5 comments about God and Mr. Gomez, (A Fawcett crest book).

1. "God and Mr. Gomez", while not a recent book by a long shot is a timeless read. It is written in the hilareous style that only Jack Smith can pen. You blend in with the characters and it being a true story makes it all the more interesting and satisfying. A great read for summer, or anytime



2. Both Jack Smith and Mr. Gomez have passed on from this life. Thanks to Jack's gifted writing ability, you can experience the culture, beauty and patience pace still to be found in Baja California. I have been there and seen the house, the road, the federalli check point, the cliffs and the fishing village. I have had the good fortune to have stayed in a home near Jack's and met others who followed Jack's column in the LA Times during those years of construction of his "mansion". I have searched used book stores and bought on-line used copies while new books have not been published since 1997. I am so glad it is back in print so I can recommend it to my friends. Great reading and funny too!



3. I have traveled to Mexico for over 25 years, and own a home there. This story is only too familiar. I am buying a copy for all of my Mexico loving friends and family.



4. I have another, older, copy of this book and have read it several times. This was a replacement for the old one, which is worn out! If you've ever been to Baja, you will totally love hearing Jack and Denny Smith's experiences with purchasing a home there. If you haven't, you will still love hearing the story AND you will want to go there and find your own adventure.



5. Anyone contemplating the construction of their home in Mexico MUST red this book. It is extremely humorous and an easy read, but it exposes the many pitfalls of attempting to build your dream home in Mexico. BEWARE!

3 comments about Pacific Northwest Camping Destinations (Camping Destinations series).

1. I bough thtis with the MOON bok, and am using both of them , this one is helpful with trip ideas, and the best of the large campgrounds, a very usefull book.



2. Having lived in the Pacific NW for many years I know lots of places for camping and RVing. I found this book accurate and very resourcefull. With rising fuel prices, we are all looking for closer to home places to "get away" and this book is a required resource to help find them, and determine their suitability. The only criticism I have is the way its organized. A little hard to find individual places since it is organized based on tour routes.



3. I like how this couple presents their information. The book is full of useful data. I have purchased this in preparation for our journey to Alaska, British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories. It does a superb job of helping you understand what to look for, where to look for it, how much things cost relative to other areas. Excellent job.

2 comments about Mexico: A Hiker's Guide to Mexico's Natural History.

1. The writer is the man which we can absolutly beleving to him without deform. I am glad that I knowed man like he is. I am met him in my travel in Mexico. He is absolutly tie together with nature like nobady else.



2. I found Jim Conrad's book very informative & it inspired me to hike the jungle trail behind the Palenque ruins in Chiapas. The discription of first part of the hike was very accurate. However, once my husband & I reached the second part of the hike, it became apparent that Mr. Conrad never actually finished the hike himself. The descriptions faded out & we ended up hiking at least 5 miles farther than the book describes. I just wanted to warn anyone else hiking the Palenque trail that hiking the full circle is much farther than the book indicates. When you get to the river & over the hanging bridge (well worth it), you might want to turn around & head back the way you came, through the jungle & back to the ruins. The rest of the way is a gravel farm road(estimated 5-7 miles)to the road main road leading back to Palenque city.

3 comments about Rock Climbing New Mexico and Texas.

1. Having put up hundreds of routes in New Mexico, I was expecting this book to be an updated collection of all the new routes that have been going in in New Mexico. It's not. It's a collection of routes from very old sources. Let's hope Walt Wehner or Luke Laeser get their guides done soon!!



2. Dennis has done what a lot of folks have thought about doing, but never quite gotten around to it - a comprehensive guide to the state of New Mexico (Texas is in there, too, but I haven't climbed there, so can't judge that part). It is a very useful book for those of us who live and climb in NM, but as might be expected of a first effort, is incomplete and inaccurate for many areas. Still, having some information is a lot better than having none, so I recommend buying it. Hopefully Dennis will proceed with a second edition, but I doubt it, because there is a limited market, and it's a huge amount of work.



3. for texas, it is not that great. The enchanted rock guide is all but worthless. Reportedly inaccurate in other areas as well. For an enchanted rock guide, check out erockonline.com

1 comments about The History of the Incas.

1. This translation of the work of Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa is both riveting and detailed. As an account of the history of the Incas it is unsurpassed in its accuracy, presenting evidence gained from the Incas themselves circa 1570AD. Events and occurrences are vividly portrayed although the reader is always left with a sense of myth being mixed with fact. Also the annoying use of Italics to mark out the obvious and often contradictory statements forced to be included in the book by the Spanish Viceroy of the time is somewhat demeaning.

   Despite this the translation serves as a fascinating read and as a lucid and detailed account of the history of the Incas. The translator has also included an invaluable lexicon of Quechua words and useful maps of the areas in question that add a realism to the book that would be otherwise unachievable.

   A stunning and informative read this work is equally capable of being a book of general interest or an accurate academic source. However the prime benefit of this book is not its authenticity but its rich detail that illustrates the lifestyle of the ancient Incas in a truly vivid manner. It is also interesting to note the strong religious superiority that is portrayed by the author and the attitudes of the Spanish conquistadors towards the Incas that were apparent during this period of history and to observe how these factors shaped the type of history that was recorded during this period, a fact that is all to easy to overlook.

1 comments about Meeting the Medicine Men: An Englishman's Travels Among the Navajo.

1. Langley, a jaded newspaper editor from London, travels to the American Southwest and gradually is allowed to become an apprentice to Blue Horse, a Navajo Medicine Man. In his book, he recounts Blue Horse's skill at "de-witching" and removing curses from individuals and families. He also describes a session in a sweat lodge, a Beautyway ceremony, and his visions while taking peyote along the San Juan River with a Navajo friend.
   
   One has to be careful with books like this. Marlo Morgan's MUTANT MESSAGE DOWN UNDER, presumably about an American woman's "walkabout" with Australian Aborigines and the ancient wisdom she learned from them, was almost entirely made up. Langley, who has since become a student of anthropology at the University of New Mexico, is sincere, but his outsider's account should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt (no pun intended). That's not to say that a Navajo "insider's" account of wichcraft, healing, and visions shouldn't be taken with a grain of salt either. But some of the book seems padded for atmosphere, and parts of the book have the ring of fiction, such as a scene in which a "death car" pursues Langley in his rental car across a northern Arizona highway. But who's to say?
   
   The other issue is to what extent a white author should divulge information he is privileged to witness in a traditional Native culture. Too often, traditional Native knowledge is coopted by the New age community. The book has the endorsement on the back of Emerson Jackson, Sr., a Navajo elder and former president of the Native American Church of North America, whose members legally take peyote as a kind of sacrament during ceremonies. Langley writes with great respect for Navajo people and traditions. But one wonders if Blue Horse or Langley's Navajo friends who were on the receiving end of witchcraft and curses would have been as likely to welcome him in their ceremonies had they known he would write a book divulging such secrets. Tony Hillerman was criticized by many on the Navajo Nation for incorporating traditional Navajo ceremonial knowledge in his mysteries.
   
   I found Langley's sensational account hard to put down. He writes with skepticism at first, but then credulity when the situation calls for it, and humor, especially in describing how his Navajo friends become gradually more accepting of his being a "bilagaana"/white man. His book, thankfully, attempts to be a factual account and does not have that "New age/shaman wisdom" ring to it, but reminds us that in lower-48-states America, pockets of traditional cultures have preserved beliefs, wisdom, and traditions that go back thousands of years, and may have a lot to say to our crazy contemporary world.
   
   For a better book, though, about a white man's journey across the Navajo Nation, try Douglas Preston's beautiful TALKING TO THE GROUND, about a horseback journey Preston and his wife and daughter took across the northern Navajo Nation, and the landscapes, people, and knowledge they encounter there.

No comments about Clemente Guillen, Explorer of the South: Diaries of the Overland Expeditions to Bahia Magdalena, and LA Paz, 1719, 1720-1721 (Baja California Travels Series).

5 comments about Caribbean By Cruise Ship: The Complete Guide To Cruising The Caribbean (Caribbean By Cruise Ship)(4th Edition).

1. I was incredibly disappointed in this book. I haven't taken a cruise in over a decade and still didn't learn a thing reading this book. It reads like a travelogue for various islands in the Caribbean but offers no insights on any of the ships or any of the lines. It didn't have much on shore excursions either. I learned more from the various cruise lines home pages than I did from this book.



2. This is an excellent guide book for both the first time cruiser and the seasoned traveller. My travel agent gave this book as a gift to those of us cruising as a group to the Eastern Caribbean this past spring. Athough I have sailed on many cruise ships and feel I know many of the differences between the lines and ships, those in our group who were new to cruising found the glossary section very useful and filled with practical tips to make their cruise more enjoyable and less confusing (ie) tipping policy,dining options, onboard activities.
   
   We liked the pull out map and had this hanging in our staterooms so that we could plot our course each day. The smaller maps of the ports of call were very useful, and often had more detail than the maps from the shore excursion desk onboard. So often on a cruise I feel the tour department is promoting their shops and excursions ... but having this book provided an unbiased synopsis of what there was to see in each port and where to go.
   
   The section on Caribbean history and the history of each island helps in understanding the people and the culture. When one 'drops into a port' for just a few hours or a day, it is not always easy to get the entire flavour of the people. By knowing a bit of the history, my onshore experience was
   certainly enhanced.



3. This book provided very good information about where the ships dock, as well as activities on the islands, modes and costs of transportation, and feedback about beaches, shopping and water activities. The maps and information that showed the distances from the ship to the activities/localities were just what I was looking for to plan my days on the islands. In addition, the book was very helpful in the selection of shore excursions that I could do on my own and through the ship (e.g., it helped to narrow down the best spots for snorkeling and golf, etc.). I would recommend it to anyone traveling via cruise ship to the Caribbean.



4. We just returned from a 10 day southern Caribbean cruise and found this book invaluable. The maps were great! Details on shore excursions and port attractions allowed us to focus on aspects we were interested in and also gave us the confidence to do walkabouts. Great book, highly recommended.



5. This is a physically heavy but informationally lightweight guide for crusing in the Caribbean. It is good but not great. We found it only slightly useful, preferring the Insight Guide Caribbean Cruises for more content and especially the "Cruising the Eastern Caribbean" more suitable to our nature oriented tastes. The latter book covers only EASTERN islands.

2 comments about Albuquerque Then and Now (Then & Now Thunder Bay).

1. As anyone who reads her history columns in the Albuquerque Tribune knows, Mo Palmer knows Albuquerque's history. Now, here, at last, is a book she's written on the subject, a book that probably no one else anywhere was as qualified to write.
   In addition to being an area history columnist, Mo Palmer has been a photo archivist for the Museum of Albuquerque, and here, in "Albuquerque: Then and Now" she draws from all of her knowledge to create a truly valuable portrait of Albuquerque, then and now.
   Every one of this book's even-numbered page features an amazing old historic photo of a notable Albuquerque landmark, and every odd-numbered page features that same landmark (or whatever took its place) today. And all of the photos are captioned with interesting and concisely written information.
   Any Albuquerque area resident willing to pick up this book and take the time to flip through it will be sure to find the experience transformative and enlightening. It will amaze you just how much of Albquerque's architectural history has remained behind, and sadden you just how much some things have changed.
   Buy it, read it, keep it for yourself as reference and a reminder, or give it as a gift to friends in the Albuquerque area, or to friends who you want to have visit you here.



2. I love reading Albuquerque history from many different sources, and I love "then" and "now" photos, and I also love reading the books that Mo Palmer recommended to my son when she was his history teacher. Well this perfect storm of affections converged this past month when my son gave me Mo Palmer's "Albuquerque Then and Now" for Christmas. This is not just another collection of stories from Albuquerque's past. Many stories tend to get repeated from one book to the next - the story of the Alvarado hotel, the early tuberculosis clinics, the early schools and UNM's early days, the Sear's fire, and so on. When you read Miss Palmer's book it would appear that it did not occur to her that she needs to cover that territory for you. It is very fresh, most of the "then" photographs were new to me, and the commentary was very enlightening to me. Much of the discussion focuses on the early communities and what they were like. I hope she will publish again soon.

No comments about Wheelers Rv Resort and Campground Guide 2005: Guide to All Known Rv Resorts and Campgrounds in the United States, Canada and Mexico (Wheelers Rv Resort and Campground Guide).