I'm an avid Monterey Area scuba diver who was on the verge of thinking I knew something about Monterey marine life. That was before I read this book. Despite my many hundreds of dives and many hours of time spent studying the things I'd seen this book opened my eyes to all sorts of things I'd never noticed before. Anybody interested in west coast marine life simply must have this book.

One of it's best features is the novel organization. It's broken up into habitat areas rather than by Phylum/Genus/Species etc. This really helps the reader understand the relationships between the various organisms. Also the photographs are truly exceptional.

Overall a real gem.

An exceptional book. Those tar spots on the beach, those yucky lumps of rotting kelp, those minor shellfish will all become fascinating interacting worlds for you. Beautiful photos that excite and succinct explanations that educate in a package that could well be an excellent coffee table book. We should all hope that this is what all nature books would become. I recommend this book to anyone interested in ocean life (not just Monterey Bay).

I am giving this book out as gifts to friends and relatives.

This book provides many many photographs of marine organisms found in Monterey Bay (California coast). The photographs are clear, well-reproduced, and organisms are identified by common and Latin name. This alone would be a good reason to buy the book. However, the authors went beyond excellent photography into detailed marine biology. For every organism, they provide fascinating details from the biology of the organism, often supplemented with additional photographs illustrating the phenomenon being described. I have taught chemistry, biology, and marine biology at the high school level, as well as being a SCUBA diver; I found this book to be full of new and fascinating information, well presented and carefully documented, with scientific sources cited (but not obnoxiously). I loaned this book to two high school students, one fascinated with marine biology, one not so fascinated, and they were both enthralled: "that book is so cool!" "did you know anemones fight?" One of the best books on the ocean environment I've ever seen; clearly a labor of love on the part of the authors.

This book is awesome! The pictures are excelent and the information is great. Nice to know what Mammoth used to look like before it became the famous place that it is today.

Anyone who likes skiing will love this book. Forstenzer's familiarity with the Sierra makes it one that won't just sit around on the coffee table. He writes engagingly and tells great stories about the early days of skiing in Mammoth and its culture, how the ski area was built and some of the people involved. The photographs are astonishing and well worth the price alone, but in combination with the writing Forstenzer lets us glimpse what made Mammoth Mountain the great ski resort it has become. This is a terrific book about past and present skiing days at Mammoth. Like most any ski item associated with Warren Miller - breathtaking!

Absolutely the most beautiful collection of photos of Mammoth and the surrounding area can be found in this book! It provides a wonderful history and insight into the creation and life of this skiing Mecca. This is a must have for any Mammoth lover!

In 1928, the St. Francis Dam, 50 miles north of Los Angeles, collapsed, releasing 12 billion gallons of water. The ensuing flood killed at least 450 people, caused millions of dollars of damage, and brought the career of legendary engineer William Mulholland to a tragic end. Charles Outland witnessed the disaster as a Santa Paula teenager. In 1963, he produced the first edition of this book, the most authoritative history of the subject. Virtually forgotten until then, the St. Francis tragedy remains little-known today, despite the fact that, measured in loss of life, it is the worst American civil engineering failure of the 20th Century. Outland's almost minute-by-minute retelling of the story, and his careful technical analysis, make this book highly readable and an invaluable historical record.

Outland's "Man-Made Disaster" (originally published in 1963)is probably the most complete volume of the story of the St. Francis Dam disaster of 1928. Outland's matter-of-fact narrative follows the course of the flood unleashed by the failed dam, providing tragic and heroic anecdotes along it's path of destruction. The book then goes on th tell the story of the 1928 investigation and coroner's inquest. The final chapter contains Outland's own theories as to the dam's collapse...theories that turned out to be very close to the truth as discovered in a modern forensic study made in the late 1980s.

Author Charles Outland was a teenager at the time of the dam's failure and witnessed the events described in his book first hand. The prologue contains a personal memory of an encounter with a flood survivor on the morning after the disaster. It is Outland's personal involvement that gives the text a clarity and emotional context rare in such non-fiction.

This book's original 1963 publication included a run of only 1,000 copies making it difficult to find. However, if you are an afficianado of California history, western water issues, or civil engineering, it is well worth your effort to locate and read "Man-Made Disaster".

I grew up in the Santa Clara river valley as did 3 generations of my family before me. I have heard the personal testimony of my relatives who where there at the scene. Charles Outland's book was like reliving those stories with my uncles and grandparents all over again. His book is the only account thats able to put this incredibly tragic set of events into a truely human perspective. It is also the only book that thoroughly explains the historical roots of the dam, it's principle players and the aftermath of the event. It took me 6 months to find a copy and at $175 it wasn't cheap. But, the content and concise quality of Outlands account made it worth every penny. Only 1000 copies of the First edition were printed so good luck finding one. I have read the revised 2nd edition (5000 copies printed) and consider it an even better historical referance than the first edition. In it, Outland adds a lot of insight and follow up material that were not available in 1963. I highly recomend "A Man Made Disaster" to any body interested in historical non-fiction. Steve Yewell

I worked in the Union Carbide Pine Creek mill for six years during the operations declining period. I am greatful for the experiences as an operator that I had in the mill and the sense of history that is there.I have hiked thru Morgan Canyon many times and after reading Joe Kurtacks book the "Mine in the Sky" it has really brought the history of the operation to life.I am greatful to Joe for documenting the history of this great tungsten operation.

I worked in this mine in 1952 and 1953. My brother worked in the mine for more than ten years. My wife's father worked at the mill during WW II. This is the finest book I have ever seen of it's type. The author caught the flavor of the Pine Creek Canyon and the people who lived and worked there. This was a unique mine with unusual methods of extracting the ore. I heartily recommend this book. The pictures are fabulous.

This is a wonderful account and fascinating story about many people working eighty years to mine and produce a product that helped our government when in need, and develop several types of tungsten compounds new to the world. It is a story and personal account of many who labored, raised their family and retired at the Pine Creek Mine. Impressive and detailed research was done, plus many actual photos. A must for mining historians and others. Don't miss this true account of one of the worlds greast tungesten mines of all times.

....and written with a lively and moving commentary. Well worthy the money and very informative, each chapter giving a brief history of a particular Mission, some personal reactions, and of course the photographs. The author went out of his way to eliminate contemporary influences like cars and planes and streets; the reader gets a feel for what each Mission might have looked like long ago.

Caveat: if you are aware of how much many of the so-called Mission Indians suffered under a system of religious slavery, you might not welcome the author's effusive tone. My reaction to visiting the Serra Missions was not spiritual delight, but anger, sorrow, and nausea. (My Cherokee ancestors walked The Trail Where We Cried.) At the same time, the author doesn't pitch religion; he photographs and writes up his reactions, and his sense of wonder comes through nicely.

Mission Memoirs recently won a 2000 Benjamin Franklin Award, and is one of 29 titles included in the Rounce & Coffin Club's Annual Western Books Exhibition.

I've never been much for history-- until reading this book. The photographs are lush and gorgeous; the text is rich and personal; the mere layout of the artwork is striking. It's really a wonderful work!

Every once in a while a book is written that changes everything. This is one of those books. This autobiography written by Darryl Babe Wilson about his Achomawi/Atsugewi (Pit River) Indian childhood in northern California is filled with wonder and lyrical beauty, and at the same time with painful tragedy and brutality. This is the masterful recounting of a personal journey that enfolds us warmly in a child eye's view ofWilson'sfamily and tribal relations, as well as the intrinsic and permanent relationship with theland in its ancient and essential dimensions. This book is simultaneously literature, an autobiography and the history of a People. Thebook begins with a dream in which Wilson is tested and reminded by the Elders of his responsibility to his People. It combines observations both minute and practical with those that sweepinglyencompass infinate place and time, understood both by the heart and mind. We are deftly drawn into a world that is simultaneously rugged and sweet. The family tragedy, the death of his mother and baby brother, and the subsequent family separation are described in wrenching detail, mirroring and paralleling the descriptions of historic events resulting from the lethal coming of whites into his homeland following the discovery of gold in California. Wilson places us, as readers, in a spot that is at the same time ancient, historical and contemporary. This is a story of growingself-assurance and human understanding as Wilson matures and comes to see the world from a broader vision, as well as his place and potential role within that world. He says, "...we must seek a power or a series of powers outside of ourselves which we identify as 'helpers.' Helpers can be a tree or animals, rocks or mountains, stars or flowers, frogs or rainbows. Helpers come to us in our time of need, and they guide our dreams." This book is utlimately the story of strength and power. Near the end of the book, he says, "For it was a song, according to our narratives, that caused all of the universe to have a beginning. We must seek within ourselves the spiritual terrain from our watu/ah'lo (spiritual umbilical cord) to the Great Power, cultivating our personal power and creating wholesomeness with our thoughts and intentions...It is taught in our lessons and legends, and by our Elders, that The People are responsible for life upon earth. Honoring the lessons then becomes a mandate from Great Power/GReat Wonder/Great Spirit that we are bound to obey. All people must obey the Great Law, so the sweetness of life can continue."

Every once in a while a book is written that changes everything. THE MORNING THE SUN WENT DOWN is one of those books. This autobiography written by Darryl Babe Wilson about his Achomawi/Atsugewi (Pit River) childhood in northeastern California is filled with wonder and lyrical beauty, and at the same time with painful tragedy and brutality. This is the masterful recounting of a personal journey that enfolds us warmly in a child eye's view of Wilson's family and tribal relations, as well as the intrinsic and permanent relationship with the land in its ancient and essential dimensions. This book is simultaneously literature, an autobiography and the history of a People. It is highly recommended.//This is a portion of the review by Susan Lobo that will appear in the journal NATIVE AMERICAS (Cornell)

from "Kirkus Reviews" (starred review): A slim, modest, and altogether extraordinary memoir of rural Native American life. Wilson, a poet and scholar from the Achumawe and Atsugewi tribes of northeastern California, came into adolescence in the mid-1950s, when his people had all but disappeared through assimilation or extermination. Blame for part of that disappearance he lays squarely at the door of whites; but, he adds, "the neglect of our Elders to teach us our traditions was equally damaging." His own parents did their best to teach Wilson and his siblings something of the old ways: how to hunt deer, how to tame rattlesnakes, how to listen for mountain lions, lessons that he imparts to his readers with precision and grace- and not a little humor. But when his mother and younger brother were killed in a collision with a logging truck, Wilson was sent off to live with white foster parents among unfriendly neighbors (he remembers, touchingly, one young girl "who did not accuse me with her eyes or attitude," principally "because we were not enemies"). Whe it appeared that his foster parents wanted to strip away his Indian identity, Wilson rebelled, for which he was sent off to a boarding school where the young California Indian charges were locked in their rooms at nights and punished by day for minor infractions. Wilson recounts these horros matter-of-factly but doesn't dwell on them; instead, he celebrates a teacher who sagely corrected his compositions, encouraged him to improve himself, and urged him to become a writer. Readers have reason to be grateful to that teacher as well. Wilson is a careful and compassionate obeserver of his life and those of other young Indians, and his book is a fine addition to the growing library of Native American autobiography.

I recieved this book as a gift. I read it in less than a day. It's absolutlry delightful and one those books one just can put down. It's filled with stories that warm the heart. It also is filled with unique, humorous, and tear jerking stories. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys animals or day-to-day life.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about animals or amusing anecdotes from the experiences of a veterinarian. This book opened up the possibility for me to pursue a career as a veterinarian. I recommend it to anyone and everyone. I only wish I could contact the author to thank him for writing this book, and giving me the opportunity to read it.

I just couldn't stop reading it ! THIS is the book you'll want to read to pass the time in an airport or waiting for someone in a restaurant, and yet you VALUE every book you read, not just some so-and-so story to pass time with but a really good novel with exciting, refreshing, humorous (humor IS the underlined word in this book - my belly ached, my eyes wet reading the book), yet down-to-earth story in which you'll also find sorrow, embarrassment, pride, and joy, all through the life of a humble (yes Mr.Herriot - he IS also a genious (and funny !) story teller)veterinarian. A great, compact, binded pieces of paper this surely is. Oh, and Doc Miller, if you're reading this, in chapter 15 about the nice people - the widow and her daughter, I think you LIED and YOU're the one who bought them the pu...well, any would be readers just have to derive their own conclusion about the story of the pretty and polite 16 years old and her widowed mother in chapter 15, when The Lord decided it's payback time to the nice people. Buy it, borrow it, in any case, read it. It's a great book. You'll have wonderful time reading it. Many people including me did. I still giggle everytime I remember some of his funny stories and look up at the sky everytime I remember the incident with the nice people.

Never Tell Mommy is an intensely personal and candid memoir that tells of pressure, resistance, misery, courage, and triumph through a childhood in a dysfunctional family with a sexually abusive father. Fifty years later, author Jackie E. shares the wisdom of learning to accepting the past as part of the self, rather than be haunted by it consider it an enemy. Never Tell Mommy is ultimately a tale of hope, written to show that even those who suffer unspeakable childhood trauma can live fulfilling lives. Highly recommended.

In this lively account of her childhood in a 1930's Los Angeles the author shows a zest for the magic of life that only comes with leaning how to take the good and step out over the bad to reach the stars of your life. How remarkable that at such a young age the author was able to determine her own boundaries of self so that she could decide when, where and how to love whom she would. Most people when faced with a similar choice do not have the awareness to cheerfully fill a shopping basket from their limited store of possibilities and, instead, throw the sky itself away out of the rage that they can't have all the stars they see.

"This book dropped my jaw more than a few times. The author takes you through her life in a sobering view of childhood neglect with a spark of spunkiness and humor that makes you pull for her all the way. Her innocence and Ann Frank type naivete seemed to have saved her from turning hard and bitter and left me feeling uplifted. For someone to go through that kind of adolescence and end up as a loving and well-adjusted person is amazing. It gave me hope."

I was required to read this book for an Anthropology class I took at Temple University and this was a great book. The Professor even went as far as locating the video through our video library for the class to view and it was interesting as well. This book was great! I would recommend it for reading even if you don't have to read it for a class!

Loved It!

I read this book a while ago and reread it every few years. It is wonderful and moving, unsparing but kind. I often buy it for friends.

Myerhoff, who was a leading cultural anthropologist, led the way in moving anthropological studies from exotic far-off locations to the study of near-by and familiar cultures. In her case, Myerhoff, a Jew herself, studied an elderly East European immigrant Jewish community in Southern California. The book is a subtle and compassionate ethnographic portrayal of their struggles, relationships, and religious lives centered at a local Jewish Community Center. Though materially poor and burdened by old age, Myerhoff shows that the people's lives are rich in tradition and ceremony. An Academy Award winning documentary was also made of the community carrying the same title.

I wish I had read this book first. I read Lisa's Flower Net and enjoyed it so much that I looked to see what else she had written. Finding On Gold Mountain (thanks, Amazon) I became immersed in the life of the author and her family. I have read so many stories of Chinese families in Mainland China and Taiwan, but this is the first I have read of the Chinese American experience. It is doubly interesting because of the marriages between Chinese and Caucasians, and how they resolved their cultural differences during a time when China itself was undergoing so many cultural changes. I highly recomend the book for its content and for its excellent narrative style.

Lisa See, in describing the journey of her family over one hundred years, also takes the reader on a literary journey. I have read many auto-biographical and semi-auto-biographical accounts of the Chinese diaspora and Lisa's book is amongst the best. We can read her book as an adventure and also as a history. A history about which she must be proud. This book has inspired me to write about my own family, who made a similar journey, over a hundred years ago, but in Australia

Lisa See's path to discover where and how she fits in in this gifted, and far from ordinary immigrant American family is as much your story as it is hers. Her writing is fresh and alive enough to hold your interest and make you want to hear more from and about this author. Her mother is Carolyn See, who has written a little about Lisa's history in her own book, Dreaming: Good Luck and Hard Times in America. Look over both books and be prepared to hunker down for a while.