California Books

Michael Drinkard's Disobedience seamlessly weaves together the wacky stories of several generations of the Tibbets family, a Southern California clan who initially cultivated the orange in the Golden State.

The Tibbets, and the characters drawn into their lives, are beautifully rendered and utterly believable, no matter how comedic Drinkard's portrayal (from Grandma Gortex, an ex Las Vegas showgirl who parades around with an artificial hip, eye, and chest; to Luther Tibbets the down-on-his-luck, infertile engineer who can't impregnate his wife but eventually fertilizes the Imperial Valley by delivering water to California's deserts).

Underneath the surface of Disobedience's narrative lay brilliantly complex symbols and themes related to California's past, present, and future--if you choose to read them as such. Yet, these complexities do not detract from the stories, which are overwhelmingly imaginative and entertaining. As a writer, Drinkard's unique eye for detail, dialog, and diction far outweigh any of his references to structuralism, postmodernism, or any academic ism. The author is simply a marvelous, talented storyteller.

Anyone interested in a good yarn and the simmering conflicts within California would enjoy reading Disobedience. I look forward to reading Michael Drinkard's next novel.

This book had me hooked from the start. At first, I thought Drinkard was deconstrucing history but what he's really doing is *reconstructing* history. I was most impressed with how the author shows the linneage of traits within this very screwed-up family. This work also has a great sense of humor without sacrificing the humanity of the characters- most notably, the teenage son of the near future.

Michael Drinkard is not only the most original and literate chrnonicler of the Southern Californian landscape writing today, but also an insightful, poetic, and innovative traveler of the territory of childhood, of work, and of the psyche.

This book is a throbbing fun chant, a glockenspiel, an information tsunami, a benevolent dose, a purple eye pouch, a navel orange, a sexy sprawl, a fanatical consumer, a big fat violent happy face. I laughed, I cried, I got wet.

From the Bear Flag Revolt to the mini-mall present, the military and industrial powers of white California have consistently attempted to define the state's future by redefining (or obliterating) its past. This is certainly not a unique characteristic of the powers-that-be, but in California, especially Southern California, they seem intent on rubbing it in our faces. Thus it is not surprising that young California writers are increasingly turning to the state's past, at a level beyond supermarket historical realism or postmodern surface-nostalgia, to attempt to come to grips with this region's unsettled and unsettling present. Drinkard succeeds in crossing the seemingly impenetrable haze that separates one generation's California from the next. Jumping from parent to child, womb to grave, the novel encompasses the boosterism, booms and busts of the McKinley era, the corporate greed of the nineteen-eighties, and a near-future setting so plausible that it barely qualifies as science fiction. The author shows how the emotional lives and destinies of the characters in each present are created in a history that is largely unknown to them, revealed only when disasters both man-made and natural literally turn up the bones of the past. The book is an enjoyable read, especially in the near-future setting, whose characters are the most lovingly detailed. Drinkard has not quite learned to write the distant past, though his treatment shows promise. The nineteenth-century portion is lovingly researched, but the speech and mannerisms of the characters did not ring true enough to immerse me in the setting. The near-future part is full of gizmos and knick-knacks (some would say "gimmicks") that resonate with both DeLillo at his more whimsical (White Noise) and Jonathan Lethem. I am not personally fond of the former writer, but anyone who is--you must be out there--will certainly enjoy this aspect of Drinkard's book. By far my favorite part of the book was set in the corporate high-rise culture of the nineteen-eighties, amidst the early growth of the "information superhighway" and the cocaine-fueled careers of its builders. In this part of the story Drinkard portrays the emotional and moral development of a young man in a way that any writer could be proud of; and he certainly surpasses most of the other writers dealing with the same subject matter. More importantly, it is the part of the book that gave me the greatest sense of time past, of history both made and in the making.

It is page turner, in a way, indeed. The main interest is that the author has had a long and direct experience of the type of people she is dealing with : the children and their parents that are taken care of by the Child Protective Services of San Diego, California. She takes us into a three generation situation that has led and leads to criminal activities, murders, multiple murders that are all committed within the family circle by one member of it. The elimination game that the murderer plays leads us to the murderer as the only survivor. But we have to understand how it happened and why it all took place. And that is the difficult part. To disentangle this situation the author explores all the actors around the case, all the CPS social workers, the police and the doctors and psychiatrists, the foster families and the service they depend on, etc. This leads to a characterization of these actors. The foster family in question lives on fear : the fear that the child may turn psychic and dangerous because they do not understand what is happening. So they try to protect themselves. The police, or rather one policeman, retired but still working in the shadow of the FBI, is obsessed by his own hypothesis and tries to run it to the end of the line where it does not stick anymore when his supposed murderer is assassinated in his turn. So he is obliged to revise his view and then jumps to the right solution, in time to save two CPS agents. The CPS supervisor had gotten entangled in the case through a short love affair with one of the protagonists thirteen years earlier. So she appears split between her administrative being that makes her protect herself even to the cost of having one victim punished if not destroyed, and yet, deep under, she is a very sensitive and caring woman. Her dilemma. The doctors and psychiatrists really try to help, and yet their opinion has no weight when an administrative service or a court is at stake. But the principal characteristic of the book is that the main character, Bo Bradley, is herself a manic depressive person who has difficulties establishing balanced relationships with others and to acceopt a shared love life. She is always trying to defend herself from other people, isolating herself in so doing, locking herself up onto herself and using medications to keep herself in line. You add to that two teenagers, one the main victim, and the other a could-be victim if she wasn't helped by an uncle, and you have the whole picture. Gothic in a quite new meaning : « What ends when the symbols shatter ? » The totally disillusioned ideology of a whole generation that witnesses the end of a social order and its beliefs and sees no new perspective. They become blasé, but they could easily get into drugs, violence, criminal activities or even state-sanctified warfare violence to retain some sense of providence or fate or historical justification. A disquieting thriller that forces us to question some fundamentals in our own vision of life and society.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

I enjoy Abigail Padgett's books so much that I buy them in hardback. That's the highest accolade I can give a book, since money is the thing hardest to part with, for starving artists.
When I was a child, I listened to "The Shadow" on the radio, and Orson Welles' rap about knowing "the evil that lurks in the hearts of men..." marked me for life. Well, not only the Shadow knows, but also Padgett and her protagonists.
Men will not like her books; honest women will. Witty, insightful, entertaining, telling a gripping story.

This book doesn't follow the usual paths of detective fiction. At first, the reader isn't even sure what type of case it will be, burt in the end it all fits together in an exciting and difficult to guess manne

Abigail Padgett is my numero uno favorite mystery writer. My choice is based on her characters (I feel that I know Bo Bradley better than some friends). superb plotting, and excellence in her way of telling the story. "The Dollmaker's Daughter" is a page-turner spiced with some wonderful comments on bureaucrats. I laughed at Bo Bradley's spunky handling of her officious boss, and I kept turning the pages to find out "Who is Janny?" and "Who is trying to hurt Janny", and "Will life work out for this lovable girl?"

This book was wonderful. It was unpredictable with no clear-cut villain. It's very inspiring to have a competent heroine with manic-depression, or any mental illness for that matter. It adds a whole new dimension to the story and an unusual one at that for a detective story. The characters are all complex and well-written. This book, like Padgett's other Bo Bradley novels, are wonderfully written and lovely to read. I have read this book over and over again and pick up new nuances each time.

This book gives you alot of information. If you are interested in Eichler this is the book to get.

My word! I remember touring Eichler homes in Orange California with my parents. The homes, to me, were spectacular. My parents thought they seemed cheap. They were from the midwest and were used to brick homes built for powerful winters. We moved into another home several blocks from the Eichler Subdivision. I walked past the homes on they way to elementary school and just admired them so much. I guess I will never know what it is like to live in one, but I do know what it was like to tour an Eichler as a model home. What a memory! These are very special homes.

Scott K Dolik

As a Eichler home owner I couldn't wait for this book to arrive and thankfully it was a joy to read and pour over all the original photos in the book. I always knew I owned a special home and now I own a wonderful book that validates that too. Even if you are not a Eichler homeowner, but rather just a fan of mid-century homes this is also a must have for your library as it goes into more then just Joe Eichler and his homes. Enjoy the read!

Note: This book has 250 duotone photographs. The website run by the author is fantastic.

Whether you have an interest in mid-century modern design, Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian architecture or just Eichler...this book is a terrifc buy. While content rich it is still visually appealing and can easily function as a "coffee table" book. This book also serves as a terrific "idea guide" for those in search of small spacce solutions and/or modern landscaping layouts that bring the "outdoors in."

This is a seminal work and the best book on Mexican history that I have ever read. Sweeping in scope, John Mason Hart provides an intimate portrayal of American bankers, industrialists, and settlers in the shaping of America's rising influence in Mexico from the Civil War to the present interdependent relationship under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In addition to covering the vast economic, political, and military forces that shaped Mexico and the United States, Hart integrates the cultural and demographic shifts that have reshaped life on both sides of a quickly disappearing border. This is a must read not only for scholars, but anyone interested in American and Mexican history, as well as a major interpretive work on how the United States became a global empire. Mexico serves as the definitve laboratory for American foreign policy and the impusles that forged America's relationship to the "third world." This is an essential book for understanding not only the past, but also the future of North America.

Me parece un libro extremadamente objetivo y bien documentado que relata la dura realidad de un pais vecino al pais mas poderoso del mundo

This amazing, seminal sweeping account details the role of Americans in Mexico from 1864 through the present. Concentrating mostly on the period of the 1860s-1920s this is the most amazing, excellent historical account of Mexico in the period that can be found. Far more then a tail of American investment this book tells the story of Mexico and its people experiencing the pangs of development and industrial revolution. President Diaz who dominated Mexican politics during this period made it possible for a vast number of Americans and other foreigners(like Germans and Spaniards) to purchase vast tracts of lands and develop not only the Oil industry but also the Mexican rail industry. In the 1910s a series of revolutions beginning with the Huerta insurrection brought such luminaries to the fore as Villa and Zapata. These forces eventually destroyed the large American investment in Mexico, harming the American exile community(much of which had helped to build up Mexican infrastructure) and swept away and entire era of Mexican politics. The Veracruz intervention is documented in great detail as are all aspects of the `Americanization' of states like Sonora. Scant attention is paid to the role of American tourists or Mormon missionaries or the years of 1930-1990(the era of the PRI). But nevertheless the book does bring the history to the present of NAFTA and presumes the election of FOX and the `almost' election of the PRD in the early 90s.

A wonderful book. A great read and one of the only books to give such a sweeping colorful detail to this essential period of Mexican history. A period that harpers to today's Mexican law which forbids foreigners from owning land in Mexico. Leftovers of the American adventure in Mexico can also be seen today in the national companies like Pemex and Cemex and the national railroads, most of whose infrastructure was built by Americans only be nationalized by the Mexican government in the 1920s.

A must read for anyone interested in Mexico, America, the border or the reasons for the way Mexico is today.

Seth J. Frantzman

In Empire and Revolution, eminent Mexican historian John Mason Hart unravels a process in which a vanguard U.S. financial elite in pursuit of empire initially penetrated Mexico by financially supporting Porfirio Diaz's successful revolt against the democratically elected government of Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada. Once in power, Diaz offered a friendly and stable regime predisposed to unfettered foreign, particularly U. S., investments which developed Mexico's infrastructure that inevitably led to its monopolistic control. This, in turn, allowed a select group of capitalists to acquire land and resources, in vast quantities unknown until now (nearly 70% of the border and the littoral), only to lose most of their acquisitions as a result of the Mexican Revolution. Hart continues on into the post-revolutionary period by detailing the process in which U. S. capital re-penetrated Mexico once the embers of revolutionary nationalism and social activism cooled and transformed into more pragmatic economic development, and traces it to the present interdependent relationship under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In essence this study offers the reader insight of how Mexico became the first third-world nation that the United States encountered and how it served as a model for guiding U. S. latter-day third-world hegemonic impulses.

While sweeping in scope, Hart's book provides more than just an abstract look at U. S. capital. This work is about individuals-replete with detailed portrayals of the key financial elite, both bankers and industrialists, and civil-war era generals who first pried open the door for U. S. capital investment in Mexico as well as the U. S. "colonists" that followed in their wake. Hart also sheds light into U. S. political and military might that helped buttress these financial elite's imperial pretensions-one key military intervention in Veracruz help tip the scales to Carranza during the Mexican Revolution. Although irascibly nationalistic, Carranza was more acceptable to the U. S. financial and political powers than were Villa or Zapata. Besides covering the political and military aspects of this imperial juggernaut, Hart provides insight into the implications of U. S. economic hegemony in Mexico and the resulting social and cultural interactions. Hart's description of cultural clashes and misunderstandings that occurred throughout this longue durée and the slow transformation into social, cultural, political and economic accommodations lends weight to the concept of an interrelated, albeit diffuse, cultural space that author Joel Garreau and others have christened MexAmerica.

Based on copious primary sources (some recently declassified) from widely dispersed archives and twelve years of research, Empire and Revolution is a seminal work from which future historians of Mexico and U. S. relations will need to begin their inquiry. This is a book that also should be read by all State Department types and businessmen dealing with Mexico and NAFTA-related issues. However, this book is not only for the specialists but also for all others interested in our neighbor to the South who desire to understand how interrelated our histories have been and will continue to be. This is an indispensable book.

John Mason Hart's Empire and Revolution directs our attention to the role of Americans in Mexico in an entirely new way by emphasizing the diverse ways in which Americans have affected that country and the third world. He demonstrates the importance of financiers in opening our relations with Mexico and the ensuing development of industry, timber, mining, oil, agricultural, ranching and settlement. In the modern era he goes beneath the surface to explain the nature of the drug trade, tourism, and the border economy. He also posits Mexico as a model for understanding relations between the United States and the third world by demonstrating that Mexico was our first and most profound relationship with that part of humanity. Moreover, the narrative style, at times, flows like Walt Whitman's as the reader is given images of American expansion, not just in its westward movement, but south into Mexico. This is the best book on the role of the United States in the third world that I have read.

This is an excellent primer on fish mining. It's well researched and easy to read. The future of industrial fishing looks bleak, and Clover clearly explains why.

For those of you who are concerned about the state of our fisheries and declining fish populations worldwide, I would suggest a newly published book, "The End of the Line," by Charles Clover. As The Independent suggests, his book is "the maritime equivalent of Silent Spring." Clover takes the reader on an unbiased tour of many of the most important fisheries throughout the world from Africa to Iceland, offshore to nearshore. His appraisal and commentary of fishery management is candid and insightful. I highly recommend this book to anyone who finds themselves trying to contemplate the disequilibrium between fishery management and sustainability. The book ends with some positive examples of fishery management of which there are sadly too few, and he has some helpful tips for all of us to do our part to ensure fish stocks for the next generation.

"The End of the Line" is a well-written, highly informative book which addresses a serious global issue.

"Imagine what people would say if a band of hunters strung a mile of net between two immense all-terrain vehicles and dragged it at speed across the plains of Africa.... left behind is a strangely bedraggled landscape resembling a harrowed field... this efficient but highly unselective way of killing animals is known as trawling... it is practiced the world over every day, from the Barents Sea in the Arctic to the shores of Antarctica and from the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and the central Pacific to the temperate waters off Cape Cod."

Overfishing is a serious problem that must be addressed. The statistics are staggering. As journalist Charles Clover shows in his global exploration of the destruction caused by overfishing, we have inflicted a crisis on the oceans in a single human lifetime greater than any yet caused by pollution.

This is one of the most important books I've read. I have purchased several copies of this book to give away. It speaks up on behalf of those denizens of the oceans that we think should belong in cans and sandwiches or pies or curries, or pet food - yielding their flavoursome goodness of Omega 3 oils - with plenty more replenishing themselves without end. I did know in the back of my head that something was wrong when we put faceless tuna into cat food and no one discusses byecatch on a can except for a "Dolphin Friendly" logo. The appalling horror of millions of tonnes of these things being hoovered up with up to 50 to even 90% of the take being discarded back to the ocean because they are not the target species is spelled out in this book along with the moribund state of just how little we as a species care for the oceans or engage in managing its most vital food resources.

As usual much of the blame falls flatly at the feet of politicians and fishing interests as well as the consumers abject ignorance that advertisers and chefs have been milking and continue to milk. When the oceans belong to us all, to enjoy recreationally - they have become the preserve of fishing interests that continue to suppress so much biodiversity. This is a story of greed gone mad with absolutely no safeguards in place by the very people who are in charge of doing anything about it.

Japan and the EEC come out as some of the most environmentally tarnished political units - the madness of the EEC fishing policy is revealed in all its glorious folly.

Tuna and swordfish, the most magnificient bony fish in the sea get a special mention along with the poor critically endgangered mega sharks that are often bycatch in tuna catches.

This is such a powerful book speaking up for dumb fish that I will try and do everything in my power to at least highlight the problem to others. So well written in this with Chapter 14 showing us some fine solutions from New Zealand - that you ought to buy this book now and share it with any of your concerned friends.

Charles Clover from the London Daily Telegraph has done a fantastic job of highlighting our superpredatory theft from the seas.

It is a fascinating, very well written book on a subject most people forget about in spite of how important it is: the food resources of the sea. When I first saw the book I wondered how the author could make an interesting topic out of it...when I started to browse it, I discovered a great amount of information about the wonderful world of the seas, about what so many companies are doing to our resources, about the repercusions hardly anyone is aware of.
I bought it and read it immediately.
One of the best non-fiction books I have read in the last few years.

Mathews did an excellent job in chronicling the rise of Jaime Escalante, including a significant amount of background from his youth in Bolivia. It's always fascinating to see what all is involved in the development of the character of famous people.

Mathews' story is fascinating, even more so than the movie, as it is closer to the real situation of E LA's Garfield. The compressed time frame of the movie gives the impression that students went from math illiterates to Calculus in 1-2 years which simply isn't true or even possible for Escalante. The take home message, however, of a long-term committment and an undying belief that many to most students can do better despite significant background challenges remains.

Fortunately most students in US schools are not sold as short as they were in Escalante's Garfield - problems remain in our schools for sure but most schools are in much better shape than what he started with. Indeed, Mathews chronicles of a couple times when Escalante planned to leave Garfield, which makes what he and his students accomplished all the more amazing.

There is still a need to review what he did and see what aspects of it can be replicated. One lesson I got from this is that in fact it's not just the teachers but it needs some support from the "system" - indeed only when Escalante finally got some admin help did Garfield reach it's height. {You can read on the net what happened after Escalante left when some of his administrative cover was lost}

Part of what is fascinating and fun in this textbook is the chance to peer into Escalante's personality - not necessarily duplicable and in some ways he was the right fit for the right place at the right time. His avoidance of meetings, the coordination with the counselors and assistant principals/principals (well, those who would work with him), and other quirks are interesting and fun to read.

As an aside to Escalante, in many ways this book guided the career of its author, Jay Mathews, who still writes ed columns for the Washington Post. Escalante did not just influence his students but even the author who still appears strongly influenced in his ed opinions by what he learned first hand of Escalante's accomplishments. For the rest of us this book is the best way to get to better know Escalante, at least the Escalante of the events popularized in the movie.

I first heard about this book in the summer of 2006 when I was taking an AP Calculus Institute. I of course was familiar with the "Stand and Deliver" film, and I was very curious to read this book. The book tells you the TRUE story of what happened to Escalante and his students. Don't believe everything the film tells you! The film will have you believe that Escalante took students who didn't know how to add and he turned them into AP Calculus stars. That is not true. Escalante spent years developing a PROGRAM where weaker students could correct their deficiences by enrolling in a summer course, etc.
I did find the book to be very motivational, especially since I read it right before I taught AP for the first time. I liked the line where Escalante said AP results are kind of like a "report card for the teacher". The book also details the fact that Escalante would kick a student out of AP (or at least strongly threaten to) if they missed ONE homework. So while Escalante's accomplishment was extraordinary, I wish I had the luxury of kicking a student out of AP if they missed one assignment!!
The overall message of the book and film though is that with hard work, a person can succeed at anything they put their mind too. So it's nice to read a book with a positive message like that.

If this book doesn't make you want to quit your job and do something meaningful with your life, nothing will.

In a culture where if one is asked have you read such and such book and the reply is "no but I saw the movie", then I 'll reverse the question. Did you see "Stand and Deliver"? Well this is the story of the man the movie is about. In the movie, Edward James Olmos takes the lead as Jaime Escalante, an unlikely hero who immigrated from Bolivia and changed the lives of countless Chicano students in East LA. This is the story of dedication, underpay and a determination by one man to change the course of students views of themselves. A teacher with a vision beyond the classroom. He wanted to change the perception of Chicanos and their role in the education process, they could be capable of taking college prep math. While teaching at Garfield High in the 80's he created quite an uproar amongst his peers by making Chicanos believe in themselves, that they could take AP Calculus and succeed. It would require hard work. A great motivator, who used all his skills, he proved the naysayers wrong. This is a great true story that is more detailed and probably more accurate than the Hollywood version. The background information on the principal of Garfield and various students is much richer than the movie version. This is a feel good book that students,teachers and parents alike should enjoy since they are all participants in the deucation process. A motivational tool to be shared by all who believe in the power of determination. An American success story for all.

A visiting nerd from Mars might well decide that sports was the cult/religion of choice among Americans. This conclusion would work if the visitor compared Sunday TV-tube activity with, say, church attendance. It would also make sense of activity at many American high schools, with its cheerleaders, heros and stars.

After his success at teaching calculus to (yep, here we go again) mostly poor Latino students was dramatized in the movie Stand and Deliver, Jaime Escalante became the closest thing to a star in the little world of education. His story intersects the American sports-obsession in a number of important ways.

Escalante, who considered school sports a distraction for his students, in his own classrooms took the teacher-as-coach metaphor way beyond the 100-yard-line. A Bolivian immigrant and Lakers fan, he had a lot of sympathy and understanding for his students. But as an accomplished, determined professional, he had no time for their excuses or laziness: He used threats and jokes, camaraderie and charisma, insults and incessant drill, much the way a football coach does. He also had the "big game", a clearly defined goal with visible results: The advanced placement (AP) test that high-school students attempt for college credit. Better than basketball as a ticket to a future.

Like many sports coaches--and very few teachers--Escalante got 110% from his team. Starting from zero in 1978 (when he arrived there), by 1987 Garfield High was fourth in the United States in number of students taking AP calculus, and accounted for about a quarter of all Mexican-American high-school students who passed the test.
Journalist Jay Mathews starts with Escalante's childhood and teaching career in Bolivia, but spends about 2/3 of the fast-moving narrative on Garfield. It includes numerous vignettes of students dealing with Escalante's personality, his rigorous calculus teaching, and crises (or simply grinding poverty) in their lives. Mathews goes easy on generalizations, but here are his first two "lessons" near the books conclusion: "Teachers who bring students up to high standards are precious commodities. Leave them alone.... If left alone, teachers who work hard and care for their students will produce better results than ten times their number dutifully following the ten best recommendations of the ten latest presidential commissions on education."

Nancie Atwell says Shut your door and do what you need to.

The Garfield mascot, which became Escalante's symbol for himself and his students, is a bulldog. I believe that we are still "a nation at risk," especially where the education of poor and minority children, the life of our cities, is concerned. Jay Matthew's book, the story of a few determined teachers (and their principal!) will not hold the same lesson for everyone, but is an extremely valuable encounter.

Well-laid out topics, suggestions and hints to avoid putting yourself in
a precarious situation. The book covers almost everything that you
can possibly think of.

I have used it and it works. It is straight to the point no nonsense approach. I won the case and did get my money back. It instructed my step by step, how to make a demand, file a claim, and serve the papers, how to prepare and act in court. Than how to collect a judgement, how to put the lien. What to do and when not to. Also commons sense advise when not to file. Power to the people, justice for all, without an attorney taking half of what is yours

If you are reading this review, you are most probably a prospective plaintiff considering recovering losses you incurred in an auto accident through the small claims court process. This guide will help you tremendously. The NoLo series is an incredible service to mankind. It is the equivalent to the Dummies series focused on the Law. And, who besides expensive lawyers really understand the Law? Readers who have studied NoLo books!

The book is very well organized. Even though there is a lot of material, it is easy to extract the information pertaining to your very specific situation. The author covers a lot of those; as he dedicates specific chapters to auto repairs, auto accidents, lord-tenant dispute, etc... The author states that he covers the main type of cases that account for 99% of the cases tried in small claim courts. I believe him. If your case is outside those presented, there is a good chance it does not belong in small claims court.

The author gives crucial information about the basics of small claim courts. If you are not a lawyer, you are unfamiliar with all the procedures associated with it. Thanks to this book, you will know exactly what to do and when to file, prepare, and try a claim in small claims court. Once you have done the studying and the preparing it is not all that difficult. And, this book allows you to navigate through a bureaucratic process that would appear overwhelming and Byzantine otherwise.

This is my second NoLo book and hopefully the last. Who wants to deal with the Law if you don't have to? My first one was on how to fight a ticket. Thanks to NoLo, I reduced the price of my ticket by $120. Now, I anticipate recovering the cost of a fender bender where I am dealing with one uninsured and one unwilling party. It is not fun, but those NoLo books allow you to uphold your rights when you have to.

If you have a claim involving $5,000 or less, you can easily and inexpensively bring an action in Small Claims Court. But even though Small Claims Court is designed for non-attorneys (in fact, attorneys are not allowed) you still must have a basic understanding of the rules of evidence and know how to put on your case. Invest a little time to read this book, and you will stand a much better chance of winning.

If you want to make less mistakes, save time and money, it's best to start with this book so you can get the correct service, venue, and evidence organized to file and win. I found the chapter on how to write a demand letter and settle your claim before it gets to court very helpful. They even offer sample letters you use to settle your case. Nolo Press seems to put together the best legal self help books.

This is my most loved book I have read in my lifetime. If you are fascinated with fish from diving, aquarium keeping, visiting public aquariums, and/or working in the retail fish field, you too will be completely involved and fascinated as you read David Powell's experiences. You live his experiences with him. I especially enjoyed the lab that rounded up sharks. Thank you Mr. Powell so much for writing this book. I have read it 3 times and will again sometime!

Anyone who is curious about sea life or the creation and running of aquariums... and for any scuba diver - you should buy and read this book. David Powell clearly descibes how he became interested in fish and how he managed to get into aquarium displays. He even tells about his dating life in college (loved the octopus pet and dozens of aquariums he kept in his little apartment). And it also satiates the need to understand how Monterey Bay Aquarium came about (as well as many other national and worldwide aquariums were designed and started), the work and dedication to making it happen and run smoothly. Next best thing to being there and doing the hands on behind the scenes tour! Well written, good length, excellent read.

This was a truly excellent read - if you are interested in how they make those impressive aquarium displays, how they catch the livestock, overcome the challenges of adapting them to aquarium life and lots of stories along the way, this is the book for you from the man widely acknowledged as being "it" when it comes to designing pioneering public aquaria.

Highly recommended for anyone out there fascinated by fish and the marvellous public aquariums around the world. Enjoy it!

David C. Powell provides the reader with an excellent insight into the life experiences of a dedicated biologist. His detailed descriptions and insights of all the efforts that went into sharing his exciting discoveries is a joy to read. For anyone who visits aquariums this is a must read book. It provides rare, behind the scenes, information about the enormous effort and dedication involved in providing public aquarium exhibits. Dave's style has the flavor of Ricketts and Stienbeck all in one.

If among the things you have to confess you know nothing about are designing, stocking, and running a public aquarium, you can change that and have a darned good time filling in these particular voids. David C. Powell, who knows more about running aquariums than just about anyone, has written a memoir, _A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer_ (University of California Press) that tells about his unusual career and has more than its share of pleasing anecdotes.

Powell took the first fish he caught as a kid and slept with it under his pillow. He maintained the lobster tank at a fancy Malibu restaurant. When he read Cousteau's first book, _The Silent World_, he knew he had to start diving. As he kept specimens in his home aquarium, he joined the Marine Aquarium Society of Los Angeles. A fellow member told him of a job opening as an aquarist at Marineland of the Pacific; it was just what he wanted to do, and from there he worked at various aquariums, directing the live exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium until retiring four years ago. He now seems to be the most frequently consulted consultant whenever towns or nations want to set up aquariums.

Powell writes with admiration and affection about the creatures he has to capture and then keep in as home-like an environment as possible, including the wonderfully named sarcastic fringehead, the "thumbsplitter" mantis shrimp with its faster-than-the-eye claw, and many more. He tells about the process of capturing samples in many different ways, but diving and capturing fish is the easy part. Transporting them is hard. There are different gadgets and containers that have to be used, including the truck transport named the "Tunabago." It is planning the displays of the fish that obviously has given Powell the most satisfaction in his career. His description, for instance, of the responsibilities of putting up the largest window in the world, a gigantic acrylic pane fifty-five by fifteen feet, thirteen inches thick, and weighing thirty-eight tons, is completely engrossing.

Powell's book, a mixture of autobiography, oceanography, ichthyology, museology, and funny stories, is a delight. In seemingly effortless style, he conveys the excitement even in the minor aspects of his career. He gives a final essay on the importance of aquariums (disdained by Cousteau as "fish prisons") in bringing people closer to nature and in promoting the conservation that could keep the oceans healthy. His book is a worthy summary of a lifetime's effort in that cause.

Very nice guide and a good deal compare with others fish publications. This book also brings interesting aspects on fish ecology. I didn't like the last part about cooking the fish, but I guess many people may find that cool.

It still gets five stars for content, good writing, amazingly extensive data, and imaginative inclusions, of which the one on keeping wild fish in home ponds and aquaria is the most surprising and the one on preparing and cooking the creatures is the most splendid.
Just to be done with it, the "almost" refers to some features of layout and form, which are irritating. They are not so bad as to make me want to throw it at a passing raccoon, but they do exercise some of my less formal vocabulary.
As a wildlife rehabilitator, I depend on field guides a lot, and good ones are not as common as we all wish. This one is a dandy, and I am truly glad for it and recommend it to anyone interested in western states fishes, not just those of California.
As a serious cook, I am downright thrilled with the culinary section, which is flatly the best fish cookbook I have ever seen since the immortal Rombauer's JOY OF COOKING, the only other book I know which deals with ALL the details of preparation.

Once again, Dr. McGinnis has done it! We own the first edition and now the newly revised edition. This is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to know more about the physiology of the fish species in California. The pictures and illustrations are a handy guide for identification. There is also a wonderful section on fish preparation with some great recipes. If you want to expand your Freshwater Fish knowledge, BUY THIS BOOK!

This superb, comprehensive field guide covers not just the extant freshwater fish of California, but details how to catch them, how to cook them, and even how to keep them in the aquarium or pond at home. Superb photographs, and detailed descriptions of each species.
It is truly a travesty though that many of the alien fish in the state that have caused such devastation to native species have been deliberately introduced by the governmental agency responsible for the stewardship of California's freshwater ecosystems. Reading of the California Department of Fish & Game's persistent and ongoing mismanagement is alarming, and a clear indication that the citizens of the state deserve that the bunglers in charge of that office be bought to task and replaced by competent people.

This book is an extensive compilation of every thinkable freshwater fish in the Golden State. Anyone who might be curious to know about California's numerous freshwater dwellers. Also, McGinnis' son, Ross, is a succesful music instructor at Los Gatos High School, California.

This is an absolutely essential cookbook for your kitchen if you are a serious cook. The recipes are beautifully presented, and are not difficult to prepare. They don't require a lot of hard to find ingredients. You know you are eating wonderful food, as it was meant to be prepared. Taste the fish. Can't recommend it more highly.

This book is really a great seafood cookbook. I learned how to search out healthy seafood and then cook it in a simple but tasty way.

FISH FOREVER: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING, SELECTING, AND PREPARING HEALTHY, DELICIOUS AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD is for neo-pros and chiefs who would choose sustainable seafood, and is written by the owner of the Monterey Fish Market in San Francisco who has supplied such seafood to some of the nation's best chefs. His guide blends an international recipe book with in-depth profiles of both fish types and discussions of fish health issues and concerns. Access to a range of fish types is required, but any library catering to patrons who love to cook seafood must have this, with its bright centerfold of photos and detailed fish cooking insights.

As both an amateur home cook and a devotee of sustainable seafood, I think this is the best sustainable seafood cookbook on the market. The recipes are simple and healthy, and the factual information is well-balanced. I highly recommend this cookbook!

I have always enjoyed fish when I go to restaurants but the fish market and cooking fish scared me. 'Fish Forever' gives me the information to select and cook great seafood dishes. The results of the recipes are spectacular. I am lousy cook, but the recipes are so easy to follow, they improved my cooking. The book is also an interesting look at fishing and the seafood business.