Hawaii Books

If you like to hike, swim,snorkel, mountain bike, or pursue another active hobby while traveling, you will probably find this book a valuable guide for the Hawaiian islands. It is an overall guide, and I think you will probably also benefit by supplementing this book with a specific guidebook oriented towards the island(s) you are spending most of your time on. Avid snorkelers (I am one) will also benefit from the Malinowski series on snorkeling in specific islands in Hawaii. The best feature of the book is a list of the "top ten" adventures on each island. Useful for penetrating the immense amount of information to identify the most unusual or spectacular attractions on each island.

Absolutely the best book about treating marine injuries with up to date and professional information. This should be a must for anyone spending much time in the water--professionally or recreationally.

Gradually our mental image of Kamakura Buddhism is becoming much richer and more complex, and this excellent book makes a major contribution to that process. "Alms and Vagabonds" is indeed full of a great many intriguing insights on the development of Buddhism during this time, insights from a wide variety of perspectives, all of which Goodwin elucidates quite naturally in a study of what would at first glance seem to be a small, simple, and minor facet of Japanese Buddhist history.

The book's focus on "kanjin" turns out after all to be an incredibly fruitful one. First of all, the concrete details of this phenomenon, in which itinerant monks went about soliciting donations from rich and poor for the building, rebuilding, and maintenance of Buddhist temples and the like is interesting in its own right. How did it develop? What was its rationale? Who were these monks and how did they make their pitch? Who were the donors, and what was in it for them? There's a real story here, one that the author shares with us after a lot of careful, in-depth, original research. Second of all, "kanjin" allows us to see the socioeconomic nuts and bolts of Kamakura Buddhism in a rare fashion; religion is never cheap, after all, and here we have the story of how all those temples, icons, rituals, sutras, and such were funded--and of how they were replaced when destroyed or damaged. This in turn has the effect of placing Buddhism squarely within the context of Japanese history, both in terms of the era's convoluted record of political twists and turns and open warfare as well as in the almost imperceptibly changing textures of everyday life. However, this is hardly a reductive analysis. The very real and utterly sincere religious motivations and conceptualizations informing "kanjin" both for the monks and the donors are explored in great depth, and this in turn ties in with the spread of Buddhism among the general populace and with the revival movements (such as Shingon Ritsu) within the established Buddhist schools--overturning the misperception that Kamakura Buddhism was only about Pure Land, Nichiren, and Zen. As is doubtlessly clear, something like sociology of religion--or else cultural history of religion--is the key methodological approach here, but Goodwin also gets quite specific in describing the biographies, religious orientations, and kanjin campaigns of key Buddhist monks, especially Jokei, Chogen, and Eizon and their efforts on behalf of Kasagidera, Todaiji, and religiously-motivated public infrastructure projects and charity work.

In fact, a key characteristic of this excellent study is its flawless sense of balance. Buddhism is portrayed neither as a cynical money-making machine nor a haze of disembodied doctrines, neither as a faceless historical process nor an episodic saga of great individuals. Rather, the socioeconomic and spiritual realities dovetail in fascinating ways, monks and layfolks with their own stories to tell are in turn part of a bigger, longer story. And an easily ignored aspect of medieval Buddhist life turns out to quietly revolutionize everything we might have thought about the subject.

The concept surprised me when I read this book-a children's story featuring a real dog. Amadeus is a beautiful fluffy white dog who gets into adventures that young children can enjoy. My son was dazzled by photos that capture Amadeus as he explores Hawaii's breathtaking beauty. A truly imaginative idea. My family awaits the next book in the series.

It's about time that someone finally did real research into Hawaiian clothing, including the aloha shirt. This book is historically accurate. Much of what has previously been published is erroneous. What most of the world knows about Hawaiian clothing comes from the use of aloha shirts after WW2. While our beautiful environment stimulated the production of bold and beautiful textiles, these were used in more than just shirts. Arthur covers womens' wear as well, and presents hundreds of beautiful pictures along with an interesting to read description of the history and culture of Hawaii. Aloha attire is more complicated than many would understand. This book covers the clothing that has been produced in, and worn by people in Hawaii in the 19th and 20th century. Truly a wonderful book!

A very delightful overview of nature's destruction of a portion of Kalapana on the Island of Hawaii. The photography captures the essense of the destructive force loosed by the erupting volcano as well as the beauty of the flowing lava.

The "read" matches the photography making the book well worth the asking price.

As a hockey fan and a resident of The Big Island -
I found this novel's characters both provocative and amusing.

There could be no better historical setting, for the 3 Rust Belt professionals to land upside down in - where Hawaiians lead 3 new neighbors on a marvelous romp through the land of 2 mystical rivals: Madame Pele and her nemesis, Poliahu.

My neighbor finished ALOHA RAINBOW and added that it was almost like reading Harry Potter with Margaret Attwood's perspective and Rita Mae Brown's sharp humor. I think that not since Mark Twain visited the volcano has an author mixed such irreverence and delightful observations.

I hope Ms. Whitmer gets on with a sequel.

Aloha Dolores continues the very funny adventures of a young girl and her cat, Duncan. Dolores is an extremely spirited girl whose exuberance often dismays Duncan as she includes him in her daily adventures. In this book Dolores sets out to win a trip to Hawaii by entering a contest sponsored by "Kitty Krunchies." Dolores' wise older sister, Faye, reminds her that thousands of people will enter the contest, but Dolores has no doubt that she and Duncan will win. The expressions on the cat's face are priceless and the vivid illustrations add to the storyline. My two daughters can't wait to add this book to their shelf right next to their very worn copy of Duncan and Dolores!

This is a historical anatomy text by Dr. Judd who founded the first Western medical school in Hawaii. Half of the book is in Hawaiian and the other translated half is in English. The text is basic and readable with great pictures.

There was a lot of interesting information about the ancient Hawaiian Civilization. I really enjoyed this book and use it as a reference book. I highly recommend this book.