Sacramento State Books

Great book for getting outdoors. Taken 4 trails since the book arrived and the author described the trails perfectly. Buy the book and take a hike taday. Recommended!

Great book! Well written and accurate descriptions of the trails. Highly recommended for anyone looking to hike in the Sacramento valley - even those with kids and/or pets.

Any who would explore the valleys or mountains of California's state capital region must have TOP TRAILS SACRAMENTO: MUST-DO HIKES FOR EVERYONE in their collection. It covers opportunities both urban and rural and joins others in the 'must do' trips series, comes from a Sacramento resident and hiker, and reveals both major routes and lesser-known regions. With its trail feature charts documenting wildlife, scenic vistas and trails and its details on weekend getaways and maps, TOP TRAILS SACRAMENTO offers up key getaways for all and is a top pick for any California library, especially those closer to Sacramento.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The details in this book helped me find some hidden natural gems just an hour or so from my home in the busy suburbs, and provided much interesting historical, geological and biological background to enrich the experience. Clear directions and trail descriptions made planning and navigating much easier. The amateur photos that I took on these hikes are like postcards - mountains, hills, streams, flowers, and incredible trees. The natural beauty and grandeur that I encountered on these hikes got me through some troubled times, and provided soothing reminders that nature's beautiful rhythms still go on despite our best efforts to interfere with them. I'm giving this book as a gift to all my central CA nature-loving friends.

I've used many hiking books over the years, but Steve Evans' Top Trails Sacramento is by far the most user friendly. The book gives you good directions to each trailhead and a realisitic assessment of difficulty. Best of all, you feel like you have the author along with you, pointing out interesting tidbits and things to watch for along the way. The maps and trail directions are also easy to follow.

If a silly picture of a gust of wind blowing down Main Street doesn't do anything for you, you've never read "Yo, Sacramento!" It should remind you that Augusta is the capital of Maine. The whole book is a marvelous mix of funny mnemonic cartoons with interesting facts about the states and capitals. My eight year old daughter loves this book and its companion, "Yo, Millard Filmore!"; she memorized the Presidents in a few minutes and the states/capitals in a couple days. And although I hate to admit that I couldn't remember them from my school days, the books helped me learn them too. (I don't know about the "never forget" part, but it does stick with you, and it's easy to pick back up.) When we showed these books to my family, my niece (the daughter of a social studies teacher) even told me she thought it was too easy; it must be cheating somehow to learn them this way!

I have to say, however, I prefer the Millard Filmore book to the Sacramento one, primarily because 'Millard' is designed as a series -- an element from each picture is carried into the next in order to reinforce the historical sequence. This not only teaches the sequence, but it helped me with the actual memorization -- I know I haven't left any presidents out. 'Sacramento' is a group of unconnected pictures, which may connect the capitals to their states -- and generally link the states with their geographic region, but doesn't guarantee you have all the states. ("Oops! I only counted 47! Which ones did I leave out?") If I could wish for anything besides additional titles in this series, it would be that 'Sacramento' could be rewritten to link the states together from east to west or alphabetically or even in order of admission to the union, so you end up with all 50 states in your brain.

I bought this for my 3-1/2 year-old son, who has an interest in the United States (thanks to "The Scrambled States Of America"). He really enjoys this book! I must say that I've picked up quite a bit of information myself.

Yo, Sacramento! is a humorous incentive to learn the capitals for every state. The word pictures which aid memory recall are sure to prompt hearty laughter. The fast-paced writing style is an added bonus. One can laugh, learn facts, and have state capitals memorized in under 30 minutes!

I teach school and used the illustrations and catchy phrases to help students learn the states and capitals. It really works! have older students and they need to learn countries and capitals. I would love to see Will Cleveland & Mike Alvarez team up again and write a book to help us memorize these (but maybe not in 20 minutes)!

This book really helps a child or an adult to memorize states and capitals within 20 minutes. I have never come across any program so precise. My kids really enjoy learning with the picture and word association method used in the book. This book should be used in all schools around the world.

I've been waiting YEARS for this book to get reprinted. Like other Junior League cookbooks from across the country, each recipe has been tested (and tested) so you know they're good.

Not only do you get fantastic recipes that you know will be a hit at your next party or family gathering, you're also helping further the cause of an organization that has done amazing work in the community.

This book is fantastic. Not only are the recipes delicious, but beautifully illustrated and presented in the book. However, I just priced the book locally and found it $3-5 cheaper than Amazon.com

You don't have live in Sacramento to enjoy "Sacramento Street Whys: The Whys Guy's Wise Guide to Sacramento Street Names." This book is, first of all, a fast, fun, entertaining read.

It doesn't hurt that Alcala is The Sacramento Bee's most lively and entertaining columnist, and a very good researcher.

I grew up in Sacramento and always wondered why and how streets got their names. Thanks to this book, I see that the streets were named for a fascinating mix of pioneers (Sutter, Folsom), early farmers, ranchers, developers, trees, flowers, children, inventors, and fantasies (Klingon Court).

The book also explores deeper mysteries, like why Sacramento has no "Z" Street, and the origins of Dead Cat Alley.

Each entry is well-supported by research, and when research results in vague or ambiguous conclusions, Alcala tells you so.

The book covers over 400 streets, and has an index. You can read it once for pleasure and come back to it as a reference.

Have you ever been driving down a street and wondered
what the connection was between the street name and
the street itself. Well, folks, look no further than
this wonderful book 'Sacramento Street Whys:The Whys
Guy's Wise Guide to Sacramento Street Names'. Carlos
Alcala is a master when it comes to the written "Word",
and utilizes them handily when describing the history
behind the names of various streets. His book definitely
contains no 'deadends'.

'Sacramento Street Whys' not only informs one about
Sacramento's city's street names, but also entices one
to learn more about the origins of city's rich history.
In fact, this would be great read for young adults who've
just received their driver's licenses. Maybe if they
became more interested in the origins of the streets
on which they live, it would encourage them to get
out and explore, rather than remain sedentary at their
computers or televisions playing video games. I would
highly recommend this book to all who enjoy a great drive.

The waters of the Sacramento Valley teem with sturgeon, salmon, bass, steelhead, crappie, bluegill, and more, to offer the dedicated angler a great variety of fish. The "Sacramento Valley Fishing Paradise" by expert angler Ray Rychnovsky is a detailed and thoroughly "user friendly" guide to the Sacramento River and all of its tributaries and lakes up to an elevation of 2000 feet above sea level. Anglers will learn when, where, and how to catch each major game fish anywhere in the valley. Enhanced with historical points of interest, advice for "best fishing" by the month, by location, and by the species, Sacramento Valley Fishing Paradise is especially recommended for anyone planning a fishing trip to the waters of the Sacramento Valley.

The waters of the Sacramento Valley teem with sturgeon, salmon, bass, steelhead, crappie, bluegill, and more, to offer the dedicated angler a great variety of fish. The "Sacramento Valley Fishing Paradise" by expert angler Ray Rychnovsky is a detailed and thoroughly "user friendly" guide to the Sacramento River and all of its tributaries and lakes up to an elevation of 2000 feet above sea level. Anglers will learn when, where, and how to catch each major game fish anywhere in the valley. Enhanced with historical points of interest, advice for "best fishing" by the month, by location, and by the species, Sacramento Valley Fishing Paradise is especially recommended for anyone planning a fishing trip to the waters of the Sacramento Valley.

I first read this book a few years ago while I was up camping and flyfishing the Upper Sacramento and McCloud Rivers. From the start I enjoyed the excellent writing and tone of the book. But at night, under the starlit Mt. Shasta sky, reading the history of the waters and area I was fishing truly deepened the experience. This book describes the history of the land, the waters, the people who have made this area home, the wildlife, and gives great advice for fishing. I had the pleasure of fishing with Craig a few years ago, and he is a great guy, a great storyteller and a fisherman who truly knows and loves this beautiful area of the world. Read this book if you've never been to Mt. Shasta, but more important, go and enjoy this wonderful area.

I find this book astonishing in it's detail and breadth of focus. I heartily recommend it to anyone with any interest in California, social history, natural history, and wild trout. Enjoy!

Carolyn has done a fine job of presenting a fun story of a very interesting man. The book includes some good historical info about Zachary and other bearded men including newspaper advertisements, legal documents and some great photos. Great fun for those with facial hair and those who appreciate the same.

I own the 2002 edition, moved to Sacramento from Missouri. A must have for people moving to an unfamiliar area. Chock-full of statistics and prose summaries of neighborhoods, services, schools, real estate, etc. A rare find.

You know that inexplicable sense of mood about times past that can sometimes come upon us unaware? Maybe a scent from a perfume forgotten, or the flavor of chewing gun not chewed for decades, or a song from a gone by era will trigger it. As I was perusing this fine collection of black and white photos of early Sacramento I was touched again and again with that inexplicable mood that comes from the remembrance of things past.

For Marcel Proust it was the taste of madeleine cake soaked in lime flowers that aroused the memories and evoked the delicious sense of mood. For many of us something similar happens when we look back at photos of what life was like many decades ago.

I grew up in California--although not in Sacramento. Nonetheless the photos showing Kress's and the Owl Drug Store and a theater marquee announcing the showing of a new Shirley Temple or Joan Fontaine picture show as seen in this book are not different from what I recall on the streets of Long Beach or Los Angeles where I grew up. The men in their fedoras and the women with scarves covering their hair bring back a time and way of life that I knew as a kid. The Armistice Day parades with the bands and the soldiers marching past Florshein's shoe store or Montgomery Ward's are nearly the same in Sacramento as in L.A.

There's one photo per page, 199 in all, the earliest showing the Central Pacific Depot in downtown Sacramento, ca. 1880, and the latest showing Spiro Agnew speaking (with Governor Ronald Reagan watching) on the Capitol steps in 1969. There are photos of fires and flooded streets, and muddy streets and dusty streets and even a pretend train wreck at the state fair in 1917 (p. 65). We see the evolution of transportation from horses and stage coaches to steam engine railroad trains to diesels and the electric red cars of my childhood, and also from model Ts and coupes to the finned sedans of the fifties. The billboards of the times and the signs on the sides of buildings tell us that you could get a room for fifty cents and then a dollar or two a night. We can see ice trucks and brewery wagons with barrels of beer pulled by horses. I was amused to see that the Western Hotel at 3rd and K streets, ca. 1931, offered nightly rates from 35 cents to a dollar and up, along with "Rummy in our large clean card room." "E. E. Todd, prop.," also advised that rummy checks could be "cashed for rooms or merchandise." (p. 107)

The book is beautifully presented with a handsome glossy dust jacket with the photos on heavy, expensive paper, held together with a sturdy binding. All of the photos are from the Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center, and the crisp text and captions are by James Scott and Tom Tolley.

Dan Flynn has captured the true essence of one of California's least appreciated and most misunderstood of California cities. His guide is really packed with some hidden gems about the capitol city. I think any visitor or resident who be advised to get a copy of Flynn's book before setting out to see the Camellia City. As a staffer at the capitol, I think he is privvy to all of those secret spots politicians of any state capitol discover. Can't wait until he reviews the state buildings' cafeterias.