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Books to read if you're planning a vacation in "Northwest", sorted by average review score:

1 2 3 Moose: A Pacific Northwest Counting Book
Published in Hardcover by Sasquatch Books (June, 2003)
Authors: Andrea Helman and Art Wolfe
Average review score:

Lovely photographs. One error though!
Some of the loveliest photographs I have ever seen in a children's book. Truly beautiful...however, I noted one big error. The number twelve is represented by what the author states are Salal berries and shows a photograph of Dull Oregon Grape berries..a totally different plant. Perhaps this was changed in a later printing? I certainly hope so, if not, it should be. Both berries are edible, with the Dull Oregon Grape (Mahonia Nervosa) being far more tasty.

Over all this is a wonderful book for all ages. Perhaps checking with a good fieldbook on plants might be of help next time. Might I suggest Pojar/Mackinnon's Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast? :)

Excellent text and photos, unfortunately some are cropped.
This is a beautifully written and illustrated book for young children. Unfortunately, some of the photos were cropped during production and so there are no longer the correct number of objects in some of the photographs. This greatly diminishes the value of the book. Hopefully they will reprint the book


Miller/Hull: Architects of the Pacific Northwest
Published in Paperback by Princeton Architectural Press (May, 2001)
Authors: Sherri Olson, David Miller, Robert Hull, and Sheri Olson
Average review score:

too "image" oriented
I am a huge fan of the work of Miller Hull, however I was disappointed that this monograph lacked a thoughtful depiction of the design process. I would have loved to have seen the architect's sketches, drawings, and personal writing. There were really too many pictures, and the book had the quality of a film strip. The Ten Houses book, which showcases many of this firm's residential projects is a better book if you want to see drawings.

It's all here.
This book provides an excellent cross section of more Miller|Hull work than you've ever seen in the magazines. This book is a significant improvement in representing the full scope of their work compared to the Ten Houses book. The book is layed out so each project gets roughly 3 spreads (or six pages). A majority of the photos are clean, crisp, beautiful images of both interior and exterior. There's typically one page of text and two drawings.
But, I have problems with this book. This book is over polished, over "published", & is more geared as a marketing brochure than a discriptive portfolio of thought and design. First, we all know these guys have done some really great stuff, but do we need to see ALL of it! Some of the less remarkable(i.e.,older, more traditional, more restrained) projects take valuable pages away from some of their more enlightened works. There's no heirachy about their design - everything gets 3 spreads, two token drawings, 500 words of static text, and some nice photos. You should not be able to learn more about a building from a magazine article than you can from the monograph. I want more! How do they think? What do early sketches and ideas look like? Models - I'm sure they've produced some great models! Where are they? This paperback book is a gem at it's current ...price. ... Ounce per ounce:dollar per dollar, the Ten Houses book is a better deal because it provides greater insight to the projects covered. But if you're looking for a blanket covering of Miller|Hull projects with nice photos, this is the way to go.


Mobil Travel Guide 2000 Northwest and Great Plains: Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba (Mobil Travel Guide: Northwest West and Great Plains 2000)
Published in Paperback by New American Library Trade (January, 2000)
Author: Mobil Travel Guides
Average review score:

Mobile Guide
The book gives a good overview of the areas with many addresses. Anyhow I found it a bit too black and white. It gives useful maps, but no coloured pictures from the areas, which would make it a bit more pleasant to read.

Mobil Travel Guide 2000 - Northeast
I highly recommend this guide to anyone who will be traveling in the Northeast as well as Canada. This guide gives you everything from upcoming events for the year to where to stay & eat. The maps are easy to read and follow. I have been a reader of the Mobil Guide for many years and it is continuing to give the most accurate, up-to-date travel information. This is the MUST-HAVE for the Northeast traveler.


Northwest Smith
Published in Paperback by Ace Books (April, 1986)
Author: C. L. Moore
Average review score:

Northwest Smith
Though she has a way with words, and knows how to throw her hero into the thick of trouble, the stories in this collection are far too similar to each other to warrant especial praise. Almost all of the stories here, starring leatherclad rogue Northwest Smith, feature vampiric female beauties that infest out solar system. Smith spends more time trying to keep his life-essence sucked away than ten other heroes of the spaceways I know. Only one story truly varies from this approach, though it was a relief.

One could almost write a twenty-page essay on these stories demonstrating how a woman SF author of the genre's Golden Age succeeded in a male-dominated field by camouflaging her name--totally understandable--and then deciding that what these male fans wanted most were alien beauties, meticulously described, enthralling the same tough-guy over and over again--not so understandable. The novelty here is that Northwest Smith does not face the shoot-em-up scenarios most gun-toting heroes have to blast their way out of; instead, he must engage in surreal battles of the mind, psychically fighting off either nightmarish visions or simply miasmic manifestations of vampiric energy. But the novelty is actually a constant, and I soon found myself wishing Smith would have to draw that gun of his (it changes names each story--heat-gun, ray-gun, and a third name for it of which I didn't keep track)! Or, failing that, perhaps he could need a magic key, or an answer to a cosmic riddle, to stay alive. No, his best defense is always strength of will...and it gets a bit old.

The stories are well-written, make no mistake. The rich prose reminds me a bit of what goes on in Clark Ashton Smith's imaginative tales. Strange, haunting alienscapes are wonderfully described, layer by layer (Smith is invariably trekking through to the inner heart of some jungle, or temple, or cavern-system, where the danger is). Moore is a bit addicted, here, to the words 'ripple' and 'unnamable', but at least there are no actual 'unnamable ripples'. She hasn't quite got the glittering, ever-changing vocabulary of Clark Ashton Smith, but she's close. Very close.

No, the real letdown in this book is the repetitive nature of the stories, which makes one wonder just what Moore thought of her Golden Age readers.

This book is a classic that all sci-fi fans should read.
C. L. Moore garnered praise for her work in a time when women did not write science fiction. Her stories were powerful and poignant; her heroes and heroines were complex, well crafted individuals. She struck the perfect balance between adventure, science fiction, fantasy and mystery.

Northwest Smith is one of her more interesting heroes. He's an earthman who cannot return home and wanders the galaxy making the only living he can as a hired criminal. He's managed to become one of the best, and his employment continually sends him to the strangest most magical parts of the universe. Join in his adventures against the age old forces of the universe, which are often reminiscent of mythological tales.

This book is a classic that all sci-fi fans should read.


Rv Adventures in the Pacific Northwest: A Camping Guide to Washington, Oregon, & British Columbia
Published in Paperback by Rolling Home Press (June, 2003)
Authors: Mike Church and Terri Church
Average review score:

Disappointing and not really what the title says
The book is called "A Camping Guide", so I was expecting a guide to camping, campgrounds, etc. Well, it's more like a suggested trip guide with very little (5 lines) information per campground. Also, they list only very few, only those which are on their suggested trips. Even though not a complete loss (the trips are kind of nice), I think the title is completely misleading. Also there are 5 trips for WA, 2 for Oregon, and 1 for BC... very Washington centric. I also don't quite understand why a camp guide needs information about downtown Seattle.... not many people camping there last time I checked. If I want a tourist guide for Seattle, I buy one and there are many better ones.

Take this book in one hand and drive on!
Now this is an RV guidebook. The book is separated into 1 tour per chapter(there are 8 tours in all) - and included in each chapter are suggestions for what to see and where to camp plus pictures of some of the campsites. They seemed to like the less commercial more nature oriented ones that I prefer. I especially liked the shopping mentions as all hiking and no shopping makes me a dull girl! While I won't follow the tours exclusively, they give me a heads up on places and sites not to miss and I look forward to putting this guidebook to use very soon.


Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest : Cool Season Crops for the Year-Round Gardener
Published in Paperback by Sasquatch Books (June, 1989)
Author: Binda Colebrook
Average review score:

Ok, but there are better choice for the Northwest Gardener
The book had some good information, but was limited to only cool weather vegetables. Two other books Steve Solomons, Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades and William Heads, Gardening Under Cover are much much better choices. They cover all vegetables, yet still include plenty of info for winter gardening and extending the season.

Exellent book for any cold climate gardener
This book is an excellent resource for cold weather gardening especially those in the northwest. If you thought it might not be possible to grow much in the pacifc northwest winter this book will be an eye opener.


Tomorrow the World: Hitler, Northwest Africa, and the Path Toward America (Texas A & M University Military History Series, 57)
Published in Hardcover by Texas A&M University Press (May, 1998)
Authors: Norman J. W. Goda and Ronald A. Schorn
Average review score:

Hitler Attacks America!!!
Norman Goda would have us believe that Hitler was on the verge of launching an attack on the America mainland. Certainly, Hitler had grandiose war aims, and certainly conquering America was one of them. But then again, given the chance, Hitler would have turned all non-German lands into some mixture of an Aryan Disneyland and penal colony.

Any decent tactician, which Hitler was, would plan for wartime eventualities, such as a conflict with the US. Goda presents a lot of "what if's" for armchair historians to consider, but given that Hitler only ever landed a dozen or so saboteurs on American soil, one cannot say with any precision how workable Hitler's long-range plans were.

Hitler's transoceanic strategies a stretch
Tomorrow the World is an odd book. The title and the inside flap explain that Germany had designs on the United States, and intended to conquer said nation, eventually. The proof, supposedly, is in this book. What you get, instead, is an in-depth analysis of German diplomatic and military initiatives in Spain and northwest Africa 1940-2. This is OK, but given that it doesn't live up to what it promises, frankly it's a bit disappointing.

The proof of the author's contention is embedded in various obscure diplomatic and military maneuvers that the Germans made, often supposedly at Hitler's behest directly, which according to the author show that Hitler was intending to confront the U.S. someday. Unfortunately most of these maneuvers involved either islands in the Atlantic (the Canaries or Azores, for instance) or French North Africa. None of this certainly shows Germany preparing for war with the U.S., because all of the actions could have been taken for other reasons, equally plausible ones. So all you're left with is a recounting of German diplomatic initiatives with regards to these locations, and that, while interesting, is at best a footnote to WW2.

One further note: this book is based on the author's doctoral thesis, and it reads like it. Paragraphs run to more than a page, sentences are interminable, and often it's hard to get the point. This is not for the faint of heart, or someone who isn't interested in the subject at a very detailed level.

Interesting, but unfulfilled promises
Norman Goda's book is interesting, however there is except for a chapter or two, very scant information about Hitler's intentions toward the United States. The book loses its focus in Hitler's convoluted aims toward Northwest Africa and just what he planned to do with those bases if he ever got them, is really never discussed. However, a previous reviewer is wrong, Hitler was never a decent military tactician, he was a horrible tactician. If his generals had always listened to what Hitler ordered, Germany would have lost the war a lot faster than it did, this wasn't a case of Hitler planning just for an eventuality. Goda is very persuasive in his contention that Hitler did have a goal to attack and eliminate the United States at least since 1927-28. Unfortunately, Goda only discusses the H Class ships and the Amerika bomber in passing and never provides any evidence of just what Hitler planned to do with the bases he wanted in any attack toward America.


Double Blind
Published in Hardcover by Forge (November, 1997)
Authors: Ken Goddard and Kenneth W. Goddard
Average review score:

A no-thrill thriller written in plodding prose.
Seldom have I resented the money spent on a paperback book. Double Blind is an exception. Mr. Goddard's past efforts were a credit to the genre. This attempt is lifeless!

The writing quality reminds me of a C-paper in Writing Composition 101. The cast of charactures (good guys and bad guys)are cardboard caricatures. To compensate, the muddled plot moves at the pace of a slow loris.

I'm sorry Mr. Goddard, but this is really a badly written novel. I look forward to your next effort.

Not up to his previous efforts.
One would think that a book that includes a crack fish & wildlife law enforcement team, a rogue Army Ranger hunter/killer team, anti-government militia members, corrupt politicos, a real life panther, possibly Bigfoot, et al would be a crackling good yarn. Alas, such is not the case, as none of this gels into a real page-turner. The characterization lacks depth, the action is lifeless, the plot next to ridiculous. The climax really just peters out, but by that time the build-up is so lacking in zeal that one really doesn't care.There are too many coincidences in this book to be believable. The set-up with the cover story involving illegal snakes and spiders takes a lot of space in the book with very little pay-off or relevance. Ken Goddard's previous novels were all on the money, really holding the reader's attention. I guess all authors are allowed to fall flat once in awhile. I hope Mr. Goddard gets back on track with the next novel.

Not Ken Goddard's best...
Double Blind is the third entry into the Henry Lightstone series by Ken Goddard. Goddard seems to be slipping with each succesive entry in the series. Goddard started with an idea that had a lot to offer, but in the end the result is disappointing. Lightstone and his team of Federal Wildlife Agents are set up for elimination by a crack team of ex-military "hunter-killers". Lightstone is a good character and he is surrounded by an interesting cast of characters. Goddard's experience in Law Enforcement is readily apparent in his writing. The story begins to drag when Lightstone's team attempts to set up their undercover operation. Goddard spends a great deal of time with this device and it does nothing to progress the story. Goddard continually refers to Lightstone as the team's "wild-card agent", along with several other similar monikers, throughout the story and it really begins to grate on your nerves. I was left feeling cheated with a quick ending that tied-up all of the loose ends too easily. Goddard spent 450+ pages setting up a showdown which never materialized. Double Blind was not Goddard at his best, but he is still a lot better than many of the authors in this genre. Readers interested in Goodard's better books should read Balefire, Cheater, and Prey.


Fieldbook of Pacific North West Sea Creatures
Published in Paperback by Naturegraph Pub (June, 2003)
Authors: Dan H. McLachlan, Lois Brandt Phillips, and Jak Ayres
Average review score:

Not recommended under any circumstances
With all the excellent publications on Pacific Northwest marine life that are now available, it is unfortunate that this book is still offered for sale. The photographs are extremely poor, but worse still are the many misidentifications and other mistakes. These are by no means minor, and as a professional marine biologist I could never recommend this book for anyone.

Inaccurate, with extremely poor photographs
Most marine life books with misidentified animals are redeemed (in part) by their nice pictures- not so with this one. The photographs have poor color and lighting, and even those that are correctly labeled are often not useful for identification. Far superior books covering Northwest marine life include ones by Harbo, Kozloff (intertidal), Gotshall (subtidal), and Lamb (fish); for more detail on various groups (e.g. nudibranchs, crabs) see the excellent Sea Challengers publications.

reader and diver
Two of these reviews (which were very critical), must have an axe to grind because this book has been on the market since 1977 when underwater photography was done with the old Nikon IIs with manual underwater settings. It's a miracle the photographs are as good as they are, and they are still very good. I also have no problem with the biology nor with the references and thanks given to the biologists who assisted in putting the book together. The book has been extremely popular with divers, sailors, beachcombers and young marine biologists for 25 years. I've seen people with it at Tongue Point, Neah Bay, Harpers Ferry, and Olympia Marina. I have used it that long myself and have worn two copies out.


Northwest Coast Indian Designs (Dover Design Library)
Published in Paperback by Dover Pubns (September, 1994)
Author: Madeleine Orban-Szontagh
Average review score:

Simplistic, Misleading, Not Useful
When this book came out, there were surprisingly few books about Pacific Northwest Coast artwork, and many of the books that had been written were out of print.

I suppose it's possible that the author or publisher honestly felt they saw a niche that needed to be filled, and intended to produce a simple, helpful book. But regardless of their intent, the impression I came away with was that this book was thrown together in order to cash in on the rising interest and, at that time, paucity of reference material related to this artform.

The book is remarkably short, there is a lack of useful information about the artform or its elements, and many of the designs that are included in the book do not even appear to be native to this style of art.

I hate to pan a book, because I'm a part-time writer myself, but facts are facts. Regardless of what you are looking for when it comes to Northwest Coast Art - how to understand it, style variations amongst different northwest tribes, how to draw this type of art, etc. -- this book will not provide it for you. The only reason I can think of for buying this book is because you want a copy of every book ever written on the topic. Otherwise, don't waste your money on this one.

[...]

Okay?
Does not explain what the designs are, if you don't have another book to explain them you will be lost. Drawings do not reflect true designs.

Oversimplified
This book (and all in the Dover series) represents a simplification of complex art forms. It's good for simple, royalty free ideas, but those looking to learn details of NW art, should avoid this and go for a book by Hillary Stuart, Jim Gilbert and/or Karin Clark.


Related Vacation Book Subjects: united_states
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