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READING LIST ~.-"-_01""'_",""""_."'" _..,...." ......... u.·-IWMdtr9\$ort,~~ iii neutral ~.[!, L:J . . ..", 2> CASTWORK: REFLECTIONS OF FLY FISHING GUIDES AND THE AMERICAN WEST (Kirk D. Deeter and Andrew W. Steketee. Photographs by Liz Steketee, Willow Creek Press, $40) When it comes to fly fishing, the beards are thick, the families tight, and the weather often gloomy. In Castwork, readers get a true sense of river life through interviews with and photographs of over a dozen fly fishing guides. Reading it is like stumbling into a local bait shop in an unknown town and finding yourself surrounded by thirteen of the best storytellers that American fishing can deliver. You'll forget the original purpose of your visit and end up on a stool wrapped in the coiled lines of their tales of enviable lives. -Matthew Bernsohn 3> THE SHOES OF KILIMANJARO AND OTHER ODDVENTURE TRAVEL STORIES 1> NEUTRAL BUOYANCY: ADVENTURES IN A LIQUID WORLD (Tim Ecott, Atlantic Monthly Press, $26) Neutral Buoyancy brings the deep to life. From scuba diving around sea mounts near Kaivuna, New Guinea, to venturing into Blue Holes in the Bahamas, to sleep- ing overnight in underwater hotels in the Florida Keys and free-diving with Umberto Pelizzari, Tim Ecott, a BBC reporter and master diver, eases the reader into fascinating historical accounts of the first attempts to explore the underwa- ter world. From the very first uses of " diving bells" in the thirteenth century to jacques Cousteau's invention of the contemporary regulator to deep technical diving and experimental underwater habitats, Ecott gives us a thorough account of attempts to explore and even live in the liquid world. Ecott's thoroughness is impressive as he describes various endeavors at underwater exploration. For example, we learn about Englishman john Day's 1774 attempt at creating a "diving vessel," basically an airtight wood box, in which he would prove that he could survive underwater for 24 hours. With great confi- dence in his creation, Day was lowered to 130 feet and, as expected, never seen again. Ecott is obviously a diving fanatic and much of the book's strength lies in his adoring descriptions ofthe underwater habitat and the peaceful psycholog- ical effects of exploring this liquid world. He specifically loves achieving "neutral buoyancy," a state when the diver is neither sinking nor ascending and feels a weightlessness ofthe type astronauts experience. His concerns about the threats to the ocean from pollution, overfishing, and exploitation also seem to come from a very personal contact with this world that not many, but more should, explore. Experienced divers, novices and everyone in between will find some- thing of interest in Neutral Buoyancy. I engaged in my first open water dives and became certified just as I finished this book. As I put the regulator in my mouth, fell forward off the boat and took that first underwater breath, Ecott's stories, observations and love of the ocean stuck in my mind and I felt I knew that much more about this largely unexplored part of the earth. -William Cole m B I u e Latitudes - · .... -/oOi - - ~~. ~;. ",>I 1'0 ,.n l~ (, • .... Hl kt CAPTA I N COOK Tony Horwitz .. (Cameron M. Burns, Hard-Pressed Books, $17) Colorada-based journalist Cameron M. Burns would make t he ideal travel partner. He's adventurous, open-minded, and most important- ly, has a great sense of humor. The Shoes of Kilimanjaro is a compila- tion of over a dozen of his creative nonfiction travel articles spanning the last five years. He takes you from Mount Kilimanjaro where he can hardly believe the porters climb in beach thongs (one of blue's all-time favorite travel stories) to Wales where he tries desperately to pronounce the double l. -Leah Pence 4> BLUE LATITUDES (Tony Horwitz, Henry Holt and Company, $26) Tony Horwitz was intrigued with Captain Cook and decided that he had an innovative way to reveal the biography of a great explorer. Horwitz got on board a replica of Cook's ship Endeavor and followed the explorer's route as one ofthe hard-working and tortured crew. In Blue Latitudes details and events that unfolded on Cook's adventures morph and flow between Horwitz' own adventures on the high seas and in foreign lands. Find out what travel was like before guidebooks and travel agents. -MB 5> THE POWER PATH (Jose Stevens. Ph.D, with Lena Stevens, New World Library, $15) Most people work so that they can pursue their real passion and adventure on the side. The Power Path takes lessons learned from Shamanism and helps the reader apply them to their work, in an attempt to mesh the daily grind with the lessons from the divine. jose Stevens shows why we have much to learn from days when work meant stalking a deer, preparing to move camp and defending against another tribe's attack. The corporate culture is treated like a tribe where everyone has a special talent, be it painting, storytelling or organizing. The book provides techniques for how to incorporate each person's skills into both individual and group settings. -MB 70