This book is a fine addition to any admirer of contemporary wood sculptor. Sherman offers a unique insight into the thought behinde Skips' carving. A thought provoking book that took me as a chainsaw carver to a new level. Fine pictures of Skips magnificent work and humorous stories of Skips life.The story of how this artist took the focus from the saw to the increadible pieces of art that can begin with the chainsaw. The only thing I would have liked more would be a larger version of this book.

Great book with anecdotal, authentic history of the Restoration Movement's progress across the Oregon Trail and even beyond that into later years!! Excellent book, excellent resource!!

We used the book to determine which area to retire in Oregon. The book was very helpful for this purpose. It provided most of the information we needed to make a sound decision. It is well written with many good maps of the state.

This work is a compilation of nearly all the reviews of the Portland Youth Philharmonic's concerts from 1925-1990. About 95% of them are no less than very favorable reviews of the great youth orchestra based in Portland, OR. Also included are sections of text by Avshalomov about the orchestra's (then) recent projects, and excerpts from his earlier two fine "Music as We Make It" books. If you're a fan of PYP, you already have this book, which makes a nice coffee table addition. As a PYP alum (violin, '93), this has been a nice way to look back on my PYP years.

This is definitely an excellent gold rush diary. It is very detailed and well-written by a man with obvious intelligence. However, compared to "The World Rushed In" it is really lacking in those personal touches that make the diary more "gripping." Dr. Lord's writing is a bit clinical in comparison, which doesn't hold the reader's attention so well when describing the more monotonous details of his journey.

I really like Anderson's perspective on life and how to live it. His quest for answers and knowledge and insight is admirable.

I had a fine time reading Exploring the North Coast. It covers all the little towns and tourist spots all the way up the coast on hwy1 and hwy 101. More interesting are the different Rocks and Rock formations all up the coast. The California coast has some of the greatest and most powerful Rocks of any place, and this guide mentions more than a few. However it does cover the disturbing trend that civilzation has of mutilating and destroying the giant rocks that get in their way. Like Goat Rock who was hacked away and dumped to form a useless harbor. This book is unique in that it is inclusive of some information about California Indians, in the context of where they live. This information helps one get a more well-rounded view of the history of California.

Fairchild's Passage is an engrossing tale of the West; but not the romaticized Louis L'Amour's West. This is a harsher, more realistic story of a wagon train heading to Oregon and of the hardships encountered. The characters are interesting and well defined; their situations are basic, difficult, and (at times) horrible. I suspect that this is what the Old West was really like. This book definitely held my interest; I only wish it had continued for a few more chapters; there were additional problems in the story that needed (in my opinion) to be resolved. But I would recommend this book to a friend. If you like Westerns, you'll like this book.

In this book the author describes his travels through ghost towns. In describing the areas, the author explains the directions and difficulties that were endured getting to the actual site. There is history about the towns and the author also notes the cause of a towns' demise. There are wonderful anecdotes from old-timers and some humorous tales of the author's travels. It is a book that makes for good reading, but not one that may be easily referred to during traveling, so reading and taking notes or marking pages is helpful. There are descriptions of the roads, but not all directions are clear whether some of these roads are accessible without a four-wheel drive vehicle. Many good photographs, but all pictures are in black and white. It does however make this reader want to get off the couch to travel and explore.

Among other things, this has a nice section on the political history of Portland. It gives a nice synopsis of how we became the progressive mecca we are today. Anybody interested in local politics might be interested in this book.