California Books

Here's another wine region which receives little attention in the typical wine books: an examination of Mexican wines - the first published in English. From a survey of the oldest winery in Baja California to newer ones springing up today, each winery receives a description review of products and size, and plenty of historical background. Tasting notes, reviews of Baja grapes and wine events, and supplemental travel details on accommodations and restaurants for those intending a visit make WINES OF BAJA CALIFORNIA: TOURING AND TASTING MEXICO'S UNDISCOVERED TREASURES a winner.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

It may come as a surprise to many that Mexico produces fine wines. This is especially true on the northern Baja where the climate is ideal. Ralph Amey, an Angeleno who lives there part time, holds many awards from and positions in winemaking circles, evaluates many different vintners and their wines in the area near Ensenada, especially the Valle de Guadalupe and nearby valleys. The book opens with a history of winemaking in Mexico, then provides a detailed map of how to find the ones in the Northern Baja. The book is lavishly illustrated with black-and-white photos.
There are two different sorts of wineries in the area, Urban and Valley. Among the Urban are Bodegas de Santo Tomas and Cavas Valmar, both in Ensenada. The valley wineries are Casa Pedro Domecq, L. A. Cetto, Monte Xanic, Chateau Camou, Mogor-Badan, Vinos Bibayoff, Vina de Liceaga, Casa de Piedra, Adobe Guadalupe Vineyard, and Vinisterra S.A. de C.V. For each, Amey provides directions for getting there, telephone numbers in case you get lost or have been imbibing the wine rather than tasting it, fax and email addresses, their web pages, founding dates, owners, vintners, details on tour times, as well as their production capacities, and the acreage of their vineyards. He also lists the red and white wines produced at each, plus how each winery came into being.
In the event you're a novice and don't know Merlot from Mogen David, a later passage describes the history of each wine and its distinctive taste. The only criticism I would have of the volume is its inability to be held open to the page you want at the winery you're at. A spiral-bound book would have served both the amateur and the connoisseur much better.
There is no question that Ralph Amey knows wines, especially Mexican wines. He is a founding member of the Southern California Society of Wine Educators. This is an invaluable book. Salud!

The author is remarkably humble to our greatly improving vineyards while accurate to a pinpoint. So great a book about Baja North, Mexican wines (guadalupe Valley where I live) that I have given 16 copies, to date, to colleagues including one who lives in France and another in Germany.
Roberto Chantlos: Rosarito, Baja CA, Mexico.

This new book by Ralph Amey fills a real need for a description of the many fabulous wines of Baja, plus it provides an interesting history, and lots of discussion of locations and useful maps and guides. Everybody who likes to think of himself or herself as a wine connoisseur should have a copy of this book.

As you begin this book you know immediately that Ralph Amey enjoys wines and is an expert on the subject. Here he has set out to tell us about "Wines of Baja California," as his title states but it isn't only the wines that he enjoys and writes about. He obviously loves Baja, and so we hear a lot also about "touring and tasting Mexico's undiscovered treasures,"including practical tips for visitors to the area.

The book is a gracefully-written, detailed consideration of the history of winemaking in Mexico, how to get to the valleys where winemaking takes place, the history and ownership of the wineries, as well as the vintages and grapes. Finally there is a discussion of wine festivals and fiestas, places to stay and to eat, sources of more information, and a helpful glossary of wine-related terms.

What makes this book unique is not just Ralph Amey's experience as a connoisseur and judge of wines, but his habits of thought as a research chemist and teacher; he is interested in history and geography and weather and people and processes as they relate to his subject, and his experience as a researcher and teacher help him to know the value of details and how to explain in an interesting way. An especially helpful touch is his suggesting, again and again, what foods go well with what wines, for example: "Unico Gran Reserva. . .Try with osso buco or mushrooms in puff pastry."

There's a refreshing informal tone to the writing and to the beautiful design of the pages, enhanced by vintage photographs, maps, and circular pre-columbian Mexican motifs. Very inviting.

Think of country music and you think of the South automatically - but California too has been the source of many a notable country music artists, and here's Workin' Man Blues: Country Music In California by Gerald Haslam with the assistance of Alexandra Haslam Russell and Richard Chonto celebrates and highlights that fact. Chapters cover a range of artists who contributed to the genre, from early immigrants to California to later stars. Bob Wills, Gene Autry, Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam: the lives of each famous contributor to the genre is linked with California musical history as a whole, creating a vivid interplay between musical history and biography. Outstanding.

Nobody doubts the importance of Texas and Tennessee in the development of country music, yet the substantial contribution of California to country music is often ignored. At first glance, this is understandable, since the Californian music scene is generally dominated by the major cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. However, these two cities are several hundred miles apart and much of the territory in between is deeply rural, populated by people displaced from other states, who took their music with them when they migrated. In particular, Bakersfield and its surrounding area became a hotbed of country music. This is the area from which the author comes, but in this book he covers all aspects of the California country music scene including Hollywood's contribution.

Whole chapters are devoted to the Crockett family, Gene Autry, Bob Wills, Spade Cooley, Rose Maddox and her brothers, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Dwight Yoakam. These are clearly the artists that the author regards as the most important to the development of Californian country music and I'm certainly not going to argue with him. While very few people these days know about the Crockett family, they were California's first country stars even if (as it seems) their appeal did not extend beyond their home state.

Between the chapters devoted to individual artists, there are chapters devoted to particular decades. These chapters describe all the remaining significant artists. Early on, the author attempts to define country music but, as we all know, it is impossible to define. Being unable to clearly define the music, the author covers the music in all its aspects from traditional to contemporary singers but focuses mainly on tradition. Thus, Glen Campbell (born in Arkansas but who made his career in California) and Barbara Mandrell (born in Texas but raised in California from an early age) are given due coverage, their achievements being far too important to ignore. Although I love their music, I know as much as I want to from elsewhere. It is important that they are covered but they are not the reason to buy this book.

Apart from the chapters on the selected major traditional artists, this book serves as a reminder of many great but obscure performers such as Kate Wolf, who seemed set to make a major commercial breakthrough with her brand of folk-country music but died of leukaemia before she could capitalize on her growing popularity.

Country-rock is covered too - there is a page devoted to a family tree showing how various performers switched between various groups - the Byrds, the Eagles, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills and Nash, Poco and a few others. It's not complete (no Dillard and Clark Expedition, no Desert Rose Band) but it covers all the line-ups that most people are interested in. A truly comprehensive family tree would take too much space to make it easy to follow.

This book is a real treasure trove of information about country music in California but if it whets your appetite for more reading, there is a selected bibliography that runs to over twenty pages.

Every country music fan can learn much about the history of the music from this book, which proves that California has played a major role in the development of country music - maybe not quite as important as Tennessee and Texas, but far more important than most people realize.

Nashville has not always been the home of country music. Following migrations westward from the South and Dust Bowl states during the 1930s and 1940s, country music flourished in California, where it thrived in Hollywood, throughout the agricultural interior valleys and around the war-related industries in Los Angeles. And it continued in the post-war years, peaking in creative output one final time in the 1960s.

Author Gerald Haslam's history of country music in California tells a story full of rich appreciation for its many musical styles, from hillbilly (the Crockett Family, seen on the cover), to the singing cowboys (Gene Autry), to the heyday of western swing (Bob Wills and Spade Cooley), to Tennessee Ernie Ford, and the Bakersfield music scene, centered around Buck Owens in the 1960s. Haslam then tracks its story since those golden years in the careers of Californians who made it big in the Nashville years, such as Merle Haggard.

Haslam's sympathies are clearly with performers who have bucked the homogenizing trends of Nashville and the dominance of a music today that calls itself country but has largely lost contact with its roots. He praises the musical mavericks and outlaws who keep traditional and "hard" country alive in California, giving special attention to Dwight Yoakum, who stubbornly and fiercely chose Los Angeles as a base to launch a career that got national attention in the 1980s.

You may or may not love the author's blue-collar bias. He notes the frequent theme of discontent in traditional country music, characterizing it as the music of the hard-working men and women who labor not always successfully in pursuit of an American dream. Their yearning for simpler times and rural values is a sensibility mostly absent from today's country play lists, with only rare exceptions like Alan Jackson. It's a sentiment that finds its parallel in the traditionalist's dislike for the urban market-driven output of Nashville's lucrative music industry.

This is a highly readable book, with over 50 photographs of performers, and it's also a reference based on a good deal of scholarship. There's a 22-page bibliography and both a song title index and a subject index covering another 24 pages. Readers interested in western swing will especially appreciate the author's extensive study of this subject. As a companion volume, I'd also recommend "The Rough Guide to Country Music."

I simply can't recommend this book highly enough! It was the first scholarly work on Country Music that I read, and it really opened my eyes to country music as a serious field of study. Being a native Californian, I had always been aware of the pivotal role the CA scene played in Country Music history, I was exposed to the music of Haggard at an early age and became familiar with the music of Buck Owens through Hee Haw, but I didn't know too much about other important players such as Chester Smith, The Maddox Bros & Rose, Wynn Stewart Etc. This book inspired me to go out and discover the music of these pioneering artists. The author also discusses the way rock and roll influenced west coast country and vice versa. If you're a serious student of country music history, this book is a must read! It should be required reading in all CA schools :)

As one who was born and reared in California's Great Central Valley, and is old enough to remember the country music of the 30's and 40's, I very much enjoyed this book. Haslam not only brought back lots of memories, but he also skillfully told the story of the rise and fall of country music in California. Clearly, he's been there and he "talks the talk". As an admitted liberal, he unfortunately litters the landscape with some superfluous "social commentary". Nonethe less, it's a fine book, deserving of reading by all who like country music and/or the Central valley.

This is a heartfelt account of one man's struggle to overcome the archetpe of the "tough guy" and to soften into a realization of the power of love. R. Glendon Brunk, who could be one of the men in Pam Houston's "Cowboys are my Weakness" , shares his life with us in an engaging way -- sometimes sad, often funny, always keeping my attention. I wish that every man I know, from my brother and my father, to my cousins, to all my male friends would read it, too. Our world needs to find a new way, a way that isn't hung up onto the patriarchal ways of domination, the raw male energy that , undirected, may turn so quickly to violence and destruction. And here's a guy who was one of the toughest (he admits that that was the way he thought he should be) who openly shares his journey to become open and loving - therefore ultimately stronger. This is a great book about gender issues. Men and women alike should read it, discuss it, let it inspire new paths, and greater connected-ness with eachother and the world around us.

This is a heartfelt account of one man's struggle to overcome the archetpe of the "tough guy" and to soften into a realization of the power of love. R. Glendon Brunk, who could be one of the men in Pam Houston's "Cowboys are my Weakness" , shares his life with us in an engaging way -- sometimes sad, often funny, always keeping my attention. I wish that every man I know, from my brother and my father, to my cousins, to all my male friends would read it, too. Our world needs to find a new way, a way that isn't hung up onto the patriarchal ways of domination, the raw male energy that , undirected, may turn so quickly to violence and destruction. And here's a guy who was one of the toughest (he admits that that was the way he thought he should be) who openly shares his journey to become open and loving - therefore ultimately stronger. This is a great book about gender issues. Men and women alike should read it, discuss it, let it inspire new paths, and greater connected-ness with eachother and the world around us.

Glendon's down-to-earth writing style and his epic adventure story make this book an addictive page turner. Included is everything from running world class dog teams across the icy tundra, to sipping Kava in the South Pacific. Read it for yourself and find out what draws a man to Alaska.

What an honest and brave guy to write this book. Glendon Brunk, one of those ultra-manly men, writes so honestly about what it means to be a man in a world dominated by men, and how, through the amalgamating forces of pain and growing self-awareness, came to see a different way. It's a book set in Alaska, with all the raw power of conquering the wilderness and living wild, with facing grizzly bears and extreme cold, but it's really not about Alaska. It's about growth and coming into consciousness. It's about driving sled dogs competively and coming to realize that winning the world championship of sled dog racing - a feat akin to any great athletic endeavor - was empty. It was because of a single-minded obsession to win, to conquer, to be the best, to control, all the manly perceptions that have the world in so much trouble today. Yearning Wild is about one man coming to see his responsibility for wounding, not only himself, but women and children and the land. It's about awakening. This book is a brave beginning, and it needs to be out there. I - a man - would encourage every man, every woman to buy it and to pass it on. Because it's one of those books that's desparately needed for the times we live in. Do it, please.

Here's a book with the romanticism of Davy Crockett, weather the likes of A Perfect Storm, herds of caribou familiar through Never Cry Wolf, and a cast of sled dogs paling Lassie, Old Yeller, Sounder, and Where the Red Fern Grows.
It's a book for children because of the raw adventure: watch our protagonist shoot a bear that's about to knock down his cabin door and eat his baby daughter (and then watch him leave, tossing his wife butchering instructions). Hear him call "Trail" as he and his sixteen world champions pass the favored dog team and head into Fairbanks and the crowd's cheers.
It's a book for women because its central figure is the stuff of endless heartbreak: a doer, a pacifist, a romantic, a man with a guitar and songs and dreams as big as all outdoors, a man whose restlessness is the stuff (in women's eyes) of pathology. This man from Mars retreats not just to his cave; he moves to Fiji, to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Guatemala, Mexico, and Africa.
It's a book for men because this writer lived most men's dreams. Brunk's woods were not Thoreau-sized; his peace required the presence of Alaskan wildlife which had never before seen a human.
He yearned really wild, and, as Mary Renault says, "Longing performs all things." R. Glendon Brunk performed.
It almost killed him. The real gifts in this amazing book are Brunk's courageous candor in addressing the essential emptiness he found once he realized his dreams. He does not flinch in the face of his paradoxes: he admits, for example - acknowledging a tension that must exist among almost all men -- that having a child was not in his dream. But this is a healing book. The adventure stories are only preliminary to Brunk's more central journey here: the one inward and the one backwards: back to the courage it takes to stay.
Read this book. Give it to your husband, your son, your son's teacher, your ex-husband, your boss, your mailperson. This is a great book.

This book gives all pertinent information regarding many bars in L.A. The descriptions of setting and atmosphere are accurate and it even provides history and interesting stories and facts about L.A. bars. It provides a variety of different bars in L.A., from the most trendy, hip places, to the divey hole-in-the-walls. I've been to most of these places and frequent some, but this book makes me want to try each bar mentioned!

This was probably the best guide to bars I have seen for Los Angeles. The writing is witty and the choice of bars is great. My only complaint is the layout. It would be cleaner to list the bars in the appendix by area and attractions, rather than just one big list. If you live in L.A., this is a great book to own, if you want to discover a few new places.

Frank has put together a great selection of bars from Santa Monica to Pasadena. He loads each review with little tidbits that are seldom known by even the most travel worn Angelenos: Irish commanders leading Mexican troops past the current day Molly Malone's, the biggest sports bar in the world on Santa Fe Street (which unfortunately closed at Prohibition), and Walt Disney's first studio...just down the street from the Ye Olde Rustic Inn.

It's a good book to have laying next to your Zagats guide when planning an excursion to a new part of town.

THis book is a great trail map for bars in Los Angeles. Mr. Mulvey is a truly likable man with a genuine interest in the semi-lost tradition of decent dives. The format of the book is convienent and has within it, a lot of interesting facts and anecdotes. If you are interested in bars, or if you aren't, this is the book for you. It will bring you up to speed about what's cool in LA.

Cannot go wrong with the art book about Chinese art. It's an excellent one, used a lot as a textbook both by university art teachers as well as teachers of Chinese culture and history.

It is difficult to write "Short History of Chinese Arts". Suppose that an honest scholar start preparing his lecture note of " Chinese Arts", he shall struggle with selecting subjects and plates. Moreover, for example, he feels that he be an expert on ancient bronzes, and a beginner of export wares in 17th century. Leaving the purgatory, he would want help to a standard textbook.

Among English books, this noted book may have used in many college courses. 1st edition(1967) and The revised edition(1973) were welcomed by many students and scholars. Even a japanese translation had been popular for many years. In this 4th edition, 84 old respectable scholar still attracts me with lucid style.

For beginners, this should be a good introduction. Appreciating artifacts in Museum, finding something in antique shop, or reading books/papers/articles about a particular subject, it needs some elementary background knowledge for chinese arts and history. This offers such COMMON SENSE.

For experienced scholars, this is an interesting reading. This might look a mean textbook for them. Before reading, I minded I become tired for many facts already learned, but I enjoy this book even in commute train, although this edition format is too large. Because not only this is Readable for a japanese, but also gives many (sometimes implicit) skeptical suggestions. At 258p, about Wan Hui (1632-1677, painter), "The Palace Museum collection also contains a number of clever pastiches of tenth-century and Northen Song landscapes that are almost certainly his work"; keen insight!.

I should regretfully notice that some illustrations/items might be inadequate, blurred, or damaged. I hope that they will be changed at next chance.

The colour illustrations in this book are lovely to behold. Many show restored artifacts from China's long history. Vases, stoneware, flasks, paintings, handscrolls and much more. From the paintings, you can see where the traditional misty style of Chinese landscape paintings arose. There are even genres, like bamboo painting. Just like the Europeans developed portraits of horses and landed gentry.

Naturally, there is also extensive coverage of porcelain plates and containers. Beautifully decorated. The items that the Europeans would call "china"; so close was the identification of the objects with China itself.

But more than just objects, the narrative also gives insight into the various Chinese dynasties from which these arose. And also the provinces, like Jiangsu and Anhui, that were artistic centers.

The book, The Arts of China, was book I needed to purchase for a college level Asian Art History class focused on China. Each chapter was divided into dynasties and within each chapter sections were written on: background history, ceramics, paintings, sculpture, and other various topics. There are lovely color pictures with high resolution, which are an essential to any student or scholar studying this art. The writing is clear and even enjoyable. I'd highly reccommend this book!

As a former resident of the Bay Area, this book defently takes me back there. The pictures are just wonderful. Bob Cameron included almost every city in the Bay Area. I highly reccomend Above San Francisco to anyone who love great cities and great photography.

The aerial photography is beautiful, as is the Golden Gate Bridge. Cameron presents his book very beautifully. I enjoyed this book very much. I enjoyed beautiful sunset photographs, The Bay Area, the bridges, I enjoyed every beautiful photograph in this book. The First thing I liked was the Gate Bridge (Golden Gate Bridge) And the sunsets second, then the Bay Area and of course the Way Robert Cameron did his photography.

A new look at San Francisco. Mr Cameron always manages to find new ways of looking at familiar objects. With Herb Caen's writing, this is one of his best books.

This the first of at least 12 of Cameron's "Above" books.He has set the standard for any aerial photography/coffee table books. With each new edition he finds interesting, stunningly beautiful shots-each one worthy of the "Above San Francisco" calendars he also publishes. With so much beauty and so many tourist sights in everyones favorite city, "Above San Francisco" is the way to see this unique city and the entire Bay Area.

Fabulous Book. If you want to know the inner-workings of the star-studded Hollywood Machine in the 1920's then this is the book for you. An insider's account with all the trimmings. Cari Beauchamp does it again. BRAVA!

Valeria Belletti was an energetic, intelligent young woman who came to Los Angeles from New York and worked as a secretary to some of the most powerful and interesting people in Hollywood in the late 1920s. During this period, she wrote dozens of letters to her best friend, describing not only her experiences at the movie studios, but her personal feelings and day-to-day life in southern California and on an extended trip to Europe. These letters make up the bulk of this short book, which left me liking Valeria very much and wishing there had been more. Well-written background notes are provided by editor Cari Beauchamp.

While Beauchamp supplies some valuable padding-out of the events and personalities Valeria described, she tends to give the compilation a modern feminist point of view the author of the letters did not seem to have in mind. In contrast, the letters indicate that rather than being the victim of an "iron ceiling" (Beauchamp's term), Valeria, although a high school dropout, had opportunities to grow professionally beyond being a secretary, but chose not to pursue them. Furthermore, rather than half-heartedly marrying a man she was "only fond of" (Beauchamp again) as a sort of economic expedient in an oppressive patriarchal society, Valeria was an independent woman who went where she wanted to go and did what she wanted to do. She had no trouble supporting herself comfortably, and she enthusiastically married a man of modest economic means, of whom she wrote, "The more I'm with him, the more I love him."

I have the paperback edition and find it odd that the name of Valeria Belletti, the delightful author of the letters comprising this book, does not appear on the front cover or the spine, while Beauchamp's name is displayed in large print. For enthusiasts of early Hollywood or 1920s southern California, Valeria's letters are well worth reading, while taking her editor's feminist leanings with a large chunk of salt.

This is a very fascinating book if you're into Hollywood history, specifically of the 20's. Although written as letters to a friend, they a lot like a diary, and as such it's a look at Hollywood of that era from a viewpoint we've never seen: the regular employee. There are plenty of books by and about the stars, directors, executives, etc., but this is the first one from a secretary, and while that may not sound as exciting as, say, a book about Buster Keaton, it really is interesting.

What's great is that these were just casual letters, not something their author (Valieria Belletti) expected anyone but her friend to read, consequently she speaks her mind with an openness and honesty you just won't get from someone who's expecting to be quoted. The letters are full of comments and incidents about major stars and directors, but are presented in a casual way, not jazzed up as they would be upon later reminiscence or if they were being told in an interview.

The only thing I didn't like, and this is to be expected from the private letters of one young woman to another, is that the "search for a husband" stuff gets a bit tiresome. It's still interesting in terms of being a window on the mores and social life of the time, and therefore some readers might find it better than the movie studio parts, but I came at the book through an interest in the movies not an interest in how women dated in the 20's. (As I said though, I did find this stuff interesting, it's just that it started to occupy more space than the studio stuff. And in Valieria's defense, it sounded like she was wearying of it after a while too.)

So I'm glad I read the book and I definitely recommend it, just don't expect wall-to-wall insights and revelations about Hollywood. Not that I expected that, but just be sure you don't either.

This book is not only for film buffs, it is a window to a world that is long gone. It is a bird's eye view of Hollywood at the end of the silent era and transitioning into the age of the talkies.

Aside from the great Hollywood dish, of which there is plenty, Belletti was remarkably candid and refreshingly not star struck. Although, I must confess that I can totally relate to having a crush on Ronald Colman. In the end it is the delightful, matter of fact, take no prisoners Valeria Belletti that you come so much to admire in reading her letters. She was a wonderful letter writer and these letters are, indeed, treasures. At the turn of each page you are delighted anew with some insight or adventure. She was one spunky girl and wrote letters that are filled with details of her days and nights in Hollywood. We need to bless her beloved friend Irma for saving these letters and presenting them to her many years later.

We must also thank Cari Beauchamp for bringing these letters to light and annotating them carefully with her own delightful and informative prose. As I said before, this is a window to a lost world. More than that, it is a celebration of an independent young woman making her way in a man's world and celebrating her life at the height of the jazz age. This will be a volume I will turn to again and again. Don't miss it, this will brighten the gloomiest and dampest spirits on a rainy day.

This is a very informative and comprehensive guide to hiking in Orange County. There are a very broad range of hikes, from Easy to Strenuous in here, suitable for a broad range of abilities, and each hike is clearly marked regarding the difficulty, length, and terrain.

Another feature I like is that the guide gives you information on the trail use and the best times. The trail use tells you whether that trail is good for kids, dogs, mountain bikes, horses, etc. And the best times gives you an idea of what the best time of year is to take that particular hike (e.g. November through May).

The maps in the book seem pretty good. They could be better, but I think they get the job done, particularly for experienced hikers. There is an overall map that breaks down the different areas of Orange County, which correspond to different chapters. Then, each chapter has its own map that shows all of the different hikes within that chapter. I would like to see a map of each individual hike, but I suppose that would make the book a lot longer. They do reference USGS maps for each hike that are either optional or recommended. For a particularly difficult or long hike, it would be good to get those maps, but for most hikes, you will be just fine without them.

What I really like are the descriptions. Each hike has a narrative that gives you some background on the area, and takes you through each point in the hike. It's very informative and helpful.

Overall, this is an excellent book and reference for Orange County hiking. I would highly recommend it for avid hikers, families, and beginners alike. Enjoy!

1 to 18 mi. hikes, easily accessable to all. Easy to follow directions make getting to start by bus, where available, simple.

I like the comprehensive nature of information covered more than Robert Stones book on the OC, and look forward to using this book in 2008.

In my Guide to Dayhiking in Southern California I listed the Orange County Volume of Afoot and Afield as the best in the series. It still is in this new edition, but quite a bit has changed, both in format and layout and in hike selection over the previous two editions. In general, these changes are improvements, and enough has changed that you should buy the third edition even if you have the other two.

Most of the changes are along the Orange County coastline where Schad has added 8 new hikes. This is a big plus for coastal walkers and reflects a real commitment on the part of residents of Orange County to preserve their beautiful coastline. The other area receiving lots of additional coverage is the Santa Rosa Ecological Reserve. This place is an absolute hikers' mecca, especially in the spring when wildflowers abound. This edition triples the number of hikes found in previous editions.

In terms of layout, maps are a little clearer than previously and pages for each region of Orange County are tabbed. This will surely help in locating nice walks close by. Gone, however, are the little icons that made the Afoot and Afield guides so distinctive. I found these useful in trip planning and was sorry to see them go.

On the whole, this is an excellent guide for those seeking a wilderness experience in what has to be one of the most urbanized areas in the Western US. I've done over 1/3 of the hikes described and am looking forward to doing more. This is truly the best of Orange County and this book deserves extended sales.

No Orange County hiker should be without this guide. Where and when to go, how to get there, what to expect - everything you need to know for the most rewarding hiking experience in this beautiful region.

I read this book for a medical anthropology class and found it incredibly interesting in its discussion of the politics and racism involved in the US treatment of AIDS in Haiti. It delves into how the American presence and influences lead to and exasperated the widespread AIDS and poverty problems in Haiti.

Farmer's excellent historical ethnography of Haitian illness (as seen through the contemporary context of the world AIDS epidemic), proves the necessity of developing anthropological approaches to understanding health systems and implementing medical care. The diagnosis and analysis of sickness, disease, illness, and treatment should go hand-in-hand with the cultural understanding of local systems of blame, accusation, causation, and cure. Where most approaches to medicine are based on the "Westernized" first-world nations' understanding of the causes of illness (tainted as well, as Farmer shows, by systematic "blame the victim" and shame techniques), the adoption of these approaches in treating the illnesses of other peoples can be catastrophic. Three ethnographies make up the structure of a detailed historical inquiry )

The longstanding tradition of conceiving of illness through the lens of powerlessness shapes the contemporary lives of the people in Haiti with whom Farmer worked. Although they could see the effects of the illness, people in this region were obsessed with the cause of the illness, and felt the need to understand AIDS through a constructed narrative of blame. A deep belief in their religion led villagers to look for the source of witchcraft that could possibly be harming them, and elaborate stories about neighbors, jealousies, and rivalries flourished as a result. Any improvement in the standing of one member of the society (through wealth, status, relationships, acquisition of property or food, or political power through employment or marriage) adds to the structure of distrust and blame.

Farmer's book shows how disturbingly complex and deep the layers of mistrust, misinformation, and the effects of racism, are. Among the medical hypotheses for the probable exposure is the theory of Haitian sex-workers' contacts through gay tourists to the early strains of HIV. Farmer outlines the long history of Haiti as a gay tourist attraction, and Duvalier's encouragement of tourism as a boost to the domestic economy. Although the possible cause of the gay sex trade for HIV exposure has not been confirmed, medical establishments in the U.S. based their theories of causation on other factors, such as Haitian religious practices. These theories were, in truth, reinforcing longstanding ignorance and racist misunderstandings about Haitian vodou. Stereotypes and racial profiling of Haitian citizenship as a "risk factor" (one of the "Four H's" along with hemophiliac, homosexual, and heroin user), contributed to public policies against Haitian immigrants. Haitians' belief that they are being attacked by some evil sorcery in the guise of a fatal illness called sida falls into place amidst the context of extreme antagonism and injustice.

While reading this book, I was compelled to ask myself if there isn't some truth in Haitians' understanding of AIDS as the result of malicious sorcery. Haiti was the only American society to successfully result from the direct action of a revolution against slavery and colonialism. As such, the small nation governed by creoles and black ex-slaves presented a threat to North and South American colonial societies, which were firmly entrenched in slave labor economic systems. Historically, the threat of a repeat of the Haitian revolution must have terrified white European landowners. This terror of African power and strength has been passed on in a racist legacy, adapted to political policies and nationalist agendas, and still exists in ignorant beliefs about AIDS and its causes. Haitians believe that they are victims of a longstanding racist agenda, and they may in fact be right. Farmer's book begins to illuminate some of the complicated historical and ethnographic realities of the overlapping connections between illness and racism, and between causes and effects.

This book dispels the common myths of Haitians and AIDS. It also shows very clearly the heavy involvement of the United States in creating the poverty Haiti has faced. This book makes use of statistics well, but unfortunately, at this point those stats are many years old. When Farmer wrote this book, only three people in the village of Do Kay had died of AIDS. Now, with huge percentages of Haitians exposed to HIV, the picture must certainly look different. This book is a geat candidate for a revised edition some time in the future.

I read this book for a medical anthropology class and found it incredibly interesting in its discussion of the politics and racism involved in the US treatment of AIDS in Haiti. It delves into how the American presence and influences lead to and exasperated the widespread AIDS and poverty problems in Haiti.

Yes, it's old. Yes, much of the data is outdated. But what isn't usable is at the very least amusing.

Okay, so I read this 1989 book about 5 years ago. It still has good advice for all but the most seasoned traveller.

I read this book back in 1989 when it came out. I was sitting in some airport east of the Colorado river waiting for a connecting flight when I stepped into the gift/book shop to get a soda and a candy bar. Somehow I spotted this book and bought it, and spent the rest of my waiting period and flight reading it.

The book is full advice regarding air travel that was excellent at the time. I haven't read the book since then, so I'm sure that a lot is out of date. But, I still use some of the major principles from the book when I fly today, particularly those relating packing and boarding and exiting the plane.

One example of the out of date nature of the book is that the author suggests that wheeled luggage will never catch on because they are just too noisy and embarass the user. While that statement might have been accurate for an older person in 1989, wheeled luggage is common now, and there are few people alive today who would avoid a wheeled suitcase for that reason.

The book is well written and the author has quite a sense of humor. It had a lot of helpful information at the time.

Interestingly, at the end of the book, the author asks people to write to him (c/o the publisher) and states that he intends to update the book periodically. Its too bad that he didn't.

If anyone knows what happened to the author, please let me know!

OK, let's put some things in perspective here. This book was published in 1989 and the first three chapters on choosing your flight are totally out of date. Consider those three chapters a history lesson at best.

However, this book is extremely well organized and does offer good tips and advice. The writing is direct with no fluff unlike some of these new travel books. The author displays a good sense of humor which a nice bonus.

If you can get this out-of-print book for a couple of books somewhere, I believe it is well worth it.

It gets 5 stars from me not because it is a completely up-to-date book, but for the value I got out of it. How I wish this book would be revised for curent times!