A few years back I looked over my sample shelf and realized that I had sent out my last copy of this book and never got it back. This is one of the hazards of working in the book business. Every potential new customer wants to see samples, but it is quite an onerous chore to get those samples back (I guess, on one level, I should feel flattered).

But this was a crisis, because I love this book. The photography is by National Geographic Photographer Bates Littlehales, whose work has always looked to me like what a great painter would produce if they were set loose in the dense wild places of America. When we first looked at these images they looked more like a beautiful, fine-art museum exhibit, than your usual collection of nature photography.

So... we decided to let Bates' color palette drive this book. It's not immediately obvious when you first look at it, but the photography follows a gentle thread of color from the first image to the very last. The result is striking, even if you don't immediately see how it was done.

However, you may never see it. Because this book is now completely out of print. Pam scoured ebay and countless used bookstores online to come up with two used copies, one of which is so worn that it looks like the owner compulsively leafed through the book for months on end. HMM..... maybe that's exactly what happened. Another compliment?