This is a great book with some wonderful stories that should capture the heart of any success minded person.

I interviewed Joan Clout-Kruse on "The Inside Success Show" and discovered how success in Silicon valley is the same as it is everywhere. She shared lots of great stories that you'll love.

Here's some of what you'll learn from the book:
** Why you should learn how to believe in yourself
** What you can do right now to embrace change
** How you can 'catch' enthusiasm
** Why you simply must follow the all-important rule of life
** How you can keep failure in perspective
** And much, much more ..

Randy (Dr. Proactive) Gilbert
Author of "Success Bound" and editor of "Proactive Success" ezine

I found this book very refreshing. It is simple enough that it can sink in deeply and easily. The 10 traits are a great help to encourage and motivate. This book reminds of some of our other best simple classics.

Written by an expert on corporate management and self-actualization, Top 10 Traits Of Silicon Valley Dynamos by Joan Clout-Kruse is a collection of turbo-charged stories about the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and professionals who survived the cutthroat corporate world and achieved a dream to be rightfully proud of. Filled with activities to improve oneself and build confidence, Top 10 Traits Of Silicon Valley Dynamos is an insightful, useful, business "self-help" book, as well as an engaging journal of entrepreneurial success. An energetic and inspiring business book for the Fast World of the twenty-first century!

The Ultimate INSIDERS City Guide to Pasadena is so handy I keep it in my car! If I'm looking for parking, restaurants, or services, I pull out the Guide and find them in a flash.

I love this book! As a recent transplant to Pasadena, this has become an indespensible resource for finding everything from a late-night dry cleaner to the best coffee shops to where to tune your radio station to NPR. The maps are very user-friendly and make finding your way around town a snap! I keep one in my car at all times. I wish every town had such a practical guide. Now whenever I have a question, "I just ask Martha." It's almost as good as having her in the passenger seat. Thank you Martha! This book is a life-saver.

This book is extremly helpful getting around and finding the places I need when visiting Pasadena. It is a must buy for people moving to the area or just visiting on vacation.

This novel does what the writer Tom Wolfe says a novel should do: it goes deeply into a world that most of us don't know and brings back a lively and intelligent report that is well rendered and ultimately unforgettable. The story is tragic and hopeful and insightful and sad all at once. Good book.

This book was really good, I liked the humor that was in the book

Tervalon can write. There's not a sentence that doesn't fit. Every word is in exactly the right place and contributes to the whole, and yet the writing is so restrained and understated that you have no sense of the author's presence, but only of his many, extraordinarily vivid characters. The plot is the least interesting part of the book, but still it hooks you. The book, like life, has its melodramatic moments, but also moments of humor and lots of sympathetic insight into a host of interesting people trying, with varying degrees of success, to make the best of their lives. The abiding feeling left by the book is not the cliched angst of urban hopelessless, etc. etc., but something far more positive and difficult to describe, because the world of this book is far too complex and finely-drawn to be summarized in any string of adjectives. A terrific book.

I confess, I bought this book because a) a friend's work appears in it b) all the proceeds go to a great cause -- the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the U of C's San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center. I kept the book on my bedside table for a while but once I picked it up, I was amazed by how very very good it was.The book is rich in diverse, authentic voices -- it's brimming with humor and insight and sorrow and healing. Topics cover all the milestones of women's lives, as seen from the vantage point of different life stages and several cultures. Yet there's a warm, honest connectedness at the core that ties all of this together, like multicolored beads strung on one thread. I can't image that any thinking, feeling woman of any age would regret reading or buying this book. Another thing that's nice is that short pieces are mixed in with longer works, and there's poetry and travel essays too. What a rich buffet, and what a great experience it must have been being part of this writing group!

A little gem of a book which I carry with me as portable respite. The vignettes are short, but rich and soul-filling. Just this brief contact with another's world, reminds me to stay in contact with my own, and review its richness in terms of experiences, thoughts and memories.

This collection of stories written by women who attended a weekly writing group on Wednesdays is, dare I say, on par with Tuesdays with Morrie. It is a collection of stories that weaves the tales of these women's lives. The stories are at times moving, funny, poignant, compassionate, and resonate of the fabric with which women's lives are woven. You can pick it up, open it to a page, and start reading any story, but once you start, it will be hard to put it down.

this is one of the best books i have ever read and i am a book gobbler this book has a excellent plot and is very inresting just dont read it too often or else you will memorize it and it will lose all feeling

absolutely inspiring for anyone, any age who loves whales and believes we communicate

I first read this book in 7th grade, and I continue to pick it up and read it even now in College... Katz does an amazing job with her characters in this book, as well as others I've read by her. She captures the essence of the worries and angst a teen goes through. Adding her slant, the depression and isolation that the young girl feels, is her telepathic/empathic connection to a mother whale. This amazing book connects earths pollution problem, teenage life, and the idea of first love in a compelling format! READ THIS BOOK!!!!

As a person very interested in California history, I thoroughly enjoyed "When the Great Spirit Died" by William B. Secrest. It is the most informative and educational book I have read about the Native American Indian tribes of early California. Mr. Secrest's clear descriptions of the culture and way of life of California's first inhabits stirs the imagination. He vividly illustrates how cultures clashed with the arrival of the white settlers. He truly makes history come to life. I highly recommend this well-written book.

This history of the destruction of California's Indians covers a narrow time frame from 1850-1860, but documents a startling point in American history where Indians were slaughtered and hunted. When The Great Spirit Died probes the philosophy behind these killings, using source material references, previously unpublished material, and a host of vintage black and white photos to capture the terrible events. A 'must' for any Native American history collection from high schools through public libraries.

As Jonathan Kirsch says in the March 2, 2002 LA Times Book Review section (p.R2), 'Secrest reminds us that the California dream was a nightmare for its original inhabitants... For anyone whose knowledge of California history derives from bland grade-school textbooks, Secrest's book will be nothing less than shocking." An important supplemental history to the usual tales of missions and the gold rush in California.

Thank heavens for people like William Swain who took the time to record their personal stories and let it become, in a sense, a first-person history tale to people in the 21st century. Swain goes into great detail about his trials and tribulations and you begin to care so much about him, it almost becomes a novel. It accidentally sets the reader up for disappointment in the end by Swain reaching home and the story suddenly stopping. You'll find yourself asking, how did Eliza greet her papa? What did Swain do with the meager amount of money he made? What was Sabrina and her husband's first words to each other after an almost two-year absence? Of course, it's not Swain's fault for ending his diary at home. He merely kept the journal to update his family on his journey; not give readers 150 years later an autobiography. Holliday can not answer these final questions either and rightfully so, he does not try. You are left to ponder how it ended and hopefully, after reading so many emotional passages from William and Sabrina, you can use your imagination to answer the homecoming questions.

Holliday blends the information together wonderfully by arranging each chapter into three sections:

1. an overall historical account

2. Swain's diary

3. A Back Home section in which letters written to Swain from wife Sabrina and brother George are included.

The format works splendidly for the reader and keeps everything in a proper time frame. Holliday also includes scaled-down regional maps for every chapter which lets the reader follow along on a microcosm/macrocosm scope of the total journey. Holliday has also laboriously researched hundreds of other personal diaries and includes passages from them when Swain leaves gaps or when a quirky story can be added to intrigue the reader further. The World Rushed In is a fast read and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in Western US history or is just looking for a great story.

This is a superb, gripping and very personal account of one man's experience travelling to and from the California gold rush. The fact that Holliday had access to virtually all the letters sent from him and to him on the trail makes this book even more enticing. It made me feel that I was taking every step with William Swain on his journey, sharing in his joys and sorrows and those of his brother and wife back home. I thoroughly recommend this book, I couldn't put it down.

This book tells the story of my wife's cousin, William Swain. Swain witnessed over a hundred cholera victims, alive a day earlier, now buried in the sand banks of the Mississippi River. Bodies strewn along the Nevada trail, he viewed the tragedy. Ships, valued in the millions, he viewed abandoned in San Francisco bay.

As family members, we have John Holliday to thank. Moreover, I was thrilled with each page of Holliday's book. The 1849 Gold Rush extracted more from its participants, due to gold fever, than they got in return from the California mines. That's exactly what happened to William, who, in May of 1848, left his lovely wife, Sabrina, a newborn daughter, his brother George, and his farm residence in Youngstown, NY. William, in his heart, knew he would make it big in California country. At least he must try. And, Sabrina, not knowing the hardships and penniless outcome, gave her loving agreement. Along the way William witnessed death and deprivation, loneliness and hunger. He arrived hopeful in gold country, plied his efforts, and came away luckily with the skin on his back. He differed from most in one important way: William kept a journal. And, Sabrina and William wrote and saved their letters, from which Holliday made one of America's finest narratives. William, weighted with introspective highlight, wrote to George, "If you're thinking of coming out here, for [Gosh] sakes, do not!" William pleaded. Prospectors and miners everywhere, food scarce, prices high, California gold fields deluded nearly all. "And no one I know has gotten rich," William offered. William, beaten in his quest, longed to be with Sabrina and brother George. Ready to return, he had saved $400. He longed to bring it all home, to hand to Sabrina. But, think of it, did you ever try to get from Sacramento to Niagara Falls in 1850, while tired and broke? Yikes. No train. William would have to walk the same way home he came, over that horrible trail. He couldn't face that prospect. So, William scraped his pockets clean, and purchased passage on a ship, via Panama. Just one catch: There was no Panama Canal. That happened 60 years later. William made his way to San Francisco bay. He boarded ship. He endured sea sickness. He ate crummy food. He arrived at Panama, shaken. Next, he and all passengers traversed the 50 mile overland eastward trek with a guide. Threatened with abandonment in the jungle, he paid double. Weak, he arrived at the east side of the Isthmus, broke. William struggled on board ship. It traveled north, taking forever, to arrive at New York City. There, George, who knew to meet him from William's earlier letter, stood waiting at the gangplank. William, broke and sick, 25 pounds skinnier, staggered into his brother's arms. George helped William toward home, finally past beloved Niagara Falls, north to Youngstown. There, adoring, relieved, Sabrina faithfully nursed William back to health. Asked late in life if it was worth it, William avoided answering. He merely declared he loved his Youngstown. Can you read between the lines on that one? 'Nuff said.

Being a native Californian, I was immediately attracted to this book. Then I opened it. I fell in love with the wonderful little watercolor illustrations and personal journal format. I agree with a previous reviewer who made the comment that this is a nice little souvenir book. It's defitely a worthy addition to the bookshelf of a Californian or someone who just loves California.

I live in California and I am often asked how I can stand the crowds, traffic, smog, whatever? The fact is California is a very nice place to live and visit, and Ms Gessler catches the essence of this perfectly. You can easly read the book in about an hour, but will find yourself going back again and again to enjoy the little watercolors of plants and wildlife and special places that caught her fancy, it is a fun read.

A delightful read. Not a serious word in this little book of California - absolutely adorable. The illustrations are whimsical, the text is full of humor. I was right beside her experiencing everything and that which wasn't familiar I long to visit.

White Rabbit is first and foremost a good story well told. Set against the backdrop of San Fransico and the Summer of Love, Daniel captures a slice of Americana, without sentimentalizing it, and portrays the charcters through defly drawn scenes as the characters respond to the times and to each other carrying the story along.
The story glides as the main characters find and keep their humanity through the maze of powerful music, new ideals truly and twistedly expressed, social institutions that both grind down and allow for freedom, and the crazy, dog-legged trail of one person whose childhood and Vietnam experiences can't be left behind.
It's a good read. Daniel trusts both the story and his chararcters enough to let them speak for themselves; this is a great gift and let's the story pull the reader into it.
If you like a book you can't put down, pick White Rabbit up (I even took it to work and read it on breaks!) Kudos to Daniel for a story well told.

Daniel provides a good mystery, a thrilling story, and a walk back through the "Summer of Love," in White Rabbit, a page-turner that is also of the highest literary quality. Not to be missed...not only for those former flower children who lived through Haight-Ashbury, not only for Boomers who wished they had, but for all readers who enjoy a good scare, a good mystery, and a wonderfully-written book--something rarely seen in this genre. The 60s setting is amazing. You can almost smell the pot...you can certainly smell the flowers...and the blood.

In a wonderfully written book, David Daniel has taken the reader back to 1967 Haight-Ashbury and the Summer of Love. In a wild trip you will experience music,love, drugs, murder and mayhem.

There is a killer loose and the victims are as nameless and lost as he/she is. Partner a down on his luck San Francisco inspector with a young, attractive writer for an underground newspaper and you have an odd couple hoping to catch an elusive prey before The Summer of Love becomes The Summer of Blood.

I recommend this book for all of you who were there in the 60s' and all of you who wish that you were.

An "Elegant Book of California Flora" (as stated in the preface). The book has ~135 gorgeous plates of wildflower pictures, some closeup and some landscapes. The flowers are identified with both common names as well as scientific ones. Dates and locations are shown for each photo. This book is more a photographic study than a wildflower identification book.

I bought 2 of these for gifts and 1 for myself. The drawings and photos in field guides are always too small. The pictures of flowers in this book leave no doubt about what your're looking at. Non-native (alien) species are identified. Even pine cones and insects are identified. The introduction about habitats, pollinators, soils, climate,etc. is well written. There is a discussion about cameras, lenses and film used. This is not a comprehnsive field guide, but it will help most amateur naturalists identify many common plants. I love this book and hope the authors continue their wonderful work. Last, but perhaps most importantly, this book is incredibly afforable.

This is a book to cherish. Larry Ulrich's large format photography brings us into a world of beauty. From the grand views to the tiny details, everything is perfection. All flowers were taken in their setting and at their best. I have the 1994 edition. Printing is one of the sharpest I have seen and colors are sumptuous.