This is a great insider's look into San Francisco. Whether you live in the city, or are just there for the weekend it is a must have. The shops/restaurants are all broken down by area, and there are maps that will get you anywhere. There are so many unique places in San Francisco, and this guide has scouted them out for you. It would make a great stocking stuffer.

Get ready for this visual journey. There is no other guide book like it. I love the pictures, I love the descriptions, I love learning about the people behind their businesses. If you're looking for a new way to look at an old city - this is your book.

The Crown Guide takes a very different spin on a City Guide. It gives insight into various types of truly unique businesses in the City that are not the standard trendy places so often frequented by the SF crowds. From delectible new bars restaurants, to unique shoe and clothing boutiques, to creative home stores, the Crown Guide has selected excellent places to check out. Adorned with great color photos of these unique establishments and their owners, you get a great sense of what each one offers. As a San Francisco native who likes to try out all the interesting places in town, I've found several cool new places I was unaware of and have been pleasantly surprised with those I've visited so far. For those daring tourists who want to get to know SF beyond Fisherman's Warf and the Cable Cars, a definite must!

This is a part of California history they never taught us in school. Frances Wood takes her young readers to a time, a place and a culture they might otherwise have missed completely. Cesa is the spunky daughter in an aristocratic Mexican family in what will become California, USA. She's grown up in a world of wealth and privilege, fully expecting her life to remain that way. She learns otherwise when the rude, smelly Americans show up, with golden expectations of their own. Madrugada means dawn -- and that's what this is, the dawn of a new era in California, in Mexico, and in the life of this very appealing heroine. The story will tug your heart.

Thirteen-year-old Cesa de Haro lives and breathes the vast and beautiful Rancho del Valle de la Madrugada where she lives grandly with her father, brothers, grandmother and their many servants. Her mother has died eight years before and Cesa has since grown up as a proud, pampered and head-strong child who both chafes at the limitations imposed on women in her culture and experiences her budding sexuality for the first time.

Mexico has lost the war of 1846 to the United States and history soon overshadows Cesa's personal concerns. Her beloved California now belongs now to the crass Americanos who invade her once-secure Rancho. greedy for land, gold and contemptuous of Cesa, her people and the culture of all Californios. A strong and moving coming of age story with a defiant Californio heroine who discovers her interior power as her outer world changes forever.

What a compelling read this was! Cessa, the thirteen-year old protagonist, is a feisty, engaging character on the cusp of womanhood and resisting it mightily. The Gold Rush era and the Mexican-American War provide a thrilling backdrop to this story of change, both natural and forced. Buy this book today, and settle back for a rich, lyrical read that rewards readers of any age. And whatever you do, don't miss the scene with the Grizzly Bear!

I have seen many books on fishing, but "The Definitive Guide" is maybe the best ever. Not only does it cover locations that most of us don't even know they exists, they are all described in great details. If you read the book and then visit the places, you will agree, that the research done was excellent. And the photos, Wow!!

Dont buy a lot of fishing books because few seem to have updated information, but this one was rigth up to date and talked about things at my local lake that i've fished for 20 years that i wasn't even aware of. What i liked was it was the first fishing book i've seem with color photos of each lake. I wasn't used to that. This guy did a good job

This guide gave me everything from A to Z about fishing in southern california. It hepled me pick out the best places to go and gave me the easiest and quickest means to get there. The full color photos were just a bonus to the most complete book I've seen about fishing Southern California. I'm very impressed by the fact that the Author has traveled to each and every destination he writes about. By adding colorful real life experiences to the book, it is not only a great guide book, but also an interesting and enjoyable read. I recommend this book to all types of fisherman who plan on fishing the Southern California region.

This well written book is a "must have" for those who enjoy exploring the desert. The authors personable writing style, trip routes, and historical information make this a good book. But, the authors illustrated love of the desert and it's solitude and beauty make this a fantastic book. Those who love exploring the desert will treasure this book. I have a hundred or so books about the deserts, and this one is in the top three. When I need to relax from the days work load, I open this book; I'm taken from my office into the desert; My office chair becomes the front seat of my jeep, desert breeze in my face, while ghosts of yesterday's jackass miners abound.

Guidebooks are a particular fascination of mine. Where to go, what to see, and how to get there, all form the basis of many a road trip. Desert Dancing, a new book devoted to the California desert country, goes beyond being a simple A to B guidebook. Len Wilcox has put together a volume of information that takes you along as he explores the region. In a friendly, and enjoyable manner Len writes of his personal adventures off-roading in the rugged reaches of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, as well as Death Valley. It is obvious Len is one of the new generation of Rainbow Chasers - those who ventured West in search of gold. However, it is not the gold of the 49'ers Len is seeking, it is the gold that lies in the history of the people and places of the Desert lands. Subtitled, Exploring the Land, the People, the Legends of the California Deserts, Desert Dancing introduces not just the wonders of the desert, but some of the people who make the small towns and wide spots more interesting than any city in the world. Desert Dancing reads like the journal of a friend, who, in a highly readable style, shares with you a wonderful trip. Excellent research, combined with an in-person familiarity of the subject at hand, makes this a necessary volume for anyone considering a trip into the desert, or for the armchair explorer who wants to gain a sense of what the desert is all about.

Wow! This book places you right there, there in the desert. You can feel the heat, see the the old west as it was and what it has become. Wilcox seems to take you on a trip without you ever leaving your seat. This books makes you want to pack up your vehicle and head to the desert. But don't leave home without the book, you'll get lost in that vast sea of sand without it. Read this book and you'll enjoy what the California desert really has to offer. Water, water,water, please!

I've gone through several dessert cookbooks and this is by far the best one. I consistently get "wow"s from the recipes. You will not find these recipes in any other cookbook. I hesitated on some of the recipes because they sounded too "weird", but when I ended up making them, they produced wonderful flavors. I've even seen some of the recipes show up in upscale New York City restaurants. A woman at work told me "That's the best baklava I've ever had and I'm from Greece!" All the instructions are easy to follow and the desserts don't take forever to prepare like a lot of other cookbooks. Cindy Mushet - please do another cookbook!

Cindy Mushet has accomplished a difficult task - that of creating a dessert cookbook chock-full of truly original flavor combinations, warm prose and explicit instructions. Several recipes grabbed me off the bat: a pistachio cake with a nougat cream enhanced with the flavors of honey, Amaretto and orange; one of several baklavas with pistachios and apricot with an orange cardamom syrup and a filo pastry with figs, almond paste and lemon. For chocolate fanatics there's a marbleized chocolate velvet tart and a chocolate souffle roll with rum and mascarpone. This book will complement any already in your library and I will certainly refer to it often. Buy it; you will love it!

I am very glad that Cindy finally came out with her own cookbook. This book is a consolation after she ended her wonderful new letter "baking with an Americam harvest". It is refresing to get a dessert book that doesn't get its inspiration from overused France but instead uses the middle east. That is not common and the use of flavors and ideas from that overlooked part of the world makes this dessert book valuable as well as unique. I am looking forward to using it. Robin

"Dying To See You" is a must read for anyone who likes a fast-paced, suspenseful mystery with characters that come alive on the page. Margaret Chittenden uses her formidible talents to write the worst case scenerio high school reunion. There's danger, romance, and fun throughout and I dare you to guess the ending.

Charlie Plato fans will be delighted with this fifth book in the series. New fans of Ms. Chittenden will read "Dying To See You" and rush to buy the previous four Charlie Plato books.

Dying to See You By Margaret Chittenden

Before I review this book, some disclosures are in order. I've met Margaret Chittenden ("Meg" to her many friends) at many mystery conferences and I consider her a good friend. In fact, I'm able to write this review because Meg was kind enough to send me an advanced copy of "Dying to See You." Having said that, I should also say that I've been a fan of the Charlie Plato series since the first book, and I enjoyed this latest book in the series immensely.

I enjoy this series on two levels. As a fan, I like the gang at Chaps, the country-western tavern located in an upscale community near San Francisco where the mysteries are set. They're a good lot, with problems, a past and individual personalities that make them come alive with a vibrancy that makes them seem like old friends. The narrator of the series, orange-haired Charlie Plato, is a woman with an attitude. You have to admire her spunky nature, although I'm frankly puzzled why she continues to resist heart-throb Zack Hunter (former TV star and, in this book, erstwhile male model). As Charlie admits, her "hormones" run riot when she's around Zack.

As a fellow writer, I also admire this series because it's so well put together. Meg has written over 34 books (some selling as many as 780,000 copies!), and she knows how to write. She's extremely skillful at handling a large cast of characters, making each character distinctive without resorting to outlandish quirks. Meg teaches writing and her abilities show through in this series.

In this particular book, the action starts with Charlie making a frantic call to Zack because of something going on at Chaps. Zack rushes down to the tavern, but his reaction to what's happening is unexpected (or, if you're familiar with Zack's character, maybe it's totally expected).

Because of this opening incident, Charlie is reluctant to rent Chaps out to private parties, but the partners of Chaps are convinced to let a High School reunion occur at the tavern. Big mistake. Charlie's penchant for finding bodies and getting into trouble are once again exhibited, and a corpse is found in an unusual -- and unusually embarrassing -- location (I predict this will become known as the "body in the potty" book). Events of the past cause a death in the present, and Charlie and Zack are left to unravel both the who and the why of this crime.

If you enjoy mysteries with a light touch and a deft hand, you'll enjoy this book and the rest of Charlie Plato series.

Everything is quiet at Chaps, a country-western nightclub on the San Francisco peninsula. Former TV star and still sex god Zack Hunter, divorcee Charlie Plato, Angel Cervantes, and Savanna Bristow own the popular establishment. For a change there is no body in the flowerbed or Zack's car, leaving the four partners concentrating on ways to increase profits such as renting Chaps for a night to various groups.

Savanna persuades her former high school classmates to hold their reunion at Chaps. On the night of the party, Charlie and cohorts meet revered teacher Reina Diaz, who many students feel saved their lives. During a break, Charlie goes to the ladies room where she finds a dead Reina, whose neck has been broken. Charlie begins to investigate the murder. Her actions place the four partners and their establishment at risk from a killer who prefers to remain anonymous.

The Charlie Plato mysteries are progressing at a nice rate, especially the growing attraction between Charlie and a celibate Zack. DYING TO SEE YOU is a great mystery as well as an insightful relationship drama that will widen marvelous Margaret Chittenden,s fan base to the latter sub-genre. The who-done-it is cleverly constructed and difficult to solve because the villain acts like one of the heroes. Readers will die from impatience waiting for the next tale of featuring this fearsome foursome.

Harriet Klausner

Empty Shells: The Story Of Petaluma, America's Chicken City is the meticulously researched and superbly presented history of Petaluma, California. A small town 38 miles north of San Francisco and straddling a gentle river, Petaluma was justifiably known as "The World's Egg Basket". In the 1920s, millions of glossy white eggs were shipped by train to New York City where they brought top market prices because of their uniform high quality. Empty Shells is the story of the rise and fall of this unique poultry oriented community and the contemporary presence of abandoned hen houses scattered over the southern Sonoma County landscape. Illustrated throughout with period photography, Empty Shells is a marvelous work of local American history which makes for informative, fascinating reading.

Empty Shells: The story of Petaluma, America's Chicken City is much more than the title implies. Beginning in the 1500's with the "discovery" of California's coast, Thea S. Lowry chronicles the social changes and technological advances of America through the eyes of Petaluma's poultry industry. She notes the changes within the poultry industry, from assembly line manufacture of incubators, to the advances of transportation and roadways, to progress in the medical field (from using nicotine and mercury cures to modern day Coccidiostats and Tetracyclines). From marketing a few dozens of eggs or birds a year by individual farmers to the million bird co-operatives, the poultry industry has led the way, and reflected much of modern day business models. As the majority of these changes happened in the last century (or in the span of two lifetimes), Empty Shells is a must-read for anyone interested in a true perspective as to where our society is today.

This is a fascinating book and well worth reading - even if, like me, you have no connection with Petaluma or chicken ranching.

Thea Lowry has meticulously researched the history of Petaluma and how it came to be the Colossus of egg production in the USA - in its heyday producing 450 million eggs a year. She also catalogs the subsequent decline of the industry and records the vanishing traces of its former prominence.

A book such as this could easily have turned into one of those numerous local history books recording the facts and figures of Nowheresville, USA. Ms Lowry has, like her birds, a beady eye and brings alive the history of Petaluma and its industry through dry wit, judicious use of anecdote and magnificent photographs.

This book was more than 10 years in the writing. The product of such effort is evident in every aspect of it. The book has some truly amazing photographs - from the cover picture of a collapsing chicken shed to the memorable picture of a rancher standing next to such a shed but dwarfed by what can only be described as a mountain of egg shells outside it.

It's a great book - I loved it.

Judy Wells said: "To be an artist is to embark on a lifelong spiritual quest." In "Everything Irish" Judy joined poet Dale Jensen on a trip to dig up her Irish roots. She makes the reader feel the harshnes of the brutal land. She puts your face up against the moist stones. She saved and dreamed about her trip. And then one summer her dream turned to green. The book is divided into three parts. Part One is "Everything Irish In a Nutshell." It recounts her Catholic girl upbringing. I related strongly to this litaney because of my parochial school days at St. Mary's Catholic Elementary School. I remember we were required to attend confession once a week. I din't commit enough sins to earn my regular penance of five Our Fathers and five Hale Marys so I invented sins. I claimed to have poisoned the city drinking water. I declared that I planted bombs on random perambulators. Judy recreates the days when the nun loomed tall in her habit. I remember nuns walking down the hall with rosaries the size of bicycle chains. "Waking the Dead", part two is the molten core of the book and carries green waves of Irish history. "Warp Spasm" evokes the hero Cu Chulainn who knew the secret language of poets taught to him by his foster father & poet Amairgin. Judy mentions the Goddess Briget who in the literature of early Ireland was the goddess of poetry and wisdom. "The Cliffman" takes us back to the "father" of the documentary, Robert J. Flaherty who shot his movie "Man of Aran" on a barren island off Ireland's west coast. Part Three is "Hunger". It deals with her return to Berkeley and her job as Academic Counselor. After three summers in Ireland Judy took a vacation in Hawaii. She writes in "Antidote" that she wanted the sun to "penetrate my bones". She wanted to "scoop sweet, succulent orange flesh from the papaya instead of opting for a baked potato one more time so I could drink the antidote of my own green culture." The last poem describes an Irish wedding in America. The couple plan to call their first child Shasta. "The trees and grass are green and fertility is in the air". This poem concludes her Irish experience, the rerooting of Irish culture in America to the point that the parents name their chlld after a mountain in California. "Everything Irish" traces the influences on Judy Wells that combined to shape her into the great Berkeley poet she has become. It is a personal and universal journey into the heart of self discovery. Her life and work are a continuous spiritual pilgrimage.

As I read "Everything Irish" once more, I literally and figuratively shiver with joy, sadness, laughter--with everything that is deep and poignant and true about it. It moved me tremendously in many ways as I read the various poems and moods of the book. This work is a wonderful, significant, powerful cultural and coming of age achievement. The author evokes the spirit of a proud and complicated people, and seamlessly unites the past, the present, and the future. The harmonies of this book are the written counterpart of Irish bagpipe tunes and haunting Celtic melodies as well as Irish jigs! Nancy Zak

Wells' poems are wonderful vignettes and moment-in-time, telling about the Irish experience in America, with glimpses of Ireland itself. Although they are easy to read, and will often make you laugh, they also have depth and poignancy. A "good read" that you want to keep going back to read again.

This book is easy to read and it writen in "plain" english. I finaly understand what and how some of the Workers' Comp laws work and was very pleased. I recommend this book to anybody who is in the workers' comp system and is trying to understand the law and how to go about it.

This book made it very easy to understand all the rules regarding workers comp. without all the confusing legalese found in the other books I tried. The forms included with the book came in very handy and made the whole process much easier than I expected. The tips and recommendations provided throughout the book are great! Before I read this book, I thought that I had no rights as an injured worker, now I know that I do have many and I know how to use access them.

I have purchased other books written about worker's compensation and I have to say that "Facts Every Injured Worker Should Know" is definitely more comprehensive and detailed than all the others. This book covers everything about California's worker's compensation system, and is written in very simple easy to understand terms- two thumbs up! After reading this book, I now understand my rights as an injured worker.

Kevin Sweeney has created a whole world in Father Figures, giving us not only a strong portrait of what it is like to grow up without a father, but also of a modern Catholic childhood. His writing and insights are strong and often simply beautiful. He's a wonderful story teller and will keep any reader turning pages long into the night.

Following the devastation of September 11, 2001, the author of the remarkable new memoir, "Father Figures," wrote an online essay to remind Americans of one of the grim realities of that day: the thousands of children who were suddenly left without a parent, and what others could do to help these kids as they made their way from grief to growing up. The response felt by many to that first essay led to the writing of "Father Figures."

Kevin Sweeney knows an unfair amount about this sad subect. His own father passed away when he was three, leaving a loving but now nearly destitute mother to raise six children alone.

The Sweeneys, without a father, husband, provider, faced a grim challenge, but the young boy named Kevin was determined to work his way through the loss.

Each child who loses a parent must inevitably come to terms in his own way, but Sweeney, by some quirky inspiration that only an innocent youth could summon, came up with a novel solution. He would adopt a father; in fact, three. Secretly. Without their knowing it.

His plan was simple: without a father of his own to guide him, he knew something was missing, so to fill in the chasm he would select the best, the wisest men in his small world, watch them, learn from them, but never tell. And bask in their glow when he was brought into their gentle orbits.

His powers of observation as a child serve him well as an adult. Sweeney has rendered wonderfully a world that is so quaintly American, so hopeful, that one wishes to step back into it, if only for a sweet neighborhood picnic, or a summer pick-up baseball game with the kids. A time when an entire suburban block came out to cheer the neighbor girls on their way to the prom. That was all in the outdoor world of youth. Inside was a different story.

They were tough times growing up, and Sweeney brings alive an almost Dickensian tale of the private sacrifices his family endured for years after his father died. Nor does he pull punches when, growing up, he begins to discover some of the flaws of hiw own beloved dad. Refreshingly, Sweeney tells this story without a hint of bitterness. The optimism of a boy who is determined to survive and flourish is alive and well in the grown-up who set out to record his past.

Sweeney has done a remarkable job in showing us how a child navigates, poorly at times, the shifting tides of growing up, the yearnings and fears and disappointments. But also the joys and thrills of the little victories, like learning to hit a curve ball. He is funny, honest and blunt and does not spare even himself from his critical eye, not even when it comes to reliving those inexorably dumb decisions adolescent boys seem driven to make.

Above all, he is a gracious and grateful memoirist, and that spirit rubs off on his readers. He is grateful for these three remarkable men and how they, chosen secretly by a bright, fatherless boy, helped him steer his way. It is a wonderful tribute to them, surrogate fathers who deserve a pat on the back from all of us who read Sweeney's memoir.

This account of a young man's search for someone to teach him the lessons and values that his dead father could not is a beautifully written, thoughtful book. His style of writing is straightforward and candid, as the struggles of his large, financially-strapped family are detailed. Especially well-drawn are the three men he chooses as father figures, and his strong yet vulnerable mother. It would make a good book to give to a man who may have served this function in your life, or someone in need of a father figure.