Fifty rivers, chosen from a lifetime of paddling them. Tim Palmer's companion to his mountain-trails volume runs the country by water instead: the Penobscot and the Potomac, the Colorado and the Snake, quiet blackwater floats and serious whitewater, each photographed from the boat where the view is best.

Every journey pairs Palmer's own sweeping photography with an engaging narrative and the practical grain a paddler actually needs: trip lengths, the right seasons, whitewater difficulty, camping along the shore, and where professional outfitters can carry the logistics. Richard Bangs, who has run rivers on every continent, writes the foreword.

A big 10.4-inch square hardcover, 320 pages. For the armchair traveler it is pure scenery; for the paddler it is a to-do list wearing a dust jacket. Shelve it beside America's Great Mountain Trails and cover the country both ways.