An exceptional resource. The suggestions for activities were found to be right on target. About.com

"These useful guides are highly recommended... " Library Journal

"The ideal traveling companion, and a wonderful book for the armchair traveler." Midwest Book Review

Thanks Edith for one of the best books I've ever read! I've borrowed Fishing With John at least a dozen times from the public library-in the mean time tried to find it in used book stores, flea markets, and garage sales for a couple of years! Finally got lucky in a book store in Vancouver B.C. A public park in Pender Harbour B.C. is named in honour of John Daly-which says it all! You have to read it folks!

"...it was fishing with John that I loved so much." "and he appeared to remain blissfully content to have me there and trying."

What Edith Iglauer doesn't describe is as important to the texture of this book as her detailed accounts of trolling for salmon with John Daly along the coast of British Columbia. The only intimacies she reveals are the everyday tasks required to keep a commercial fishing boat afloat, John's exuberance in the life, home and friends he has made; and his many choices. The restraint Iglauer exercises in chronicling her four years fishing with John invites the reader to consider the centrality of character in any voyage one may take.

Wonderful story! John Daly was my husband's uncle, and we used to go to Garden Bay, BC to visit him. We have wonderful memories of John and miss seeing him, even tho' it's been probably 20 years since John died. I'm sorry I never met Edith, altho' my husband Lionel and his aunt Leslie Joslin met her when she gave a reading from the book in Seattle in 1988 or 1989. Now made-for-TV movie on Lifetime Channel, they changed the name to "Navigating the Heart" with Jacqueline Smith and Tim Matheson. Watch if you get the chance (TV characters much younger than actual story, tho'). Would LOVE to get copy of movie to keep with the book.

Dick Dobbins does the job right in "The Grand Minor League", a retrospective of the old Pacific Coast League (PCL).

The PCL still exists today as a AAA league - one step below the majors - but it is purely an adjunct minor league system to the two major leagues.

However, this book is about the PCL's glory days, largely originating during the Depression and spanning the second world war and the first twelve years of the post-war era until the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to the West Coast.

The PCL financed operations by charging admission for its own games and by selling contracts of its more promising stars to the established major league teams. But some visionaries had dreams of attaining major league status for the PCL, and it could have happened. A disproportionate amount of major-league level talent could be found on the West Coast, and PCL scouts were busy signing it up.

While one PCL owner was dryly reputed to have the reputation of throwing dollars around as though they were manhole covers, the pay could be more generous (the players whose contracts were sold to the majors even received a percentage of the sales price) and the opportunities for stardom could be GREATER than that which was available in the majors; moreover, the Pacific Coast was "home" to many of its players. Hence, some major leaguers sought to return there.

And when the majors reluctantly granted the PCL "open classification" status, players drafted by the majors were accorded the option of waiving the draft and remaining with their respective PCL teams and were often rewarded with bonuses for doing so. The PCL could have evolved into a third major league, but the opposition from the established major league owners, who saw the potential for expansion or relocation to the West Coast long before moving the Giants and Dodgers there, was too great to overcome. The moves themselves sounded the death knell for the traditional conception of the league.

Its legacy includes the players who became stars or near-stars in the big leagues, such as Lefty O'Doul, Dolph Camilli, Maury Wills (amazingly enough, he was only an adequate shortstop and a sometime base-stealer during his PCL days, who didn't reach stardom until he went to the Dodgers), and of course, Joe DiMaggio.

Startlingly, Dobbins fails to remind his readers that years before he electrified the country with his 56-game hitting streak, DiMaggio was thrilling West Coast fans with a 61 game hitting streak in the PCL. Both records are among the few that have withstood the test of time.

One can observe other ironies. Long before Tommy Lasorda and Sparky Anderson did battle, in their respective roles as managers of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine", for Western Division supremacy during the 1970's, they were teammates on the Los Angeles Angels, working together to establish geographical supremacy against the arch-rival Hollywood Stars.

And speaking of managers, debate rages among baseball historians about Casey Stengel's managerial acumen. Was he an adept, if incomprehensible, managerial genius or a bum who failed miserably in Boston and who only attained success by piggy-backing on the vast talent of some super Yankee teams? The story of Stengel's stewardship of the 1948 PCL Champion Oakland Oaks is a huge point in his favor.

Dobbins draws some of his history from the records but most of it from the recollections of the old-time players who consented to be interviewed. My only real criticism is that it took someone too long to undertake this project. The passage of time limits the sources from which Dobbins could draw.

And how trustworthy is human memory? There is a reference in one of the narratives supplied to Dobbins about a player named Johnny Lindell who alternated between pitcher and outfielder and who "would have been in the big leagues" if he could have only hit more consistently.

Who would dare observe, in response, that the record book shows that during the 1940's, an outfielder-pitcher named Johnny Lindell played in the majors, chiefly for the Yankees (this included several World Series appearances), on a part-time basis for 12 years and that he retired in 1954 with a respectable lifetime batting average of .273, having twice led the league in triples?

He couldn't hit well enough for the major leagues. Or could he? Were there two Johnny Lindells answering to the same description?

My favorite chapter was about the old ballparks. If you are a displaced and discouraged Giant fan who lives in the Los Angeles area, you can carry the book and its pictures of the ballparks to the corners of Beverly, Fairfax and Genessee and try to envision the Hollywood Stars' Gilmore Field having once stood there. The intersections now are home to a little company known as CBS - Television City, and there isn't even a marker anywhere to show that Gilmore Field ever existed.

And you can drive to 42nd and Avalon and marvel at the human and urban sprawl that has overtaken the area. Wrigley Field, home to the ORIGINAL Los Angeles Angels and named and constructed after its more famous Chicago namesake, has been torn down, and a community center named after a politician has been erected in its place. Again, no marker commemorates Wrigley Field. Soccer, not baseball, is the recreation of choice for the locals, and the excited cries of the players and spectators are not being delivered in English.

Is there any marker on the corner of 16th and Bryant in San Francisco to memorialize Seals Stadium?

"The Grand Minor League" is a fitting tribute to the REAL baseball giants of the West Coast and to a time when baseball was a "melting pot" language, when the game was played, not by overpaid egotistical prima donnas, but by men with working-class ethics, and when teams were managed by men and not "Dustys". Where have you gone, Rugger Ardizoia?

In this book, Dick Dobbins took a cue from the book, "The Glory of Their Times," interviewing numerous ex-PCL players and umpires about the league. This oral history of the league is an excellent look back. Reading this book takes you back to a different era of baseball and shows why the PCL deserved to be called the "Grand Minor League."

The book has chapters on the league's various ballparks over the years, the league's great teams and rivalries. There are numerous pictures of various players, managers, umpires and team owners throughout the book. There are also pictures of various teams' uniforms, hats and other assorted memorabilia.

Dick Dobbins put a lot of hard work and dedication into this book and it shows. Any baseball history fan will love this book.

This ia an absolute must for anyone who enjoyed the old PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE.The photographs of the old P.C.L.ballparks are worth the price of admission.This is an excellent companion piece to Dobbins other book on the P.C.L. Nuggets on the Diamond.

1993-4 was a horrible year for Steve Dixon until a 1973 Morgan 27 sloop hove into view & enticed him into the clear & shining waters around the Hawaiian Islands. In this lively & eminently readable first effort, Steve Dixon skippers us on some of the grandest, wettest & funniest voyages around paradise.

With bright energetic writing, an addendum of navigation charts & a slew of vivid snapshots, this latter-day salty dog gives us a winter's worth of sailing yarns, geological & historical sightseeing tips & an invitation to come play around his necklace of tropical islands cast upon a fabulous sea.

This is a warm & personal account of the thrills, history & romance of sailing the Hawaiian passages with his spunky Commodorable Lila & about the lessons he learnt during his passage from despairing novice to joyous seasoned cruiser. Do check out my exhilarating eInterview Skipper Steve Dixon!

This book has it all adventure, romance, history and of course it is very informative for any one wanting to sail the Hawaiian Islands. The book includes many trial and error stories of sailing the Hawaiian Islands. This experienced sailor writes about many do and don't of the Islands. He also writes of some very exciting places to visit and tells of his stories there. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to sail the Hawaiian Islands. It is also very enjoyable to read as entertainment whether you are a sailor or not.

What a wonderful book for anyone interested in the islands of Hawaii. This is not just a book for the avid sailor. I have never been on a sailboat or even had the vaguest desire to do so, but I enjoyed this book because of its descriptions of Hawaii and I am still pondering the fact that geologists claim that the entire Sierra Nevada range could fit in the crater of the volcano Mauna Loa. Steve Dixon incorporates his sailing experiences with his own life experiences and also the history and culture of the islands. I read this book straight through at one sitting and then began to reread several passages that had intrigued me. I can't even imagine what a thrill it must be for someone who understands the intricacies of sailing to read a book like this one.

This book has roads in that my MapPoint 2003 program said didn't exist. So to see who was right-we built a backroads trip using the book and the software-and the book was absolutely correct.

It is easy to read, gives great places to see and fun things to do as well as an incredibly detailed map-down to showing you were the gates are on private roads.

Clearly the best--no doubt about it.

The relief maps are wonderful at making the terrain visible, but the strength of this atlas is how clearly it shows the roads - all of them including forest roads - paved, gravel and dirt. The depiction of campsites is also very complete. Unfortunately the campsite listings are not nearly as comprehensive as the map, so you will want a separate campground guide to for amenities and descriptions. Also appreciated, the overlap between maps on different pages is generous - finally a map book that doesn't leave you on the edge, flipping pages!

I found this special atlas to be a visual treasure map. I have traveled over much of Oregon, once on a field trip for a combined graduate class of paleontology and stratigraphy students at the University of Oregon, and I enjoyed reminiscing while viewing a more three dimensional-looking map of many of the sites we had visited.

Both the Recreational and Landscape sections are very useful and informative when planning a future trip, or just to "armchair travel."

Reading the maps can be both a history and a geology lesson.

The only improvement that could be made is the coupons in the back of the book could have expiration dates a little later in the following year. I purchased this book in January of 2000 for a trip in Febuary and the coupons touted as saving up to $1000 expired in December of 1999. Other than that the book is very eazy to understand and will be very useful in our upcoming trip.

This is the best guide I have come across for Walt Disney World and the Orlando area. I had purchased several different books in 1999 when we took our first trip. I am purchasing this book again for our upcoming trip. Each park and it's attractions are covered in detail with helpful Power Trip info that helps make the most of your time. In addtion there are several other Orlando attractions that are covered in this book with detail covering Universal's parks and Sea World.

The book also reviews many hotels including Disney's, critiquing each in detail. Includes pricing and some of the ameneties, tips on the best times to travel to Orlando in relation to crowds, weather, and how to negotiate the best packages and pricing.

The candidness of the author and reviewers of the parks contained within this book are remarkable and really helped us plan our trip using our limited time to the best of our advantage.

I highly recommend this book as one to use to plan your Orlando vacation.

We used this book on our vacation and saved *much* more than the cost of the book by using the great coupons inside.

Gene Salecker has written an action-filled account of B-17 operations in the Pacific. Unlike their more famous counterparts in Europe, this was a rag-tag war. More B-17s were lost in one-day missions in Europe than were operational any day in the entire Pacific Theatre. What makes this book particularly engaging is the support of first-hand accounts from diaries or interviews. Nearly every event is enlivened with recollections and personal anecdotes. Some elements of the story benefit from research into Japanese records as well. A weakness, however, is that many of the personal recollections are obviously exaggerated. Countless times crews return with overly enthusiastic accounts of enemy fighters shot down or shipping destroyed. High level bombing of ships at sea was a total failure. General Kenney ordered skip bombing and low level tactics in New Guinea, which improved results, while the Espiritu Santo crews continued dumping bombs in the ocean. Army Air Force B-17 crews claimed three carriers sunk at the Battle of Midway. Salecker clarifies such obvious errors but lets other recollections stand. (I wonder if the exaggerated reports from the Pacific reinforced 8th Air Force planning to send unescorted bombers over Europe.) The author offers scant information on Japanese units, their leaders, or their personal accounts. The contrast with European operations is stunning. From the early defeats in the Philippines and Java to the shoestring existence in Australia, maximum effort missions were lucky to involve six or ten aircraft. Crews lived in makeshift accommodations with swarms of insects, disease, poor food, and lack of spare parts. They battled furious tropical storms as much as the enemy and flew incredibly hazardous missions, often at night. Their planes were battle-worn and flew without fighter protection. Even when replacement aircraft dribbled in, the 21,000 mile journey through Africa and India from the US meant they arrived in need of overhaul. So few were the planes, the author uses tail numbers, 41-2616, to identify aircraft and an appendix lists the fate of each one. We get to know these crews and their bombers quite well and are saddened at losses, such as when Major Sewart is riddled with machine gun fire, or other familiar crews lost. These guys were military before Pearl Harbor was attacked and few survived. Salecker does a nice job of balancing the complex stories of the Solomon Islands and New Guinea campaigns. By mid-1943, B-17s were phased out in favor of the longer range B-24s and, eventually, B-29s. But the desperate, early days in the Pacific are recounted here. Congratulations to the author for giving this overlooked story, and these gallant, overlooked men, the attention they deserve.

Gene Salecker's Fortress Against The Sun: The B-17 Flying Fortress In The Pacific tells the war-time history of one of the most significant American aircraft to be flown in the Pacific Theater. Here also is the story of the men who flew it, fought the Japanese in it, serviced it, and lived their lives around it. Author Gene Salecker draws upon extensive primary sources for his engaging and informative narrative, including letters, diaries, postwar memoirs, government documents, and squadron histories. Fortress Against The Sun is a superbly researched, exceptionally well written and informatively presented addition to any personal, academic, or community library military history collection.

My father served as a B-17 pilot with the renowned 435th "Kangaroo" Squadron of the 19th Bombardment Group. I have read every account available of B-17 operations in the Pacific. Gene Eric Salecker's "Fortress Against the Sun" is the most definitive and comprehensive account of the desperate early days of the air war against Imperial Japan since "They Fought With What They Had". Salecker makes extensive use of veteran interviews. His book is chock-full of new material, proving, once again, that the best histories of World War Two are still being written. I give it five stars without reservation.

This is a great mini-coffee table book (get the hardcover if you REALLY dig this stuff!) offering hours of information and photos of the famous atomic bomb tests on naval ships at Bikini Atoll. The 190 page book is broken into nine chapters and has excellent notes on sources. Background information covers the first half of the book while the second is focused on recent dives to many of the famous and lesser known ships that were sunk here. The writing is very informative and the photographs are absolutely haunting, particularly the ones of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga! Several color photos are included in the center. The author pushes no agenda in this book. He merely reports the facts available both "good and bad".

My Dad was there (USS Reclaimer) - swimming in the atoll the day after the blasts, cleaning refuged ships, etc. It's amazing he's still alive.

Nice photos; good summaries. This isn't a full-blown account of Operation CrossRoads but a nice summary of the ships. If you are interested in OC, this is a good book to have on your shelf.

James Delgado does a very good job of reviewing the sunken ships of Bikini Atoll and telling the story of the 1946 atomic bomb tests. I read this book after diving at Bikini Atoll and found it to be a good treatment of a topic that has received too little attention. As far as wreck diving goes, Bikini Atoll is the best in the world, and my only disappointment with this book is that it does not fill the need for a coffee-table-style photographic survey of the incredible shipwrecks at Bikini. That being said, Delgado's book is a nice compromise between such a coffee table book and the more comprehensive historical treatment in Jonathan Weisgall's superb book on Bikini Atoll.

This wonderful book absolutely made our recent vacation to Hawaii. It was our first trip to Hawaii, and our whole itinerary was devised from reading the Moon handbook. The handbook is completely comprehensive, giving everything from the history of each place, to where to get your photos processed. It provides detailed descriptions of every single hotel (or so it seemed), not just the selection of a few that most guidebooks provide. The detail of the hotel information encouraged me to make some nontraditional choices (a bed and breakfast, a condo) that turned out to be very pleasant and exactly as described. The book also got us to some corners of Hawaii that I would have never contemplated otherwise. The advice given to travelers goes the extra mile to identify many options for visitors to enjoy their stay in Hawaii. Its only drawbacks are no color pictures and it is a bit heavy to lug around in your suitcase (but don't leave home without it).

We lived in Hawaii for a year and used this book to find every nook and cranny on 4 of the islands. I had no idea what a WONDERFUL job this book did until we moved to Brazil and there was no Moon Handbook. Other guides just don't compare.

I got this book for Christmas from my son the month before we went to Hawaii. I would never have purchased such a (very) thick stodgy looking guide if I saw it in the bookstore. I devoured it during the thirteen hour flight to Hawaii and must say it was by far the very best travel guide that I have ever read and used to any destination. (And I have read them all.) It is so comprehensive and the writing is so well done that reading all of the information was almost like reading a page turner novel for me. I could not get enough. Once we were in Hawaii (three islands) we found it totally indispensible. We traveled with three other guides but with all of their color photograpy and fancy maps eventually this heavy one was the only one we eventually felt was worthwhile. After touring extensively on the islands I read it with even more interest on the long flight home. We plan to return to see more Hawaiian islands and this is the one we will bring. It is not glitzy it is the real thing. Enjoy.

The book has great general info. on the numerous trails in our nation's biggest state. The information on trails that I hiked in the Palmer and Seward areas were right on the money, and I hope to use the guide on future trips up north.

I spent 3 mos. in Alaska and I had this book as well as Jim DuFresne's Backpacking Alaska (Lonely Planet). I used this book more for short day hikes and overnight backpacking trips whereas DuFresne's has more multi-day backpacking trips. The one thing that I really loved about this book was the elevation diagrams, DuFresne's book had none. But again, I used this book to fill in my gaps of time for short day hikes out of many of Alaska's more accessible towns. Good book for the "Hiker". DuFresne's book is good for the "Backpacker".

Dean -- Love the book -- especially the pictures of Gavin and me -- but you know that. To anyone else who reads this: Dean knows whereof he speaks: He's a good hiker and builds a good, environmentally sensitive campfire. Hope you don't mind my using this avenue to try to get your e-mail address.