1 comments about The Road to Hana (Hawaii Pocket Guides) (Hawaii Pocket Guides).

1. Silly little brochure that can easily be outdone by those you can pick up for free nearly anywhere in Hawaii or online. I returned it immediately for a refund. Don't waste your money.

2 comments about Narrative of a Journey Across the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River, and a Visit to the Sandwich Islands, Chili, &C.,With a Scientific Appendix (Northwest Reprints Series).

1. hi everyone, please buy, read and cherish this book! you would not believe how much work went into this - I know because I'm the author's daughter. BUY BUY BUY! :) thanks



2. This is a remarkable look at the untamed American West of 1834-1837 through the eyes of a young naturalist. Despite its age, this account is quite readable. The smaller segments describing Townsend's visits to Hawaii, Tahiti and Chile are also enjoyable.

   Since this is a diary, it does have some flat spots (not every day can be an adventure), but mostly Townsend fills his descriptions with details and color that bring his encounters alive. You can sense Townsend maturing as the journey goes on. One suggestion to the editors: If a new edition is produced, it would be nice to include a map of Townsend's travels, because in some places it's hard to tell where he is.

   A tip to the reader: Skip the introduction, since it's mostly just a summary of what you'll be reading. It does, however, contain a description of what happened to Townsend after the book, so go back and read that once you finish.

1 comments about Kauai: Images of the Garden Island.

1. This book is a wonderful glimpse of the beautiful Island of Kauai.
   After my first visit to the Island, I wanted something that would capture the pure beauty of Kauai, and keep all the magic fresh in my mind. This book does the job. The photographs are amazing.
   Well done, to Douglas Peebles.

No comments about The Pacific: Alaska and Hawaii (The Smithsonian Guides to Natural America).

2 comments about Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i.

1. This enormously moving book is presented more as a natural history of a land, Hawaii, when it really is a history of one man's soul. Touchingly self revealing, it shares the torment and the ecstasy of one person's search for meaning. I felt the natural history information, the eternal tree and the omnipresent volcano, were metaphors, not the meat of the book. I encourage readers on a personal path of understanding to take on VOLCANO as a guidebook of a singular journey - one that may resonate with many of us. It is wonderful



2. Hongo delights us with his poetic voice and I was expecting big things with this memoir. But doesn't a 'memoir' mean you've spent some meaningful time in a locale and are a bit of an expert on it? Hongo left Hawaii for California at a young age and knows little if anything about the history of the aina. His spiritual angle on looking at a leaf, stream, or hardened lava flow is somewhat interesting but the book lacks any meaningful punch because there is little or no characterization. I was expecting him to reconnect with people from his childhood but there are none. He is chasing ghosts from an invented past and the writing suffers for it.

1 comments about The Hawaiian Archipelago: Six Months Among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs and Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands (Picador Travel Classics, 15).

1. This is a great eyewitness account of Hawaii in 1863, by one of the era's most intrepid travelers, after it had been impacted by its collision with the American and European powers but while it was still a robust independent Kingdom and before its forced assimilation into the USA. It really gives you a taste of the old Hawaii, if not the original Hawaii.

No comments about Waikiki Yesteryear.

No comments about Hawaii: Adventures in Nature.

No comments about Hawaii: A Unique Geography.

No comments about Creating Hawaii Tourism.