Last of the Mountain Men

Rating:
Summary: UNBELIEVABLY DISAPPOINTING AND MISREPRESENTED.
Review: harold peterson entitled this book "the last of the mountain men", subtitled "the true story of an idaho solitary"...WRONG. this is the story of the salmon river valley and whatever other prattle peterson decided to toss in to the mix...i bought this book to read about SYLVAN HART, not boring anecdote after boring anecdote about stuff that went on in the area in 1800s...25% of the book, if that, was about sylvan hart, and even that was superficial...you can sum up everything said about sylvan hart with this sentence: "he's a guy who lives near a river in idaho, farms, hunts, fishes and is a good blacksmith"...that's about all you learn about sylvan heart...the rest is history of the area in which he lives...

note to peterson: next time you want to write a book about somebody, consider writing ABOUT that SOMEBODY...god, what a disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: A story about an eccentric; NOT a mountain man
Review: Having read most of the books that covered the REAL mountain men of the early 1900's, this book was terribly disappointing and the title is misleading. Sylvan Hart took his engineering degree and moved to a remote location that his family owned and lived more as an eccentric than a true mountain man. He died in 1980 and had been giving tours of his Five Mile "wilderness" before that. I give him credit for being a naturalist, innovator and someone who could live off the land. However, this book is not talking about any true mountain man who dealt with the early history of the West. He certainly didn't have to face obstacles that Fitzpatrick, Smith, Bridger and other true Mountain Men of the 1810-1850's did. It belongs in some other category. My pick would be "Boring". It is told in a descriptive narrative that makes you feel you are in a classroom listening to someone decribe how someone lived LIKE someone else. I give this one a Major Thumbs Down. If Sylvan Hart was the "Last Mountain Man". then there was 1 too many!

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: The other reviewers of this book have been thoroughly unfair. Sylvan Hart lived an amazing life of self sufficiency even to the point of mining and smelting the metals he used to make his flint locks. He was more than well equipped when it came to survival skills and eschewed most of modern technology, accomplishing things remarkably well the old fashioned way. This is a great read for anyone interested in truly living off the land.