For those who enjoy digging in the dirt or simply admiring gardens, Amy Stewart's From the Ground Up is a charming read. The book offers many practical tips but its appeal is more than a "how to" manual. The reader shares Ms. Stewart's excitement in planting her first flowers and veggies in the ocean climate of Santa Cruz, CA, discovering the hard way what really works. The author shops for soil amendments and ladybugs the way some women revel in a Saks Fifth Avenue sale. Recipes using garden bounty pepper the narrative. The mood is like a cozy chat between friends. All this unfolds against a backdrop of a roller coaster next door, tourists stealing plants and cats gamboling in the greenery. Curl up in a comfy chair in a pleasant spot and enjoy the gardening expoeriences of Ms. Stewart from dreamer to doer.

Amy Stewart captures the essence of gardening and living in Santa Cruz, CA. This is a gentle and graceful book that will make you want to run to your local garden center and buy everything, then go home and spend the whole weekend getting dirty. You will greatly enjoy this book regardless of the size or state of your garden or yard. A wonderful read, very well written, almost poetic at times...you will love it.

As I read From the Ground Up I felt torn between the desire to rush out and start gardening and the equally compelling desire to stay in my chair and continue reading.

Amy Stewart makes gardening come alive and she makes reading about gardening fun, both for real gardeners, and non-gardners, like me. I was reminded of Calvin Trillen's, Alice Lets Eat. Trillen made me yearn to join him in the search for the perfect fish boil. Stewart makes you want to be down in the dirt with her digging, laughing and learning.

I would highly recommned the book to anyone who enjoys clever and skilled writing. The fact that the book is crammed with gardening information becomes the icing on the cake. The cake is the writing and the world it lets you enter.

Carter Allen's photo documentary is excellent. It renews our faith in the true existence of the American cowboy, working and living not too differently than his predecessors did in the early days of the West. The depth of tradition captured in these photographs and verbalized in Dodie Allen's brief biographies makes us pause to say a little prayer that this endangered species and way of life, too, can be preserved.

The photographs of Carter Allen are so sensitive and life-like, you feel right away a friendship with the people who are further made real through the easy-to-read and warm portrayal offered by Dodie Allen. The "cowboys" are an important part of our nations history and still play an important role in todays culture. They should never be forgotten and this book helps us realize that. It's a book the whole family can enjoy and share. It acts as a catalyst to learn more about the cowboys...past and present. I highly recommend it. JeriMcDonald

The photography is exquisite, capturing not only the beauty of the landscape in Santa Cruz County, but the "beauty of the landscape" in the faces of the "cowboys/cowgirls" that are truly a part of the land. The photography is enhanced through the short prose about each subject, adding the depth and color to create a 3-dimensional view of characters that thrived in a time that is quickly vanishing from our culture--true American icons. I have visited the Santa Cruz County area, and much of Arizona, and found this book provides insight to the "cowboy" lifestyle, with beautiful reminders of things I have been fortunate enough to see. I have given this book as gifts to others, some who have been to Arizona, and others who have not--the all have loved the "experience" of being there as they've read their books. "Gooch", "Cotton" and Kate have become quick favorites, and the "Huachuca Cowboys" represent a lifestyle that some of us surely long for. . .

This is one book that deserves all five stars! Mr. Colin White knows his subject well. Even great heroes such as Nelson had downfalls as we all do. Mr. White brings out the long ordeal that Nelson suffered after the loss of his arm and his ability to "bounce" back once his infected stump was healed & showes the humour that Nelson & his family used to overcome the tragidy. It reads so well I finished it in a couple of days. Mr White highlights information that isn't in other books on Nelson. Excellent work, Mr White.

Admiral Lord Nelson plays such a central role in British naval lore that any decent library - including those here in the USA - will have a good amount of shelf space dedicated to his career, his personality and his world. To presume to add more to an already worthy pile of volumes requires that an author has new information, takes a new focus or has something otherwise fresh and vivid to say about the man. Colin White, a Director of the Royal Navy's own museum that lies alongside Nelson's HMS Victory at Portsmouth, stylishly accomplishes all of these aims in his new book.

Already a Nelson scholar of some repute, White makes extensive use of newly discovered documents, and of course well-tested older sources, to take the reader closer to 'Nelson the man' than ever before. By concentrating on Nelson as a fully-formed senior commander, now on the very cusp of greatness if only he can find and seize an opportunity, White produces a relatively short, intensely readable work that nobly resists the common temptation to spend an introductory 75-pages re-hashing well-known anecdotes of his hero's early life and career. White cuts straight to the chase yet has a style of presentation that in no way would leave the Nelson novice floundering: the great man is seen in full, but not at inordinate length!

In short, this book - even with its single-year focus - would make an admirable first port of call for readers who know something of Nelson's general fame - perhaps from the great naval fiction writers such as Patrick O'Brian or C.S. Forester - but do not necessarily fully appreciate 'what all the fuss is about'. Readers wanting more depth will appreciate both the new material and the clarity and intelligence with which it is integrated into the known record. From growing up in an English naval family, I thought I already knew quite a lot about Nelson - now I can't wait to know from White 'what happened next'!

A professional review I read of this book says that it "reads like a Patrick O'Brian novel". I would echo that. Mr White tells the familiar story of Nelson at the battles of St Vincent and Teneriffe in a new and exciting way that really brings the events to life. It is always easy to visualize the scene he is describing and his abundant use of pictures (many of them never published before) helps with this.

He has also done a lot of scholarly research into original sources, many of them only recently discoved. As a result, his view of the battles, and Nelson's role in them, is very different to the traditional one in the older books. He makes it easy for the reader to follow all these new insights, by explaining them in special 'boxes;' so as not to interrupt the flow of the main narrative.

This is without doubt one of those books that changes our idea of great events. If you are at all interested in Nelson, get it!

The Conde de Jaruco, as the author is known, was an avid compiler of the histories of Cuban families. Though this volume, as well as the other nine of this series, concentrates on the elite and upper-class families, it is an invaluable resource for the historian and genealogist. For each family mentioned, the author provides a short history about their origins. He then provides a genealogy of the family in Cuba. For each generation he gives the names of the parents, their children, and sometimes the spouses and their children. At various times several generations of each branch are given. Though many times the dates on which various events occurred are not included, by careful reading they may be deduced. Anyone working on their Cuban genealogy or the history of important Cuban families would do well to have the entire ten volume collection of Historia de Familias Cubanas in their personal libraries.

I was surprised to learn that I am a direct descendant of Queen Joan the Mad of Castile! Duy the darn book already, smelly!

There is no other guidebook focusing on the coastal mountains immediately south of the city of San Francisco, a rich mosaic of open-space preserves. Taber's diligent research and love of the area make this an essential reference

This is a great book for people living (or intending to visit) the bay area, who like to go hike, bike, picnic and camp.

I've bought several books in the past, but this one covers a lot more of the trails in the area and with better detail. It tells you if trails are open to bikes and/or horses, talks about the camping facilities, details how long a walk you will have and the types of things you can expect to see out there.

There are also little sections on the local history, how the geology stuff works and many more useful snippets of info.

Definately the best book I've found for picking places to go walk, but then, it is somewhat targetted to the area where I live.

I found this book extremely helpful while writing my report on earthquakes. Being one of the survivors of this earthquake, I found this book to be something to remember it by. It's great to flip through the pages and look at the pictures and say, "Hey! I know where that is!" I recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject.

Eric Hammel's CARRIER STRIKE The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, should be the definitive work on this, the last of the 4 major carrier battles of WWII. As the second of two volumes about the Guadalcanal/Eastern Solomons campaigns, CARRIER STRIKE carefully details the action in well researched form. In an almost minute-by-minute account, the clash of the two carrier task forces on Oct 26,1942 will leave you breathless. A fitting tribute to the brave warriors who gave their lives for the cause. A superb book, and a must have for those studying the campaigns in the Southern Pacific.

This is an excellent and complete flora of the island that also can be used as a reference for plants in the area. It is a beautiful and interesting book that shows careful preparation.

Ghost Towns Of The Santa Cruz Mountains is a human and cultural history of the region covers the California mountains from 1850 to the middle of this century, examining the lives of early settlers in a lively manner which reads like newspaper stories. Individual chapters cover various aspects of mining and logging, the rough living conditions, and is well written treatise that will appeal to anyone with an interest in regional California history and culture.

"Crum endows Gail with an endearing love of animals, a warm appreciation of the western landscape and an affable boyfriend who lets her call the shots. Including a thrilling cinematic chase scene on horseback, it all adds up to a satisfying mystery with lots of heart." Publishers Weekly "As usual, the pace is brisk; the reader becomes involved early on and travels at a high lope throughout. Crum obviously knows the equine industry and it shows." Western Horseman