University of Nevada Books

Some of the insights seemed interesting, but the author seems to have difficulty focusing on what it is, he's actually doing/ writing about.
Book goes back and forth and never seems to develop a solid purpose. Plus it needed to be proofread and seriously edited.

I read this book and it was extremely boring. The author enjoys talking about himself, most of which is uninteresting. He enjoys talking about his swimming in the waters naked. Yuck!

This "work" done by Campbell is the poorest excuse for ecological literature, I have ever read. His idea of confronting real environmental issues concerning the Klamath Marshes amounts to his own unthoughtful, unpractical, and inane ramblings which he so inaccurately calls "meditations". I hope that this publication was funded by himself, because if it was financed by a publishing company they were greatly robbed.
Instead of producing a coherent work, the reader is forced to endure hearing about his (the author's) past. (This guy has a "Christ" complex.) I'd compare reading this book with the job of a pyschiatrist listening to their patient. Of course, the reader isn't being paid to hear this personal diatribe.
After I finished forcing myself to read this book, I felt that my time had been completely and utterly wasted. There was very little if anything valuable to extract from the "meditations". In actuality this book is a compilation of the thoughts from a no-body who has delusions of grandeur. I say this because he actually tries to credit himself with birthing some type of mystical and magical experience which has been done much better by other authors before him, and as future authors will far exceed. The only portions of this book worth reading were the quotations taken from other writers who actually are WORTH reading! Please don't waste your time on this dull, pseudo-religious "book". As for the author, I think time would be better-spent seeking psychiatric help or admitting himself into a mental institution. Too many skeletons in this guys closet! In the end this is just another European-Extract (with an identity crisis) who ignorantly & arrogantly believes that he can understand the spirituality behind lands that were stolen!
As I've seen in other critical reviews I'd ask amazon to include a scale that has degrees of positive AND negative stars. This would definately deserve a -5 rating. This book is sort of an attempt at an inept poet who's trying to wax theosophical and be poetic. Real poetry of this genre is found in the wonderous work of Whitman. The only practical use for this text? I'd recommend shredding it and using it in envelope padding, or the bottoms of hamster cages.

This is one book that can be judged by its cover: why on earth is there a Dickcissel of all things on the front of a book about the American Southwest? This sort of sloppiness recurs throughout, and is particularly irksome (and for new birders downright dangerous) in the many, many misidentified photos that illustrate the text. The bird-finding section is useless, and the author's coy suggestion that any errors in the directions given should be treated as "part of the adventure" is simply unacceptable. Keep this book out of the hands of beginners!

At a quick glance this book appears to be worthy of reading, and to be fair the hardrock mining sections are interesting, but the first 138 pages are filled with blatent political correctness and some misinformation that tarnishes the overall quality of the book. The authors claim that Alfred Doten (The Journals of Alfred Doten, University of Nevada Press. 1975) owned a "store" in Volcano, California. He never owned a store at Volcano nor anywhere else. The authors repeatedly make use of Doten to exemplify an untenable and skewed position of political correctness: "He "politely courted white women but was lusty and wanton around...women of color." What is their purpose in a hardrock mining text since Doten only placer mined? I'm not sure. So one must be left to infer that Doten was impolitely lusty around women who were not white? Could this be a metaphor about hardrock mining that I was not able to grasp? Anyone who has read Doten's diaries knows that he had no scruples about any woman period! Doten is also quoted for writing angry words in his diary having caught "two Mexicans" trespassing and working his claim. During Doten's time (1850s) sifting through dirt on another's claim was illegal; taking any gold that was found on another's claim was stealing. Doten would have been upset regardless of who jumped his claim. Doten is also described as "relishing" a vigilante justice occurance--sounds a little PC to me; Doten thought it was horrible. The authors also perpetuate the Joaquin (Murieta) myth that "gringos" raped his wife and murdered his brother--both never happened ("Joaquin" wasn't even the gang leader, his brother-in-law was). Should a myth justify the indiscriminate murders and robberies that the avenging Robinhood and his gang performed without mercy until his life was taken away, as the author's state, by "Euro-Americans" ? I PC think so. These authors should have stuck with hardrock mining instead of veering off in an attempt to integrate societal mechanisms of the mid nineteenth century with today's hindsight--risky and revisionist at best, but not historically accurate. If one is going to write history, fine--the reader will analyze the facts, albiet having the facts and context of the period incorporated coherently. But these "historians" use the first 138 pages of their book to shape their opinions and unabashed biases into a pseudo-scholarly text that takes away from the overall quality of an otherwise interesting book that excells with regard to hardrock mining and its impact within Calaveras County; it just happens a little too late in the book.

I think the title of my review says it all...unfortunately, no one in my book club had any interest in it.

I am very disappointed in this book.

From the Introduction: "Common names for plants can be misleading and do not always distinguish among the species. Additionally a plant known by a common name in one region may have another common name elsewhere, leading to further confusion. However, common names have been retained because they are generally of more interest." Then the book presents the plants alphabetically by common name. Of course this presumes that I even *know* common names for plants I know by botanical nomenclature.

Clearly I was wearing botany blinders when I read the description, saw, "an essential guide for botanists" and thought it might be a good addition to my library. It should be called "Eating the Plants of the Sierra" because it is all about the ethno botany, hardly bothering to offer more than a few one-line descriptions of a "key characteristic" to help you realize that out of a particular group of related plants, some are edible, some are not.

It's ironic that Amazon is pairing this book with Weedon's "Sierra Nevada Flora"; while "Wild Plants" acknowledges that "various keys are adapted from several sources, including ...Weedon.", what the book does NOT report is that there are direct remarks in "Wild Plants" that are almost identical to remarks made by Weedon; about Snowplant (Sarcodes sanguinea): Weedon says, "Stalks edible when cooked like asparagus; however this plant is rare and protected by law."; "Wild Plants" says: This fleshy plant is edible when prepared like asparagus. However, this is a protected and rare plant..." adding that you should only eat one in a emergency! I'm still trying to imagine being stuck in a bad situation with only my stove, a steamer and some hollandaise!

IF your primary interest is in learning about native uses of plants, this might be a better book than I realize. Aside from just about everything seeming to be a cure for toothaches or some sort of bleeding, I also learned this "Interesting fact: Small-flowered collinsia was used to make a horse run fast and was used externally for sore flesh." So I guess if you are on a slow horse, bleeding, and happen to ride by some small-flowered collinsia (and recognize it), you are going to be in luck.

Ready to snack on something from the carrot family? Cautiously go through the ways to prepare delicious Lomatium ("Caution: SOME species were too resinous to enjoy") but don't stop short of reading about Poison Hemlock (described but not illustrated) which is described as "a painless way to die!"

The book actually mentions that some plants are rare, then goes on to suggest that if you want to try eating them you should do so with moderation. "If you decide to harvest plants, it is important to harvest them with wisdom and respect."

Bottom line: this book, with misspelled plant names (a few found so far), minimal identification information, and that odd common-name thing, is not worth $40 unless you are a pharmacist.