Wildflower Walks & Roads of the Sierra Gold Country

Customer Reviews:

A great guide for wildflower hunts.......2002-05-09

I'm a wildflower enthusiast who arrived in the Sacramento area about six years ago, and I use this book almost every weekend during the wildflower season in the spring. Its great value is a series of descriptions of places and roads with good wildflowers. These descriptions are organized around the major towns along the Gold Country, from Oroville in the north to Mariposa in the south. The description of each location gives decent directions (I have had to hunt sometimes but I've never failed to locate a destination yet), some local history or color, and an overview of the species that might be there. At the beginning of each town section, Fuaver provides lists that identify the locations that are especially good for kids, for hiking, for the serious botantist, or because of their good flower displays.

The place descriptions make up perhaps the first 40% of the book. The rest of the book provides descriptions and drawings of the various flower species you might see. I use a variety of other books for flower identification so this particular section isn't of much use to me, but it would probably help someone just getting started.

Even though I don't use the second part, this book has been great , giving me lots of good ideas about places to see.

A Wildflower Lovers Guide +.......2001-03-14

Toni obviously knows all the backroads and trails of the Gold Country where wildflowers bloom in the spring. Her guide is excellent: clear directions; ratings for families with children or for botanists; drawings and descriptions of the plants; mentions of other points of interests near-by. The areas described are primarily along highway 49 including sites near Colfax, Auburn, Placerville, Jackson, down to Mariposa. Have fun - and don't pick the flowers!

Amazon.com

"It is as big and depthless as the sky itself. You can see the curve of the earth on its surface as it stretches away for miles to the far shore." So begins Old Glory, in which Jonathan Raban recounts his eye-opening descent of the Mississippi River in a 16-foot aluminum motorboat. As the English author explains, his obsession with the subject began with Huckleberry Finn, which he first read as a 7-year-old. And in fact, his opening sentences refer as much to the imaginary river as to the real one, which turns out to be less bucolic than Raban expected. Three miles upstream from Oquawka, Illinois, he's nearly pulverized by a towboat. Later on, the intrepid voyager only just manages to escape a treacherous whirlpool near St. Louis, calming himself afterwards with a generous dose of tobacco and Valium.

True, when Raban isn't cheating death he encounters some stunning terrain, which he describes in no-less-stunning prose. Yet Old Glory is much, much more than a travelogue. It is also a brilliant interrogation of the American psyche, in the tradition of De Tocqueville and Crevecoeur. And ultimately, Raban tells us a great deal about the very phenomenon of travel, with all its rigors and rewards, and its peculiar, metaphysical dislocations: "Riding the river, I had seen myself as a sincere traveler, thinking of my voyage not as a holiday but as a scale model of a life. It was different from life in one essential: I would survive it to give an account of its end."

Book Description

The author of Bad Land realizes a lifelong dream as he navigates the waters of the Mississippi River in a spartan sixteen-foot motorboat, producing yet another masterpiece of contemporary American travel writing. In the course of his voyage, Raban records the mercurial caprices of the river and the astonishingly varied lives of the people who live along its banks. Whether he is fishing for walleye or hunting coon, discussing theology in Prairie Du Chien or race relations in Memphis, he is an expert observer of the heartyland's estrangement from America's capitals ot power and culture, and its helpless nostalgia for its lost past. Witty, elegaic, and magnificently erudite, Old Glory is as filled with strong currents as the Mississippi itself.

Customer Reviews:

Borak down the river.......2007-06-17

Raban is a very special travel writer and this book, which I read 18 years after he drifted down the Mississippi, warmed me like few others.
His conversations with such a diverse (but from my experience, typical) set of Americans were classic. I dont believe he is unduly pessimistic but rather realistic and in many ways he captured early , many growing influences that impact American society (and global politics) today.

Raban's Pursuit of A Dream.......2007-05-05

Um, fellow reviewers, do you think that every little town in America is a picture postcard? Or do you not think there is a dark side to life in London, New York, or in any little burg one might chance upon, say, going down the Mississippi? Do you think that people don't have a disgruntled, distrustful side as well as a kind, generous side? Would you, in short, prefer a chintzy Hallmark postcard to a well-penned, thoughtful, erudite travel book, such as this?--If so, why did you bother reading or reviewing it?

As Raban remarks to one of his inquisitors, he in not a journalist and this book is about him and his impressions on his, brave or quixotic, depending on how you view it, travel down the Mississippi inspired by dreams of it since a boyhood reading of Mark Twain.

Yes, some of it is sad and melancholy. But often it is laugh-out-loud funny at the author's expense as much as at the expense of any of the people he meets. It is often very bracing and generous; and erudite, like all of Raban's writings.

As a refutation to all the nay-sayers, please cast your eye on the last page of Chapter 10 where he opens the note from the tow captain he has been accompanying:

"I opened it ten minutes later and read it by the light of a city streetlamp, with the paper dimpling in the warm rain.

"I know very little
of writers, but people
I do no. You are a
Good man to ride
The River with, Jonathan Ravan
Bob Kelley
Master M/v Jimmie L.
Dec. 7, 1979"

It was the one certificate I had most wanted to earn."

Another fantastic book by Raban, the greatest, most thoughtful, introspective, literate travel writer alive today.

Glum and narrow-minded.......2007-04-06

I expected a lot more from this book. Having spent some time on the Mississippi River myself, I frankly thought this would be a good overview of the people and places along the river. Instead, I found it to be a dated (late 70s) and prejudiced view of the midwest USA in general. Raban starts the book by making fun of Minnesotans attending the Minnesota State Fair. Not that I have anything against making fun of Minnesotans, but to me he seemed to really MEAN it when he was talking about them.

This viewpoint of Americans as narrow-minded provincials seemed to permeate the entire book. I wonder if Raban would feel the same way almost 30 years later...

I also felt that he spent way too much time describing his stops on the northern part of his trip, and glossed over the lower Mississippi. Of course, considering that he took his boat on board a barge for most of the trip on the lower Mississippi, it's not surprising that he chose not to write about it as much. Frankly, I would have been happy if he had just chosen to write about his REAL trip via small boat and stopped there.

Unless Jonathan Raban chooses to update this book, I can't recommend it. It's just a glum and narrow-minded look at the midwest in the 1970s.

One of my all time favorites.......2005-10-30

I have owned at least two copies of this book and voyaged with Raban at least half a dozen times down the river. Each time some new little part of this beautifully written book seems to highlight itself. Raban has a great sense of humor, writes with an incisive and sometimes unkind clarity that has obviously upset some of the reviewers. I can understand that. It could be a shock if you set off down the river thinking your companion is a perfect English gentleman and find instead he is a slightly cynical foreigner, who is very perceptive but often unkind. It would not surprise me if some of the people he met along the way felt ill-used on reading the book. But wonderful writing has little to do with being Mr. Nice guy. This book was written during Carter's presidency and captures this period magnificently. It is one of my all time favorites.

a tattered flag, still waving.......2003-06-03

I have traveled a fair amount through the small towns of the United States and have to concur with Mr. Raban's depiction of both the towns and the people who live in them. Other readers who have taken the time to write reviews of this book here seem to have remembered only about half of what Raban wrote about each of the towns that he visited.

His initial impressions were often filled with disappointment. He had approached this trip with a boyhood dream in his head and he was continually set back on his proverbial heels by the reality of these river towns in 1979. More often than not, however, further exploration of the town, conversations with some of its citizens and reflection on his part, caused Raban to revise his evaluation of many of the places that he visited.

Some reviewers may perhaps have forgotten that this book describes this region as it was after years during which the US economy struggled through an oil crisis, bouts of inflation, intervals of high unemployment and the tail end of the history of the "old economy". Should someone have the time and inclination to retrace Raban's steps nearly 25 years later, I would not be surprised if they found these towns and their people had changed quite a bit, probably for the better in social and economic terms. For instance, Raban devoted most of a chapter to the failed election campaign of Memphis's first black candidate for mayor. A quick Google (keywords: Memphis Tennesee government) will show you that the present mayor of Memphis (Willie W. Herenton) is African-American. I'm going to guess that he is not the first black mayor of Memphis.

I loved Raban's modus operandi for getting to the heart of a place. Tie up your boat, go to the nearest bar and strike up a conversation. This would seem to me to be the most reliable means to quickly get an unvarnished opinion about a place. Sure, someone on a bar stool is likely to have a slightly dimmer view of the place where he or she lives than the average citizen, but Raban was rarely, if ever, content with their views. He basically used the tavern-sitters as a 1979-era local flesh-and-blood Google; he found out the basics about a place like who are the local characters, what are the main industries, which are the burning local political issues etc. His fellow barflies were more important as sources of germane questions than as sources of definitive answers.

Raban's perspective on the St. Louis metropolitan area is one that I can vouch for personally, having visited there 10 years after he did. Furthermore Jonathan Franzen's novel The Twenty-seventh City is an elaborate description of the city-county socio-politico-economic tensions during the late 1980s. The continuum between Raban and Franzen's descriptions is pretty easy to imagine. Franzen grew up in the county and would have been a teen-ager when Raban was shacked up with his rich, wigged-out girlfriend out in Clayton.

I took one long journey through the US accompanied by a Danish friend. Upon learning that my traveling companion was a foreigner nearly every American that we encountered relaxed almost visibly and began to wax philosophical about the state of things. The radius of their sphere of interest varied, but everyone had an opinion about something. It was delightful to see that Mr. Raban experienced this same lowering of guard and move toward introspection as soon as he announced that he was an Englishman traveling in the US.

The parochial character and narrow-mindedness of many of the people he encountered matches up well with my own experiences in similar terrain four years after his journey. It is important to note though that Raban was treated to extraordinary amounts of generosity, both material and emotional, by the people that he met, however rhetorically bigoted they might have been. The author is at pains to acknowledge both the generosity and the puzzling disconnect that he sees between their rhetoric and their behavior.

Just one of the wonderful things that Jonathan Raban does in the course of Old Glory is show the reader the essence of American character. Their aggressive rhetoric is their shield against the unknown, but once you are brought in behind that shield, Americans are among the most outrageously generous and genuinely good people that you are likely to find.

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Old Glory : A Voyage Down the Mississippi
Jonathan Raban
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OXLX6I

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Proceso, published by CISA Comunicacion e Informacion, S.A. de C.V. on September 7, 2003. The length of the article is 511 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: La "Torre de la Libertad".(Daniel Liebeskind, arquitecto)(construcciÃ³n de edificio, monumento donde existieron las Torres Gemelas de Nueva York )(Entrevista)
Author: J. JesÃºs Esquivel
Publication: Proceso (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 7, 2003
Publisher: CISA Comunicacion e Informacion, S.A. de C.V.
Issue: 1401 Page: 45(1)

Article Type: Entrevista

Distributed by Thomson Gale

La estatua de la libertad. (crítica de la falta de libertad en los Estados Unidos)(TT: The statue of liberty) (TA: criticism of lack of freedom in United States): An article from: Epoca

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La estatua de la libertad. (crítica de la falta de libertad en los Estados Unidos)(TT: The statue of liberty) (TA: criticism of lack of freedom in United States): An article from: Epoca
Jaime Campmany
Manufacturer: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00098D8Z2
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on September 28, 1998. The length of the article is 992 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: La estatua de la libertad. (crÃtica de la falta de libertad en los Estados Unidos)(TT: The statue of liberty) (TA: criticism of lack of freedom in United States)
Author: Jaime Campmany
Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 28, 1998
Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
Issue: n709 Page: p5(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Estatua De LA Libertad/Statue of Liberty (Simbolos De Libertad)

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Estatua De LA Libertad/Statue of Liberty (Simbolos De Libertad)
Tristan Boyer Binns
Manufacturer: Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Turtleback

General | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Well conceived, a fun book........1999-02-22

Intresting, entertaining and beautifully illustrated

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The Ubiquitous Pig
Marilyn NISSENSON
Manufacturer: Publisher Unknown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WBKR78

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The Ubiquitous Pig
Marilyn NISSENSON
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RJQ2ZQ

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The Ubiquitous Pig
Marilyn; Jonas, Susan Nissenson
Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLYEV6

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Printworld Directory: Contemporary Prints & Prices/1994 (Printworld Directory of Contemporary Prints and Prices)
Selma L. Smith
Manufacturer: Printworld International, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0943606063

Amazon.com

For vegetable gardeners who dread winter and grocery store produce aisles, Jeff Ashton has an answer, and it's this: don't allow the cold to come. Cover your plants like you would a child in a crib. The 12 Month Gardener is a book about defying the tyranny of seasons by building contraptions that control the plant's environment. It's a clearly written, detailed guide to constructing row covers, tunnels, and greenhouses.

A personal and anecdotal introduction is followed by teacherly, informative chapters on topics such as "Materials, Tools, and Construction Hints," "Vegetables for Cold Weather Gardens," and "The Ultimate Greenhouse." Specific building processes are explained in clear prose, although some knowledge of carpentry is required to fully understand the directions.

This is a book very much for gardeners who've become addicted to the taste of a fresh-picked tomato's sugars or the delicate texture of raw homegrown spinach. Beyond that, it also shows you how to be imaginative and proactive about the environment of your garden. With a bit of work, you don't have to say farewell to the growing season if you aren't ready to. --Emily White

Book Description

“A solid guide to creating contraptions that can help you start gardening earlier and keep going longer.”—Chicago Tribune. “Beautifully produced...focuses on ways to inexpensively protect crops from low temperatures....Includes many full-color photographs showing apparatus used to protect crops....A tremendous pleasure to read.”—HortIdeas.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book.......2003-10-22

This book has a wealth of wonderful ideas for the serious gardener who wants to extend her/his season. Although I do not intend to go to the lengths that the author does, I have gleened numerous ideas, many of which I have already put to use in the short time I have owned the book. If you are serious about extending your season, this is the book to buy!!

Just what I was looking for!.......2001-12-30

I love this book, and will refer to it often.
Mr. Ashton has provided the reader with clear photos and excellent instructions for a large variety of season extenders. He also explains WHY he prefers certain materials over others.
Reading this book, written by someone more experienced will be a big help to those of us just starting out.
I can't wait to get started!

The 12 Month Gardener: Simple Strategies for Extending Your Growing Season

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The 12 Month Gardener: Simple Strategies for Extending Your Growing Season

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0641602936

Product Description

From the Publisher Just because the frost is setting in doesn't mean you have to abandon your garden for the winter. There's no mystery involved in lengthening the time that your plants grow in spite of the weather. Simply provide protection with the basic constructions you'll learn to put together here. If you had known it was this easy, you would have tried it sooner! Recently developed gauze-like fabrics-- the simplest, most cost-effective option-- are fabulous for starting seeds. Stretch the fabric, or a sheet of plastic, over a simple framework and you have a tunnel, which will protect full beds of salad greens, as well as tall kale and mustards. Flexible and inexpensive, stoop houses cover a wider area, and enable you to work and harvest inside them. And you can create one in a day or less! Another choice is homemade cloches. They can be something as simple as a one-gallon plastic juice bottle with the bottom cut out. Easy to move around and store, they're best when you want to protect individual plants. If you're looking for something more permanent, try cold frames or greenhouses. A cold frame is essentially a bottomless box with a transparent top, and it's your best investment for a long-term structure that will fill all your needs. Greenhouses are big enough to grow a significant amount of food, and they allow for better insulation, as well as rock and heat storage. Finally, common sense and innovation converge in a chapter that focuses specifically on other useful strategies you can implement in your garden to increase yield, save time, and create a more invigorating gardening experience that doesn't have to end at the first signs of winter.

Book Description

One of the main consequences of recent work in early modern intellectual and religious history has been a discrediting of the notion of a sudden and dramatic transition to the spiritual world of the Enlightenment. Scholars are increasingly examining the underlying spiritual trends and tendencies which confirm the variety and complexity of the slow movement from Renaissance to Enlightenment, and the profound impact of many of the manifestations of intellectual and religious tension during the early modern period. The essays in this volume are a contribution to this process of reappraisal, focusing specifically on the phenomena of scepticism and millenarianism, especially as part of the more pronounced role of the Jews and their culture.

Book Description

Winner of the Leica-sponsored 2003 European Publishers Award for Photography.

Kakarouhas' empathy and passion for Cuba and its people is clear. The book is full of images with a richness of color and a warmth and sensuality that conveys a real feeling for the island and for the daily lives of its inhabitants. Combining portraits of great beauty with still lifes and interiors, the book will be of interest to anyone who has visited the island or who wants to understand its unique and fascinating attraction.

An afterword is writen by Ian Jeffrey, a leading writer and critic on photography.

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Suspended Time - Cuban Portrait
Haris Kakarouhas
Manufacturer: DEWI LEWIS (TURN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K7M0Z6

Customer Reviews:

Michele Kwan will always be a champion.......1998-03-30

Even though this book is kind of short, it gives great insight on the figure skater, Michele Kwan. There are also a few tidbits of information about other skaters in the book, and I highly recommecnd this book to any beginner skating fan. This book shows that even though Michele didn't win gold at the Olympics, she'll always be a champion in the eyes of many people around the world. A classy skater like Michele is not to be taken advantaged of.

A young readers book about a young skater.......1998-03-26

This is an excellent book for young readers around ages 7 - 10. It tells the story of Michelle Kwan's life up until the end of the 1997 season. The book includes an easy to understand glossary of skating terms. There are lots of quotes from Kwan and pictures tracing her growth from tiny tot to World Champion. The book stresses Kwan's work ethic and her devotion to her family which makes her one of the best role models for children. Though easy to read the book does offer a few vocabulary challenges for the young reader that would help them to expand their reading skills. The book is good for young fans of Kwan, and may make them more interested in reading.

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