Books about Borealis from Amazon.com

In 1930 two novice paddlers--Eric Sevareid and Walter C. Port--launched a secondhand 18-foot canvas canoe into the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling for an ambitious summer-long journey from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay. Without benefit of radio, motor, or good maps, the teenagers made their way over 2,250 miles of rivers, lakes, and difficult portages. Nearly four months later, after shooting hundreds of sets of rapids and surviving exceedingly bad conditions and even worse advice, the ragged, hungry adventurers arrived in York Factory on Hudson Bay--with winter freeze-up on their heels. First published in 1935, Canoeing with the Cree is Sevareid's classic account of this youthful odyssey. The newspaper stories that Sevareid wrote on this trip launched his distinguished journalism career, which included more than a decade as a television correspondent and commentator on the CBS Evening News. Now with a new foreword by Arctic explorer, Ann Bancroft.

In this wonderfully original collection of autobiographical stories, popular storyteller and NPR commentator Kevin Kling deftly weaves pitch-perfect scenes of childhood antics and adulthood absurdities with themes of overcoming tragedy, forging lifelong friendships, and living with disabilities in a complex world.

In “Circus,” Kling recollects how his love of boats, animals and adventure inspired him to join a traveling circus troupe—but it was the all-you-can-eat buffet that cinched the deal. In “Dogs,” Fafnir, Kling’s new wiener puppy, leads him into the world of show dogs, those resembling “cleaning implements—perfumed, powdered, and pampered.” In the poignant title story, Kling straddles the realm of the ordinary and one rivaling Dante’s underworld as he learns how to use voice-recognition software after his near fatal motorcycle accident.

An essential reference for knitters from novice to expert, this fully illustrated sourcebook is the first of three "stitch dictionaries," to be written by the professionals at Vogue® Knitting. Some 300 stitches are detailed, and hundreds of charts, photographs, and illustrations make it easy to understand how to construct each stitch, as well as the ways they can be used in projects. The experts at Vogue® Knitting demonstrate rib stitches such as brioche, herringbone, chevron, and quilted patterns; traveling patterns like parquet, ripple, and diamond stitches; lace, including daisy and wave patterns; and such unusual stitches as eye of lynx, bobble block, peppercorn, and bamboo. The most complete book of its kind, this is the definitive stitch reference!

In this paperback original, a stable of fresh stories by award-winning writer Will Weaver (Full Service and Barns of Minnesota) are complemented by a hand-picked selection of favorites from his original collection, A Gravestone Made of Wheat, to offer a fresh, vivid portrait of the changing midwestern landscape. New highlights include “Blaze of Glory,” an enchanting tale of an RV road trip and a senior couple’s “last time”; “The Trapper,” the story of a hard split between an old trapper and a younger female environmentalist; and “The Last Farmer,” the capstone story of this elegant collection that examines the discovery by a high-tech farmer of the history of the old houses on his land. Fourteen stories in all portray the bountiful and whimsical and cruel human spirit and the swirling transformation of America’s heartland.

Men wearing suits jousting with sailfish Head-on bridge collision Men with linoleum Kitchen murder-suicide. Firemen playing donkey baseball. Ideal woman in apron. Through more than 10,000 images, Irwin Denison Norling, the unofficial town photographer for Bloomington, Minnesota, captured the strange juxtapositions, incongruities, and dark corners of the developing suburban America of the 1950s and '60s. A competitive amateur glued to his police radio, Norling spent years examining the light and darkness, tragedies and desolation, rituals of community and celebration through the lens of the camera, deftly capturing the uneasy dichotomy between the familiar and subversive–the familiarly subversive. "That was the way it was. And the way it was, that's what I was after."



In 2002 veteran journalist Brad Zellar unearthed Norling's negatives from the quiet basement of the Bloomington Historical Society. Compelled by the work of this man who had all but drifted into obscurity, Zellar collects the best of these images in Suburban World, a fascinating window into the uneasy contradictions in Norling's unforgettable and unselfconscious, funny and gritty, not-too-distant past.



Brad Zellar is a writer and senior editor of the monthly magazine The Rake. He first wrote about the Norling archive for City Pages in 2003. Alec Soth is an internationally acclaimed photographer and the author of Sleeping by the Mississippi.

For the very first time, the best of Vogue® Knitting is gathered in one gorgeous, must-have anthology. Practical, comprehensive, and inspiring, this richly illustrated treasury presents invaluable workshops on beginner and expert techniques, as well as smart tips on the design process. Look no further for advice on proper gauging, altering patterns, sketching and scale-drawing, hemming, stitching sleeves, shaping the garment, sweatermaking, and more. And from beloved knitwear designer Elizabeth Zimmermann and daughter Meg Swansen: their most memorable essays and seminars ever, available again. In addition, there’s a look back at Vogue® Knitting’s history, question and answer profiles of top designers, and articles on knitting around the world. Every knitter will have to own this!