Terry Hamburg'sGrand Entrances is an informative and compelling survey of attractive, artistic retail storefronts in San Francisco provides a closeup color portrait of some of the city's most colorful creations. Over eight color illustrations and photos capture everything from signage to murals and exceptional presentations. Art and architecture schools with sections on commercial art will find this a 'must'.

This book has heart and soul. The imagination and humor these storeowners and artists display is amazing! I especially appreciated the captions which tell the story of each storefront. The details are unexpected and funny. I also liked the Introduction which gives a great history of how San Francisco came to have so many "grand entrances." I know which book I will be giving to friends and family this holiday season!

Grand Entrances opens the door to the whimsy that is in the heart of San Francisco. The superb photographs capture the spirit of the artists, the shopkeepers who proudly display the creations, and the climate of the people who live in the area. This book rather reminded me of the children's book about the man who painted his house purple in a neighborhood where all the houses looked alike. However, in this case, everyone painted his or her storefront with wild imagination. Indeed, looking at the photos and reading the background about this era, I wondered if people at that time appreciated the beauty and creativity of the times. Personally, I savored the diversity of San Francisco. San Francisco encompasses all kinds of spirits, and this book captures that unique strength. Grand Entrances was fun!

If you want one lush, visually opulant but also well-researched book on the Greene brothers and their unique accomplishments in the arts & crafts style, and money is no object, this is the one to get. If it IS an object, Makinson's earlier, smaller paperback, Greene and Greene: Architecture As A Fine Art, will do nicely as a overview of their residential architecture career, but be warned----eventually you'll probably want color photographs. If you've ever visited one of their remaining houses that are open to the public, you know that the color tonalities of the rooms are a considerable part of their charm, and you've probably already bought this book. If you havn't, don't wait 'til it goes out of print. This is THE Greene and Greene book, coffee table or otherwise.

These are among the most beautiful architectural photographs ever produced. Most of these houses are difficult to see and quite difficult to capture in such vivid detail that it must have taken years to assemble such a portfolio. The writing parallels the images. The Blacker House in particular is so opulent and complex that it needs a monograph of its own. One only wishes this book were twice as long with even larger photos and lots more information! Thanks for taking the time to do this right.

I have been collecting articles and books on Greene and Greene for over thirty years and this book tops them all as an authoritative overview by the man who opened our eyes to a national treasure. What a treat for anyone who appreciates Greene & Greene architecture or who enjoys well organized, readable and lushly photographed architectural books. I purchased the book on October 17th at the Blacker House and can give eye witness testimony that these photographs do justice to the Greene and Greene masterworks.

If you like to paddle on the Calif coast, this is the book for you. My wife and I have paddled (we thought) most of the coast, this book brought us to places that we could only dream of. They way its laid out, you can plan for a part/full or overnight trip. Tips on where to go, what you might see, camping, lodging, ect are great. If you paddle the Calif coast, you will be happy to have this book.

Outstanding, useful guide to the coastal areas - greatly appreciate the tips on local conditions and access.

Roger and Jan's book gives seakayakers invaluable information regarding some of the most beautiful paddling areas on the west coast. The maps included with the easily understood text allow the reader to easily visualize the targeted area. This guidebook will be of interest to paddlers of all skill levels since most of the featured paddles also include intermediate and advanced level alternative routes. The sidebars scattered throughout the book impart interesting information about the area. This book is a must have for those interested in exploring the coast of California.

Education program from the 60s still lasts From the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet 28 September 1999

In 1965, with anti-Vietnam demonstrations at their worst, philosophy professor Joseph Tussman began The Experimental College Program at the University of California, Berkeley. His goal, education for the sake of the individual and of society, sounds like a dream for the jaded higher education of today. In Habits of Mind: the Experimental College Program at Berkeley, Katherine Bernhardi Trow evaluates the program and its long- term effects. While evaluation of education generally focuses narrowly on the short-sighted and fashionable, this book's great merit is its description of the long term effects. Tussman College lasted four years, from 1965-1969. Some 300 students were chosen at random to participate. Trow interviewed forty students who completed the program, and she paints a vivid picture of how they were affected, what they learned and what positive influence it had in their lives. Tussman maintained that it was the university's fundamental duty to reawaken interest and get students involved for the sake of principles which are fundamental for individuals and for society: to develop an exercise of power built on rational, democratic and constitutional principles; to increase sensitivity to humanitarian values and fundamental human problems; to cultivate and strengthen ways of life and ways of conduct which make it possible for humanity to continue a war with institutions and with a spirit of rational discussion to find solutions to problems. Democracy demands of its citizens a political interest and active participation. To do this, according to Tussman, one must educate oneself in a fashion which before the breakthrough of democracy was reserved for members of the ruling class. Students probed deeply into fundamental problems. They examined the interplay between freedom and power. They were taught to be responsible citizens in a democratic society and custodians of western civilization. The program consisted of two parts: a syllabus and a pedagogical method. The syllabus focused on big problems and cultural crisis periods in history which had driven great thinkers to tackle fundamental questions. The reading list consisted of classics, such as the Iliad and works by Plato, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Mill, and Marx, along with more current books, such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X. These were books by authors now viewed as "dead, white males." But students remember the reading as fantastic. Pedagogically, the program diverged radically from then-prevalent teaching methods. Teachers were recruited from various areas of study. All the reading material was read by both students and teacher, regardless of which subject the teacher normally taught. Lectures were held twice a week with all the students and teachers present, and smaller seminars were held. The students wrote essays every other week, and every day they jotted down thoughts and reflections prompted by books, lectures, seminars and discussions. These notes became an intellectual autobiography. The activities reinforced each other and formed a tight intellectual tapestry which stimulated and strengthened learning and education. It was, in short, a program which moved against the stream of mass education. The program seems even more radical if one considers that it, with its high standards, was established when the general trend was toward a relaxation of the demands on students and when Berkeley, like many American universities, was in a permanent state of uproar. What were the long-term effects? In the evaluation, the dense essay- writing comes out as highly valued and as a central force in the program-- at once challenging and entertaining. Essay assignments taught the students to think more analytically and abstractly. The students' linguistic ability was radically improved, in speech and in writing and as much in style as in grammar. The intense contact with the teacher, and the criticism the teacher provided in tutorials, played a constructive and crucial role. The lack of grades was positive. Instead of focusing on grades, one concentrated on the ideas and the knowledge for itself; competitive thinking was conspicuous in its absence. The important thing was to understand what one read and to be able to apply it in other contexts than the immediate one. It was not regarded as meritorious to memorize details in order to regurgitate them later. Tussman encouraged individual thought. The environment--a separate house and small groups --contributed to the feeling of a learned society and stimulated the students. The program helped students to grow intellectually and morally. Their ability to analyze, to adapt themselves quickly to new things, new environments and new problems and to view these from different perspectives grew. They acquired a better understanding of the world around them and a better ability to interpret and understand events in it. Empathy increased and led to intellectual satisfaction and a more content life, which is reflected in the professions in which the program's former students are now active: physician, journalist, attorney, civil engineer, etc. Why did the program cease if it was so good? The answer is brief: university bureacratic staffing problems and a certain amount of lack of interest in basic education at research-oriented Berkeley made the dedicated Tussman tire. The market has become an ideology instead of a means--even, with some exceptions, in academia. Students do not study to grow as a human being, but to satisfy the market. Within the not too distant future, perhaps we will hear a university or college president who, in a travesty of Kennedy's inauguration speech, will welcome novices with the admonishment: "Ask not what the market can do for you, but what you can do for the market." Doris Lessing calls the product of this competence-fixation the well-educated barbarians; those who have gone to school for twenty years, have brilliant records, but never read a book, know no history, and care only about knowledge in their field. That group does not include the graduates of Tussman College.

An important study of the impact of an intense collegiate experience on students.

An exceptionally rich and multifaceted account of an experiment which occupies an interesting and important place in the history of American higher education.

California has the most culturally diverse Indian ethnography of any U.S. state. Since California habitats range from coastal near- rainforest to dry desert, the Indians have developed a wide range of cultural and technological innovations to deal with it. The linguistic relations are also complex and diverse, a particular interest of mine, and I thought Kroeber did a fine job of discussing this, too. Altogether, Kroeber spent 17 years compiling and writing this great work, and it shows.

Some of the tribes understandably receive more coverage than others, because little was known about them at the time. For example, the Wappo and Washo Indians only have four and half pages each in the book, but the Yokuts section has 70 pages, but this is understandable given the original publication date of 1925 by the U.S. Government Printing Office. Since then, our knowledge of many of the tribes has become significantly greater, or at least less sketchy, but you'll have to consult other sources for that.

One notable thing about the book is the photos of various individuals, most of which could probably not be obtained today--such as the picture of the "Karok man in warrior custume in rod armor and helmut," or the "Hupa (man) measuring dentalium money against tattoos on his forearm," two truly quite striking photographic portrayals.

Despite its deficiencies (which are still modest considering how old it is), this still ranks as the best compendium of knowledge about California Indians, and one of the greatest ethnographies ever written.

On a personal note, I thought I'd mention I had Kroeber's son, Ted, as my psychological statistics professor at San Francisco State back in the mid-70's. Although I never had the opportunity to meet the father, Ted was a really cool psych. prof., and I enjoyed his class. He said his father would often tell him and his sister Ursula (Ursula LeGuin, who became a famous science fiction author), stories about the Indians when they were children, and he would occasionally regale us with stories about his famous father in class, which helped to break up the necessary discipline and technical rigors of a statistics class.

Alfred Kroeber deserves admiration as one of those men who ensured that our knowledge of Native American peoples would not be lost. He is perhaps best known as the friend of Ishi and, sometimes, for his concept of "culture" as "superorganic", but it is this work that I feel is his most lasting contribution.

Though some of the information has been corrected by subsequent researchers (checking Kroeber's work against more recent publications is reasonable), the Handbook remains useful to anyone who wants an overview or details about the numerous peoples who inhabited the state before the coming of the Spanish in 1769.

Where Kroeber is sketchiest is, of course, where the peoples had been exterminated before his investigations began shortly after the turn of the century. His work on the Yokuts and the Mojave, on the other hand, is extensive and helps us to understand some of the culture of their now missing neighbors. He has left no people unaccounted for. Thanks to this volume, interest in the California Indians has been stimulated for all time and with that interest has come a desire to preserve.

All California history lovers and anthropologists need this book on their shelves.

The content of this book is EXCELLENT. However, the "hardcover" version is just a hard cover slapped on OVER the paperback--not worth the extra $100+.

Readers seeking a full experience of John Steinbeck's literary style won't want to miss Harvest Gypsies, a selection of seven articles that Steinbeck wrote in 1936 about the plight of migrant farmworkers during the Dust Bowl migration. Black and white photos accompany his report on conditions and experiences, weaving a masterful selection of insights which go beyond history into personal observation.

Were the "Grapes of Wrath" published today, it may like other recent books, have been classified as historical fiction as opposed to a novel. I am thinking specifically of "Artemisia" that was published as both in different countries. How the work is classified is not critical, as either way it is one of the finest pieces of literature that has been written, and for many people, Steinbeck's finest work.

"The Harvest Gypsies" is a collection of 7 articles that Mr. Steinbeck wrote as a journalist. All were concerned with the issues he dealt with in the resulting book. This small volume is greatly enhanced by the photographs of Dorothea Lange, and the introduction of Charles Wollenberg.

One of the people the book was dedicated to was "Tom", actually Tom Collins, who was a manager of a federal migrant labor camp in California. The lines of fact and fiction are eventually blurred with him, as Tom Collins was the model for the character of "Jim Rawley" manager of "The Wheatpatch Camp" in "The Grapes Of Wrath". Ms. Lange's photographs could have been illustrations for Mr. Steinbeck's book, for when viewing them you can pick out the faces that could have accounted for the members of Steinbeck's epic.

This is a very brief book, but it portrays the migratory farm workers lives, as being even worse, if that can be imagined. A novel always offers the ultimate refuge of being fiction; these 7 articles and their photographs take away that solace. The brutality, random murder, and disease that was rampant, and the State of California that allowed the behaviors, are atrocious. In the context of one of the writings, one of the large growers who sanctioned the killing and starvation that was part of the agriculture industry stated that, "without a peon population the economy of California could not function". Steinbeck takes this statement of arrogance and ignorance, that is routinely spoken by any exploiter, and logically demonstrates that were this indeed the case, the state could no longer exist. For were it to continue to exist with its fascist policies, the most basic of Democratic rights would have to be absented.

Milk, that played so prominent a role in the book is spoken of extensively in the articles. Many of the most painful parts of the book were so common in reality, that the book may seem mild at times.

No matter how many times you have read the book, once this collection of articles are read, the experience of the book will not only change, I believe it will be enhanced.

Three of Steinbeck's social novels--In Dubious Battle, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men--are enhanced after reading this work. This work is the prelude to three of Steinbeck's most socially poweful novels. To fully understand what Steinbeck is striving to accomplish with Battle and Wrath, and to fully round out your history/literature lesson, it is essential to understand something about the socialist movement--birth of communisim--and the general exploitation of the fruit-pickers of California. The big businesses of that day, not much different from various big businesses of today, treated employees like machines--replacing them as needed--after being hurt on unsafe equipment, etc.--without regarding their well-being, or considering the hungry mouths of their families. The Harvest Gypsies is a crutial text in the study of California before uniouns began revolting against the machine.

This is one of two books that I owe about Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (the other book is "Confessions of a Rat Fink"). If you love hot rods and "Rat Fink" cartoons, both of these books should be in your collection. If there was a "Hot Rodder Hall of Fame", Big Daddy deserves to be in it. I grew up loving cars and I have several old comic books with cartoons drawn by Big Daddy. In this book, Big Daddy tells some of his secrets about the hot rods he built. Good pictures too.

This man is a cultural icon for the period, and this book allows him to tell his story, with counterpoint from other participants. The photos of the cars are great. This is not an unbiased history, but gives a flavor of the real character of this character. Highly entertaining read for the car nut.

this book is the bible of custom car fans and wanna be big daddys alik

I have been in a divorce battle for over 2 plus years, paying lawyer fees and not getting anywhere (stuck in the FCS system). Thanks to Robin Yeamans advise and her GREAT books, I have achieved more in 1 month then in the 2 years! I did it, and so can you! Barbara

As we learn more and more about the imperfections of the Family Court system, we find that the usual do your own divorce books just don't work for most of us. If you've used other such books and been frustrated because your case wasn't following the "ideal" path they described, then this book is for you! You should have this even if you are planning to hire a lawyer. You'll learn how to choose and work with a lawyer, how to spot a good/bad one. If you already got divorced, but a new issue is stirring, or you're having problems with your ex, you'll learn how to make changes-step by step. Robin uses clear, detailed, easy to read examples and a sense of humor to help you through one of life's biggest stresses. Includes all the forms you need (saving you time and money tracking them down) I could have saved thousands of dollars in attorney's fees by having this book and the knowledge it gives during my divorce. Knowledge is power, do yourself a favor!

Attorney Robin Yeamans -- who has a fantastic record as a trial attorney in family law -- has penned the ultimate guide for people going through contested divorces in California. Yeamans arms her readers with all the information they need to get through the legal process, from start to finish. I have used Yeaman's book as a reference many times, in investigating the California courts, and I highly recommend it to any litigant who wants to stay on top of his or her case, whether or not the person has a lawyer...

After reading this book I was not only able to help myself, but have helped a countless number of others. This book is a must read for anyone facing forclosure, or is upsidedown on their mortgage.
Don Viggiano, Rancho Cucamonga, calif.

This is the only book I could find that presents all the foreclosure options -- and it is written in a way that is easy to understand. No other book presents so much information in such an easy-to-use format. You can find remedies for your specific situation in minutes. I think it is a must for anyone who is facing foreclosure or for professionals who advise people on how to stop foreclosure and/or lower their mortgage payments.

Anyone facing foreclosure will find more than enough information in here to deal with it effectively while maintaining their dignity. The author looks at this subject from practical, legal and emotional viewpoints. They are all accurate and very helpful. The author's compassion for people and this subject is obvious.

Gun laws are such a mess, even the most conscientious citizen will have trouble figuring out what is legal and what isn't. In addition, the subject is so culturally polarized, it is impossible for those with a strong opinion on the subject to give a clear answer to common questions. Enter this great book. Too bad it's not available for the other 49 states...

If you live in California and own a gun, this book is as necessary as a first-aid kit and a fire extinguisher in your home.

The author uses common everyday English to explain the web of firearms laws in California. It is complete with examples and court cases that define the current legal condition in the state. This is a very easy book to read and is a must for every gun owner whether you're a firearms expert or considering buying a firearm for self-defense. I bought 10 of these books for friends and family last Christmas.