California Books

I read about Saroyan in Closing Time (Heller's disappointing sequel to Catch-22), I was inspired to pick up this book and I'm so glad I did. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book, and so far the preface remains my favorite part. Fortunately, that's because it's an amazing preface that, brief as it may be, would have been just barely worth the purchase price all on its own. This is, of course, not an issue, because so far every story has been a bite-sized morsel of goodness. Especially great for the sort of person who likes to read a few short stories in one sitting, they're compact and plentiful and thoroughly satisfying. So... get this book.

Saroyan has a rare sense of language usage and introduces thoughts and ideas causing you to stop and realize how the grind of everyday life can be refreshing, moving, and humorous. His writings represent a slice of life in everyday America as well as amusing insights into the wacky right braininess of a writer. Once you get through the first chapter and can stand up again, the rest of the book is one deeper-than-real-life-story after another. Like Edith Wharton, Saroyan has a command of the craft of writing that seems lost in today's works.

A masterful work. Most of them written in a thirty day period, in which Saroyan promised to send the editors od Story magazine a story a day for thirty days. He proceeded to do this and this book made Saroyan an instant celebrity.

Saroyan eventually went on to win the Pulitzer for his play "The Time of You Life", but turned it down.

This book was a stunner when it first appeared. The simple yet poetic language ran against the trend of the times.

Saroyan is a nearly forgotten genius, yet his influence is evident in even his enemies, like Ernest Hemingway.

Buy this book, read it, and then give it to somebody. They will thank you and so will I.

I think there are not many books, that can change your life. This is one of them. I was sixteen when I read this book for the first time. I was not very happy in that time and I was rather confused by life but it has changed. In these short stories I could read about thoughts and feelings, that were similar to mine, but I had not be able to express them. But angle of wiev was new. It made me to live in spite of the world.

William Saroyan was brought to my attention by Jack Kerouac's early writings in "Upon An Underwood." I can see why Kerouac was turned on by Saroyan...and so am I. This book of stories is very inspiring because, in a good-natured way, it defies the conformist rules and regulations that "academic literature" tries to enforce upon young writers. It's as funny as it is insightful...and even a bit bizarre. It easily belongs on the TOP SHELF of any library.
Its value is timeless.

A fascinating introspective look into the mind of one of the great American photographers of the beginning of the 20th century, Edward Weston. With his intricate, yet simple, and sometimes abstract images, Weston created a world of his own together with his "one true love," his camera. By evidently pouring his soul into every entry of his daybooks, Weston makes the reader gain a greater understanding of his technique and extraordinary eye for beauty. The chronological organization of entries takes the reader from Weston's days in Mexico through his days in California.
Not only writing about photography, Weston describes his many acquaintances (his encounters with Stieglits are most interesting), his dinner parties, his adventures in a foreign land, his romantic dealings, etc. It was interesting to read of his take on Mexico of the 1920's. Also interesting is the glimpse into the life of a struggling artist who depends of every "sitting" to survive...the life of a true artist. The pairing up of his writings with sporadic clusters of his wonderful photographs enhanced and completed this Weston experience. Alltoghether a fascinating compilation of thought, highly recommendable.

I can tell that this was a really interesting book. After reading it front to back more than once, I now have a new outlook on Edward and his work. I finally understand what he was trying to convey though his images thanks to this book. Edward Weston had a fascinating life especially with all who he encountered. This is a must read if you are an artist, photographer or not!

This book stands alone in the annals of art history. No other book gives such an intimate view into the day-to-day trials of a working artist. Weston, who from time to time fostered ambitions of becoming a writer, genrously shares his thoughts and his experiences over a 15 year period, culminating in a remarkable portrait of the artist as a human being. While literary critics may have occasion to fault his prose, which at times seems flowery and verbose, given his Victorian-age education this can be forgiven of him. Weston takes us through his decision to leave his family and travel to Mexico, where he chronicles not only his own work, but that of other artists. He writes of the bullfights, love affairs, the scenery, and of the many unforgettable characters he met along the way. Weston moved in many circles, and thoroughly enjoyed himself, whether his company be artists or revolutionaries. He shares with the reader his many instances of self doubt, of guilt, and of poverty. He also shares his many triumphs, as his original photography begins to garner commercial success. We see Weston as an art critic, giving unflinching opinions of the works of Diego Rivera, Carlos Orozco, Robinson Jeffers, and a host of others. He is no less honest in his evaluation of his own work. Included in the volume are 72 extremely well-reproduced photographs divided into the various periods of his photographic life. We are givin a behind-the-scenes look at how these photographs were made, from both the artistic and the technical point of veiw. Most importantly, the Daybooks is not just for photographers or Weston afficianodos, but for anyone who appreciates a well-written autobiography of a remarkable artist.

This book is a great book to get to know the thoughts of Edward Weston on his daily work of photography and personal life. This is a diary type book of daily entries of thoughts. It has some funny points and sad points (as a lives do). Photographers today can identify with the great Photographer on his progress of daily work. If you want to see Edward Weston's thoughts in his daily life this is the book to get! I'd have to say it's awesome to know the thoughts and happenings of a great photographer of the past!

Second time reading Weston's Day Books over thirty years. First time I was young and only looking for technical hints. This time I'm much more interested in relationships, family, and Weston's struggle with his art, money and life A must read for all artists.

Kate Gillespie, Homicide Inspector for the San Francisco PD, finds herself entwined in an apparent murder-suicide case involving an old school friend. The deeper Kate digs, the more involved the case becomes, leading Kate to question some basic truths from her past. This is the third Kate Gillespie book and a great addition to the series.

Robin Burcell has written another police procedural that is both interesting and even better, if that is possible, than her previous two bestsellers of Inspector Kate Gillispie. Kate and her new partner, Rocky, go on a chase for a double murder killer, and Kate discovers an old college friend was not the gody-two shoes she appeared to be. Kate is delightful as a woman who is guilty over some of the things she has to do as a police officer and a person. A thriller worthy of a good read at night. I recommend it highly.

In San Francisco, Homicide Detectives Kate Gillespie and Rocky Markowski investigate what appears is a murder suicide with two corpse inside a car. When Kate sees the female victim, she realizes she was her estranged best friend Eve Tremayne. Kate cut off her relationship with Eve because the latter was into kinky S&M.

Kate and Rocky explores Eve's residence where they find a sex room including adult toys and an album containing pictures of the deceased's clients. Kate sees a picture of her dead father and absconds with it. On the other hand she leaves behind inside the album the picture of her ex-spouse. As Rocky takes over the lead with another cop, Kate is relegated to providing support. The SFPD digs into a violent underworld filled with treachery, duplicity and selfish cover-ups by individuals who will not lose a minute of sleep if three cops must die.

Fans of police procedurals will want to read DEADLY LEGACY, an exciting tale starring a strong cast of characters. Kate is an ethical lead protagonist whose conscience reminds her that she tampered with evidence when she removed the photo. Though everyone insists that Eve was a highly ethical person, Kate knows first hand otherwise. Rocky provides a steady balance and an internal affairs cop adds a romantic angle. The who-done-it is complex as the so-called loving relatives of the victims do everything to avoid exposure. As she did with Every Move She Makes and Fatal Truth, Robin Burcell provides the audience with a strong mystery.

Harriet Klausner

If y'all have't read a Robin Burcell book, you are in for SUCH a treat! :D

All the characters ring true, and Kate Gillespie is the epitomy of a true heroine, the BEST of what we want cops to be. Plus she's way funny. Read all her books ASAP!

Pat, BIG fan of this fabulous author!

I enjoyed 'Every Move She Makes' and 'Fatal Truth' so much that I couldn't wait to read 'Deadly Legacy', but I wasn't certain that Burcell could maintain the same intensity in the plot and between the characters for this third outing. Happily, I was just as intrigued with the story and the relationships this time. Once I began reading I was unable to stop until the surprising conclusion.

This story begins with the murder/suicide of an unknown man and a young woman that San Francisco Homicide Inspector Kate Gillespie knew well once upon a time. As Kate and her new partner Rocky Markowsky investigate the deaths become more suspicious. Everyone has something to hide including Kate. Kate initially begs to be removed from this case to which she has so many unhappy associations. However, when she is asked to step aside she is unable to let go of her investigation despite the fact that someone is trying to make her stop permanently.

Burcell's characters are so well developed that you feel like you know them. They are also intelligent, dedicated, honest but flawed just enough that you really want to know them.

The on again off again relationship between Kate and Mike Torrance adds spice to the story, and I would like to see it progress further in the next installment. My only objection is that the book wasn't long enough.

Make no mistake: this book can be very tough sledding. Reading about the sad, often lonely, always uncomfortable deaths Scannell's patients suffered would be tough for any but the most hard-hearted reader to take. How could anyone not cry when reading about the dying man who wanted nothing more than to end his life in the midwestern home he grew up in, yet was forbidden to do so -- and therefore died alone, far away -- because his parents feared his son's illness would turn their small community against them? Yet it is against this backdrop of sadness and isolation that Scannell writes about her tender, compassionate, and often very creative ways of caring for her patients. Through her eyes we can see that, even when there is no hope of extending life, the lives of the dying can still be valued and enriched in the time they do still have. On a personal note, although I haven't lost nearly as many friends to HIV/AIDS in the last 20 years as some have, I have still attended far more than my share of memorial services and have said goodbye (or worse, not had the chance to say goodbye) to a handful of friends who I sometimes still cannot believe are really gone. I remember all too well the dark days Scannell writes about, and am grateful that advances in medicine since the mid-90s have helped reduce the terrible loss of human life. But the lessons Scannell offers are timeless and independent of person or illness. I don't recommend this book if you are currently coming to terms with a loss, because it may prove to be too painful. But if you are starting to lose your faith in mankind and need a dose of humanity, reading a few chapters of Scannell's book can offer a healthy reorientation.

This is one of the most touching, beautiful books I have ever read. Scannell shares her life with her readers and honors the memories of her AIDS patients through her her series of "anecdotes." Each chapter is a different story, or memory, making it easy to read over a span of a week or more, or even in a day. In it, she touches upon a variety of issues like healthcare, sexuality, gender, death, family, and fear and she talks about her evolving from a good doctor (i.e. seeing the patient's physical needs) to a compassionate doctor (treating the patient holistically and considering their emotional needs).
In the last chapter she reflects on her five years of experience on an AIDS ward and how it helps her cope with her discovery that she has cancer.
When I read this book, I felt like she was next to me in person telling me these stories. I laughed; I got sad; I felt hopeful. This is a testament to human life, and I would recommend this easy read to anyone.

Beautifully written and mesmerizing stories. It's extraordinary, and even reassuring, to read the reflections of a doctor who is so carefully aware of the human and spiritual depths of the doctor-patient relationship. It's unforgettable and shouldn't be missed.

What a wonderful set of truths Scannell reveals in her experiences of caring for dying patients. Honest, raw, funny experiences that shed light into a world few of us can ever know. How great, too, that she "expands the traditional narrative" of physicians' lives.

There exist so few memoirs written by women physicians. It is refreshing to see Dr. Scannell's experience expand the narrative about all physicians' lives. Her mix of humor and sober observation is a beautiful weave of writing.

The SURVIVAL! books shine. The story is so vivid you can experience what the characters are experiencing and you can feel the unearthly fear of succumbing to the violent forces of nature. Book #5 is really good! Adventure buffs, check it out. I'll warn you, though--the father's an idiot!

Will and Jess Brantcourt, their two younger brothers, and their mother and father are travelling west to California to find gold in 1849. Will and Jess resent their father uprooting them from their home and making them travelling across half a continent chasing his dreams. Mr. Brantcourt decides they will take a shortcut, but it takes them through the burning desert of Death Valley. Separated from the rest of their wagon train, their covered wagon with a broken axle, and with Pa seriously injured, Will and Jess must set off into the desert to find help for their family before its too late.

I recommend this book to any one who likes excitement or good adventure. It's very exciting because you don't know if Will or Jess will find water or food. It has a lot of adventure because Will and Jess have to travel through sand storms, quick sand, and desert. When Will and Jess go through the sand storm they have to take shelter in an abandoned cave. It's a very tight space and it's hard for them to breathe. They have to go without meat for days before they find a weak ox, which they then cook over an open fire. I like the characters in the book because they are very independent and different. Will shows his self-sufficiency when he tries to go ahead to look for the rest of his party in the valley. In conclusion, if you like good adventure and great excitement, this is the book for you.

Twelve-year-olds Will and Jess Brantcourt are a twin brother and sister travelling west with their family to California in 1849. Because of their father's stubborness, the Brantcourts end up being separated in the desert from the rest of the wagon train. Now their wagon has broken down and their father is seriously ill, and the family is unable to continue. Now Will and Jess are the only ones that can save their family from death. So the determined twins set off across the desolate, dry, and unforgiving deserts of Death Valley. The valley threatens to live up to its name every moment of Will and Jess's desperate journey to find help as they encounter heat, thirst, hunger, and dangerous creatures. But they're determined to carry on and not give up, because their family is counting on them. This was another great book in the Survival series. I highly reccomend it if you like historical or survival stories.

Death Valley was another great book in the Survival! series by Kathleen Duey and Karen A. Bale. This book was about a brother and sister, Will and Jess Brantcourt. Mr. Brantcourt has decided the family will go west to search for gold in California, even though no one else in the family wants to go. Then he decides they will take a shotcut that will supposedly get them to California faster - one that goes through the cruel, unrelentingly hot desert of Death Valley. Then Pa gets sick from an injury, and the Brantcourts' wagon breaks an axle. Now, it's up to Will and Jess to go find help for their stranded family - for they are the only hope the Brantcourts have left. But can they survive in the desert with only scant food and water, and get help for their family before it's too late? Read this exciting book to find out!

In Linda L. Richards' Death Was the Other Woman, Kitty Pangborn had no intention of becoming a shamus (private eye), but when she landed a job as secretary to hard-drinking, haunted Great War vet Dexter J. Theroux, she's on the case. Kitty and Dex traipse across Prohibition- and Depression-era Los Angeles on the trail of Rita Heppelwaite, mistress of a powerful mob figure, and the web of lies that Rita spins.

Kitty makes a believable narrator as a girl whose diminished circumstances have left her with a newfound sense of independence (Kitty's reunion with her private high school chums was a reminder of the rapid reversal of fortunes that the Crash of '29 inflicted on wealthy families). Not one to wallow in her misfortunes, she goes out and lands a job as a secretary (since the years of etiquette training and upper-class mannerisms don't come in handy in the working world). She and Dex make a good team as she understands his dark, alcohol-fueled melancholy; she keeps him straight when he's too drunk to drive, which is frequently. However, theirs is strictly a working relationship, and Kitty's love life is nonexistent.

Populated by a fascinating cast of characters including Mustard, a "procurement" specialist who may have mob ties, the haunted Dex, Rita and the glitzy world of upscale bootlegger clubs, and several criminal elements, the main character might as well be 1930s LA. Chock-full of 1930s period details about the architecture and culture of Los Angeles (vintage cars, diners, districts, early highway travel), Death Was the Other Woman also revels in its 1930s vocabulary and noir trappings that accent a gritty, fast-paced story into the seedy underbelly of organized crime during Prohibition (and a microcosm of the Depression, as Kitty's story is a riches-to-rags one). Fans of pulp stories and film noir will find a lot to love here.

Set in 1931's L.A., this detective novel is narrated from the assistant's (Katherine Pangborn) point-of-view. L.A.'s press boasts that the Depression hasn't hit their city, but Katherine goes up against some unsavory charaters from the city's gangsterdom. Katherine (she hates the nickname "Kitty") makes for an engaging protagonist and her boss, P.I. Dex Theroux, is lucky to have her as his sidekick. She's observant, curious, and when the situation calls for it, tough as nails. The violence quota is kept to a minimum just as the detective books written in 1931 did. Terrific retro front cover art adds a dash of color. I also liked the cityscape described with the buildings, streets, and architecture not only in L.A., but on the sidetrip to San Francisco. Good backstory on Katherine gives her character depth. Enjoyable read on a rainy afternoon.

Linda L. Richards' DEATH WAS THE OTHER WOMAN provides veteran narrator Joyce Bean's smooth and compelling style as it tells of one Kitty, who needs a job and finds her hands full as a secretary to a tough PI in a challenging world. Kitty's efforts to keep her boss - and her salary - safe result in some dangerous action perfect for fans of the gritty hard-boiled detective listen.

In 1931 Los Angeles cynical private investigator Dex Theroux runs a two person office. Whereas he does the leg work and takes the beatings, Kitty Pangborn runs the office and occasionally does safe field work. Dex is unsure why Kitty remains with him, as paying jobs are infrequent and he knows he is an alcoholic though with good cause.

Wealthy Rita Heppelwaite hires Dex to report on what her married boyfriend, Harrison Dempsey is doing. Thinking this is an easy case and needing help on surveillance, Dex brings Kitty with him. However, their prey proves to be someone else's prey as the sleuth and his assistant finds the murdered corpse of Harrison. Dex wants to make money from his affluent client so he tells Kitty to say nothing about the dead body for now. Kitty is appalled by her boss' disregard of the deceased so she defies Dex and calls the cops. However, to her shock she soon learns that Harrison is alive making her wonder what is going on.

With Madeline Carter on temporary hiatus, Linda L. Richards introduces readers to a new fascinating detective team in a fine historical mystery. The story line is fun, but not so much due to the mystery of Harrison and the corpse or depression Era L.A., but instead because of the bickering relationship between unethical Dex and the moralistic Kitty. They make the tale entertaining.

Harriet Klausner

Kitty Pangborn was raised to be a prim and proper lady of the house, meant to marry well and plan the perfect party. When the stock market crashed in 1929, and her father leaped from a window leaving her broke and without real-world skills, she had to make her own way. She may now only be Girl Friday to Los Angeles private investigator Dex, but when his bungling of the job puts her salary in jeopardy, Kitty will step up to solve the case on her own. Someone has to.

I loved the voice of this book. You can almost hear one of the old silver screen actresses talking right off the page. Her wonderful first-person narrative was so true to voice as to lose those of us who aren't familiar with words like "mook" and "spondulix." But she helps us out with enough description that we can figure it out, if not exactly, in general.

This was an especially fun read. I enjoyed the strong heroine and that her boss, though bumbling, was not entirely an idiot. And I really enjoyed learning more about LA during prohibition, too. The cast of shady characters was so great as to leave me completely in the dark about whodunit until it was time to know. There are so many twists and turns in this book that I even started suspecting the good guys. Whose side was everyone on, anyway? I couldn't help but to just keep turning pages.

Even if you aren't typically into the mystery genre, I encourage you to pick up this book. Though there are many dead bodies, the book was not at all gruesome and considering all the two- and three-timing that was going on, and talk of melting lipstick, it was also surprisingly clean.

Armchair Interviews says: Highly recommended.

I think one cannot be called "physicist" if never read this book. It is a classic that show how the foundations of the newtonian physics did were created.

And the good thing is this is a suitable book for everyone from the layman to the PHD, easy to read, requires nothing more than basic mathematical concepts and imagination.

The price, already low, is nothing compared to the pleasure of reading such piece of art.

This edition of the Dialogues of Galileo Galilei includes mathematical solutions to the problems Galileo treats in plain language and an introduction describing a new cannon-ball experiment of the type used by Galileo that may be used to distinguish between the predictions of General Relativity and the editor's unified field theory. The Dialogues are then more interesting to the modern physics student, as it begins to resemble a review of contemporary mechanics in addition to being a grand old piece of history. Additional forwarding material by Albert Einstein and historical background by translator Stillman Drake make this edition a supurb introduction to the history of physics in which now the correct solutions may be read from the margins in modern physical notation. In addition, a number of illustrations have been added to illustrate old terminology for describing heavenly bodies and to provide portraits of Copernicus, Galileo, and his contemporaries Tycho and Kepler.

This is the famous book that got Galileo in trouble with the Inquisition. Galileo Galilei was one of the greatest scientists of all time. In Galileo's time the all powerful Catholic Church had decreed that the Earth was at the center of the Universe and that all celestial bodies orbited the Earth. The reasons given for this were Theological in nature, not scientific. According to the Church the Earth was a special place in the Universe, because God had chosen the Earth to be Man's home. By the sixteenth century Science had progressed to the point where this view of the Universe became increasingly untenable as it did not agree with observations about planetary motion. To resolve the difficulties created by these observations Copernicus had published from his deathbed a new theory proposing that the planets moved around the Sun in nearly circular orbits. Copernicus theory seemed to agree much better with what was known at the time about planetary motion. Galileo being perhaps the greatest scientist of his time immediately saw that the Copernican theory must be right, and debated the matter with people holding the opposite view at the University where he was a renowned professor, Mathematician and Scientist. For a while debates, arguments and counterarguments followed, until in July 1609 Galileo found the definitive proof that the Copernican theory was right. The story has been recounted in the "Starry Messenger" by Galileo. He had seen a toy sold by a Flemish spectacle maker in Venice which made distant objects look like they were near. Galileo bought the toy and did not rest until he had figured out how it worked. He then turned the toy into a scientific instrument, and the first telescope was born. Galileo soon turned his invention towards the heavens, and he almost immediately made a number of groundbreaking discoveries. When he observed Jupiter he noticed that Jupiter had Moons just like the Earth had, and by observing the Moons of Jupiter and Jupiter on successive nights he soon discovered that the Moons of Jupiter clearly orbited Jupiter, not the Earth, as they were supposed to by the Ptolomaic theory taught by the Church. This was the definitive proof that the Ptolomaic theory was just plain wrong. He started to teach this but trouble soon ensued. Galileo had been ordered by the Church that he could not discuss the Copernican theory except as a Hypothesis. When Pope Urban VIII became the Pope Galileo was greatly encouraged, because as Cardinal Maffeo Barberini prior to being elected Pope Urban VIII, he had been a great admirer of Galileo. When the new Pope was elected, Galileo had an interview with him and was told that he could teach the Copernican theory, but only as a Hypothesis, and he was not allowed to teach it as the "objective truth". In 1632 Galileo published this great book in which he debated the two systems between three protagonists. One of them called Simplicio (roughly simple-minded) was defending the Ptolomaic Theory and two others called Salviati and Sagredo defended the Copernican view. All the various arguments that had been offered by Simplicio for the Ptolomaic theory were demolished skillfully one by one by the clever Salviati and Sagredo. Unfortunately Urban VIII got furious, because some of his own arguments ended up in the mouth of Simplicio. He felt that Galileo had made a fool of him, and so he ordered the Inquisition to summon Galileo and he was tried and convicted of Heresy. Galileo protested that he followed the injunction he had been given, and only taught the Theory as a Hypothesis, but the Inquisition's powerful judges did not accept his argument and convicted him. He was placed under house arrest at his own home, and was forced under the threat of being burned alive, to renounce his theories, which he did. His book was banned, but it was too late. It had already become a best seller, and it soon would be published in translation in foreign lands where the Pope had no power. Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems thus changed History. It has also great relevance to today's World. The religious fanatics of today behave much the same way as the Inquisition had in Galileo's time. They bring forth Theological arguments where science is called for. An example of this is the debate about Darwin's theory of Evolution and natural Selection, the basis for most of modern Biology. In spite of absolutely overwhelming scientific evidence in favor of Darwin, ignorant people today still try to discredit Darwin's Theory on essentially Theological not scientific grounds. Evidently, just like the people opposing Galileo who did not succedd, similarly the ignorant Inquisitors of today will not succed. Another example in the modern World are the attempts of the Islamic fascists, who like the Inquisitors in Galileo's time try to force their despicable religious agenda on others by imposition and violence. They will not succeed either, for in the end Reason and Science always prevail.

A scientist who can write! Galileo writes with the intent that his readers understand, he meets you more than half way. There is a wonderful forward by Albert Einstein that is worth the price of the book by itself. And the fascinating introduction places Galileo's writing in its historical context.

If you have any interest in the history of science, this is an essential book to read.

During the [in]famous controversy of Galileo and the Church, the actual point of contention was this very work which Galileo published. In the Dialogue, he was supposed to set forth arguments for and agains the Ptolemaic worldview (the unmoving earth in the centre of the universe) and the Copernican (the earth and other planets going around the sun). This book does that, and brilliantly, showing Galileo's resourcefulness as a scientist, philosopher (at least to an extent!) and writer. The charge against him was that rather than being even-handed, the book was clear support of Copernicanism. This is a non-obvious topic but what is obvious is the importance and magnificence of the work in terms of both the subject matter (the importance of the structure of the universe) and method (a colourful dialogue containing heated debate which spans literally dozens of arguments for and against each system).

The work has 3 characters: Salviati who is a Copernican, Simplicio who is an Aristotelian and follower of the Ptolemaic system, and Sagredo, a non-affiliated but intelligent person. They meet and debate over 4 days. The first deals with the question of whether the substance of the heavens is fundamentally different to the earth as well as some other fundamental assertions of Aristotelianism. The second deals with the earth's daily rotation. The third is about the alleged yearly orbit of the earth around the sun. The fourth (considered by Galileo to be the crown of his argument - which is all the more endearing as it is wrong) is about the cause of the tides.

Reading this is especially interesting because [almost!] all of us believe that the earth goes around the sun, so it's easy to just approach this simplistically. But the reality is, it was an actual matter of debate, as the book shows. And no, Galileo does not *prove* the earth moves (contrary to the blurb at the back of the book), rather he proposes some very good arguments. Reading them critically was great at making me question things I consider fundamental.

As per the edition, it contains a very good, readable translation along with Galileo's margin notes and good footnotes which unfortunately aren't matched to the body text so you have to flip forward and back. The only other disappointment was Einstein's simplistic yay-Galileo-boo-obviously-stupid-Church-and-Aristotelianism introduction. Other than that, it's great great great! An absolute milestone in human thought.

The only improvement that could be made is the coupons in the back of the book could have expiration dates a little later in the following year. I purchased this book in January of 2000 for a trip in Febuary and the coupons touted as saving up to $1000 expired in December of 1999. Other than that the book is very eazy to understand and will be very useful in our upcoming trip.

We used this book on our trip and saved *much* more than the cost of the book by using the coupons inside.

This is the best guide I have come across for Walt Disney World and the Orlando area. I had purchased several different books in 1999 when we took our first trip. I am purchasing this book again for our upcoming trip. Each park and it's attractions are covered in detail with helpful Power Trip info that helps make the most of your time. In addtion there are several other Orlando attractions that are covered in this book with detail covering Universal's parks and Sea World.

The book also reviews many hotels including Disney's, critiquing each in detail. Includes pricing and some of the ameneties, tips on the best times to travel to Orlando in relation to crowds, weather, and how to negotiate the best packages and pricing.

The candidness of the author and reviewers of the parks contained within this book are remarkable and really helped us plan our trip using our limited time to the best of our advantage.

I highly recommend this book as one to use to plan your Orlando vacation.

I think this book is great for fun family vacations. I have used it myself. My family had the best time. We knew where everything was and how to find it. This guide is easy to read and gives great directions. It shows maps great detailed maps of anywhere you want to go. Buy this book. Your family and you will have the best time!

We used this book on our vacation and saved *much* more than the cost of the book by using the great coupons inside.

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.