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Nevada Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

AfterBurn: Reflections on Burning Man (Counterculture Series)

Published in Paperback by University of New Mexico Press (2005-08-29)

Author:

List price: $14.95

New price: $10.45
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Average review score:

Scholars on the Playa

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-22

I'm pleased to see that academia is now starting to look to subcultural doings as they happen, instead of invoking the fond nostalgia that the Beatniks inspired. The ability to digest and deconstruct the events that take place in this otherworldly space is much to be commended, and I think that by doing so the authors of these various articles may be tapping in to something most of their colleagues shy away from. The articles themselves are intriguing and scholarly, but never lose sight of their subject. I would love to see more editions of this book as the event (and the world around it - the context) changes and grows!

Reflections on the Reflections of Burning Man

Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-26

Prior to reading this excellent sophisticated introduction to Burning Man, I had dismissed this event as shamanism and tantra for amateurs. However, these well written, knowledgeable, and at times quite learned articles, have convinced me that Burning Man allows for the creation of authentic rituals that are rife with both transformative and aesthetic epiphanies. Moreover, it appears that Burning Man has largely not yet been" recouped" (to the use Guy Debord's term) by bourgeois capitualist society, and thereby succeeds where its predecessors, the Surrealists and Situationists, left off. Next year, instead of visiting the Himalayas or Mongolia for my taste of the (w)holy other, I will just go to Burning Man.

Smell the playa dust...

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-31

in these pages? Read this book and you will. Tho the author comments that this book was a composite of many different burning an festivals, te undercurrent feels strangely like one which puts you there in the middle of things.

There are a few details which, if you've been there, are a little flaky, and the book gets off to kind of a slow start (ergo the 4 stars) but as you bury yourself in this read (and it's one read that, if you're at all a burner, you will end up burying yourself in) you will be amazed... engrossed... wind blown... with a lot of little surprises thrown in that you don't expect, even all the way at the end.

There is another thing, tho... if you've never been to Black Rock City, and wonder what all the hubbub is about, ad you want to know if that ticket's worth it... and what it's getting you into... this book will give you a fairly good idea. Of course, your experience is your own... but, like I said in the beginning... read this, and you can almost smell the playa dust in these pages...

A pleasure!

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-12

Critical writing up to any academic standards fused with a joy in language and topic. Wonderful! It will make your mind spin with ideas, and what could be better than that!

The Cat and the King of Clubs (Five Star Mystery Series)

Published in Hardcover by Five Star (ME) (1999-06)

Author: Carole Nelson Douglas

List price: $21.95

New price: $173.07
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Average review score:

An Excellent Book

Helpful Votes: 13 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2000-02-09

I really enjoyed this book. Going back to before the series as we know it began and getting history on some of the characters gives the book another dimension. This book would be interesting reading in and of itself, but as an avid fan of the Midnight Louie series, I was thrilled. I can wait to read the remaining three from the beginning of the series.

Midnight Louie is the cat's pajamas!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-03

I was lucky to stumble onto this author and find this book before any of her others. From the first page, I couldn't put the book down. Midnight Louie is the narrator and what makes this so great? He's a cat! And every so many chapters, he gets to interject.

This fun story is set in the playground of vintage Vegas, which brings back that old magic. The author time warps you to experience all of the glitz and blinding neon of the city and really makes you feel like you are there with the characters. I totally fell in love with Nicky Fontana and Miss Van von Rhine and I'm thrilled that there are three more books in this series!

This is a beautiful love story with classic romance without getting gushy. It also has elements of mystery woven in that don't all get explained. I also loved the way the author put words together making the language poetic without being flowery.

But my favorite part was the end where, after the story is told, there is an interview between the cat and the author, explaining things in the book and about the series that you weren't clued in on. You really start to believe the cat is real! I highly recommend this book.

Midnight Louie's first great tale

Helpful Votes: 37 out of 37 total.
Review Date: 1999-05-22

Though his family is renowned as Mafiosi, Nicky Fontana runs a completely legal business. He currently plans to renovate an aging Las Vegas landmark into a major, first class casino. He hires Van Von Rhine to oversee the operation, giving her a budget of just under $8 million.

However, an unknown assailant wants Nicky to fail. That individual will do anything to make sure that the renovation project fails. Midnight Louie, feline private eye extraordinaire, decides to investigate in order to expose the culprit. As Louie snoops, Van struggles with adapting to the Vegas glitter as well as her personal attraction to Nicky.

THE CAT AND THE KING OF CLUBS is the full version of Midnight Louie's debut novel. The publisher sliced and diced this tale and the subsequent three other books that made up the original series. However, Carole Nelson Douglas has brought the gem back to its original glittering self. The who-done-it story line remains fresh and even more fulfilling this time around as Louie shows why he owns the universe. Fans of the series will take great pleasure with this "expanded" reprint. The audience will feel elation over the upcoming release of the other three tales from the original set that established Louie as one of the best feline sleuths on the prowl.

Harriet Klausner

Excellent, great fun and fast moving.

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 1999-08-14

I have all of Carole Nelson Douglas Midnight Louie and Irene books. Love them and hope they keep coming. Also, get the audios every chance I get. Thanks for hours of enjoyment. I find them very absorbing and entertaining.Wish they came out faster.

Compass American Guides : Las Vegas

Published in Paperback by Compass America Guides (1999-09-07)

Author: Deke Castleman

List price: $19.95

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Average review score:

Vegas info, history, and more

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-11-18

This is not your typical tour book. The author is more interested and making you know about Las Vegas then telling you about it. Las Vegas is made tangible and not just rated in terms of good or bad.

The typical tour book stuff is here including hotel rates and restaurant reviews. However, if you want to know more, it's there. It provides description of hotels as well as details their history. Every subject is handled in this manner as well making the book feel more like a narative.

There are small excerpts from popular authors for even more perspective. Perhaps, perspective is the right word for this book. The reader is treated to a point of view and not just vague recollection of facts and figures. This is the first tour book I ever read cover to cover.

Though it has some slow parts, over all it is a great quick history / guide of Las Vegas. Even if you've been there, you'll find amusement in some of the tales or info included. I did.

Vegas info, history, and more

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-11-18

This is not your typical tour book. The author acutally suceeds in being entertaining as well as informative. Las Vegas is made tangible and not just rated in terms of good or bad.

The typical tour book stuff is here including hotel rates and restaurant reviews. However, if you want to know more, it's there. It provides the description of a hotel as well as detailing its history. In Vegas, even the hotels have personality. Every subject is handled in a like manner. This has the added bonus of making the book feel more like a narative.

There are small excerpts from popular authors for even more perspective. Perhaps, perspective is the right word for this book. The reader is treated to a point of view and not just a vague recollection of facts and figures. This is the first tour book I ever read cover to cover.

Though it has some slow parts, over all it is a great quick history / guide of Las Vegas. Even if you've been there, you'll find amusement in some of the tales or info included. I did.

Like taking a local along with you

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-11-24

How good is this book? Another guidebook recomedns reading it! This book gives great insight into the history of Las Vegas as well as the individual hotels. While it is a little short on specific information, this guide more than makes up for it with specacular color photography and well written articles. A must read for those who want to know more than what the Chamer of Commerce or the Convention and Visitors Bureau will admit.

I've read many Vegas guides. This one remains the best!

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2000-05-03

I work in tourism, so I'm required to know all I can about Vegas. Castleman's Las Vegas is more than another guide. It can be read like an exciting novel that you don't want to put down. Or it's index makes it a quick reference tool. It's all here. History, the characters, the gaming, the hotels, weddings, maps, side trips, bargains - everything in a good size to carry and read on the plane.

By the time you land, you will feel like a Vegas veteran and save time and money.

Besides a great read, this book is worth the price simply for the fantastic photography.

Dempsey in Nevada

Published in Hardcover by Jack Bacon & Company (2007-11-24)

Author: Guy Clifton

List price: $24.95

New price: $24.95
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Average review score:

Dempsey in Nevada

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-25

An amazing book.
I am a hugh Dempsey fan.
I have most publications ever written about Jack Dempsey.
This book stands out as one of the best

Best 'Nevada' book of the year

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-30

By John L. Smith
Las Vegas Review-Journal

One of Goldfield's claims to fame is that it was the place a young Jack Dempsey worked as a bar bouncer.

Dempsey fought a handful of bouts in Nevada early in his career and returned to the Silver State to box briefly in the summer of 1931. On May 31, 1915, Dempsey fought a 10-rounder in Goldfield against Johnny Sudenberg.

So, it would only make sense that the "Manassa Mauler" pocketed extra coin by breaking up fights and busting a few heads while in the employ of one of Goldfield's whiskey dens or buckets of blood.

If only it were true.

Alas, that's a Nevada legend involving Dempsey that doesn't rise to the count of veracity. There are plenty of others, however, that actually happened. And I've come to believe Guy Clifton has collected every one of them in his latest book, "Dempsey in Nevada." It's a technical knockout for any boxing aficionado who seeks to understand one of the fight game's historical giants.

In the Golden Age of sport, newspaper headlines were filled with the names Ruth, Grange and Dempsey.

But while Babe Ruth earned the outrageously high salary of $85,000 a year for the Yankees, Dempsey's share of his fight against Gene Tunney was $717,000.

Take that, Alex Rodriguez and Floyd Mayweather.

And Dempsey loved Nevada. He hooked up with willing women and cut ties with a couple of wives here. He was a favorite of Reno gambling kingpins Bill Graham and James McKay. He dug in mining claims for exercise and entertainment, and even spent time in his later years in Las Vegas.

For Clifton, an award-winning reporter for the Reno Gazette-Journal, working Dempsey's corner was as natural as a hook off a jab.

Like many Nevada newspaper reporters, especially those who get their mail in Reno, Clifton had heard colorful stories about Dempsey.

Clifton goes a long way to returning the legend to life and cutting through the hyperbole that followed his career. Along the way, he realized Dempsey was fond of Nevada in part because it was a place he could meet some women and part ways with others.

"I was surprised that all four of his wives had a Nevada connection," Clifton says.

Dempsey's first wife was a Wells prostitute. He divorced his second wife in Reno. He married his third wife in Elko, and his fourth wife signed the farewell papers in Reno.

Reporters and fans followed Dempsey's one-man parade throughout his life, and Clifton draws from newspaper archives for many of his anecdotes.

"The reason I ended up focusing on Dempsey in Nevada is that is really a part of his story and Nevada's history that has never been told," he says.

Thanks to Clifton, the Manassa Mauler's Silver State rambling is secure for all time.

Clifton's work tops my list of favorites by local authors in 2007.

Dempsy

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-25

Book as represented. Christmas present for my husband & he is enjoying the book.

Dempsey in Nevada is a Knockout

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-26

Who knew that one of the greatest sports figures of the 20th century spent so much time in sparsely populated Nevada? Longtime Nevada sportswriter Guy Clifton did a tremendous job of assembling the facts that tell the story of how and why Dempsey spent so much time in this far-west outpost. No less than boxing historian Bert Sugar and famed Muhammad Ali trainer Angelo Dundee praise Clifton for bringing out never-before-printed facts about Dempsey, and I agree with them. The author also captured facts from period newspapers and magazines that if not likely to have been lost forever, they were close to it. The best part is you don't even have to be a boxing fan to enjoy this book, which is a quick read. It's fascinating for anyone who has ever wondered, as I have, about how people really lived in the Wild West. The author is a newspaper columnist, so he's always looking for interesting nuggets to build upon, and he finds them in abundance. Many chapters are often just a few pages or more, which tells me the author made a conscious decision to not simply write page after page trying to expand the narrative when it wasn't necessary. Dempsey came to Nevada well before anyone even knew he was a boxer and came back after he had conquered the world, which is interesting in itself. The Las Vegas we know today barely existed when Dempsey arrived in Reno, Tonopah and Goldfield. After boxing made The Manassa Mauler one of the most famous people in the world, he returned to Nevada to live and promote boxing matches in Reno. It appears that Dempsey's good nature and charming demeanor had as much to do with his immense popularity as his exploits inside the ring. I learned a great deal about history, boxing history and the life of a meteoric sports superstar who came from a different time even though he lived until 1983. The great number of photos included help explain this amazing little story of Jack Dempsey's life and times in Nevada. This is a gem of a book that is definitely worth reading.

Dreamweaver

Published in Mass Market Paperback by St. Martin's Paperbacks (1998-12-15)

Author: Kathleen Kane

List price: $5.99

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Average review score:

A wonderful book!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1999-01-07

This is a beautiful story that makes you laugh and also cry because you are so touched by the characters. A wonderful fantasy and beautiful romance mixed with love, emotion, drama and a few surprises. A keeper!!

Excellent!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1998-12-15

Kathleen Kane's books are the only books I have read where I have laughed and cried. She creates such wonderful characters, atmosphere, emotions. I hope she keeps writing and quickly. She is a fantastic author.

It was wonderful!

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2000-11-04

Picked up this book by accident and what a find. I am looking forward to reading more of Ms. Kane's books!!

I have a new favorite author!

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 1999-02-16

I loved this book! I have read time travel books in the past but nobody puts them together like Kathleen Kane. She has a wonderful sense of humor and it shows in all of the strong characters that she builds. I really felt like I knew each one of them. She puts in personal details that bring the charaters to life. It's hard to find a book that really makes you laugh out loud and cry as well. This book was great! I can't wait to get my hands on another Kathleen Kane story! If you like time-travel romance, you'll love this one.

Favorite Dog Hikes in And Around Las Vegas (Favorite Dog Hikes)

Published in Paperback by Spotted Dog Pr Inc (2006-01-15)

Authors: Wynne Benti and Megan Lawlor

List price: $15.95

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Average review score:

great book for dog lovers in Las Vegas

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-03

Benti and Lawlor's Favorite Dog Hikes: Las Vegas is a great book for people looking for an active way to spend time with their dog outdoors. There are many maps and great directions for getting to the different areas and two great maps of off-leash dog parks in the area. Several photographs help tell you more about the hikes the authors talk about.

Favorite Dog Hikes is our favorite!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-17

This is filled with great information for anyone (dog owner or not) I especially like the climate/temperature information, as Las Vegas weather extremes can be hard on dogs. Excellent descriptions of all areas. Interestingly written and accurate.
This is the best dog hike book available!

Best Dog Hiking Info

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-13

An easy read, with the best coverage of dog friendly trails and parks around Las Vegas, loaded with basic hiking information for dogs and humans that's good anywhere. The sections on, on leash, and off leash local parks are a nice bonus.

We love this book!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-13

It has a bunch of new trails we never knew about. There are photos of every hike, excellent directions and maps. The photos were the selling point. They give a good idea of what to expect. We took our dogs out to Goodsprings and they just had the best time. It was a beautiful hike. There wasn't a soul out there. No leashes, either. We all had so much fun.

Fight Town: Las Vegas - The Boxing Capital Of The World

Published in Hardcover by Stephens Press (2004-11)

Author: tim Dahlberg

List price: $34.95

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Average review score:

Best Fight Book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-25

This is the best fight book if anyone is interested in boxing in Vegas. A must have for any fight fan!!

Just what we were looking for.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-03

Great book. We needed posters from old fights. Good representation.

Fight Town is the Undisputed Champion!

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2004-12-02

If you like boxing at all, you're going to love this book. I bought it at the author's website after reading a review on a boxing website, and it was even better than I imagined. This is a big book, 228 pages in a coffee table size, and filled with great photos that really are images in time. There's Sugar Ray Robinson with two little kids on the Las Vegas Strip in 1952, and Muhammad Ali fighting in Las Vegas for the first time in 1961. The book opens with a photo I've never seen before of Ali taunting Sonny Liston after Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson to win the heavyweight title in Las Vegas in 1963. This photo alone is almost worth the price of the book. There's great photos from the 50s to fights in 2004, from Liston and Ali to Mike Tyson and Oscar De La Hoya. These aren't your standard fight pictures, either. They are taken before fights, in casual settings, during fights, you name it. Did I mention it had words too? Dahlberg has been around fights in Vegas for a long time and it shows. He tells inside stories, such as how Marvin Hagler was so tight with his money he made sure the phones in the hotel rooms of his entourage were turned off and how Bob Arum nearly landed the first Ali-Frazier fight in Las Vegas. He tells how Caesars Palace built an outdoor arena for the big fights, and how great the hotel's pavillion was for fighters and how Sugar Ray Leonard came up with the game plan to beat Hagler. It's the kind of book you'll put out on your coffee table just to pick up and read a bit and look at the pictures again and again. I got mine at the fighttownvegas.com website, so I could get it personally signed by the author. My friends are all jealous.

Excellent Thorough coverage

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2004-12-18

Fantastic photos. Fine background text. Knowledgable author. But the one thing that got me was instead of this being a historical look at the boxing game in Las Vegas, it really turned into Dahlberg's view of Boxing in Vegas.

If a book is to be based on your opinion, I'm fine with that. But doen't disguise it as a historical perspective of the topic and then force YOUR PERSONAL opinions in as if they WERE fact.

A blatant example of this was Dahlberg's OPINION that Tommy Hearns was exhausted and spent in the 13th round of his epic bout with Leonard. If Tim wants to quote Manny Steward's opinion on Hearns' weight and physical condition in the bout, that's fine. But don't pass off your personal opinion as fact. In MY Opinion, what stopped Hearns in the 13th round was Leonard's fists. Hearns certainly gave no noticable appearence of being Spent or exhausted. He slowed down when Ray NOTICABLY hurt Tommy.

I also did not care for the top 10 Vegas fights either. If you are basing it on historical significance or hype and build up, than how does Leonard Hagler not make the list? ANd if it is based on ferocity and sustained action, how does Barrera Morales not make the list? Were Tyson Berbick (Why? so we have a fight for Tyson in Vegas that Mike acutally won?)Holyfield Bowe I & II and Foreman Moorer more deserving than the two fights I mentioned, each for different reasons?

The bias and inconsistancies prevent 5 stars form me. I previewed it before I purchased it, so I feel it was worth the buy. But It ranks only as very good and not exceptional in my book

Jeff Hawkins

Flying Over Sonny Liston: Poems (Western Literature Series)

Published in Paperback by University of Nevada Press (1996-10-01)

Author: Gary Short

List price: $14.00

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Average review score:

Good work, definite must-read!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1999-10-06

This book is really good and powerful and I would recommend it to any poetry fan.

A book to learn by

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-08-02

Having Gary Short's previous book, Theory of Twilight, I would have bought this book anyway, but I had no idea how much it would teach me about writing. This book is astounding. I love the open style of this book. While you can immediately tell that the subject matter is highly personal, each poem is accessable and seems to invite the reader to see Mr. Short's point of view. It is also important to note that this book is not just good poetry, it is well crafted poetry. Anyone wanting a truly marvelous experience with a book of poems should get this book.

An Astounding View of the Human Condition

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 1998-07-28

Gary Short covers a lot of ground in each line, carefully choosing the perfect words. This book is the first I have ever marked with exclamation points, emphasizing lines I want to return to again and again, lines that haunt. His descriptions of nature go beyond mere settings, and delicately tie in with the mood or message behind the poems. Some verbs shock you with their originality and clarity. From a flame that is a "fluttering goldfish tail" to aspen leaves "spinning to coin in the wind's hand", readers are guaranteed to have their perceptions twisted into something astounding.

When Only a Poet Can Explain

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2005-04-03

Gary Short is a fine poet who manages to visit places warily avoided by most. His poems vary in subject matter, but his best poems find expression of loss, of grief, of finding solace in the vast prairie that is his living space.

At his brother's funeral Short reflects on his brother's dying: 'It is his last day./ I watch him sleep. A death-drowse./ His thin fingers touch/ his penis, belly, chest,/ & his face, as if/ he is trying to memorize/ himself.'

In an Elegy For My Mother: 'The sunflower/ all day long follows/ the light/ (heaven's eye)/ & even after its star has set,/ continues to look out/ until loss/ is realized. Then/ it can only stare into the ground.'

Words such as these fine poetry make and Gary Short has found a direct line to our moments of vulnerability for which we can only be grateful. This is fine poet. Grady Harp, April 05

Folding Paper Cranes: An Atomic Memoir

Published in Paperback by University of Utah Press (2005-03-30)

Author: Leonard Bird

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Average review score:

Folding Paper Cranes: An Atomic Memoir

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-18

"Folding Paper Cranes" is almost guaranteed to arouse anger and depression in the reader. However, it is also a book of hope and inspiration. Leonard Bird's book moved me to tears at times, a deeply affecting read.

It is maddening that our Federal government chose to put men such as Bird at such great risk, using them as laboratory rats. The hope that resides in this engaging little book is how the Japanese people rose out of the nuclear ash and their dedication to peace.

When you read of Bird's encounter with Mr. Tanaka and little Meiko and her family make sure the tissue box is nearby. Leonard Bird knows redemption. He has met it face-to-face, redemption with flesh on it.

Folding Paper Cranes

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-05

This is a very poetically written book about the author's experiences with United States atomic bomb testing and his coming to peace with the dropping of the bomb on Japan.

Incredible... haunting.

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-16

This incredible book feels like an intimate recollection between you and the author. The descriptive prose will shake you to your foundation as Mr. Bird describes with amazing clarity his encounters with nuclear horror. Although small in stature (its only 150 pages) it walks tall and you will emerge from the experience changed.

I have had the pleasure of traveling and spending time with Red and amazingly I knew nothing of this book. When it was given to me a sat and read it instantly. The tears flowed down my cheeks as I read it cover to cover.

I hope it will inspire you to think about our nuclear legacy, act to eliminate nuclear warheads from planet earth, and fold some paper cranes for good luck.

Finding Hope

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-04-13

This memoir chronicles the author's experience as a test subject for one of the hundreds of US Government nuclear bomb trials which took place in the desert of Nevada, and the aftermath of its effects on the author both physically and psychologically. As a young soldier, Bird was ordered to crouch in a trench with his squad a mere 4,000 yards from the detonation of the largest nuclear bomb explosion in North America, wearing only a WWII gas mask for protection. The memoir is framed by the author's three trips to Hiroshima which ultimately aid in his attempt to come to terms with both the terror and hope he shares with the victims and survivors of nuclear war in Hiroshima. His account brings to life the horror of Hiroshima that is only understood abstractly by many Americans. Additionally, it is very informative about the hundreds of nuclear explosions the government sponsors in our own country for the purpose of experimentation and the devastating effects of radiation disease caused by radioactive fallout. Folding Paper Cranes: An Atomic Memoir, is frank, sensitive, and searingly honest. It is sprinkled with poetry and though poignant with despair, ultimately brings a message of peace and hope.

Geology of the Great Basin (Max C. Fleischmann Series in Great Basin Natural History)

Published in Hardcover by University of Nevada Press (1986-05)

Author: Bill Fiero

List price: $22.50

Used price: $9.22

Average review score:

home is nevada!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-25

An amazing description of one of the most geologically diverse and unique areas in the world that lies almost in the shadow of Las Vegas. Easy to understand if you don't have a lot of science background and easy to see if you travel the Great Basin area. A great introduction to geology in general and the geological features of Nevada in particular.

Excellent Great Basin introduction

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-28

While perhaps not for the hedonistic traveler intent on enjoying the nightlife in Las Vegas or Reno, this book is an excellent primer for those interested in understanding the origin of the geologic structures observable in the Great Basin.
I checked it out of the Library and have since determined to purchase it as it explains much what I observe around me (as a resident of the area in question) on a daily basis.

A superb introduction to the Great Basin

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-04

The National Park Service maintains an excellent website devoted to exploring geology in the national parks. It developed the site primarily for teachers, listing a host of educational resources devoted to national parks from Maine to Hawaii. The materials are specifically designed for teaching geology, but they could be easily incorporated into a general science class. Best of all, they provide an reliable source of information for the general reader as a starting point.

As one example, John McPhee got me interested in the Great Basin with Basin and Range, a wonderful book about the history and geology of the region. (Another excellent book on the region I enjoyed is The Sagebrush Ocean, Tenth Anniversary Edition: A Natural History Of The Great Basin (Max C. Fleischmann Series in Great Basin Natural History.) by Stephen Trimble.) I've traveled in the area a bit, and always enjoy reading more about the Basin. As a general reader, I thought that NPS's review of this book was a perfect description:

"This book is filled with black and white and color photos as well as sketches that explain the geology of the Great Basin. A terrific jargon-free guide for anyone who wants to know about the physical characteristics of the region. This best-selling book has introduced casual readers to the geologic wonders of the Great Basin for over ten years. From the sun-scorched sands of Death Valley to the briny waters of the Great Salt Lake, Fiero takes readers on an earthly tour that encompasses nearly 250,000 square miles--in six states. Magnificent color photos and informative diagrams are combined to make it easy for the nonscientist to understand this still relatively secret part of the North American Continent."

If you have any interest in the national parks, stop by the National Park's wonderful website nps.gov . If you have any interest in the Great Basin, follow NPS's suggestion and pick up this excellent book.

Robert C. Ross 2008

America's Great Unknown revealed

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-23

The Great Basin is generally regarded as "flyover country", meaning you either fly over it or drive through it on your way to somewhere else. The big cities are all on the edge; Salt Lake City, Reno, Las Vegas. And it isn't "scenic" for the most part, having only one national park. Say the two words, and most Americans think of a dreary, dry, empty expanse of overgrazed sagebrush. Well, most Americans are wrong.

The Great Basin, explored on its terms, is a fascinating expanse of unique geology, as Bill Fiero, a professor of geology at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, shows you in this fine book. Written in easily read style, and understandable to anyone who has gone to high school, the book takes you on a general tour of the wonders of Great Basin, including well-known Bonneville Salt Flats, a remnant of an Ice Age lake bigger than Lake Michigan. You will also read about recent volcanoes, earthquake activity and faults, deep trenches such as Death Valley, ancient, dried up rivers, and fossil sand dunes. Canyons, badlands, and mountains are also part of this region, and author Fiero takes you through these areas as well, all the while explaining how and why all of these features came to exist as they do.

The book not only has excellent color and black and white photographs, following side-by-side with the narratives, but gives the reader an excellent background on physical geology in general, Indeed, it could easily be used as an introductory college text. Remember that one advantage to the Great Basin is its aridity, which enables you to see and understand the rocks and what they tell much better.

I bought the original edition two decades ago, and the recent revision is even better. Anyone planning a trip to the Southwest, in particular, Nevada, would be well advised to obtain this book. As with most folks, I like to gamble and see the shows when I go, but this book will show you many more fascinating things to see and do. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the geology, or the Southwest as a whole.