Boats and Boating in the Adirondacks

Rating:
Summary: Small Boaters' Delight
Review: Hallie Bond has written a masterful account rich with history and funky details about one of America's most unusual boating regions. Her grasp of boating, the North Country woods, the life of Adirondack guides, and the evolution of boat designs provides an entertaining yet immensely informative tapestry. Bond is a scholar and curator of boats at the Adirondack Museum, but she writes with a journalist's ease. Her eye for detail, her control of narrative, her insights into countless eccentric characters, and her love for the North woods all contribute to a compelling story about a changing, evolving culture.

This book is also about ingenuity in boat building and the special attributes of design that produced world famous boats. The Adirondack Guideboat, the St. Lawrence River Skiff, and the vast assortment of canoes designed by Henry Rushton not only filled special needs but also changed how people perceived and enjoyed the Adirondacks. She traces the evolution of canoes, the co-mingling of canoes and kayaks, the emergence of Guideboats and assorted craft, each used for pragmatic purposes, then changed as people changed. In many ways this is a cultural history,as much about people as about boats. Yet it includes innumerable photos and illustrations that suggest these builders were also artists and surely supperb craftsmen.

She takes advantage of the Museum's remarkable collection of boats and boating art, and provides a fun and engrossing pictorial narrative. Her book is as fun to browse as it is to read, and it's all handsomely put together. I've read a lot of books about boats, but this may be the best I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Small Boaters' Delight
Review: Hallie Bond has written a masterful account rich with history and funky details about one of America's most unusual boating regions. Her grasp of boating, the North Country woods, the life of Adirondack guides, and the evolution of boat designs provides an entertaining yet immensely informative tapestry. Bond is a scholar and curator of boats at the Adirondack Museum, but she writes with a journalist's ease. Her eye for detail, her control of narrative, her insights into countless eccentric characters, and her love for the North woods all contribute to a compelling story about a changing, evolving culture.

This book is also about ingenuity in boat building and the special attributes of design that produced world famous boats. The Adirondack Guideboat, the St. Lawrence River Skiff, and the vast assortment of canoes designed by Henry Rushton not only filled special needs but also changed how people perceived and enjoyed the Adirondacks. She traces the evolution of canoes, the co-mingling of canoes and kayaks, the emergence of Guideboats and assorted craft, each used for pragmatic purposes, then changed as people changed. In many ways this is a cultural history,as much about people as about boats. Yet it includes innumerable photos and illustrations that suggest these builders were also artists and surely supperb craftsmen.

She takes advantage of the Museum's remarkable collection of boats and boating art, and provides a fun and engrossing pictorial narrative. Her book is as fun to browse as it is to read, and it's all handsomely put together. I've read a lot of books about boats, but this may be the best I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Five Star Effort
Review: Hallie Bond has written a masterful account rich with history and funky details about one of America's
most unusual boating regions. Her grasp of boating, the North Country woods, the life of Adirondack
guides, and the evolution of boat designs provides an entertaining yet immensely informative tapestry.
Bond is a scholar and curator of boats at the Adirondack Museum, but she writes with a journalist's
ease. Her eye for detail, her control of narrative, her insights into countless eccentric characters, and
her love for the North woods all contribute to a compelling story about a changing, evolving culture.

This book is also about ingenuity in boat building and the special attributes of design that produced
world famous boats. The Adirondack Guideboat, the St. Lawrence River Skiff, and the vast
assortment of canoes designed by Henry Rushton not only filled special needs but also changed how
people perceived and enjoyed the Adirondacks. She traces the evolution of canoes, the co-mingling of
canoes and kayaks, the emergence of Guideboats and assorted craft, each used for pragmatic
purposes, then changed as people changed. In many ways this is a cultural history,as much about
people as about boats. Yet it includes innumerable photos and illustrations that suggest these builders
were also artists and surely supperb craftsmen.

She takes advantage of the Museum's remarkable collection of boats and boating art, and provides a
fun and engrossing pictorial narrative. Her book is as fun to browse as it is to read, and it's all
handsomely put together. I've read a lot of books about boats, but this may be the best I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Five Star Effort
Review: Hallie Bond has written a masterful account rich with history and funky details about one of America's
most unusual boating regions. Her grasp of boating, the North Country woods, the life of Adirondack
guides, and the evolution of boat designs provides an entertaining yet immensely informative tapestry.
Bond is a scholar and curator of boats at the Adirondack Museum, but she writes with a journalist's
ease. Her eye for detail, her control of narrative, her insights into countless eccentric characters, and
her love for the North woods all contribute to a compelling story about a changing, evolving culture.

This book is also about ingenuity in boat building and the special attributes of design that produced
world famous boats. The Adirondack Guideboat, the St. Lawrence River Skiff, and the vast
assortment of canoes designed by Henry Rushton not only filled special needs but also changed how
people perceived and enjoyed the Adirondacks. She traces the evolution of canoes, the co-mingling of
canoes and kayaks, the emergence of Guideboats and assorted craft, each used for pragmatic
purposes, then changed as people changed. In many ways this is a cultural history,as much about
people as about boats. Yet it includes innumerable photos and illustrations that suggest these builders
were also artists and surely supperb craftsmen.

She takes advantage of the Museum's remarkable collection of boats and boating art, and provides a
fun and engrossing pictorial narrative. Her book is as fun to browse as it is to read, and it's all
handsomely put together. I've read a lot of books about boats, but this may be the best I've ever read.