Maryland Books

Despite the title, "daytrips and getaway weekends," this reads like a poorly organized standard travel guide. Most "itineraries" contain at least a weeks' worth of activities (would anyone consider "New York City, Long Island, and the Hudson River Valley" to be a manageable daytrip, or even weekend trip?). Some itineraries list literally hundreds of different sites and activities, while others would entail 24 hours of driving (this is not what I think of when I think "daytrip"!).

My 2nd gripe is that half the book is devoted to New York. Pennsylvania gets a big chunk of the rest, while coverage of Maryland, Virginia, DC, etc. is thin.

Finally, the maps are completely inadequate.

At the outset Lightfoot states that this book is intended for the "interested layman." As such it is a decent book with some theory, some data and a good deal of scientific philosophy, or maybe the history of science. However to any reader who may have a backround in such subjects the book seems to be a dangerous gloss of important points. It should also be stated at the outset that Lightfoot is not ashamed to put forth his own ideas on these subjects in which he may, or may not be an expert. At times this tendency is obnoxious, and occasionaly, most often in his chapter conclusions, he states his case honestly and makes it clear that there are some things which he may be mistaken in. As for his final conclusions(the last three chapters) there are a few good points, a paragraph here and there which deomonstrate either Lightfoot's knowledge of his own limitations or at least intelectual honesty. Unfortunately, for the most part these chapters are misleading, rehtorical and uninformed.

This book contains many errors regarding family genealogies. Families with similar names have been confused and names are misspelled. Family information has not been properly researched, proofread, or edited.

What a great concept- a state photo book with the option of a personalized cover. The best gift idea I've heard of in a long time. However, IDEAS often fail in their execution...

The book is of good quality itself but I was astonished at the quality of the photographs- many lacked in the quality of subject composition, some were blurry or had a bad tint, and the vast majority were simply boring. Considering that this was a largely a digital project I was very surprised. I am not a professional photographer, yet I could scrape up enough of my good shots to publish a much prettier version of Maryland. I would say about 5 photos out of the book are actually worth holding onto. Most of the photos feature people as subjects, which would have worked well if the photojournalism was better.

I do have to commend the company however on it's turn-around time on the personalized covers. I put the order in within 2 weeks of the Christmas holiday and I received it two days before the holiday. I checked the kindly provdided status link frequently and I was amazed that the job was completed within just 3 days! Although, I did end up waiting almost two weeks on pins and needles because although they claimed to send it via USPS priority mail shipping, they sent it parcel post instead.

My opinion would be to look through the book at your local store and see if you like the photos before you put your name on the front cover and personalize it. Me? I would save my money and have a photo calendar made at the local drugstore.

There are a few things wrong with this book and title. First, a two hundred page book on Maryland and Delaware only has 29 pages on Delaware. There are 32 pages on Greater Washington (like there is much off the beaten path here). Next is some of the Off the Beaten Path palces covered are such unheard of places as - BWI Airport, US Naval Academy, Camden Yards, Chesapeake Bay Bridge, Delaware Art Museum and Dover Air Force Base. That last one is where you can see the C5A cargo planes that according to the book each plane "is big enough to hold several football fields". Now that is a unique plane!
Much of this book seems little more then the author collected those flyiers from the card racks found at most hotels. While there are some unique places in the book most of it is little more than press release quotes from the local Chambers of Commerce. It is not "A Guide to Unique Places" that it claims to be.

I thought this book:'Prince George's County Maryland', by Corpening Rowe et al would have focused more on the history of PG County. Instead it concentrated mainly, on the lives of some of the earlier families from PG and their decendents through pictures. I didn't find it useful as a historical reference book. I wanted to read something on the demographics of the county which would explain how Black people became the successful affluent majority, but would also mention other racial groups who live there too.

Lisette Felix
March 2008

Running Mates tells the story of reporter Bobby Kelleher, a political beat writer whose ordinary day in the Maryland capitol is shattered when assasins attack the governor during a speech. Kelleher and his colleague, Maureen McGuire, chase the story over the next few days as it twists and turns and ends in a dramatic climax.

Kelleher is a likeable reporter, and Feinstein nails the dynamics of newspaper politics. Editors, publishers and assorted staffers are described perfectly, and he gives a real sense of competition among daily papers and the reporters out digging for new leads. Some elements of the plot strain the reader's credulity, however, and the various conspiracies take a lot of concentration to track. Nonetheless, it's an interesting and fast-paced thriller.

At times the writing seems a bit awkward, with maybe too many inane details and sexual situations. But overall, it's a great first work of fiction from a talented writer. A sequel would be interesting, now that Kelleher's character is established. It would be fascinating to see what he covers next, and how long his editors' happiness with him lasts.

William Bloyd is my gggggrandfather and I learned my ancestors settle in Tigard Oregon by the Oregon trail. Their travels were record in the book along with wills and letters.

The person who wrote the editorial review of this book must have been reading a different book. This 'reference' is so devoid of useful information that it is the only book purchase I have ever made from Amazon where I truly feel like I deserve my money back. It doesn't even list the Native Americans that lived in the state of Maryland, much less anything about their daily life.

This book does contain a large amount of information but it reads and is set up like a glossary. It would be useful as a companion book, but not alone.

This is the worst illustrated biography for children I've ever read. Let me first say that the illustrations are beautiful... but the book, like the previous reviewer said, is full of inaccuracies. Frederick Douglass did not spend his days working in the fields, and he did not wear overalls. The author states that he had little leisure time and only one day a week... Douglass himself states in his Narrative that slave children such as himself had much time free because they were too young to work as adults did. They wore little clothing- basically only shirts- because pants were for adults. He also spent much of his childhood and adolescence in Baltimore, not on a plantation. There are further inaccuracies. The author did not do adequate research for this book, or did and ignored it.

It's a fine slave story... but for the author to pass it off as Douglass' story is wrong. The one star rating goes to the nice illustrations.

Am I the only one who knows that Mr. Douglass lost his mother at an early age and that contrary to this book, she was not a major influence in his life? The author didn't do his homework. This book is full of inaccuracies about Douglass' life.