
Nature Guidebook Category.
Winner.
Dragonflies of the North Woods.
By Kurt Mead.
Kollath-Stensaas Publishing,
Duluth, Minnesota.
ISBN 0967379369
Outdoor Adventure Guidebook Category.
Winner.
100 Classic Hikes in Oregon.
By Douglas Lorain. The Mountaineers Books,
Seattle.
ISBN 0898869633
Instructional Category.
Winner.
Rock Climbing: Mastering the Basic Skills.
By Craig Luebben.
The Mountaineers Books,
Seattle.
ISBN 0898867436
Full Reviews Follows . . .
Reviews of Winners of the 2004 National Outdoor Book Awards
Nature and the Environment Category. Winner
. The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty.
By Kenneth Libbrecht. Photography by Patricia Rasmussen.
Voyageur Press, Stillwater, Minnesota. ISBN 0896586308
John Muir called them snow flowers.
Thoreau described them as sweepings from the floor of heaven. For
ages, snow crystals have captured the attention of poets and
writers. In more recent times--particularly the last couple of
decades--scientists have learned much about these seemingly simple but
incredibly complex minute wonders. Yet little of that scientific
work has been available to the layman. Until now--and it's all
packaged in an elegant and splendidly designed book. Author and
researcher Kenneth Libbrecht clearly explains the processes by which
crystals are formed and how to identify major crystal types. The
highlight of the book is the exquisite and mesmerizing photography of
Patricia Rasumussen--which remind us why these sweepings of heaven
continue to astonish and amaze.
Outdoor Literature. Winner.
Out There: In the Wild in a Wired Age. By Ted Kerasote. Voyageur Press, Stillwater, Minnesota. ISBN 0896585565
Ted Kerasote has a friendly style of writing, and in Out There
you feel like you've settled in a chat with an old friend. The
chat, in this case, centers on a trip that Kerasote has taken down the
Horton River of Canada's Northwest Territories. This not a trip
where death is lurking around every corner; rather it's a fine and
thoughtful journey in which Kerasote grapples with the use of GPS,
satellite phones, and other technology in the wilderness.
Honestly written and well-crafted, it says much about what has become
of the outdoor experience.
Outdoor Literature. Winner.
Where The Mountain Casts Its Shadow: The Dark Side of Extreme Adventure. By Maria Coffey. St. Martin's Press, New York. ISBN 0312290659
This is a moving and gracefully written story,
one that has been waiting to be told for a long time. This is
what it's like for the families and friends of mountaineers who die or
who are injured on expeditions. Maria Coffey, who intimately
knows the pain of losing a loved one to the mountains, could have
easily turned the book into a tirade against climbing. Instead
she embraces adventure, emphasizing again and again that risk serves an
important role in contemporary society. Nonetheless, she cautions
that, when we venture into the unknown, we should never forget the
terrible costs of adventure gone awry. That's been missing from
much contemporary outdoor literature, and Coffey is to be commended for
the sensitive and rational way in which she has brought it to the
forefront.
Outdoor Literature. Honorable Mention.
A Blistered Kind of Love. By Angela and Duffy Ballard. The Mountaineers Books, Seattle. ISBN 0898869021
Angela and Duffy Ballard are early in a
relationship when they decide to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail
together. This book, the story of that hike, could have easily
slipped into the old and tired formula employed by most long distance
hiking books. Except (surprise!) this one doesn't. They are
both good writers and innovative too, bringing to Blistered a
new and fresh approach. What makes this book work is the yin and
yang of the two. Each has written alternating chapters--and that
sets up a wonderful interplay of gender perspective as they deal with
the rigors of life and the trail on their long journey northward.
History/Biography Category. Winner.
Ways to the Sky: A Historical Guide to North American Mountaineering. By Andy Selters. American Alpine Club Press, Golden, Colorado. ISBN 0930410831
Author Andy Selters and the American Alpine
Club deserve a big round of applause for this new and significant work
in the outdoor field. Tackling a subject as broad and diverse as
the history of North American mountaineering is no easy task, easily
ranking up there with making a winter attempt on Denali. But
Selters was up to the task and carried it off with aplomb.
Backing up Selters' painstakingly researched--and very readable
text--are a wonderful selection of historic photos. Rounding off
an already first-rate effort, Ways to the Sky, is also part guide book,
including several mini-chapters which picture and describe climbing
routes dating from the era under discussion.
Design and Artistic Merit Category. Winner.
Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky. Photography by Art Wolfe. Essays by Art Davidson. Wildlands Press, Seattle. ISBN 0967591821
Nine years in the making and photographed on seven continents, Edge of the Earth
showcases an artist at the peak of his powers. While largely
known for his striking wildlife photography, Art Wolfe proves in this
volume that he is equally adept at capturing natural landscapes.
Wolfe hopes that his work will motivate others to protect wild lands
whose destruction he has witnessed first hand. Perhaps, that's
why the book's images are so haunting: places of temporal beauty,
living on borrowed time in a world ever hungry for land and resources.
Design and Artistic Merit Category. Winner.
The Mountains Know Arizona.
Photographs by Michael Collier. Text by Rose Houk. Designed
by Mary Winkelmann Velgos. Arizona Highways, Phoenix. ISBN
1893860876
This book started with a wish that would have
been difficult to achieve under any circumstances: tell the story
of Arizona through the perspective of its mountain ranges.
Arizona, after all, is a desert state. But photographer Michael
Collier and writer Rose Houk did just that. From seven of
Arizona's mountain ranges, we learn something of the state's first
inhabitants, its settlers and fortune seekers, its diversity of
landforms and ecosystems, and even something of contemporary
life. This is a stylish and satisfying book and a testament to a
wish come true.
Classic Category. Winner.
Walden. By Henry David Thoreau. Edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer. Yale University Press, New Haven. ISBN 0300104669
There is absolutely no question about Henry David Thoreau's Walden. Walden
is a literary and outdoor classic. Knowingly and unknowingly,
many of the reasons that people offer these days why they participate
in outdoor activities can be traced to the pages of Walden.
"Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity," wrote Thoreau. Indeed, in
part, we enjoy outdoor activities because they allow us to get away
from the rush of modern society and simplify our lives--even if it is
just for a few days. For all its impact on the literary and
outdoor worlds, however, Walden is not an easy book to
read. That's why this new annotated version, edited by Thoreau
scholar Jeffrey S. Cramer, is so invaluable. Cramer's explanatory
notes accompanying Thoreau's text help readers understand the richness
of his writing--and why Walden is truly a great work of art.
Children's Category. Winner.
Whose Garden Is It? By Mary Ann Hoberman. Illustrated by Jane Dyer. Harcourt, New York. ISBN 0152026312
Who owns that beautiful garden blooming with
every color of the rainbow? The gardener says it belongs to
him. But the woodchuck insists it's his. And so does the
rabbit, the butterfly, and the little squash bug. This lovingly
done book does what all good children's books should do: it
stimulates thought, and through words and illustrations, it asks
youngsters to reach their own conclusion to that pressing question: who
really owns that garden? (For ages 3-7.)
Nature Guidebook Category. Winner.
Dragonflies of the North Woods. By Kurt Mead. Kollath-Stensaas Publishing, Duluth, Minnesota. ISBN 0967379369
Who doesn't love dragonflies as they flit and
flutter about on a warm summer day? Certainly Kurt Mead is
smitten. He is the author of this new and exceptionally useful
identification guide. Considerable thought has gone into the
design of this compact guidebook: sharp and colorful photos,
easy-to-use field markings, habitat information, natural history notes,
sizing scales, sighting frequencies, and . . . well, you get the
picture. It's a darn good little guide.
Outdoor Adventure Guidebook Category. Winner.
100 Classic Hikes in Oregon. By Douglas Lorain. The Mountaineers Books, Seattle. ISBN 0898869633
You can always tell when a guidebook author
knows his stuff. Douglas Lorain, who literally lives on the
trail, was the perfect person to author this book. Combined with
a stylish design, full color photographs, and very useable maps, this
is the cream of the crop of this year's guide books.
Instructional Category. Winner.
Rock Climbing: Mastering the Basic Skills. By Craig Luebben. The Mountaineers Books, Seattle. ISBN 0898867436
Looking for an up-to-date and reliable
instructional book on climbing? Look no further. Long time
guide and instructor, Craig Luebben takes you through the paces,
covering top roping, sport climbing, traditional climbing and
bouldering. A lucid text is amply supplemented with instructive
photographs, understandable illustrations and a clean and crisp design.
NOBA Medallion
