The Survival of the Bark Canoe

This is the second of many of McPhee's books that I have read. He is a very good writer. His detailed information about the suject of his books is amazing. But the way he interlaces information about the people and places he has met & been in gathering that information is absorbing. He has the ability to draw you into the scenes and carry you along on the journey. While his book about Florida oranges was the first of his books that I have read, and I liked it best, this one is written in that same way. I wish I could afford one of these canoes. I would recommend this book for all high school students and any adult looking to learn about the canoe or just looking for a good book to read.

Tells of how done in days of old. Skill story of hands and knowledge way. Matching martial today ? Findings ? Is a knowledge know how too. Good if you know the way in how.

When I can't sleep, I get up and open living room window to listen to the nearby lake and geese and truly enjoy losing myself in this journey and the history of the birch bark canoe.

John McPhee has been America's best non-fiction writer seemingly forever. This is the first of his I read [decades ago!], but it remains utterly unforgettable. Here's my chance to "plug" once again my OTHER all-time favorite "outdoors" books [out-of-print? -- no matter, do yourself a favor and track down used copies!]: Elliot Merrick's "True North;" John J. Rowland's "Cache Lake Country;" and R.M. Patterson's "The Dangerous River -- Adventure on the Nahanni" [previously just "Dangerous River"].

I recently discovered John McPhee and really enjoyed "looking for a ship." This book has the same journalistic integrity, where he profiles a guy who obsessively teaches himself how to make traditional birch-bark canoes with incredible skill. But them about halfway through the book, the author and the canoe maker and a few of his friends go on an epic canoe trip in their bark canoes, and that's where it gets even more interesting and enjoyable. There are a lot of surprises and near-disasters along the way, and you learn quite a bit more about the subject of the book, as well as the author himself. Highly enjoyable, highly recommended!

The headline here is a line from the book wherein it's applied to the birch bark canoe and why one cd last 10 years. The book just arrived and looks to be awesome — the writing is itself 50 years old and the author is at the time I write this, 90. Bark canoes as a craft, and a craft, are centuries older. Don't know if Henri Vaillancourt, the book's subject as much as the vessels, is still alive. If not, the bark canoe may be dead by now. McPhee writes on what fascinates him and so it can do the same for us. He is widely — widely — known and said to be a craftsman himself. This is for fans, then, of craft and of slow and of lore, and perhaps who have read Shop Class as Soulcraft as well. Four stars because the printer's craftsmanship is sorely lacking, at least in my copy and the glued — not sewn — pages began to peel away from the spine alomst immediately. [See that typo / misspelling in the previous sentence? That's what it's like to get a book on craft that is in its own making shabby.] Cheers, Paul

anything this writer writes about is fantastic

The books use writing technical for story telling that is very appealing for continuous engagement. And new words become clear from the context. I would rate 'What the Robin knows', Bird Sense and The Survival of the Bark Canoe at the top of my list for facts brilliantly delivered. Adventure and Fantacy books well written can be great diversions. All the writers I have listed in those categories are very pleasing! Thank you for the opportunity for making some statement! Cliff

Quirky tale of a canoe trip through the New Hampshire wilderness with one of the last bark canoe makers. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

Schade, daß kein deutschsprachiger Verlag eine Übersetzung herausgebracht hat. Auch hier wächst das Interesse an traditionellen bzw. handwerklichen Herstellungsweisen. Und für Canoefans ist das Buch eh ein "Muß".