Gardening In The Coastal South by Master Gardener, educator and journalist Marie Harrison (Director of District I of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs) offers an impressive and practical collection of advice, tips, musings, and reflections written for the benefit of neophyte and seasoned gardeners alike. Tips and techniques for growing Popular Perennials, bulbs, tubers, herbs, shrubs, small trees, vines, and more, are discussed, as well as climate issues to be aware of along the coastal south, as well as regional environmental issues and personal insights from the author. A relaxing and engaging guide for those who love to garden, or who simply love to read about gardening, Gardening In The Coast South is a superb reference and a highly recommended regional gardening guide.

If you are a southern by birth, this book will delight you with memories of the old days. You will rejoice at the memories that surface while reading this conversational style presentation.
If you are new to the South, prepare yourself to encounter a friend and expert in the pleasures of gardening.

If more writing could be done by people like Marie, who have had their hands in the soil, we could more easily enjoy our flora and fauna. What a style!!!!

I have this book because I know this lady's passion for gardening! Even though I live outside the Zone 8, I find this book to be extremely useful for my Zone 7 garden. In building a new home, her book is a "book of choice" in giving information that will help me garden more successfully.

I loved Marie Harrison's story-telling style. I enjoyed the tales of her family and how these experiences influenced her outlook on gardening and life in general.

I give it a thumbs up!

Nigel has great credibility and this book adds to this. His approach to writing about the stuff cruisers need to know is clean, clear and spare. The illustrations are good. The index is outstanding.
This book is a great add-on for those who already have his earlier maintenance book

Ordinarily,I would not get too excited about another new cruising book,even one by so eminent an author as Calder, whose previous work: Boatowner's Mechanical And Electrical Manual, has become an icon on both sides of the pond. While the cruising genre is a particular favorite of mine, recent offerings seem to have grown a bit redundant for those of us striving to keep abreast of the field.

This book of Calder's is a whole new ball game.

First of all: It's a very big book both physically, and in terms of it's diverse subject matter. At just under six hundred pages in an 8 ½ x 11inch format, it is not something I would refer to as a "handbook" unless speaking to a gorilla. The word "encyclopedic" springs to mind, as it is truly monumental in scope and execution...

McGraw-Hill did a commendable job of putting it all together. It looks like it might last, even in the marine environment where it will most assuredly find a home. It features a water resistant cover and flexible spine, designed to lie flat when opened, a wonderful feature on a pitching chart table, far at sea, where information is scarce and time of the essence.

It covers nearly everything. It covers it in exquisite detail. It covers it in a manner anyone can understand. There are chapters relating to most any conceivable contingency a cruiser might run in to, from boat selection, equipage, and maintenance, to the more esoteric areas of daily life on a cruising sailboat (and much more than I wanted to know about navigational history).

Calder remains the quintessential "systems" man and his section on surveying a prospective purchase, with it's attendant checklist, is, alone, worth the price of the book. The section on weather and prediction should be required reading for every television forecaster in the country. There are up to date chapters on shipboard health, and disease prevention criteria for every sector of the world. Nearly every page is clearly illustrated, and at the end of each technical chapter a "worksheet" so that you may evaluate your own vessel or system. Here is a man not afraid to infuse his material with the very latest in technological know how, even though it may at some point appear dated. For the mathematically inclined there are charts, graphs and formulas enough to satisfy the most gifted. And all this, is just the tip of the iceberg.

I have read this book cover to cover and word for word (it took a very long time). Is it the proverbial "One Book Cruising Library" - the definitive work on the subject?

I think it may well be.

This book covers multiple sailors' topics of interest, not just for the serious cruising sailor, but for anyone with a sailboat who weekends. (There isn't much about "racing" as in optimizing speed, racing tactics, etc. though.) I really recommend it!

An exceptional resource. The suggestions for activities were found to be right on target. About.com

"These useful guides are highly recommended... " Library Journal

"The ideal traveling companion, and a wonderful book for the armchair traveler." Midwest Book Review

Mike Sigalas's guide to the coastal areas of North and South Carolina is a fascinating resource with maps, pictures, historical information, and an insider's knowledge of restaurants, accommodations and entertainment.

The book is written in a casual, friendly style and organized into sections about the region's history, climate, wildlife and plants; travel information such as activities, food, transportation and services; and in-depth chapters on Nags Head and the Outer Banks, New Bern and the Central Coast, Wilmington and the Southern North Carolina Coast, Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand, Charleston and Vicinity, and Beaufort and the Low Country. The book concludes with a listing and synopsis of books and films set in the area or about the area, and a very good index.

Having just returned from a stay in Charleston, I can say that the chapter on that area was well-written, informative and presented well. Museum and attraction listings include hours, fees and phone numbers. Accommodations described were traditional, B&Bs, rental homes and campgrounds. Restaurants are divided by cuisine and location; we tried four of them and were happy with the advice. Entertainment information is given for festivals, concert venues, clubs and bars, playhouses, movie theaters and coffee shops. Sports, recreation and shopping information proved reliable, and the transportation section addressed walking, tours, public transport and visitor centers. Several pages discuss places of interest in the Greater Charleston area.

This book was very helpful to us. Well done.

At last, a travel book that informs like a dusty tome of history, amuses and entertains like comedy, and that is as hard to put down as thriller fiction. This author has given us an overview of the Coastal Carolinas that is observant and accurate. He writes about the region with a non-deprecating irreverance born of loving familiarity...... his is a self-mocking humor, that is acceptable because it is obvious that this author is in love with this little bit of heaven. Well-done, Mr. Sigalas!

I loved this book! It made me laugh out loud! The writer is really funny and his restaurant recommendations were fantastic! The sites to see were also great. Sigalas really knows the South.

A selection of recommended inns, delightful restaurants, resorts, festivals, the best places to stroll together under the stars or have a secluded champagne picnic - the most romantic places. This book visits special spots in in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont. Each place has been carefully selected, making sure that it offers something special - in-room fireplaces, four-poster beds, Jacuzzis, enchanting gardens, five-star cuisine.

"... a great pleasure to read, even if you're not looking for a place to stay. You can feel the authors were bent on romance... not just filling up the book. Accommodations are described in charming detail, also meals, with the occasional recipe. If you contemplate a getaway in new England, this is the book to take along." Travel Writer Marketletter

"[The] captivating prose invokes the spirit and visual appeal of the places described. [The book] provides perfect fodder for couples [and is] an indispensable planning assistant." About.com

Growing up in San Antonio, my family frequently traveled to Rockport for the weekend. We would fish at night and go sightseeing by day. As a child I was always fascinated by the area and I grew so did this curiosity.
Four years ago I read in the Rockport Pilot's Visitor Guide that this book existed. That very day I was dragging my wife around looking for it, finally found it at the Art Museum by the beach. The entire weekend was spent skimming and reading this wonderful book. Since I have got the book I have read and re-read it many many times.
Today I enjoy visiting Rockport as often as I can. While driving around I try to picture what it was like at the turn of the century when the Aransas Hotel was still stood and the Baily Pavillion was THE place to be. Who would have thought that the little towns of Rockport and Fulton would have such a deep history?

I have been visiting the Gulf Coast/Aransas Pass area for 9 years now. Every time I go I am intrigued by everything I see. The history that resides there is amazing. I stay at a house on Fulton Beach Road that is filled with history. It has been in my friends family for over one hundred years. The house is actually mentioned in the book. This book is an amazing look at an amazing time in an amazing place. If you are interested in the history of the Texas Coastal Bend then this the book for you.

Thanks, John Conner San Jose, CA

As a resident of Rockport, in Aransas Co., Texas, but not a native, I was interested in the history of this part of the state. When Sue Taylor and Bill Allen's book, ARANSAS, A Tale of a Texas Coastal County, was published, I was among many who lined up for Sue's signature on my copy.

It was a thick book, I put it aside until I had time to go through it. I've just had 10 days off, and that was among my reading activities.

I assumed it would be historical; so I did not anticipate reading it as I do some novels. But I started. To my surprise, it caught my attention and imagination right away.

Also, to my surprise, I lingered over the words because they painted pictures I wanted to enjoy. I took much longer to read this book, because I was captivated by the words themselves.

The story moved along like an adventure tale, which the history of Texas actually is. It was dangerous, scary, wild, and took courageous and foolhardy men and women to survive. Texas had citizens with those characteristics on both sides of the Rio Grande.

The saga of many real families unfolded. Reading ARANSAS was like looking at a photograph album of one's grandparents--or great-grandparents. You never met them, but through this book you do know them. They became real people, with real personalities.

I did not know of the participation of Aransas County in both the Texas Revolution and the Civil War. It was a port to be conquered by the "other" side in both wars--a strategic military outpost. Other history books refer to the importance of Copano Bay.

Throughout the book the authors give geographic locations of homes or stores or hotels or fishing or cattle wharfs. In the back the references are detailed. We can still visit these places. That's my next goal--to find where history happened, and is still going on.

Frances Mayo

An excellent and highly informative narrative of the nearly unknown world of the United States Navy's small craft fleet in Vietnam. A fine reminder to the sailors of today that individual heroism in a war fought with the machine gun and not missles is part of the recent naval tradition. If anyone can say they followed the path of John Paul Jones and went into harm's way, these sailors can, and LCDR Cutler has told their story well.

I was in the Naval Advisory Group at the same time as LCDR Cutler and I know where he's coming from. He did a great job of research. I'm really surprised at the volume of good factual info he managed to scrape up! BRAVO ZULU from an ex advisor at Rach Soi, Qui Nhon and Cam Ranh Bay.

As a modern day "River Rat," I started reading this book, while waiting to kick off that little invasion down in Panama, affectionately known as "Operation Just Cause" in Dec 1989, and managed to finish reading it in between "Brown Water & coastal Patrols." It's hard to put down once you start reading, and CDR Cutler does this small, sub-community of Navy Special Warfare Sailors justice (pretty unique thing to do for an officer). It's the roots & history of the U.S.N.'s "Brown Water Navy", the combat tactics and actions that are still in use to this date. I highly recommend this literature work to any person(s) that's interested in the Navy, and the and the personnel that forged the Brown Water Navy's history in the volatile rivers, canals and coast line of Viet Nam. A true reflection of courage, human spirit and dedication in the most adverse conditions. PBR= Proud, Brave & Reliable! Keep the Faith

BEACHES -- the book [revised] When my eyes grow too dim to read, this book will be at hand to refresh my spirit, eyes, and memories.

Reminders of the beaches I have seen, and many not-seen scenes. I see familiar translucent jewel green waves and turquoise bays, ice blue coves in Oregon, huge translucent waves curving to meet the sea, another deep blue wave with incredible froth, like crystals suspended high above its majestic curve -- golden grassy sea shores, blazing sunsets -- also purple sunsets, one at Brighton pier, and other channel scenes -- rocky Brittany shores and White Dover cliffs, and curves and caves and coruscated sands. There is a tide pool like a giant blue eye with sun-bronzed eyelids -- white iceberg-rocks floating in a mirror-sea -- one real iceberg, a huge dollop of meringue reflected in a heliotrope bay --

An endless treasure.

Review Summary: Take the most talented photographers in the world. Review thousands of their best color beach photographs. Select a few dozen. Fill in with intriguing, inspirational essays about the origin, geology, physics, terms, and biology of beaches plus describe great beach activities like surfing. The result is a stunning work that makes you wonder how come you've never seen a beach scene as beautiful as these. It's the most fun at the beach you can have without going out into the sun!

Review: "The beach, after all, is among the most challenging and rewarding of photographic subjects . . . ." The shifts between land, water, and sky are often subtle. The light has an enormous influence on the colors and the mood of the scene. Light changes swiftly. The activity of the waves changes even faster. In many cases, a photograph is capturing a unique and fleeting moment, almost like a snowflake about to melt on your hand, that could not otherwise be as fully appreciated. While the editing could have selected scenes built around the nostalgia of your own experiences at beaches, the book instead takes you around the world and to rare moments to see beaches as you will probably never see them in a lifetime, even if you visited these same sites. I was particularly impressed by the scenes of waves (which must have been taken from surf boards) and through rocks.

The editorial selection criteria were intriguing: To show "how the beach might see itself if it were to ponder its own face without the intermediary of the human eye." That concept would not have occurred to me, and I am sure I will think about all scenes in nature differently in the future as a result. I am sure you will, too. Next, the editors looked for "the most crystalline, intelligent, and evocative portrait . . . ." They also wanted the book to show a "shining range of visual sensiblities." This sense is nicely captured by looking at scenes from dawn to dusk, and from full sun to fog. Panoramas alternate with tight shots of a single element. The book is not limited to ocean beaches. Estuaries, rivers and lakes are also pictured. When in doubt, the book's editors seem to have selected the images with the highest levels of unusual color, along with stunning compositions from unusual angles.

My favorites in the book are Art Brewer's Talava Arches on Niue Island in the Cook Islands, A. Blake Gardner's shot of Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, Michael Ventura's image of Natural Arches in Bermuda, Craig Tuttle's Tide Pool at Bandon State Park and his shot of Ecola State Park both in Oregon, Ron Romanosky's beautiful Newport Beach, California, Daryl Benson's Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Peter Lik's Australian shots of Orpheus Island in Queensland and Twelve Apostles in Victoria, and Joe Cornish's North Yorkshire Coast in England.

After you have bathed in the beauty of these rare natural wonders, I suggest you think about other rare moments that you may never experience. What are they? How can you seek them out? Can others help you? One of the great wonders of books, videos, and recordings is that they can bring us into extended communion with sights, sounds, and feelings that we have not directly experienced.

Let choosing rare, rewarding moments be a guide to your fulfillment!

Seldom I come across a photographic book so vivid and inspirational. The layout, color, and organization as well as the printing quality of the book is of first grade. A truly must for nature photography lovers.

I was surprized by the quality of the works presented but more particularly the idea of "the architecture of adventure". The premise of this book is "right on." These get-aways are not just comfortable, but expose their owner's attitudes on being at home in nature.

From the Seattle AIA Reviewer, Peter Sackett:

Trying to convince a reader that architecture is
good by telling them it's good is an exercise in
futility. In Coastal Retreats: The Pacific Northwest
and the Architecture of Adventure (Universe,
2002) author Linda Leigh Paul understands the
burden of her responsibility as a writer. Her
contributions reflect what images, on their own,
cannot. Coastal Retreats offers a broad
photographic sampling of Northwest vacation
homes designed over the last half-century with
editorial work that provides context for their
creation, including anecdotes from both owner and
architect, taking the architecture out of the
showroom and into the lives of the people who use
it.

A couple of years ago I ranted for eight hundred
words or so in the pages of Arcade about a
newly-published monographic account on the work
of architect Roland Terry. My beef wasn't that the
architect's work wasn't up to snuff, rather that the
book's author had done little to flatter the
architecture nor contribute a compelling narrative to
describe its significance. To judge from the editorial
content, he seemed less than convinced that
Terry's work could stand on its own without
bolstering it with sentences of fawning admiration
to make projects appear buoyant on the page.

Paul, instead, takes the trouble to tell stories
behind the homes' creation using relaxed, informal
language to describe the likes and dislikes of
clients as well as quirks of the landscape that
provide a setting for enjoyment of their
investment. The approach is both entertaining and
instructive. She includes the following in a chapter
on "Decatur Island Haven" by George Suyama
Architects:

"In the mid-1990s, while flying over the San Juan
Islands, designer Christian Grevstad's instincts led
him to alert his pilot that they were off course and
lost. As the pilot corrected the flight path, Grevstad
glanced down at a flowering meadow sitting atop a high
bluff. Below him lay the site he had envisioned for his
ideal island getaway. He headed for Seattle, where he
did the necessary footwork, and found that the price
was right."

Grevstad may enjoy a vexingly privileged lifestyle,
but it makes for a cool story.

This is a beautiful book full of beautiful houses in beautiful places. There is a wide range of projects and styles, illustrating the quality of design in the Pacific Northwest region. An attractive book in its own right, this would be a great resource for anybody thinking of building a vacation house.

Harris' knowledge and research, coupled with an excellent artistic hand made this book a critical element to my Patagonian journey. Most notably, his plates are exceptional, and although not nearly as extensive, they are in most cases far superior to the recently released Collins Illustrated Checklist covering birds in the same region. Harris also includes solid notes on each species, sometimes going into very good depth. One frustration was the limits of Harris' coverage: the book is very much "coastal" Patagonia, and omits several species such as Andean Condors, or the beavers and woodpeckers of the Nothofagus forests. Know that Harris specifically covers Argentine Patagonia from Peninsula Valdes to Tierra del Fuego. Despite this constraint, the book aided me in identifying many species throughout inland Chile and the Chilean seaboard. Overall the guide made for a phenomenal travel companion.

Highly recommended for anyone traveling to Patagonia. The drawings are exemplary in comparison to any other available field guides to the region, particularly when used in combination with the de La Pena and Rumboll guide 'Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica'. I found Harris's illustrations and detailed descriptions to be much more extensive and truer to color and features than de La Pena. Particularly interesting was the inclusion of line drawings of mammal skeletons, which were much more common in the region than I ever imagined, and these drawings were extremely helpful in identification. However, a complementary bird guide is necessary when traveling south to the Beagle Channel, and toward the Andes, the route most vistors to Patagonia take. If you are limited to only one guide to the region, bring this one. If you have room for two, include de La Pena.

This book has good quality pictures. Its strong point is the text for each bird and mammal. The real value of having this book on a recent trip to the Patagonia area was our ability to narrow down our choices of birds for identification making the process easier and speedier. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to read about and identify wildlife in the Patagonia area.