After reading this book, I felt like i was actually in Paris! This was a way romantic story, with a great plot. Thats so mean of Jacques, how he sets Jessica up with the jewel and everything.. but its so sweet how he apoligizes at the end! If i ever went to france, i would want my vacation to be exactly the was this book was! Anyway, this book was totally romantic, full of action, and great for any fairy tale lover! I totally recomend it!

Once again, here is another great Sweet Valley High book! This is a romantic and exciting one, with the twins in Europe! If you like SVH, you're gonna like this one, but be sure to read the other 2 as well! By the way, I TOTALLY reccomend, Sweet Valley High, Senior Year, starting with "can't stay away". But i am curious, does Elizabeth ever see Laurent again or remember him? LoL kay ash! its a book!

I loved this book! IT had to of been the best book I have ever read! It is soooooo romantic! You'll love it!!!!

We live in the Bay Area and have been to Napa Valley many, many times. We, however, learned so much from this book/CD that we did not know from all those trips to wineries. We read the book before and then decided to listen to the CD on a trip to Santa Barbara. Here we were driving AWAY from Napa Valley but loving listening to information about all the places we thought we knew like the back of our hands. Thank you Antonia, for putting it all together for us!!

Although we have been to the wine country many times, nothing has made it as enjoyable or informative as this guide. The CDrom is a very informative and entertaining pre and post source.
It was delightful to have such an experienced tour guide right in our car with us, and the music is so fitting to the magnificent terrain. Look forward to any new releases of Travelbrain! cheryl in los gatos

Napa Valley for the Newcomer

My wife and I had the opportunity to stay in Napa Valley for a week this summer as we passed through California. By even greater fortune we had the chance to use Antonia Allegra's wonderful Expedition Guide to Napa Valley. This CD travel guide can be used in your car stereo and gives you the option of having a Napa Valley expert sitting in your own car.
Antonia Allegra is the expert on the Napa Valley, not only on the wine trails, but also about everything of interest in Napa Valley itself, even its geology. As you drive up the valley Antonia prepares you for what you can expect, visit and do. All the sights, history, and vineyard backgrounds are explained. I consider this concept as one of the best ideas to hit the tourist market for years.
The range of information is presented in a user friendly manner so even an 'old duffer' like myself found it easy to operate, and Antonia's charming voice made it even easier to follow.
I would recommend this Expedition guide to anybody visiting Napa Valley.
Don Budge

(From Planeta Journal) - Ready to explore one of the world's most intriguing regions? Take your trip with Christopher Shaw who introduces readers to the Usumacinta River and its magnificent watershed that stretches across the Mexico-Guatemala border in his new book, Sacred Monkey River (New York: W.W. Norton, 2000).

Subtitled "A Canoe Trip with the Gods," this notable book traces the author's canoe trips running the great river. Unlike many adventure travel narratives in which the author plunges into an unknown terrain, Shaw aims for comprehension rather than searching for misadventure. The result is an account which combines the best of travel literature and environmental reporting.

Few travelers opt for the watery path, particularly with the threat of hijackings and shootings in such a remote area. But Shaw, an accomplished river guide and an enthusiast of the Maya culture, will not be deterred.

"In classical art, two gods pictured as canoeists, accompanied travelers on both actual and metaphysical journeys," Shaw explains. "Both gods paddle the souls of the dead to the Otherworld and the cosmic canoe -- the Milky Way -- across the sky."

Shaw also connects with the environmentalists in the region, including Fernando Ochoa and Ronald Nigh -- two pioneers in developing sustainable agricultural practices in the region.

The book is a veritable "Who's Who" in the region. Meet Scott Davis of Ceiba Adventures, Maya scholars Linda Schele and David Freidel, Moises Morales, the owner of El Pachan and Victor Perera, author of The Last Lords of Palenque.

The book is divided into 12 chapters and boasts the 1953 Franz Blom map of the Selva Lacandona on the inside book cover. What would be useful additions would be a map of the author's expeditions and an index of places and names.

Sacred Monkey River deserves a long shelf-life and it will no doubt be consulted for many years by travelers and environmentalists alike.

This is the real thing folks. No more cute travel stories that romanticize without substance, that Disneyize and exaggerate. This book is the story of the author's courageous and thoughtful trip through an amazingly historical place that is also presently complicated and important. However, the author comes at it from a personal angle: the cosmology of canoes. We learn the importance of canoe travel not only to the Maya but to the author and people in general. That connects to the Maya cosmology and culture, the sense of place that is inherent in living in a watershed and having your existence contingent to flowing water (whether you live in the Lacandon forest or Westchester County), the importance of the geography of the region to the people who live there, and then finally to how all this connects to the Zapatista movement and the modern, and not so modern (this thing is full of scholarly but apt historical asides) plight of the indigenous Maya. All along the way you get to like the author, in his sometimes goofy gringo ways but his omnipresent awareness of his own place within the experience. Sprinkle in healthy doses of heart-thumping whitewater in canoes with inexperienced bow-men, death defying swims, life-threatening bandits, and tight, musical prose, and you've got one heck of a book. I tell you what, Shaw's got it right, the same way Matthiesson did. I recommend this book extremely highly. I wish it were getting more publicity. Read it. Its important.

This book has been a genuine page turner for me, and as I approached the end I tried not to read too much at each sitting so I could prolong its pleasures.

It is for anyone interested in Mesoamerica, Mayan culture, canoeing as adventure, or boats as the movers of trade and ideas. Also for anyone who is lusting for an otherworld experience, metaphorically or actually, though trave, boating, psychogenic drugs, or all of the above. It is full of honest hard-nosed obserevation of nature and the specific nature of this area, and at the same time streches for and is able to peek at the"final" trip, perhaps as many civilizatins saw it, goin on a craft down a river or out to sea/see. shaw effortlessly intertwines some Spanish into his evocative--dare I use the word--poetic English, always aiming for and touching precision and clarity without sacrificing mystery. On, I believe, its deepest level, the language as well as the story drew me into the unknow, into the future, and of course the past as well.

I recently had back surgery and was going out of my mind with boredom when my mom insisted I read a book that had brought her much happiness in her teens. Ever since I picked up The Valley of Decision, I cannot stop insisting that everyone I know read it. Ms. Davenport made the characters come alive; They are real people whose lives I cried over, laughed at, was upset for and rejoiced with. It has been a long time since I felt as much a part of a book - probably since reading the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis in my childhood.

Reading this book has been one of the better things I've ever done for myself. I HIGHLY recommend it to all.

I first read this as a teenager (I'm now 50) and re-read it several times before I lost it sometime in my twenties. For years I tried to find it in second hand shops, or to order it from book shops, all to no avail. So I was not overly hopeful when I typed the title and author into Amazon's search engine - and was amazed and very excited when I got a picture of it in front of me within ten seconds! I had it in my hands just a week later and after all those years of thinking about it, was finally able to read it again. And I wasn't disappointed at all - it was as majestical, magical, emotional, compulsive and wonderful as I remembered, even after a gap of nearly 30 years. It's such a touching tale, spans such a great historical era and has such truly memorable characters, it still ranks as one of my very favourite books of all time.

I first read "The Valley of Decision" as a teenager, and find great comfort in it as an adult. I have reread it many times, not only for its "human" story, but for the sense of history it conveys. The sense of history in the book is strong, but the characters are even stronger. So many of the characters remind me of my ancestors, so each reading of the book is a delight.

This book just shows how spectacular a desert can look with the magnificent photos around the Mojave desert and Death valley of emptiness, stark flowers and blooms and just superb landscapes. It'll give you some inspiration to find something to look for even in a desert.

I know I will as I will be going to Ayer's Rock (Uluru) in Australia in a few months and it's also a big desert!

This book is a beauty, some of the most beautiful photographs I have ever seen.

I spent the first week of September in southern California this year, and on Sunday before Labor Day I drove from Los Angeles up to Death Valley. I hadn't been there since I was a child and I have to say although it is a desolate and lonely place (and 114 degrees at Furnace Creek the day I was there) it is also one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The sand dunes at Mesquite Flat alone are worth the trip.

Everyone should see it, but if you can't buy the book. My copy came shrinkwrapped in plastic which I really like, the last thing you want is to buy a nice book like this in a bookstore where someone has spilled coffee on the pages.

There is a knock at my door and here is the UPS man delivering my order from Amazon.com. Among the books: Desert, The Mojave and Death Valley Photographs by Jack Dykinga, text by Janice Emily Bowers. I barely had time to read more than a page or two of the text before it made me want to go straight to the photos to see the place she was clearly, and intelligently writing about. And I was not disappointed: It was overwhelmed with joy of at being able to share the keeness of Mr. Dykinga's fine and perceptive photographic vision of that place. This is a more subtle body of work than the previous books based around his photographs.

The Sonoran Desert had a similar effect on me years ago and expanded my sense of what ilandscape photography could be. Stone Canyons did not have as great of affect on me as the first book

More than anything else, the images in this book remind me why the large format camera is such a tremendous aid to seeing something more clearly and perceptively than you can with the naked eye. even more so than a 35mm or medium format or easily portable digital gear can. Some of the photos even have a sense of humor to them and when did you last see that in a photograph of a natural landscape? The reproduction of the images appears to be first rate and the design and typography of the book match its contents in quality.

In short there are wonderful things to be found in this book.

I have read different devotionals, but this is by far the best! What I love about this particular book~~it's two devotionals in one! In the morning I read a devotional and before I retire for the evening I can read more "refreshing" words penned by Mrs. Cowman.

Mrs. Cowman was "wise beyond her years". I cannot tell you the times I have read her devotional and felt like I had been in touch with heaven itself.

I had to order this as my old one is in at least 25 broken sections from reading and re-reading it! Not a day has passed that each particular page has spoken to me God's words of faith, encouragement, endurance, pressing on with a song in your heart and even the gentlest but firm discipline when needed. The authors and "selected" readings I know were directly from the Holy Spirit given to these saints of old. This book is a must for every believer embarking on the pilgrimage back home to heaven. (see Hebrews 11:13-16) Brings healing tears to the spirit, soul, and body.

After pouring out my heart to a woman I worked for, she gave me an old copy of this book. It has truly has been an answer to my prayers. I am a 21-year-old college student, who found myself in the words of Mrs. Cowman. She examines the heart's deepest troubles and exposes them to the promises of God, healing them from the inside out. I would recommend this book to anyone.

This book was great except it's ending was predictable. I wouldn't recommend this book if you are an avid mystery reader.

An intriguing mystrey novel that will keep you wondering all the way through,who is the drug lord/murderer,who is helping him,and who can,in fact,be trusted????

This book was really really good. Kinda predictable, but I still loved it! If you love the other SVH Super Thrillers then you will definately love this one!!!

saxenian argues that silicon valley's competitive advantage is the vast network of small firms that compose silicon valley and cross pollinate each other. she compares the valley to the route 128 area in boston which she classifies as detrimentally hierarchical, even puritanical.

The best book I have ever read concerning High Tech culture. Everyone should read this book to better understand how to motivate info exchange and networking among our society and world.

Contrary to one of the other reviewer's comments, the importance of this book is in showing precicely that it is not the "endemic" culture of Silicon Valley, but rather the innovative institutions and networked relationships in Silicon Valley that explains the region's success. A great contribution to the literature on embeddedness and network forms of organization.

It was bound to happen-- one of Ned's cases coming back to haunt him. Made my skin crawl how close Marin was able to get to Jessica and Liz and how he worked a little psychological terror into his game. This book sets you on edge; I read it cover to cover without stopping.

This book is a real thriller. It's like a horror movie that fits in your hand. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. You can't seem to put it down. It's about a handsom murderer who is after the twins blood and won't stop until he gets it. He already got close to one of them but was delayed, but not stopped. He's not gonna rest until both of the twins are dead. Why is he after the twins? Does he get the twins? What does the twins do? Read the book and find out. You won't be disappointed!

What was the name of that movie in which a killer is out for revenge on ..ive got it ..hang on..Cape Fear!This is SUCH a copy and it is very scary!John Marin is out for blood,since Ned Wakefield,lawyer,put him away so many years ago. Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are not safe,and youll be glued to the pages when Marin starnds them on a houseboat.

I really, really, really liked this book. It was very realistic. I feel very sorry for Liz, and I think that Jess should move back in and kick that Witch... Celine out of there. Also, she should have Tom Watts as her boyfriend. They r perfect 4 eachother. But theres one thing that bothers me: Doesnt Tom Watts sound a little like Todd Wilkins? I think the author should be a little more original with the names.

This book is excellent! I just wish Elizabeth and Todd were still together. Todd and Elizabeth were such a great couple. Elizabeth Wakefield is extremely excited to get to college. She has the perfect look, a cool identical twin sister, a great boyfriend, a wonderful best friend, excellent grades, and high expectations. But all that starts to change. Jessica Wakefield moves out of the dorm room with Elizabeth and into a dorm room with her cool friends. She falls in love with a cute guy, Michael McAllery. She has the attention of every guy on campus, but non are as great as Mike to her. Everyone warns her that Mike is bad news, but she knows he's wonderful. Todd Wilkins wants to have sex with his long-time girlfriend, Elizabeth. They ahve been dating forever and he's ready to take their relationship to the next level. But she's not. He's ready to break up with her, and find a more experianced woman. Enid Rollins, former best friend of ELizabeth, has now changed her name to Alexandra. She no longer wants to hangout with Elizabeth, and wants to join the in crowd. Winston Egbert wants to be a manly man on campus... but eh ends up in an all female dorm. Elizabeth who's twin sister moved out of the dorm, boyfriend dumped her, and best friend dumped her, is falling into a depression. Tom Watts, Todd's rival likes with Elizabeth. He thinks she's beautiful, but I think Todd and Elizabeth are better. Elizabeth and Todd forever! Meanwhile, William White also admires Elizabeth. But William has an obsession with her beyond normal. Todd Wilkins loves Elizabeth, and they make such a cute couple. I was really sad when they broke up. Meanwhile, Liz gets a new roomate, Celine Boudreuax. But Liz can't stand her. Cleine and Elizabeth are worst enemies. Anyway, Jessica is in love with Michael McAllery and wants him more then anything. This book is great!

This book was great. So many different things happened. Todd Wilkins wants to take his relationship with Elizabeth Wakefield to the next step, but Elizabeth isn't ready to do so. Jessica Wakefield falls madly in love with Michael McAllery, despite the warnings given to ehr by friends and family. Jessica moves in with a friend after some fighting with Elizabeth. Elizabeth gets a new roomate, Celine Boundreaux, who is bad news. Enid Rollins changed her name to Alexandra, and gets a new boyfriend. Something, which I won't tell happens to Elizabeth and Todd's relationship. Jessica is popular on campus, and asked out by tons of guys, while Elizabeth is depressed and gaining weight. But Elizabeth has an admirer of her own- two actully. Tom Watts and William White. Elizabeth still has strong feeligns for Todd, too. This book is really great!