Thoroughly enjoyed the gorgeous photography of my childhood haunts- I went to grammar school in the Cook Forest area and not long ago when a friend was planning to visit for the first time I handed her this book (I work in a library) as a preview-she was hooked. Mr. Cook has captured all the untouched magic of Pennsylvania forests and packaged it up so we can all carry about a bit of solitude in our busy lives.

This beautiful book of photographs is begun with a fascinating description of the forest's history. I didn't realize that Pennsylvania had such a dramatic history involving the early timber industry and later with conservationists. This book quickly makes you realize how lucky we are to have old-growth forests in America.

You'd never guess from reading this bookthat Anthony Cook was not a professional author or photographer. As a long time visitor to the cook forest, I can testify that the author has beautifully captured the spirit and history of these magnificent woods.

Like Karen and Paulo Kaiser, my wife and I generally rely on Lonely Planet. But the Cook Islands Companion was a better guide, although I am glad we had both along with us, as the maps of the hiking trails in the Lonely Planet were easier to follow. The descriptions of places to eat, things to do on Rarotonga and Atiu, and the stories of Cook Islands goodies, like the Moko Soap, told by Elliot Smith were fantastic. The book is a little dated and out of print, but if you can find a copy of it, get it before you go!

For collectors of Cook Islands memorabilia, this compact classic is a natural purchase. I met Elliot Smith at a San Francisco bookstore about a decade ago and we discussed doing the first edition of Cook Islands Companion together. Unfortunately the timing was wrong and Elliot proceeded alone, while I gave my full attention to a new edition of South Pacific Handbook. I'm told Elliot won't be producing a third edition since the market is too limited and his hotel business now gets priority. That's because while researching Cook Islands Companion, Elliot Smith discovered his own corner of paradise on Muri Beach, where his www.shangri-la.co.ck beach cottages are now in high demand. That provides an added incentive to buy the book: While on Raro - even if you're not staying at Shangri-La - drop in and ask Elliot to personally dedicate your copy. It's a great little guidebook which I've taken along on previous trips to the Cooks, and it's still quite usable as things don't change that fast in the islands! I recommend it.

We have used Lonely Planet guides for many countries, travels and years now, but found the Cook Island LP sad compared to the Cook Islands Companion. In fact, we found the CIC to be one of the best guide books we have ever read! Although it is an older edition, it still is more informative and useful than the more recently published LP. And, if you want to personally meet the author, you can find him, and stay, at his hotel - the Shangri-la Bungalows on Muri lagoon.

In Robert Borofsky's, Making History, there is a fresh look into the lives of pacific islanders. Borofsky exquisitely shows us the pride the Pukapukans take in knowledge of their ways. Pukapukans have specific ways for attaining knowledge as well as for letting you know when your view of that knowledge is wrong. Robert Borofsky has opened a door to an aspect of pacific life that most anthropologists have a tendency of overlooking. While in the process of sharing the ways of Pukapukans, Borofsky raises the question as to, who has the right to speak for whom? Do Anthropologists have the right to go to another country and critique the lifestyle of the people? In this book, Robert Borofsky doesn't answer that question, but, what he does do is give us an unbiased, un-opinionated view of the culture on this island and leaves it up to you to decide the answer to the question. Pukapukans have their own way of doing things and Borofsky portrays their lifestyle clearly and effectively without swaying the reader's opinion to match his. It is an excellent piece of work and I would recommend it to anyone who likes to think.

In Robert Borofsky's, Making History, there is a fresh look into the lives of pacific islanders. Borofsky exquisitely shows us the pride the Pukapukans take in knowledge of their ways. Pukapukans have specific ways for attaining knowledge as well as for letting you know when your view of that knowledge is wrong. Robert Borofsky has opened a door to an aspect of pacific life that most anthropologists have a tendency of overlooking. While in the process of sharing the ways of Pukapukans, Borofsky raises the question as to, who has the right to speak for whom? Do Anthropologists have the right to go to another country and critique the lifestyle of the people? In this book, Robert Borofsky doesn't answer that question, but, what he does do is give us an unbiased, un-opinionated view of the culture on this island and leaves it up to you to decide the answer to the question. Pukapukans have their own way of doing things and Borofsky portrays their lifestyle clearly and effectively without swaying the reader's opinion to match his. It is an excellent piece of work and I would recommend it to anyone who likes to think.

White Savages in the South Seas is a candid look at the not so glamourous lives of real people living in the South Pacific. This book is filled with fasinating characters like Susy No Pants and interesting adventures. Their stories are well written with great passion and witty humor. I enjoyed every moment.

A thinking person's look at life in the South Pacific as seen through the eyes of an imaginative and involved participant in life. You'll laugh and you'll cry and you will get an insight into the lives of many unusual and colorful people. Definitely not a "travel book," but rather a carefully written volumne which will forever effect the way you see life in the South Pacific.

This true life fascinating story, about a great man, is an inspiration to others, especially the young. It shows what one can accomplish with tremendous determination, perseverance, a creative mind, timing and an adventurous spirit.

Having known and worked with the author for many years, I can say first hand that this story would be enjoyable for the young, the old, the adventurous and politically minded. It is both educating and quite entertaining.

Read it!

This is a very good introduction to Cook Islands Maori. Each point is simply explained, with lots of examples. You won't be fluent in Maori, but you can hold simple conversations. If you buy the tapes as well, it's the next best thing to being in Rarotonga, except you don't get the beaches and the food.

I love *good* seafood and I am very picky about taste. I have a small collection of ~15 cookbooks and I have looked at over 50+ while browsing in bookstores. I got this cook book as a gamble (you can't browse when you shop online) but because I love seafood and the book was inexpensive, I said "What the heck" and brought it. What I've tried from the book was simply delicious. It's well written, easy to follow, and for the real chefs out there, you can either read it for a skeleton for what you want to make or maybe give you thoughts of different combinations of ingredients you didn't think of or have forgotten about. I normally do not rank many things very highly but this is one of the few that made it to the top of my list. Oh yes, did I mention that the book is less expensive and has better receipes than other more expensive cookbooks out there? One thing I should mention is that it's not just a seafood cookbook. Happy Cooking!

Mrs. Fiske has carefully sorted through early documents and developed a thorough and friendly history of the Thomas Cook line. She presents new thoughts, supports them with evidence, and makes this book a very valuable resource for those working anywhere along this line. Two fat! volumes may be obtained (be sure to tell Amazon which, or both, that you want) and you'll learn more than you ever dreamed possible about the Cooks. There are a few errors as can be expected in a work of this size (Grandpa's middle name was Orlando, not Oleander) but they appear minor in relationship to the vast number of entries.

Erik Dahlgren has written a definitive historical analysis that
thoroughly disproves the popular myth that Hawaiian had been
visited and charted by Spanish explorers. This myth was mentioned as fact in W D Alexander's "A Brief History of the Hawaiian People" published over 100 years ago. It was perpetuated by a Spaniard living in Hawaii, Francisco de Paulo
Marin ("manini").
The argument in favor of the Spanish discovery rests in some
part on the Spanish charts which were seized by Anson when he
captured a treasure ship in the Phillipines. Certainly this
chart was known to Cook, and it does show islands at approximately the same latitude as Hawaii, but well to the east
of Hawaii's actual location.
Dahlgren carefully sorts through the facts and demonstrates that
this Spanish chart was not based on any known observattions,
furthermore he shows that the Spaniard who supposedly made the discovery was in fact not even a competent navigator.
It is a serious historical work, carefully written, and 100%
convincing.

Excellent book providing great detail. We used the book when we sailed around the islands and it provided a great guide to most, if not all islands. Very up to date.

Probably most value to those using the ferry service, but excellent none the less for others getting around more than one island.

You don't need it if you're going on a cruise (it's rather snooty about cruises, with that backpacker reverse snobbery)or if you're going to fly to one island and stay there. In fact the details about the boats and timetables may be too much. If you're moving from island to island independently you have to have it. It's the only one that tells you about the boats themselves. Reading this book could even save your life My favorite comment in the 1999 edition was about the boat then called the Golden Vergina. "a large grime bucket-she has inthe past shuddered along, not thanks to an excess of engine vibration but rather with the collective disgust of her passengers. thanks to the conditions on board ... better than no boat all but only just." She was renamed the Express Santina and if you read about the Paros shipwreck you know the rest. 80 were drowned.

Indispensable if you are moving from island to island on your own. Package tourist or cruisers can manage without it. I have always enjoyed the accurate details on the boats themselves. This addition has great WEB sites to explore. Maybe it needs more about Athens airport and the mystifying Olympic Airlines terminal. Flights from New York or London to the islands are not listed on Flifo. You have to go to the Olympic Airlines WEB site and get the domestic timetable of flights from Athens. Even flying Olympic from London you have to check in again as a domestic passenger and then go through security and then you find a row of gates with numbers and names of islands. It's simple if you're not half asleep. The first class lounge (ok - not real island hopping but I'm 65) is hidden at the end of the row AFTER security. On the flights that stop at Thessalonika you have to go through passport control twice.