Upstream: Searching for Wild Salmon, from River to Table

We live in salmon country, right? That's what we tell ourselves, and in many ways it's still true, but it's a complicated, conflicted business now, with hatcheries, dams, $56 Copper River entrees, and, yes, millions of wild salmon still wriggling their way up Northwest streams and rivers to spawn. Cook is a superb guide to this messy ecosystem: as in his equally informative and entertaining previous book, The Mushroom Hunters, he's knowledgeable and passionate about the natural world, but he's at least as good at bringing the people he meets—chefs, gillnetters, activists, biologists, culinary entrepreneurs—to funny, full-bodied life. You'll end the book hungry, and maybe even a little hopeful. —Tom

P.S. Langdon Cook will be discussing Upstream at Phinney Books on August 10.