4 comments about Images of the Southwest: Southern Utah & Southwest Colorado (Volume 1).

1. This CD is hyped as a professional quality portfolio of the scenic southwest. While the photos are synchronized with the text of volume 1, which is helpful in visualizing the locations, The quality of the photos is not worth the $19.95. Since I was disappointed, I returned the CD and was reimbursed the sum of $6.95 for my troubles. If you are looking for quality photos, don't waste your time, and money!



2. One look at Martres's two books on photographing the Southwest convinced me to immediately buy his CDs as well. Many of the photos are stunning and Martres's fair use conditions are generous. The images are good companions to the book as you can copy the good setup angles that he has spent years finding. Also he avoids overly heavy use of filters so that what you see in the images represents what you may actually see in the field. There are a few times in which the criteria for including pictures seems to be the success of the shots rather than the significance of the places visited. (For example, Angel Arch in Canyonlands is not included.) Also, I found the links that some of the images had to his chosen jpg viewer (included) quirky. His may be more viewer than you want or need. Fortunately, it is possible to get around the included viewer and use your own jpg viewer. On the whole, the CD is very worthwhile.



3. I have been a photo addict to this region for ten years and have made six journeys to the region to get photos for my website. It is true that the pictures on this CD are over saturated and have high contrast, this is partly because the photographer likes sunrise and sunset pictures. Most of my digital pictures are taken in full sunlight and there is a remarkable difference between our shots. However, there are many shots that I have not seen and it has encouraged me to visit the more obscure sites on my next visit. Some of the sites I will never see because too much hiking is required. This CD compliments the book, the pictures in the book are in black and white. Many of the pictures are superb. The CD also contains the excellent ThumbsPlus software which I have been using for 8 years and is a must for any photographer to sort out and edit digital archives. All my website pages were also generated using this software. All in all this CD has many good shots and will give the 'Southwest'photo enthusiast new ideas about this area, especially off the tourist track. In my opinion the wave photos from the Paria region were worth the price of the CD, as I had never seen them before. If you have the book it is worth getting the CD, if you have been here as a tourist it will show you some of the shots you missed.



4. We are planning a long trip to Bryce and Zion National Parks in May and purchased Martres book earlier. His descriptions of the trails and where to be at what time of day are proving invaluable to use in planning our daily hikes! We are able to map out our entire trip. When the CD came in with color pictures of the very places we'll visit, we were so excited! It helps us envision how we will need to place our camera equipment to get just the right picture to bring home, print and put on our mantel.

2 comments about Los Cabos & Baja California Sur: Great Destinations Mexico: A Complete Guide (Great Destinations).

1. Thanks to the guide my family and I had a great time in Mexico.
   With the guide we were able to locate great beachs and fabulous restaurants. I will definetely refer it to my friends!



2. This is not a travel book. It has very broad general information. The only interesting thing about it is the pictures. You're better off going with Lonely Planet or Frommers.

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.

No comments about Zentralamerika-Mexiko-Karibik (Central America map, 1:5 000 000 scale).

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

1 comments about Indian Country: Sacred Ground, Native People.

1. In his new book, Indian Country, Sacred Ground, Native People, photographer and writer John Annerino has once again captured the spirit, history and beauty of the American West. Traveling through the sacred land of the Navajo, Hopis, Apache and Pagago people, Annerino bears witness to the majesty, mystery and the spiritual magnificence of this land. His photographs capture awesome vistas and mountain ranges as well as Native ceremonies. He "sees" the light of this land in a way that conveys the deep emotional and spiritual attachement he has to both it and it's people and his words express and explan the history and beliefs of the areas tribes with respect and reverence. This is trully one of his finest works to date. Indian Country is a testament to the sacred history of the West and a lesson that these lands and traditions must be preserved and honored.

1 comments about A River No More: The Colorado River and the West, Expanded and Updated edition.

1. This book is a real downer.
   Even the cover is.
   Even the title! The Colorado River's not a river anymore? It's true. Can you turn a river on and off? Can you control how fast a river flows? (That sounds more like...a DITCH!)
   The Colorado is the most regulated river in America. Over forty dams control its water, and with a word from the right people, its flow can be stopped just like that.
   The river starts in the mountains north of Grand Junction, Colorado, gets drained right away into various canals, and what's left runs from there into a couple of small reservoirs and into Utah. It runs past the over two thousand natural arches of Arches National Park, and on to Moab.
   The river rushes past the mouth of the Green River, heads on through Canyonlands National Park, and eventually, stops in Lake Powell. It goes on, though. Alive, but less alive: hidden underneath Lake Powell, then through the dam, then coursing blue and green and silt-free, like it never was, down past Lees Ferry and through the Grand Canyon, with never a flood to wash out the tamarisk, and temperatures too cold for any native fish to live in. So cold and so different that four of the Grand Canyon's eight native species of fish are now extinct. Gone forever.
   Then the river's under Lake Mead, and then it's squeezing through another dam. After that it's trying to keep Nevada and California from Arizona, and it's going through three more reservoirs, and even more dams. Dam. Dam. Dam.
   What'd the fish say when it hit a wall?
   Dam.
   Then, it's the Rio Colorado: same thing, but in Spanish, and less of it. It runs the Baja-Sonora state line in Mexico, trickles through some dying wetlands, and sometimes, in rare flood years, makes it to the Gulf of California. The ocean.
   ...But it almost never makes it that far anymore.
   The river is now very, very useful to people...but is it still a river? And is what we've done right?
   This book is a good examination of that question, of the river's sad tributaries, and of the state of the river itself. It's very factual, open in its biases, only occasionally slow and meandering, and it is dense with valuable (though sometimes out-of-date) information.
   Read this and learn. Read this and be enlightened. Read this and be depressed and angered out of your skull...but read it.

No comments about Touring the pueblos: A travel guide which takes the visitor to all 20 living Pueblo Indian reservations in New Mexico and Arizona.

No comments about Insight Pocket Guide Santa Fe: Taos, Albuqerque (Insight Pocket Guides).

No comments about The Complete Visitor's Guide to Mesoamerican Ruins.