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THE SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: Essential Skills for Outdoor Adventure
DK Publishing. $30.
This formidable handbook addresses such issues as getting into shape, preparing mentally and planning your journey. Know your environment, the book cautions, and get the right gear. It also describes and shows what a basic survival kit should look like. In addition, there are sections on understanding maps and weather conditions, making a fire, the importance of water (and how to find it, no matter what the climate), cooking in the wild (edible plants, catching and preparing fish, trapping animals), first-aid essentials and what to do in emergencies. An indispensable guide. June Sawyers, Chicago Tribune
SEEING CENTRAL PARK: The Official Guide to the World's Greatest Urban Park
By Sara Cedar Miller
Abrams. $19.95.
Central Park, built between 1858 and 1873 and designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, is one of the most famous parks in the world. Miller, the official photographer and historian for the Central Park Conservancy, has put together a lovely testimonial to all 843 acres of it – describing its history and featuring gorgeous photos of its landscapes, bridges and statues, gardens and ravines, pedestrian paths and roads. She describes the park's ball fields, the iconic Sheep Meadow (so named for the sheep that used to graze there), the Mall (flanked by stately elms and the sculptures of poets and writers), Strawberry Fields (a teardrop-shaped piece of land dedicated to John Lennon as well as an international garden of peace) and the Delacorte Theater, designed to resemble the Globe Theatre in London. June Sawyers, Chicago Tribune
