In The Fish's Eye: Essays about Angling and the Outdoors , Ian Frazier explores his lifelong passion for fishing, fish, and the acquatic world. He sees the angler's environment all around him-in New York's Grand Central Station, in the cement-lined pond of a city park, in a shimmering bonefish flat in the Flordia keys, in the trout streams of the Rocky Mountains. He marvels at the fishing in the turbid Ohio River by downtown Cincinatti, where a good bait for catfsh is half a White Castle french fry. The incidentals of the angling experience, the who and the where of it, interest him as much as what he catches and how. The essays (including the famous profile of master angler Jim Deren, late proprietor of New York's tackle store, the Angler's Roost) contain sharply focused observations of the American outdoors, a place filled with human alterations and detritus that somehow remains defiantly unruined. Frazier's simple love of the sport lifts him to straight -ahead angling description that are among the best contemporary writing on the subject. The Fish's Eye brings together twenty years of heartfelt, funny, and vivid essays on a timeless pursuit where so many mysteries, both human and natural, coincide. So what did Frazier do for a break while researching and writing major works like Great Plains and On the Rez? Obviously, he was off fishing. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. *Starred Review* Near the beginning of "From Wilderness to Wal-Mart," an essay describing, from source to mouth, a stream that runs through a Montana town in which the author once lived, Frazier confesses: "I can watch flowing water for any amount of time. Also, I like to mess around creeks." As it turns out, those are excellent credentials for writing absorbingly about fishing and related topics. Frazier makes no claims at all to being the world's most knowledgeable angler, and that's only prudent. He returns from far too many of his excursions with nothing to show for his efforts but the memories of the country through which he passed. That's enough. Though he may not so much as wet a fly, Frazier unfailingly communicates an infectious fascination--a passion, really--for woods and water and fish. It's hard to imagine a more heartfelt book, or one more lovingly rendered. Dennis Dodge Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Essays on fishing from "A Great Storyteller" (Newsweek), One of the "American Originals"-- The Washington Post Book World Ian Frazier lives in Montclair, New Jersey. He is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker , among other publications. His previous books include Great Plains , On the Rez , Family , and Coyote V. Acme . Good bait castle white french fry ohio river angling experience master angler Jim Deren