William M. Harlow

Much of the information in this book I learned from my years in the Boy Scouts. But that was in the '70s. I wonder if the Scouts still teach how to use an axe? This book was also published in the 70s, so some material is a bit dated (e.g., the best clothing fabric for outdoors). But there were a couple of essays that I think made the purchase worthwhile: how to hike and camp alone, what to do if you get lost, and (my favorite) how best to physically walk in the woods.
I will recycle this book back into the used bookstore world from whence I plucked it, so that someone else may benefit from some insights from a half-century ago.… (meer)

Through 122 striking photographs and lively captions, master teacher and woodsman William M. Harlow takes you to some of nature’s most beautiful art forms. Whether seen as independent works of art or as superb guides to an understanding of nature’s forms, these photographs Will help you see and cele- brate nature’s inventiveness in finding beautiful solutions to her often complex problems. Included are many buds in both flowering and winter stages, with a demonstration of the almost magical spiral series; unusual twigs of the spindle tree, staghorn sumac, Kentucky coffee tree, whistling pine; needles of the evergreens; leaf shapes of the apple, bull thistle and tulip tree, With an examination of leaf vein patterns; flowers of sugar maple, willow, teasel, and passion-flower, showing how the latter got its name; Douglas fir cone; chestnuts in bur, fruit capsules of the oriental poppy, storksbill fruit; bark patterns; tree rings; cross sections; and much more. Among them you will find such unusual sights as the tendrils of wild cucumber, male cones of jack pine discharging pollen, a fungus whose growth appears like a billowing cloud, burned wood surfaces, and other curlous, beautiful and revealing forms.… (meer)