....in an effortless-feeling blend of clearly explained scientific information about Californian plants and animals and some of the mythological stories attached to them. The book does just what the title implies: marries science and mythology, and in a style always lucid and often poetic.

Two corrections to recommend:

1. None of the California missions were founded by Jesuits. (Baja is different, however.)
2. California was probably not named per the Cali Fornax theory; recent scholarship traces the name to Queen Calafia and her island California in Garcia Montalvo's novel THE EXPLOITS OF ESPLANDIAN.

If you are the author and are reading this: please e-mail me and let me know if you plan on writing, or have written, other books--I found this one informative and enjoyable.

Although this book contains some extremely helpful information on climbing in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado, this homage to Mr. D'Antonio's ego is, at best, painful to read. Mr. D'Antonio's pioneering climbing in this area undoubtedly opened a premier sport climbing region for the benefit of hundreds, if not thousands of climbers. Nonetheless, the qualitative descriptions of the climbs oddly coincide with routes that the author himself developed. The density of self-congratulatory comments becomes choking as one continues to peruse the enclosed information. Climbers visiting the area will buy this book because it contains the best information on the area (it does lack some routes that have been up for a while, but blatantly ignored by the author, a good example being the routes to the right of Mysterious Redhead in Penitente Canyon), but as the day goes on, one may find themselves as exhausted by the insipid writing as the climbing in this gorgeous climbing region.

O'Brien, the self-proclaimed "renowned ufologist", was incomprehensibly given a second book contract from the geniuses at St. Martins Press after his first tour-de-force, Mysterious Valley.

Apparently having run out of UFO and cattle mutilation stories, O'Brien's second book is a rambling, poorly written discourse on such inane topics as devil sightings, teleporting nuns, self-flagellating religious zealots, cannibalism, hollow-earth stories and appearances of leprechauns.

Don't even think about descending to his level in regard to this book.

Chris O'Brien is intensely intuitive, believably skeptical, and genuinely honest in his new book. But has he been abducted, or brainwashed, or threatened by the govornment? Only you can decide when you read this convoluted, disjointed, and baffling narrative of experiences in the San Luis Valley.

The subject is well researched and presented in a format that draws the reader in. We are presented with reports which are reviewed in an open ended style. The author says something "wonderfull and mysterious is happening" in the region. I'm not sure if I agree that cattle and possible human mutilations are "wonderful" events, but the subject matter cannot be ignored. Compelling enugh to have persuaded a trio of us to plan a trip and "Enter The Valley" this summer for ourselves. Dan