FIFTY HIKES: WALKS, DAY HIKES, AND BACKPACKING TRIPS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE'S WHITE MOUNTAINS.

ByDaniel Doan '36. Somersworth, N.H.: NewHampshire Publishing Company 1973.Profusely illustrated with maps andphotographs. 118 pp. Softbound, $5.95. Hardbound,$8.95.

For many years Appalachian Mountain Club Guides have been the bibles for those wishing to hike, climb, and explore the White Mountain region. Now Mr. Doan has given us a much less technical and detailed, but much more readable and interesting book in his Fifty Hikes.

It is really tourist-oriented, for all the hikes are laid out in easy prose, each with a simplified map and one or more excellent black-and-white photographs taken by Fred Bavendam. A faculty friend, with whom I have shared Fifty Hikes, flipped through it impetuously and then remarked that unfortunately Daniel Doan had overlooked putting in his "favorite swimming hole." He may have overlooked my friend's private swimming preserve, but he has included just about everything else worthy of attention.

Doan, who has hiked in this area for some 50 years, has an easy, precise prose style and interesting anecdotal and nature notes which make even the most casual reader want to start out at once for the White Mountains, pack on back and climbing boots on feet. His book is enthusiastically recommended not only for hikers and climbers but also for casual armchair readers.

Mr. Jordan is Associate Director of Development,Dartmouth College, and ExecutiveSecretary of the Dartmouth Alumni Fund.