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SH Book Club

elk yinzer

elk yinzer

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Messages
2,925
Location
State College, PA
I've been reading a lot for the first time since grade school. I got a kindle for Christmas and making some other hopefully useful changes in my life (good riddance, youtube).

Good book recommendations?

These are my interests, but feel free to take the thread wherever it wants to go.

All ears
Nonfiction, mostly of the lighter, informative narrative variety (interests in no particular order....hunting, fishing, trapping, sports, history, food). Definitely doesn't have to be a best-seller, maybe points for it not being one. I especially find interesting some of the more obscure books with ties to my region or areas I visit.

Eh, probably not
Fiction (except classics which I already have a few on the to-do list)
Biographical, with some exceptions for especially interesting folk

Nope
Self-help
Religion, philosophy, politics
 
Quid pro quo, these are what I've tackled so far

Solid, recommend
American Buffalo, Steve Rinella
COD: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, Mark Kurlansky
Four Fish: the Future of the Last Wild Food, Paul Greenberg

Okayish, not a waste of time
Poachers Were My Prey, R.T. Steward, W.H. Gross
Wild New World, Dan Flores

Meh, struggling to get through
Outdoor Kids in an Inside World, Rinella
 
I have three picks that I would recommend to anyone who likes the outdoors.

A Sand County Almanac- Aldo Leopold. An incredible look at the foundations of our modern conservation and outdoor ethics wrapped in beautiful writing about life and living in the Driftless region of Wisconsin.

Tenth Legion- Col. Tom Kelly. An early primer on the foundations of turkey hunting from back prior to reintroduction efforts in most of the United States. Light-hearted and packed with information and strategy all tied to the beauty experienced in pursuit of the wild turkey.

A River Runs Through It- Norman McClean. You are probably familiar with the movie from the early 90's with Brad Pitt and directed by Robert Redford. The book is extremely well written and does an excellent job describing the poetry of fly fishing.
 
I
elk yinzer said:
Quid pro quo, these are what I've tackled so far

Solid, recommend
American Buffalo, Steve Rinella
COD: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, Mark Kurlansky
Four Fish: the Future of the Last Wild Food, Paul Greenberg

Okayish, not a waste of time
Poachers Were My Prey, R.T. Steward, W.H. Gross
Wild New World, Dan Flores

Meh, struggling to get through
Outdoor Kids in an Inside World, Rinella
Click to expand...
I'd agree with your assessment of Rinella's two books here. As much as I flew through American Buffalo, Outdoor Kids took some work. Some of it was great, and some of it was just ok and felt more like a rehash of ideas that obviously I've already worked through on my own as I look at bringing my kids alongside as I experience the outdoors. It felt more like it was targeted to the folks who aren't already exposing their kids to outdoor pursuits (and similarly probably not already consuming MeatEater content).
 
Peter Hathaway Capstick. He was a PH in African who specialized in big cats. Death in the Long Grass and Death in the Silent Places are 2 of my favorite hunting story collections. He leads Long Grass with something like this:

"There is a common misconception that big cats hunt people. This is simply untrue. Big cats hunt buffalo, gazelles, and other large ungulates. Big cats simply do not need to hunt people. They just kill them."
 
Good call @IndyBowhunter , I definitely need to read A Sand County Almanac. It's been referenced as a foundational piece to subsequent conservation work, but I never really thought to put it atop my list.

I agree Outside Kids about the audience being the reason it feels like a miss to me. I had been meaning to read American Buffalo for quite awhile and it did not disappoint.

Don Quixote and A River Runs Through It, are both on my all-time list. Keep them coming!
 
I don't know if you are into flyfishing, but living near State College with all that good water you should be. But if you do, I recommend anything by John Gierach. He's my favorite. Very humorous.

Another read that I just found very interesting about a guide and outfitter's life story: The man called Red

If you've never read Gary Paulsen growing up check them out. I remember not being able to put down Hatchet, The River, Foxman. They are easy reads, short. Worth a re-read.
 
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elk yinzer said:
Good call @IndyBowhunter , I definitely need to read A Sand County Almanac. It's been referenced as a foundational piece to subsequent conservation work, but I never really thought to put it atop my list.

I agree Outside Kids about the audience being the reason it feels like a miss to me. I had been meaning to read American Buffalo for quite awhile and it did not disappoint.

Don Quixote and A River Runs Through It, are both on my all-time list. Keep them coming!
Click to expand...
I will say, I did really enjoy Rinella's The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine if you were looking for something that crossed a few of your interests.
 
I'm not much of a reader but I've been working on Boone, by Robert Morgan, for the last couple years. I pretty much only read at the cabin or in the woods when I'm without service, I'm not that slow of a reader. It's mostly nonfiction with some fictionary tales and really eye opening into the frontier days and the legend of Daniel Boone.
 
Are you focusing away from hunting books in general?

Clay Hayes - Surviving Alone is a nice read

The earlier Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series are really good, even if he's really biases haha

The Darwin's Award always make me laugh

But if you want some quick light read, check out the site https://lettersofnote.com/ its a collections of interesting letters from everything like president to their wives, war buddies, etc. My favorite is a letter from a former slave to his former master when the master request he return to work on the farm after the civil war.

news.lettersofnote.com

To My Old Master

A former slave writes to his old owner and tells him to get stuffed
news.lettersofnote.com news.lettersofnote.com
 
I'll be following. I've been trying to get back into reading and things that require more focus than binging YouTube, social media, etc.

I’ve picked up a few hunting related books recommended on here in previous threads.
-Beyond Fair Chase by Jim Posewitz
-Bowhunting Forests & Deep Woods by Greg Miller
-Mapping Trophy Bucks by Brad Herndon

Can’t review them since I haven’t finished any of them. I’m not real into fiction but I do like Stephen King.
 
BuffaloBill said:
I'll be following. I've been trying to get back into reading and things that require more focus than binging YouTube, social media, etc.

I’ve picked up a few hunting related books recommended on here in previous threads.
-Beyond Fair Chase by Jim Posewitz
-Bowhunting Forests & Deep Woods by Greg Miller
-Mapping Trophy Bucks by Brad Herndon

Can’t review them since I haven’t finished any of them. I’m not real into fiction but I do like Stephen King.
Click to expand...
Beyond Fair Chase was good, and a quick read.
 
Fiction but wonderful. Any and all the Moose Jaw series by Tom Delany. Bought a set of 'em for my buddy. Books you'll pass on or reread in a few years. Great thread, thx.
 
Nutterbuster said:
Peter Hathaway Capstick. He was a PH in African who specialized in big cats. Death in the Long Grass and Death in the Silent Places are 2 of my favorite hunting story collections. He leads Long Grass with something like this:
Click to expand...
The Peter Capstick series as recommended by @Nutterbuster are certainly at the top of the list. I read those in during my early years and they are definite page turners. The two mentioned above are probably the best two in the series but there are a couple of others in the series that are also good reads as well. “Man Eaters of Tasavo” by John Henry Patterson is another great read. Frankly, I don’t know how he survived those lions.

“Into Thin Air” about the 1996 storm/disaster on Everest by Jon Krakauer and “K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Summit.” By Ed Viesturs are also good. Griping Adventure books that will make you want to climb a big mountain.

If you like military reading “Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of my Years at Lockheed” by Ben Rich about the development of SR-71 Blackbird, stealth and other cutting edge Military Aviation technology…it’s outstanding.
 
Military History:
The Unknowns - Story of how the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier came to be, how the remains were chosen and all of the intricate details. Amazing, humbling, beyond words.
Washington's Immortals - Like most of his books, this one takes the idea of patriotic sacrifice so many levels more than conceivable. Once again, a humbling read that needs to be understood.
both by Patrick K. O'Donnell (Combat Historian)
With The Old Breed - EB Sledge Everyone knows about Iwo Jima, Saipan, Guadacanal, Tarawa... not many know about Peleliu and Okinowa
Secret Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines with the Elite Warriors of SOG by Majo. John Plaster (ret.) Crazy what these Vietnam era special operators endured and a gripper that's tough to put down as told by first hand experience and accounts.

Whitetail Buck Hunting Classics:
In Pursuit of Trophy Whitetails- Roger Rothaar
Whitetail Magic -Roger Rothaar
Come November - Gene Wensel
Hunting Rutting Whitetails - Gene Wensel

Tracking:
Adirondack Deer Trackers: Stories as Told in Deer Camp

Just Good Stuff:

The Last of the Mohicans - James Fenimore Cooper
The Day No Pigs Would Die - Robert Newton Peck - Young Adult Classic
Fawn - Robert Newton Peck
The Old Man and the Sea - Hemingway
Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
 
Dont know if you can get them in electronic format or not but if you like waterfowl hunting, most anything by Nash Buckingham is great. Lots of good stuff listed above.
 
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