Pacific Books

The Good Diamond is a great addition to the long running series. Skye Moody has pulled together a fascinating cast of new and returning characters, along with intriguing detail about the diamond trade to create an exciting, action-packed mystery.

The Good Diamond is the latest mystery in the Venus Diamond series and it is absolutely fantastic. From the minute it opens in a Canadian diamond mine where a 384 carat diamond has been discovered until the final page, the action is fast-paced and heart-stopping. The characters are well portrayed, drawing the reader into the novel immediately, and the writing is of an exceptionally high quality. This is a novel which, once begun, is impossible to put down. It is a superior addition to the series, but it can also be read as a stand alone. I not only enjoyed the intense thriller action of the novel, but I learned a tremendous amount about the diamond industry and weapons smuggling. As always, Skye Moody has done extensive research to present her readers with an exquisitely written, very intelligent, highly entertaining mystery novel. This is a mystery which should be on every mystery reader's must read list.

In the Barrens of Canada's Northwest Territories, diamond prospector Big Jim Hardy strikes it rich at the Lac de Lune Mine when he finds a three hundred and eighty-four caret blue green diamond. He increases security but commandos steal the big gem and millions of dollars in small diamonds, killing the security guards and Jim. Before dying, he wrote the name Venus Diamond in blood; RCMP Sergeant Roland Mackenzie believes that U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent Diamond was a key player in the theft and killings.

Venus identifies Jim as U.S. federal undercover agent Buzz Radke who was tracking weapons and diamond smugglers. After Mackenzie is arrested because evidence points to him as one of the killers in the Lac de Lune Mine murders, Venus is assigned to find the diamond. It is on the Lay-A-Day Ranch where a white supremacist group intends to trade the diamonds for arms in their war against the U.S. government. The diamonds are stolen by a go between who was supposed to insure the gems were real before a final trade with a weapons dealer. . Instead, the head of the Lay- a- Day Ranch is killed and Venus follows a trail of and destruction leading to the mastermind.

The protagonist of THE GOOD DIAMOND is hard to understand or empathize with but that hardly matters since there is so much action in this exciting crime thriller in which readers learn about the legitimate and the seamy sides of the diamond trade. Venus realizes nobody can be trusted as she is sure the witnesses she interrogates hide information from her when they are not totally lying. Skye Kathleen Moody pens another winner in this long running series.

Harriet Klausner

Book is clear and well laid out. Color. Thin format. If you need a map that goes further north than Lynnwood or further south than Kent, you need to get the larger Thomas guide. Occasional errors in showing streets that go through when in reality they dead end. Useful tool.

This map is clear and easy to follow, even for a first-time visitor

The best set of 8.5x11" maps I've found for the Seattle area.
The 42 maps are clear and easy to read. They cover from
Lynnwood to Kent, and West Point to Sammish/Issaquah. I've
been using a five year old version and really wanted an
updated version.

It doesn't cover anything on the otherside of ferries. It
would be better if it also went upto Everett.

Hair of the Dog is an immensely interesting tale of the life of an American translator aboard Soviet fishing trawlers during a Joint-Venture in the late 1980s. The story gives insight into the lives of the Soviets and how they lived with constant observation by the political commissars and KGB agents while working alongside the Americans. The friendships formed by the author and the experiences she had as both a translator and representative of America were solid and left me wishing I could have joined her out at sea. The story flows well and was an extremely easy read for anyone interested in Russia, the Soviet Union and the people of both great countries.

She gave a detailed of how the journey would go through out the ship voyage and gives reader a great idea of how brave she was on the ship. This book does not only show the readers that even you only spend most of the time on the ship that you can still have fun and this a once a life time experience. You can imagine how people who sail or working on the ship most of the time, and how they spent their time. It's a great and fuuny book and gives me a imagination of how her journey is.

This is a special book and a very enjoyable read. Oakley perservered in getting it published and we are all the beneficiaries. Give yourself a treat and get a glimpse of US-Soviet relations that few Americans have witnessed. This book is not just a factual account of life at sea; it is a view into the Russian soul and psyche. You will not regret it.

To me the amazing coincidence of the narrative by Joseph C. Meridith on the Patrols of the USS. Hanna DE449 in 1953-1954 is that it almost perfectly coincides with the time that I was a Radarman on the Hanna. It is like he wrote my history of that time in my Navy experience. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and it will be treasured by me and my family. The Patrols were a great experience with all the sailors on board wanting to be on the small parties that were able to go ashore to walk around the islands. The ones that I remember the most were Ponape, with its absolute breathtaking beauty and Truk with its abundant Japanese navy ships that had been damaged during World War II. The book is a great treasure of information on the islands written by a man who recorded his observations in a colorful and well written manner

I ran across this book looking for information about the USS Hanna (DE 449), a WWII Destroyer Escort ship named after Private Billy T. Hanna USMC, who died on Guadalcanal in 1942.

I highly recommend reading this to anyone interested in Micronesia and War in the Pacific. It is very readable and well worth the effort. Written by the USS Hanna's captain, Joseph C. Meredith, the book details the ship's patrols of Micronesia, and the Bonin and Volcano Islands in 1953-54.

Captain Meredith describes the seven patrols he captained, giving intimate observations on the islands they visited, the people, history and geology. The stories of the attempts of foreigners to discover, exploit and dominate the islands, provide a real understanding of the islands and their people.

His emphasis on Japanese influence on the islands gives a real understanding of WWII and the Pacific, of what it was like to be there, and of the reasons and strategy of the War in the Pacific.

He researched the history of Micronesia in great detail, providing an accurate view of how Micronesia became what it is today.

World War II in Micronesia laid a foundation for hundreds of books and thousands were written. For those of us who were there right after the war few books have recorded what it was like. This author, a naval captain of a Destroyer Escort, told his story and wove in history and the continuing story of the people. And he told the story we lived. Casual inspection tours of twenty islands in fifteen days. Landings that started in a small boat and ended swimming in across a rocky beach. Local administrators who had shamefully little support from the US government and still carried on trying to do a decent job. Priest and missionaries who carried on in the wake of war, building communities with Navy discards. Hopeless ocean searches that sometimes were successful. And a little boredom. For those who were there, a very true book.

This is an excellent book, a true first hand accounting of what went on in World War II. If you are a veteran, scholar, or simply interested in one of the largest wars of our age you will enjoy this book.

Trask's straightforward, no-nonsense style of writing reminds me of a world that we've almost lost, a world in which integrity and character matter. From the early accounts of his marriage to the later harrowing accounts of flying the hump, long-distance bombing missions from China to Japan, and the fire-bombing raids of Tokyo and other Japanese cities, Trask's memoir gives us a first-hand look at the problems faced by the neglected heroes of the China-Burma-India theater of operations in WWII.

The men of the 444th bomb group are portrayed with sensitivity and respect in this little book, which is a pearl of great price formed from the sand of hard experience.

I recommend it highly to anyone interested in learning about the Pacific war from one who remembers with clarity and sobriety.

This is a good book. Its simplicity and intimate style make it unique as well as a pleasure to read. Facts and statistics are intermingled with individual tales of wartime events in such a way as to give personality and a sense of fragility to the soldiers who served in the pacific theater.
As a twenty-two year old living in a time of war, I found this book thouroughly interesting and enjoyable. Trask combines his personal feelings and the feelings of his crew with the widespread atrocities and sadness of war.
I highly recommend this book--a book that seems as though it could've been written by any of our grandfathers.

HAVE DOG WILL TRAVEL CALIFORNIA lists over 2,200 dog-friendly accommodations in the state, includes emergency clinics and pet etiquette, and includes notes on paw parks and facilities with its city-by-city listings. Both books should be on the shelves of any dog owner residing in any of these areas and also should be a basic reference for any traveling with pets.

Having already purchased the Northwest edition of this comprehensive guidebook, I was delighted to find the California version. Have Dog Will Travel, California is my new perfect gift for friends who travel extensively with their dogs. As in other editions, this book completely covers the state and gives important details from "people amenities" to the location of the nearest dog-friendly park -- everything needed to locate and reserve the best lodging for both dogs and their drivers.

In Have Dog, Will Travel: California, pet travel expert Barbara Whitaker draws upon her considerable experience and practical knowledge to personally research almost 9,000 lodging throughout California to create the definitive travel guide and directory for dog-friendly accommodations. Now travelers with their canine companions can select from more than 2,200 hotels, motels, B&Bs, cabins, and vacation homes that will accept both owner and pet. Additionally, Have Dog, Will Travel: California informs the reader of travel essentials for their pet, var travel safety and pet etiquette advice, easy obedience commands, as well as lifesaving and first aid procedures. If you are traveling through California with your canine companion, then you need to browse through Have Dog, Will Travel: California as a substantive aid in planning your trip's itinerary whether for overnight outing, a weekend excursion, or a full-blown vacation with all the trimmings.

Diana Helfand has taught nutrition in the Food Service and Hospitality Education Program at Kapi-olani Community College and hosted the 'Heart-y Chef" cooking show on KHON for five years. Her column "Heart-y Cooking was a regular feature in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for nine years, and she currently writes the weekly "Heart-y Chef" column of "MidWeek". In Hawai'i Light And Healthy, Helfand draws upon her many years of culinary experience and expertise to compile recipes (each of which includes approximate nutrition information per serving) that showcase what an Hawaii perspective has to offer the health conscious and adventurous family kitchen cook. From Chinese Chicken Salad a la Heart-y Chef; Easy Fish Stew; Candied Acorn Squash; and Banana-Chocolate Chip-Macademia Bread; to Maple Fruit Crumble; Grilled Spice Salmon; Veggie Penne with Pine Nuts; and Stuffed Zucchini Boats, Hawai'i Light And Healthy is an ideal addition to any personal cookbook collection and features a spiral binding allowing the book to lay flat upon the kitchen counter while in use.

This book has enlightened me. I never knew how easy it could be to eat AND prepare delicious, healthy foods. The recipes are easy to follow, the book has great information on the foods as well as the nutrition information. This is all very useful to me, especially being a college student. The cooking is very easy for me, even with the limited space in my small apartment. I wish my parents had sent this to me my freshman year. Then maybe I would not have gained the "freshman 15." Now I will lose that weight using this great book!

How many low fat cookbooks have you read? I've read at least 100 and I'll tell you this: You Must Buy This Book! The author is so down to earth-- there's no nonsense, no gimmicks, no fuss-- just straightforward valuable information, including nutrition information, that's needed for you and for your entire family. This book could literally save your life-- How many people do you know who are trying to lose weight? How many people do you know who have been on those awful fad diets? This book has an entirely different approach because its underlying message is to change your lifestyle; it's practical because the recipes are eeeeassssy and they're TASTY! I've tried out about 15 of them so far and everyone loves them. The recipes are easy and quick and so simple that your kids could make them. My friend, who's a single mother, bought this book and she has three kids. Her youngest is nine and she's been teaching them all to cook. Her nine year old has already made two recipes and he's thrilled because he was able to make dinner for the entire family. Let me share with you my favorite recipe so far: Wait! I can't, because I have too many favorites. Well, here are some delicious hits with family and company: Ono Caramel Pecan Apples, Turkey Shepherd's Pie (mmm mmm mmm), Candied Acord Squash, Garlic Smashed Potatoes, Shrimp and Rotini in Wine Sauce, Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes, Fall Pumpkin Date Muffins, Poppy Seed Biscuits, Hawaiian Party Fruit Salad, Soda Pop Chicken, Sesame Walnut String Beans, Seafood Linguini Alfredo, Tangy Lemon Sorbet-- there are too many good ones to choose from.
Also, there are deeeelicious recipes from ten of Honolulu's favorite restaurants; I've made two so far-- An exotic Lilikoi Cheesecake, and the most scrumptious Blue Crab Cakes I have ever tasted. I have to say folks that I'm a tough audience and I rate this book a 10/10 because the recipes are easy to prepare, the nutrition information is soooo helpful and informative, the color pictures are beautiful, the binding lays flat so you can keep your place while following the recipe, and just look at the price! How can you beat that? Buy one for yourself and I promise you that you'll come back to Amazon.com and buy another for your best friend!

people should be reading this stuff, not the same old boring Plato/Homer stuff. This is the interesting stuff, the trickster who gets tricked and then tricks others. It's so valuable. And beautiful. And underrated.

Just like Beck's "Shamans & Kushtakas" this book is a great reference on Tlingit & Haida mythology. She does an excellent job in both books passing on the legends of old into the 21st century. I am a Haida indian and I think she did a wonderful job

Having grown up in Alaska, I've had much exposure to Native Alaskan culture and have always loved reading or hearing their folklore. This particular book is a great collection of Tlingit-Haida legends, each of which is a sort of "how things came to be this way" story. They explain why a certain clan took a particular crest, or how a legendary hero came to fame, etc. What I found especially interesting is the comparison with folklore from other cultures. Each story is accompanied by a short introduction in which the author shows us the parallels between these tales and similar ones in Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology. The stories are set down in clear, simple language, but are still vivid and engrossing. My one criticism of the book would be that it's too short. There are only nine legends included, and this makes for only a small sampling of Tlingit-Haida lore. I would have loved to see more. However, I will not knock any point off my rating for this. The fact that I wish it had gone on longer only attests to its overall quality. This is a terrific book, easy to read, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in native folklore.

Passengers used to look out the window and see "Slow to 90 MPH" signs! It's schedule still stands as the fastest scheduled run by a steam locomotive - in the world! It's design and implementation was the standard many countries are still trying to copy! We are talking about Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha, the 1930s-era streamliner, the Hiawatha. It's story is told in Jim Scribbin's treatis - 'The Hiawatha Story' by Kalmbach Publishing.

Scribbin's books clearly and factually tells birth of this legendary train, it's rise to fame and slow decline in liberally used photos and tightly written text. The best thing about it is that is does so with an entertaining mix of factual information, statistics and first-person accounts. If you have an interest in railroads - especially ones that regularly exceed 120mph, this book is a requirement for your library

Profusely illustrated with historic black-and-white photography, "The Hiawatha Story" by railroading enthusiast Jim Scribbins provides other railroading fans with an impressively informative pictorial history of the Midwestern railroad that ran from Chicago, Illinois to the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Beginning as a single experimental coach and evolving into a full fledge railroad fleet, the Hiawatha became a kind of railroading legend with its radical streamlined look and industrial design. From 1935 to 1970 the Hiawatha was an integral part of American railroading. A work of seminal scholarship and very highly recommended for academic library Railroading History reference collections, as well as engaging and entertaining reading for railroading enthusiasts, Jim Scribbin's "The Hiawatha Story" is an informed and informative account of those golden yesteryears of a truly great American fleet and system.

This is the paperback republication of Jim Scribbins' classic 1970 "The Hiawatha Story". A decade ago I was happy to obtain the original hardcover at many times the price of this new paperback. As the standard text on this subject, its republication is most welcome.

While the production of the new book is excellent, its wide format in paperback is a bit clumsy. It is simply too wide to hold and view comfortably sans solid backs. It also would have been nice to have included some color in the new book, but at this price it is not missed.

Through its many black and white photos and conversational text, "The Hiawatha Story" traces the history of these Milwaukee Road streamliners through their glory in the 1930s to the general fading of US passenger service in the 1960s. The reproduction of the photos and text is excellent, although there are a few repagination issues in the reprint, wherein the page numbers referred to in the original text no longer jibe with the 2007 version. The text is necessarily local; few railroad aficionados in the Rocky Mountains will be impressed with the scale of Tunnel City, Wisconsin, nor will the uninitiated find Milwaukee Road diesel number 15 particularly "famous". The reader may also be surprised at Scribbins continued use of "CONsist" as a noun. However, the pride of Milwaukee ownership of this history shines through Scribbins' text. This remains an excellent description of a slice of American railroad history, and is a must for any fan of the Milwaukee Road. It remains a far better book than the recent "The Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas" by Gruber and Solomon, or the error-filled "Milwaukee Road Passenger Service" by Dorin.

The story ends with its original 1970 publication date, immediately before the demise of Milwaukee Road passenger service and the advent of Amtrak. It would have been nice of the publishers to update and finish Scribbins story, and perhaps note that Amtrak continues to honor the Hiawatha history in its naming of its Milwaukee to Chicago service.

I recently picked up this book - Wow guide - North Cascades.

In addition to exploring the outdoors I seem to collect guide books and I have to say "Thanks! to the authors. The attention to detail and the writing from an actual experience of personally being there comes through.

This book just happens to cover the area I call my backyard. Having been on most of these trails, I can tell you that little advice like... "at 2.5 mi you might notice a faint trail beginning to countour right (northeast). Ignore it. It goes to....." really makes a difference.

I have been in the outdoor industry for most of my life, either in the field or behind the scenes helping others get out there. So I have an appreciation for accurate and grounded information.

Going to the North Cascades (America's Alps)? There are hundreds of miles of trails to choose from, and everyone has limited time to spend hiking. The authors take an opinionated approach about which hikes are the best - because they have the best views, get you up and out of the forest, and otherwise have a lot to offer. Most of the hikes are in Washington, in and around North Cascades National Park, but a few are in Canada.

I didn't know this book existed when I went up to the area, and I was surprised at how useful it was. I had a week to go hiking, and all of the hikes that I did from the book were spectacular. The authors make a great balance of telling you what to expect without giving the whole hike away. The book has amazing color photos for each hike, and simple maps, elevation gains, topo map suggestions, etc. Each hike review is separated into opinion and fact, which makes for easy reading.

I wish the authors could write books like this for all the major hiking areas of the country - it would have saved me a lot of not-so-memorable hikes. I look forward to their upcoming Utah hiking book. One thing to note is that most of the hikes are fairly serious endeavors, even the day hikes. If you also enjoy doing easier hikes, you will have to purchase another guidebook, or rely on park information.

Craig and Kathy have updated their opinionated prior work "Don't Waste Your Time in the North Cascades" and have done a spectacular job again. I wanted to wait to write this review until I had the opportunity to use the book during a recent extended backpacking trip to the North Cascades, and wasn't disappointed in the quality or accuracy of this guidebook and the opinions expressed by Craig and Kathy Copeland.

I agree with their approach. I flew 3,000 miles to backpack in the Glacier Peak Wilderness with my 23 year old son, and didn't want to have a second-rate experience of slogging through uninspiring stuff to get to the "WOW" stuff. So this book was a big plus.

It all depends on what you want. Yes, the entire wilderness is wonderful. Yes, it can be appreciated regardless of whether the scenery is spectacular. But spectacular makes me shiver with excitement, and while I don't mind working for it (and working hard, too!), I definitely want the WOW. If you want this type of mountain experience, then get this book.

By the way, I also purchased the MP3 on their website about bears which is a must download. Their thoughts on water purifying technology and trekking poles are also invaluable for those unfamiliar with such topics.

So, if you are planning a day trip or backpacking trip to one of the places the Copelands write about, and you want to maximize your experience...then buy their books and enjoy.