5 comments about Salt Dreams: Land and Water in Low-Down California.

1. *Winner of the 1999 Western States Book Award for Creative Non-Fiction. *Winner of the 1999 Clements Prize for the Best Non-Fiction Book on Southwestern America.



2. *Winner of the 2000 Norris and Carol Hundley Award from The Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association.



3. Superlative read revealing the vast natural beauty of the desert and its inhabitants and man's irreversable errors in judging it as a fallen Eden. Together with Cadillac Desert it ranks as a southwest water classic. Beautiful writing and stunning photographs.



4. Bravo! Salt Dreams is the first of its kind to wrap up all of the issues surrounding the Salton Sea and Colorado River delta in one volume. The best since Cadillac Desert in its cinematic portrayal of a complicated host of issues. Awesome writing on the heroism of US Fish and Wildlife staff. My only criticism is that Congressman George Brown is slighted; Sonny Bono often called him "Mr. Salton Sea". Certainly, a book Mr. Brown would have loved.



5. I visited the Salton Sea to photograph birds and found it impossible to describe, telling friends they had to go there themselves to experience the place and the people. Now I tell them to read this book. From the creation of the Sea to the creation of Salvation Mountain, deBuys tells it's colorful history in a prose that fills you with the sounds and smells and people of the Sea and Imperial Valley. Anyone with an interest in man's unlimited folly, vision, corruption, and the coming environmental train-wreck in southern California needs to read this book.

3 comments about Birder's Mexico (Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series, 12).

1. This classic is a "must" for any birder studying for a Mexico trip. Species, tips on finding them, and areas of interest are wonderfully described. Details on plants and trees are a big plus as these are hard to come by elsewhere. After looking in vain for Wauer's book, I'm delighted it's back in print. A good companion to Howell's Finding Birds in Mexico.



2. This is a pleasant, well-written book, that transported me throughout some of Mexico's natural regions from my armchair. Those with experience searching for birds in Mexico will find that this book awakens charming memories. Others may long wistfully to explore the beautiful and unusual habitats found south of the border. I particularly liked chapter 12 - "Place of the Tufted Jay", which included a photo of the Hotel Villa Blanca, where I have also stayed while pursuing the local endemic, the Tufted Jay. The author watched Swifts from the roof of the hotel.



3. I would assume that if you are interested in this book it is because of a future or past birding or natural history tour of Mexico. This book is a great trip and will tantilize you with the biological treasures of places that you dream about or rekindle the memories of places you have visited. If you are familiar with birding trip reports such as found in Blake Maybank's site, this is similar but with a more literary touch. These are stories of great places told by a very well informed naturalist.
   
   This is not a site guide like Howell's or Wheatly & Brewer's books. There are no detailed directions or maps here and some places, even the very well birded San Blas area, are not included in the book. It is still a pleasure to read and will give you some practice on what to expect in the deserts, thorn scrub, cloud forests, and tropical lowlands of Mexico. There are good references to other natural history studies of the country and excellent sections on practical travel information. A very worthwhile read.
   
   Also for readers that enjoy this book Roland Wauer has also written an excellent guide in "A Birder's West Indies" for all the islands of the Caribbean Sea.

1 comments about Visions of Santa Fe: Photographers See the City Different.

1. Beautiful colourful photographs. Not your average conventional sort of photographs either, which makes for an interesting view of a unique city. Lovely coffee table book - good big full pictures. Wish it was a hard covered book, as it deserves that!

No comments about Traveltalk Mexican Spanish (Traveltalk).

4 comments about Mexico's Copper Canyon Country: A Hiking and Backpacking Guide.

1. Informative and constantly entertaining, this book is an essential guide to visiting a truly magical place. I found the book accurate and useful in trip planning in addition to gaining a basic cultural education. Fayhee's attitude toward exploring an insulated and private culture is inspiring.



2. Fayhee's book was incredibly valuable during our recent 6 day adventure to the copper canyon. I read through four books on the subject, and found this book to be the most insightful of all. Some of the specifics are a little out of date since this place is changing so incredibly rapidly, but the stories and anecdotes were very inciteful. Best if used in conjunction with a more recent Guidebook. The suggestions and advice were most helpful in selecting the limited locations we could explore in our allotted time. Enjoyable to read and study in preparation, and the only book we took along with photocopied pages from other books.



3. If you want to read interesting and funny adventures about foot travel in Copper Canyon, this is a great book. Fayhee is a a good writer, quite funny in a Dave Barry kind of way--especially with his use of exaggeration. In that respect, it's one of the best travel guide books I've read.

   HOWEVER, I bought the book to get solid details on the trails of the area (including maps), and in this respect, the book is fatally lacking. After long essays on Fayhee's personal hiking experiences, the last 10% or less of each chapter is devoted specifics of the actual routes, and even that information is often none too specific. It seems to me that I am still stuck with buying topo maps and asking around for more detailed info on routes when I get down there. There's no way I would ever carry this book on a trip and attempt to navigate from it. I am returning it for this reason.




4. This book is more of a travelogue than a guidebook. I was expecting maps, trail lengths, phone numbers for hostels: the kind of things you get in a Lonely Planet or Falcon Books guide. Fayhee's book is a series of stories about his trips to Copper Canyon with a repetitious exhortation to "get a guide!" for most of the hikes he lists. If I wanted a guide I wouldn't have bought a guidebook. For anyone comfortable with some degree of self-reliance, go for topo maps and local contacts instead of this book.

No comments about Knopf Guide: Louvre (Knopf Guides).

5 comments about New Mexico's Wilderness Areas: The Complete Guide (Wilderness Guidebooks).

1. This is a guide that the hikers, desert rats, and general wilderness afficionados of New Mexico have long been in need of. It is the first truly comprehensive guide to both the known and "desperately need to be known about and protected" areas in the land of enchantment. Not only does it offer good general info about the areas but their historical significance, why they qualify as wilderness, and how people can access the areas. The more major areas all have some additional text, which is clear and intriguing. Also nice are the authors "favorite hikes" for some areas - they are an excellent starting point for the hiker with a limited schedule. The photos which accompany some areas are also spectacular. I have but a few gripes with the book and they are as follows: Some areas could use a little more description - especially about why they are so ecologically important. It would also be nice if the maps were a little better, but they are quite adequate. However my most major complaint lies not with the book itself, It is such a good guide that my "secret" areas will scarce remain secrets...



2. I honestly don't see why anyone found this book useful. I was totally fooled into buying it by the positive reviews here! The first thing that happened was that I looked at the front page map of the entire state to find out what areas were near the town I will be in for an upcoming trip. The map had lots of highways marked with NO TOWNS OR CITIES. Now maybe New Mexicans all memorized the highway map of their state, but for a visitor the lack of any towns or cities made this key map pretty much useless. The book has lots of nice photos on glossy pages, and gives tons of information on history and ecology of the various wilderness areas. It mentions some hikes and climbs and gives sketchy verbal directions, but if you are looking for a climbing or hiking guide to New Mexico this book is pretty much useless. The "maps" it has for the different areas are not topo maps, but just line maps of some surrounding roads and trails. I bought this book to help me plan some hikes and maybe easy peak climbs while I was in northern New Mexico. If I could return it I would, it will not be useful at all. If you are looking for a climbing guide, or even a guide to serious hiking in New Mexico don't get this book or you will be just as disappointed as I was!



3. Despite reviews by people from out of state, this book is an excellent source of information on the Wilderness areas of New Mexico. I only hope they update it soon with any new information. This is obviously not meant to be a hiking guide and is not the reason i purchased it. Finding a good source of all of the wilderness areas of the state on the internet was troublesome, even for me, who surfs a lot. While i could get a good list of the wilderness areas out of the gazeteer, i couldn't get a list of wilderness study areas. The book also gives some trail suggestions which are very helpful, but in the end, i went to other sources. Maybe my honoroble friend from Colorado should stay up there and leave the wilderness areas of New Mexico to us.



4. This book is good at what it is intended to be: an introduction and overview of the different wilderness and wilderness study areas in New Mexico. No hiker/backpacker should rely solely on this book however, so if that is what you're expecting to be able to do, you will be disappointed. Each section describes the wilderness area, lists the basics (elevations, best season, map references) and lists a couple of hikes, and has a very basic map of the area with the trails, access roads, and campgrounds. Once you've found the area you're interested in based on the author's fantastic descriptions, you'll need to get a topo map of that area in order to actually do the hike (but personally, I'd rather carry a topo map in my pack that is specific to my hike than lug a book around). And no, the overall map in the front doesn't have cities/towns, but really, how hard is it to tell what part of the state you'll be in?



5. Really not much information provided in the book that you can't get quickly 'online'. That's probably why this book hasn't been updated since it's printing in 1998. Save money and go online for the same info.

3 comments about Best Easy Day Hikes Santa Fe.

1. This book is quite disappointing in its selection and description of hikes. I also purchased Martin's 100 hikes in New Mexico for our upcoming trip there, and would recommend Martin's book much more highly over this one.



2. This hiking guide was all we needed for my family and I to enjoy lovely and easy day hikes in the Santa fe area. The book contained great descriptions of the areas covered, including Bandoleer national Monument and Los Alamos. This guide helped us to get into nature without overwhelming us with complicated directions to reach our destinations. The hikes included in this book were excellent selections of the various choices available to the santa fe day explorer. Thank you Linda and Katherine for such good information and suggestions!



3. We've taken several hikes in the Santa Fe area using the Regnier book as our guide. It is excellent and we can recommend it to anyone hiking in and around Santa Fe. We understand she is updating the book at this time. Beginning hikers need the help of this book.

2 comments about Mountain Biking Northern New Mexico: A Guide to Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque Areas' Greatest Off- Road Bicycle Rides.

1. This book has some great rides with good descriptions and directions. It is lacking some critical closure information that a NEW guidebook should have. For example, the Otero Canyon ride has been closed, but this book does not mention any access issues at all. Some similar problems on other trails.



2. This is as good as a mtb guide gets. The focus is small enough that it can really cover the 3 areas thoroughly, the advise is good, the trail selection is good, and the maps are...standard Falconguide maps, which are OK. D'Antonio doesn't make the mistake of underrating the technical difficulty of his trails. Two caveats: he omits the wonderful Horse Thief trail in Taos--go to Gearing Up bike shop and they'll sell you a stunningly good map; and he tells you to ride the Chamisa Tr in Sante Fe backwards--take his advice and you'll do all the dirt uphill and all the pavement downhill.

5 comments about Michelin North America Midsize Atlas: designed for the way you drive ; USA / Canada / and Mexico (Michelin North America Road Atlas).

1. Unfortunely, I find only one problem with this map book and that is: You can't see the whole state you might be wanting to see. Other than that, it is nice.



2. Organizing by geography and consistent scale is really the way to go. It makes it so easy to use. Points of interest are extensive. There are plenty of blow ups of cities. The maps are very clear to read. And best of all, size. It fits in your glove box and is eady to hold!



3. As a European myself, this map was a cut above the usual USA maps I've used - it's just more intuitive to use pages which link up and do not just focus on state-by-state sections.
   
   Good overall detail, and a lot of detail maps of towns too. Has saved me a lot of time when used with my GPS.



4. this is an outstanding atlas for one very important reason: they label every state and federal park, national monument, historic site, wildlife refuge, senic route, for the United States and Canada. When you are on the road, this is important. Milage between cities is listed in tiny type. There are maps of individual cities for those who need them. The atlas is the size of a notebook, so it is convenient to hold and store. Highly recommended.



5. I bought an earlier edition of this altas for brothers, and nephews as a Christmas gift a few years back. They all love it because of the convenient size and the geographic organization. So, I bought one for myself and I am ready to hit the road, or simply sit back and dream about a road trip!