California Books

The book California Demon is about a girl and her mother whose names are Lydia and Rosie. Lydia is the mother and Rosie is the daughter. Lydia also is a witch and owns a shop upstairs in her house. Rosie helps at the store while her mother goes to the store. One day Rosie let out a evil spell that is called the imp. After it got out it tied up Rosie in the basement and went upstairs to the shop. A customer named Adam Pauling came in to the shop to buy eight magic tricks for his children. Find out what crazy adventures the imp will take you on.

This book will without a doubt keep you on the edge of your seat, The plot is intresting as the book is well written.I recommend this book.

I have to say that I absolutely loved it.This is a Chilling story about two witches,one a little unexperienced than the other.She accidently let an evil imp who is up to no good.The imp gets mailed to California to Danny and Laura Pauling who think he's a genie.Will Rosie and her mom Lydia get there in time?Turn the page to find out.

Anyone who loves the ocean and the surf lifestyle will enjoy this hilarious story about a tightly knit group of surfers. Thoroughly uplifting and incredibly well written. Makes you feel nostalgic for those younger carefree days, excellent friends, and getting into lots of trouble.

California Fever by John Jacobson was a breath of fresh air to a California Beach Cities Girl. The first chapter is only a fraction of what the story is about. I started listening to it in my car with my sixteen year old son on the way to the doctor's office. We both started laughing and marveled over how clever all the different characters were. The story reminded me of a few characters I used to surf with. When we got to where we were going, we didn't want to get out of the car and quit listening.
This book is especially good on Audio The narrator really makes the characters come to life. I grew up in Southern California and I could relate so much to the characters and mood. I knew a number of surfers who are like the dudes in the story, who would've done anything other than work. And what these guys do to try not to have to work is really hilarious. I've already started spreading the word how much it reminds me of a number of people I used to know. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good story about the history of California and those who love to spin a tall tale.

A well-written, witty and engrossing book (on tape), with verisimilitude worthy of Michael Crighton. The audio equivalent of a page-turner book, an entertaining story for long drives in the car.

A great book. All golfers will love it -- even mimes

This is the best guide that I have ever used for finding golf courses. I like to play golf with all of my friends and faimly. They vary in handicaps from 4 to 36. This book helps me find just the right course for any level of player, no matter where I am in California. The geographical setup is particulary helpful. A Must have for all golfers.

This book is a must-have for golf travelers who want to find the best places to play in California. For less than the cost of 18-holes, you have all the information you need at your fingertips.

Any book would be dated once it is published. However I believe Mr. Wick did excellant research into the colorful history of the California Highway Patrol. For those interested in law enforcement history, the book is still a must have! I wish that someone would do an update based on Mr. Wick's work! Definately a five star book, no matter how dated the information may be! If you can get a copy at it's original price, it would be a steal!

AS A RETIRED CHP TRAFFIC OFFICER I FOUND THIS BOOK VERY INTERESTING AND EVEN FOUND INFORMATION THAT I WAS NOT AWARE OF WHEN THE CHP WAS FIRST FORMED. THE AUTHOR DID A VERY THOROUGH JOB WITH HIS RESEARCH AND PICTURES AND HE IS TO BE COMMENDED FOR A GREAT PUBLICATION. I FAILED TO ORDER THIS BOOK WHEN IT WAS FIRST PUBLISHED AND WAS FORTUNATE TO FIND IT THROUGH AMAZON.COM AND ZSHOPS.

This book is a great retrospective of the CHP, although it is a bit dated (1990). Vehicles, personnel, departments, equipment, history, organization and more! A good read!

There are directions and other info for finding and visiting lighthouses. They do not always show all lights for a given area. The photos are all color. I own 3 of these books. There are not many other guide books out there so if you are looking for guide books these are good to have. Since there are so many books in this series I thought I'd help people find them easier. This is the series.
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American Lighthouses
California Lighthouses
Eastern Great Lakes Lighthouses - I own this one
Western Great Lakes Lighthouses - I own this one
Southeastern Lighthouses - I own this one
Southern Lighthouses
New England Lighthouses
Mid Atlantic Lighthouses
Gulf Coast Lighthouses

I am a lighthouse lover and this book is the best refence book for lighthouses of California. It leaves very little out and is quick and easy to read. Perfect for the coffe table or bedside table. I recommend this whole line of lighthouse books to everyone.

I am a lighthouse lover and this book is the best refence book for lighthouses of California. It leaves very little out and is quick and easy to read. Perfect for the coffe table or bedside table. I recommend this whole line of lighthouse books to everyone.

Growing up in California, I received more than my quota of early California history. I was always impressed that the Spanish sought to establish missions to bring Jesus to the Native Americans as their primary activity in California.

That idealistic impulse ended up badly in many cases. Diseases carried by Europeans wiped out over 95 percent of the Native Americans near some of the missions. When the missions were established too close to the presidios and towns, soldiers and civilian Spaniards sometimes victimized the Native Americans. Not knowing about California's arid conditions, many missions had to be relocated several times until enough fresh water was located. In other cases, the missions were located on active earthquake faults and were shaken to the ground repeatedly. Fire wiped out some other missions.

Later, after Mexico won its independence, the missions were sold off for civilian use. Only after California became part of the United States did ownership revert to the church.

By then, there wasn't much left of the original mission buildings and contents. But dedicated Californians have labored long and faithfully to restore these missions, presidios, and forts to a good simulation of the original. It is those restorations and recreations that those who love California's missions have admired.

I remember as a youngster wanting to visit every single mission and to follow the route of Father Serra and those who succeeded him in the process. I haven't yet gotten around to fulfilling that desire. Naturally, I was delighted to find this book that allowed me to at least "see" the inside and out of each location on El Camino Real (the King's Highway along the coast of California).

Each site is wonderfully illustrated with many indoor and outdoor photographs. An extensive essay also describes the founding and subsequent history of each site through to today. Unlike some historical books that gloss over the problems, this one is quite candid. It gives you all the more reason to admire the fathers and neophytes who labored so hard to establish these Godly outposts.

Vaya con Dios!

Of all the attempts to capture the beauty and rich history of the California Missions, only Leffingwell has succeeded. Over the past 15 years I have visited many of the missions and I always look for a book in the gift shops that shows the wonderful architecture and gardens of the missions, and gives an honest synopsis of the Alta California story. Until now I have found some great historical texts, but none with images worthy of the subject matter. This book has both. It is a coffee table must-have for anyone interested in California history.

Any interested in the history of missions in general and California's historic missions in particular will find this a lush guide which offers insights into the architecture and spiritual foundations of over twenty missions. These vary from small churches to elegant missions: the construction of each was influenced by local social and political as well as spiritual interests. California Missions And Presidios could have been featured in our Arts or Local History section but also deserves note by any interested in church history and creation.

This is a very nice read. Soft biography of Governor Brown and descriptive overview of the times. You really cannot miss on this one.

Ethan Rarick has written a great biography of a man who was to be one of the most well known of California Governors.Edmund G. "Pat" Brown came on the political scene as DA of San Francisco County. He would follow the path of Earl Warren as State Attorney General and then Governor. Brown in 1959 became only the second Democrat elected governor in the 20th Century; Culbert L. Olson served 1939-1943. "Pat" Brown picked the right time to run for governor when US Senator William F. Knowland figured to use the California governorship as a stepping stone to run for President. Popular governor Goodwin J. "Goodie" Knight was forced by Knowland to seek his vacated Senate seat. This broke the GOP is California. Then, Knowland endorced Proposition 18 "The Right To Work Law." This lost the labor vote for the GOP totally. Brown would win in a landslide. Four years later, the governor's race in 1962, Brown defeated former Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Nixon made the famous remark to the press: " You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore."
"Pat" Brown, in 1966 faced in a run for a 3rd term, a washed up actor from Warner Brothers, in the 1950's the host of General Electric Theatre and now the host of television's Death Valley Days. Ronald Reagan running on the platform to "Clean Up the Mess in Berkeley." Ronald Reagan defeated Pat Brown as he tried to do what Earl Warren had done be elected to a 3rd term.
Governor Brown has many accomplishments the State Water Project; Freeways and many others.
UC Berkeley, Watts and many problems of a changing time came at Governor "Pat" Brown, during his second term.
Since 1958 except for a few years during the term of Gov. Reagan; the Democrats have controled the Legislature.
In the book we see Browns fellow party members infighting famed Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty and Speaker of the Assembly Jesse "Big Daddy" Unruh. The Brown family continued with Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. 1975-1983 present Mayor of Oakland. "Pat" Brown's daughter Kathleen holding statewide office and being defeated in her bid for governor. This is a great book on a man of California Edmund G. "Pat" Brown.

First I'll disclose that the author, Ethan Rarick, is a friend of mine.
Having said that, I'd have quickly bought and read this biography whether I knew the guy or not.
Secondly, as a lifelong Californian of 50, I guess I'm exactly the right demographic for appreciating this book--Pat Brown is the first governor I can remember. Having childhood memories of the events in this book certainly made learning more about them that much more satisfying.
But what makes this book so fascinating is how drastically the political landscape changed during the years of his administration, and how the changes ruined him politically--for a while.
When elected in 1958 Brown was a forward-looking liberal with an ambitous agenda for improving California, one at which he was remarkably successful: banning racial discrimination, expanding a great university, and building a massive project to transport water unprecedented distances from wet parts of the state to dry ones.
But by the time of his loss to Ronald Reagan in 1966, time had passed Brown by. Events like the Berkeley free speech movement and Watts riots pushed middle America into a sharp right backlash. The fact that he genuinely anguished over whether to have men executed or to spare their lives, unlike successors who adopted a safe, knee-jerk, blanket pro-death approach, injured him further at a time of increasingly pro-authoritarian attitudes.
By '66, Brown seemed a hopeless relic. Damaged by a rough primary against Sam Yorty, L.A.'s racist demagogue mayor, and by his own inept scheme to sabotage the Republican primary, he was creamed by Reagan in his quest for a third term.
Yet, by the time of his death 30 years later, Brown had again become an icon, hailed as the most effective governor ever by political wannabes of both major parties.
A great personal story and an interesting slice of California history.

This is a multimedia production, featuring two compact discs or cassette tapes meant to be played on your car audio system as you tour. The recordings tell five fictional tales-set in the Anza-Borrego Desert, Fort Bragg, Santa Cruz, the Sierra Nevada and the San Joaquin Valley-that make the charming acommpinaments to drives thruogh their respective regions. Along with the cassettes or CD's, the boxed set comes with Golden State Trivia and The Nature of California, a primer to california habitats.

This box-book-audio package tempts everyone who comes into my home, child and adult alike, and in moments they're lost among the tales, the drawings by the author and the authentic knowledge of California's variety of landscape, flora and fauna. Especially enchanting is the lore of what the state was before populations grew and folk history was lost. The stories Phila Rogers tells on the tapes/Cds capture the texture and color of experiences unique to a lifetime spent in different parts of the state. All who read and hear the contents are struck by the wonderful detail and clarity. Best of all, the box is fun, the outside covered in a map of the state. Open the leather loop and you're inside what feels like a present. This magical box was put together with so much devotion and careful detail that it feels like a personal gift. And what a gift to give for Christmas or a birthday. I've never seen anything quite as unique, for all ages, for persons in the state or outside. I pick it up and re-read or listen again to the tapes and I can be swept into the atmosphere Phila Rogers writes about. I'm proud to have California Tales in my library. When people ask where they can buy a copy, I tell them Amazon.com!

I was amazed at how complete this boxed set really was. The books are very informative and well illustrated. We popped in the CD on our way to the Sierra. I learned more about the natural and human history of California in that one trip than I had in all of my years in school.

Politics as seen by, "the innermost of California's political insiders."

New insight into the reasoning behind strategic decisions from the winners and losers.

California Votes is a tribute to Democracy

Politics as seen by, "the innermost of California's political insiders."

New insight into the reasoning behind strategic decisions from the winners and losers.

California Votes is a tribute to Democracy