Nevada Books

Unfortunatley a lot of the reviews here are actually for different volumes of IDW's CSI comics. This is a review specifically of CSI: Secret Identity written by Steven Grant and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez and Steven Perkins.

This is volume 5 of the CSI line, each graphic novel collecting a mini-series put out by IDW. The first three miniseries were written by Max Allen Collins (Ms. Tree, Road to Perdition) and were, quite frankly, boring. The fourth volume written by Kris Oprisko wasn't bad, but it had to do with the Las Vegas mob scene, and so felt a bit cliche.

However this volume, written by Steven Grant is complex and dynamic. He has a great sense of pacing, knows how to weave a complex story that's still possible to follow, and has great cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter.

The story is complex. The fictional Safari Hotel is being demolished. The implosion is made into a big public event. A tourist filming the implosion thinks he sees a body in the debris. He goes to the police but the video image is difficult to make out because of the dust and dirt kicked up by the implosion. But when the tourist is later found dead, his video camera and copies of the tape stolen, the police start looking deeper into the case. They find a body that had been buried in one of the cement pillars during the hotel's construction. The problem being that the corpse is a dead wringer for Vince Lansing, the owner of the hotel who died only a month ago.

The case takes a lot of twists. All of Lansing's family members and former business partners seem to have something to hide. As more evidence, not to mention bodies, are uncovered, the case is definately leading somewhere but the dots don't quite connect. And when they really start getting close a CSI member gets physically assaulted on the front steps of the police station.

Gebriel Rodriguez, who has been the artist on all of IDW's CSI books so far, has really developed as an artist. His characters, not only the CSI characters we already know but also the new characters introduced in this volume, are visually distinct and easily identifiable. His compositions and story-telling in this volume are a lot more dynamic than in previous volumes. Some of the credit for that should go to the writer for giving us great scenes like the old man trying to get away from the police in a golf cart who drives himself right into a sand trap.

The painted art (which is used in the flashback and theoretical sequences which are usually shown in a different color or with CGI on the TV show) is by Steven Perkins. It's intentionally rough, imitating the work of Ashley Wood who illustrated the same types of seqences in the first three volumes. Personally I don't think using a rough painting to imitate a detailed CGI moment was the way to go, but it all boils down to personal taste.

The weakest point is that there's no uniqueness to the characters, though, to be fair, this can be a weak point in some episodes of the show as well. The characters don't show enough individual personality, and could easily be swapped with any other character in almost every scene.

Also, the binding on my copy came apart. This is easily fixable, but it's a disappointing trend in comics in recent years.

All in all, I think this is a good book, much more solid and entertaining than the previous volumes of CSI.

Great Read, if you are a fan of CSI, you will love this book

I enjoyed this book alot. I really like how Linda Chaikin sets up her story in the historical setting of the silver boom in Virginia City. She really did her research on this time period. The characters Rick Delance and Callie Halliday were engaging and lively characters. I admit that I fell in love with the cocky handsome gunfighter because even though Rick was set on avenging his family's deaths, his faith in the Lord was just below the surface.Will he be able to set aside his desire for revenge? He was an awesome example of a manly hero. Callie Halliday is the beautiful actress who is determined to make it in the theater world of Broadway with the handsome Ashe Perry. After a year of performances in San Francisco, she returns to Virginia City, Nevada to perform in the new theater and to get engaged to her leading man. What she didn't count on were bizarre incidents in which in one she narrowly escapes death...and her renewed attraction to Rick Delance, who was clearly, she thought, was out of her bounds. Her uncle is also insisting that the man she is thinking of marrying was not a Christian. Yet in spite of everything, Callie is determined to make her dreams come true. What will it take for her to realize God's plan for her? Will love shine in the darkness?

As always, any book by Linda Chaikin is worth reading at least twice. I liked this book, but I only gave it 4 stars b/c at the end the love connection happens a little to quickly for my taste. You wait the whole book for the 2 main characters to get together and then they are like...Oh I love you & I love you all of the sudden. It just happened funny. But, it was a great book and I love reading anything that Linda Chaikin writes.

Okay, so I liked Desert Rose a little bit better than Desert Star, just because it was a little more romantic, but Desert Star is so great. I'll read anything by Linda Chaikin, because her heroes are so strong and manly and romantic. Desert Star is a little different from most of her books, in that the main characters aren't both strong Christians, but rather are lapsed in their faith and struggling against that. I liked it, though, because I could relate a little bit more to Callie than to a lot of her heroines who are really strong Christians and have it all figured out already. Anyway, I really love this book, and would recommend it, and Desert Rose, the first in this series, very highly.

Zdon does a great job of listing hikes in the southern Nevada and California desert. The descriptions and directions he gives are highly accurate. I've done a few dozen of the hikes listed in the book (some before and some since seeing the book) and can attest that the book is highly reliable. One feature that Zdon works into his hike descriptions which I like a lot is a description of the plants in the area. For instance, in describing the Kingston Range (an area I have not yet got to explore) he tells of a yucca-like plant called the nolina and of a "relict stand of white firs" on this desert peak. Details like this make me want to get out and explore that area! (He also mentions that the hiker should keep a watch out for ticks while climbing Kingston Peak, but that's important advice too!) Another interesting area Zdon covers is the Sheep Mountains which are northeast of Las Vegas. Zdon goes beyond the typical Joshua Tree and Death Valley hikes that are covered in dozens of books and includes the lesser hiked areas in the deserts of southern Nevada and California.

Although I'm waiting try the new hikes detailed in this book (I'll wait till summer passes, thanks), I have found it to be a great read on its own merits. The physical descriptions of the areas covered are detailed and evocative without being flowery; the driving and trail directions are as exact as they can be given the remoteness of some of these areas. Mr. Zdon knows these places inside and out, and he goes well beyond the obvious choices into some wild and relatively unexplored terrain. This book introduced me to some new places I want to experience, and made me realize I don't know my "familiar" spots as well as I thought. The volume is also very handsomely illustrated and produced.

Andy Zdon has done a very thorough job researching the approaches and hiking/climbing routes in this guide book. I especially liked the fact that he warns the reader against taking passenger cars up roads which he feels require 4WD capability. The inclusion of general area maps and actual photographs make the book even more useful. Descriptions are great but someone said "a picture is worth a thousand words". Included in the descriptions are such useful topics as the anticipated round trip elevation gain and hiking distance. In some instances Andy has added his personal comments regarding safety issue or things like "don't underestimate the difficulty of this hike". The personal touch gives the guide book user more of a "hands on" feel to the overall hike. I recommend Desert Summits to all of those folks who are planning to get out and hike/climb the areas described in the book. Hey, here's another "list" to get you out of the house this winter.

Helpful guide to Las Vegas. I used while I was there several weeks ago. I especially like the way the chapters are designed: The Best of the Strip, The Rest of the Strip and Downtown Las Vegas. I used it to choose what sights we wanted to see. I also liked the chapter on Eating your way across Las Vegas. It gives an honest and thorough critique!

THIS BOOK IS AN EXCELLENT TRAVEL COMPANION. WE USED THE MAPS INSIDE FOR DRIVING DIRECTIONS. THEY ARE ALL VERY EASY TO READ AND FOLLOW. IT ALSO HAS A GOOD LISTING OF SIGHTS TO SEE AND THINGS TO DO. I REALLY LIKE IT BECAUSE IT IS NOT BORING TO JUST SIT AND READ. IT GIVES YOU BRIEF HISTORY ON AREAS AND UPDATES ANY CHANGES THAT HAVE OCCURED IN THE LAST YEAR. I LOOK FORWARD TO MY NEXT VACATION AND JUST HOPE THAT WHEREVER I PLAN TO GO THERE IS AND ECONOGUIDE FOR IT.

The descriptions of various Vegas locations in this book are detailed and accurate, and easy to read. The book includes tips on getting the best airfare, hotel, and ticket rates, as well as attention-grabbing descriptions of what you can find and where. Ratings from one to six stars are included for every hotel, casino, and restaurant, as well as periodic "blurb boxes" of worthy and humorous side notes about Las Vegas. This book makes an excellent start for the first time Sin City visitor, or for those who have been before but might have missed something and want to know where to find it. The maps are also easy to follow and quite helpful.

So why do I give this book only 4 out of 5 stars? Because there are pieces of it that mislead the buyer. The book is NOT "filled with hundreds of dollars of money-saving coupons" as the photo says. There are a FEW coupons in the back of the book, but they make absolutely no sense for this guide. For instance, there are coupons for Universal Studios and for Knotts Berry Farm, both of which are located in Los Angeles. Now why the heck anyone would put L.A. coupons in a Las Vegas/Reno/Tahoe guide, I have yet to figure out. The single ACTUAL Las Vegas coupon in this book is for a Mini Grand Prix fun center that is located nowhere near either the Strip or the Downtown area...most visitors will not even see the place, and I've not seen this Grand Prix advertised anywhere else but this book. And there are NO Reno, Laughlin, or Tahoe coupons in the book.

And even if you DID manage to use the all of six or seven coupons included in the book, you wouldn't even save $200.

What else misleads the reader? Well, be careful...there is a great (and perhaps valid) point the author makes about always asking hotels for their BEST rate. He then tells how he called a hotel and got a quote of $149 for the room. After an initial "Ouch" response, the agent lowered the price to $109 due to a promotion. He then asked for the BEST rate...$79. But then he's a member of AAA...ok now he only has to pay $72. Great story...the catch? It didn't happen at a Vegas hotel...the hotel in question was in Chicago. Now, I'd think that if you're going to buy a Vegas guide, you want VEGAS stories, not Chicago ones. But so much of the book is about Vegas, that you tend to ignore little details like that if you don't read the stories carefully. And that is not the only story in the book where you will find little fallacies like that.

So be SURE when you read the tips and tricks, that you take them with a grain of salt. But if you're already IN vegas or know where you will stay and just want to choose activities or eateries, you probably won't find any guide much better.

The book was good if you are a fly fisherman and want that specific information. The author is not a professional writer by any means but is humorous. The book should sell 50% less.

The focus of this book is mostly small streams in the Eastern Sierra so if your goals are catching lunkers this may not be your book. If catching a lot of small trout is good for you then this book is for you. The author details many locations and provides some very useful tips such as how to avoid altitude sickness which may be an issue you did not think about before going up there. The tips about gear sound good to me but I have yet to make the trip so I will know more later.

I bought this book straight from the Author. Just recieved it this morning in the mail, and have already read it from cover to cover. Beautiful pictures, coupled with great, and entertaining information. Anyone thinking about fly fishing the Eastern Sierra's from Lone Pine to Mono Lake should have this book!!

My review of From Brothel to Ballot Box starts with a newspaper article which appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal several years ago. The gist of the article was that a woman named Jessi Winchester, Mrs. Virginia City, would be competing in Las Vegas for the title of Mrs. Nevada. What made this non-story newsworthy was that Ms. Winchester was a working brothel prostitute. The article headline trumpeted Mrs. Virginia City's occupation, and even ran a picture.

Competing in this pageant was one of the bravest things I had ever seen a woman do. I said to my wife, "This lady deserves some encouragement. She's going to need it." She agreed, and we sent a small check to Jessi Winchester, Mrs. Virginia City, Virginia City, Nevada to help defray the costs of competing in the contest. She wrote back a nice thank you note and described the 1880's gowns she had made for the event, enclosed a picture, and invited us to the pageant, which we couldn't attend. But we asked her to call to tell us the outcome as soon as it was over. She did, at the edge of tears, desperately hurt at the shoddy treatment she had received at the hands of her fellow contestants and of the contest organizers. I was and am ashamed of my fellow Las Vegans for their cruelty and bad manners.

A review of From Brothel to Ballot Box, unlike most book reviews, must start not with what it is but with what it isn't. This is not a polished piece of literature from the pen of a master wordsmith. It is not carefully crafted. Neither is it a puff piece designed to curry favorable reviews and achieve some ulterior purpose. Nor is it cautious and politically correct. The book, like the author, is intense, funny, insightful, sad, happy, hopeful, despairing, angry, thoughtful. But not in any particular order. It is written like a conversation one would have with a raconteur friend at the dinner table and over drinks by the fire. It is a book written from the gut. It is an "I am." It is "Credo."

Jessi Winchester is a romantic midwest farm kid who believes, truly believes the Fourth of July rhetoric that we used to hear from the bandshell in the city park after the parade. She believes that the promises of the Declaration of Independence apply to her personally, and to her countrymen individually and that the Constitution is the instrument to guarantee that they do. She believes in the notion that the most capable people should fill the toughest jobs. She believes in family and friends and loyalty and honesty and fair play. She is willing to take risks for what she believes in. And she believes in testing herself against the world.

She marries a cop, starts a family, goes through a divorce, takes up motorcycles and movie stunt work, and becomes a movie executive. And falls in love. Her new husband, Michael, is severely injured in a accident, and the family, now in Nevada, must have an income. So Jessi, after discussing the move at length with Michael and the kids, goes to work in a Nevada brothel. And thus begins the odyssey.

By the time the book ends, Jessi has taken us from the Mustang Ranch through two statewide contests for public office. The names of the Nevada politicians and party figures, some of whom I know personally, will mean nothing to most readers. They aren't necessary to the story, and their actions are undeserving of any ink from me. This is a book about an American willing to attempt great things and to overcome disillusionment by the hypocrisy of "the system." This is a book you will want to give to your sons and daughters and say, "Here is a woman to be proud of. Here is a woman who rises above petty labels and phony respectability to pursue worthy goals. Here is the kind of person an American should strive to be."

Several books are on the market about Nevada's brothels. I have read three. One was by a madam and was quite interesting from her point of view. One was by a person who wasn't even part of the sex business and was doing a condom study instead at a brothel. Her book was not very good. From Bordello to Ballot Box was written by an actual working girl, which makes a huge difference. Not only does Ms. Winchester show the human side of sex workers, she battled the evil world of politics and made people see her as a human being. Her book is very compelling and brings a lot of emotions to the surface. I couldn't put it down.

Jessi Winchester's book, FROM BORDELLO TO BALLOT BOX, shows the side of American politics we all knew about but hoped wouldn't happen (until shortly after it was published).

The book is remarkably endearing in discussing the author's life, from the stated date of her birth (you'd never think it) up to the writers' strike of 1988 which prompted her to leave an exeuctive job in Hollywood. A lot of autobiographies, even by and about "nice" people, don't show warmth or a range of emotion.

The part everybody wants to read, of course, is about the author's life as a courtesan. It is thankfully tame, with the most hair-raising parts detailing her relationships with other women of the brothels. There is also a separate section about Joe Conforte, a brothel-chain owner, which probably should have been moved to the discussion of brothel life. Conforte sounds and acts like a mobster, and appears to have had much to do in influencing hostile attitudes toward brothels.

Once Ms. Winchester gets into the political arena, the best parts are the friction between Northern Nevada (which is 99% of the state's area but barely half its population) and Las Vegas, which confirmed its reputation as Sin City in quite a new way. A parade of political figures, some of them difficult to follow, court votes in Vegas and ignore Reno, Carson City and other locations in the rest of the big state. No wonder, because Vegas seems to have billions of dollars to siphon off in corruption, making the rest of the state look like a quarter slot machine.

The book ends with an impassioned plea for third parties to combat the "annointment" system for candidates by Republicans and Democrats. This was written before the Reform Party disintegrated under Pat Buchanam's Presidential campaign, and also before Jesse Ventura (whom the author likes) began plans to announce for the Extreme Football League. It will undoubtedly leave a bad taste in the mouths of many supporters of the two major political parties, and require much careful planning and support of specific issues before independent candidates win many offices.

As an expose' of politics as usual, this book offers little hope. As an autobiography, it is a charm and is well worth reading as a story of setting up The American Dream and working toward it. And, whatever she might say, you know she is still working toward it.

Neither my husband nor myself had ever taken a trip out to Las Vegas before. We had heard tons about it from various other friends that had been and were overwhelmed trying to plan out exactly what the two of us wanted to see or visit. The portable guidebook came in very handy when we were trying to figure out what entertainment and sights we had to choose from other than the obvious....casinos.

Frommer's Portable Las Vegas is an invaluable source when visiting Las Vegas. I just went on my first trip to Las Vegas and this book was small and light enough to fit in my purse. It gives you all the essential information without all the "fluff" and details of the larger books. I suggest you get a larger book (like Frommer's Las Vegas 2000) to keep in your hotel room but get the portable book for carrying around with you.

My best friend and I are planning a trip to Vegas (A Thelma and Louise Adventure) and this book was a great source of information! Good eats, places you must visit, sites for deals. Plus it fits right in your pocket!

Don't pass this book up!

This is a nice reference source for general geologic information on Sierra Nevada. A definite improvement over the last edition, worth the replacement cost. Too bulky for a field guide unless you like spending your outing buried in a book, but is a great size for student use in class. The breadth of topics is excellent, and material is up to date (not all books available are). For anyone who needs exposure to Sierra Nevada geology, this is a good supplement to the Harden Book

However titillating this book never quite addressed what I'd hoped to find. I was disappointed that there wasn't much 'geology' in the book other than nice descriptions of how gold wound up where it did and how Half Dome, El Cap, etc. were shaped. On the other hand, it's great for the history of geological exploration and mining in the area (including political intrique between John Muir and 'official' geologists.) Other virtues include lists of noteworthy geological features and great maps and photos.

Three decades ago geologist Mary Hill wrote a handbook to the Sierra Nevada's geologic history and it became the standard guide. The aptly named author has now extensively revised her book. It's an armchair traveler's delight and remains an authoritative guide that will well serve a new generation of hikers, campers, and explorers.

"Geology of the Sierra Nevada: Revised Edition" ($19.95 in full-color paperback from University of California Press) contains almost 200 illustrations, including photographs of rock forms and maps showing where to find them. Hill thanks Bill Guyton, professor emeritus of geosciences at Chico State University, "for his careful reading" of the new manuscript and draws on the research he published in "Glaciers of California" (1998). Guyton distinguished between glaciers and smaller "glacierets" and counted 99 glaciers in the Sierra Nevada and 398 glacierets. Hill notes that "the Sierra Nevada has a lot of glaciers, all of them small. If you are looking for the giants of the Great Ice Age, you will have to be content with their spoor."

The book is divided into two sections. The first offers a "do-it-yourself rock identification key." A series of maps divides the Sierra Nevada into regions and shows where to find prominent rock formations in each area. The first map, mostly of eastern Butte County, locates "conglomerate" ("rock ... made up of grains 2 mm or more in diameter, together with coarser fragments") along Big Chico Creek. You can see shale in the Dry Creek area and lava flow and basalt on Table Mountain.

The second part is the narrative, which takes new research into account. In the last few years, she writes, "the Sierra has been put through the plate tectonics intellectual filter, which has told us how the mountains might have been created, and why they are where they are."

The book also expands its coverage of "human exploration of the Sierra Nevada, not just by geologists" but by others as well.

Here you'll find the story of "the first overland party of settlers to attempt to cross the Sierra. ... The group came to be known as the Bartleson-Bidwell party, as it included two men of leadership mold, John Bartleson and John Bidwell, destined to become eminent in what was to be the 31st U.S. state." Here also is the story of "Snowshoe" Thompson, a Norwegian who for two decades, "beginning in 1856, ... carried the mail across the Sierra Nevada from Placerville, California, to Genoa, Nevada (then called Mormon Station), using long skis (then called 'snowshoes') of his own making."

But Hill's great love is the land itself, the "nervous" Sierra, and her account of the devastating Owens Valley earthquake in 1872 tells not only of human destruction but notes that "the Sierra Nevada itself was severely wracked." She quotes John Muir's eyewitness account: "Shortly after sunrise a low, blunt, muffled rumbling, like a distant thunder, was followed by another series of shocks, which ... made the cliffs and domes tremble like jelly, and the big pines and oaks thrill and swish and wave their branches with startling effect."

At the end of the book, a "coda" reflects on geologic time and human time. "Time is all we have," she writes, "and it behooves us to spend it wisely. Some say that the time spent in the mountains is not subtracted from our allotted three-score-and-ten. So cherish the Sierra, and it will generously reward you."

Copyright 2006 Chico Enterprise-Record. Used by permission.

I read this book when I was like ten or eleven and I loved it!
I thought it was the greatest book ever written.
Now some years later I re-read the book and got a different feel. The book was still exciting, but the religious-Christian-propaganda was way to clear!
The book basically is just made up so they can write about how Christians are the better people. This worries me! I'm not writing God off completely, I'm just saying let's not become a cult with suicide pacts and murders!! Cheez!

Still it's very well written and definitely a good read! Probably best for children; but parents be aware!

My daddy read this book to the family, and I really enjoyed it. It's about a man named David Bolin, Who's father is a missionary. But David would like some adventure, so he went to America where he prospects for gold, but soon he leaves his two friends. He accidentally shoots someone in a fight, and some men who want to lynch him are after him. When he is caught, what will he do? This is a great book!

Thrive on the words of this new delight to the Thoene's library. this book is very exciting and leaves you wanting to read every page.

I have several of Blackwell's wildflower guidebooks, and I have found them very useful in helping me identify flowers.

The only complaint I have about this book is that the printing seems a bit dark and muddy.

Having worked at Great Basin National Park without access to a flower guide solely for the Great Basin, this book provides a much needed resource. Prior to the guide book's release, one had to rely on guides from the Rockies and the Sierras. While there was overlap from both, there were also many gaps. Great Basin Wildflowers fills those gaps, and it does so with an easy to use approach. Flowers are grouped by color, making it easy to find what you're looking for, and the pictures are detailed enough to make confirmation of the plant. I only wish I had this guide a year ago.

This book provides outstanding coverage of plants of the Great Basin. My interest is primarily the Death Valley area and this book is very relevant to the parts of Death Valley above 4000 feet in altitude which is actually a very large portion of Death Valley National Park. This book fills in the missing plants that aren't covered in other books about Death Valley plants and Mojave Desert plants. For instance, a plant I found on Telescope Peak (elevation 11,027) a few weeks ago was not listed in nine other plant books covering the area, but it was covered in this book! (The plant was Heuchera rubescens.) So, if you're into Death Valley plants and you want a book to help out with those high altitude specimens that get overlooked in other books, then this book is just what you need!