Cameron Books

ILLUMINATIONS is truly a MUST. This book is perfect for those of us who are looking for beauty, understanding, and spiritual richness in life. It is filled with magnificent art work, photographs, drawings and the myriad of various texts just left me astounded. I have given this book to a dozen friends and have received nothing but kudos for doing so! I have referred to ILLUMINATIONS several times during the past year and inevitably receive the inspiration therein.

A book to slowly taste--word by word. Bask in glorious graphics; savor the thick paper; turn only a page a day to make it last!

I gave this book to all my good friends for Christmas. Every one of them, and they are an eclectic group, loves it. This is a book to be savoured like a fine wine. Each time you pick it up, you discover something new and wonderful. I find a favorite poem or photograph or essay or quotation every time I look at it. There are so many jewels here, so much accumulated talent. The editiors, Jennifer McMahon and Mark Tompkins, have truly given all of us who are lucky enough to encounter this book a gift to be treasured for many years. If you haven't been lucky enough to have been given this book, buy one for yourself today. You will love it!

This book is a real treasure. It's a wonderful compilation of art and personal stories from people who are looking for greater spiritual meaning in their lives. Rather than preaching, it has people share their experiences from around the globe about their spiritual journey. It reminded me how alike we all are and validated some of my own inner reflections. I highly recommend this book.

I was delighted and fortunate to discover "Illuminations" through the publication
of one of my poems. It is a gem of a collection, encompassing all faiths and beliefs,
very spiritual and uplifting, filled with beautiful and inspiring pictures, a work of art
in itself. It is at the same time meditation, essay, poetry, and will even spur
your creativity. I was blessed to be part of it and recommend it as an opportunity
for communion with the self.
Helene Cardona, author of The Astonished Universe

Second volume of an instant classics.
Azzarello forcefully tells intervowen stories of hope, revenge, destiny and choices of life and death. These stories are richly illustrated by one of my favorite graphic artists, Risso. This duo give life to a "noir" graphic novel and I'm sure someone will twist these stories in to real "film noir". I'm hooked, completely.

Better than the first volume, as a little more becomes clear. We start to have an inkling of what Agent Graves is up to, who he is working for, where he comes from, what he wants to get done, and why and how he can come up with the immunity guns and untraceable ammunition, to start with.

The ultimate mindf**k. I strongly suggest you read this series. Start with Vol 1 and proceed in sequence. As a matter of fact, I won't waste any more of your time...order and read it now!

I was totally blown away by 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call. Most people think of comic books as mostly about superheroes and villains. Sure there's the rare serious titles that deal with more than just costumed heroes and out of this world situations, but outside of Miller's Sin City, there's not been another comic book to truly take a shot at creating a noir title that does the word honor. Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets series brings the world of Dashiell Hammett, James Cain, Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler to the world of comic books, or should I say in this regard: the graphic novel.

With the first volume, Azzarello quickly introduces the reader to his world of revenge, femme fatales and smoke-filled backrooms. He clearly establishes that the world of 100 Bullets is closer to the real world than Miller's Sin City. Where Miller goes the minimalist and overly simplistic route (in both artwork and storytelling) with his Sin City series, Azzarello bases his story in a world that looks so similar to the real world, but with a slight undercurrent of hyperrealism. With this second volume, Azzarello continues the basic theme of carte blanche revenge offered by the old and grizzly Agent Graves to what seem like a random group of people. It is later in the volume that we slowly get a new insight to who Agent Graves is and the secrets behind him and his actions. This revelation actually goes through a three-issue arc that ends the second half of the volume. The one story that really stood out was a stand-alone featuring Lilly Roach in "Heartbreak Sunnyside Up." It stood out not for Lilly taking Graves' offer of the briefcase and the gun, but in Azzarello's heartbreaking and brutal telling of a mother's love for her daughter and losing it in a way both shocking and terrible.

100 Bullets, Split Second Chance marks the second volume in the ongoing series. It takes issues 6 through 14 and adds more mythology to the world Azzarello and Risso have built with the first volume. It's a thicker volume than First Shot, Last Call, but reads just as fast. I highly recommend that people who have read the first volume pick this one up. The previous one may have been Last Call, but this volume just served up a smooth, dangerous second round that would feel at home in anything Spillane, Cain, Chandler and Hammett call home.

Brian Azzarello, 100 Bullets: Split Second Chance (Vertigo, 2000)

Wow. I liked First Shot, Last Call, the first 100 Bullets book. This one, though, is on a whole other plane of existence. The episodic nature of the first book goes right out the window, with Azzarello showing us exactly how he's going to tie all this together, with a sample encounter in that vein towards the end that leads me to think I've got the frame for the third book figured out in my head (I put it on hold immediately upon finishing this one, so I'll know soon if I'm right). This is a book that demands being picked up and read in one bite-- we begin to see how the relationships between the characters will shake out, who the big players are, how the pawns are going to move, all that sort of thing.

As with the last book, the artwork is dark, claustrophobic, even when it's daylight outside. Azzarello's use of dialect, relentless in the first book, is a bit less ubiquitous here, which helps matters immensely. And the pace, which was just a tad on the slow side in the first book, has kicked itself into very high gear. I'm glad there are eight books out in the series so far; if things keep up this way, I'll have read them all by the end of the month and be clamoring for number nine. ****

'Above Los Angeles', another in Robert Cameron's birds eye views of major cities is, to me, surprisingly superior to his similar volume on his hometown of San Francisco. Since I much prefer SF to LA, I expected LA to be far less photogenic, but it comes of rather well overall. This may be due to the fact that so many of the LA landscapes familiar to us from TV mentions, but unseen for most of us, leaves us facinated to finally see, for example, Venice Beach close-up or the Hollywood Bowl, or Century City.

This is still not quite as good as the similar volume for Chicago ore even less good than the volume on London, or even as good as a competitor's work on Boston, but it is good, nonetheless, if only because it confirms my notion that LA is a sprawl with no center. The 'downtown' pic looks like a non-descript snap of outer Queens and not similar to Manhatten's financial district or midtown, to which it is comparable in function. Even the shorelines look more interesting than the similar scenes from the SF book.

An excellent souvenoir!

This book is a must have for all those who love L.A. natural and urban landscapes, but can't be there all the time to enjoy that. As the city has gigantic proportions, of course that not everything can be covered in the book, but at least what I consider to be the most attractive spots in the area is there. The paper is high-quality and the photographs are crystal-clear and well produced. Worth the money.

I just love these books by Cameron, he is just the most amazing talent. This book really captures L.A. and this is a city that begs to be photographed from the air because of all the wonderful buildings hidden behind huge fences and lush landscape. This is without question one of his best books, it really is a joy to look through. I have the older edition, but have seen the newer book and it only adds a few new pictures of buildings built since the book was first published in the early 90's; such as the Getty. I was expecting more new pictures, since the publisher makes big deal about it being revised, I even thought I might buy it if it was that different, but there are like five new pictures out of about 160 original and like I said before they where not even taken by Cameron. These pictures are well done, but are not by Cameron himself, he is alas over 90 and retired. Either printing is a five star book I assure you. I highly recommend all of his books they are all wonderful in their own way, but this truly is one of his best works.

Los Angeles is a wonderful city so full of interesting things. This book has it all. All the areas are greatly photographed and look clear. LA's smog problem seems to be subsiding as the photos show clear days (most of them) and LA is only getting better. Every part of the city is showned. If you like photos from the air, you'll like this book. Also, the Library tower is shown (this is the first building to get blown up in the movie "Independence Day") in several photos. The older printings of this book didn't have them in it. I highly recommend this book.

Robert Cameron presents a place and its' character in this "above" book (as well as in the other ones). Some people fly over the Los Angeles area, gagging and shaking their heads. Mammoth highways, concrete, smog, track housing, and monster burbs. These qualities do exist. But Cameron's photos also allow you to see the different personalities and idiosyncrasies of the many communities that make up what we call Los Angeles, from the Southbay beaches to the hills. (Where LA begins and ends we're not always sure). The area of Los Angeles (like other places) is different from other major metropolitan American areas for a variety of reasons. For one, most of the topography is flat, and it's a coastal desert paved with transplants with ambition and liking for the sun. These pictures allow the City of Angels to be more intriguing and have more of its' personality exude itself, as the reader gets a closer look at it through these pictures.

Mental pictures.

Yes, there are those who state Los Angeles County is an area with few landmarks. First you've got have a good disposition to this place, and second you've got to get close. Cameron's shots provide plenty of pockets of beauty and character, and plenty of quintessential "LA" landmarks. One must close enough to observe and experience them. "Above Los Angeles" lets us. Photos that highlight the interesting and beautiful icons of this city's architecture and natural character.

Another book for LA-philes and those interested in its' history and growth is: "LA Lost & Found: An Architectural History of Los Angeles (California Architecture and Architects, No 21)." by Sam Hall Kaplan, and Julius Shulman (Photographer).

I love this book. I wish all technical books were written this way.

A few months ago, I had a job interview and they asked me if I knew Hibernate. I told them that I didn't know it, but I could learn it. So they gave me a little sample database problem - they wanted me to build a one-to-many, bi-directional join - and asked me to spend the weekend reading tutorials on the web and see if I could get something up and running by Monday morning. So I hit it hard. I read everything I could find, just trying to get something that worked. But I wasnt able to get it working, so I didnt get the job. But I still wanted to learn Hibernate, so I bought the book "Java Persistence with Hibernate" that everybody raves about. That book was not good for me. It seemed ponderous. It has all sorts of references to JSR white papers and stuff like that. I dont care about white papers. I just wanted to find something that would help me figure out how to get my project running. I read 500 pages of that book, and I still felt confused.

So then I bought Hibernate Made Easy, and I LOVE it! It starts out with some very simple examples, so you get something working and you start to gain confidence. The first chapter is about how to set up Hibernate, and the second chapter is about testing your setup. Then he starts off with some very simple code that saves a record to the database. And then gradually he increases the complexity of the problems and the solutions until by the end of the book you're ready to solve real world problems. It's great. It's very logical and straightforward, and surprisingly, it's also fun to read. I mean, this is a book about Java persistence, but it's fun to read. How did he do that?

After I finished reading this book, I went back and tried to do the job interview exercise again to see if I had learned anything and guess what? I was able to finish it in only 75 minutes. It only took me 75 minutes to do something that I had spent about 48 hours trying to do before. Man... I wish I had read this book earlier.

This book is thorough, easy to read, light-hearted, and it tackles all the difficult topics in a logical, step-by-step way. I think it's an outstanding book. After reading it I feel prepared to tackle my next interview. I feel like I can confidently say "I know Hibernate."

The perfect book for learning Hibernate. Reads like a Head First Book, but with attitude.

This book is a must have.

This book is a great introduction to Hibernate and all the code really works. The examples are pretty good and the author builds upto a simple set of classes which illustrate all the mapping concepts. I had avoided working with Annotations and Hibernate before but I found them easy to work with and understand.
The chapters on Mappings and How Hibernate Works are very good. Keep a copy of Java Persistence with Hibernate to supplement some of the concepts. This book is meant to be an introduction so does not cover advanced topics like transactions, caching and optimization.

Awesome book/guide/primer - but make no mistake in thinking that this book is a just a primer. It covers a lot of topics and is written in a very easy, reader-friendly and intuitive fashion. Most (pretty much all) of the code is error-free and is very easy to understand (This is useful very much especially for Newbies). BEST/PERFECT book to learn Hibernate. If you are a newbie, look no further - this is THE book to learn Hibernate. A++. Shining Five stars for this book. I hope the author of this book (Cameron McKenzie) publishes more technical books like this is in future. (If there is something like a "Made Easy" series with books like this from this author, I guess it would be at least equivalent or greater than "Head First" series). What more - find a bug in the code and win $100! (I am desperately trying to find a bug in the code to buy good earbuds for my ipod - looks like it is not going to happen..)

This book really got me started on Hibernate. Before I bought this book, I bought Java Persistence with Hibernate book. Soon, I realized that Java Persistence with Hibernate book was not a good introductory and tutorial book. So I decided to try the Hibernate Made Easy by Cameron. After reading Hibernate Made Easy, I have a good understanding of Hibernate and I am ready to move on to more advanced topics. I gave five stars to this book for the following reasons.
1. The book was written in simple, clear and concise manner. It is easy to understand and absorb.
2. The code examples in the book works.
3. The book uses a simple development and deployment environment so that I did not have to download a tons of software to get the examples working.
4. The examples use mySQL database instead of HSQLDB like in other Hibernate books. So it is more practical.
5. This book is not just about learning Hibernate. It is also about how to apply this technology properly. The author included tutorials on how to design the persistent layer using Data Access Object and Factory design patterns.
6. This book has web application examples using JSP and Hibernate running on Tomcat. These examples are very simple yet very poweful. They get to the point.
7. Finally, about the author. Cameron loves to hear from the reader. He accepts the reader's comments and he shares his ideas freely with the reader.

I finished reading this book to my older children (12 and 14) today. We all loved it. The book operates on many levels. It's the Chronicles of the life of an adolescent boy around 1910. It's also the story of a family's struggles and will to not only survive, but to thrive and to stand up for their beliefs. This book has encouraged my children to contribute more in our family, and to set up their own families with good principles. I would give this book 10 stars if there were 10 to give, and I can't recommend it highly enough as a great family read!

Wow these books are great! And you know the later the books the thicker they are. I think its because he remembers more about like his teen years than in his childhood. Well over all I would highly recommend this book. Yet like in a prior review these books do have some language but it shrinks in the text more and more. Buy this book and you wont be disappointed!

Highly recommended series. I recommend as an alternative to the Little House series for boys. Well written.

A reviewer asked for help regarding the names and volumes in this series. Here it is...

1. Little Britches
2. Man of the Family
3. The Home Ranch
4. Mary Emma & Company
5. The Fields of Home
6. Shaking the Nickel
7. The Dry Divide
8. Horse of a Different Color

Mr. Moody shares adventures of his life in this series. It's wonderful, but there is some foul language. Therefore, I would recommend reading the books aloud with older children (not for the preschool/early elementary crowd).

When Ralph Moody's father dies in the early spring of 1910, he's eleven years old, the senior boy in a family of five, and determined to support his mother and siblings. It's a rocky road, for his mother, even though she declares she'll "depend on" him as "her man," is equally determined that he must stay in school--which means he's restricted to nickel-an-hour boy-jobs for most of the year. And so, despite the title, this book is less about Ralph's helming the family than about the family's pulling together to support itself. They start a "cookery route," selling Mrs. Moody's New England food to neighbors; the children pick fruit, and Ralph rides in match races, breeds rabbits, and hires schoolmates with horses to keep the cattle from the incoming trail herds out of the residential lanes, as well as discovering that it's possible to supply the family's entire need for coal simply by picking up what has fallen off the tenders of passing trains. Like his father before him, he proves to be a shrewd trader and a clever inventor who comes up with a device on which to dry and repair the lace curtains from Denver's Brown Palace Hotel when his mother gets the idea of offering her services as a contract launderer. And he and his brothers and sisters get a surprise when, six months after their father's death, their mother has a sixth baby.

Besides Mary Emma Moody, who stands solidly in the midst of her young family and exemplifies the best type of "widder woman," the two most unforgettable characters in the book are Sheriff McGrath, a widower who tries awkwardly to court Ralph's mother, and Jerry McEnerney, the Irish section boss who, for all his early bluster, soon becomes the boy's friend and quietly arranges for him to obtain over 100 used railroad ties to haul away and sell. And though there are setbacks and mishaps, such as the vividly described spillage of an entire wagonload of cookery, the Moodys soldier on, until it begins to look as if they will be able to stay indefinitely in Ralph's beloved Colorado. But then Mary Emma incautiously shares a secret with a neighbor, and is subpoenaed to testify before the Grand Jury. Fearing that she will end by sending an innocent man to the gallows, she decides there is only one thing to do: take her children and secretly flee out of state to live with her brother in New England. And so one phase of Ralph's life ends and another begins, to be told in subsequent books. But the West will call him back, and he will never be fully free of its spell.

This is a funny, warmhearted, inspiring tale of a family determined to make its way without seeking charity, of its friends and neighbors, and of the beautiful land it loves. It would make a splendid family readaloud, or a good book to curl up with alone if you love stories of the West and of people who don't give up.

This is one of my all time favorite books, its small and filled with all kinds of random trivia and factoids that are delightful to share. The only thing I didnt like about the book is that it ended. I loved the book and everyone whos borrowed it from me or read it off my coffee table has absolutely loved it. You will too!

I am a reading teacher at the middle school level. This has been a hit with many of my students, whom I have been reading it aloud to. Even those students who profess to hate reading love this book, and beg me to allow them to read it by themselves. Hats off to Cameron Tuttle for a great read!!

This book would be good source material for commedy script writers...and humans who believe forwarned is forarmed.You wil be very well armed with this little quick read.It is hard to put down .It is hard not to laugh loud and long.It is hard to chance ever leaving your bedroom again.

The Paranoid's Pocket Guide is a quick and easy read, and Tuttle should be congratulated for both her in-depth research into matters of trivial paranoia and her clever presentation of same. Besides the straightforward presentation of factual statements, generally one to four on a page, Tuttle has a stream-of-consciousness list of basic paranoid fears running in a continuous line along the bottom of every page.

Tuttle's Guide is more about clever presentation than it is about clever writing, but she gets full marks for creating an interesting book which is both informative and fun. And terrifying. I dare you to read it without suffering at least a few jarring re-evaluations of the world around you.

This book sits in a conspicuous semi-hidden drawer in my living room coffee table. I'm always hoping someone will open the drawer and start reading it... I think they would become completely engrossed, but would also start looking out the corner of their eyes for what might get them! Some of MY friends might break out in a cold sweat, throw down the book and go running out the door!

The pages of the book are multi-dimensional... it is designed to "trip you out." The little factoids come in fonts of multiple sizes, which is not really similar to ransom notes clipped from newspapers but elicits the same type of feeling. One of the best things about the book are the photos... even everyday objects like sponges and treadmills are made to look like fearsome devices of evil... and the captions to the pictures help. Offset well below the image as if to stand it's distance, the caption speaks out as if to whisper the name of the object in the simplest possible way: [ A SPONGE ]. Heh.

There is also what appears to be the ramblings of a hyper-paranoid person scrawled along the bottom of the pages. You have to read the book twice... once to follow that rambling from cover to cover, and once to read all the factoids. But when you are reading the factoids, you sometimes get a glimpse of the rambling. The oddness of it adds to the whole creepiness of the book.

The atmosphere of the book is similar in some respects to what a crazed private-eye type, or government agent type, would write.

This book has been a divine encounter for me. Each page I turn to seems to hold a message just for me. It's always exactly what I need, when I need it. The book was recommended to me, and I have since recommended it to others as well as given it to others. It has been a divine gift.

When I ordered this book I thought it was a catalog of "I prayed for this and was answered like that," but it is not. It is written as if God is talking to you, the reader, and expressing His thoughts, concerns, feelings, and love about you, and describing Himself in the process. If you were raised in the kind of church that depicted God as an angry, impossible, pyromaniac, this book just might heal those corrupt files in your heart, head and soul. It is exquisitely beautiful. Give it a try.

This is an incredible book. I don't buy the whole "religion" thing myself, but do try to connect with something bigger on a semi-frequent basis. There's no mention of any particular denomination, faith, or creed, just God, or Higher Power, or Great Spirit, talking in ways you wish would explain stuff. It's very loving, and understanding, and patient, and comforting. I'm still wary of anything smacking of dogma or moralism, but this was anything but. Perfect for stuck people, depressed people, and people who claim not to need the big "G", but still want some reassurance alone at night. Some of the "shepherd" refrences could have been dropped, though.

This book is simple, yet meaningful and worthy of contemplation or meditation. I have given this book as a gift to about 20 people and every person has called me to tell me how much they love the book and the thoughtfulness to give something that is a little different than flowers or chocolate to someone going through another phase in their life.

There is also something I think about when I hit a spiritual roadblock.

This book was one of the top selling religious books in 2004.

Why is it called "Answered Prayer"? Let us say that you are dealing with any of a number of personal challenges, and in the middle of them, you are hoping to hear some word from the Lord. Perhaps you are worried about diminished income, or you are wondering if you are a loveable person. You may have concerns about life being dull and humorless. You are weary. You are afraid to reach out to someone in friendship. You are afraid to take the risk of trusting another. Cameron addresses these and many more concerns, in her book.

The book is like a journal of prayer, but most prayer journals record the voice of the one who prays. Not this book. Instead of prayers that are addressed to God, these prayers are presented as responses to the one who prays, in other words, as if one is hearing back, from God. It sounds like this: "I am the peace that passes understanding." Or, "Open the door just a foothold. I can work with you as you are. You are not the first disillusioned one I have encountered." (Page 149).

Every chapter is a prayer. Every prayer is deeply steeped in Scripture. You will find these prayers to be in accord with God's many promises we find there. These "love letters from the Divine" allow us to hear what God longs to say to us, when we find ourselves in deep and troubled waters.

I read this book many years ago when I stumbled upon it in the library while doing research for a college paper. Published in 1972, this book by Robert Crichton is a lesson in the hardships suffered by Scottish mining villages many, many years ago. The heroine, so to speak, Maggie, is a determined woman who becomes controlling and bitter over the years. Her husband, whom she sought out and won practically through seduction, is quiet and reserved. It is heartbreaking to read their story, but you just can't put this book down. You feel all the love, horror, frustration and pathos of this family right along with them.

It's been over 20 years since I read this book, and still it haunts me.

One of my all-time favorite books. I would love to have a new copy

The Camerons was so real the reader could enjoy the story with all five senses. I'd pay nearly anything for a copy. The author, I believe, was one Robert or Michael Crichton.

There isn't a year that goes by without some pause to reflect on favorite past books read - The Camerons was decidedly a gem for me! It captures another time and place so vividly; it's a book of character with many enduring and fine passages for young or old to read well into the midnight hours!

My mother is a Cameron and she so reminds me of the short, dark, frugal heroine of the book. The book is written in such detail that I was able to identify with the hard life of the coal mines and the pinching and saving that the mother was able to do so that they could move "on top of the hill". (A newer book with the same them is Homer Hickam's, "October Sky"... The mother managed the money, saved and eventually kept enough to buy a house at Myrtle Beach) The book was shared with everyone in our family and each person had that sense of our past, our own history. Perhaps all who have that Scottish heritage and then moved to the new world as miners can understand the importance of this inspiring book. I really want a copy to share with my own daughter and my son, Cameron David.

I received this book as a gift and I loved it then and still love it now. After seeing the PBS (television) show on this subject I became intrigued and wanted to learn more.
This book does not disappoint. It goes into great detail as to what really happened in 1906 (whether it was reported by the Media or not).

During the 1906 S.F Earthquake (aka: "The 1906 FIRE") the media was influenced by the politicians (& other institutions) , and this book shows what might have truly happened. Well researched.

Ten years ago, I discovered Denial of Disaster and was floored by what I read. This is the definitive historical work on the greatest natural disaster in U.S. History. The research by Gladys Hansen and her team, former Fire Chief Emmett Condon and the superb journalist David Fowler, forever destroys the official lies that have lasted nearly a century. The official death toll is 478: Gladys has proven that more than 3,500 died. The death toll is easily over 6,000. The photographs are superb, the text strong and inviting, the eyewitness accounts are breath taking. Yes, I may be biased: my novel, 1906, is a fictional account of the last, great days of the city of San Francisco as it once was. But my response to this book was immediate and dramatic, long before it inspired me to write my novel. Periodically, I revisit it like an old friend. There is nothing quite like it in the entire book world. It makes history come alive. James Dalessandro

I got this book because it was so highly recommended, after I had finished reading the fiction, 1906. That book gave a lot of information that was new to me, even though I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and my father worked in SF. This book is simply incredible. The amount of photographs of all kinds, including panoramic scenes meant for stereotopic viewers that were popular at that time, and postcards that were 'colored' made this book an incredible find. Not only have I been through it several times, but also I brought it back to my father and mother who were in awe of the detail and the photography provided by the author of this book. Her information concerning individuals, concerning the inability of the fire companies to successfully fight any of the fires (water pipes were broken as were roads made inaccessible)...intrigued me and my father who was a civil engineer.

Then my nephew who is studying at a nearby college came and went through the book, as he is studying urban planning. He was very interested in the modern day SF and the author's explanations of why SF is in an even more precarious position should another quake as strong as the 1906 quake happen, due to continued ignoring of the need for quake proof buildings and water lines, breaks between houses, the fact that SF actually has less fire departments now then in 1906 and other major problems.

I love San Francisco as a city and where I grew up, but quite frankly, I would never dream of moving back there, partly because of this book. Yet there are other cities equally at risk over poor urban planning (new Orleans for one), and this book would be a good required reading for those going into urban planning and environmental impact on human populations.

A truly great book...

Karen Sadler

As somewhat of a history buff, this book fascinated me. The photos are simply astounding and easy to get lost in. If you're interested in the real story of the quake, check out the DVD documentary "Disaster by the Bay", also available here. I've seen all the documentaries on this subject and "Disaster" is the best by far.

This book is the must have for anyone interested in this history of San Francisco. As a fifth generation native of the "City" who had reilitives who lived through this natural disaster, I can wholeheartedly say that this is the the quinticental book on the subject. It is filled with never before published pictures of both the distruction and the notiable public figures of the day. and dose a very good job of correcting some of the misinformation attributed to the original official record of the earthquake and fire. Simple a great book.

...i have been a fan of this book since the day i found it in a used bookstore...i had seen the movie a few times, and found it pretty much a tome for our times...a teenagers diary, almost...having read the forward, and, many of crowe's articles in rolling stone magazine, i found it almost impossible to put down...i had been a radio deejay for a couple of years at this point, and, somewhat of an anomoly in that business(i hold a degree in english and biology, and a teacher's certificate)being a college graduate...having the background that i did made for intersting times on the air...i found myself talking to the kids as much as talking on the air...they will tell a disc jockey their deepest secrets late at night...i loved the overnight shift for the same reason i loved the book--the kids...crowe's true story is beleiveable having met many stacy hamilton's and spicoli's over the phone in my late night broadcast/confessional booth...that is why i love this book so much--it is the most real description of what a kid's life was like in the late 70's/early 80's...crowe captured the pure essence of adolescence straight from the subjects collective mouth's, and let's it spill forth onto the pages for one's voyueristic pleasure...if you want to know what your kid's lives are like, this book is a pretty revealing glance into their world from almost 30 years ago...get this book at whatever the cost and read it for the guilty pleasure it remains even to this day....

A few things, yes this should be reissued. No, the edition I'm reading came from the library. I've no idea if there is any appreciable difference.
My only exposure to 'Fast Time...' had come primarily through the 1982 film. Loved it. Raucous with heart- a mix that is often attempted but more often failed, but the movie managed to do that. So I went looking for the book. Only to not find it on amazon or bn or Borders. OK. Check again. Nope. A few years later. Nothing. Now, about ten years after I first saw the movie, I decided to get the book out of the local library. And I'm glad I did.
If the book can be remembered for anything, it will be because the reader can read a part here or there and remember something like that. The uncertainty, the false bravado, the awkward search for conversation, a misread gesture. All the hallmarks of growing up and trying to relate to your peers. It's a book that only a few hundred actually experienced (Mr. Crowe and his classmates), but everyone that has ever attended an American high school will feel a high degree of familiarity with ("Well, no it didn't happen exactly like that...").
Mr. Crowe is smart enough to keep his cast small and focused on certain aspects of their lives. As a reader, I thank him for this as our desire to get a little more under the skin of the experience is always rewarded. My only misgiving is that, 28 years after the events described, the story isn't complete.
As stated, a re-issue would be invaluable. The ideal re-issue would include annotations to the real areas described (Ridgemont is really Clairemont, Lincoln HS is probably Madison HS, the Strand is in Ocean Beach, the Charthouse is in Seaport Village, Marine World is Sea World, I've no idea if the Regal Theater is really the MAnn Sports Arena, etc) and a follow-up feature on where the real life counterparts of Stacy, Brad, Jeff and such ended up. The lack of these does not detract from the story, but the passing of time has created this desire.

True story! An essay I wrote about this book won me a 4-year full tuition scholarship to Boston University! This was in 1981 when Fast Times first came out. I think it was truly divine intervention that brought the book my way. I had somehow managed to talk my way out of accompanying my family on a trip to the West. While home alone, a Playboy magazine was misdelivered to our house. It happened to contain a chapter of this book, and it had me hooked, so I went directly to the nearest book store where I found the newly-printed book (in the Sociology section, because it is non-fiction.)

The thing that fascinated me the most was that Cameron Crowe actually went back to high school for an entire year undercover in order to research the story. As a high school student just itching to get away from home and all the same old people, I could just not fathom how anyone could do that willingly AND actually stay undercover for a whole year!

I would love to go back and read this book again, as I am on a high school literature kick (perhaps its my mid-life crisis?) But, sadly, I can't find it in my collection! And it really galls me that used copies sell for nearly $200!! I think my husband (who I met at BU, thanks to Mr. Crowe and Fast Times) tossed it years ago. You see, he never read the book, only saw the movie, and I think was a little embarrassed that I actually won the scholarship. [He actually had the same scholarship, but wrote about some lofty Hemingway novel.] Only time will tell which author -- Hemingway or Crowe -- captures the true story of the 20th century...

Crowe's book captures the essence of public high school life in the early 80's; Crowe's point of view is unlike any other you will see, for he graduated from a Catholic High School (University High School, San Diego) two years early at age 16 in order to tour with Led Zeppelin and friends. He then came home, missing his life in San Diego, where he had lived almost his entire life, and decided to pick Ridgemont (Clairemont High School, San Diego--NOT REDONDO in Los Angeles) because that was the school he and his Catholic friends had always dreamed about attending. That is his story in a nutshell, and he still remains very supportive to our beautiful city, as his mother still lives in San Diego to this day.

Hilarious story about high school from a student perspective. Better than the movie. For a funny book on public education from a teacher's point of view, though, try "No One's Even Bleeding".