The other reviews sum it up... it's a great book, especially if you live in the area. It's really fun to read about places you've actually been to. Also, it's quite an eye opener to see how badly the natives of California were treated by wave after wave of immigrants.

This is a wonderful book...Especially for those of us from the
San Diego area...those of us who are familiar with the Sacred
places mentioned in this story...

Every day, due to comercial and housing developments, there are fewer untouched areas of San Diego that can transport you to the time of the Gold Rush. THIS BOOK IS A TREASURE WORTH MORE THAN ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD. I remember as a child roaming the wild wheat feilds and rolling hills of pure unadulterated Southern California. Every time I read The Indian Lover I relive the adventure of long horseback rides through the countryside and discovering the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of plants, streams, ponds, lakes, canyons and animals. The romance is steaming hot with fantasically descriptive scenes but still leaves something for the imagination. The history of the Native American tribes in the San Diego area is not widely known and it is quite a blessing to finally be awakened to some of the beauty as well as harsh reality. This is a must read!!!

This book is a marvelous pictorial guide to bugs, some of whom occasionally get an urge to check out one's abode. But before stomping any such audacious intruders, you might consider that, since the author evidently felt that they deserved a spot in his book, perhaps they also(dare one say it?) deserve to live. Given this, it would be nice if he had mentioned that a simple and easy enough way of removing a visiting critter is to promptly trap it under a rinsed-out pickle jar, slide an index card underneath, and return him to the great outdoors. After all, he's probably just trying to find his way back there anyway.

It seems that one of Nature's unspoken rules is that the smaller things get, the stranger they become. Quantum mechanics, for example, which describes the activities of particles at sub-atomic levels, challenges our understanding of the universe as our senses receive it: even our knowledge of the trajectory of a sub-atomic particle, for example, means that its position cannot be known, and light, depending on how one observes it, behaves as either a particle or a wave. The universe as described by quantum mechanics is a much stranger place than the one postulated by LaPlace and Newton.

Similarly, in the field of biology, the world revealed by the microscope is much stranger than anything that we could have derived from observations of those organisms visible to the naked eye. This denizens of this realm include various and marvelous creatures: species which defy classification as either plant or animal; genera which contain within them certain species which reproduce sexually, while their close relatives procreate by division; creatures which spend part of their lives as independent single celled units, and other parts of their lives as part of a multicelled organism, with certain cells acting as the stalk on which others form a fruiting body. Our understanding of classification, sex, and the very distinction between single celled and multicellular organisms is challenged by this wonderful microscopic world which lies all around us. Though man is still the measure of all things (by virtue of having invented the yardsticks by which we observe the universe), the cosmos were not made in our image, nor we in theirs, and though the universe is a wonderful place, it is also a strange and disconcerting one.

As we look at organisms which are somewhat closer in size to our own, they lose some, but not all, of that strangeness which the quantum and microscopic worlds contain, and Charles L. Hogue's _Insects of the Los Angeles Basin_ makes this strangeness accessible to us all. Hogue was Curator of Entomology for the Natural History Museum for 30 years, and this guide has its origin in part in those questions asked by Angelenos during his tenure there. This guide was another of those books which our West Coast friends gave to my wife Fayaway and myself, in an effort to convince us to move out to California, and we have come to know many of the strange and wonderful species described in these pages: the beautiful butterflies which visit our gardens, the speedy dragonflies and the mosquitoes on which they feed, the multiform beetles which live beneath our feet, our houses, and our lawns. It was in these pages I first took note of the California Sister, a butterfly species which lives among the oaks of the Santa Monicas; I ran to this book to discover the name of that strange beast that had crawled into our bathtub during the night, and had caused my wife, who is not easily frightened, to scream out (it was the Jerusalem cricket, a creature whose virtues do not include beauty or grace); I used this book to identify the strange beetle larva which was content only when travelling on its back. These and many other creatures have become better known to me through the pages of this book.

The guide is very easy to use, once one knows the difference between a cricket and grasshopper, a cockroach and beetle, and the book will help the reader learn that. It is full of drawings and photographs, many in beautiful full-color, of most of the species described, as well as information about their habits, ecology, and life history. The author is also candid about what is not known about certain species, such as the larval stages, their feeding habits, or their modes of reproduction. Nothing is known of the early life of the California Glowworm, for example. Each description contains a list of its sources as well.

These excellent descriptions are preceded by an introduction to basic entomology: there are sections on insect body structure and function, growth and development, and classification, and a chapter on the Los Angeles Basin environment and ecology. Another fine feature is the full color map, computer-generated from Landsat photographs, of the region covered by this book. There is also a very good glossary, a general bibliography and resource list, and an index. One need do little more than walk out the door with this book in hand to find it immediately useful: it is full of information for those interested in the insect life around us. Indeed, I have found that whenever I go out to the garden to read some other work, it is wise to bring this book as well, since inevitably I will feel compelled to go back into the house to find the answer to some question about some creature or other whose path I happen to cross. The value of this book to amateur entomologists is inestimable: it will not only drive the curious out into the gardens, forest, and hills to seek those creatures listed here, but provide information to those whose first instinct is to kill any such creature they might find in their domicile, and help them learn that the natural world is not as frightening as it might at first seem, even though it might never lose its strangeness. Recommended to anyone interested in learning more about those insects and arachnids with whom we share the Los Angeles Basin, and who are essential parts of the local ecology, strange and frightening though they might seem at first glance.

If you want to know more than just the names and habitat of Southern California insects, then this is the book for you. If the insect is non-native, what is its origin and when was it introduced? If it stings or bites, what does it feel like and does the toxin affect the nerves like a black widow or just dissolve the local tissue like a brown recluse? Do they jump or dart? Why is it always showing up in a certain room or part of the yard? "Insects of the Los Angeles Basin" will answer these questions. Read this book and become the lone rational mind in a roomful of hysterical screaming humans recoiling from the sight of one of these magnificent little creatures.

There is no easy way to identify a plant to species, but if it is in California it is far easier to use this volume than the others. Although it was written in 1925, the line drawings are for me priceless. Be advised that names change in 75 years even if plants do not, you will need a modern flora to reference the old name. HIGHLY recommended, but technical.

This is an excellent guide. Very comprehensive, however you must have formal education in botany and plant ID in order to effectively use the guide to key plants to genus and or species. Not recommended for the average person. Just people who are plant nerds!

This book is an excellent botanical key listing a huge number of plants. It is not your average "audubon" guide, since it requires you to key out the plant in question using botanical systematics. Definitely a good reference book, but hard to use casually to find out what that tree is in your front yard!

John Steinbeck hated critics. More precisely he had a fierce resentment toward the indivduals who wanted to tear apart his life. As with most successful writers, their work is their life, and in my opinion no one described the lives and ways of the American people better than Steinbeck. Writing is ultimately about the chosen word, and for him ideas often become deep, describing a story within a story. Steinbeck won the Nobel prize for literature in 1962 along with James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins for their work on DNA. He won the award "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception." This particular volume contains his strongest work. I think that critics of his work were envious of Steinbeck's ability to entrance his readers, as only master storytellers are capable of. The Library of America bindings are wonderful and are the perfect size for a hardback of fiction. The best thing about LOA editions is that they hold up. The pages do not seem to yellow and the binding is strong. I have 10 copies and they are my favoite books. To me, reading Steinbeck is reading the best of American literature, and the LOA editions are great little books you can enjoy for years.

grapes of wrath is a great book. it is about a family that goes through ups and downs every chapter. and a man who wats to get his family back on track, cause his father lost his farm land in Oklahoma. So they head to California to find new jobs but there new jobs arn't the same as having there own land, cause when they had there own land they had no boss but when they head to Cali. they are not happy cause they are bossed around.

It is surely a shame that Mr. Steinbeck forever will be confined to the archipelago of socio-economico-political literature. Too often a smug reviewer writes of Steinbeck's "moving" portrayal of the Joad family and their struggle against a growing America. "Oh, how I can 'identify' with the Preacher!" HUMBUG. Mr. Steinbeck wrote words, not ideas. His art is exquisite and melodious and stock-full of imagery. His structure, even in the volumunious Grapes, is compact and economical. His style, even in the scientific Log, is artistic and exact. And his ideas, even in the idea-ed Harvest, are irrelevant. Buy this book. But don't buy it because the blurb on the back says something about the Joads being an American archetype of the twentieth century; instead, buy it because it is literature - American literature - at its finest. Every sentence. Every word.

Molly plunges you into the terror and humiliation of the greatest personal harm, the most intimate human betrayal, with raw courage and boldness, with the keenest understanding, the clearest, most vivid images, with exquisite, painful, beauty. She tells the truth of it. This is a gift beyond measure. Finally, you're not alone anymore. The closet door has been flung wide open and love becomes possible once more. She makes it so. Molly Fisk is a fine poet. I can't recommend her work highly enough.

If you have ever cared for a woman, buy this book.

Thank you Ms. Fisk for your terrifying but wonder insights into the word of pain, shame & humiliation shared by all incest survivors. It is heartening & frightening to realize both that we ALL, all men can & could be betrayers and abusers of trust. Users and abusers of those either in our power or under our protection if we just follow our desires. We could be but are not, are not because we chose to be better than the potential beast within. We are better men because we make conscious choices to be the best we can be instead of taking the easy path of choosing to have all the pleasure we can take, regardless of the pain and damage caused.

Your poetry, your pain ennobles us. It helps us to be the men we should be by showing so clearly the horrible damage caused and pain inflicted by being like your father.

Thank you. For all us us I thank you.

"Listening to Winter" is full of wonderful poetry, the poem containing the title line "Hunter's Moon" is so evocative of my youth that I gobbled the rest of the book in an orgy of reading and feelings. Then, hungry for more, read each line again slowly, as if sipping great wine.

"Sugar & Salt" let me FEEL what before I'd only glimpsed. "Couples" made me cry out in pain, yearning to talk to my long dead father. "Veterans" renewed the thrill of having lived when so many didn't, made me rejoice I came back whole enough to be healed by my loving wife. This wonderful book reafirmed my joy of being alive, of being part of this lovely world and in love.

If you love great poetry, buy this book!

Bright Blessing on you Molly, where-ever you are. Thank you.

I really love this book. I owned it and it wasa gift from my brother, Joe, many years ago. I've used the recipes many times! The sugar cookie recipe is the best ever and the pumpkin bread recipe is also. This year, 2001, I just cannot find it, I misplaced it when we redid our living room. I am so mad and sad, but happy I found it here at amazon. I made the sugar cookies anyway, from another cookbook, but they were just not the same.

P-p-p-please reprint! I also received this with an LA times subscription... It's a wonderful collection of outstanding recipes. I remember an "offbeat chicken salad" that was THE BEST SALAD I EVER HAD, and was actually GOOD for you! Also, a potluck just isn't a potluck without that amazing pumpkin bread... If heaven has a taste... I've tried other recipes with varying success, but a remarkable half of these are mainstay "keepers" for any recipe collection. Everyone will find something they love.

I got this book as a freebie back in 1983 with a newspaper subscription. Although I no longer live in SoCal or get the LA Times, it is by far the best of all the cookbooks I own (and I own many!). The cheesecake recipe alone has made me famous (I have modified it) amongst all my friends and it is constantly asked for for parties. I would love to be able to give this as a gift to others...please bring it back!

I thought I knew the Monterey region fairly well until I was given this book as a present! It is packed with great "bites" of information: natural history, human history, and how to get to all the beaches and parks. The writing is easy to understand, friendly in a way, and even fun. The maps are very helpful, and the book even has resource sections with phone numbers, website urls, and directions. AND, the photographs are stunning. A great gift for visitors, home libraries, or the glove compartment of your car.

I received this book as a gift and was immediately taken by the depth and breadth of this book. If you are traveling from Ano Nuevo to Monterey get this book! The author and photograper bring this spectacular shoreline alive with great descriptive copy and super photos(you've got to see page 136). Hidden beaches and other great spots that I would never have known existed. Great information about how to get there, what to do and how it got there. Get the family together, pack a lunch and bring this book. Guaranteed great day!

I have lived in Santa Cruz County for 15 years and thought I knew the Monterey Bay coastal zone very well--that is, until I read Jerry Emory's Monterey Bay Shoreline Guide. This Guide is the best--it covers both familiar territory and less well-known aspects of the Monterey Bay and its coastal towns. I've found myself consulting it whenever I make any kind of shoreline jaunt, from discovering where one can walk one's dog on a beach in Carmel to locating the best on-shore whalewatching sites. The photos are beautiful as well as informative. The organization of the book, which includes sidebar articles on specific topics, lends itself to easy access for both the casual and serious reader.

This debut book by Barbara Jones won the 2000 Georgia Author of the Year Award for "First Novel."

In "Moonlight Bowl Manifesto: A Cure for California," Barbara Jones has fashioned a wild satirical romp over social and political correctness. When a member of a bowling team comes up with an instant wood-eating formula, the bowlers hold hostage an auditorium filled with famous people by threatening to destroy a forest, particularly a famous tree called General Sherman. The book is filled with memorable characters, such as a woman who believes her pig is the reincarnation of her dead husband, and a lawyer who has to share her body with Margaret Mitchell and a hippie. Among the other strange folks is a celebrity who has to take medication to lighten his skin and maintain his feminine characteristics, until his privileges are taken away and strange things begin to happen to his mind and body. A fun read.

The funiest book I have read in years. If you liked The Mouse That Roared you will love this one.

Moonlight Bowl Manifesto is a bit wacky, a little wicked and lots fun. Barbara Jones dissects contemporary California society with wit and humor. When the bowling team 'kidnaps' the chi chi California crowd, chuckles and even belly laughs are inescapable. A wonderful read--thought provoking in the best tradition of well written satire.

Totally agree about the locals comment. I just moved here from San Francisco and found great stuff in the book to make me feel like a native. Well-written, funny, entertaining, and a great resource for anyone visiting or living here!

My husband travels to Los Angeles often for business
so he knows a lot about the city but I went for the
first time on his last trip. Since he was going to be
in meetings a lot I was worried about being on my own
so I bought this LA for Dummies guide and I'm so glad
I did! It was fun to read and so informative - it
even showed my husband the "LA expert" a few tricks.
I totally recommend it!

We visited Los Angeles for the first time recently and were worried about what we had heard - that the city is a big sprawling mess, difficult to get around, etc. All of which is true, but this book made it less intimidating and actually a lot of fun. We took the author's advice to heart and wound up not feeling like dummies at all! This is a great book for the first time visitor.

The book makes me happy in the sense that a mutt can make himself a part of a family, actually an indispensable part so naturally. The phrases used in the book are best chosen so that it is easy to read and feel the real emotion in it.

Rusty just had so many things to make you love him. It paints a true picture of some of the bad times along with all the antics he took part in. I'd recommend it to readers of all ages.

More Than a Mutt hits the spot for anyone who loves dogs. Roger did a great job of humanizing a very special dog's personality. Our whole family enjoyed the book and we highly recommend it.