Books

I enjoyed Dances with Marmots by George Spearing - a New Zealander's take on hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. The dry Kiwi humour makes a nice change from the countless American versions, many of which involve finding religion and/or bunking off early.

Reach for the sky by paul brickhill. Very good biography of douglas bader.

brickhill also wrote The Dambusters.

Just finished the James Beckwourth book and enjoyed it despite all the slaughtering and self mutilation constantly going on! The strategies for warfare, escape and survival were interesting and like Maori, women got involved in the scraps as well. Having 2 horses, one for riding and one for battle seemed pretty smart. I can see why he got a bit sick of it all though...and left his lovely 7 wives behind for a quieter life.

@Honora Some other interesting reads in the same vein (that you may or may not have read/heard of) are: An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean by William Mariner , John Martin Electronic copy here: https://archive.org/details/anaccountnative01martgoog Mariner was captured in the Ha'apai (Tonga) islands in 1806 when his privateer ship was sacked and most of the crew killed, he lived there about 4 years before returning to England. From NZ: Old New Zealand by Frederick Manning Electronic copy here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33342 1830's Pakeha Maori in the Hokianga John Rutherford, the White Chief Electronic copy here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13760 Another Pakeha Maori in the early 1800's I also enjoyed Fridtjof Nansen's account of his winter in western Greenland after his crossing of the icecap: Eskimo Life by Fridtjof Nansen Electronic copy here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46972

Ian H nice links. Cheers

A couple more links: Grey Owl/Archie Belaney (1888 - 1938) An Englishman who emigrated to Canada as a young man, lived/ took on an identity as an Ojibwe, went from trapping to writing and was an early voice for conservation. Pilgrims of the Wild http://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/greyowl-pilgrims/greyowl-pilgrims-00-h-dir/greyowl-pilgrims-00-h.html The Men of the Last Frontier http://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/greyowl-menofthelastfrontier/greyowl-menofthelastfrontier-00-h-dir/greyowl-menofthelastfrontier-00-h.html The Adventures of Sajo and her Beaver People http://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/greyowl-sajo/greyowl-sajo-00-h-dir/greyowl-sajo-00-h.html Tales of an Empty Cabin (I have an epub copy, but can't find link at this moment)

Links to a couple of other classics I mentioned earlier: Richard Henry Dana. Two Years Before the Mast. Massachusetts to California and back around Cape Horn over two years in the 1830's http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4277 Joshua Slocum. Sailing Alone around the World - the first to do so in 1895- http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6317 Charles Darwin - The Voyage of the Beagle. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/944 More by Nansen: The First Crossing of Greenland https://archive.org/details/firstcrossingofg00nansiala Farthest North https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30197 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34120 If you want a quick look at any of these books before downloading to an e reader, click on the "Read this book online" link

Wow that's a lot of books. How does taking a kindle align with UL dogma, it seems kind of single use... Maybe you could use the back as a chopping board? With a real book you can finish it and start a fire right? Or make tiny paper planes. Does anyone know a good, portable size book of NZ native flora? You know, for identifying trees while walking. It's something I would really like to do, it's awkward talking to trees when you don't even know their names ( Or genus, family, etc ). I wrote etc then because I couldn't think of any other taxonomic categories... order? I think that's one. Obviously I need a book. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Andrew crowes little penguin books are fantastic for those learning about the nz flora and fauna. Native trees Land birds Forest shrubs Native ferns Are good starting points