Totally disappointed. there is not a single illustration.

Having lived a great part of my life in South Central Texas, I was very happy to stumble upon Birds & Other Wildlife of South Central Texas by Edward A Kutac.
Kutac used extensive research and has drawn from many sources.
Although it might not be everyone's idea of excitement, it is inclusive and goes the extra mile.

This is definately NOT the type of Fodor's guidebook I was expecting. Do not get this book if your expecting a Fodor's Gold Guide. I guess I'll donate the book to the local elementary school. There seems to be a paucity of guidebooks about Dallas. Maybe I should watch reruns of the show

This is the kind of book you should read if you're interested in learning more about Texas than just where to eat and sleep. It's beautifully illustrated with great photos and very good maps, including ones that detail the larger cities. It contains glimpses into the culture and history of the state, the information that help you understand what you'll be seeing once you're there. The front cover contains a quote by the highly esteemed travel writer, Jan Morris, who says of the Compass American Guides: "The most literate and elegant series of guides ever written about North America." I agree. It's worth reading even if you don't intend to visit Texas.

I have two major points of dissatisfaction, first I found the book lacking in information. Secondly I have some problems with the layout and format: 1.) There is no index, so if you want to go to a site, say, to find topaz, you have to flip through the whole book. 2.) Secondly, the book consists of confusing maps of two, three or maybe even only one line with "to Clarendon" on one end and "to Matador" on the other end; I'm supposed to be able to picture this within the State by referring to the small inset map of Texas with two crossing geology hammers: alas the hammers are by scale so large that I can't understand what's going on. There are no large maps of areas of petrified wood, topaz or agate; instead there are 75 listed sites within the State of Texas with headings: "Cisco fossils," "Toyah Agate," "Frio River Wood." Some of the sites in the book are areas where rock collecting is prohibited. I find little to recommend. Sorry.

If your looking for a book, that gives you precise directions, and instructions, on where to locate dozens of great sites for rockhounding, this is it! My family and I can hardly wait to plan our first trip using this book!

This is a good starting point for someone who is planning a Dallas/Fort Worth trip. It includes info on the surrounding suburbs as well. The lodging section is lacking; room quality is seldom mentioned, and the information given is no more helpful than the hotel brochures. This is a "just the facts" guide; no author's opinions or insider tips.However,there are good maps and getting around hints.

I bought this book with hopes to show my kids around Dallas area. Well, some information in the book were outdated, and some others were no longer there. I would like to see the author rate each place by ranking them. This guide otherwise gave me a good place to start.

The book "Guided with a Steady Hand" is recommended reading for those historians interested in the history of Mother Neff State Park, Texas. It provides input into the general role of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the "New Deal" era, but contains little relavent material for areas outside of Texas. This book makes for easy reading and is loaded with information about the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept., and the daily life of one particular CCC camp. However, for those readers who have no interest in the history of state parks in Texas, this book is of little value.

I read this book several years ago and found it very interesting, since the subject (Juana Cavasos) was my great, great aunt. My maiden name was Cavasos. I did feel that, although interesting, it was written in a very elementary style and would be more to what a child would like. Then I found out it actually was placed in the various school libraries before it was discontinued. The book was not too long (the author did not write more than she had to say)and it did hold my interest, possibly because of the familial tie. I do wish it was still in the schools because it told what it was like to live during a time when Native Americans and other people were frightened of each other and of their trials and tribulations caused by this fact.

Ostensibly, a book entitled "Quick Escapes Dallas/Ft. Worth" would emphasize the "quick"--that is, follow a general theme of time, suggest short-but-satisfying trips, give an approximation of travel time upfront, list trips from closest to farthest away, not require you to read the entire book to figure out which trips are the closest to Dallas etc (after all, you're trying to save time). However, a more appropriate and truthful title for this book would have instead conveyed that one should have good knowledge of Texas geography and roads...because that's how this book is laid out--not exactly friendly for the Texan newcomer! Counter to what I expected, this book does not suggest or organize "quick escapes" based upon the destination's distance from Dallas, but categorizes the different trips based on direction--do you want to go East, West, South, or North? (hmm, I thought I just wanted a "quick escape," I don't really care which direction I go in!) You'd better have a detailed Texas map handy too because otherwise you won't have a clue how much mileage is involved for each trip! And I'm sorry but 7 hours in the car is not my idea of a "quick escape," which is how long some of the suggested trips would take you if you actually compute the mileage. Some other gripes I have is that approximate prices are not included for suggested lodging and that some of the "escapes" cover redundant territory and/or don't give you a sense of how little (or much) there is to do once you are there. I took the trip to Caddo Lake and realized that I could complete the suggested itinerary for TWO other "escapes" (Jefferson and Mineola/Tyler) all in the same weekend--and no, I wasn't racing through towns just to say I had been there either, it was all at a leisurely pace. Leads me to believe that one should be retired, well-off, adept at cross-referencing this with other guidebooks, and not exhibit any ADD tendencies if you are to find this book truly helpful. But if you can ignore these details, and don't mind the misleading title of the book, the content is quite good...and I like how the author has included "pit stops" (cafes, bakeries, local restaurants and dives) into the itinerary. I have actually found "Official Guide to Texas State Parks," a book that I bought at the same time as "Quick Escapes," the more inspiring of the the two. Though it has similar faults (although it neither claims to be about quick escapes nor Dallas, so that isn't even a valid fault) it has gorgeous, compelling photography that give you a real sense of what the place is like. When used in conjunction with the Texas State Parks website, planning a trip is a snap...which is what I had hoped "Quick Escapes" would be.

While this is an interesting sidebar to that era shortly after the Mexican Revolution of l910 and prior to WWII, it is a somewhat overcooked tale centering around a remote airstrip in what is now the Big Bend National Park. I interviewed some of the cowboys that worked in that area and in fact talked with one that worked for Elmo Johnson. The tales they had to tell about life there was just fascinating. If the author had put a little more of that in the book in contrast to constantly citing airplanes that come and go...that we never see it would have been much more interesting. I'm not trashing the book, its just that it got difficult to read. At times you wanted to be right there with them because between the lines you can tell what's going on but then at times you are mired in stuff that doesn't paint any picture for anybody.

Proceed with *much* caution if you are are depending on this book to give you up-to-date, accurate information in its listings. While this book has some good information, it is absolutely rife with errors in both the text and maps it contains. I can open the book to almost any page and find erroneous information in one form or another. Some of these errors could have been caught with a good proofreading job, while other of these errors *should* have been caught by the author(s) and/or editor with the slightest fact-checking effort, and other of these errors are just glaring problems with the book. For instance, there are several different listings and mentions of places that have been closed for at least two years (this book was just published in April 2001). There are also many inexcusable omissions. I give this book 1 star because there really is some good information in it (if you can tell which listings don't have gross errors). If only more of the information in this book were accurate and more complete, and appeared less likely to have come from the weekend section of the newspaper. However, the amount of errors and omissions casts a very negative, "proceed with extreme caution" pall over the book. I consider this product defective and wish you luck in navigating the minefield of errors it contains.

As a visitor, I found Houston to be an amazing, sprawling, quirky, fascinating city. Practically impossible to navigate-- the road maps seem to be printed upside down! Thus any guidebook has its work cut out for it. What I liked about this one, however, was it's enthusiasm. It seems to have been written by people who really love their city and are trying to convey some of the local flavor. It does try to be both a tourist's AND a resident's guide, but the casual visitor may not notice or be bothered by the misinformation and typos that upset my fellow reviewer. I particularly like the clean, modern design and the system of indicating where on the map grid the various places are located. At least this gives one a CLUE!