Columbia Books

This book has an excellent smattering of day and extended hikes in a variety of locations in the southern half of British Columbia. BC is a hiker's dream - you could spend a lifetime exploring all the mountain ranges and watersheds in this province. The authors have done a good job of selecting enough of a dream list to get you started. It's totally subjective in that the authors have included only what they believe are the "must do" hikes. We've done several of them and so far I can confirm that their choices are excellent and the trip details are accurate and generally helpful without being too much information. There are a lot of opinions thrown in and I do think some of it doesn't serve much of a purpose except as a personal soapbox. I've logged a lot of miles in my hiking boots, but one day I could very well be too old to hike into some of these backcountry locations under my own steam. I'd like to know that when I'm 85 or 90 I might be able to helicopter in to visit Berg Lake, for instance. However, the authors would judge that to be cheating. But what the heck, it's their book and it's still a good one.

My wife and I took a two-week vacation last September driving from the Rockies to Vancouver. It 's great this guidebook covers all the incredible mountain ranges in southern British Columbia, so we needed only one book. We've hiked often in the Rockies national parks of Alberta, but this book describes hikes in the Rockies that are just west of the parks. And we were usually alone on the trails. Then we hiked in the snowcapped Selkirks of Glacier NP (Canada's not the U.S.). We did a few dayhikes in the Kootenays around Nelson, BC. before heading to the Coast Mtns between Vancouver and Whistler. The hikes were all terrific. And the directions were easy to follow--to the trailheads and on the trail. Gotta Hike was fun to read in the car too. It's a hiking guide with personality. Don't miss getting this book or experiencing the best hikes in B.C.

Government's Greatest Achievements: From Civil Rights To Homeland Security by Paul C. Light (Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution) is an informed history and celebration showcasing twenty-five of the American government's policy successes from 1944 to 1999. Documenting and highlighting the eradication of polio, the rebuilding of Europe after World War II, the strides made forward against racial discrimination, the reduction of poverty among the elderly, expanding the right to vote, and much, much more, Government's Greatest Achievements is an extraordinary, uplifting read which offers striking and sometimes even surprising facts. A very strongly recommended addition to both academic and community library Political Science and American History collections, Government's Greatest Achievements is a welcome antidote to the usual drumbeat of media criticism and endemic public skepticism.

Government's Greatest Achievements: From Civil Rights To Homeland Security by Paul C. Light (Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution) is an informed history and celebration showcasing twenty-five of the American government's policy successes from 1944 to 1999. Documenting and highlighting the eradication of polio, the rebuilding of Europe after World War II, the strides made forward against racial discrimination, the reduction of poverty among the elderly, expanding the right to vote, and much, much more, Government's Greatest Achievements is an extraordinary, uplifting read which offers striking and sometimes even surprising facts. A very strongly recommended addition to both academic and community library Political Science and American History collections, Government's Greatest Achievements is a welcome antidote to the usual drumbeat of media criticism and endemic public skepticism.

Thomas Kean is probably the most underrated public servant of this political generation. With this book, Felzenberg engagingly discusses Kean's rise from privileged roots--a sense of noblesse oblige, no doubt--to Governor of New Jersey to Chairman of the 9/11 Commission. One consistent strand thrives throughout this boo: Kean's personality that was able to draw admirers from across the aisle, the most essential part of his character that made him the fitting choice for Chairman of the commission. Can you imagine today another public servant, with his record, who does not care about running for President?

Felzenberg, having served under Kean multiple times (first in NJ and then on the commission), obviously paints a flattering portrait, but he is up front about it--but he does acknowledge flaws, albeit not many. Yet it's hard to see many at all. This is the first major biography of Kean--long due in coming, and astonishing that it took this long at all.

Al Felzenberg does New Jerseyans, and all Americans interested in high-minded civic engagement, a great service with his outstanding new biography of Governor Tom Kean. This well-written and exhaustively researched book presents a complete picture of perhaps New Jersey's best leader of the past 50 years. Felzenberg does so in a manner characteristic of his subject's personality: warm, personable, engaging, thorough, effective.

Born to a patrician Jersey family, Kean was well prepared at St. Marks, Princeton, and Columbia Teachers' College. But, growing up in Washington, DC as the 5th of seven children to a rarely present Congressman, his childhood was surprisingly solitary and, it seems, a little lonely. On long walks by himself around the Nation's Capitol, the budding Governor memorized specific details of most of the city's myriad statuary.

In his early career in the New Jersey Assembly, of which he became Speaker at age 34, and later as one of New Jersey's youngest governors, Kean develops and exhibits his characteristically inclusive personality. He successfully built legislative coalitions to advance a reasonably progressive agenda for education, environment, and the arts. A Republican of moderate stripe, acquiescing to several tax increases which today still burden the Garden State, he evinced an abiding humanity, wishing for and in most part achieving new heights for our oft-maligned state.

After Trenton, while serving as President of Drew University in Madison, NJ, Governor Kean received the President's call to head the 9/11 Commission, after Henry Kissinger declined for self-serving reasons. This was a great stroke of good luck for America. Angst, fear, anger, and tension in the aftermath of 3000 deaths on 9/11 had brought the nation to a fever pitch about the causes of this great calamity. Kean was the right man at the right time. Invoking again his distinctively inclusive and accommodating personality, Kean amidst choppy political waters steered the potentially divisive process along a steady, sober, and ultimately correct course, earning the trust of the Administration, the public, and, most important, the victims' families.

Felzenberg, a respected public policy thinker and long a student of New Jersey politics, served Kean as Assistant Secretary of State in New Jersey and later as Chief Spokesman for the 9/11 Commission. Accordingly, he shows much respect and fondness for the Governor. But the book is not a complete huzzah. This unauthorized biography also challenges Kean for giving in too easily on certain issues while governor, notably a lack of support for a particular African-American candidate, and for eschewing the opportunity to run for U.S. Senator from New Jersey, as for which many of his state's citizens yearned after yet another too-typical Jersey scandal took down Senator Robert Torricelli. Menawhile, this reader sensed that Felzenberg, in his fascinating account of the 9/11 Commission's inside work, is itching to tell us more in its own right about this important historical episode, which I hope he will do in a subsequent book.

This fine biography of Tom Kean is a tribute to a great American who epitomizes high-minded public service. It is must-read for all Jerseyans interested in New Jersey politics and history, and for all Americans seeking inspiration about what is still good about American civic leadership. As an example of a great American citizen-servant, Tom Kean is "best-in-class"--as is Al Felzenberg's highly enjoyable and informative account about him.

This video is the same as her One Man Show video. It is just a re-release that is repackaged with new cover art on the box and her Slave to the Rhythm video added to the compilation. Those two reasons were enough for me to buy this video. I grew up watching her Slave to the Rhythm video and seeing it again brought back memories. The stunning images created by Jean-Paul Goude are amazing. His imagery of Grace is also all over the box that the video is in. What a work of art!

I saw this about two decades ago at the age of 11 or so. It's only now that I realize how revolutionary it was. Europeans have always recognized Grace, but we Americans need to jump on this important bandwagon quick. The videos here are abstract and provocative. Clearly, Grace has been an influence on Jody Watley, Annie Lennox (once referred to by the press as "the white Grace Jones"), and many other chanteuses. That low, androgynous voice is sexy and soothing and these videos only underscore what a fascinating and meritorious DIVA! Grace is. Work, Miss Girl! SNAP!!!!

This 500 page book provides an in depth look at the Grand Coulee Dam in north-central Washington state and the politics and decsions which made the dam what it is today. The book is very thoroughly researched with an extensive bibliography and over 100 pages of endnotes. Anyone who is interested in Grand Coulee Dam or the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project needs to read this book!

The back cover reads:

"The Eighth Wonder of the World"

"The Largest Reclamation Project Ever Undertaken"

Those were among the accolades frequently lavished on Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project. They hightlight a monumental construction effort that spanned the 1930s through the 1980s. Now, for the first time, the story of this gigantic undertaking is told in this definitive, spirited history.

When completed, the huge monolith at Grand Coulee on the Columbia River in north-central Washington became the biggest single block of concrete ever laid. One of the largest energy-producing stations in the world, it also supports one of the world's largest irrigation projects.

In the capable hands of Paul Pitzer, the fight for Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Project is a vital, animated saga of people strving for dazzling goals and then working to build something spectacular.

This 500 page book by historian Paul Pitzer provides an in depth look at the Grand Coulee Dam in north-central Washington state and the politics and decsions which made the dam what it is today. The book is very thoroughly researched with an extensive bibliography and over 100 pages of endnotes. Anyone who is interested in Grand Coulee Dam or the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project needs to read this book!

The back cover reads:

"The Eighth Wonder of the World"

"The Largest Reclamation Project Ever Undertaken"

Those were among the accolades frequently lavished on Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project. They hightlight a monumental construction effort that spanned the 1930s through the 1980s. Now, for the first time, the story of this gigantic undertaking is told in this definitive, spirited history.

When completed, the huge monolith at Grand Coulee on the Columbia River in north-central Washington became the biggest single block of concrete ever laid. One of the largest energy-producing stations in the world, it also supports one of the world's largest irrigation projects.

In the capable hands of Paul Pitzer, the fight for Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Project is a vital, animated saga of people strving for dazzling goals and then working to build something spectacular.

I actually bough my first one from a gas station when I was hopelessly lost in Vancouver. It quickly got me "un-lost". Since that day this book has become an indispensable part of any road trip to Vancouver. (If you plan on venturing further out of the city I'd recommend you get the Frazier Valley City Maps Book, too.)

It became so indispensable that I am now buying a second one so that both my husband and I can each have one in the car. The nice part is that at this price, you can easily afford to do that.

colorful, easy to read, accurate and very affordable...I use this for business and to give clients....they love it too!

Written towards the end of Alejo Carpentier's life, The Harp and the Shadow is both a historical analysis of the Conquest and a personal reflection on fame. Carpentier-the inventor of magical realism, according to Carlos Fuentes-reinterprets Columbus's voyages as driven by greed, not honor.

In the second section of book, we visit Columbus on his death bed. As Columbus awaits his confessor, he revisits his first voyages to the Americas, lamenting the fact that, in one section of his diary, he mentions "GOLD" more than two hundred times, while he mentions the Lord God only fourteen times. At the end of the novel, the ghost of Columbus visits his canonization hearing, at which members of the clergy argue for and against the sainthood of Christopher Columbus. As history tells us, the campaign to canonize Columbus failed, largely because he was responsible for initiating the slave trade from the Americas to Europe. Fittingly, the ghost of Columbus is condemned to wander the earth and contemplate his infamy for eternity.

This book was published in 1979 as Carpentier's cancer spread. One year later, Carpentier died. Perhaps Carpentier contemplated his own literary fame. His name often circulated as a possible recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Most likely, he never won because of his strong support for the Cuban Revolution. We can still remember Carpentier, however, as someone who helped us better understand the history of the Americas by humanizing Columbus.

Esta obra es un análisis de la vida de Cristóbal Colon, vista desde un punto de vista irónico y divertido a la vez. El autor hace uso del lenguaje barroco y la novela, aunque es corta, parece cargada. La traducción esta muy bien hecha y da un poco de trabajo por todas las palabras que usa Carpentier en el original. La vida de colon es vista desde la perspectiva presente, por un papa que favorece la santificación del marinero para crear una unión entre las iglesias Europeas y Americanas. El segundo capitulo muestra a un hombre movido por la ambición de un oro que parece eludirle en cada viaje y quien después de fallidos intentos ve en el negocio de esclavos el beneficio que tanto le elude. Hacia el final de su vida tenemos un hombre que no desconoce el valor de su gloria, pero se ve plagado, porque quizás no le reconocerán su gloria. Ya el capitulo final, muestra la derrota del personaje al serle negada la canonización. Es un excelente libro, escrito un año antes de la muerte de Alejo Carpentier y que deja ver claramente su estilo barroco y su uso de la lengua española. Es también una excelente traducción al ingles

Luis Mendez

I thought they didn't make them like this anymore.
I very rarely buy short story anthologies because they so often do anything but tell a story.
Dick Hammond is different, and every one of these stories was utterly enjoyable, and a view into a forgotten time and place. The last story, "The House by the Talking Falls" is unique, possibly the only example of West Coast Canadian Gothic in existence! It can stand proudly next to any Edgar Allan Poe or M.R. James.

I had been given a copy of this author's first book, Tales From Hidden Basin, in which Dick Hammond's father and uncle have many unusual boyhood adventures in the unexplored land of the west coast of Canada in the 1910s.
In this, Hammond's second book (I believe), his father has grown up and leads a more or less solitary existence in his little boat, doing odd jobs and exploring more of this fascinating part of the world.
The characters he finds on his travels, all of which actually existed, ought to go down in literary history. Each story in here is a gem. To describe them is to spoil them.
Suffice it to say that 'The House by the Talking Falls' is perhaps the only example we're ever likely to have of Canadian West Coast Gothic, and you'll want to read it again and again.
This collection is rather steeply priced because of the deluxe hardcover presentation, but it is a gem and one of the best short story collections by one author that you'll have the pleasure of reading.

I received this book as a gift, and plan to purchase copies
to give as well.

Each page or two tells of a dog who touched a service man's
heart, of the impact they had on their life.

I loved that at the beginning of each story is a photo of the
dog, sometimes with the person telling their story.

Just wonderful ... absolutely heartwarming.

Excellent tributes to the forgotten heroes of public safety and the armed forces. Those heroes are the furry,four legged kind--dogs and horses. Lulu tells the stories in the officers own words, or words from newpaper articles, telling of the pain of the loss of their partner.These four footed heroes will lay down their lives for their handlers, and are, Heroes All Without Question. Be sure to have a hankie or kleenex out when you read this book. Some tributes are so moving.

The guide was a great reference for our recent vacation. We used it successfully to locate interesting sites as well as lodging and food by area. I recommend it to anyone as a guide to pick out how to spend limited vacation time.

[...] One of my computer-side companions has been Hidden Pacific NW and now Hidden Washington. I've seen a lot of the state and know Eric Lucas knows Washington, so his book is a great reference when needed. What I really like is his "hidden" finds at different places. If you want a book that portrays a true picture of what you might find in Washington and is easy to use, Lucas's book fits the bill. I would recommend it for all visitors and newcomers to the state.