Joseph W. Bean

The great guru of reefs and fishes turns his attention to dry land and Hawaiian volcanoes. That's a really good thing.

Everyone who snorkels or dives knows John Hoover’s major reef fish book as “the blue book,” although it is actually Hawaii’s Fishes; they know his encyclopedic book about invertebrates in the sea in these parts as “the big book,” but it’s real title is Hawaii’s Sea Creatures. Even armchair ocean-folks who never get wet have enjoyed Hoover’s beautiful photos of the animals in the island-surrounding neighborhoods.

As the saying goes, “and now for something completely different.”

Hoover uses that phrase on his Website at www.hawaiifishes.com but, when he does, he’s talking about his products with images of English Gardens, Mount Everest, Indonesia (strange stuff, that one), and the Marquesas in French Polynesia. What I have before me tonight are Hawai‘i-themed products, but certainly not sea creatures.

We’re talking about two disks: Wild Hawaii: Spectacular Trails, Hidden Valleys, Remote Coasts and Hawaiian Volcanoes in Action.

First, Wild Hawaii. I’m as jaded as anyone about pictures books of Hawai‘i. Everybody and his brother has published a few, and they get more dreary as the years go by. If, like me, you find yourself shouting—in the privacy of your own home, of course, “Does no one have any imagination? Can no one do something different? Couldn’t someone at least take a picture that has never been on the cover anyone else’s book?” Stop. Calm down. Hoover’s Wild Hawaii is a complete reprieve from all that. It reminds you of how beautiful the real vistas and coasts are. Maybe it can even open your eyes to dimensions and understanding you don’t get when you’re being overwhelmed by the Ko‘olau Mountains or the crater of Haleakala. And it’s not a book.

Wild Hawaii is a CD with 350 photos. The CD plays a slideshow. The instructions offer an option for speeding through the slides on your computer, but you won’t want to do that. Besides the slideshow, the disk includes a screensaver and 36 wallpaper images, all for PC only. Some of the shots actually reminded me of something I almost didn’t want to recall. There are cool places on O‘ahu. Better than that, Hoover’s Haleakala picture of the volcano’s kïhei of clouds leaking into the crater through the Ko‘olau Gap left me breathless.

Then there’s Hawaiian Volcanoes. Fishes and sea slugs and glorious views are things a genius with a camera can capture, but the best of the best pictures of volcanoes cannot be taken in the safety zones you and I and even John Hoover are permitted to enter. Besides, the photos span a period from 1959 to pretty much the present. The pictures are from the U.S. Geologic Survey, taken by scientists who know what they’re looking at and what to be watching for… they also have that treasured permission to risk their lives (in the name of science) by going where non-scientists never can.

The “better than that” factor on this CD is more educational information about Hawaiian volcanoes than you’d find in a dozen tourist books on the subject.

The disk has over 400 images (wallpaper, screen saver… pictures!) plus file after file of important information, including one about how to remain safe while viewing an erupting volcano. Mind you, the pictures include one of two scientists watching a lava flow gobbling up a street, and then “six seconds later” running for their lives when the flow starts chasing them.

Long story short—and I could go on talking about and praising these disks for pages—go to Hoover’s Website, order Wild Hawaii and Hawaiian Volcanoes, pick up the blue book and the big book while you’re there if you don’t already have them. Cruise around, there’s a lot of great stuff there (www.hawaiisfishes.com).