Coming in November
From the University of Minnesota Press. Comprising twenty vivid biographical essays, Rooted in the North traces the lives and lore of writers who shaped our understanding of this great state, from Minnesota’s northwoods to its tallgrass prairies to the storied landscape of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
In what began as a popular series for the Minnesota Star Tribune, these essays explore the philosophy, science, adventure, faith, and everyday oddities that enlivened their subjects. The result is the only book of its kind—an illuminating portrait of the voices that helped us define and fall in love with Minnesota’s natural landscapes.
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It's Just a Bit Outside
This is Pheasant Hunting
Pheasant hunting, like all outdoor sports that I can think of, is a series of decisions based on a hunter’s experience, gut-feelings and peer-pressure.
Pheasants Forever magazine
A Daypack with Stories to Tell
On Substack
From Northern Minnesota to South America to Europe to the Middle East to Central Asia to life as a backpack for a college student in the Twin Cities, my old daypack can be considered high mileage.
From the University of Minnesota Press,
the coffee-table history for all lovers of paddle sports:
Award-Winner, Outdoor Writers Association of America, General Nonfiction
Finalist for a Minnesota Book Award, General Nonfiction
Finalist for a Northeast Minnesota Book Award, Nonfiction
"Minnesota-Inspired, the Muries Stretched their Love of the Wild."
Inspired by their childhood adventures on the windswept Minnesota prairie, two brothers grew to be internationally known naturalists and nature writers.
Olaus, left, and Ade Murie in Alaska, 1961. Courtesy Denali National Park
"Grace Lee Nute combined an appetite for research and a keen eye for canoe country."
That made her special.
"A Pheasant by Any Other Name:
Why Do We Call a Pheasant a Pheasant?"
Pheasants Forever magazine.
Comfort reading about fish and fishing
Books can be comfort reading — those works to turn to for relief in times of stress, anxiety or unease.
For me, it’s a little book about life and fishing called The Compleat Angler by the English author Izaak Walton. I’ve written about Walton a bit, and I’ve visited his fishing cottage in the Peak District, hiked his favorite streams, and read his text along the way.
I once wrote, “it is a story of nostalgia, of slow-moving English streams and countryside cottages; rolling landscapes and lightly populated, friendly villages; handmade fishing gear, firm handshakes and grandfatherly advice.”
Pages are falling out of one of my copies; they are from the chapter on carp. “… if you fish for carp, you must put on a large measure of patience … .” Good advice in any time of stress.
© 2026 Mark Neuzil