book recommendations - learning mountain/plains history & ecology while on tour
12-07-18, 07:00 AM
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book recommendations - learning mountain/plains history & ecology while on tour
I also posted this in the Touring forum, but since most of the states are within the Mountain/Plains forum I thought folks here might have useful input...
Summer 2019 I'll be touring solo from NE Oklahoma to Seattle, WA. Ideally, I'd read up on the history and ecology along my route before leaving home. But that's not going to happen, so I figure rather than cycle blindly halfway across the country, I can learn about where I am as I go.
The states I'm cycling through are Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho panhandle, and Washington. I may take a couple zero days in the corners of South Dakota (Badlands/Mt. Rushmore/Crazy Horse) and/or Wyoming (Devil's Tower).
Does anyone have book recommendations that would offer a historical or ecological introduction to any of these states? I'm open to learning through non-fiction, fiction, memoir, even poetry. I'd like a mix of different types of books - some narrative, some guide-style, some general overview, some deep dive on a single topic, etc.
A couple of practical notes... I'll probably use a Kindle or audiobook, so don't worry about how long a book is. If a book isn't available digitally, I'll get it mailed to/from home en route. Relatedly, the goal isn't to read everything cover-to-cover, but to use these books to engage my curiosity, give me something to think about while biking that's related to where I am, and inform where I choose to wander off my planned route.
Thanks in advance!
Summer 2019 I'll be touring solo from NE Oklahoma to Seattle, WA. Ideally, I'd read up on the history and ecology along my route before leaving home. But that's not going to happen, so I figure rather than cycle blindly halfway across the country, I can learn about where I am as I go.
The states I'm cycling through are Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho panhandle, and Washington. I may take a couple zero days in the corners of South Dakota (Badlands/Mt. Rushmore/Crazy Horse) and/or Wyoming (Devil's Tower).
Does anyone have book recommendations that would offer a historical or ecological introduction to any of these states? I'm open to learning through non-fiction, fiction, memoir, even poetry. I'd like a mix of different types of books - some narrative, some guide-style, some general overview, some deep dive on a single topic, etc.
A couple of practical notes... I'll probably use a Kindle or audiobook, so don't worry about how long a book is. If a book isn't available digitally, I'll get it mailed to/from home en route. Relatedly, the goal isn't to read everything cover-to-cover, but to use these books to engage my curiosity, give me something to think about while biking that's related to where I am, and inform where I choose to wander off my planned route.
Thanks in advance!
12-07-18, 07:33 AM
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Does anyone have book recommendations that would offer a historical or ecological introduction to any of these states? I'm open to learning through non-fiction, fiction, memoir, even poetry. I'd like a mix of different types of books - some narrative, some guide-style, some general overview, some deep dive on a single topic, etc.
If you click on Look Inside! on the page available via the link above, don't be put off by Frazier's mock-grandiloquent style in the opening paragraphs. He's a great writer in any number of registers.
One other recommendation: Garrison Keillor's "Lake Wobegon Days." That's another great book.
12-08-18, 09:43 AM
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Great Plains, by Ian Frazier. I read it when it was published in serial form in the New Yorker and loved it, despite my having no interest in traveling there. Gave a copy of the book to a friend, who thought it was magnificent.
If you click on Look Inside! on the page available via the link above, don't be put off by Frazier's mock-grandiloquent style in the opening paragraphs. He's a great writer in any number of registers.
One other recommendation: Garrison Keillor's "Lake Wobegon Days." That's another great book.
If you click on Look Inside! on the page available via the link above, don't be put off by Frazier's mock-grandiloquent style in the opening paragraphs. He's a great writer in any number of registers.
One other recommendation: Garrison Keillor's "Lake Wobegon Days." That's another great book.
12-16-18, 11:34 AM
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Old books that cover the area where you are riding include Teddy Roosevelt’s Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, Francis Parkman’s The Oregon Trail , and a number of books by Mari Sandoz. Cheyenne Autumn, Crazy Horse, The Buffalo Hunters, and Sandhills Sundays would all be good choices by Mari Sandoz. Cheyenne Autumn was made into a very good movie in 1964 if you want to watch it before you go.
I’ve read the Mari Sandoz books and Parkman’s Oregon Trail. All are facsinating and well written.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
12-16-18, 11:48 AM
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There are many books about the Lewis & Clark Expeditions, I have no specific recommendations
12-16-18, 11:59 AM
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
12-16-18, 12:00 PM
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You might like The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, by Nathaniel Philbrick. I enjoyed the audio book, Kindle book is available https://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-Cu.../dp/B003NX760I
12-17-18, 04:26 AM
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my favorite author-john mcphee. seek out rising from the plains, basin and range and encounters with the archdruid for areas specific to those you referenced.
any of his novels/novellas are worth seeking out, regardless of the topic discussed. there are long moments in the works above and control of nature (chapter three
specifically regarding southern california) along with coming into the country (from memory...roughly pages 62-83 regarding grizzly bears/alaska) that are amongst the
best nature writing i've ever come across. the guy could write about paint drying and it would be fascinating. he did win the pulitzer for annals of the former world which compiled
several of his geological forays mentioned into one massive tome.
for a semi-recent history of western water use, conservation (or lack thereof), ways and means (which definitely affects areas you'll be riding)
...i'd suggest cadillac desert by david muench as well.
any of his novels/novellas are worth seeking out, regardless of the topic discussed. there are long moments in the works above and control of nature (chapter three
specifically regarding southern california) along with coming into the country (from memory...roughly pages 62-83 regarding grizzly bears/alaska) that are amongst the
best nature writing i've ever come across. the guy could write about paint drying and it would be fascinating. he did win the pulitzer for annals of the former world which compiled
several of his geological forays mentioned into one massive tome.
for a semi-recent history of western water use, conservation (or lack thereof), ways and means (which definitely affects areas you'll be riding)
...i'd suggest cadillac desert by david muench as well.
Last edited by diphthong; 12-17-18 at 04:39 AM.
