This early Silicon Valley mystery may be the best. Great stuff in Japan too relating Zen to computers. An original book.

In Roger L. Simon's CALIFORNIA ROLL, Moses Wine, one of my favorite contemporary private eyes, tries to sell out, and he fails miserably. Tulip Computer, hires Moses to head up its security department, but the counter-culture PI remains true to his roots. Simon also presents a terrific detective story here with the murder of a technogenius, a satirical examination of the computer industry, international intrigue, corporate espionage, and a bit of romance. CALIFORNIA ROLL is one Simon's better Wine novels. I wish he'd write them more frequently. I enjoy his perspective on the California social scene. You'll like this book if you enjoy the works of Connelly, Crais, Muller, Grafton, or T. Jefferson Parker.

Stewart tells us a splendid story. In 1840, California was there to be settled, but how to cross the deserts and mountains to reach it? Beginning with the Bartelson Party in 1841, pioneers blazed ever-better trails that avoided deserts, followed water, and crossed the mountains, especially the forbidding peaks of the Sierras. But even though trails improved, they were still treacherous, as shown by the doomed Donner Party in 1846. We get a fascinating picture of the West, and Stewart even takes on a trip along the California Trail, from Independence, Missouri to Sacramento via Fort Laramie, Wyoming's South Pass, Nevada's Humboldt River, and over Donner Pass. If you enjoy travel or American history, you can spend many, pleasant hours with this book.

Because my family also migrated to California (albiet in 1993) I have been interested in the history of the settling of the American west. This book was wonderfully informative but also very compelling reading. It chronicles the annual human migrations from the Missouri to California, including the ill-fated Donner party (in 1845)and the famous "49ers". The author did a very good job comparing the immigrants mode of travel, unique difficulties faced during each of these migration years, route finding and heroes and villans, and the sweat and tears progress which lead to the wider opening and settlement of the west.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of the settlement of the west or anyone who just wants to read a good old-fashioned adventure story based in historical fact.

California's El Camino Real is the first book to document the growth of El Camino Real and the bells which have marked it for almost a century. Collections strong in California history won't want to miss this coverage: it includes numerous vintage black and white photos, maps, and a smooth coverage of the bells and the El Camino's changing history.

I've always loved el camino since I was a kid so I wasn't sure I had anything to learn about it--boy was I wrong! There is such a wealth of history that I knew nothing about, and this book has it all! Now I can appreciate the road's famous marker bells so much more, knowing how much hard work went into them. I bet a lot of hard work went into this book too, and I am grateful to Mr Kurillo and Ms Tuttle.

A marvellous book, which is a terrific companion to more wordy books about the social and economic history of southern California in particular.

I was given this by an LA friend on a recent visit. I had read Mike Davis and Norman Klein and a slew of LA noir fiction. This book puts into pictorial splendour the boosterism that made sunny CA the honeypot it was/is.

The reproductions of posters are of marvellous quality in a book so affordable. It makes a great souvenir, different to much of the coffee table books or mass produced souvenirs. It is a thoughtful collection that would also delight any serious student of California's social history.

As the short introduction says 'Rarely has one geographic region been the focus of such intense visual interest as the state of California' This well produced (and inexpensive) paperback manages to capture the feel of the new Eden. The pictorial material is mainly from the 1930s to 1950s and includes a wide range of printed ephemera (a Sunkist orange wrapper to NBC Radio City, Hollywood, Studio Tour brochure for example) and I liked the nine examples of three-dimensional maps, unfortunately shown too small to really appreciate the detail. All the favorites of the State have a showing, the Giant Redwoods, Death Valley, Hollywood, Dude Ranches, San Francisco etc. The images are illustrative rather than photographic and this is why I think the book works so well, you can see how commercial artists have been allowed portray California as big, bold and bright.

First published in 1886, California: A Study Of American Character: From The Conquest In 1846 To The Second Vigilance Committee In San Francisco is a study providing an early history of California and which seeks to provide a more realistic assessment of the state than most. Josiah Boyce found he could not trust many of the historic narratives about the state's founding, and sought a more candid, realistic view of the pioneers. Fact and myth are contracted in an important history which pulls no punches.

....but Royce is a very fine writer, and his book on California history, though penned long ago, makes very interesting reading. At the center of the book is Royce's discussion of Fremont's role in the conquest of California, and the conclusions he draws after interviewing Fremont himself and even showing him parts of this book. Definitely required reading for the student of California history.

This is a coffee table book full of photographs of California's diverse and varied climates and regions. The theme of the book is California's land, and the relationship Californian's have had with the bounty of their state. The book begins with an introduction by State Historian Kevin Starr and a pictoral history of each region of California. The book can be appreciated for its beautiful photographs and its engaging text. One can understand, after reading this book, the emotions that the beauty of California provoked in naturalists like John Muir and others.

I was given this book today as a conservation award -- it couldnt have been a nicer suprise. the pictures and illustrations are magnificent, and the text is enrapturing. This is a book i will save to share with my children.

As stated above, this book is outstanding. Weurthner doesn't use schmaltz or gross florid language to help readers better understand the varied CA wilderness areas, and his knowledge is super accurate. GW also doesn't insult readers by giving ridiculous and pedantic trail descriptions (you know who you are Jeff Schaffer and Company!). This book resonates with a lot of dignity and will complement those automatonic guidebooks that you already own.

I absolutely love this book. The pictures are outstanding. I love his style of writing. He's very matter of fact and tells it like he sees it. Hiking the areas he describes is what I want to do when I retire. Forget the rocking chair.

Caryl Chessman takes you with him in his incredible life,he is not looking for any excuse to his crimes, he explains why he became a criminal and what the "system" should do against crime.For the first time you hear the thoughts, the feelings and the opinions of an inmate and when you finish the book you feel that a conversation with that man is something you want. If you are strongly convinced that a death penalty is right, by reading this book you realize that nobody has the right to take a life.

I opened the book at 7am one day and put it down only 2 times. The fiery true-to-life recollection of prison life seemed to flow from the pages in an eerie Twilight Zone type of way. Caryl Chessman puts life into perspective as he found misfortune and trouble around almost every corner. He highlights most of his antics and pranks that turned eventually for the worse. Escapes and hiding, re-capture and persecution integrated for his lifetime of crime and his final and ultimate punishment. The gas chamber in San Quentin prison. Read this book and see if you don't see a side of Caryl that ultimately could be a step or two away from where you are today.

Chelonia: Return of the Sea Turtle is a valuable educational tool for children and a great read. I have been giving talks to kids in San Diego about sea turtles and Chelonia is a great way to wrap up my talks. Kids of all ages absolutely love this story of the rescue of an endangered sea turtle.

If your children love the ocean and marine animals then you should get this beautiful story.

The beautifully drawn children's picturebook Chelonia: Return Of The Sea Turtle is the very highly recommended and collaborative work of Dawn E. Navarro, Robert E. Snodgrass, and Wallace J. Nichols. Based upon a true story, the exciting and informative text is enhanced with accurate illustrations of the birds, sea mammals, fish, crustaceans, and vegetation associated with the sea and form the habitat and world of the sea turtle. a series of "Sea Log" sidebars provide educative informational asides that are a perfect augmentation to the lively and engaging story of a little girl who rescues a sea turtle and eventually returns it to the sea.

Jack Lopez has crafted a series of essays that speak more to the human condition than to the latino condition. For anyone who has grown up in America, let alone southern California, this is a collection that speaks volumes. There is an emotional tug in each piece that requires the reader to stop, go back a few sentences and then read again. At times funny, sad, and hopeless, this is a major work.

In these remarkable personal essays Lopez is son, brother, father, husband and friend; the human condition (and within it the "Latino condition") is inseparable from family and friends, for without them we have nothing. For Lopez, as one critic has pointed out, surfing is a powerful metaphor for staying alive and being true to yourself in a society where identities are so easily washed away. Lopez's quiet compassion, insight and honesty manage to make more meaningful thunder than many of the trendier, louder essayists writing about the American scene today; and anyone who likes the work of Mary Helen Ponce, Ilan Stavans and Richard Rodriguez (or for that matter Joan Didion and Truman Capote) should try this book, and, if they like it, to make the effort to track down Lopez's fiction, which has appeared in these excellent Latino short story anthologies: MIRRORS BENEATH THE EARTH, PIECES OF THE HEART, IGUANA DREAMS, MUY MACHO and CURRENTS FROM THE DANCING RIVE! R, among others.