Robert Cameron's "Above" series are all fine works, and offer unique glimpses at major cities from a unique perspective. All of his works are primarily photography travelogues, but each offers pithy captions from local experts.

"Above Mackinac" is among the best, and offers spectacular aerial photos of not just Mackinac, but all of Northwestern lower Michigan. The book also does a fantastic job of pairing Cameron's photos with historical shots, highlighting changes over the years. Sort of a then-and-now retrospective. Mind you, these are not 35,000-foot government-land-survey-type aeriel photos, but rather are lower angle photos taken from a helicopter at perhaps 2,000 feet, so details can easily be picked out.

The colors and landscapes of this glorious region come alive -- partly because many of the photos were taken at the peak of the fall colors. The sights of Mackinac, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Charlevoix and the five-mile long "Mighty Mac" bridge bring back great memories for me anyway.

Makes a great coffeetable book. My only complaint is that unlike most of his other works, this particular book is not available in hardcover. Enjoy!

As a relatively small island, Mackinac is almost perfectly suited to Cameron's style. Reading this book is almost as good as a trip to Northern Michigan. Cameron has obtained some of the best color-reproduction craftspeople in the world to print his books, and it shows. These are not your ordinary snapshots. The entire Island is here. If you ever wanted to see something steadily and see it whole, this book is a good place to start.

I was fortunate to live on Mackinac Island the summer that this book was published and have a copy from The Island Bookstore, signed by both Robert Cameron and Phil Porter. The book is gorgeous, and now that I am planning to return to the island after a five year absence, it is invaluable as I choose lodging and make plans. It effectively captures the beauty and majesty of a very special place and Cameron and Porter's affection for Mackinac Island is evident on every page. For those who hope to visit this magical place or who already hold it dear, Above Mackinac is a wonderful journey.

Very nice. Title should be "Bay Area from Above." It covers Silicon Valley, San Mateo, Marin, and many other parts of Bay Area -- with SF. My only complaint is the 25 overhead views of wineries out of 200 pages -- they all look pretty much the same... Overall, a very good book.

This is a great photo book of the San Fransico bay area. It includes just about every area around, including San Jose, Oakland, Stanford, etc. It has photos of the city, Silicon Valley and most of the major Computer companies and chip makers such as Intel and AMD. Living in this area, I really like this book as I can see what my area looks like and there are a lot of photos, including every major bay bridge.
...

I love the before and after pictures contrasting the same street now vs. 100 years ago. Susan likes it too!

I have all of Cameron Tuttle's books, so this is just as great as all the others only this is a calendar to0=)

I love this calendar! Its a great size for easy transport, and spiral bound so you can double it over while making notes. The squares for each day are nice and big so you can fit in a bunch of stuff. (Busy Busy Busy)

And of course the greatest thing about this calendar is that I get a good chuckle out of it every time I open it. If your a bad girl, or a good girl who just loves the idea of being bad- this will make you laugh all the while you're filling in dates with meetings, appointments, and hopefully a secret rendez-vous or two.

Now that I have this calendar. I love all the little tidbits of badness scattered throughout. The Bad Girl Power profiles are way cool too. Every week is filled with something really baaaaaaad to do to celebrate the Bad Life. I'd give it as a gift but I want to keep it all to myself.

There's something fascinating about aerial views of cities we're familiar with, the new perspectives on familiar buildings and monuments and street intersections. Here, you can see not only the precincts of Parliament and Westminster Abbey but even the huge mass of soccer fields at Hackney Green. Seen from the air, the architectural unity of places like Mayfair and Kensington Palace are evident. My only complaint about this book, actually, is that it isn't more up to date!

Robert Cameron and Alistair Cooke teamed up to produce a wonderful visual account of London in the late 20th century, a stunning piece that will serve as a guide for generations of what London was like during this period. I know archaeologists who would sell their souls for such a record of previous historical periods. But, the historic value of such a record is probably not the reason to have it.

Cameron had produced similar books over San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Washington D.C., and Yosemite (perhaps more by now). Alistair Cooke (yes, the Masterpiece Theatre host) convinced him to

'...collaborate on a more challenging project: a new view of a capital city that has neither picturesque mountains nor the dependable climate of Cameron's previous subjects, but one that offers as much variety and as many visible relics of centuries of history as any city on earth.'

The first plates show maps from the Middle Ages, and the same aerial view today, side by side: one can see some of the same streets and patterns, a bridge in the same location, but also (naturally) great differences. The pattern of Chelsea remains as a framework from the days of the Duke of Beaufort in some ways (including Cheyne Walk), and very different in others. A French drawing of St. James' Park looks very familiar, with the difference being the absence of Admiralty Arch which helped transform the Mall into one of the great processional routes.

Included is a drawing from the Victorian era that shows the then-new Palace of Westminster; four Frechmen proved the ability to use ballooning to scale new heights (alas, only one survived the ascent to 28,000 feet); in 1886 Wyllie and Brewer went up west of Westminster Abbey to make a drawing, including the smog in which London 'luxuriated' -- as a sign of the energy and prosperity of the world's first port and the capital of Empire.

Juxtaposing an aerial view of St. Paul's surrounded by bomb damage with the current view, the resilience of London can be seen. London has suffered destruction various times, and always bounced back.

After the historical tour, the book takes a tour of London by the river Thames, then branches out into the Central City, the South and West, the North and West, and then follows the river out of the city into Windsor and countryside environments.

One fun section include a collection of aerial views of festivals and 'fun' spots: the Oval, Wembley, Lords cricket ground, the Henley Regatta, Ascot, and, of course, Wimbeldon.

Each series of photographs is accompanied by Cooke's particularly witty and sometimes elegantly-scathing commentary (one can tell when he thinks that progress was not for the better), such as his commentary on the Wimbledon photographs:

'There was a time when the All-England Lawn Tennis Club's Wimbledon courts were surrounded by open meadows and a small enclosure for the nobs who owned automobiles. Today the area of car parks is greater than that of 'the action', and during the fortnight of the championship the cars desecrate the golf course in the adjoining Wimbledon Park.'

A fun and interesting book, one that is deserving of closer inspection. If you've ever been to London, this book will bring back memories and give a perspective that one rarely gets of the city. If you've never been to London, this will inspire you to plan your trip!

Anyone who's ever spent time in London (or any historic and picturesque region) will see the city in a different way with this book of aerial views. Other reviewers have commented on the need for an update (particularly since the Millenium building boom), but essentially, the sweep of London history remains as it was: the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Whitehall, Hyde Park, Hampstead, the Thames, etc. And there's the undeniable thrill of saying "I was there," since virtually every area is covered. This book also adds a dimension to travel that we don't often consider: how buildings and streets really are situated in the places we visit, and our relation to them. After traveling on foot over most of central London, I never realized how much I covered until I bought this book.

This book is very helpful if you do the Artist's way morning pages. In fact, if you are not doing this, I'm not sure what else you would use this book for.
I gave it a 4 only because the number of pages for each week were off and it was an awkward book to write in. Other than that it was great.

GIVES YOU AN IDEA OF WHAT THE AUTHOR INTENDED FOR 3 PAGES OF WRITING
When you do the Artist's way journaling, it states you should do 3 pages of writing per day. This book gives you a sense of what the author meant as 3 pages. By the way 3 pages this size took me not the 15-30 minutes the author implied, but more like 45 minutes to 1 hour. It could also be the morning grogginess too.
I get up at 5:15AM to do these.

NOT ENOUGH PAGES FOR EACH WEEK PLUS A CHECK-IN:
As this book is by the same author that did the Artist way 12-week program, I am surprised that the number of pages provided did not meet the authors requirement. Per week you should have at least 21 pages and then 1-2 pages for a weekly check in. I found that I often wrote into the following week though I never wrote over 3 pages/day nor more than a 1 page per check in. 23 pages per week should be what the author provided as a minimum.

BOUND-BACK MADE IT AWKWARD TO WRITE AT TIMES:
This book would be better as a spiral bound book, so that you could fold back the areas you did not need. At times in the AM, it was all I could do to write much less trying to hold the book open.

INSPIRATIONAL SAYINGS EACH DAY PERTAINING TO THAT WEEK WAS NICE:
The author paraphrazed the Artist's way book providing page numbers as well, each day. That was nice. It often helped to get my writing jumpstarted.

SUGGESTION TO THE AUTHOR:
As you recommend to your readers to continue the morning pages a follow on set of books would be handy with the same type of inspirational phrases each day. Buying this book again with the unmatched set of pages and difficulty to hold open, does not appeal to me.

This program is a good one and I plan to continue the morning pages. It is a very useful thinking practice.

When I purchased the journal, I didn't know exactly the impact the journal would have. As I followed Ms. Cameron's instructions, I became amazed as to what was happening with creativity in my life. I recommend the book and the journal to anyone who is willing to be challenged by the concept of creativity.

Reading "The Artist's Way" & actually doing some of the key things can change your life. Morning pages are one of the key things (others include a weekly artist date & the use of affirmations) & this is a great volume to start in. I'm a slow learner so I actually went through four of these before I bought my own blank-paged journals. Things I like about this volume include that it forced me to fill a certain amount of space: there are three pages for each day & that's what Cameron wants you to do & this volume gives a very good guide of how much writing is desirable. I also like the quotations, the summaries of the goals for the coming week & even the potentially cheesy contract with myself to commit to the process. Time IS an issue & Cameron's 30 minutes is at least at the beginning optimistic, though that's what I now generally use. At first it might take longer, even significantly longer, but it's well worth it. I started writing morning pages in November 1998. Three years later, I am still writing them. They are a wonderful tool toward a clear head & the working through of issues & about the only thing I believe someone can do wrong in using them is to be afraid of letting whatever comes out come out. Coincidentally (I don't THINK so) I started serious work on my first, non-fiction book at the same time I started morning pages & three years later I'm very close to finishing it, so I know the program works. It also goes very well with 12 Step programs, for people in those. If you buy this journal, also buy "The Artist's Way," the book that lays it all out ... & consider some of Cameron's little books of affirmations, which are outstanding. This is a wonderful tool and deserves five stars.

The Prisoner is only the second Blair Witch Files novel I'd ventured in and I must say that is fails to make me eager to read another. When I read The Witch's Daughter I was really impressed and I was very eager to read another entry in the series, but upon finishing The Prisoner I just kinda felt...empty? I don't know which word describes my post-Prisoner mood, but I just felt like I wanted more to the story. I mean it has an interesting premise of a girl, Eliza Baynes, who was convicted of a crime she didn't commit, Murder, and is desperately seeking Cade's help. Cade gets involved, reads her diary and a bunch of weird events happen which seem a little more than coincidental. But like other reviewers I wanted to know more about the Blair Witch and Eliza Baynes, some of the explanations seem a little too easy to come by, and some of the dialogue the characters used was simply laughable and seemed like something from a poorly written Teenage Soap Opera. But on a better note I will say that there were some elements of the story that were just flat out eerie, I mean the way the author describes them and the mental image that gets associated with those words is just plain eerie.

As a whole I would say that The Prisoner was mildly entertaining, there were a lot of elements that I wanted to be deeper explored and I wanted thought out explanations, not just sloppy one or two sentences to explain a few chapters worth of going-ons. The Prisoner left me wanting to desire fulfillment, it didn't leave things unexplained involving Eliza Baynes, it's just that every explanation was just so blunt and fast that it left something to be desired. I can only recommend The Prisoner if you are a true Blair Witch fan, as most non-Blair Witch fans would probably be lost and would laugh at the bland pre-adolescent dialogue. Simply put, The Prisoner only slightly provided a sense of satisfaction upon completion and I can only recommend that fans of the Blair Witch Project check into it. I hope my review will help you in your decision on The Prisoner, whether you pass or buy, thanks for reading.

When Cade Merrill is contacted by a girl convicted of murder, he is determined to uncover the truth about her crimes. At sixteen Eliza Baynes tried to take her revenge on the stepbrother she hated, but her attempts at a spell ended with the death of her father. Sent to boarding school, Eliza is haunted by her past and the fact that everyone she talks to about what happened dies in mysterious circumstances.

Finally convinced she has escaped from the witch's evil, Eliza returns to Burkittsville, where it is soon apparent that history is repeating itself. Eliza was only eighteen years old when she was given the death penalty for killing her then boyfriend Jake Henderson on the evidence of his younger brother Ryan. Her sentence is later retracted and Eliza is sentenced to life imprisonment, but the memories of what took place remain and she needs Cade's help. Eliza claims that she herself is innocent and that Jake's murder was committed by a person under the control of the Blair Witch. As she warns Cade, everyone who hears her story ends up dead. Will Cade be the next victim of the Blair Witch?

"The Prisoner" is the sixth book in the Blair Witch Casefiles series. It was a fast-paced, entertaining and genuinely scary book, although it did lack the suspense of some of the previous books. I love every book in the series so far and this one did not disappoint. I recommend this to all Blair Witch fans.

This book was a very good read, in fact it only took me a day to read it.(even though it was a short book)The story is about a young girl who is convicted of murder for a crime she claims she did not commite, that in fact it was the blair witch....and anyone who she tells her story to dies...so she asks Cade Merrill for help and he ends up reading her diary (which you will be reading in the book). While the story is really good...it was also depressing caues it turnes out sad. And of course sincs it is of the Blair Witch you still dont fine any truth about anything, you just read the story. I cant wait to ready the other 7 books in The blair witch Files. You can go to the website if you want to now more about the books, there are even clues to each of the books you can read, like the e-mails of the people who wrote to Cade Merrill and other interesting stuff. ...

Briliant, dedicated and driving me away from this author. This book was boring and was written in such a stiff manner that I nearly cried. The reviews led me to believe that this book was entertaining and wonderfully written. I have never read a fictional book about archeologist/detectives that was this humorless and this dull.
Ms. Cameron ... I suggest that you read Elizabeth Peters (her earlier ones) or Beverly Connor (who has an anthropology/archeology twist) to see how to combine archeology and murder into an enjoyable read. It did not have to be funny but at least it should have been interesting.

Emma Fielding is trying to find the site of Fort Providence. The Fort is the first known English settlement in the United States, predating Jamestown by a few years. By good chance the likely site is on the property of her old friend Pauline Westbrook who gives her blessing to the dig. Shortly after arrival Emma finds a body on the beach and is threatened by a pothunter with a gun. Strangely, a senior colleague with no interest in New England archeology stops by to examine the site. Worst of all, Pauline's house burns down with her in it. She had just changed her will to benefit Emma, so now she is a suspect. There are also alot of strange things going on in the anthropology department at her college. Emma has to get to the bottom of things, hopefully without adding her own corpse to the body count.

This is a very quick moving mystery. The author takes the reader into the world and work of the archeologist. She goes into just enough detail for illustration and not so much that you are bored. The characters are very vivid and there is alot of action. It wasn't too difficult to solve the mystery, she leaves alot of clues, but it is alot of fun getting to the solution.

Emma Fielding is an archaeologist trying to succeed out of the shadow of her famous archaeologist grandfather. She's returned to her childhood home to work on a site that could guarantee her receiving tenure, but her discovery of a body could destroy that chance.

Soon more deaths follow, and although the sheriff believes she's innocent the town's suspicion of her grows. Emma must also deal with a cockey student worker, another sullen student who seems to wish that he were anywhere but on the site, and that student's father who sees Emma as a rival to his position at their college.

Emma herself is a wonderful character. She's impulsive, decisive, and survives the academic politics through her sardonic sense of humor. She also has a great relationship with her husband, who happens to be Asian (yet this is refreshingly treated matter-of-factly and never made an issue). Other characters are as well entertaining and believable, including an ancient medical examiner who ironically sees Emma as a morbid invader of the dead.

Emma's struggle to retain her sense of humor as well as retain control over her career at the college, her site, and the students who work it creates a fast-paced read that also provides a fascinating glimpse of an archaeological excavation. My only disappointment with this novel was that it had to end. I look forward to the next Emma Fielding mystery, Grave Consequences.

I liked this book, particularly since it deals with the best character from the original Star Trek, Spock, and the second best character, his father. There have only been glimpses of Spock's family in the various series (e.g., "Journey to Babel", the animated episode "Yesteryear"), but this novel provides more of an insight into the difficulties Spock had as a child straddling two worlds, human and Vulcan. Nice book, but I've never been terribly impressed by Todd Cameron Hamilton as an artist..., and his work here is particularly derivative, obvious and uninspired.

This book is very well written it shows spock at a young age being the intellegent and also stubborn vulcan we all know. After a Diplomatic trip with his father a young vulcan seems to be a target for assination. Do you think Spock sits back and hides? Not our Spock.

From the strict Vulcan academy to saving diplomats, Spock does it all. Spock the half human, half Vulcan, he feels as he doesn't belong. Spock befriends a son of a diplomat and the conspiracy just flows through. It is refreshing to see young Spock and his dealing with his father.

Rambo 2 is the startling account of one of the true icons of our culture and his struggle against corruption in the military, the ghosts of his painful past and his longing for true love. The writing here is some of the finest prose written in this century. The words flow effortlessly and carry the reader through every breathtaking moment. Morrell is a genius and this novel should be taught in every college literature program. Morell's writing can be complex at times but several readings will be rewarded with enlightenment and life-changing affirmations. The film is also a masterpiece and Stallone's acting is stellar (why he wasn't nominated for best actor is beyond me) but read the book first! Do not deprive yourself. Read Rambo 2!

The most dangerous man in the world is back in this novel (and Movie) and this time it's for his country! Co-written by David Morrell (FIRST BLOOD), he intended for Rambo to die in the first book, but Sylvester Stallone liked the character so much that he and James Cameron brought Rambo back for a sequel.

John Rambo is in a Kentucky prison for the bloody one-man war against small town Sherif Teasle. Colonel Trautman offers Rambo's signed release if he agrees to take on what would be a suicide mission for most men. His first objective--penetrate the remembered jungles of Hell (Vietnam), and find the missing Americans who are still being tortured there. His second objective--DON'T rescue them. Only bring back photos. DON'T engage the enemy. DON'T get revenge. For Rambo, the first part is tough. The second, impossible.

But Rambo does agree to the conditions. He goes to Vietnam only to be abandoned by his only means of getting out of Vietnam, who have left on the orders of the Commanding officer Murdock to leave him there to be killed.

But remember, this is Rambo. A killing machine trained by the best to survive in the worst conditions. He decides that if Murdock will back out of his side of the deal, he's going to do the same. Forget taking pictures of the P.O.W. camps. Rambo's going to become a one-man army once again, and is going in to save them....and then he's going after Murdock for abandoning him.

This is a book which takes constant re-reading and reading within context: that is, pick one theme, and read the entire book in search of all Morrell has to say about that theme. This book is completely indispensible to anyone wishing to deal in post-modern philosophy and existentialism: it is a secular philosopher's bible. Dealing in systematic brilliance throughout the experience of life, Morrell delves into psychology and theological ideas while remaining true to his own purely atheistic and philosophical roots.

Dense? Sure... but illuminating examples help to describe the deep thought, almost as parables in the Synoptic Gospels. The crag in the rock, the meeting at the cafe, all these verbal illustrations work into the text very well. Personally, I love the sections on the anguish of man when faced with the facticity of his own freedom. The dualism expressed by Morrell is a theme in philosophy which I usually don't enjoy (like any good post-Hegelian, I enjoy synthesizing opposites), he is able to pull it off with ease and magnificence. Though it is not as eloquent as the existentialism expressed by Albert Camus, it is every bit as enlightening and valuable.

Most people object to its density because they are used to the existential wanderings of the modern novel - Camus' The Stranger, or Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment - but this is the philosophical reflection of the situation of man expressed by such work. Morrell states early on that he is not performing an objective analysis of humankind, but rather a biased and understandably nuanced description of ontology from the perspective of the modern man.

Brilliant and exciting, Rambo : First Blood Part II is an essential part of anyone philosopher's bookshelf!