Travel Books

I bought this gift as a present for a friend who lives in LA. What a great guide! Very thorough, but brief and to-the-point, summary of every beauty service you could need. My only wish is that they would give a price range for the salons, not just a low/medium/high rating. I hope they come out with one for the Detroit area!

while i do not live in la, this is a useful tool to have when traveling for work/pleasure, etc. similar to a zagat guide for dining, this is excellent. the summaries are short, sweet and to the point. women & men can trust that the research is accurate & reliable. please come out with a nationwide head to toe - we need seattle, dc, chicago, nyc, boston, miami, minneapolis, dallas and many more!

head to toe is incredible. I just have moved from New York to LA and use the book all the time. I found out about the book from an article in Vogue's August issue. It breaks down every beauty service by price with a review. No need to wonder anymore about the best beauty places just for you.

I just received my first client because of this wonderful book. I have a facial salon inRedondo Beach and I never knew someone came in to "check me out" ...how wonderful to find out that they reviewed me in their book and gave me some great advertisement. Thanks for everything Sirrell

Head to toe has been an unbelievable tool in finding the most perfect places to get any beauty needs. The reviews are so detailed with all the information from prices to hours of operation. I would recommend this book for locals as well as tourists who are visiting the Los Angeles area.

Brian Lane presents clear and concise information on hiking in the Grand Canyon. The fact that he has focused on the Bright Angel, South Kaibab, and North Kaibab trails--the popular trails to Phantom Ranch--is a boon to anyone going on their first backpacking trip in the Canyon. With his book you learn the necessary info to have an enjoyable and successful journey into the mile-deep gorge. His detailed and easy-to-read text provides info from his years of experience about your drinking water requirements, protection from the sun, conditioning prior to the hike, and desert safety. Lane's beautiful photographs of many of the scenes along way is a pleasant bonus--his fine art quality photos are stunning. Lane has created a classic backpacking guide book with the specific aim to get people into the Canyon--and back out again--while having fun.
Grand Canyon: The Vault of HeavenThe Fun Guide to Exploring Grand Canyon National Park (Grand Canyon Association)Grand Canyon Map and Guide[[ASIN:189386099X

Excellent book, answers lots of questions ranging from temperatures, sunrise/sunset times, elevation gain, appropriate equipment and trail conditions to what to eat (and avoid eating) and how to avoid health problems and how to treat them if they occur. Although for a trip to Phantom Ranch (our plan) one wants to consult a number of sources, this is the best I've seen so far at answering questions. Practical, easy reading and worth more than the price.

This little book is packed full of useful information for anyone planning to hike the Bright Angel Trail (as we are) or other Grand Canyon trails. It is well written, has some great pictures, and provides excellent advice. I really liked this book!

Fantastic photography, great maps, very informative! Awesome for anyone
who loves hiking. I have not yet visited the Grand Canyon, but when I do
this guide is going with me. It's a great size to carry hiking and you
can't beat the price either. A friend of mine also stated that she
wished this guide had been available 2 years ago when she visited the
canyon. This book is definitely a must read!

I would have expected a guide as well done as this to be twice the price. The author has taken some stunning photographs and backed them up with consise trail information. Makes me want to go back again soon. Excellent book.Hikernut's Grand Canyon Companion - A Guide to Hiking and Backpacking the Most Popular Trails Into the Canyon: Bright Angel, South Kaibab & North Kaibab Trails

Even as the art & tradition of classical gamelan music fades in Java, gamelans are built & organized in America & Europe, the music is studied & taught in universities. This has occurred since the 70's, when recordings of gamelan music became widely available, particularly in a major series on Nonesuch Explorer. For many people, hearing gamelan for the first time is not only a delightfully exotic experience, the music unlike anything one has heard, but there is often also a strange shock of recognition, as if one somehow already knew the music, although where & how remains a mystery. Perhaps this is what happened to Colin McPhee. For McPhee in 1930, as for so many western musicians since, hearing gamelan inspired something like a religious conversion.

I was given an old copy of this book shortly after I heard gamelan for the first time, & so I was able to follow McPhee on his great adventure to find where the music came from. When he arrived in Bali, he discovered that although the culture was vibrantly alive, much of music was in danger of being lost. He met, befriended, & studied with some greatly talented Balinese musicians, old masters & several younger composers & leaders, including Wayan Lotring & Made Lebah. They set about restoring a Semar Pegulingan gamelan. The task of bringing this music back to life is the "plot" of the "A House In Bali." McPhee quickly realized that his western musical training was of limited value, because the "values" of music - technically & culturally - in Bali were so different. Music had popular, ritual, & concert functions, as in the West. But the music was inseparable from the instruments, & each collection of instruments - each gamelan, was unique. Compositions were learned by rote, in phrases, with the gamelan functioning as a kind of all-ages social club for men. McPhee had to become, as best he could, a person of Bali, a villager, someone with a place & a role in the life of the community. He recounts his immersion in Balinese life, As strange as Bali was for McPhee, he was the "stranger," the outsider, & he remained one, oddly indifferent to what the Balinese thought of his lifestyle. Most inexplicably, he seems not to have become a gamelan musician. One wonders not only how he resisted this experience, but also why?

McPhee later attempted to translate Balinese music into a western idiom using pianos & a symphony orchestra, with beautiful results, but losing what he had learned in the process, Sadly, when he returned home, he had left the most important stuff behind.

I'm heading to Bali this month and this book provided a great intro to the customs and nature of this island. I'm even more excited to get there after reading it.

I am Balinese and live in Ubud, about 10 minutes walk from where Colin McPhee stayed, when he came to Bali in 1931. My aunt worked for him.

He heard a record of gamelan music in New York and couldn't wait to get to Bali to listen to the real thing.

He stayed in Bali for almost 8 years and set about documenting gamelan music. Much of his research was carried out in a village near Ubud where my Villas are. There are still old people in the village who remember him.

His book is beautifully written and tells stories of his adventures and life in the village and his encounters with the local Balinese. It's not necessary to understand technical music matters to enjoy this book - it is totally accessible.

Highly recommended.

I first heard Gamelan was coming out of the oldest temple on the Island of Bali, near Ubud, and was reading this book at the time. I purchased the book at the Jakarta airport and was hooked by the first paragraph. I think that this is a wonderful, insight into the island, the music, it's people and culture. If you have a love for exotic music and or artform, this historical work is a captivating read. My only regret is that Colin McPhee never went back to his beloved Bali.

It's a very interesting book in regards to what I have actually read. It seems to have accounts on Balinese culture. I found it enjoyable and interesting to read because it not only talks about Balinese culture but about the conflict and clashes within the village like the little dancer named Sampih and his dance teacher Nyoman Kaler.

Colin McPhee conveys many interesting things like when bad luck happened in his home in Sayan and how they had to do a purification ceremony in regards to dispel the demons, witches and evil spirits. His wanderings in Bali to record music and study their music like the rare gamelan angklung and gamelan selonding from Tenganan who were the Bali Aga. Colin McPhee was drawn to the scintallinating sounds and metallic shimmer from the gamelan. At times there are humours accounts of what goes on between him and his friends that happen in the village or when they are touring around Bali. I found it enjoyable because, he seemed to have fitted in well with the Balinese people without too much problems compared with other writers before them spoke of barbarity and the animal like behaviour of the Balinese at certain functions. He writes with passion about what goes on and how things have changed with the colonial rule of the Dutch. The loss of autonomy by the Rajas who were reduced to poverty at times and how their obessions with cockfighting led to their ruin. Yet in times of despair and hardship they are always humble to him.

Overall the book contains a few photographs of his friends and colleagues. I found it wonderful and intriguing and as well as captiviting at times which he covers so many topics like the temple functions like Galungan, Wayang Kulit (Shadow Plays), the music club etc... This book you will grow to love like the book written by Miguel Corrovabias "Island of Bali".

This is a great book chock full of "to the point" advice.
I like the fact that you can use it not only as a "reading" book but also a "reference" book.

This book is great and doesn't treat you like a "dummie".....it
was delivered much quicker than I expected. Excellent!

"HOW TO OPEN A FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL COFFEE, ESPRESSO & TEA SHOP" by Elizabeth Godsmark, Lora Arduser and Douglas R. Brown.

Coffee is a huge industry across the country and around the world. In the introduction of "How to open a financially successful coffee, espresso & tea shop" the authors point out that the coffee industry is a $5 billion industry, which is growing more and more every year.

Anyone who is interested in starting his or her own coffee, espresso, or tea shop is going to be fascinated in this book. The authors start at the beginning with developing a business plan. The give examples and even offer a CD program that has preformatted documents. Licenses, business name, choosing suppliers, and equipment requirements are all discussed in the opening chapters.

Many aspects of running a successful coffee, espresso & tea business are discussed throughout this book. The authors have done a tremendous job in giving an introduction to opening this type of business. They talk about profit planning and advertising, as well as choosing the best equipment and managing your operating costs.

Without a doubt this is a definite must have book for anyone even thinking about starting this kind of business. The author's are able to skillfully introduce all the major concerns with opening a coffee, espresso & tea business. They provide a wealth of information that will help clarify a person's views of what is actually required to open, operate, and run a financially successful coffee, espresso & teashop.

Lots of good information. Some things I would never have thought of. I was very glad that I purchased this book and continue to use it frequently.

This is the best book if you are serious about opening your own business! They thought of everything. LOVE IT & recommend it completely!

I bought this book because our family is planning a summer vacation to Montana. We wanted to refresh our memory of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. We all enjoyed the diaries and illustrations in the book. It is the right amount of information to keep the story moving and keep all readers interested. It is full of interesting details of this famous journey.

We ordered this to complete a reading requirement for my child's project. It was packed with information yet illustrated nicely and easy to read.

Wow! This is a wonderful book. An engaging layout, colorfully descriptive illustrations, captivating text, and numerous extra little tidbits of information all combine to make this a most enjoyable and informative book. And that's not all! Perhaps the best feature of all is the fact that the text, while slightly adapted for the younger reader, is taken from the original writings of Lewis, Clark, and other members of the Corps of Discovery. All in all, this is a can't-miss resource for studying the Lewis & Clark Expedition with children. My 12-year-old enjoyed it every bit as much as my 9-year-old... although I'm not sure how either of them could have enjoyed it more than I did!

The adventure and thrill of the Lewis & Clark Expedition is brought to life here in a story that both children and adults could appreciate. In beautiful and carefully rendered folk-style illustrations, and with descriptive text from the actual journals of the participants, the book has the appearance of something that almost could have been written in the early 1800's, when the expedition occurred. Rosalyn Schanzer's personal interest in the subject, especially the journals and the Indian tribes, seems to bring out the best in the storytelling, which primarily illustrates the first 1 1/2 years of the Corps of Discovery's journey to the Pacific Ocean. The story is accessible and easily understood, yet the attention to detail should satisfy those trying to learn, and even researchers in this important chapter in early American History.

A very good book about the Lewis & Clark expedition. The illustrations were vivid and the best part of the book. I would recommend this book

What a story, Entertaining and thoughtful. Gives a snapshot of Nashville as seen by a West coast person. Great splashes of humor, Wonderful photography.

Wonderful! Reading this book was an adventurous experience by itself, very real. Nashville seems like a very romantic, historic place. I feel like visiting it right away. Very nice photographs!! Loved it!!

This reads very easy -- like a rather funny travelogue / description of Nashville sent to you by one of your literary friends. Complete with pictures and personal experiences from the point of view of an Asian Indian immigrant.

This is an excellent book to learn about Nashville from the eyes of a new comer. good photography, excellent choice of words. absolutely loved it!!

I loved the symbolism in snow flakes! Very moving! The book is full of humor, and yet is very literary. As others have said, the author uses photography to accentuate his writing, very impressive!

Harold Bloom writes that what makes some authors great to the point where their work approaches the canonical is "strangeness, a mode of originality that either cannot be assimilated, or that so assimilates us that we cease to see it as strange." This meditation on ruins will surely withstand the test of time as well or better than some of the memorials of history that it describes. It has piqued my interest in something that I'd never given much thought to. I have been within walking distance of a couple of places the author writes about, and passed on the opportunity to visit them. Histories comprise more than half of my leisure reading, but somehow I couldn't muster the curiosity to explore a historical ruin in the same way I would with museums & historic landmarks (that are still in one piece). This wonderfully written book has changed that for me. Highly recommended, a book that you will likely want to re-read every few years, and take with you on visits to Rome, Sicily, Wales and more.

To read In Ruins cover to cover is a continuous delight, but you could dip in anywhere and find yourself enthralled in an instant. Michael Woodward has a well-stored memory but wears his erudition lightly. He is now the director of the Holburne Museum of Arts in Bath, but his book surely reflects the five years he worked in Sir Hans Soane's museum in London. That incredible collection, housed in Soane's own home and left, by his direction when he bequeathed it to the nation, exactly as it was at his death, is a wondrous assemblage of antiquities. It appears chaotically haphazard but indeed was not, and the contents of this book have something of the same quality. Vignettes, quotations, anecdotes, reminiscences of journeys among ruins, romantic elegies, musings deeply felt, pour helter-skelter from Woodward's lively mind. The book has its structures; it has its themes. They are not starkly revealed but the underpinnings are there.
Woodward's opening chapter launches us, appropriately, in Rome. The Romans believed their city of 800,000 people was eternal and why not? Rome had walls ten miles long studded with 376 towers, crossed by nineteen aqueducts feeding more than 1,200 drinking fountains and close to a thousand public baths and the whole decorated with 3,785 statues - and all this dwarfed by colossal public buildings. How could such magnificence perish? The extraordinarily elaborate water supply provides the clue. The barbarians broke the aqueducts and soon the population was a poverty-stricken remnant, perhaps 30,000, huddled beside the Tiber. "From the fall of classical Rome until the eighteenth century" Woodward reminds us, "the only houses in the Forum were the cottages of lime-burners and the hovels of beggars and thieves." What were left were magnificent ruins and those ruins have inspired poets, artists, philosophers and theologians down the centuries. They even inspired the Fuhrer who after his first state visit to Rome decreed that all Nazi monuments should be built of marble, brick and stone - no concrete. The ruins of the 1,000-year Reich must be suitably grandiose - that is, like Roman ruins! And how grandiose the Roman ruins were! In the Middle Ages men thought the ruins of the baths of Caracalla were the work of giants. The chapter is chiefly devoted, however, to the Colosseum, and a whole series of characteristic reflections and vignettes, stories and quotations from literary visitors of different centuries. He also laments - not for the last time - the work of those who have destroyed an extraordinarily inspiring ruin in their efforts to preserve a monument. "Poets and painters like ruins, and dictators like monuments." The Colosseum was once a giant's garden haunted by owls and nightingales. Now it is sterile. It is a recurring theme. Ruins are important in their own right, not just because of what they once were, and should not be relentlessly cleaned up and re-pointed to make them permanently monumental. The trees, shrubs, creepers and flowers, are all part of the inspiration of ruins: "bare ruined choirs in which the sweet birds sing."
Through successive chapters we follow Woodward's schoolboy steps to Verulam (Roman St Albans) and share his disappointment that the walls were insignificantly low: Roman ruins but nowhere near so grand as the ruins of Rome. The older Christopher, however, sees them as an exemplar that reminds us of the mortality not just of Man but of his works. Francis Bacon, ennobled by his king, took "Verulam" as his title to remind himself that all pomp and state is but passing vanity. Woodward follows the footsteps of the tormented ploughman poet, John Clare, to a ruined arch and scattered stones, all that survives of a town destroyed in the Wars of the Roses. There he was inspired to write "Elegy on the ruins of Pickworth". Bitter at the inequalities of wealth he saw around him Clare was consoled by the "exemplary frailty" of men's possessions.
At first I marvelled at Woodward's courage in boldly inviting comparison with Rose Macaulay's justly famed The Pleasure of Ruins. He had nothing to fear. It stands the comparison very well. Late in the book he devotes a long admiring passage to Macaulay's extraordinary life. She was, he tells us, an early and potent inspiration and it shows.

Everything you wanted to know about ruins but hadn't thought to ask. The role ruins play in the imaginative life of European culture: a reflection on mortality and the transience of civilizations, among other interpretations. Modeled after "The Haunts of the Black Masseur" it is often fascinating, consistently well-written but on occasion seemed to go on too long. The last chapter was the most moving as the personal histories seemed the most tragic and affecting. An intriguing cultural history, as told by an obsessed historian as a labor of love.

Its' difficult to describe this book, or even what its about...but I couldn't put it down for two days (The time it took to read it). I suppose the best way to describe reading it is that is was like sitting down at a nice pub by the fire and listening to a very, very interesting person speak.

Woodward has that all too rare combination of being extraordinarily intelligent, thinking and feeling, and able to express it.

Have you ever looked at a ruin, and found your imagination running away? Have ever wondered why ruins seem to evoke more thought from people -from poets like Shelly (covered in the book) and artists of the Romantic period?

Short of going there and contemplating yourself, this book is the next best thing, in fact, i would recommend if before anyone goest to see

IN RUINS by Christopher Woodward is one of the most genteel, warmly evocative, yet scholarly extended essays about beauty that has appeared in a while. Only a true artist could 1) come up with the idea of meditating on ruins of past civilizations and 2) recreate historical places not only through his own perceptive eyes but also through the eyes and writings and drawings and paintings of artists for the past two hundred years. Woodward finds beauty in the "neglected" ruins, the old sites where nature has nudged the surfaces with wild flowers, mosses, crawling vines, and ground swells, preferring this respect for times past to the wild flurry of the preservationists who seek to 'restore' these treasures to their 'original glory' but often invite tourism with its adjunctive sales, stands, and souvenirs. He has visited the ruins of Rome, of Sicily, Cuba, England, etc and is distraught when he finds these various havens for poets sequestered with guardrails and other implements of distraction. "..the artist is inevitably at odds with the archeologist. In the latter discipline the scattered fragments of stone are parts of a jigsaw, or clues to a puzzle to which there is only one answer, as in a science laboratory; to the artist, by contrast, any answer which is imaginative is correct." "What [poet] Shelley's experience shows is that the vegetation which grows on ruins appeals to the depths of our consciousness, for it represents the hand of Time, and the contest between the individual and the universe." Of the 'Picturesque Movement' in England, Woodward writes referring to the latter day artist John Piper "I know perfectly well I would rather paint a ruined abbey half-covered with ivy and standing in long grass than I would paint it after if has been taken over by the Office of Works, when they've taken of all the ivy and mown all the grass." Woodward talks about even the transporting of ruins from, say, Libya to England (as per King George IV in 1827 importing the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna to his Gardens at Virginia Water). "A ruin is a dialogue between an incomplete reality and the imagination of the spectator." And finally in his thoughts on war monuments and memorials he writes "Is it ever possible to preserve the 'strange beauty' of war, to capture the moment of 'dust in the air suspended'?"

Each of these eloquently written thoughts and musings is unlike anything else you will find in books on art history, architectural history, or even philosophy. Christopher Woodward has graced our libraries with a little volume that holds dear the intangible, the corporeal transience, the lasting loveliness of man's time on this planet as protected by nature. This is truly a beautiful book that begs for moments of your indulgence, away from the madding crowd.

Keillor is probably best known in the Midwest where his tales of the imaginary town of Lake Wobegon are heard on many radio stations in that region. This book is set in a variety of real Minnesota towns and depicts life in the rural Midwest. Those from these stomping grounds will easily relate to the short stories contained in this book. But even if you dwell in a California metropolis you will still find a warmth, perhaps uncommon, yet very appreciated. Take, for example, the following exerpt quoted from The Notebooks of Carl Krebsbach:
"It was the annual January thaw, nature's way of arousing false hopes and tempting the good people of Lake Wobegon to let lown their guard and not wear a scarf so that nature can kill them. A form of natural selection to reduce the optimist population and promote the survival of embittered stoics who believe that fate is against them. Which it is.
The thaw means that snow on the roof melts and freezes on the overhang of the eaves, forming a dam to back up the water so it can get under the shingles and freeze and gradually rip our house apart, which is nature's goal, to obliterate us. Nature is not benevolent towards us, it wants us out of here. It's good to know this. In summer, you can almost believe otherwise.
Luckily, summer is soon over. As it turns cold, our mood improves. we're excited. Cold is a stimulant. So is danger. It's good to have nature to deal with. That's why self-pity declines in the fall. People don't sit around and anguish over what to do with their lives. Instinct tells you. You're a mammal. Stay warm. Stay close to the food supply. Shovel the roof. Make babies. Make a few extra in case the wolves get one. And then on a cold night in January, you walk out in the moon light and agsinst all reason, beyodn all expectation, you're utterly happy."

In addition to Keillor's down-to-earth story telling this book contains wonderful photography by Richard Olsenius. I actually bought this book because I am a fan of photojounalistic photograghy. Great writing and great photography, a bookshelf is incomplete without this volume.

I was what you would call a "Noobie" to all of Garrison's work until recently. I picked up this book at a college library after speaking to my mother about the Minnesota author project I was recently assigned. She was familiar with his work and suggested that I look into it....so I did. I never thought that this would open up such big can of worms, and I mean this in a good sense. After reading the book from cover to cover, I went on the internet to find out more about Garrison's work and turned up some very interesting search results. I then read it again and now I guess you could say that I'm hooked on the Lake Wobegon saga and I am planning on picking up a couple of his earlier writings related to Lake Wobegon.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend this book to anyone who has vast, little, or no knowledge of Lake Wobegon.

I was what you would call a "Noobie" to all of Garrison's work until recently. I picked up this book at a college library after speaking to my mother about the Minnesota author project I was recently assigned. She was familiar with his work and suggested that I look into it....so I did. I never thought that this would open up such big can of worms, and I mean this in a good sense. After reading the book from cover to cover, I went on the internet to find out more about Garrison's work and turned up some very interesting search results. I then read it again and now I guess you could say that I'm hooked on the Lake Wobegon saga and I am planning on picking up a couple of his earlier writings related to Lake Wobegon.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend this book to anyone who has vast, little, or no knowledge of Lake Wobegon.

Fans of Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" are already an imaginative sort. We know what Arlene Bunsen looks like, or Pastor Inquist. We've got a good idea how Roger Hedlund has been rotating his crops, and the main goings on on Main Street. We don't need pictures of this area because we already know it by heart--we've seen it on the radio. This book does exactly what it should...it doesn't dispel our images of Lake Wobegon, but gives us pictures of its neighbors and people living their lives in rural Minnesota. All the images are sepia toned. With a few exceptions, the subjects are unposed and candid, getting ready for the prom, or readying the field for corn.

The composition of the shots are superb. The short prologue gives a first person retelling of how Keillor invented the town that "time forgot and the decades cannot improve." That introduction, however, is so short that it's almost unfair to say that this is a Garrison Keillor book. He essentially wrote the foreword (although it's not titled that way), and the pictures tell the real story.

My only disappointment is that there isn't any color. Certainly sepia tones give us nostalgia the way we'd like to remember it, but sunset on a farm is something you can't appreciate in shades of brown. Rural life has its monochromatic moments, to be sure, but there's enough color and life to help us remember that not everything is nostalgia.

This gripe doesn't detract from the beauty of this book, though. Thankfully we never see Lake Wobegon, only hints and shadows. It allows us to preserve our preconceptions, but gives us a deeper feeling of connection with the area. If you're a fan of APHC, you probably already own this book (or you should). If not, take a look at a lifestyle that might be foreign to you.

From the Central Minnesota prairie, in beautiful black and white pictures and picturesque prose, here is the Genesis of Garrison Keilor's magical mythical Lake Wobegon, site of "A Prairie Home Companion." Here we get to *see* the strong women, good-looking men, and above average children of and for whom he speaks on Saturday nights. Accompanying Richard Olsenius' stunning photography (how can the viewer not be deeply moved by the picture of the veterans at the St. Wendell cemetery on Memorial Day?) are excerpts from the Radio Show, interviews with inhabitants, and essays and musings from Keilor - like this:

"Culture isn't decor, it's what you know before you're twelve. It sticks with you all your born days. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You can try to wrestle free of it, like those geese who trail the V-formation, trying to look as if they aren't part of this bunch, as if flying south were a personal decision on their part, but your feint towards independence only makes it clearer who you really are. Some people like hot dish better if it's called cassoulet, or pot roast if it's pot-au-feu. Fine. Suit yourself. Same difference."

Whatever you call those culinary delights, you'll like this book. Come see Father Kleinschmidt's Annual Blessing of the Snowmobiles. Ja, you betcha! Reviewed by TundraVision.