Nevada Books

The third volume of the series that all train lovers will adore is now available in "Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California: Volume III: More of the Northern Roads". Made by railroad fanatics for railroad fanatics, this nearly 400 page coffee table book serves its fan base remarkably well. Over 300 photographs, an index and other appendixes make "Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California: Volume III: More of the Northern Roads" highly recommended for railroad lovers everywhere and for any community library railroading collection.

Ignore the rating on this book! It's a five-ster "must have" if you are interested in the subject, of proportionally less value the less interested you are.

About 15% of the subject matter is additional information about RRs covered in Volume I (the Central Pacific, Carson & Colorado, N-C-O, etc.). The CPRR in particular has new photos and track diagrams of early division points. This material is interesting but of limited modeling value unless you model the 19th century.

The other 85% is about the small logging and lumber railroads in the northern Sierra Nevada; mostly in Plumas and Lassen counties. The histories genrally include the full story of the lumber companies that built the RRs, including mill operations and the shifting pattern of track into new logging areas. Coverage of the individual RRs varies depending on how successful Myrick was at finding eyewitness accounts so if you are interested in only one specific RR, you should browse a copy before buying if at all possible.

As with all aircraft photobooks by Michael O'Leary the quality of the photographs range from good to breathtakingly good, but this time there is accompanying text as well, very informative, and an index to find you race favorite. Whatever you might think of what is being done to those last surviving WW2 warbirds at Reno, fact is that some of the most spectacular paint-shemes are flown there, the cover of this book only giving a glimpse of the beauty of what is inside. For the ones of us who like to see just how the world-record holders level flight for piston engines looked like there can be no better book in my opinion, and this book shows them all: Mustangs, Bearcats, Corsairs, Thunderbolts, a Lightning, Furies, a Warhawk, an Airacobra, Kingcobras, Spitfires and even a Yak-3.

This is a great little book. It provides the perfect balance of technical information without getting wordy, and a great selection of photographs. If you want a story go elsewhere. It includes the very rarely covered Super Corsair with some super pic's.

It may not be physically a big book but pound for pound its a champ.

Only negative: More More More!

Note: Other recommended reading;

Wet Wings and Drop Tanks by Birch Matthews, Schiffer Aviation

Supershow by Dennis Baldry, Osprey

No matter how little Rexx programming you do, this book is a gold mine. Its compact size and ring binder make it very convenient next to your keyboard. In addition to covering the Rexx language, it also covers all the popular third-party extensions. And for the OS/2 user, it is an invaluable resource on the WorkPlace Shell and other features of the world's most powerful operating system.

The REXX Reference Summary Handbook is an extremely useful tool for anyone regularly programming in the REXX language.

This book matches its title extremely well. This is a reference book detailing many aspects of REXX ranging from syntax of the language and several popular addon modules, to Workplace Shell information useful for manipulating the OS/2 Desktop. This is a summary in which entries are short and to the point making it an excellent tool for REXX programmers, not a book that teaches REXX for beginners. Finally this is a handbook with a great 4"x8" size that slips in right next to the keyboard where it is never out of reach.

While the book contains lots of information specific to the OS/2 SAA REXX platform the first chapter applies to any REXX implementation. This makes it equally useful for programming other platforms such as Regina REXX on the Windows NT platform, or the REXX included with current versions of IBM PC-DOS.

The downside to the REXX Reference Summary Handbook is that is is out of print, so it is missing some of the most recent OS/2 REXX updates. This is minor since the online REXX reference shipped with OS/2 is generally current so any missing topics can be printed from the online reference and inserted into the handbook.

Next to a good text editor this is one of the best things you can add to your REXX toolbox. My copy is borrowed often, but never gets far from hand.

Comprehensive and fluent also for not american readers (I'm Italian).

This book is a historical account that is an easy read and provides a full accounting of Nevada's history from the time when American Indian tribes dominated the territory until today. While most people think mostly about Las Vegas when considering Nevada, up until recently most of the human action is the state took place in other locations. James Hulse does a beautiful job in compiling and presenting the influence of mining, railrods, farming & grazing, immigration, water rights, military matters, and politics in all reigons of the state.

If you are interested in a thorough accounting of the history of the state of Nevada, this book is a top choice.

The Story of Hoover Dam is a collection of articles published at the time of the construction of the Dam, each chapter is a different article, wrote at different time from the next one. The books provide details of the many construction and management aspect of the Dam. Although I am a Civil Engineer I find the book difficult to read. The language of the book is really technical and the authors refer often, to names of machinery and other technologies of the 30's. The books include many pictures and drawings depicting the construction of the Dam and its design. This an excellent historical reference, not only for its pictorical information but also because you get a sense of the mentality at the time. Nonetheless this is not a book for a first hand account of the construction of the dam, instead this book is more suitable for people who have already have read something about Hoover Dam and want to explore more in detail the design and the construction of it.

Fabulous technical collection of articles & photographs outline the surveying, design, planning, construction, and politics/management of the project. Includes many engineering drawings and elevations.

The Basque people are certainly an interesting race; it is believed that theirs is one of the oldest languages in Europe. Where they came from and how they ended up in northern Spain has been a point of contention between anthropologists for some time. They suffered terribly during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930's; the famous painting by Picasso represents some of the suffering in the Basque city of Guernica. The people of that city had the dubious distinction of being the first in history to have been the victims of the deliberate terror bombing of civilians. The Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA has been engaged in a decade's long struggle to create an independent homeland for the Basque people out of the Basque areas in Spain and France.
This book is a collection of photos taken in the Basque regions in Spain and France. It is a rugged, yet beautiful land; most of the buildings are very old. While there are some modern devices displayed in the pictures, the majority could have been taken decades ago and some perhaps over a century ago. People are meeting over drinks, coffee and traditional food. Some of the beautiful pictures of the villages in the valleys could have been taken at the turn of the century.
When people appear in the photo, one thing is clear. The Basques are a very proud people, they have lived on and worked their land for centuries and will continue to do so. Rugged mountains and terrain breeds rugged, hardy people and that certainly describes the Basques. No small set of photographs with associated explanations in a book can truly describe any culture, especially one this old. However, it can both literally and figuratively give you a snapshot and that is done very well in this book.

"A Time We Knew: Images of Yesterday in the Basque Homeland" is the product of a fascinating collaboration between photographer William Albert Allard and the dean of Basque-American literature, Robert Laxalt.

In the fall of 1967, Allard spent two months in the Basque country of northeastern Spain and southwestern France, capturing with his camera the everyday life of the people who lived there. Although Allard spoke no Basque and was linked to the Basque country only through his Basque wife, his stunning photos evoke the tremendous power of the Basque landscape and people: the haunting flanks of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques at evening; the gloomy mountains of the northern coast of Spain just at the approach of a storm; a rough-hewn woman with a scythe at Behorleguy, on the frontier between youth and age, in whose face is reflected the painful past of the ancient Basque people. From a technical point-of-view, these incredible photographs are so good that they could truly be "images of yesterday": the color is brilliant. Alas, though, "yesterday" in the Basque country is no more. The years since 1967 have seen the heavy industrialization of both the French and Spanish sectors of the Basque homeland and the gradual passing of the ancient ways Allard captures here.

Laxalt's contribution to this book is his prose vignettes, some of the best of his characteristically exquisite prose-poetry. A second-generation Basque-American whose father grew up in the French Basque country, Laxalt knows the region as well as probably anyone in the United States. While one cannot miss the heavy dose of romanticism in his prose ("Girls slender as reeds walking hand in hand down the lane, singing an ode to spring in soprano voices pure and light as air") and even pastoralism (exacerbated by the fact that the Basques are some of the world's greatest shepherds), it is obvious that Laxalt is a remarkable writer.

A poetic look at "yesterday" in the Basque country. Get it on your shelf.

This book provides a thourough set of the features and attractions you will see on a drive through the Sierra Nevada. Most guides cover Highway 49 and some cover US395, but this guide also covers the far southern and far northern ends of the mountain range.

An exhaustive guide might be 1000 pages long, but in the 300 pages here, Koehler lovingly covers the highlights as well as some hidden gems in the area.

When I recently planned a trip to the Sierra I browsed through many books on the region. It wasn't until I saw Koehler's new title that I knew I had struck Sierra gold. This book is not just a timely overview of the region that is one of the nation's true scenic wonders--it is impressively well-written. Koehler threads her own experience into a beautifully-rendered survey of every destination you would probably consider visiting, whether by foot, snowshoes or car.

I haven't read a Trailsman novel for some time as I have been concentrating on keeping up with the latest Longarm novels as well as earlier episodes.The Trailsman is also one of my favorite characters.While Longarm is a Deputy US Marshal and part of the Federal Justice system;The Trailsman is a man who answers to nobody but himself and roams the Old West and takes on life and confronts injustice whenever and wherever he finds it.
This episode is quite typical of the kind of thing he encounters.It is a good Old West yarn,with lots of fast action and interesting,well developed characters.Some are fine upright people,some have felt the hard knocks of life,some have partaken in lifes pleasures;and some are evil and downright scum who need to be taken to task---and The Trailsman is just the man for the job.
The other reviewer tells enough about the story,so I'll leave the rest to the reader.
One thing about these western series that I like,is the artwork on the covers and trying to connect the images on the covers with people and scenes in the story.
In this case,we get two great scenes.However;you'll be hard come by in finding riders shooting at the burning buildings ;and then the scene of The Trailsman defending the jail on fire behind him,just isn't the way it played out in the story---but a great picture,nonetheless.
Overall,a great read,great artwork;and if you enjoy a good Old West saga---you'll like it.

Riding through the desert, Skye Fargo rescues a half-dead man on the run from the law. Fargo returns the fugitive to town, only to find that the accused murderer he brought back alive is sure to be lynched - even though he may be innocent. The elderly sheriff can't get the job done, so Fargo pins on a tin star and investigates. But there's more than one killer in this town...and all of them are about to take on the Trailsman.

This book rattles along at a fair pace as Fargo, acting as a temporary lawman, struggles to find proof as to the identity of a killer. The author throws in a few suspects that help keep the reader guessing although he does reveal the who a bit early on for my taste.

The book doesn't have nearly as much action as I've come to expect from a Trailsman novel but the plot was strong enough to hold my interest.

There is something that seemed totally out of character though, and I quote, "Fargo had never given banks much consideration except for the idle thought about robbing one or two of them." I personally don't remember Fargo ever taking to the outlaw trail or considering it before. Particularly when you see the date the book is set, 1867, a few years after the majority in the series.

Still, that aside, the book was entertaining and the cover seems to be showcasing a new artist to the series.

This is an important book to understand some of the magical and animist conceptions that appear in the popular lives of the Basques. I would recommend this book to everyone, but specially to those that are interested in the history of European Witchcraft in general and Basque Witchcraft in particular. Barandiaran, the father of Basque anthropology, presents some of the aspects less known about Basque culture and tradition. Basque mythology provides an explanation for the witch-craze of the 16th and 17th centuries in Spain. This book presents the core of Basque culture that is its myths and folktales. It is a magical reading experience.

"A View from the Witch's Cave" is a great anthology of sixty-four folktales from the Spanish Basque Country. Collected between 1900 and 1956 by José Miguel de Barandiarán, the Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm of the Basque Country, they were published in Spanish translation in 1988. The stories are arranged into three sections: witty animal fables, tales about humans and witches, and "legends" that explain the origins of Basque folk-beliefs. As Barandiarán points out in his introduction, while these tales only form part of the "peripheral vision" of today's Basques, they encapsulate a lot of the ancient Basque folklife. Elements of the "old wisdom" have co-existed with Christianity for hundreds of years and allow us both to glimpse some of the Basque Country's unrecorded history and "piece together the spiritual physiognomy" of the ancient and early-modern Basques.

The book's English title and the previous customer review, though, are misleading. First, this is not entirely a book about witchcraft. Witches figure prominently in many of the stories, but the original Spanish title -- "Brief Anthology of Fables, Stories, and Legends from the Basque Country" -- was more accurate. Second, the subtitle, "Folktales of the Pyrenees", is also misleading. These tales come only from the Basque Country, not from Catalonia.

Still, it's a great anthology. The English translation by Linda White is expert. If you're interested in finding the tales in Spanish, check out the original version of the book (Editorial Txertoa, San Sebastián, 1988) or the excellent 12-volume series, "Cuentos y leyendas de la Euskal Herria fantástica" edited by José Dueso (ROGER, Donostia, 1998) in which many of the stories are reprinted almost verbatim.

Loved this book, and all the others written by this author.
Wish there were more.

I read Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West by this same author and truly enjoyed it. I wanted to read some more books by author Anne Seagraves so I found Women of the Sierra. It was hardly a disappointment. This book tells the stories of many different flavors of women from the west. It was a great way to read about a variety of women and how they came to be in the west. I can't wait to get the rest of her books!!!