“Threaded Journeys” by Tom Johnson is not a conventional collection of hunting and fishing stories. In it, the author does take you on a tour de force of well-known hunting and fishing places in North America, but he spices his book thoughtfully with constructive social, political and economic advocacy. Lest this sounds like an awkward blend that might make your eyes glaze over, be advised: it is not! A Massachusetts sportsman and business owner, Johnson is clearly a guy who spends a lot of time pondering his world from the tree stands and the fishing haunts.

The author tells you in the foreword just where he is taking you. “This is a different kind of sportsman’s book…however, there are a multiple number of convergent issues including health, welfare and policy considerations that have a direct bearing upon sportsman and our national well-being.”

Here is an example. In a chapter called the Blue-Green Planet, Johnson takes on the global warming issue with logic, science and compelling statistics. His thesis basically is that global warming, rather than being a man-induced weather phenomenon, is a naturally occurring planet cycle. He writes” Governments and many environmental groups are using falsehoods to perpetuate the myths about the threats of global warming.” This comes from a man whose appreciation and lifetime love affair with the natural world is well-documented and woven into his narrative. Nonetheless, he comes down hard against fracking for oil because of its perils to the earth. He reserves his most profound concern for a world that is fast running out of fresh water.

Threaded Journeys contains a chapter on personal health as it relates to the sportsman’s world and a unique chapter about a few of the author’s conservation heroes, one of whom is an Icelander who has devoted his life to the preservation and restoration of Atlantic salmon populations, Orri Vigfusson.

Johnson’s North American fishing adventures, from Grand Lake Stream and the Roach River in Maine to fabled Western waters and much-vaunted waters of the Canadian Maritimes, resonated with me because I have been so fortunate to have fished so many of them. His bow hunts for whitetail deer on Anticosti Island, which I have yet to experience, re-whetted my appetite and reminded me that having a bucket list, however short, is what keeps dreams alive, even for aging sportsman.

I enjoyed Johnson’s book a lot.

He gets an “A” for courage and conviction. As an outdoor writer of a monthly outdoor column for a number of Maine newspapers, I have learned that editors get uncomfortable when my outdoor prose drifts over into political or social advocacy. It is a challenge to convince them that, whether it is gun rights or global warming, the sportsman’s world is not exempt from the bigger picture.

Tom Johnson embraces the big picture. He relates it to sportsmen in a useful, informative and entertaining literary leap with Threaded Journeys. Published by Sutton Press, it is worth putting on your reading list. For purchase information visit: www.tomjohnsononline.com

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network. He has authored three books.Online purchase information is available at www.maineoutdoorpublications.com.