River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida's St. Johns River

I really enjoyed this book as it is a wonderful mixture of history, exploration, and imagery. The author is so descriptive that you can easily follow the entire journey with a map. I suggest anyone really wanting to get into this book to follow the author in Google Earth - all of the coves, springs, rivers, points, towns, islands, lakes, and bridges are named, and on top of that there are Panoramio pictures to view in most areas. For example, when he describes the huge oak tree in Astor, I zoomed in and clicked a few pictures people had taken of it. Or you can follow the Oklawaha to Rawlings' house. I also used Wikipedia often for more back stories (and a dictionary).I did want a little more of some of the conversations/interactions with locals, some were condensed to a paragraph, but maybe that's all they were. Others on the boat with him weren't named but only described in passing, but he probably wanted to focus more on the river/journey itself and not dialogue. As a personal preference (that probably wouldn't be wanted by others) I wished a lot of his historical facts were cited directly and not in one big massive bibliography at the end, and maybe a map and some pictures, but you can get those easily online. Also, some of the rivers and side lakes got cut short or not mentioned but I'm sure only so much can go into one book.Overall excellent read. This book has caused me to explore five different places this weekend alone that were mentioned in the book, and I could point out some interesting facts to people with me (such as the decrease in water cycling through Lake Jesup). I will definitely be investing in a kayak or canoe to explore some of the local tributaries.

We are going on a houseboat rental to the St John's river soon and I wanted a book that would help us understand the natural and historical world there. This book is fantastic! I could not believe it, but the author has a section in there where he rented and travelled the area on a houseboat as well. I also learned a lot about the underground world of springs, cave life, and also the 7000 yea old pure water coming up into the river from the Florida Aquifer. Thanks!

This book is both well researched and very elegantly written. If you cruise the St. Johns River you'll be very glad to have this book on board.

When my family and I moved to Florida from NYS years ago we had never heard of this amzing river of lakes that runs down east central Florida. You can google earh it now. We took our boat out on it at Lake Monroe recently. The whole system has been cleaned up a lot so nice the book was published. The book is an enlightening historical adventure. You don’t need to be living near it to enjoy the story. 😊

Lovely book, makes me want to take the trip. Wish it came with a detailed map so I could track his journey.

I just moved to a house on the St. John's River. I have always loved this river and taught my students the importance of its history and ecosystem to Florida. This book is so beautifully written with gorgeous metaphors throughout. It is apparent through the writing that the author truly loves this river and all its hidden treasures.

I gave this book as a present and the recipient is already reading it. I think we will be soon taking a trip down the St. John's RIver.

An informative and descriptive journey along the great St John's. I can't wait to explore for myself. I would have loved more pictures and a chapter by chapter map to more easily trace the route as I read the book.