The Bicycle Commuter's Handbook

As sensible as it may seem in an era when fuel prices are skyrocketing in tandem with environmental consciousness, a switch to bicycle commuting doesn't necessarily happen overnight. Certain questions arise: Do I really need that $1,500 bike? Are Lycra shorts necessary? What about traffic rules? What to do when a tire blows? In "The Bicycle Commuter's Handbook," veteran cyclist, bike commuter, professional messenger, and author Robert Hurst gives you all the answers you need for worry-free riding.

The ultimate, practical miniguide to tips, tricks, technique, and gear Compact and user-friendly For riding to work, to the grocery store, or just around town Color photos and illustrations  Check Catalog

Class a: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere

An unforgettable chronicle of a year of minor-league baseball in a small Iowa town that follows not only the travails of the players of the Clinton LumberKings but also the lives of their dedicated fans and of the town itself.
Award-winning essayist Lucas Mann delivers a powerful debut in his telling of the story of the 2010 season of the Clinton LumberKings. Along the Mississippi River, in a Depression-era stadium, young prospects from all over the world compete for a chance to move up through the baseball ranks to the major leagues. Their coaches, some of whom have spent nearly half a century in the game, watch from the dugout. In the bleachers, local fans call out from the same seats they've occupied year after year. And in the distance, smoke rises from the largest remaining factory in a town that once had more millionaires per capita than any other in America.
Mann turns his eye on the players, the coaches, the fans, the radio announcer, the town, and finally on himself, a young man raised on baseball, driven to know what still draws him to the stadium. His voice is as fresh and funny as it is poignant, illuminating both the small triumphs and the harsh realities of minor-league ball. Part sports story, part cultural exploration, part memoir, "Class A" is a moving and unique study of why we play, why we watch, and why we remember.

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American Pastimes: The Very Best of Red Smith (the Library of America)

Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith was the most widely read sportswriter of the last century and the first to win the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. From the 1940s to the 1980s, his nationally syndicated columns for the "New York Herald Tribune" and later for "The New York Times" traversed the world of sports with literary panache and wry humor. "I've always had the notion," Smith once said, "that people go to spectator sports to have fun and then they grab the paper to read about it and have fun again." Now, writer and editor (and inventor of Rotisserie League Baseball) Daniel Okrent presents the best of Smith's inimitable columns--miniature masterpieces that remain the gold standard in sportswriting.
Here are Smith's indelible profiles of sports luminaries, which show his gift for distilling a career's essence in a single column. Unforgettable accounts of historic occasions--Bobby Thompson's Shot Heard 'Round the World, Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, the first Ali-Frazier fight--are joined by more offbeat stories that display Smith's unmistakable wit, intelligence, and breadth of feeling. Here, too, are more personal glimpses into Smith's life and work, revealed in stories about his lifelong passion for fishing and in "My Press-Box Memoirs," a 1975 reminiscence for "Esquire" collected here for the first time.

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The Adrenaline Junkie's Bucket List: 100 Extreme Outdoor Adventures to Do Before You Die

Imagine kayaking the churning whitewater of Africa's wild and wet Zambezi River. Get barreled in a wave surfing Fiji's legendary Cloudbreak reef. Trek New Zealand's famed Milford Track through the lush, green fiords.
"The Adrenaline Junkie's Bucket List" is the ultimate guide for the outdoor and sports enthusiasts seeking out the world's most fantastic adventures. The book runs the gamut of water, mountain and hiking sports for all skill levels--from beginners to experts. Written by a veteran outdoor adventure expert, author and wilderness physician, it presents readers with one hundred amazing and challenging voyages all over the world. Organized by continent, the book offers fifteen to twenty-five trips of a wide variety in each section, and also covers local lore and history, hotel and restaurant recommendations, and other relevant services. Sidebars throughout contain practical advice for the adventure travel enthusiast on health, safety, and outdoor life. This is the perfect book for extreme athletes and armchair travelers looking for an adventurous read.
A heartstopping and essential guide to the best extreme outdoor adventures on every continent.

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Beyond the Vertical

Layton Kor is pre-eminent in American mountaineering. He is considered the best rock climber of his generation, and his list of first ascents of technically difficult rock climbs, both free and aid, is perhaps unmatched by any American climber. In this book Kor tells the story in his own words of these groundbreaking and suspenseful climbs.
Supplementing Kor's narrative are twenty-three accounts written by other leading climbers of the 1960s and 1970s, describing ascents they did with Kor: Royal Robbins, Fred Beckey, Pat Ament, Chris Bonington, Steve Roper, Huntley Ingalls, and many more share their perspectives.
Kor's climbs have become some of the most famous routes in the world--the "Naked Edge" in Eldorado Canyon, the "Diamond "on Longs Peak, the "Salathe Wall" on El Capitan in Yosemite, the "North Face" of the Eiger in the Alps...the list goes on. Written in a straighforward and engaging style, and accompanied by stunning, historical color photographs, "Beyond the Vertical "is a must-have for all rock climbers and armchair mountaineers alike.

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Hunting Bears: The Ultimate Guide to Hunting Black, Brown, Grizzly, and Polar Bears

For most hunters in North America, taking a bear is incidental to hunting deer. For others, however, challenging a big bruin on its own turf is the purpose of their hunt and may become an obsession. Whether it involves hunting the wary black bear in Maine over bait, chasing a clever black bear trying to avoid a pack of hounds in the Rocky Mountains, sneaking up with a bow on a huge grizzly, placing the crosshairs on a massive brown bear as it exits an ice-cold Alaskan stream, or enduring bitterly cold temperatures and inhospitable hunting conditions while hunting the hunter--the great white polar bear--bear hunting is an adventure only for those of strong heart and mind.In Hunting Bears, Etling covers all aspects of bear hunting and all species of bears to hunt--black, grizzly, brown, and polar. She omits no tactic, strategy, or bear behavior and includes interviews with many of the nation's most successful bear hunters as well. Between the covers of this book is information that most bear hunters would take a lifetime to amass.If hunting any of the bears found in North America or the world is your dream, you'll want to add Hunting Bears to your outdoor library. It will provide you hours of first-rate reading and will inspire you to bag your trophy bruin.

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Fodor's The Official Guide to America's National Parks

Every year millions of people travel to cherished national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite to see some of the most stunning landscapes on Earth. Produced in cooperation with the National Park Foundation, this is the official guide to all 397 sites in the national park system, including natural, historic, and cultural treasures. It's invaluable as a quick reference as well as to help plan the trip of a lifetime.
Competitive Advantage: No other book covers all of the 397 sites under National Park Service jurisdiction, making this a comprehensive reference--plus, this is the only guide officially endorsed by the National Park Foundation.
Expanded Coverage: This comprehensive new edition includes the latest information on facilities and programs as well as visiting tips and succinct advice on food and lodging inside and outside the parks.
Special Features: Organized alphabetically by state, this indispensable guide features not only parks but also seashores, trails, wild and scenic rivers, battlefields, and historic sites. Six icons for different types of parks make it easy to identify sites of interest.Each listing is packed with essential information: a brief history of the site and why it's significant; what to see and do, with facilities, programs, and tips; fees and hours; and contacts. Many sites have recommendations for food, lodging, and supplies.An index organizes sites by special interests from Civil War sites to presidential history and more. Other special sections include information on national heritage areas and national trails systems.Sales of the guide support the National Park Foundation in its effort to preserve America's greatest treasures.
Indispensable Trip Planning Tools: About Your Visit sections provide helpful tips on making the most of a trip. Each site listing contains detailed contact information as well as a section on how to get there. Twenty-two pages of easy-to-use regional maps make it easy to locate each site and see what's nearby.
This book is the official guide produced in cooperation with the National Park Foundation.

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Championship Tennis

Step onto the court confident, focused, and prepared to dictate the match and dominate your opponent.
In "Championship Tennis," world-class coach and regular Grand Slam clinician Frank Giampaolo and long-time Tennis magazine editor Jon Levey bring you expert instruction and professional insights to eliminate unforced errors, increase winning percentage, and improve your overall game.
Inside, you'll learn how to
- assess individual skills, evaluate practice sessions, and analyze performance;
- identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement;
- customize your training and conditioning to your skill set, experience, and style of play;
- increase the consistency and accuracy of your shots; and
- control your emotions and mentally prepare for every match.
You'll also find the most effective, unparalleled drills for mastering groundstrokes, serves, volleys, and specialty shots as well as invaluable advice for improving anticipatory skills and recognizing, neutralizing, and countering your competition's strengths and playing styles.
Add a copy of" Championship Tennis" to your bookshelf and turn errors into winners and three-set losses into straight-set wins. This is a must-have resource for players and instructors seeking to maximize potential as quickly as possible.

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Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game

A love letter to America's most beloved sport and an exploration of the deeper dimensions it reveals
For more than a decade, New York University President John Sexton has used baseball to illustrate the elements of a spiritual life in a wildly popular course at NYU. Using some of the great works of baseball fiction as well as the actual game's fantastic moments, its legendary characters, and its routine rituals--from the long-sought triumph of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, to the heroic achievements of players like the saintly Christy Mathewson and the sinful Ty Cobb, to the loving intimacy of a game of catch between a father and son--Sexton teaches that through the game we can touch the spiritual dimension of life.
"Baseball as a Road to God "is about the elements of our lives that lie beyond what can be captured in words alone--ineffable truths that we know by experience rather than by logic or analysis. Applying to the secular activity of baseball a form of inquiry usually reserved for the study of religion, Sexton reveals a surprising amount of common ground between the game and what we all recognize as religion: sacred places and time, faith and doubt, blessings and curses, and more.
In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, this book elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to a deeper and more meaningful life.

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Trail Tested: A Thru-Hiker's Guide to Ultralight Hiking and Backpacking

Justin Lichter, a.k.a. Trauma, divulges hundreds of valuable tips and advice based on his more than 35,000 miles of hiking across the country and beyond. "Trail Tested "is a comprehensive guide to hiking and backpacking. Whether you're a new hiker looking for expert advice, an experienced hiker looking to hone your skills, or a thru-hiker gearing up for a 6-month trip, this book is packed with priceless information to make your trip a successful and comfortable one.
Vibrant images from Trauma's treks will entice all readers of all skill levels to get out and enjoy the backcountry. You'll learn why getting the right gear and learning outdoor skills are integral to making the most out of your next backpacking trip. Some topics included in this guide are:
* Gear advice, including backpacks, sleeping bags, tents, ultralight shetlers, and clothing
* Gear maintenance and repair
* Ultralight tips for novices to gram-counters
* Low-impact camping and hiking
* Campsite selection
* Hiking with dogs
* Navigating the backcountry
* Winter camping
* First aid
* Weather forecasting
* Advanced techniques for creating routes, cross-country hiking, fording rivers, multi-sport adventures, and animal encounters

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