A Year in the Notch: Exploring the Natural History of the White Mountains

Rating:
Summary: Editorial review says it all
Review: I felt it was necessary to counter the previous reviewer's negative rating. This is a truly excellent book. The positive statements in the "editorial review" are far more indicative of this book's quality. As one who has read Bill Bryson, all I can say is it's like comparing the proverbial apples and oranges. Bryson is fluff and cute little anecdotes. Sargent is meat and solid information on natural history and geology --which is the whole point. If that's what you want, this book is indeed 5 stars!

Rating:
Summary: Editorial review says it all
Review: I felt it was necessary to counter the previous reviewer's negative rating. This is a truly excellent book. The positive statements in the "editorial review" are far more indicative of this book's quality. As one who has read Bill Bryson, all I can say is it's like comparing the proverbial apples and oranges. Bryson is fluff and cute little anecdotes. Sargent is meat and solid information on natural history and geology --which is the whole point. If that's what you want, this book is indeed 5 stars!

Rating:
Summary: Read Bill Bryson instead
Review: William Sargent is kind of the poor man's Bill Bryson: he gives natural history and geologic background while trying to maintain a loose narrative structure, and he succeeds about as often as he fails.

I thought this book was going to be some kind of adventure tale of roughing it for a year, but it turns out that Sargent lives in the Notch, and kept a diary for a year. The book as a whole is kind of like the pictures in it: occasionally interesting, but fall short of being really beautiful because they're rendered in poor-quality black-and-white printing.