Pacific Books

This is a very thick book... and for good reason. It has photos (albeit black and white ones) or photo-rendered sketches of many potential wedding and reception venues. Each venues' pages come with the stuff you need: the seating capacity and approximate prices. There are also other sections of the book focused on vendors for flowers, etc. I recommend this book if you're trying to get a feeling for "what's out there" with regard to venues. It's a great place to start, and you'll probably feel like you've covered a lot of ground once you've gone through this book.

Wonderful book, a must have!

This has been an invaluable book during my wedding planning. When I got engaged in December 99, a girlfriend suggested that I buy the SoCal edition immediately to start finding reception and ceremony locations. I did buy it, and whipped through the whole book one evening. Sitting there reading, I quickly dismissed reception site after site and determined that the book just couldn't help me. I put it aside.

Then I started actually going out, visiting places, and realizing that it wasn't so easy to find the perfect place! I quickly realized I was going to have to work a lot harder than I thought to mesh the right church location, my number of people, and a convenient indoor reception site. So I came back to the Guide--time and again! Soon I had it dogeared and filled with notes as I reconsidered the options I'd been so quick to skip past earlier. The statistics on each site helped keep me focused and helped me and my fiance consider new places when others fell through, and keep the attributes of each place in mind. The descriptions of the reception sites are detailed, positive and generous-but-not-misleading. We ultimately booked a site listed in the Guide and are thrilled to have found it.

Now that I've moved on to choosing a photographer, I went to the Guide again. First I read through each photographer's profile in the book, then went on the Guide's website! It's so easy to use - - it allows you to jump to photographers' websites and see their portfolios, all without making appointments or driving around! I feel satisifed that I don't need to look beyond the professionals listed in the Guide, since the authors have already done the legwork in finding people with high standards and good customer service.

If you really want to explore all possible options for your ceremony, reception, and event professionals, you will love Here Comes The Guide! The hardcopy book and the website are thorough, pleasant to read, and - - most importantly - - really helpful. My mom keeps saying, "I had no idea it was this complicated to plan a wedding in this day and age!" Here Comes the Guide goes a long way towards relieving the complication!

While the bulk of the Guide is dedicated to reception site listings, the vendor listings in the back are very helpful. The listings are not mere "paid advertisements." If you read the book, The Guide explains how each vendor undergoes a thorough screening process--something even the most persistent bride likely wouldn't have the time or ability to conduct.

As The Guide states on Page 483, their process "involves interviewing 15-20 other event professionals. We call every single reference and ask about the professionalism, technical competency and service orientation of the advertiser in question. ... Those candidates who received consistent, rave reviews made it into The Guide."

Using The Guide as a starting point (combined with the internet, magazine ads, and friends' recommendations), I conducted exhaustive research of my own of wedding professionals in Los Angeles and beyond. I wound up hiring three vendors who had been featured in the Guide (caterer, band and florist, 11-11-00 wedding). All performed beyond my greatest expectations, and my guests cannot stop raving about the "fabulous," "amazing," and "out of this world" food, music, and flowers. Clearly, The Guide got it right.

So don't be fooled by the relative size of the vendor section compared to pages allotted to reception sites. The vendor section may be small because they are the cream of the crop, thanks to the Guide's legwork.

I am so glad that a friend told me about this book. I was so daunted by the search for a location for my wedding, I didn't know where to start. This book (and their fantastic website by the same name) made it really easy. They give great descriptions and the pricing information helped me narrow down the places I could afford. It saved me so much time, I was able to actually enjoy looking for a reception location. Thank you, Here Comes the Guide.

The great thing about this book is that it was written by people with an inside view of "The business". Along with the most complete look at Tinsletown they add anecdotes and little known facts that make just reading the book fun.
And this book covers more that downtown, Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It travels north to Santa Barbara and south to Long Beach and Catalina.
If you're headed for LA this is the book to get. Even as a died-in-the-wool Angeleno, I found this book informative, usefull and fun to read.

Here's a 600-page book that's filled to its movie brim, with tons of offbeat things to see and do; bright and breezy in its writing, you'll find facts and other nifty news here about this incredible place called LA and Hollywood that, even if you've lived here all your life (!), you probably never knew existed.

John Clayton, Travel With a Difference radio show,
KNX 1070AM

As in all Hunter Guides, this hefty paperback is chock full of information - restaurants and hotels, shopping, daytime and nightime activities, even where to see the stars.

Anton Community Newspapers

As a former "angeleno" and film enthusiast, I was amazed at the wealth of information contained in this travel book. I recently visited L.A. and stayed at two of the hotels mentioned, and found the descriptions to be right on the mark. I recommend this book not only to those who are planning a vacation in L.A. but to people who live in L.A. and enjoy watching movies and reading about movie stars.

I can't imagine what I can add to this well researched volume of Hollywood tidbits.... This book is fun. It reads especially well with a tub of buttery popcorn and a box of Good & Plenty.

Tippi Hedren, actress

I recently finished using this book for a course. I found it to be very well written and the presentation was excellent. Most books on algorithms are hard to read and overly mathematical. This book emphasizes more the textual explanation of algorithms for practical applications and not as much on theoretical proofs etc. The exercises at the end of the chapters strongly reinforce the contents and insightful hints to every exercise are given at the end of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed using this book and found it challenging. Other books I used for reference such as the MIT classic Introduction to Algorithms was also useful but much more difficult to understand initially.

For those of you who've always wanted to throw the Cormen text out the window rejoice you finally can! This book is an excellent introduction to algorithms. Though not as thorough as the Cormen text it's orders of magnitude more readable!

This was my textbook for my algorithms class at UW-Madison.
I like it better than Cormen's book, (introduction to algorithms) I think it's more readable and easy to follow.

A couple of caveats:
1.) This book is more of a survey. It does a deep-dive of some algorithms, but a lot of them only get a high-level description. If you are interested, you will have to look elsewhere for details, etc.

2.) The exercises are very well-written, and very interesting, some of them have been interview questions that I have encountered. The thing is, there is no answer key, and the hints section is not very useful at times.

Still, this book opened my eyes to the beauty of algorithms and math, and the elegance of solutions that are possible for "hard" problems.
After you read this book, you will have an idea of what is possible and it will give you enough ammunition, enthusiasm, and background for digging deeper.
A great collection to pair with is Sedgewick's collection on algorithms, Bundle of Algorithms in Java, Third Edition (Parts 1-5): Fundamentals, Data Structures, Sorting, Searching, and Graph Algorithms, Third Edition which may fill in some of the detail that this book may lack.

Even though this book is only a few years old, it seems like a well-worn classic. That is not to say that it is outdated and irrelevant; it is exactly the opposite! While my knowledge of algorithms textbooks isn't encyclopedic, I can say that this book was way ahead of the curve in it's layout. Before it, most books presented a bunch of algorithms with some loose affiliations such as being search algorithms or dealing with graphs. This book groups algorithms into major themes and makes it much easier to learn the fundamentals of algorithm design. There have been a new set of algorithms textbooks coming out as late (Kleinberg and Tardos, Dasgupta et al, etc) that have the same approach as this book because it works so well. Don't miss out!

This book presents the field of algorithm analysis from a different perspective. This book attempts to provide you with enough foundation to not only pick common sorting, searching, etc., algorithms for a problem, but shows you how to design new algorithms if need be. The book is an introduction, so keep that in mind. But the foundation it paves should last you a lifetime.

I have to say that even though I love food and finding awesome recipes, I rarely use the awesome cookbooks and recipes that I already have. EXCEPT THIS ONE! I can honestly say that I have made and tasted several of Kathy Casey's recipes. I really like that the ingredients are all easy to find in your local, normal grocery store. (B/c I want quality AND a one-stop shop.) I also love the flavors that come from the finished product. Try the crab cakes or endive salad!

This beautiful coffee table cookbook has it all; from creative uses of apples and hazelnuts to raspberries and rhubarb (w/honey mousse!). Crab, salmon, muscles, oysters, and halibut all here as well as pork loin, lamb, chicken and duck. And the cocktails and desserts are spot on for our region. As a northwest native and editor of The Good Home Cookbook: More Than 1,000 Classic American Recipes, I can say that these recipes well represent our region in a classy, tasteful and accurate manner. I highly recommend it!

Last night we finally got rid of the left over turkey from Thanksgiving and I get to think about fixing something else. I think I'm in a shrimp mood, and this book just fell open to page 66 with Sesame Roasted Shrimp Sticks with Zippy Apricot Dipping Sauce. Spicy, quick, easy and they look absolutely delicious.

As you would expect, this book from the Northwest has a lot of seafood. More ways to cook salmon that you can count (well, really you could count them) including some ways that are quite different from the others I've seen.

Another food area that has a lot of production in the Northwest is fruit, and some of her combinations of fresh fruit with farly shart ingredients like blue cheese look like the evenings side dishes are well taken care of.

Complaints, well there's one - Martini's are sacred things, you don't go messing them up with things like cucumber and sake (see page 38) - you don't even make them out of vodka - yuch! And Seattle Expresso Martini isn't really a Martini at all. Then again, the Slow-Roasted Martini Short Ribs (page 134) maybe I won't do shrimp tonight after all.

There are a lot of things here that you don't see in other cookbooks.

I just picked up Kathy Casey's new book and I love it. I must admit that I am one of those cooks that needs pictures to entice me to make something and Kathy's cookbooks always have them. Her salad recipes are to die for. So many salads are just so bland, but the Endive salad with Roasted pears is amazing. I'm also a big fan of her French Seasoning salt. I put it on everything!

Everything we have tried from "Kathy Casey's Northwest Table" has been incredible!! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to impress their Family and Friends with delicious (and fairly easy---a must for me!) Northwest favorites. You can't go wrong!

For the person who's never been to L.A., LOS ANGELES Where Anything is Possible by Larry Brownstein will offer both a macro and a micro view. You'll be exposed to several, yet very different, angles of the L.A. skyline. Mr. Brownstein works like a painter in the way he captures the lights of the cars, the streetlights, and the building windows. He also takes you up close to people and sites, and he'll help you see much more at Venice that just the obvious.

For me, living in the suburbs of Los Angeles, the thrill of familiarity resonated when I recognized places I had been-"Hey, I've been there!" At the same time, I hadn't seen what Mr. Brownstein sees. He captured my imagination and introduced a different perspective. His shot of Griffith Observatory in the Architecture section lends a feeling of quiet that I hadn't observed there before. Now I want to go back and see if I can see what he showed me. His beautiful shot of Santa Monica pier with motion blur of the Ferris Wheel and the dancing lights reflected in the water made me question if I had seen the same pier with my own eyes.

How many times can a common sight in Los Angeles such as the Theme Restaurant at LAX be photographed? Larry Brownstein captured it in more than one photograph here that had me looking carefully-there was something new in this shot. Whether it's the unique sunset shot of Randy's Donuts on Manchester Blvd. or a sunny happy view of Six Flags Hurricane Harbor with the old roller coasters we know in the background, this book displays common sights in L.A. in a charming, uncommon way.

I shared this book with my neighbor who, being new to California, didn't know what the Disney Concert Hall was (on the cover). As he looked at it, I saw a grin come across his face as he said, "Hey! This is where I got married!" His enthusiasm was evident as he pointed out the exact spot in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral where he stood with his wife as bride and groom, "I don't know HOW he got that shot!"

The book is organized into sections: Sights & Landmarks, Parades, Festivals & Celebrations, Architecture, Amusement Parks, The Beach, Shopping, Sports, and Cars. Some shots make you want to go out and find the detail (like the tile work around Watts Towers), and other shots simply make you smile like the Society Ladies in the Doo Dah Parade.

This book is a great gift for friends and relatives who have never been to L.A., a souvenir for those who've just left, or a memento/going-away gift for someone moving out of state. I've lived in Los Angeles all my life. Now I realize there's even MORE to see!

Larry Brownstein's "Los Angeles, Where Anything is Possible" is a look inside the L.A. we love. The unquenchable, fun city that keeps us here and would never let us live anywhere else. Browsntein is a gifted observer and photographer and his skills are apparent not only in the wonderful photos, but in how well he edited them to create this beautiful book. It leaves us wanting more and inquiring, when will Volume II be coming out?

For those of us that live here, Larry Brownstein's book reminds us why we do -- and why we do "love L.A." For those who visit and for those who are curious, Los Angeles: Where Anything Is Possible is both an invitation and an expose. "Come see for yourself" if beckons; "come if you dare" it challenges ... this book is the perfect gift for people here, there and everywhere who believe in the dream of this city on the sea.

Los Angeles: Where Anything Is Possible by Larry Brownstein is a marvelous, full-color, photographic showcase of the brilliant diversity of Los Angeles. Celebrations, sunsets, amazing architecture, outlandish costumes and much more fill this dazzling visual tribute. The text is very simple and brief, and offers brief and basic information concerning the festivals and other aspects captured on film. Especially recommended as a souvenir book for vacationers or armchair travelers, Los Angeles: Where Anything Is Possible could well serve as a template for photography celebrations of other major American communities.

What a joy it was to see these photos depicting Los Angeles in such a vibrant, insightful, amusing and delightful way!
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in L.A. It will expose you to hidden treasures and leave you smiling at the creative characters that call L.A. home

Now Los Gatos in Spanish means The Cats. I just would like to say Waaaaasssssssssssuuuuuuppppppp to all my homedoggs. EEEYA I have learned a lot from the grate scool district. It is absolootey the best in the wurld. YA! I go to highschool and I is gettin the beest education that this here town can offer. bi guyz

I live in Los Gatos and this is the most fun I have had looking at a book in a long time. I wish there was such a book for everywhere that I have lived. The research that went into it is incredible. The detail and the photos are great. People interested in writing a book about someplace should use this as a model. I learned a lot about many places that I have wondered about for a long time. Great fun!

I moved to Los Gatos in 1996. Before I read this book I had virtually no idea of the town I lived in. Now I understand it very well. It's actually interesting! By the way, this book was obviously created as a labor of love by someone with a genuine interest in their community.

This book displays a wonderfully compiled history of Los Gatos. The photography is beautiful, and just about every fact is historically accurate. A good section of the book is where the buildings are shown today downtown, and then their original use is displayed below the photo. Anywone who lives in Los Gatos or anywone who loves Santa Clara County history will love this book!

I also live in Los Gatos,and was surprised and pleased to see my house pictured, and written about in the book! I have always wondered about many of the homes shown in the book, and especially about where I actually live. This book has sparked my curiosity even more, and I am looking forward to having more detailed conversations with the owner of the house, to get additional information! A must have book for anyone who lives in Los Gatos, or has visited and enjoyed the town. Also a great book for California history buffs! My only suggestion would be to possibly print some in hard back!

The sacrifices of ordinary men have never been captured more poignantly than in Sam Stavisky's first-hand accounts culled from his own notes first recorded over 50 years ago. This is not an old vet's reminiscences of a time long-passed and fondly reconstructed. Rather, this book provides stunning first-person testimony assembled from contemporaneous notes that places the reader - uncomfortably at times- directly in a foxhole next to Marines who shiver from the rain and attacks of malaria while they await the night in terror of a surprise attack. What emerges is an eyewitness account of the Marines incredible fealty to one another, a steeliness of commitment to a cause and an esprit de corps that those of us born after the war can only weakly admit that we have never experienced. There is a lesson here, too, for adventurers who would send Americans into battle armed with anything less than the clear vision borne by the Marines during the Solomon campaigns. This is an important and eminently readable historic document written by a man who is obviously no stranger to powerful descriptions. I commend Sgt. Stavisky for his foresight in saving his notes and providing a fine sourcebook for those of us who didn't catch his stories the first time around. (Note to Ken Burns: This book is a veritable road map for a series on the war against the Japanese.)

I have just finished reading the book, "Marine Combat Correspondent" WW2 War in the Pacific, by Samuel E. Stavisky.
This is an Excellent book, I recommend it to anyone interested in the War in the Pacific. Savisky does a Great job of telling his personal accounts during his tour. Starts off with basic training and goes through most of the Solomon Islands to Hollandia.
One of the things that I liked the best was when he would tell about a story or an account of certain patrols, he would name most of the men and their hometown. Kind of neat to find one in your own state, or even a town close to you.
Stavisky did every thing that the Marines did, all the hardships, struggles and pain that they when through.
This is one of those books that is hard to put down once you start. I always said just a few more pages and then it turn into chapters.

Sam Stavisky was one of the first professional reporters recruited for a new World War II Marine Corps program which enlisted professional reporters, put them through boot camp, promoted them to sergeant, and sent them out into the field as combat correspondents who would chronicle the on-the-scene experiences of Marines in combat. In writing this story, Stavisky based it for the most part on the carbon flimsies of all the stories he sent to Headquarters Marine Corps from the field. These combat correspondents, known as "Denig's Demons," in honor of BGen Robert L. Denig, who was head of Marine Corps Public Affairs in the war and the originator of the program, covered the activities of Marines on land, in the air, and on the seas. Stavisky's story is very evocative of the times many of us World War II Marines experienced in the Pacific War, and Sam tells it well. Benis M. Frank, Retired Chief Historian of the Marine Corps.

As a member of Marine Corps Combat Correspondents for many years, and as a survivor of the battle for Guadalcanal, I can say that Sam's book is an authentic account of how it was. Over 50 years is a long time to remember details, but Sam is smart,and kept his notes which now jogs his memory. Considering the short time Stavisky was in the Marine Corps he had an opportunity to see just about every phase of combat during those months. I congratulate him on a well done effort in behalf of my beloved Corps.

Stavisky's book is a must read for those who care about WWII, providing the view of the enlisted man who folks back home would know and care about. It has the authentic ring of the writing and ethics of that time in history, and does more than hint at the actual horrors faced in jungle combat, yet still treating the war as a crusade.

While the tone is authentic and detailed, there are a few editorial lapses that knock the book down from 5 stars for me. For example, in one paragraph Stavisky states that Enterprise had been sunk a year earlier (which of course it had not been) and in another, states that Chesty Puller led the Marines into Korea in "1955". Presumably, he means actually during the Korean War, which ended in 1953. While these type of errors do not disqualify the book, they disfigure it and make one wonder what else the author has wrong.

Recommended with this reservation.

Readers beware! It's much easier to open this book than to close it. The author's obvious love of trivia, not to mention her love of Montana, is infectious. She is relentless in her pursuit of the obscure. We learn, for example, that the town of Ismay, population 20, changed its name to Joe to honor quarterback Joe Montana. Yes, but did Mr. Montana ever visit this town? And what is the montly salary of its mayor?

The result of this obsessive curiosity is a book full of quirky facts and colorful characters you will find nowhere else. It will put a smile on the face of a transplanted Montanan (like myself), but would also be a great find for anyone planning a trip to Montana. It's the kind of book that would normally be impossible to find for all those with the misfortune of living outside the state. Thank goodness for Amazon!

Packed full of facts and information you never knew you never knew. And now you know! Dazzle your friends with your new facts and accurate information. Good for bedtime, sitting time, waiting time, or just reading time. And a great price!

This is the most complete book of its type I've seen on Montana. I personally cannot believe that all city names in Montana actually start with "B", but it seems nearly so. Read this one and know "stuff" for sure. It is a lot of fun.

This book was a gift to me, and is not your usual trivia. Spencer obviously researches her stuff and puts it together with humor, irony, zest. Here are a lot of laughs and Gee Whiz moments for anyone. E. Malehorn in Illinois

I am a trivia buff and have lived in Montana for 36 years. This is hands down the best book I have read in years. The wit and humor through out the book kept me laughing the whole time I read it and I couldn't put the thing down. Kudos to Mrs. Spencer for researching and writing a book that had so many interesting facts that even an old Montanan like me had never heard. I highly recommend this book, I have read it twice and still haven't put it down.

Only having less than a week to visit this beautiful, stunning area of CA, I found this book to be indispensable. It made a short trip a quality trip by the descriptions of everything in and around Monterey. I loved the photography as well! Although my trip was nearly 2 years ago, I still flip thru this book on occasion to dream about my next trip, and YES I'm going back! There is so much I that I missed due to my short stay, but thanks to this book I got to see my preffered highlights and I wouldn't change a thing.

Monterey is a very visually stunning area, my absolute favorite having visited in the US so far, and this book is a great way to ensure you see what you want to see.

I have lived in Santa Cruz County for 15 years and thought I knew the Monterey Bay coastal zone very well--that is, until I read Jerry Emory's Monterey Bay Shoreline Guide. This Guide is the best--it covers both familiar territory and less well-known aspects of the Monterey Bay and its coastal towns. I've found myself consulting it whenever I make any kind of shoreline jaunt, from discovering where one can walk one's dog on a beach in Carmel to locating the best on-shore whalewatching sites. The photos are beautiful as well as informative. The organization of the book, which includes sidebar articles on specific topics, lends itself to easy access for both the casual and serious reader.

I have lived in Santa Cruz County for 15 years and thought I knew the Monterey Bay coastal zone very well--that is, until I read Jerry Emory's Monterey Bay Shoreline Guide. This Guide is the best--it covers both familiar territory and less well-known aspects of the Monterey Bay and its coastal towns. I've found myself consulting it whenever I make any kind of shoreline jaunt, from discovering where one can walk one's dog on a beach in Carmel to locating the best on-shore whalewatching sites. The photos are beautiful as well as informative. The organization of the book, which includes sidebar articles on specific topics, lends itself to easy access for both the casual and serious reader.

I received this book as a gift and was immediately taken by the depth and breadth of this book. If you are traveling from Ano Nuevo to Monterey get this book! The author and photograper bring this spectacular shoreline alive with great descriptive copy and super photos(you've got to see page 136). Hidden beaches and other great spots that I would never have known existed. Great information about how to get there, what to do and how it got there. Get the family together, pack a lunch and bring this book. Guaranteed great day!

I thought I knew the Monterey region fairly well until I was given this book as a present! It is packed with great "bites" of information: natural history, human history, and how to get to all the beaches and parks. The writing is easy to understand, friendly in a way, and even fun. The maps are very helpful, and the book even has resource sections with phone numbers, website urls, and directions. AND, the photographs are stunning. A great gift for visitors, home libraries, or the glove compartment of your car.

Superb Book !!! I agree this book is one of the best books on Richard L. Proenneke life - A+

This book, unlike One Man's Wilderness by Sam Keith, gives us Dick's own words. The editor, a friend of Proenneke's, honored his request that, if this part of his journal were ever published, his words and phrasing not be changed in any way. So what you get here is Dick's own phrasing and manner of speech - which is folksy and direct.

Proenneke was disappointed that Sam Keith heavily edited his prose in One Man's Wilderness (which is obvious if you read both books) and he refused to have any more of his journals published without a promise that no editing would occur. If you are a fan of Dick Proenneke, this is the best and most authentic look at his life. It contains an introduction with a brief biography which, although short, is the only such work that we have.

This book is a superb sequel to "One Man's Wilderness" and is excellent reading in its own right. John Branson thoughtfully answers many questions about Mr. Proenneke and provides numerous helpful footnotes tying together people, places, and events.

Mr. Proenneke takes the reader to an amazing, but, as I know from having hiked and camped there, also a harsh wilderness. Through his day-to-day accounts of a life lived simply and optimistically, and in tune with his environment, he presents a compelling model for how to appreciate the world around us, whether a wilderness or a city.

I enjoyed reading a few entries at a time. I look forward to the hopeful release of the remainder of the Proenneke journals.

This guy was amazing. His descriptions are wonderful and really make you feel like you know the guy. If you want to try before you buy it's also available at the NPS site in a PDF (www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/lacl/proenneke.pdf)

This book follows the daily life of Dick Proeneke as he lives in his log cabin in the Alaska Bush. He lives delibertly in the moment and enjoys life and manual labor. He is a gentle man who loves nature and is very spiritual without being religeous, to me he is the essence of Zen ,but he probably has no idea what Zen is. Something in this short little series of notes in this book,is almost like medicine. Something that we desparately need in this society of fame chasers,greedy sychophants,capitalist consumers, a quiet little message ,powerful and direct. Dick Proeneke got one up on us...