Waterfalls of Tennessee

Reviewed by Dean Goss

Greg Plumb's series of books amounts to a franchise. His books are all well put together and well organized. Each book's photographs changes from edition to edition, so you are getting your money's worth with each volume purchased. He's also important to the waterfall community because he has developed a system of waterfall typology that is the gold standard to which the rest of us adhere.

This is a very good book. Greg Plumb obviously likes waterfalls as much as we do. That's saying a lot...we ARE pretty rabid here at the World Waterfall Database. Plumb has created a guidebook that has copious amounts information assembled into a pretty tidy package. Approximately 275 waterfalls are covered in this book and you'd spend a few years worth of weekends to completely retrace his footsteps.

The book is printed on quality paper, but not the semigloss paper of his first edition. While the paper stock represents a small step backwards, it compensates by having better maps and more photos. Each waterfall has a factbox, a description, and directions. In addition, there is an informative introduction that addresses issues such as his rating system, his nomenclature for waterfall form (the gold standard for the rest of us), safety and etiquette recommendations, a brief overview of his magnitude scale (a logarithmic scale for rating the visual impact of each waterfall), and geological overview of the regions of the state.

The Bottom Line: Like the rest of Plumb's books, this is a valuable book, bursting with information. It is just as valuable to the casual waterfall visitor as it is to the case hardened waterfall addict. This is a good book to have on your shelves.