Northwest Books

This is a terrific, pretty light read. The thing that keeps it from getting 5 stars is the fact that nobody followed in Morgan's footsteps to keep it updated. It is an excellent account of early PNW history, but it stops before it gets to more recent events in the region's history.

This is Murray Morgan's masterpiece. I've read most of Murray Morgan's popular histories. Skid Road is more popular, a breezy, easy read that gives great context to Seattle. The Last Wilderness (about the Olympic Peninsula) is my personal favorite, for sheer range of characters and stories, more humanity packed into a book than most novels.

But Puget's Sound has the most depth and detail, from original sources, of any of Morgan's books. It covers each era of South Puget Sound history, thoroughly and with footnotes. Because of that, it reads more academically than Morgan's other books, and weighs much more, too! But if you are a fan of well-written history, there's nothing better than reading a labor of love from an author with great depth and feeling for a region.

Great book. I disagree with comments in earlier review about book being "... a must-read if you want to amuse and/or bore your fellow Tacomans with antecdotes on street names, unusual buildings, etc". This book is a true narrative as the title indicates, with Morgan taking the historical details and breathing life into them, making for both an informative and an engaging read. Although the title suggests Tacoma as a major topic, the book is really a narrative of Puget Sound. Other books of this genre often spend too much time on Seattle and not enough on other places. This book does NOT focus soley on Tacoma - I'd estimate only 1/4 of it is Tacoma. Although Morgan's "Skid Road" about Seattle is more popular, I'd consider this book "Puget's Sound" to be a much better book than "Skid Road" in content, style, and prose. In fact, University of Washington Press just reprinted "Puget's Sound" (May 2003) as one of the Columbia Northwest Classics Series in recognition of its very important contribution to the Pacific Northwest. Great book by a great historian, newspaperman, writer, etc.

It's unlikely this book will be of much interest to anyone not living in the Tacoma area. Just the same, it is a colorful portrait of the city that used to be, the dreamers and scheamers who came so close to creating the west coast's hub city from scratch. The story of Tacoma's rapid rise to prominence, and its equally swift and steady decline is not only facinating, it delivers a valuable lesson on what still happens today when civic cheerleaders go blind with optimism.

This book is a must-read if you want to amuse and/or bore your fellow Tacomans with antecdotes on street names, unusual buildings, et cetera. Perfect fodder for Tacoma's burgeoning barstool-pundit culture.

This novel both intrigued and concerned me as I enjoyed the science fiction aspects but was ever aware that the political implications are reality-based. Dana Barbour's character development is excellent, and he does an excellent job of integrating the plot with current sociopolitical issues. The Question is challenging intellectually but definitely read-worthy! If you wonder about implications of current political events, read Dana Barbour's The Question...it's in his book!

THE QUESTION HOLDS MY ATTENTION AS IT SEEMS MORE FUTURE REALITY THAN FICTION.IT IS HUMAN NATURE TO DENY OUR PROBLEMS AND DISASTERS SUCH THAT IMPENDING CONTROL OF OUR FATE MAY RELY ON OUR ABILITY TO FORESEE A SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT THAT IS NOT INDEED BENEVOLENT. IN A MODERN FAST PACED LIFESTYLE, IF WE LET OTHERS MAKE OUR DECISIONS WE GIVE UP MANY OPTIONS TO CONTROL OUR FUTURE FATE. THIS BOOK SHOULD SOUND AN ALARM TO ANY FREE THINKING AWARE READER.

This book combines a engrossing science fiction plot with it's mind challenging and thought provoking philosophical discourse. In this age of apathy and cynicism this is a book by someone who dares to give a damn, and that is refreshing.

No simple answers here but persistent readers will come away with their minds expanded.

As a frequent reader and long-time fan of good science fiction, I really enjoyed this book! Similar in style to early Asimov, the writing can seem a little too technical at times. However, the story is a good solid science fiction set in a very plausible future. It seems society has finally achieved it's long desired utopia and this book shows it's ultimate blueprint!

Our unlikely hero, a young man named Jamie, is a somewhat typical disenfranchised individual of the working class and truly someone that I can relate to. It is his inquisitive mind that leads him from the working class to a position among the ruling elite. It is also his natural curiosity that leads to the greatest threat which civilization has ever known....

That threat is, "The Question!"

An enjoyable few hours spent. This book is one of those few that you need to have plenty of free time to enjoy, for it is very hard to set down once started.

Interesting story line and well connected. I'm also from western Washington and have traveled it quite a bit and found Mr. Parkinson's discriptions absolutly right on the mark. In fact I plan on visiting the mounds soon. ( You will need to buy and read the book to Know what I'm talking about.)

I recommend this book to all from teens to old guys like me.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. If you like Richard Brautigan then you like Harlan Ellison then you will probably like Charles Parkinson. He has the same twisted skew. He writes the Pacific North west so well you can almost feel the rain in your face. I recommend it.

I must say Charles Parkinson can spin a tale like Ray Bradbury, after only a sentence or two, he has drawn you into a delightful world where the unexpected is commonplace and his characters are brought to a rich full life. Mr. Parkinson fills you with all the sounds, smells and magic of the Northwest with more than a dozen delightful tales. I highly recommend this stoyteller with a surpising depth. I can't wait for more from him.

First, a word of advice: Make sure that when you start reading this book you have plenty of time available. Once you start you will not put it down until you have finished.

The book is on the surface a collection of short stories. Dig a little deeper and you find that it is more than just a collection of short stories. Indeed, it can rightly be called a novel, where the continuity of the story is realised through "random connections" rather than through a central story line. The actions of one character may profoundly affect the life of another though neither have ever met or know of the connection between themselves. ...and isn't this life? Our lives overlap so much with the unknown people living around us. The affects of the "random connections" we make in our lives are never or rarely ever fully known to us, yet who could doubt they exist?

Charles Parkinson paints his unique vision of the world through fifteen fun stories. Each story is entertaining, and each story is unique. Each story can stand on its own and be enjoyed on its own. But this is certainly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. To realise the entirety of Parkinson's vision the book must be read in full, from beginning to end. Parkinson's message will then stand out, and, what's more, it will make you think.

"Random Connections" is a clever book and a delight to read. I highly recommend this book to any reader. We can only hope that there is more to come from this talented author.

As an amateur birder, I will never look at birds (ordinary and otherwise) in the same way again. Wonderfully written. Can't wait for the next one.
I checked this book out of the library - but will be purchasing it for myself and my darling daughter who got me into birding.

In the final chapter of this sincere work, Lyanda Lynn Haupt slips in a quotation from Stephen Kellert that suggests her own aim in writing: "People will need to rekindle their capacity for experiencing wonder, inspiration, and joy from contact with the natural world". Such delighted sentiment permeates the work as a whole. Haupt celebrates the varied reactions she and her friends and family have to a set of birds which are not the celebrities of the avian world: starlings, crows, cormorants. Her vignettes combine her knowledge of birds, of the birdwatching community, and her personal experiences. Her first chapter ends by saying, "Birds will give you a window, if you allow them", and this book looks at the moment when the shutters swing open.

Her emphasis on human reaction to birds plays to her strengths as a writer. Some of her finest lines encapsulate the meaning of a visual impression while partially eliding the image itself: she writes of the snowy owl, after referring to the way every feature of its design is taken to an extreme (e.g., "impossibly sharp talons"), "They are all we can imagine them to be." Haupt's power and interest is less in physical description (although there are some vividly amusing analogies: the "scrunched" face of a Vaux's Swift makes the species "a little avian Pekinese"). Instead, she concentrates on the kinds of emotion and thought which any individual bird encounter can touch off for a watcher.

The limits of human understanding-and the charms of those limits-plays into a larger theme of the book. Haupt declares her intent to steer a course between the Scylla of scientific arcana and cold observation and the Charybdis of "response-ists" who attempt to experience and enjoy a world untainted by human names and knowledge. At times she can drift to one side or the other-either in the form of occasionally rote descriptions of nesting habits or overly fanciful evocations of fairies-and the relative success of the passages where the two impulses are balanced prove her own point. She conveys her delight in the way the Varied Thrush produces its distinct song as gracefully as she does her experience of the song itself.

Ultimately, this book depends on an audience looking to evoke a joy previously experienced, to explore a familiar enchantment and comprehend it better. Haupt, as one who has worked to induce that joy in others, has an intelligent grasp of its workings and vagaries. Her book warmly invites others to share in her insights and, through them, re-experience their own delights.

Human beings often think of the human world as the central point from which all earthly existence radiates, with birds and other animals mere background. Lyanda Lynn Haupt sweeps the reader effortlessly into another world-- the world of birds. By bringing the daily habits, troubles and foibles of birds of the Pacific Northwest to light, and painting these birds in refreshing verbal watercolors, the author succeeds in showing humans that the bird world is not a backdrop to human existence but a whole other sphere of existence unto itself. She muses about the supernatural qualities of the hermit thrush's song, the humorous (by human standards) mating dance of the blue grouse, the hyperactivity of the missile-like swift, even the dual nature of the lives of migratory birds who can be at home in two radically different places in the span of one year. Read this book and be drawn into a separate world of avian wonder!

As someone who enjoys watching and identifying birds, this book naturally caught my interest. Once reading, I couldn't wait to get to the next essay! The book gives more meaning to my encounters with ALL birds. And just when one might be tempted to say or think "It's only a silly Starling (or Crow, or Sparrow, etc.)," amazing and wondrously described details about these birds' history, biology, taxonomy, behavior, or physiology will not only prompt one to seek out ordinary birds, but experience them on a different level. It has been similar to studying music, and subsequently gaining an appreciation for it that only those who "know" can understand. It's funny, incredibly informative, and a perfect read for anyone interested in the feathered creatures that are right out in the open with us every day. Enthusiastically recommended!

I recently had the opportunity to meet Clyde Ford while touring a Norhavan boat at the Seattle Boat Show (they love him!). As an avid reader of crime thrillers, I was intrigued with the concept of not only a mystery that takes place among boats, but in the very waters that we are boating. How unique! So I couldn't help but want to check Mr. Ford's books out. But must admit, as a lover of Michael Connelly, I have high expectations, and was afraid they might be unmet. They weren't. What a wonderful treat. To have a writer who could continue the drama and tension throughout the book with extraordinary writing and character development ... and at the same time ... take me to places we had seen in our own GB 46 was such fun. I highly recommend Ford's books to boaters and non-boaters alike. In fact, after reading his books, you may just want to go out and buy yourself a trawler!

If you enjoy intricately woven mysteries this is definitely one worth checking out, especially if you like a well crafted sense of place. Ford knows and loves boats and the waters around Bellingham and the San Juans and through his story you can feel the beauty and the challenges of the place that engender such strong passions.

Ford's protagonists really struck a chord with me. I admire his skill at reflecting the complexities of his characters and their struggles to reconcile duty, honor, and integrity -- like so many a good yarn this one ends to soon. Thankfully there is plenty to keep chewing on while we wait for Charlie Noble's next adventure to begin. I hope he keeps gunkholing around the San Juans for a long time to come.

Carefully tuned and finely paced, this is a totally satisfying, modern, page-turning, mystery. The characters are well-crafted, and the dialogue weaves with the sizzling action seamlessly, like a musical prelude. The vivid descriptions of the Vancouver/Bellingham coastal islands, however, leave you breathless and wanting to jump aboard the nearest boat. I'm already a Charlie Nobel fan, I can't wait for the next installment to hit the shelves.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Charlie Noble novel by Clyde W Ford. You have the feeling that you are actually cruising the waters around Bellingham, WA. Character descriptions are excellent. I finished the tale in just over two days because I could not put it down. I eagerly look forward to future books in this series.

I love this book.After sending it to the wrong address, Amazon mailed a new copy to me very fast and free of charge ! I did appreciate this and I will look at Amazon.com first when I will be looking for a book.Thanks!

I gave this book to my Dad as a gift and he loves it, as do I. It's a trip down memory lane with lots of nice historic pictures and descriptive writing. I especially am interested in the Celilo Falls and saddened to see what a treasure was destroyed by dams.

The Columbia is by no means the biggest, the longest or just any other 'est of the rivers in North America. Well maybe it's the roughest. At the bar where the Columbia enters the Pacific Ocean is quite possibly the consistently roughest water in the country. It's called the 'Graveyard of the Pacific,' having claimed over two thousand ships. That's why the Coast Guard located their small boat school in Astoria, Oregon, just inland from the bar.

Anyway, now the Columbia is tamed to a great extent by a series of dams that regulate the flow of water. No longer are there the hundred-foot waves breaking along the bar. This book, though is composed of pre-dam pictures of the river that remain only as memories.

The book is organized in an interesting manner. Just inside the front is a map of the first 200.5 miles of the river. Along the track of the river are a series of numbers. These reflect the page numbers of the pictures that follow. The first number is 5, and the picture on page 5 shows the bar, along with a note that it's 1,243 miles to the source of the river. The pictures range from the mid 1800's to current.

Further into the book are more maps, more pictures. To the old-timer of the area, here will be a collection of memories. To the rest of us, here is simply a spectacular set of photographs of a place that is no more.

The River is a bueaty today but yesterday - WOW! This is a beautiful work on a great river!

All 3 of Lichen's "Uncommon Field Guide" series are uncommonly delightful to poke into. One can read them chapter-by-chapter or just open the book anywhere and delve in. Even if it is an animal or plant you are familiar with, there is a good likelihood that you will discover something new about it in her description. Reading the books is somewhat like the joy of discovering an animal or plant for the first time or in an unexpected place. My only complaint is that there is not one of Feltner's detailed illustrations with every single chapter.

Pat Lichen weaves fascinating scientific information with humor, personal experience, and heartfelt tenderness for the natural world. Linda Feltner's drawings gently accentuate the essays. I'd recommend all three of Lichen's books: River-Walking Songbirds and Singing coyotes, Brittle Stars and Mudbugs, and Passionate Slugs and Hollywood Frogs as good reading and good reference for any household in the Pacific Northwest.

Made me want to go straight out for a hike in the mountains! Now I know a lot more about the plants and animals out there!

This book was great fun to read! I especially liked the author's sense of humor and obvious connection to the natural world. Interesting details about how different plant and animal species live their lives.

"Rolling Dreams: Portraits of the Northwest's Railroad Heritage" is a laudable homage to the Pacific Northwest's rail transportation network.

D.C. Jesse Burkhardt's 78 color images (and 12 b&w ones) are sharp, varied, and celebratory.

His grand and dynamic pictures (e.g., "Sherars Crossing," where a southbound container train crosses a trestle over Oregon's Deschutes River) are nicely matched by quiet--and even somber--photos (e.g., "Forgotten Rails," where wildflowers and fog hover above the abandoned Astoria line of the Burlington Northern).

A few of Burkhart's pictures--such as the hushed Oregon snow scene of a stretch of the Southern Pacific railway--would have been far more effective had they been larger.

And a couple of photos are a shade too dark.

But Burkehardt is a talented photographer and writer, and he has produced a fine work.

The photo work is exceptional, with nice, very detailed captions. Even though the Columbia Gorge is just a few miles away from here, it has been little appreciated for its beauty from the point of view of rail traffic. Also, the text is concise and informative.

For some of us, trains and railroads have an uncanny and mysterious power. The author seems to understand this, and many of his photos capture the essence of this power. Worth owning.

Out of the several hundred railroad books I own, only a few are returned to time after time. Rolling Dreams is one.

Rolling Dreams is more poetry than documentary. Although its subject is railroads, its techniques represent photography and (in the sense of texture and composition)painting. Rolling Dreams captures the beauty and details of railroading and the Northwest rail environment.

It captures the many moods of the weather as well as the tremendous range of railroading from large and small.

If you want a "railroad book that's more than a railroad book," add Rolling Dreams to your collection...and keep it at close to your bedside table.

This is the ultimate account of a corporate whistleblower whose life was torn to shreds as a consequence. Not only did the European Commission successfully prosecute HLR as a result of Adams' information, but they stood by as both his and his family's lives were systematically destroyed. I read this book seven years ago and I still grit my teeth at any thought of Roche, the EC, and especially those god awful Swiss.

You MUST read this book. The more people who know the story, the better. Pharmaceutical cartels aren't as sexy as Big Tobacco, but Stanley Adams' ordeal blows even the dramatised Hollywood account of Big Tobacco's "Insider" completely out of the water.

This book has left a mark on my life and despite reading it over ten years ago I can still remember the tale in some detail. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to understand the true power of the multinnational

A most distrurbing tale of what happened to an executive of a Swiss pharmaceutical company after he had left the organisation.

Doing what he felt was right for the good of consumers and the EC, he passed cartel and shady dealing information to the European Parliament.

His subsequent arrest, the 'suicide' of his wife, and his ensuing struggle for freedom will bring a genuine tear to the eye of even the hardest reader.

I have tried to contact Stanley Adams and John Prescott (who assisted him in his plight) but to no avail.

All in all a gripping read - at times you will not beleive it is NON-fiction.

I read the book more than three years ago. Even though I have forgotten most of the details of Mr Adams's story, I am deeply impressed by this man's courage and ability of not showing even the slightest sign of grudge agaisnt those who have played him out. This shows that he is a very forgiving and loving guy. I admire him for the way in which he reacted to the whole incident. It's a very touching story, undeniably. May he live in peace and happiness forever.

Dennis Powers is a great story teller! And "Sentinel of the Seas" is another great example! OK, I could be biased, Dennis is a dear friend of mine. But it also gives me insight into how he can weave such a good story. Dennis is one of those people you just like talking to and I think that comes out in his books. It is also how he gets people to tell him interesting things while he is doing the research. In "Sentinel of the Seas" he captures what it must be like to live in this remote lighthouse. A really fun read!

I loved this book! Dennis Powers's "Sentinel of the Seas..." is thoroughly captivating. Each chapter is filled with fascinating descriptions of the men---and there were heroic women too---who risked everything in order to secure the west coast. There are tales of immigrants who could only find work that no one else wanted, so those men took brutally hard jobs. Powers ties together the social, economic, and political scenes to portray life at a time when if a man was out of a job for whatever reason, he was simply out of luck.
Before the Oregon Territory was settled, a few hardy pioneers ventured west via wagon train, but that kind of travel was inefficient. It took months and it was full of hardships and hazards. There were no railroads or other methods of transporting goods to the developing west coast, so ships were essential to transport men and materials. And the stormy, rock-strewn Oregon coast caused too many ships to go down; that was expensive in terms of lost lives and lost fortunes as well. So the lighthouses were essential. But imagine building one amidst the raging, murderous sea with thunderous tides that could--and did--carry off men along with tons of desperatly needed goods.
This book is is a thriller.

Really enjoyed this book, Keeps you interested and the tale of building St. George Lighthouse is amazing. A harrowing tale of perseverance for ten years in all kinds of weather.
Also included is Lighthouse keepers at other lighthouses and a chaper on Women Lighhouse keepers. Mr Powers really does his homework when he writes his books and I have enjoyed working with him on three of his books at the Del Norte Conty Historical Society Museum in Crescent City California where three of his books have their roots.
Sandra Nuss
Researcher, Del Norte Co. Historical Society

Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (5/07)

"Sentinel of the Seas" reads like a novel. Dennis Powers has written another classic masterpiece which chronicles man battling the sea. As in his earlier works "Treasure Ship" and "The Raging Sea," Powers has thoroughly researched his work. He spent five years in preparation, searching archives, original journals, dairies, ship logs, Lighthouse Board Reports, and doing personal interviews of survivors, and their families. The lighthouse was built on St. George Reef which is one of the most hazardous reefs off the West Coast.

Powers recounts the history, engineering and construction of the lighthouse. He also explains the various lighting and sound warning devices used over the history of the lighthouse. Powers masterfully weaves into the record heroic stories of the men and women who designed, built, and maintained the St. George Reef Lighthouse from it's completion in 1892 until it's abandonment in 1975, and renewal in 2002.

"Sentinel of the Seas" heralds the career of Alexander Ballantyne, who supervised the project, as well as the careers of George Roux, and Fred Permenter the lighthouse keepers. Powers details the work of the "wickies," lighthouse life, the history and the development of other U. S. lighthouses. He shows a deep appreciation for the courage the lighthouse keepers demonstrated in the midst of crashing waves, tumultuous storms, and hurricane force winds which they faced on a recurring basis.

Turnover among the personal was significant. Powers explained it this way: "This station was one of the least sought-after assignments in the service. Potential wickies had already heard what duty would be like on Dragon Rocks. It had earned its reputation." I personally enjoyed the insight into the contrast between routine work and boredom of the assignment with hazardous way of life of the lighthouse keepers. Powers uses descriptive phrases that made me feel "the enveloping curtains of cold mists" or hear the "barks of the seals, cries of the seagulls, and the crashing surf."

This is great adventure reading, brilliantly written. I highly recommend "Sentinel of the Seas" to everyone who loves epic adventure stories of the adventure of the sea, shipwreck, and nautical history.