California Books

A great read and full of useful information on alternatives to pesticides and lethal traps for pests of all sizes. Very enjoyable reading and full of experiments to try with kids.

I have the old edition, too. Years ago, I checked that edition book out from the library so much that I decided I needed it. It was out of press, and I couldn't locate a copy. I wrote Adrian Wenner to explain my dilemma, and he mailed me his copy. Very cool.

Tiny game hunting was the only book that covered getting rid of gophers extensively. All other books had one sentence. I tried the tips they suggested and it worked. I felt better reading this book and knowing I am not alone.

I learned a lot about taking care of my front yard and when various pests come onto the scene. This book was suggested to me by the clerk at the library who also had good results in getting rid of a pest.

The book also has some cute drawings of the various pests. This is the book for anyone who wants to follow the healthy and environmentally safe way to keep unwanted pests from their lawns and gardens.

This could be the most useful book I own. It gets more use than my dictionary. Tiny Game Hunting offers practical and effective methods of capturing or killing common household and garden pests; everying from insects and spiders, to lizards and smakes, and mice and gophers. It focuses on environmentally safe extermination methods. Many of the traps, repellents, and pesticides can be made cheaply with common items found in the kitchen or garage. More than just pest control, the book offers some basic information on the habits and history of the critters. Have a problem with a pest? I bet it's in here. It's honestly one of the best books I'll ever own!

This book was just what I was looking for to keep my medium-sized yard and tiny garden in shape without adding to the chemical burden of my home town. I got accurate, easy advice that turned out in most cases to be more effective and less work than spraying with a chemical cocktail. Now I'm purchasing a copy for my neighbor, in the hopes that he'll see the light.

I could not resist buying this book after seeing the fine film made from it. The book stands perfectly well on its own, but I found it extremely interesting to contemplate how writers converted it to the screen. The events and characters in the book are almost all the same as in the film, but the movie presents scenes in a different order and significantly revises the prominence/roles of various characters.

I wish I had seen the process, which must have involved scores of 3x5 cards showing major scenes from the book, all rearranged and rearranged again to finally arrive at a linear progression for the movie... one just as good as, but totally different from, the book.

It's worth paying a little extra to obtain this rare volume, just to read the original story. What a bunch of sleazy people these characters were!

Better than the Movie an action filled story of LA undercover cops running a drug bust. Proably the best of Petievich's books. His knowledge of law enforcement makes this a real page turner.

To Live and Die in LA is Gerald Petievich's best book by far. A treasury agent "Richard Chance" that will not stop at nothing to catch a top notch "funny money maker", "Rick Masters" Chance's partner agent "John Vukovich" (probobly a personality likeness of Petievich, in my opinion)who comes from a family of police officers torn between backing up his out of control partner and listening to his mentor Veteran Agent "Jim Hart". If you have alreay seen the movie and liked it a lot be sure to have an open mind if you decide to read the book...totally different. Example, in the movie Richard Chance and Jim Hart are best of friends...well in the book they are each others foe.

I have to give credit to the movie. It was very entertaining and unlike anthing else made back in 1985 when I first saw it. The ensamble of cast like Bill Petersen, John Turturro, Dean Stockwell and one of my personal favorites, WILLEM DAFOE (Spiderman 2002). - Read the book. It still one of the best reads. I still have my original paperback which I bought when I was in high school dreaming of becoming a T-Man.

This novel became an equally excellent movie directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist), who then went on to direct an absolute LOSER of a movie entitled PYTHON WOLF. Where has Friedkin been since? This is unknown. . . Gerald Petievich is a former US Treasury agent who has worked the streets and managed to install his brother into not only TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., but the movie SHAKEDOWN as well (which included Dennis Hopper and Viggo Mortensen). -- The bar scene in TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. -- : "Hey, Petievich, get over here!" delivered by William Peterson. Petievich has walked the walk and admirably knows how to talk the talk. His dialogue is some of the finest written, easily on a par with that of Elmore Leonard. His plotting and exposition is terse and spare. There is no overabundance of words. He has not, to my knowledge, written a book since 1991's PARAMOUR. This in itself is a crime. Petievich knows about plot, about characterization, and how to make it all work in a minimal number of words and sentences. GODDAMMIT, PETIEVICH, WHERE ARE YOU?!

Tory Madison is a female protagonist with the courage of a lion and the heart of a hero. In this time when the presence of evil in our lives has become a stark reality, it's satisfying to read a book in which the black-hearted beast is confronted and defeated. In this fast-paced story steeped in the occult, the struggle to triumph over a tragic past is paired with uncovering secrets in the shadowy present. A terrific read for young adults.

In today's world, kids are exposed to a lot of choices in which evil is not always clear. This is a great book for teens, girls especially, and is full of suspense. The characters are well- drawn and the protagonist, Tory, is both believable and likeable.

Tory Madison is a female protagonist with the courage of a lion and the heart of a hero. In this time when the presence of evil in our lives has become a stark reality, it's satisfying to read a book in which the black-hearted beast is confronted and defeated. In this fast-paced story steeped in the occult, the struggle to triumph over a tragic past is paired with uncovering secrets in the shadowy present. A terrific read for young adults.

I first read this book at 11, and saw nothing but a creepy story about the triumph of good over evil. Since then, I've come to realize the more complicated plot involved. This book offers an account of the hereticism in society today. The characters aren't very deep, though they are somewhat realistic. I would recommend this book only because of the information on this particular occult.

The mental health system can be more confusing than mental illness. We have hundreds of thousand's of people in our mental health system. Most people have come in contact with someone who has been part of the mental health system. Yet, we don't understand mental health.

Jay has written a book about what is possible in mental health. Having a mental illness is not the end of the road. Mental illness is the beginning of a new life. We can understand and live with mental illness.

I am one of the people who Jay interviewed. I am honored to be part of this book. Jay spent time with people who are mentally ill and who are in our mental health system. Nobody has ever explained this system in such a clear way. Nobody has described the day to day bravery that those of us with mental illness have. Mental illness is very destructive and disorienting we can live with our psychiatric condtion. We do have mental health programs that work. We need to inform people of the possibilities of our mental health system. Thank you Jay for educating the public about the successes and possibilities of our quiet but profound revolution in mental health.

A system where people actually do get better rather than get worse

READ THIS BOOK

Moe Armstrong

I was one of Jay Neugeboren's student in the graduate creative writing program at the University of Massachusetts, where for nearly 30 years he has helped develop many writers, such as Bret Lott, Susan Straight, Valerie Martin and others. For the greater part of his career Jay Neugeboren has been a novelist and short story writer whose work has appeared in hundreds of publications including the O'Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. During the past decade Neugeboren has turned to writing nonfiction about mental illness, first with "Imagining Robert" and most recently with "Transforming Madness." His purpose in "Imaging Robert" was to focus on his brother, who for most of his life has tragically and defiantly struggled with schizophrenia and who has at times lived in the most horrible of conditions in locked wards. "Imaging Robert" is also a memoir, a family story in which Neugeboren tells not only of his struggle to take care of Robert, but also deal with the guilt of his own success in light of his brother's continual suffering. In "Transforming Madness" Neugeboren moves a step further and shows the reader something he or she may not have thought possible-how people who have been chronically mentally ill have found ways to manage their illness lead successful lives. The effect of reading this remarkable book is to gain understanding and sympathy for those afflicted with mental illness, and to also experience the joy of watching happiness come to some of the unlikeliest people. Neugeboren shows us that in addition to therapy, support groups, and medications, it is the presence of hope that brings people from affliction and despair into productive living. As a result, "Transforming Madness" is a profound message of hope, and an act of caring that comes by way of long practice.

Yes, this book was very helpful to me. I have been diagnosed as a schizophrenic, as well as with other various disorders, and life has been less than easy with my parents, teachers, co-workers, and even good friends, telling me I need to seek out counseling and medications. Why do these people want me to take a pill that could possibly kill me I kept asking myself. This book has helped me to understand a little more about why I was diagnosed with the various conditions, especially in regards to madness. I have been mad about everything! Anyway, I may not be fully recovered from all the madness I have experienced the last few years (from quitting smoking, my criminal record, and drug abuse), but reading a book about the subject of madness, discovering that perhaps madness has been why I have been diagnosed with such a problem as schizophrenia, that has been helpful. This book does offer some hope to those who have been deemed hopeless. Thank you Mr. Neugeboren!

This book dispells a lot of myths which surround mental illness. Though the vast majority of persons with a mental illness on t.v. are portrayed as violent individuals, there is probably not a larger group of individuals who are less aggressive and prone to feelings of fear than those afflicted with a mental illness. Most people think of schizophrenia as a life-long illness when in actual fact, a large percentage of those diagnosed with this disease make a full recovery. These are just two of the many issues addressed in this outstanding book. The author's writing is clear, concise, and forthright. Included are several stories of persons who live with a mental illness. Their stories are inspirational to say the least. This book is informative, colorful, inspirational, inquisitive, and profound.

Golden Gate Park, partly due to its frost-free situation, has plants not generally found elsewhere in northern California. This book is an excellent guide. All the species are illustrated (although a few of the line drawings are a bit too stylized for my taste), thoroughly described, and locations of specimens in the park are also given. For anyone interested in plants and who visits the Park, I highly recommend it.

Great book. The maps are great, and if you love trees in SF this is the book to help you explore and enjoy Golden Gate Park.

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Trees Of Golden Gate Park And San Francisco is a 'must' bible of detail for any San Francisco resident or enthusiast who wants to know more about the city's urban forest and landscape. Chapters are packed with details ranging from early San Francisco landscape history to the evolution of its parks. The presentation is based on the writings of botanist Elizabeth McClintock, and presents the stories of almost two hundred different trees located in Golden Gate Park. No color photos, but the depth of text and detail doesn't need them; the b/w line drawings are enough.

...that there should be people in my community as to write such a book. Starting with the park's planning phases (did you know that Mr. Central Park himself, Frederick Law Olmstead, recommended putting the park along what is now the Van Ness corridor!), the book quickly progresses to encyclopedic coverage of the trees of the park... Sections from this book are destined to become long and enjoyable walks for us in the near future! Unlike many field guides, very fitting for pleasure reading.

The Ultimate INSIDERS City Guide to Pasadena is so handy I keep it in my car! If I'm looking for parking, restaurants, or services, I pull out the Guide and find them in a flash.

I love this book! As a recent transplant to Pasadena, this has become an indespensible resource for finding everything from a late-night dry cleaner to the best coffee shops to where to tune your radio station to NPR. The maps are very user-friendly and make finding your way around town a snap! I keep one in my car at all times. I wish every town had such a practical guide. Now whenever I have a question, "I just ask Martha." It's almost as good as having her in the passenger seat. Thank you Martha! This book is a life-saver.

This book is extremly helpful getting around and finding the places I need when visiting Pasadena. It is a must buy for people moving to the area or just visiting on vacation.

On a recent trip to Pasadena, I used this book every day to find places and services I needed, including grocery stores, movie theatres, restaurants, shipping centers and the airport bus. It had everything I needed, and the information was thorough and accurate. Author knows Pasadena and thought of everything!

So, you know the Blue State/ Red State version of what it means to be American no longer makes sense, and probably never has, and probably never will. You know either/or; black/white went out of fashion with the Inquisition. You have some sense of America that's far more complex, colorful and incomprehensable than you can ever hope to get your head around. And you like it that way. And you suspect somehow that others like it that way too. Prefer it actually than some washed out, toned down diluted version of what we're told America is like. But this is all just a gut sense, an intuition, an instinctual awareness of the future that half frightens and half thrills you. But you have not yet found the words to talk about it, have no images to point to. Well, then buy this book. Buy it because it will shatter your narrow view of America. Buy it because the words give you a way to articulate what this country is becoming. Buy it because now you have images to point to and can say: Is that not wacky? Is that not wonderful? Is that not the kind of country we wish to live in? Where mental boxes are banished. Where differences are celebrated. Where cultures, religions, beliefs clash in a wonderful cacophony of cultural dissonance and soul resonance. Buy it because you feel more human, less jaded when you're done reading it.

If you reach for a book because you want it to take you into a new world, excite you, surprise you, dazzle you, startle you, then get your hands on "Under the Dragon: California's New Culture," by Lonny Shavelson and Fred Setterberg. Like me, you will want this book not to end, for the richness each page offers. With some 80 stunning photographs reflecting "the American experiment" documented in seven major stories, you can appreciate as never before the complex range of multiculture expressed by this book. You will want to reread and savor stories that you could hardly imagine to be true, yet they are, and they enrich the world around us in the San Francisco Bay Area.

UNDER THE DRAGON: CALIFORNIA'S NEW CULTURE comes from a photographer who captures images of the changing ethnic and social makeup of California's Asian community, presenting a blend of color photos and essays surveying diversity and the changing ethnic makeup of California. From work and school life to celebrations, UNDER THE DRAGON should be required reading for any interested in contemporary California ethnic cultures - and for any California library.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Many of us like to think that we fully subscribe to the "American dream" notion of accepting any and all to our shores, seeking whatever it is that they hope to find here. But deep down, many also feel that we are in danger of losing some of the "old traditional values that made this country what it is." When I opened "Under the Dragon" I expected nothing more than a picture book that would coddle us into feeling comfortable about the many strange cultures that have flooded the country. Well, let me say this book is just the opposite. It may superficially glorify exotic culture, but its outstanding photographs with accompanying text bring home forcefully the idea that it is this very diversity that will keep the American tradition going. With all its warts, this country is still unique in the world, and instead of ending up as a warzone of battling ethnic groups, it will merge into one of the most dynamic and culturally interesting countries the world will ever see, with California leading the way.

this book is filled with information from yesterday ,and is still valued in todays Baja travels.If you can find this book ,I treasure mine as a must for my Baja library.Ray Cannon was a great writer, and a true Baja explorer

This magnificent book covers the life of Ray Cannon,who wrote The Sea of Cortez. It is a facinating and well organized assemblege of the man's colorful life. It took me to a simpler time and a place on earth that was unspoiled. A wonderful book.

The California Outdoor Writers Association awarded the title "best book of the year." It's easy to see why. Kira pays homage to Ray Cannon, who wrote the bestseller The Sea of Cortez which documented the "Golden Age" for Baja. No one could have written a better tribute than Kira, a Baja afficionado whose enthusiasm and affection for the peninsula can be detected on every page. Rare photos and drawings complement the text. This is a beautiful book!

Wonderful photos and you hold in your hand a book that can transport you, via his own words, into the inner circle of an astounding man, Ray Cannon, and the glamorous and mysterious friends he drew around him. He left Hollywood and the big-city life of the movies, where he had money and power, to take up the life of a country fisherman and a writer of essays. But he was never a country fisherman. He was an institution, living the romantic life in a wild, untamed place, among beautiful scenes and unforgettable people who did outrageous things. Great book. Wonderful company. A trip you can take over and over again.

John M. Daniel's VANITY FIRE tells of a publishing firm which burns to the ground, leaving a body and a total loss. For Guy, it's the end of a career and a lover - and possibly the beginning of a new career and encounters with two strippers. It's a Faustian arrangement that blends the irony and terror of murder with a pact that could rescue or condemn Guy in this excellent mystery.

Diminutive Guy Mallon runs a small press firm with his partner Carol Murphy in picturesque Santa Barbara, California. Guy agrees to accept payment from Fritz Marburger to publish singer Lorraine Evans' novel. Fritz, a pushy and shady character, lets it slip that Lorraine's novel might be autobiographical, and the news media swarms her. Upset, Lorraine decides she wants out of the deal.

Guy is left facing debt and paying the rent on a huge warehouse, not to mention the stacks of unsold books. Then his warehouse burns and a dead body is discovered inside it. This is all told to us tongue-in-cheek by the crusty, affable Guy. And how can you not like Guy? He owns an enviable collection of first-edition poetry volumes and has a big heart to boot. But his judgment sometimes isn't the wisest or most practical. A briskly paced mystery, VANITY FIRE is more of a caper about Guy working his way out of a jam with the help of his many equally colorful friends. A fun read.

Guy Mallon is perfectly content running his small publishing company with his business partner and lover Carol Murphy. Trouble comes to the happy couple when retired businessman Fritz Marburger offers to pay them to publish his young lover's book. The author is fancy jazz singer Lorraine Evans. Once Carol and Guy read it, they believe they have a hit on their hands. Marburger is Lorraine's agent and together they set up a publicity scenario where the singer appears on Oprah and does a spread in People.

When Lorraine nixes the People article and refuses to go on Oprah, sales plummet. The warehouse that Guy rents from Marburger to store the books inside also has a tenant, Roger, who is running a POD scam and making a fortune. Carol leaves Guy who in order to avoid bankruptcy; he goes in on the POD scam with one of his authors. The warehouse burns down and all his books are gone. The police determine the cause of the fire is arson and a body is found in the ruins. Roger has disappeared and Guy intends to find him and earn back his self esteem that he lost by dealing with a criminal.

John M. Daniel has written an adrenaline racing, heart bumping crime caper that has so many interesting plot twists that readers really don't have a clue who besides Roger is the antagonist. What this reviewer likes about VANITY FIRE is that nobody can predict what will happen next. This leads to a one sitting reading to find out how Guy's problem all turn out.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Beverly Pechin for Reader Views (7/06)
"Vanity Fire" is truly a suspense novel that as you piece together the facts, you will always come up short. Never ending guessing evolves into utter surprise as you read into the lives of the characters and think you know the answers. The key word here is Think. Fortunately for us, Mr. Daniel knows how to keep you drawing conclusions but never finding answers.
This nonstop thriller will seriously challenge the best of mystery solvers. "Vanity Fire" is a well-written piece of literature that truly would be a wonderful addition to any mystery and thriller collector.
Guy and Carol think all their dreams have come true as they are suddenly blessed with an offer they can't refuse that will put their tiny, lifeless publishing business into the headlines with a best selling novel and a financial backing. But is the dream for real or does it come with unthinkable consequences?
Peppering the story with absolutely wonderful characters, so well described that you know exactly the type he's talking about, you will enjoy seeing some of the most interesting people you've met in a long time become fully engulfed in a rather "scorching" situation. Combining mystery, business, romance, murder and some pretty good disappearing acts, you will come up drawing conclusion after conclusion only to read a few pages further and go "I can't believe it!" as your intuitions are quickly put back on the shelf to rest.
Excellent writing, wonderful characterizations, and an even more intense plot than some of the best mystery writers of today's literature have been able to bring out. Highly recommended for anyone that just can't seem to find a book they truly can't "figure out" before the end, because I guarantee that what you think is happening, definitely is not!

This is an easy read, and a surprisingly thoughtful, careful, and broadly informative book. It dives deeply into the endless, diverse difficulties of modern life in Venice, but with excellent historical context. Its history of Carnival, and its revival, for example, is the best I've read. It's blemished by two or three uninteresting pages of symbolic/semiotic analysis, but these minor problems are vastly overwhelmed by impressive reporting, review and research on important issues of the day.

A must for the regular visitor of Venice. Davis and Marvin show clearly how the historical center and the outskirts (!) are sacrifized to the needs of mass-tourism. They describe how the the city is transformed sytematically into a historical theme-park in which the remaining locals have only a stage-role. And 'resistance is useless': the inhabitants are able to slow, not to stop the process.
The book predicts an ominous future of this cultural heritage site. Food for thought.

As an inveterate traveler, I usually find that books about places I have visited leave me sorry I read them - travel guides are often so filled with tourist hype or stereotypical portrayals or out-dated analysis. But, this is not a travel guide: it is a thoughful and well-researched critique of Venice as both a tourist city and a (struggling to remain) actual city.

Over the years I have related to Venice in three ways: a member of the day-trip brigade (with two children in tow); a more serious tourist making a five day stay of it; a long-term (six month) resident in one of its working class neighborhoods. From all of those perspectives, this book speaks to my experiences.

But, more than a souvenir of my times there (see the excellent discussion of the role of souvenirs in a tourist city), this work has opened my mind to other ways to see my beloved city. I now see the city and its people with new eyes, for the authors' critical eyes and ideas challenged me to experience Venice once again anew.

If, as I would claim, I love Venezia, then I would also want to engage my heart and soul in the challenge they pose for the future of the city: not the worries about "sinking into the sea" but the worries about becoming "lost in the tourists."

And did you know that tourists have been coming here for over 500 years (yes, fellow Americans, that is before any tourists invaded North America), and that tacky souvenirs have been available for at least 300 years? Lots more to know as well as ponder in this work.

If the City of Venice (Italy) ever decides to build a model of Las Vegas, will the model include a little replica of Las Vegas' Venetian Hotel, itself a model of Venice? It's the kind of question I might address to the authors of Venice: The Tourist Maze, this entertaining and rewarding account of what may be the most touristed city in the history of the planet.

You might suppose there is nothing new in a critique of Venetian tourism. Venice first licensed tour guides in 1219 (and right there is a factoid I did not know until I read this book). Any number of others have left accounts of tourism in Venice, and quite a few have left accounts of accounts.

Davis and Marvin do a creditable job of trying not to replow old ground. There's almost no mention of Mary McCarthy, Jan Morris, Viscount Norwich, and other visitors who have done so much to inform and entertain. There's only a bit of Henry James; almost none of Proust and only a glancing reference to that most famous of all sex tourists, Thomas Mann's Gustav von Aschenbach. Instead, they give their primary attention to tourism as an activity, from the standpoint alike of the provider and the consumer. You might almost call it an account of "the enterprise of tourism," except this makes it sound, misleadingly, like yet one more business book.

There is a whiff of the lamp about the presentation, although it never gets overpowering: the chapter on the gondola is called "the floating signifier," which is, I guess, the kind of joke you are bound to get when academics try to have fun. They say they "take advantage" of a notion of one "Appadurai" (who?), although he never makes it to the bibliography. A more obvious progenitor is Dean MacCannell, whose "The Tourist" is one of those rare books to make fancy theory both interesting and plausible. A still better source, though surely unintended, would be the trdition o;f the mystery novel, where the hard-boiled detective sees the great city from the underside (indeed I am a little surprised that they don't say a word about Donna Leon, the Arthur Conan Doyle of the Venetian murder mystery).

But forget about the theory: some of their best stuff is the nuts-and-boats practical. There is an admirable sketch-history of the gondola and its monster offspring, the vaporetto. And I particularly liked their discussion of the economics of the "artisan." They explain that Murano glass "works" because the craft is showy and dramatic, but that Burano lace-making does not "work," because the craft is not showy, and because real Burano lace is prohibitively expensive. Papier-mache masks work especially well, because the price is right, and the technology is accessible to any schoolchild. By the way it appears that those fancy designer masks (confession: I have one on the living room wall) are no part of the tradition of Venice: masks at the /carnevale/ were for the most part mass-produced.

The climax comes, inevitably in a discussion of the other Venice, the Venetian Hotel at Las Vegas (but why can't I find it in the index?). They provide an entertaining account, appropriately fascinated and appalled, of the Venetian as the private obsession of Steve Adleson who has lavished on it (so they say) the sum of $1.5 billion. They seem not to have noticed that from a business standpoint, the Venetian seems to have been a rousing success. If tourists still flock to the real Venice, they seem to descend at a comparable rate on our little Venice in the desert.