An Outdoor Journal

Carter regards fly-fishing as one of the most gratifying activities of his life; he devotes half of this journal to that noble sport. Fishin' and huntin' were basic skills for boys in the rural South; in the Depression era, fish and game provided food and were recognized as farm produce. The former President reminisces about his childhood in Plains, Ga.fishing with his daddy and learning to hunt, encounters with rattlesnakes and getting lost in the woods. He charts his and his wife's progress in fly-fishing and takes us on piscatorial peregrinations to Camp David, Japan, New Zealand, Europe; every journey had to allow for a few hours or days with the rod. This memoir has something for venators, too, as the author discourses on game birds: the elusive ruffed grouse, the turkey and the bobwhite. There is one digression from sporting activities when the Carters join a trekking tour to Nepal; the weather was terrible, and many of the group suffered from altitude sickness. Finally, Carter describes the family's mountain retreat in North Georgia. This book is the work of a contented man. (June)