The Outdoors
Indiana also has an extensive state park system and many smaller city parks that you can visit. The best and most complete guide to these is the two volume 'Nature Walks in Southern Indiana' and 'Nature Walks in Northern Indiana (Nature Walks in . . .)'. While you're hiking the parks, you can look at 'Trees of Indiana', 'Wildflowers of Indiana (Wildflowers)', 'Mammals of Indiana', 'The Birds of Indiana', 'The Butterflies of Indiana', 'Dragonflies of Indiana', 'Roadside Geology of Indiana (Roadside Geology Series)', and Indiana's 'Secrets of the Night Sky: Most Amazing Things in the Universe You Can See with the Naked Eye, The'. Further information on the natural features of the state is available in 'The Natural Heritage of Indiana'. Also, the great naturalist Edwin Way Teale wrote a minor classic, 'Dune Boy: The Early Years of a Naturalist', about growing up in the dune region of northern Indiana. If you'd like to visit this area, there's 'Dune Country: A Hiker'S Guide To The Indiana Dunes'. Another great naturalist, John Muir, also lived in Indiana for a time. 'A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf' chronicles his trip from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico in 1867. To learn more about Muir in Indiana, see 'John Muir: Rediscovering America'. If you're interested in going around and looking at historic buildings, 'National Register of Historic Places 1966 to 1994 (National Register of Historic Places)' is a general guidebook to American historic architecture, listed by state. They also have a nice web site that's searchable by state, county, or city. There are also guidebooks available for specific styles of historic architecture, including my favorite, Arts & Crafts. See 'Arts and Crafts Design in America: A State-by-State Guide'. A nice coffee table book is 'Indianapolis Then and Now (Then and Now)'. Indianapolis, like many other large American cities, unfortunately tore many of its beautiful old buildings down before historic preservation efforts could be undertaken. This book shows some of the remaining ones, as well as some that no longer exist.

History, Literature, and the Arts
If you come to visit or live in Indiana, you might like to learn something about the state's historical background and its literature and arts. 'The Indiana Way: A State History (Indiana)' is a history of the state from its prehistoric beginnings to the present. If you pay a visit to the Indiana State Museum at Indianapolis, you can see many history related exhibits. Indiana authors run the gamut from Lew Wallace (Ben Hur) to Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five). It can be interesting to read a novel or watch a film taken from a novel and then visit the locale in which it takes place. Some novels and films taken from books by Indiana authors include 'The Hoosier Schoolmaster', 'The Hoosier Schoolmaster', 'A Girl of the Limberlost (The Library of Indiana Classics)', 'A Girl of the Limberlost', 'The Magnificent Ambersons (Modern Library Classics)', 'Magnificent Ambersons', 'The Friendly Persuasion', 'Friendly Persuasion', 'Raintree County ... Which Had No Boundaries in Time and Space, Where Lurked Musical and Strange Names and Mythical and Lost Peoples, and Which Was its', and 'Raintree County'. In music, Indiana was a hotbed of jazz in the first half of the twentieth century, producing the composers Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter, guitarists Eddie Condon and Wes Montgomery, and trombonist J.J. Johnson. See 'Jazz State of Indiana', 'The Stardust Road & Sometimes I Wonder: The Autobiography of Hoagy Carmichael', 'We Called It Music: A Generation of Jazz (Quality Paperbacks Series)', and 'Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Studios and the Birth of Recorded Jazz', an interesting book about a little known piece of music history. In recent years, Indiana has had a vibrant rock music scene. Rock artists with an Indiana connection include John Cougar Mellencamp, John Hiatt, Dale Lawrence (Vulgar Boatmen), Lisa Germano, Freda Love (Mysteries of Life), and Janas Hoyt (Mary Janes). Indianapolis has many places to see local and touring national rock acts, as do the college towns of Bloomington and Lafayette. To see who is playing where, pick up a copy of 'Nuvo Newsweekly'. Finally, in the area of art, the most well known Indiana artist is T.C. Steele, a member of 'The Artists of Brown County'. His home in Brown County has been preserved and is open to visitors. The best art museum to visit in the state is the Indianapolis Museum of Art. '100 masterpieces of painting: Indianapolis Museum of Art', 'Turner in Indianapolis', and 'Beauty and tranquility: The Eli Lilly collection of Chinese art' are all taken from its large and varied collections. Also in Indianapolis is the Eiteljorg Museum of Western Art. 'Paintings of the American West from the Eiteljorg Museum: 24 Full-Color Cards (Card Books)' are reproduced from their superb collection.

Sporting Events
The most popular sport at all levels in Indiana is basketball. The state high school basketball tournament, though in decline a little since the advent of the class basketball system, has a long tradition of popularity in the state. Also popular, since their early American Basketball Association days, are the NBA Indiana Pacers and the Indiana University basketball program. Check out 'Where the Game Matters Most: A Last Championship Season in Indiana High School Basketball', 'Hoosier Hysteria Road Book : A Guide to the Byways of Indiana High School Basketball', 'Hoosiers', 'Loose Balls', 'Indiana University Basketball Encyclopedia', and 'Season on the Brink'. Other sporting events you can attend here in Indiana include the RCA tennis championships, Indianapolis Indians minor league baseball, Indianapolis Colts NFL pro football games, and the annual Indianapolis 500 mile race.