Robert Stone Books

I became so angry at one paragraph of Mr. Thorson's book, that I decided to write a review attacking it. You may find the guilty paragraph on page 141, if you dare.

In it, Thorson calculates the number of man-days needed to build New England's stone walls. His most obvious problem is with numbers. He writes that four rods equals sixty-four feet. Actually, it equals sixty-six. More impressively, Thorson mistakenly calculates that 240,000 miles is the same as 819,088,710 feet, instead of 1,267,200,000. He is off by about four hundred million feet. He should have noticed that his first estimate was accurate to the nearest ten thousand miles, his second to the nearest ten feet.

Moreover, in his discussion of how many feet a waller can work in a day, Thorson reveals a lack of common sense. He writes that modern masons lay 20 feet of wall in a day, whereas modern British masons can only lay 15-18 feet a day. Those lazy Brits! One may wish to compare these two rates to that of old New England farmers. According to Thorson, these farmers could lay stone fence at 64 (or 66) feet a day, over three times as fast as those in modern times.

In case we are befuddled by his leaps in logic, Thorson provides an endnote, which, alas, only further reveals his incompetence. First he notes that his calculation covers only the act of building a wall, not the act of carrying over the stones. Then why does he write that farmers needed oxen to help them build their walls?

Next, Thorson writes that he needed three statistics to make his calculation: the number of hours in the work day of a farmer, the number of miles of stone wall in New England, and the average rate of construction. Why did he need to know the number of hours in a work day? None of his statistics were in hours! We turn to the only possible solution: perhaps, Thorson was given his statistics on wall-building in feet per hour and converted to feet per day. Let us examine the three groups he studied: old New Englanders, Brits, and Moderns, to see if this may be the case. For the New Englanders, Thorson quotes a source: "four rods a day;" no need to convert here. For the British, Thorson gives the statistic: 5-6 yards a day. If he had converted, it would have been from a source which wrote that Brits make walls at .675 to .75 yards an hour; no source would ever estimate in such terms. The only place Thorson could possibly have used the eight-hour-day would have been in calculating the labor rate of the modern mason. But in giving his statistic, Thorson does not cite anyone. If he used someone's statistic and then converted, he should have cited. If he did not use anyone's statistic, then there would have been no need for him to convert, and the eight-hour-day would have been completely useless. Thus, Thorson's third piece of "required" information, the eight hour day, is either not required, or indicative of academic dishonesty.

This completes the critique. Admittedly, my judging a book by one paragraph is unfair. Yet, Mr. Thorson chose to include this paragraph in his book; it is indicative of him and his research. As such I do not trust either one.

Thorson's discussion of frost heave is so wonderful I no longer resent picking those damn rocks out of the garden. Well, I still don't like those damn cobbles and pebbles but at least now it makes sense. I lived on sand in Schenectady, NY for awhile and I almost forgot how easy mending that lawn was, you could dig without a shovel, but New England called me home and alas this is a land of rocks, but walking through the woods here in Massachusetts with its stranded rock walls, whose existence in trackless woods makes one wonder who built them, so long ago that the trees surrounding them are well over 100 feet high, humbles one, such a long history, so many generations gone, you can feel the hard labor that must have gone into hauling these tons of rock, these walls that run up and down hillsides through woods that haven't seen farming in over 150 years.

I loved the soil talk, the geology, the history lesson, this is real history, the story of the people, explaining the reasons for the individual decisions of the many; the big history moves are the result of the many many little historical imperatives.

If you live in New England or any other glaciated terrain, you should read this book, you will find your surroundings, your own neighborhood woods, a source of new fascination.

"The stone walls of New England stand guard against a future
that seems to be coming too quickly. They urge us to slow down
and to recall the past."

This is only one of the many observations that Professor Thorson
concludes his marvelous book with. I must admit that his final,
summarizing chapter actually brought a tear to my eye - hardly
to be expected from a book on geology and regional history
mixed with, amongst other topics, some anthropology.

In other words this book has enough of everything to satisfy
every curiosity you might have about those tumbled down rows
of stones found in just about every New England forest and
suburb. A surprising wealth of information on numerous topics.
Fascinating scientific and cultural and historical background -
far more than one would ever expect to encounter considering
the topic. And Professor Thorson's writing style is commendably
clear and readable, with a poet's affection for his topic.

Quite simply one of the best nonfiction books I think I have ever
read (and I read quite a lot), for its perfect fusion of research, understanding and sentiment.

Almost an answer to my prayers during so many long, wandering and wondering forest walks.
I encourage you to read this book.

When I picked up this book I thought: "How can an entire book be written about stones walls?" As it turns out the author did not write an entire book about stone walls.

The author gives us the hisory of stone walls starting with the formation of the earth, through formation of rocks, the ice age and finally American history. There is actually more about geology that stone walls themselves, although the author tried mightily to write a few hundred pages about them.

The geology and history is well-written and interesting. I learned quite about when walls were generally built and how the stones came to be that comprised them. However, the last third or so of the book - that part devoted to the walls themselves was often redundant. It seemed the author was searching for words to fill the pages and stretching - like the last pages of a term paper you know should be eight pages but you have to make the assigned ten pages.

A chapter on builders and technique would have been more useful than the stretched parts.

There are pearls of interesting history and I am not sorry I read the book. I just wished it had been shorter by an excision of the redundancies and "stretches".

This is a wonderful book. It blends science, history and art to create an interesting perspective on the stone walls of New England. Thorson discusses the geological aspects of stone, the various types of stone walls and how they were built as well as the process of frost heaving and the disintegration of old walls. I hope this book causes people who have looked at stone walls and have seen only rocks to take a new, deeper look at them. They, and "Stone by Stone" are quite poetic.

Being that it's the only book on Moldavite available, it's hard to give it a fair review.

I'd say that the most valuable information I found in this book was the chapter on "using Moldavite with other stones"... It's really insightful but, unfortunately, it only covers about 15 or 20 other gemstones so it left me wanting more.

still a pretty good read.

Although informative about the tektite known as Moldavite, the author seemed more concerned with readers buying from his shop than dispensing usable information.

This book endeavors to educate about the purpose of Moldavite on Earth, according to the authors, Robert Simmons and Kathy Warner. Simmons has researched in detail regarding the speculative theories of how this stone got here on Earth, and its potential purpose for humankind's transition to our next purpose. Through personal experience and via the letters of others' experiences with Moldavite, the reader can surely recognize that there is something different about this lovely green meteorite, and it IS worth investigating. Simmons is the author of the book Earthfire, and The Book of Stones. Earthfire: A Tale of Transformation The Book of Stones: Who They Are & What They Teach

The book is OK but a little less of the new age stuff with more legends, more facts would have been nice. I realize the book was published around the time that the authors and their company starting selling moldavite and this was one of the "tools" used in their marketing. Still wish it is done with a little less hype.

This book not only discusses the tales of Moldavite, an amazing stone, but also the birth of one of the largest distributors/vendors/publishers in the crystal community today: Heaven and Earth Publishing, LLC. This book is a must-read for all interested in Moldavite, as well as other crystal fans. It combines historical research, mythology (in reference to the stone of the Holy Grail), scientific research and chemical analysis, personal stories, channeled messages, uses, a collection of the experiences of others, and numerous other benefits. This book debunks a lot of myths about tektite formation, and it certainly helps explain the popularity of the stone in our New Age movements.

Max Caufield's "The Easter Rebellion" is considered by many to be the standard account of the week-long standoff between Irish Republicans and the British Army in Dublin. Thoroughly detailed, Caufield chronologically accounts the events of Easter Week, 1916. This is a good introduction for those researching the events of the week. Some of his characterizations of the individuals involved in the events are off a bit, or in some cases just plain wrong. Use this as a starting place in your research, but don't accept everything in this book as truth.

Caulfield's history is a good read and good fun, but has its odd moments - for instance he weirdly typifies the funny, dreamy, sweet-natured poet Thomas MacDonagh as "arrogant", which would have surprised those who fought by his side and were taught by him. Not the definitive history, but very entertaining.

Although well written, Max Caufied's work suffers from a minute-by-minute focus on the military aspect of the Rebellion. There is an abundance of information in the manner of identifying a rebel who runs down Grangegorman Upper at7 PM, telling what sort of weapon he carried and how many rounds of ammunition he had, and what he reportedly yells to the man next to him as they round a corner. After a while, this reader found himself skipping over the numbing details and looking,in vain, for a broader view of the participants and the historical event they initiated.

You are there, as British troops try to cross the Mount Street Bridge. The withering fire of Irish Rebels cutting an entire British Battalion to pieces. The sense of urgentness in the insurgents, followed by a combined sense of doom and pride for what they had done. This book guides the reader through unbelievable scenes of heroism and tragedy. Nothing seems to be left out, and the flowery additives and imaginary dialogue, that seem to encompass so many books on the subject, are thankfully left out.

After providing an overview of the facts which led to the Easter rising in 1916, Caulfield focuses in a most detailed account of the rebellion. Written originally in 1963, when many of the participants of both sides were still alive to be interviewed, it describes the events almost hour by hour, switching from one place to another. The book is divided in chapters, subdivided in sections of no more than a few pages, as the author goes through the evolution of facts occurring at the same time in different locations in Dublin. There is a lot of thrilling action in the text. Many of the characters, some of which would later be famous are fleshed out with well documented descriptions. There are included some maps which help to understand the text, and some pages of photos for you to gain some atmosphere. At the end it is a chapter which explains what happened after the Rebellion, which events would affect momentously to the subsequent history of Ireland. The book is well balanced, and although focusing more on the Irish side, it has no axes to grind present. Anyone who wants to learn about the Raising which would, on end, led to the independence of Ireland, has to read this book.

This book contains important information on "new" scientific fields such as: psyco-neuroimmunology, cyber-cellular communication and how your thoughts can make you healthy or sick.

The person who wrote the previous review needs to read a few more books with an eye on spelling & grammar. - A high school English teacher

Robert Stone didn't allow himself to get too excited about the work of Cleve Backster, a polygraph expert whose discoveries about plants and cells have inspired many books and articles. The fact that cells react measurably in spite of being separated from the host body indicates we are programmable on a cellular level. Explains why sex sells! Bacteria reacts to other bacteria -- which has a lot to do with healing, with projecting emotions and thoughts onto our bodies, food, cultures around us. Backster's discoveries deserve a lot more attention than they have gotten. The implications are enormous! Perhaps the ancient indigenous healing methods are saner than the technological but emotionless ways. I'd love to hear more from Cleve Backster! Rev. Franci Prowse Anza Sanctuary of Healing Arts

You may have heard stories about organ recipients who took on personality characteristics of their organ donors as in the romantic comedy film, "Return to Me" -- but have you ever heard how scrapings of cells from a man's mouth reacted as he sat some distance away looking at pictures in a magazine? Perhaps you know that dogs can tell when their owners are coming home -- but have you ever heard that plants become excited at the exact moment that their people decide to come home? THE SECRET LIFE OF YOUR CELLS describes these and many other startling research findings of polygraph expert and consciousness researcher Cleve Backster.

Cleve Backster's familiarity with lie detector equipment and curiosity about how plants would respond when hooked up to a polygraph have led him to discover some amazing facts about plants. Not only do they seem to be aware of the intentions of people from a distance, but they also can tell the difference between a person simply thinking about burning a plant leaf and actually intending to set a leaf on fire. When they are warned that cells will soon be dying in their vicinity, they do not react in alarm, but if they have no such forewarning, they react with great agitation to the unexpected deaths.

What is it that allows plants -- or even cells which have been removed from a plant or human being -- to know what is happening nearby? How can simple cells appear to show some kind of primary awareness? THE SECRET LIFE OF YOUR CELLS asks many such profound questions as it describes many of Cleve Backster's fascinating experiments. If you have an open mind and a genuine desire to know what's going on in the world, you will absolutely love THE SECRET LIFE OF YOUR CELLS. Seldom has one book managed so successfully to address the non-local nature of consciousness in the form of describing very concrete experiments, nor managed so clearly to convey the significance of those experimental findings in our lives. As I read this book and mulled over the fact that all cells are aware and conscious, every moment of my life took on a fresh, new feeling of awe.

Part of Backster's genius as an experimenter has been his ingenuity in devising original experiments -- and another aspect of his genius has been his ability to create experiments which are capable of testing plants and cells for their awareness of their surroundings without psychically tipping them off to the intentions of the experimenter. Backster's experiments depend upon spontaneity and real feelings (just like what happens in the real world), rather than artificial and repetitious redundancy (what most scientific researchers study). Anyone who is seriously interested in better understanding the field of consciousness research needs to read this classic book. Anyone who wishes to understand what their cells are aware of needs to read this amazing book. It will change your view of the world forever!

Really enjoyed the author's work and description of work mainly by Cleve Backster (Secret life of Plants)fame. It is a non-taxing read, a pleasure and filled with further information leading the reader to other venues and authors/ books for followup. I appreciate that. It was exciting to read and difficult to lay the book down. Books are a pleasure and recreation in addition to informative to me, and I gained all those things from author Stone.

If you have an interest in communication within and without your body, consciousness and aspects of controlled healing and growth, then you will find this book a nice and enjoyable time.

This isn't the most uplifting collection of stories; in fact, it's a bit depressing. Each story seems to remark on the fragility and transience of human life. From the first story, Miserere, centered around aborted fetuses and religion, to the last, Bear & His Daughter, about the renuinion of alcoholic father and daughter, readers will perhaps not see a flicker of optimism in each of Robert Stone's stories. Despite the dark themes in Stone's stories, reader's will notice the beauty of Stone's narratives. He is a master crafter, and his words flow with beautiful consistency and intellect. His sentences were a treat for me to read. All the stories are particulary strong, my favorite being the title story, Bear & His Daughter.

In William Golding's landmark The Lord Of The Flies we weep for "the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart." The heart's blackness is mourned again in two sharply drawn story collections. Despair is their leit motif.

Emotionally scarred, the characters in these tales are fragmented by substance abuse, by obdurate personal demons or both. Nonetheless, such unengaging personalities become compelling when presented by a pair of Pulitzer Prize nominees writing at top form. The child of a schizophrenic mother and unknown father, Robert Stone spent three years in an orphanage. Later, as a New Orleans census taker, he walked that city's back streets. With Bear And His Daughter, seven intense tales penned between 1969 and today, he depicts communal deadends and the dissolute souls trapped therein.

Begin with "Miserere." A widowed librarian's bitterness becomes a mission to have aborted fetuses receive the church's blessing. Another vignette explores the effects of childhood violence: "The worst of it, Mackay says, was the absence of mercy. Once the punishment began, no amount of crying or pleading would stay the prefect's hand. Each blow followed upon the last, inexorably like the will of God. It was the will of God."

The title story sears as it traces the downward spiral of a visit by an alcoholic poet to his drug addicted emotionally deprived daughter. The author's chilling denouement rivals Euripidean tragedies.

Robert Stone's writing is edgy, scalpel keen. He probes, cuts, laying back the protective coverings of our human condition. He well knows life's underside.

Of these seven stories, only "Under the Pitons," about love among drug-runners, pulls off the grand, sweeping melodrama that most of the rest just nod toward, and only "Miserere," about a woman who rescues aborted fetuses for burial, feels like a true short story. The other works seem like abandoned novels. They are filled with characters that are hopelessly self-indulgent (the alcoholic in "Helping," the drug-addicted daughter in the title story) and tediously

self-important (the incestuous poet in the title story, the drugged-out poet in "Porque No Tiene, Porque Le Falta"), with plots that lead to violent, cop-out endings. The writing often seems disengaged, and even bored. On the whole, a surprising disappointment.

Stone's short stories don't have much in the way of plot, but they each leave the reader with an unforgettable insight into the way Stone feels the world works. My favorite tale is "Aquarius Obscured," in which a woman gets high and takes her dog to the aquarium, where the woman has a conversation with a fascist dolphin. Each story here deserves careful reading, and readers who comply will not be disappointed.

The themes will be familiar to those who've read Mr. Stone's novels. Alcohol & drug abuse, characters haunted by the past. His characters are on the verge of losing it, and often do. Mr. Stone knows how to build intensity, and his style and structure propel the reader toward the climax, climax being a more apt term than conslusion. Not for the faint of heart or those looking to be uplifted, but a look at life that is real indeed.

The Rosetta Stone shares the history of the Rosetta stone that contained text written in early Greek, Egyptian and hieroglyphs enabling a link to a longlost language. From its discovery in 1799 to its theft from the French by the British army and the studies which have lead to earth shaking linguistic discoveries, The Rosetta Stone is filled with insights and a sense of action.

I can heartily recommend this book. Combining the romance of the desert with a mysterious key to the past, accidentally discovered by a French officer in the Napoleonic Army...and it's all true! A good example of how real life beats out pale fiction. As a bonus, good information about ancient Egyptian life is to be found here...

This book is highly useful to understand in plain language the real endeavour of archaeologists when confronted to the Rosetta Stone at teh beginning of the 19th century, to the various writing systems of the old dead Egyptian language. These archaeologists had to become linguists and that was difficult for them because they did not have the slightest idea of how a language can work. The first attempts failed because they did not take into account the fact that the signs they were trying to understand and identify were a writing system for a particular language that you had to visualize as a language in order to understand the writing system. The key for that was also to visualize the various uses and hence discursive situations that this language and its writing systems (there were three writing systems for the old Egyptian language before the final coptic one took over before Arabic arrived) were supposed to satisfy. The break-through effort came from Jean François Champollion who stated that after all the hieroglyphs were an overall alphabetical writing system. From there came the penetration of the language that today we know pretty well. This book is honest about the various contributions of different people at the time and the value of each one of them, with Champollion's attempt being the main step towards a full understanding of the language. The book also concentrates on the particular role of the Rosetta Stone and all the events happening around it, particularly the national embroglio between England and France as for the righteous ownership of it, only solved in 1972 after a discreet but effective intervention of Queen Elizabeth II. An essential book for those who want to understand how linguists decipher strange languages and how linguists reconstruct dead languages, but also how humanity invented writing systems corresponding both to the languages they transcribed and the uses they were supposed to satisfy. The methods have not basically changed since Champollion, and that must be his essential merit.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Université Paris Dauphine, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne

Collaboratively written by novelist and journalist Robert Sole and Egyptologist Dominique Valbelle (President of the French Egyptological Society), The Rosetta Stone: The Story Of The Decoding Of Hieroglyphics is the amazing and true story of the Rosetta Stone, from its discovery by Napoleon's army during their sojourn in Egypt, to how the Rosetta Stone became the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics -- which had not been used as a written language for over fourteen centuries. An amazing saga about the reclamation of history itself, The Rosetta Stone is a highly recommended addition to both school and community library Archaeology and Egyptology reference collections.

This is an English translation of a French publication. I chose it based on the favorable reviews it received and was extremely disappointed. The Rosetta Stone is a fascinating subject and an important find, yet I found this hard to read (boring) and difficult to follow (many facts, little in the way of explanation.) I have not read any of the other books Amazon carries on this subject and am therefore unable to make another recommendation, but if I had it to do over again, I would purchase a different title.

I went on a number of the suggested hikes - all were good ideas and well described in the text, also nicely sorted by area - hill range. The maps leave a bit to be desired - best to check the trip out on Google maps first, especially if you are combining routes into a single longer hike.

I purchased this book for directions to hike to the Hollywood sign with a friend, and was not disappointed. The directions in this book take you as close as you can legally get to the sign. The map, driving directions, and hiking directions were quite accurate. The trailhead has been moved since this edition was published, but there were signs clearly directing us to and marking the new trailhead. The only unclear element was the listed hiking time, which the book says is 1.5 hours, not stating whether this is one-way or round-trip. Taking time along the trail to stop for water breaks on a warm sunny day and photograph the excellent vistas, it took us about 3 hours round-trip to complete the hike. I suppose if one did the hike in a hurry it might be completed in the stated time, but if you plan to admire the scenery, you should probably add at least an hour onto the hiking times provided in this book. Though there were several other groups of hikers on the trail with us (one group also using this book as a guide), there were many points where it was so quiet that you couldn't hear anything but nature sounds. Even the freeways and fellow hikers elsewhere along the trail were often inaudible. The views along the trail and from the top of Mt. Lee were gorgeous - we could see all the way to the ocean!

I haven't gone on all 82 hikes in this book. But I have gone on a few, and on some the directions are not quite right. So if you get this book, here's some notes:

Hike 51: Rustic Canyon
This hike is awesome. However, if you go, go with someone who has gone before, or you WILL get lost. The trail in the canyon is not maintained whatsoever, and has pretty much disappeared at the tail end. The best way out is to slog through the stream, so you will be soaked. Be prepared.

Hike 66: Brush Canyon
It says to reach Mt Bell, to take a right on Mount Hollywood Drive. It's a left. The turnoff isn't far, but it's to the left. If you go right, the first turnoff takes you up to Mt Hollywood (a back way to Hike 68).

Many, many hikes:
Be very careful - there are numerous hikes where North is not at the top of the map. On some hikes, North is the bottom of the map. Who does that? If you don't realize this, you're going to get lost. Be sure to double check.

Other than that, some great hiking routes. Many are pretty far from "Los Angeles" - so be prepared for a bit of a drive sometimes. Also, there are NO hikes east of the 5 freeway - even though there are some fantasic hikes above Pasadena, Altadena, Azusa. Even a few above Whittier. They're just not in here at all. The majority of the hikes are nearer to the Ventura County Line than they are to Los Angeles. They're just not in here at all.

Considering that there are like 20 million people living in the LA area, it's sad no one's really written a review of this gem of a book. I find that even though people may have lived here their whole lives, they really haven't seen much of the city.

So what better way to get acquainted with my new home than this book? More interesting to me than "how to go to Disneyland with 110,000 other people" or "learning where the Orange Crush is located," is a book about some offbeat, and beautiful, parts of LA.

Case in point was the hike to Point Fermin I took Sunday. A fine day with my father-in-law, son, and daughter. My panama hat did yeoman's duty, and we enjoyed the wonderful scenery and relative solitude. The best part is, it didn't cost a dime. We even drove over the only suspension bridge in LA county to get there. My boss has lived in LA for forty years, and hadn't heard of this location.

Anyway, this book falls under the heading of "potentially life-changing books" not because the hikes are all that mind-blowing, but because it is the key to unlock experiences you'd otherwise never have. It's that little push that gives you permission to do something a little unusual, a little less safe, than your ordinary weekend. The exploration of such a complex city rich in natural beauty is a great gift, and opening the book is the first step on that journey.

Sean Penn says that now that men aren't hunters anymore, the only thing left for them is violence. I say that's not true. There's a whole world out there to explore, and a man can still try to see it for himself, and take pleasure in showing it to his family.

While I can agree with SOME of the comments in the reviews above, this book does contain some fairly good hikes.

The hike up Yosemite falls, while not THAT long (8 miles or so) is a fairly good hike, you gain 2700 feet in elevation, and it's at least what I would consider pretty much an all day hike.

The book contains fairly good maps and directions for each hike, I was a bit disappointed with some of the hikes (having lower Yosemite falls listed as a hike is a bit of a joke) but overall this book has been well worth the money.

If a short hike is what you're looking for, this is the right book for you! The hikes are short and accessible. You find all the information you need; the maps are good enough, the pictures exquisite... In short, a good book mainly for beginners. For more challenging hikes or longer backpacking trips, look somewhere else...

This is a fine guide if you have never hiked before in a National Park, or if you merely dabble occasionally in the sport. The maps are excellent, as are the trail descriptions, elevation gains and driving directions to the trail heads. Most of these hikes can easily be completed by even the most unfit hiker, children, or eldery people.

However, this is *not* the guide to purchase if you are a serious hiker. I was bemused to see that this book doesn't even contain the quintessential Yosemite hike, Half Dome. Nor does it contain the second-best hike in the park, the Four-and-a-half-mile-trail. In fact, none of the hikes profiled in this Guide are lengthier than a few miles and none would be considered even semi-strenuous. Heed this advice if you're a serious hiker and consult a different guide. But if you're just a casual weekend athlete, or have children in tow, this is a well-written and adequate book for your needs.

Robert Stone writes hiking guides with a strong bias towards the typical day hiker. This is fine and his books easily fit the schedules of most national park tourists. While Ms. Scott is correct in noting that some of the longer classics in the park, notably Half Dome and Clouds Rest, are not included in this book, many nice hikes are. These include Lembert Dome, May Lake, and the very strenuous climb to the lip of Yosemite Falls. Hike distances range from 1/2 mile to 10 miles. Approximately 1/3 of the hikes described are between 2 and 3 miles. What separates this guide from the many other day hiking guides available to Yosemite is that Stone has a strong preference for stream side hikes. Walks along Upper Yosemite Creek and to Foresta Falls are simply not found in other guides of this sort.

I've done about half the hikes described by Stone and they are all winners. That said, I cannot give this book five stars. In the first instance, while the maps are well drawn, I prefer north to always be at the top of the page and Stone's maps in this volume are presented in a variety of different settings. I also found that on occasion, the routes he describes are actually longer than the mileage he provides. For example, he begins the hike to the top of Yosemite Falls from the Lodge, not camp 4, but this adds about a mile to the trip. Still, this is a nice book with lots of pleasant diversions from the typical drive through the park. If you are looking for pleasant day hikes, this is a decent volume.

Like some of the other reviews have said, this is not a fancy book. However, it does have some great hikes. There are no color pictures or major details, but the basics are there. The mileage, elevation, driving directions, hiking directions and map are all given. I recently moved to this area and bought the book. So far it has been great. I recommend it.

This is not a horrible book, but its not a great book either. The book looks and feels like the publisher had some cost constraints he put himself under.

Pros: 1. There were some hikes under here that I would not have though of. 2. The maps, with one major exception ( which is listed in my list of cons ) seems to be pretty professionally done. There was nothing hand scribbled here.

Cons: 1. Maps - there is a little compass on each that shows where North is pointing. Sometimes north is pointed up, but a lot of times it isn't. This one of the items that says the publisher was cutting costs, and it really shows 2. There was nothing in the different hike descriptions that got me excited about that hike. 3. No pictures - another case of the publisher cutting costs.

We bought this book to take with us on our week long, mostly driving, tour of the middle California coast. We ended up taking about six of the shorter hikes listed. All were wonderful. Honestly, we never would have found most without this book. Apparently no one else would either because we were alone on five of the hikes. The information presented is clear and accurate. We had no trouble finding the trails and they were as advertised in the book. This was a great addition to our resource library for the trip. Highly recommended, at least for the casual traveler/hiker.

Focusing on the Santa Monica mountains and Griffith Park, this book contains a number of very nice short hikes. For longer hikes or hikes in a larger variety of areas, I'd suggest Afoot and Afield in Los Angeles County.

One very nice feature of this book is the simpliflied map which accompanies each hike. Each hike's map is zoomed in to cover only the area of interest, with important landmarks identified. I did find one small mistake on one of the maps, but it was easy enough to figure out what was intended.

The descriptions of the hikes are very brief, and there isn't any detailed information about what to look out for, but all of the hikes go to very interesting places. Again, the book Afoot and Afield in Los Angeles County can fill in many gaps, as that book lacks the nice maps, but has great descriptions of many of the hikes in this book. I recommend buying both. Read the long descriptions in the bigger book, then carry this book with you on the trail as it has more useful maps.

"Day Hikes Around Los Angeles" is a great place to start exploring L.A., especially if you're new to the area and not a regular hiker. The book gives decent directions on where the trails begin (but bring along your Thomas Guide for backup), and provides a generous estimate on the length of time you'll need to complete the hike. Most of the hikes are short -- a couple hours or less. If you're a more experienced hiker, or you're interested in doing hikes that last a whole day, check out "Afoot and Afield in Los Angeles" instead. But beginners or those who just have a few hours to spare will prefer "Day Hikes." If you do all the hikes in the book, you'll get a great feel for the L.A. area -- and you'll be able to say, without hesitation, that it's one of the prettiest areas in the U.S. And you'll have the pictures to prove it.

New in town? Don't know where to go to get away for a day?
This is the most economical way to get started, with 45 suggestions for hikes that are mostly in the Santa Monicas (a lot of these are in Malibu), state parks and wilderness areas, and even a few smack dab in the metro area (including the Venice canals and Runyan Canyon, right in Hollywood).

Each hike includes location, some directions to the trailhead, and a very loose map to show the routes suggested by Stone.

A reality check is very important with respect to the maps and the directions (especially distances). Landmarks change and in a couple of cases the distances are either mistakes or typographical errors. The maps are sketchy, and do not always accurately reflect the side trails you may find or their names.

Stone also does not describe very much of what you will find, leaving most of that up to you. Tuck the book in your pack, or leave it in the car, and explore.