This is a collection of mostly oddball rides done by the author of several of Falcon Press' hiking guides. He seems to prefer too many long rides through the trees on washboardy forest service dirt roads without much of a mountain bike feel to them. You can do most of the rides in a car. There needs to be more attention to what mountain bikers really like . . . carving single track trail with varied surface over interesting terrain (i.e. some rough, some rocky, some steep, some smooth and some easy), views, cool destinations and more loop rides. Nice try for a first edition. However, the author is not really a mountain biker, just a hiker taking a stab at what he thinks mountain bikers would like. Ho-hum.

I've visited the Flagstaff area on a regular basis since 1980. We planned a 4-day, late-November vacation around several books ordered from Amazon.com. Only the Grubbs book arrived by the time we left Southern California. Off my 16-year-old son and I headed for Arizona with the book and our matching Specialized Stumpjumpers. We did 3 of the author's rides rides and found the book accurate as to location, distance, and intensity of the rides. For me, a roadie with limited mt. biking skills the book was outstanding. My son, a good racer, enjoyed the time also. We will be back to do more rides from Grubb's book.

I found myself becoming extremely sleepy while reading this book. Scott Frank's constant state of heroin-induced ennui, combined with his complete lack of humor, made for a very soporific read. An exception to this is his tale of transporting heroin across the Mexican border and his subsequent encounter with a good-ol'-boy customs guard, who, after inspecting the tracks on Scott's arms, decides to let him go anyway. A palpable sense of self-absorption emanates from his writings. It works pretty well as a period piece of the late seventies heroin scene. Recommended for those who really, really like to read about heroin.

Scott Frank was "a boy who only wanted to dream." Marihuana didn't do the job, so he tried heroin. After a couple of years living as a junkie in a Tucson transient hotel (the Geronimo), he gave it up; and, twenty years later, published this slim and beautiful book of essays.

Most of the heroin literature I've read goes from bad (morality plays) to worse (junkies who seem to get high mainly on their own coolness). _Tales_ does not pretend to be anything but a bunch of stories, but I found it taught me more than any of its didactic cousins. If you want to know why Coleridge was so fond of his laudanum, you need this book. If you're the parent of a bright and inquisitive adolescent, and you're looking for an honest and effective way to make sure your child never ever goes near this stuff, you need it even more. _Tales from the Geronimo_ will probably never make the Stanford freshman reading list, but it is a true classic.

This book is certainly fun to read, but don't get the idea that it will give you a complete history of Tombstone. Those who want that will need to look elsewhere. This book is no more than what its title says it is, perhaps a little less. It is chock full of old Epitaph articles on the more colorful occurrences in Tombstone's history. It was a decidedly partisan newspaper, and regrettably, the reader doesn't get to see the opposing articles from "The Nugget", which was the Epitaph's nemesis during the Earp-Clanton days. The book also ends rather abruptly without any attempt at summation.

Nevertheless, for light reading this book is very entertaining. I recommend it on that basis.

Using articles from the pages of Tombstone, Arizona's major newspaper, the Epitaph, and some pieces from a rival paper, author Martin paints a vivid picture of life in this booming mining "camp" as it is referred to. Besides plenty of bordellos and saloons to divert the hardworking miners, the affluent citizens of Tombstone enjoyed concerts, elaborate parties, and social events of various sorts. The exploits of some of the more colorful lawmen and outlaws (sometimes they were one and the same) of the Arizona territory were chronicled in the Epitaph's florid articles, and the much-recounted shootout at the OK corral is detailed (Epitaph writers went into almost clinical detail in describing gunshot wounds). The last part of the book covers a disastrous blaze in one of the mines that shut down mining and the town and then presents a series of exuberantly optimistic articles in which new investors and mining engineers restore mining activity by installing massive pumps to keep groundwater from invading the ore face. However, by 1908, the water had overwhelmed all efforts, and Tombstone camp ceased to produce ore once and for all. The book suffers some from the author's rather awkward writing, but the book is mostly taken directly from the pages of the Epitaph, and his selection of colorful and evocative prose by various Epitaph editors and reporters conveys the life and times of this vibrant community very well.

This book was helpful with listing all the things you need to take care of when someone dies, such as canceling subscriptions, etc. However, there were some errors. For example the book said you could not obtain death certificates by paying with a personal check. The book said they wouldn't give them to you until after the check had cashed. They recommended a cashiers check. This is not true they will accept a personal check and give you the death certificates right away. So while the book is helpful, it needs some updating.

"When Someone Dies in Arizona" is a uniquely organized book, written in layman's language. It is easy to skip all the sections that do not concern you and readily find the ones that do. The GUIDE POSTS and GLOSSARY are most helpful. There are many suggestions of what all needs to be done after a death. All this gives one the incentive to take care of organizing everything with complete written instructions on what to do, whom to call, and how to proceed to relieve the survivors of much of the headache afterwards. The book should be read "before someone dies in Arizona". I had a few questions that didn't get answered but realized that laws change frequently and to quote figures on rates or costs would not be real practical. One thing I have put in my list to survivors that I did not find in the book is "Cancel paper & magazine subscriptions, nursing home policies and pre-paid annual dues to get refunds". One thing not made clear to me in this book was what happens when the husband and wife have a daughter on their bank accounts. It made clear that it does not count towards probate, but does not make clear whether those accounts would be included in the estate tax.

I found this book from searching for books (and even government pamphlets) that are specific on rules of probate and estate taxes. I found none, thus this book proved to be a happy choice for a starting point.

I would recommend the book to every person in Arizona (or any state for that matter), for there are two things we can count on -- death and taxes, and this book covers it all.

I wanted a houseboating guide to Lake Powell. Although this book is full of detail about every inch of the lake, it is absolutely NOT user-friendly. The print is minute and the writing is atrocious. All of the maps are small and cluttered, and look as if they were done on somebody's home PC. All of the references are metric, which makes it extremely tedious to decipher. Although there is a metric conversion table at the begining, it was very frustrating to have to keep refering back to it. If you are looking for a basic, easy to follow guide, this is not the book for you! If I had picked it up in a book store and thumbed through it, I never would have bought it.

Overall this isn't a bad book. However, I do agree with other reviewers who feel it is difficult to use. Mr. Kelsey is an avid hiker and outdoorsman. The hikes in this book are all pretty intense and not for your average person. My major complaint about the book is that terrain at the beginning of most of the hikes up from the lake shore varies greatly depending on the water level. I know that this isn't Mr. Kelsey's fault and I certainly don't blame him, but he could give you a little warning. When we went (early May 2001) the water level was about 27 feet below full pool. At that point the beginning of some of his hikes may actually be 1/2 kilometer earlier than he states. In addition, getting to his starting point may be a whole lot more involved. (On one hike, it took us over an hour just to get to where he had the hike starting, due to low water level, lots of mud which was almost like quicksand and the need to hike up slickrock to get around all this).

We've used all 3 editions on 4 houseboat trips. From the descriptions of what to see, we decide on which canyons to visit. We use the detailed maps to navigate to the beach campsites. We use the trail descriptions to reach arches, waterfalls, petroglyphs, pictographs, ruins and narrow slot canyons. Things we used from the latest edition: new cost and time info on famous Antelope Canyon, more detailed directions on locating the petroglyphs in Llewellyn Gulch, and new info on upper West (slot) Canyon. I recommend this Guide to anyone boating on Lake Powell. Not recommended for extremists who want to drain the lake!

If you ever saw the classic 1960 English movie, "Village of the Damned," you could probably relate to this book in a different manner. As it stands, though, the Kaminskey's fall short in providing the chilling doomsday of the aforementioned children with the white eyes.
Instead we have twelve children released from a cult commune by their insane leader, Josiah Hummock. Once released, the complex is blown to smithereens and Hummock along with it. (Although don't miss an early reference that might provide a hint to the ending?). At any rate, FBI Nick Burrows and psychologist Sally Price try to get the kids out without any violence; when it does occur, Nick is blamed and sent to a field office in Tulsa. He also loses his globetrotting wife, and he hits the bottle! Nothing new, there, huh?
However, four years after the event, the children all disappear from their homes; two of them fake their deaths to lead them, and a deadly plan is set forth in motion.
While an interesting premise, the Kaminskey's fail to generate the chills or impending doom they obviously intended. The childrens' murders are predictable, although the poison in the doughnuts is a new one! Burrows and Price rush to convince everyone that the kids are plotting something, but no one believes them. Typical again.
This book, written in 1999, obviously hoped for a sequel, as the ending is another one of those, "never count out the bad guys" finales. Since no sequel has emerged since then, one can only feel a little cheated by the nasty ending. RECOMMENDED, BUT ONLY MARGINALLY.

I did enjoy this book a lot and it did keep me turning the pages.It has plenty of suspense and the story buildup is artfully handled.I would recommend this book .
I do have some problems with it though.
I know it is fiction and the authors can take whatever liberties they want with fiction, but if it is something that could have happened in real life or in this case , HAS happened in real life, I want a little realism to the story.
It really bugs me otherwise.
And there were parts of this story that were totally unrealistic and I found myself thinking that as I read it.

In real life the FBI would NEVER deal with a cult leader under siege as they did in this book. Dream on.
And I found something that was a huge part of the ending to be totally out there too.
I was shaking my head thinking that it would never happen in real life in this situation.

Maybe I'm just too nitpicky because I realize the book is fiction.

To sum up, it is a good suspense book with an interesting story.
If you like suspensful books or books in which cultic groups or non mainstream religions play a part, this is a book you'd probably enjoy.

I thought this book was very good. I really feel that this book gives a person a glimpse into the mind of a cult, and what happens when a person is brainwashed by the cult's leaders. I expected the children to get together again, but I did not expect some of the twists that happened at the end of the book.

I feel that this book is set up for a sequel in the future and I feel that this might even make a good movie. (Perhaps cast David Duchovny as agent Barrows, and Christina Ricci as Mary Hummock.)

Read this book!

I could hear the author thinking this to herself as I waded through the mire that is Sunset over Chocolate Mountains. Let's see: fat people, trailers, abandonment issues, rape, men unable to commit to relationships, pointless violence, mysterious foreigners, Oedipal relationships, political repression, death, mental disfunction, drunkards, out of wedlock pregnancy, ice cream and shoes. Oh, and men that drink their own urine. Sounds like a month's worth of talk-show topics. None of the characters were remotely attractive or likeable (with one small peripheral exception who flees the disfunction, much as I wished I could.) Alas, it was my book club's selection of the month, so I struggled onward -- only to find that half abandoned the book in disgust. Books like these are why God created libraries: if only I had borrowed instead of wasting hard earned cash.

Yes the prose about the desert was lovely but a story has to be much more and I am not sure what the point of this was. A lot of long pointless descriptions of Theobold Moons daily ablutions do not fine literature make. A story of unusual people who's lives cross over to what end?--the so-called enigmatic ending was more like the publisher lost the last chapters. All through this book I kept asking is this supposed to be a story or pieces of a puzzle which add to nothing. Yes, we solve the mystery, as if it wasn't obvious...and now. And now???

This is simply a wonderful book. I found myself quietly smiling during most of it just from the sheer pleasure of reading it. I actually had to slow myself down from reading it too quickly so I could savor the story.

For once, all of the descriptions quoted on the back cover are accurate; heartbreaking, quirky, marvelous, impressive.

The scenes in the desert were so engaging that I resented the switch to the cold hills of Slovakia, and then got so caught up in that setting that I didn't want to go back to the desert.

I though this was just going to be a light story of a comically absurd character. But I was surprised by the level of human drama that enfolds as the story develops. The ending was surprising and dramatic. I thought that the characters were well realized if maybe a little overdrawn. It left me satisfied but wanting more.

This is not high literature and won't be studied by students of the same, but it was a much more engaging book than many other attempts at combining comic drama and absurdity.

I thought that "S" was a strange book - a novel in which Updike experiments with a different (for him) format. "S" is comprised of a series of letters, mostly from and to Sarah Worth ("S"), and the transcripts of taped conversations.

Sarah Worth leaves her husband to join an ashram in Arizona, ostensibly to to find a new meaning to her life (or a better way of living). However, Sarah's past life, habits, and ways of thought prove difficult to shake off. The members of the ashram do not live up to their billing. Things begin to deteriorate rapidly.

"S" is a deeply acerbic satire. Little escapes Updike's criticism: the ashram; those Americans and Europeans who form the ashram's membership; the leaders of the ashram; the forces of conservatism that oppose the ashram; and the middle-class American female as exemplified by Sarah Worth. But I felt that Updike was moving beyond satire or comedy into contempt - as if to say that he washed his hands of the whole self-indulgent and hypocritical lot.

Another difficulty I found with "S" was that it was very predictable. There's not much in the plot to surprise, not much that you feel you haven't seen or read somewhere before. But the main problem was Updike's apparent unease with this style of epistolatory writing. At best it creaks along, only to fall apart with Updike resorting to inserted "taped conversations". As a result, it felt very contrived.

Updike has written far better novels than this.

G Rodgers

Ever since Rabbit, Run, Updike has been attracted to the idea of writing a story that feels as if it is actually happening while it is being read - rather than, as is almost inherent in the form of the novel, communicating an impression of recorded history. By way of attempting to put the idea into practice, Updike has both experimented with present-tense narration (see Leaf Season in Trust Me) and - in S. - given us his take on the venerable (if not antiquated) genre of the epistolary novel. From this point of view the fact that S. is made up solely of letters is an attractive feature of the book: one's sense of anticipation (how will events unfold?) is indeed sharpened. What makes the epistolary form work in this novel is the naturally loquacious and confiding disposition of the protagonist and author of the letters, Sarah Worth (or 'S' as she signs herself to her husband).

Sarah has in fact left her husband and gone to join a religious commune in Arizona. Through her dispatches to various friends, family and acquaintances we follow the fortunes of the community and her role within it through to its surprising (?) conclusion.

The novel has been criticised for its satirical presentation of Buddhism, yoga, etc. in the context of commune life. I'm not sure Updike would accept the charge. In fact I found quite a lot of fair-mindedness in the book - it actually left me with an improved rather than diminished opinion of what Eastern ideas are actually aspiring to - although I don't think Updike can excuse himself from drawing on certain stereotypes. But this is essentially a light, comic novel - although I don't see why it necessarily had to be - and probably shouldn't be taken too seriously.

What I missed most was Updike's typically well-observed dialogue, which in this case is mostly paraphrased in retrospect by the narrator. I had a similar problem with A Month of Sundays, in some ways this book's companion volume. Updike may also have found himself missing this type of writing since half-way through he suspends the strict rules of the epistolary genre and has Sarah include a cassette recording of some tapped conversation in with one of her dispatches. This moment was a welcome relief from her up-till-then uninterrupted monologues, but its breaking the rules of the genre made me wonder about the point of the form in the first place.

Overall he's done it very well, of course, as he does almost everything very well, but I doubt he'll revisit the experiment.

S. is the story of Sarah Worth, a New England matron who flees the confines of midcentury feminine affluence to seek spiritual (and sexual) enlightenment in a religious commune. She chronicles her adventure in letters to her best friend, daughter, and estranged husband, as well as short notes to her former dentist and hairdresser, tapes of conversations with the commune's leader, and a selection of the letters she writes on behalf of the commune's business office. The story unfolds briskly and subtely, with Updike employing his satirical skill to show a woman who, in leaving her life behind, manages to take it all with her.

A benefit of the letter format is that it allows a full exploration of the narrator's voice, to excellent effect. It also suppresses Updike's tendency to rely too heavily on his (excellent) descriptive language and instroduces an element of suspense that makes the story quite absorbing.

S. has been criticized by other reviewers for its perceived mockery of Eastern religions, but I don't think this is intended. Updike has obviously done extensive research - if not into Eastern religions themselves, then at least into their Western offshoots - and presents the characters with what, for him, is considerable sympathy. Of course he mocks the narrator's blind devotion to the commune - that's part of what the book is about - but he's mocking the misdirection of her efforts, not the ideals to which she aspires.

The one element of the book that frustrated me was Updike's treatment of his narrator. Sure, it's fun to read a book about an arrogant and slightly hysterical woman who is always just slightly out of her league - a Bridget Jones for our mothers' generation. But it would perhaps be more interesting to watch a character really grow through the course of the novel and transcend, or at least recognize, her own bias. Of course that kind of revelatory change would be anathema to Updike, whose thesis - popping up, appropriately, in book after book - seems to be that life is a cycle, endlessly revolving, lush with beauty and without escape. And this book is - first and foremost, like all his books - Updike.

The combination of the authors' perspectives, the subject matter and its historical perspective, and the eyewitness accounts were
very interesting and moving.

The book has drama, history, and personality......a rare combination!

What a wonderful experience! Reading this book was like being drawn into the living room to sit around the fireplace with the authors and survivors to hear their stories. Crying, feeling, hearing for the first time, learning, and even a laugh or two with my newfound treasury of friends. How refreshing it is to hear the stories told by those who were there as they remember it. I write this as someone who knows nothing about tactics or war and wasn't even a glimmer in my mother's eye at the time, as she was only a few months old at the time. I've tried to read those books with "true historical accuracy" yet got only a distant sterile factual (and boring) understanding. This book has brought the Arizona alive to me. The Arizona is not just a sunken ship. The Arizona is a living breathing bleeding screaming crying brave and courageous part of who we are as Americans. If I may be so bold as to embrace the men and their families as my own. We, Americans, are who we are because these men and their families have deeply empacted their corner of the world, which has become ours. Thank you survivors, authors, publisher, you have awakened an important part of my history in me. Now to live in a way that honors their memory.
review by: The Rev. Pam Feeser

One reviewer commented on the accuracy of this book - "I found this book written on a very basic level, with well known facts wrong (i.e. on Dec 7 people were 'watching the Dodgers play the Giants in late season football'. I always thought the Dodgers were a baseball team."

I checked this out, there was also a NY Dodgers FOOTBALL Team in the NFL in the 1930s and early 1940s. On December 7th, 1941, they were playing football against the NY Giants in New York City. There is a famous radio broadcast on CBS of this game as the announcer had to break in to announce that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.

The title suggested that this would be a action based expose of a dynamic law enforcer. Instead it turned out to be a book about prison policy. The writer is apparently a sheriff and they have some control over local jails.

Most of the book is a description of how the author wanted to keep more people in jail but he had a shrinking corrections budget. He basically set up a concentration camp for low level offenders. (More serious offenders appear to have been kept in a normal jail)

The author has purchased a series of tents and set up a wired perimeter. Around this he has a few guards, enough to keep people in but not the normal number you would have in a prison. To complete the economy measures he has reduced the amount of money spent on food. The average cost of meal provision is 30cents. To be able to have such cheap food the author has to purchase food that is not for sale on the normal market. Meat sausage that has turned green and the like.

The writer has then spent most of his time showing news reporters from current affairs shows around his new prison.

All of this could only happen in America. Some of the book is humerous in a bizarre way. Thus the author restricted the types of films available to prisoners. He for instance was keen for them to see promotional material for conservative politicans. He allowed the prisoners to see one "drama" a corny old film called "Old Yella". This film is about a loyal dog which dies in the end role. The author was of a view that this was a touching and moving film. The prisoners however thought that the film was so bad they cheered when the dog died. The author to pay them back banned all "drama's". I'm a bit with the prisoners on this issue.

The author basically seems to be a person keen on publicity and is willing to use the vulnerable, prisoners in his care to achieve his ends.

If you want to read the story behind the U.S. Sheriff with the highest approval rating, then this is the book for you. A man that has made being in jail exactly what it should be, a punishment, not a country club with cable t.v and nautilus. Sheriff Joe has sent out a clear and concise message, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime" The Law abiding citizens of America salute you!

This book takes a hard look at the criminal justice system in America and makes honest and realistic assesments. It offers proven solutions to the problems faced by law enforcement agencies nationwide. It is well known that people of the liberal persuesion dislike Sherrif Joe Arpaio, but the PEOPLE of Arizona have given him the highest approval rating of any law enforcement official in the country. This speaks for itself.