California Books

This is a lovely book with wonderful photographs of Hollywood fashion icons. Another thing that is great about this book is that it features those who are not as popularly remebered, such as Delores Del Rio, along with more popular icons such as Audrey Hepburn. Great book! Highly recommended!

This book is so pleasing I made sure I bought two copies. Very
Beautiful fashion summaries for some very beautiful Hollywood leading ladies. My favorite fashion icons are Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and
Dolores Del Rio. I wish the author would do another book that highlight current fashion icons such as Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry etc.

I think this is the best Hollywood fashion book there is! The photos are great and the stories are fun.

I bought the hardcover edition -- it was my favorite fashion book. But now, the revised edition with the introduction that involves new stars and their photos (Gwyneth Paltrow, Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Barrymore and Cher) adds a new dimension to the story. I'm really happy and for a paper back, the quality is EXCELLENT. Thanks Patty Fox!

It is easy to forget what it was like before Roe vs. Wade. This important work reminds older women and shows younger women the tremendous impact the issue of choice has on lives. It reads like a mystery and develops into a can't-put- it-down good read.

Sometimes people forget that mid-twentieth century California was not just Hollywood, but a large, sparsely populated state, with hundreds of small rural communities. In _Staying Under_, Carol Alma McPhee recreates that California for readers. As a woman who grew up in a similar environment, I want to vouch for her accuracy of detail as well as her ear for dialogue. Maureen and Joann, her two main characters, sound just the way my friends and I did fifty years ago.

McPhee uses her setting to provide a sense of what frightening challenges might face young women emerging from such a protected rural environment in 1948. She also uses the setting to show how all kinds of isolation and separation affect the development of women: isolation from knowledge about themselves, isolation from sensible help from the community, isolation created by the lies told each other.

Though Staying Under is not a mystery, it reads like a mystery. The answer to the question of what Joann is going to do about her pregnancy in 1948--before Roe vs. Wade-- and how she might find help becomes more and more frightening as you read on. This is especially true as McPhee contrasts the life Joann has led as an adult and her strong and passionate character as an adolescent. In general, characterization is one of McPhee's strong points. Maureen, the friend who tries to help the teen age Joann, hasn't changed as much as her friend as she has grown older, but she has developed into a competent and active woman who loves to make fun of herself. Of the men in the book, Paul Ridley, Joann's father who pursues strange religions is the most interesting, though Collie, who keeps an imaginary frog in his pocket, adds to the suspense at the end.

I had forgotten how little information girls had in 1948 about ANYTHING that mattered and how hard it was to find out what we needed to know about ourselves and the world around us. This book reminded me of how our close friendships with other girls helped to nourish our survival.

debbie yamada visited our school

her book has so much history in it

did you know that the 2 kids in the story are the names of her children

I just finished reading "Striking It Rich," and I think it's a wonderful book. Using the story device of finding old letters from the 1850s worked very well; it brought the characters to life. I learned many things about Chinese immigrant life in the U.S. that I didn't know before--the novel is very informative.

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone (both adults and students) who wants a greater understanding of the reasons why the early Chinese immigrants would risk so much to come to a distant land and the hardships they faced upon their arrival.

I hope that the author, Debbie Leung Yamada, continues to write and produce more books such as this one. I think she has a fine talent and a voice that is needed to be heard.

This book is one of the most facinating books that I have read in a long time. It was captivating from beginning to end. I couldn't put it down once I started reading. This book taught me much about the history of Chinese-Americans during the Gold Rush Era. I recommend this book for all ages to read.

This is an exciting historical fiction book. The story starts when two kids visit their grandma's house and find a mystery room. Many exciting chapters await you as the secret unfolds. I read this book in one sitting because I couldn't wait to see what happened! Ms. Yamada brings this story to life! I enjoyed this book immensely.

Who would have thought that abandoned grain elevators, old elevated wooden tank houses (to hold water and supply pressure to agricultural areas) and hydraulic mines from California's gold rush would produce such remarkable photos. In the hands of photographer David Wilson these ancient commercial structures take on a life of their own. Sited in the mostly flat Central Valley and slowly disappearing this visual record fortunately captures many buildings for the record.

Just to have Wilson's photo book of these structures would be enough to make a purchase but I think the book goes a lot further. I think it is a very successful attempt to produce a package that works from the cover onwards. Book designer Todd Foreman has used the photos to create a sense of pace and interest as you turn over the pages, sometimes it is the use of a fifth color panel between photos on a spread or repeating one image several times on a page, butting some photos together, running some of the photos of the page edge or enlarging a section of an image.

Don't think though that this sounds like an over designed photo book because it isn't. The book's basic format is of oblong images (printed in 200 dpi) untouched on the page with the more graphic treatments blending in perfectly. Include the jacket, cover, fly-leaf, title, imprint, the five caption pages at the back, paper, layout and typography have all been considered.

Structures of Utility is one of those rare books that goes the extra mile for the reader.

***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

This unusual book may actually leave readers and viewers with not only enriched visual abilities but also a broader concept of buildings and of the nature of beauty. Wilson does this by showing us pleasing patterns to be found in everyday structures. He recognizes the utility and the aesthic qualities of sheds and barns and tanks, offering photographs and texts to illustrate and explain why we, like him, find his examples so pleasing: The texture of a wall that catches light just so...the slope of a roof that blends with the landscape...the sensuous angle of a doorway.
The text is crisply written and mostly jargon free--yet not oversimplified--a fitting complement to the original vision that led to these illustrations. This is a surprising and surprisingly satisying book. Hats off to Mr. Wilson.

Beautifully printed, the entire book is consistent and engaging in its design. The pages alternate between large full-bleed spreads and smaller collections of photos which complement one another, or photos offset by text, all of which lead the eye nicely through the book.

I appreciate how the book features just enough text to tell the story behind these photographs. The text itself is reflective and articulate, written by Wilson himself, and stops well short of becoming overbearing. Lots of room is left over for the viewer to simply meditate on the quiet and strange beauty in these utilitarian structures of the past.

Not a single person is seen in any of Wilson's photograph's here, but the human imprint on and within the land is the photographs' nexus. It helps, of course, to already be interested in this stuff. But even if you've never pulled off the side of the road in the middle of nowhere to look at an ancient grain silo or collapsing sheets of rusty corrugated metal walls, the photos and accompanying text offer some engaging food for thought about where we've come from and where we're going, and what will change in between.

I feel that book could have done away with a few of the photographs in order to better focus on the best of the best, but overall this is a nice comprehensive spread of Wilson's work that I know I'll come back to again and again.

Among countless books of beautiful photographs, I've found few that change the way I look at the world. What Ansel Adams did for the sights of Half Dome and El Capitan in Yosemite, David Stark Wilson has done for the lowly silo, the aging mine complex, the agricultural shed. After looking over his photos of those structures-the `structures of utility' of his title-I will never take a drive in rural America with the same old eye again. Wilson has ground a new lens for all of us that could and should impact the design of what he terms the "built environment", the spread of buildings that has become a texture on the landscape in so many areas outside of cities. Wilson makes a strong case for examining structures largely overlooked until now to rescue us from the endless expansion of tilt-up warehouses or soulless stucco cartoons. We have an incredibly rich tradition of utilitarian design, Wilson shows us, that should be drawn upon to help make the structures we build worthy of the landscapes they occupy. Every county planner, every mall designer, every architect, every student of design should own a copy of his important book.

This is one of the great books of all time. The author was a psychiatrist who was bed ridden and took the opportunity to investigate the human mind and body. He used scientific observation as his tool. As many eastern Zen masters have said. Just watch as a good shepherd watches his flock. The sheep will be contented and well cared for. He will know each one by their sound. These are not different techniques.

Benoit created with this book a western scientific basis of Zen. Carlotte Joko Beck and her students have created a new Zen called "Ordinary Mind Zen" from a synthesis of Benoit's work and Japanese formal Zen practice.

This is a very difficult book to read. The book was translated from the French. Long paragraphs are one sentence. The book is also written in a dry academic style. The translator was must not have been able to understand what Hubert Benoit wrote, except in a literal sense. I was only able to read it by reading a couple of pages at a time each morning as I took a tub bath. I have read it several times that way. It does get easier the third or fourth time. Unfortunately, formal mediation practice over years would be necessary for a practical usage of this material. The book does have great academic value for people who are interested in the real thing.

...Refer to Charlotte Joko Beck's book "Nothing Special." She writes that it is the best book on Zen that she's ever read. Apparently, it is very difficult to read because it was translated from the original French version. Author was in a serious accident and pondered the human mind for years as he rehabilitated.

Enhanced for the reader with an informative Foreward by Aldous Huxley, Hubert Benoit's The Supreme Doctrine is a masterful survey and exploration of Zen Buddhism. A spectrum of issues and subjects are addressed including the existential, mechanistic, and metaphysical aspects of Zen. Exceptionally well reasoned, written, and presented, this major treatise is a highly recommended and very welcome contribution to the growing library of Buddhist literature for the Western reader.

This book is not an easy read, not so much due to its translation as to its depth and subtly. Like the mark of great Teachers words remembered in hindsight; with each re-reading of this book deeper and deeper lessons can be learned. Though this is not for the novice, nor would I call Beniot a Zen master as such, this book sits side by side on my shelf of important works along with Philip Kapleau's Three Pillers, and Shunryu Suzuki's Beginners Mind.

This is a great book !!..It is well written,informative and entertaining. many pictures,drawings and in depth information on just about everything..I also make my own primitive archery equipment and hunt with homemade bows/arrows which was my prime reason for buying the book.. I was very impressed with the in depth information in this area and as a primitive bowyer myself I can attest to the fact that the author at least has a good basic understanding of such archery.. Only those of us that are obsessed with such skills will know more than the author.. I can tell that it is not his primary hobby, but I can also tell that he is pretty knowledgeable on the subject..

If you are into primitive archery this section alone is interesting read( it is NOT an intructionional book, but is informative enough to give you good insight to how native bows were made)..

The book covers a lot of different topics and has very in depth knowledge of each area..

The author covers a wide range of survival skill subjects from the use of an atlatl to how a boat was made from tules. The book is filled with detailed information with cited sources. The table of contents is hefty and an excellent bibliography is provided. A must for anyone interested in survival skills of Native Californians from the past.

Pual Campbell's Survival Skills Of Native California is an impressive, scholarly, exhaustive, detailed compendium surveying more than 2000 California-based Native American tribal skills. Survival Skills Of Native California is superbly enhanced for readers, students, researchers, and scholars with almost one thousand instructional illustrations. Included are informative sections on all the basic survival skills, the tools of gathering and food preparation, the implements of household and personal necessity, as well as the arts of hunting and fishing. Survival Skills Of Native California offers the reader comprehensive, authentic, detailed information and instruction on how to live off the land and capably employ all of the varied resources of earth's bounty that enabled the survival of California's native population for millennia. Survival Skills Of Native California is a unique and invaluable acquisition for personal, academic, and community library Native American studies collections reference collections.

This book provides a fascinating and comprehensive glimpse into the daily lives of pre-contact California Indians. It is laid out in easy to use chapters that provide just enough information to be complete, but still include local examples and myths to add flavor to the narrative. My only complaint is that some of the skills are a bit complicated and are confusing to read. I guess you just have to go out to the wilderness and try it out! This is a must-read for anyone interested in California Indians and their history.

I bought three different editions of this book. The first one fell apart from use "1974". I lost the second book around Lake Alpine. The latested edition got soaked this year, 2003, in the Mokulmne River. Very useful information, excellent writing. I highly recommend Thomas Winnett's Tahoe-Yosemite Trail.
PS-What ever happend to Don Dennison?

I've done the entire 180 miles of the trails described here, and this is an absolutely essential book if you're planning this backpack adventure. The scenery is as gorgeous as anything on the John Muir Trail and there are less crowds and more sublime solitude. Winnet takes you through the journey step by step and provides you with necessary info: where is the nearest water source? Is the source dependable even in drought years? Is the area known for active and intrusive bears into your campsites to raid your food supply? How are the mosquitoes on this lef of the trip, and so on.

I encourage all serious California hikers to undertake this magnificent journey and to read this book before attempting the trek. It's well written, informative, includes fine maps and many useful tips. Highly recommended.

I've hiked the TYT twice and wouldn't hike it again without this book. Some areas of the TYT are much less travelled than the PCT and without the guidebook, route finding could be extremely difficult in some spots, especially during a heavy snow year.

Thomas Winnett is a good writer and extremely knowledgeable about this area of the country. My only criticism of the book is that its a bit outdated. I think that the last time the book was updated was in the 80's and the trail has changed in a few places due to storms, new regulations, corrosion, etc. If you are a novice in the back country, this could cause you some potential headache trying to figure out where the new trail is. If you are an experienced back country traveler, this shouldn't bother you too much.

The book contains copies of all the needed sections of the USGS maps, which is really helpful. Otherwise, you'd have to figure out which maps you'd need and splice them all together in order to see the whole trail. I am not aware of an entire map or collection of maps that encompasses the entire TYT, so this is pretty valuable. Winnett also includes a handy elevation profile so that you know when you are in for a steep downhill or uphill section, how steep it will be, and how long it will be. Again, a nice thing to have.

The book also has some basic information about flora and fauna, geology, and history, which make it entertaining and educational. If you are planning to hike the TYT, its the best $10 you'll spend on planning your hike.

If you'd like to see photos of my two TYT trips to see what you are in for, you can find them here:
http://www.dudedesign.com/photos/

Good Luck on your hike!

I've used this guide on every leg described in the book and it was dead on (1988 - 1996). The summit creek area description was helpful since that section wasn't well marked. Is much better than USGS maps. Definitely recommend. 259 Top of the line.

This book has so much vitually important information for the employee going through a worker's comp situation. It covers all from the begining to the end. THIS BOOK WILL GIVE YOU THE KNOWLEDGE NEEDED TO FIGHT FOR YOUR LAWFUL RIGHTS -- DO NOT GIVE IN OR GIVE UP -- WITH THIS BOOK YOU WILL UNDERSTAND AND REALIZE THAT THE FIGHTERS ARE THE ONES THAT RECEIVE WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY/LAWFULLY INTITLED TO THEN.

KEEP FIGHTING AND BELIEVING THAT 'JUSTIFICATION FOR EMPLOYEER'S WRONG DOING CAN BE ACHIEVED.

READ THIS BOOK AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND!!!

As a Workers' Compensation practitioner, this is the book that I recommend to all the aquaintances that ask for free advice. I also tend to recommend it to large companies that operate in CA and other states, because it gives the law and requirements in terms that a high school graduate can understand.

There is more emphasis in this book on answers and "by the number" processes than legal precedent or analysis, which I find easier to follow for the lay person. Chris Ball also has a number of forms included with simple completion directions.

If someone is looking for an overview with more legal justification or reference to statutes, the California Workers' Compensation Handbook is an excellent choice. This book by Stanford Herlick is updated every year, and has shorter sections with less hand-holding.

I think that the Herlick paperback is the reference source of choice for the attorney or paralegal to carry in the car or briefcase for quick review of issues and solutions.

I bought this book when I was first injured after getting so frustrated at not being able to get answers to my questions anywhere else. I searched the internet, talked to people, but I just kept going in circles. Then I discovered this book. It saved me. I have since hired a lawyer, however, you will feel more empowered and in control if you understand the process and the terminology. Plus, insurance companies try to "get away" with some things, assuming the average person won't know their workers comp rights. This book has saved me several times in that instance. (For example, they made doctor's appointments for me, sent me the info on their legal letterhead saying I was required to go to that particular doctor. Since I knew my rights from reading the book, I challenged them and didn't have to go to their doctor. Basically, I think they try these tactics just because most people aren't informed, and will just do what they say) It's so important to understand what is happening with your case, and what your rights are. I've been injured for four years, and find I research something in this book at least once a week. If you have a workers comp injury, you shouldn't be without this book! (Also, Nolo puts out a great book on filing for social security disability too) Best of luck to you!

The average consumer has no idea of the laws and the rights he has when faced with an on the job injury.

This book is easy to read and understand. I am a nurse case manager for workers comp injuries and found this book extremely helpful. I encourage all my clients to obtain this book even if they have a lawyer. It gives them a solid knowledge base when the docs, attorneys and insurance people are throwing terms around.

It is well organized and follows a normal sequence of events. It was written by an attorney who handles workers comp cases.

I highly recommend this book.

MY WIFE AND I WERE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE HAD THE UNLISTED RESERVATION NUMBER AND ENJOYED THE WONDERFUL FOOD AND AMBIANCE OF MA MAISON.

THE FACT THAT THE RESERVATION NUMBER WAS UNLISTED AND THE STARS WERE THE INVESTORS AND PATRONS MAKES THIS ONE OF THE GREATEST MARKETING STORIES EVER AS WELL AS AFFORDING THE READER AN INSIGHT INTO THE HOLLYWOOD OF THE TIME.

WILLIAM REITER, TELLURIDE COLORADO

Ihave rarely read a story of a restaurant that enthralled me from the beginning to the end. It was sincere, happy and sad. I learned a great deal of lessons both in management and in cooking from the great recipes. I recommend this book to all persons who enjoy dining out,so they can better undertand what it takes to run a restaurant.

It was fun seeing the restaurant scene in Hollywood in the 70 and 80, as well as seeing the wonderful picture asnd recipes. I enjoyed seeing where Wolfgang Puck and many other chefs got their start. An easy read and fun holiday gift.

Reading this book and looking at the photographs is like taking a trip back in time to the 1970s. Ma Maison was the greatest restuarant in the country then and all the rich and famous made it their hom awaqy from home. A fun and enjpoyable book. Thanks for sharing the experience.

For any theatre professional, student or enthusiast. Highly recommend watching "My Dinner With Andre" as well. It's a film by Wallace Shawn.

There is no better book that I have read on the theory and practice of theatre. As Peter Brook says in the preface, "Grotowski is unique. Why? Because no-one else in the world, to my knowledge, no-one since Stanislavsky, has investigated the nature of acting, its phenomenon, its meaning, the nature and science of its mental-physical-emotional processes as deeply and completely as Grotowski."

Grotowski argues effectively that the split of the stage and the screen necessitates that the stage redefine its focus. The screen with its higher budget and countless retakes will always beat the stage in richness. So, Grotowski posits "If it [the stage] cannot be richer than the cinema, then let it be poor." The rest of the book illustrates what such a poor theatre means in practice. Brilliant.

Comprehending this book is no small feat. Sure, you start with the premise that competing with the technical spectacle of movies and TV is a fruitless pursuit. That's not difficult. Neither is the idea of embracing poverty in theatre and making the human being the only center of performance. That's dead easy. Spare costumes, little or no makeup, no sound effects, as few light effects as possible. Who can argue with that?

But this doesn't mean everybody can embrace Grotowski's vision of Poor Theatre. His is one that involves stripping away all preconceived notions of theatre from the early Modern period on. This will never fly in commercial theatre, dependent as it is on technology, nor will it satisfy many recent playwrights, who depend on technical do-funnies to make their shows work.

Grotowski also takes a funny view of plays, playwrights, and theoreticians who don't agree with him. Among other things, he considers playwrights as hired talent and plays as essentially malleable. He also suggests that the only way the writings of Artaud are useful in theatre is if they are taken elementally rather than globally - a position sure not to sit well with many avant-garde directors.

Because this book isn't a straight-ahead statement of principles, ideas, and practices, it yields its secrets only with difficulty. Parts of it aren't even written by Grotowski, but are interviews by other authors, or even observations that don't include quotes from the man himself. It was basically compiled to provide an overview of the ideas and products of the Polish Laboratory Theatre up to that time, and it encourages experiment and development by the reader.

This isn't to say that it isn't actually useful. There are exercises for actors; there are statements of theory for directors; there are even sketches, diagrams, and photos for designers. However, expect to wrestle with this book if you're going to unlock its secrets. Once you elect to start down this path, you have a long row to hoe

"Towards A Poor Theatre" by Jerzy Grotowski is probably the most important book written on acting since Stainslavsky's three famous character books. There is so little known about Grotowski and many people have tried to fake his work and people need to read the man's original words. Grotowski's vision of theatre has had the greatest effect on me more than any other person in theatre. He saw acting as a Holy experience where both the actor and spectator were transformed after the performance. Grotowski expanded from where Stainslavsky left off and drew his ideas everywhere from modern art to religious rituals to primitive theatre. Any one interested in theatre must read this book somehow and be changed forever like I have.