Top Outdoor Books

[leechlake]

Last week when I was at the cabin alone I had some time to read a bit. I looked through the shelf and found a few I'll throw out there. One staple is Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac." Good shorter chapters, frankly very convenient for the bathroom. Another great author is Nathan Jorgenson his first book "Waiting for White Horses" is set in northern Minnesota and mostly based on the relationship of two hunting buddies. I'm sure all of us can relate to the hunting, fishing, and lives in this book. Any others?

[Sifty]

Any of the Sam Cook books are good reads.

Sifty

[bogman]

Here's a few that fit in with Northern MN.

Poachers Caught!:

Adventures of a Northwoods Game Warden

More Poachers Caught!: Further Adventures of a Northwoods Game Warden

Two books by Tom Chapin (short stories suitable for the bathroom)

Country Boy: Adventures from an Untroubled Childhood

A Hunter's Journey: The Education of an Outdoorsman

A Hunter's Year

Three books by Dan Prusi

[chad austin]

They Used to Call Us Game Wardens by Bill Callies - 2 Volumes

These are short stories as well.

The life of a Game Warden working in Blackduck, Baudette, Red Lake and other areas of MN.

[Stick in Mud]

With a bit of putzing around on Amazon, it's easy to find lots and lots of good outdoor books.

I'd have to say A River Runs Through It is my favorite, as is Maclean's other one, Young Men and Fire. And then there's always Patrick McManus, who's got a new book out now, in fact.

[atvlaska]

Patrick McManus good stuff!!....u get a chance read "shadows on the Koyukuk"........back in the day livin'

[OnAFly]

Chapin's books are very good. I thought he had a third one out, maybe I'm wrong.

Lost in the Wild by Cary Griffith is a good one. It's two stories about separate individuals who get lost in the BWCA and Quetico.

[Stick in Mud]

Another vote for Lost in the Wild. It's fun to read about people getting lost in places you've been.

I actually picked that one up one morning at Barnes and Noble and read the whole thing in the store that day....ended up buying it just so I didn't feel guilty (ended up giving it to a friend for a present).

[SkunkedAgain]

"Minnesota's Natural Heritage: An Ecological Perspective" was written by John Tester, a UofM professor. I saw it in the bookstore one day and started reading. I couldn't put it down until done and I'm not a reader. I later found out that the guy uses it as his personal textbook, but it's the best book I've ever read about how all of Minnesota's natural elements come together to form our environment. Very, very cool if you want to understand how the land, the water, the forests, the prairies, the animals, and everything else interacts together.

I can't say enough.

[Shane683]

A Crooked Number by Nathan Jorgeson is a prequel to Waiting For White Horses and is very good. I also really liked A Long Way Back by Mike Holst.

[Leaky]

The Root Beer Lady - Bob Cary

The life of Dorothy Molter, the last person allowed to live in the BWCA.

[shortfatguy]

I have read a couple of Terry Grosz books. Pretty good reading. I also like the bear books by Larry Kaniut.

[Hoffer]

Agree with the books about the game warden stories.

Would also add anything by Jon Krakauer. Into the wild, into thin air.

[MinDak Hunter]

If you like Game Warden books try Border Warden by Murray Mills, its about Lloyd Steen (Ray MN CO) he retired in 2008 or 2009 so many of the stories are newer.

[deadduk]

All Hell Broke Loose (William Hull) is a great book and without a doubt, Border Warden is fantastic too!

Thank you for all of the advice.

[Stick in Mud]

Darby Nelson wrote a book about MN lakes...I forget the title. Found it at B&N. Awesome read if you're into science and stuff.

[Hoffer]

will check out border warden...thanks for the advice!

[Kyhl]

Agree with the books about the game warden stories.

Would also add anything by Jon Krakauer. Into the wild, into thin air.

+1 for Jon Krakauer.

Timely thread. I'm almost finished with Into Thin Air, after reading Into The Wild, and am about to look for something else.

I thought the book for Into The Wild was great even if it's a bit disjointed and harder to follow. It hit home to me being the same age and wanting to unplug from society (as I type on the internet )

The movie was awesome. I think it was Sean Penn's director debut.

Into Thin Air flowed a lot better since the author was part of the tragedy. Looking forward to seeing that movie too.

Lost In The Wild sound like a good next book for me.

[fishing4life]

The Final Frontiersman:

Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness

A great book and a even better story. A very fast read. Here is a video to watch about it. I watched it after I read the book. It was neat to see the stuff that was talked about in the book.

[ThunderLund78]

Deer season last year I read "Canoeing with the Cree" by Eric Sevareid. Probably a staple for true outdoors readers, but I had not read it until last year.

What a fantastic true story of two adventuresome boys becoming men on their canoe journey from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay in the 1930s.

Read it and then try tracing their journey on Google maps by scrolling through the satellite photos. It's truly unbelievable.

[delcecchi]

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

[shortfatguy]

For those of you into the warden stories that is what Terry Grosz writes. He was a CO both state and fed. Really cool stories.

[Ufatz]

Hemmingway.....as in Big Two Hearted River etc. Roderick Haig Brown...Robert Ruark's The Old Man and The Boy....Charlie Waterman's books on fishing and bird hunting....River Runs Through it...

There are many excellent books out there that are truly well written by people who are writers FIRST and outdoors people SECOND. Makes an ideal combination.

And I'm still looking for the $#$%@#$% who stole my autographed RRTI!!!