3 comments about Guide to the Hiking Areas of New Mexico (A Coyote Book).

1. My fiancée and I bought this book before we moved to New Mexico in March of 2000. It has proven to be a fantastic guide and we believe that it's the only book you need to explore the state on foot. Well organized by area with great trail descriptions and maps. A wonderful book!



2. There are several books available on hiking in New Mexico. This was the one I wound up using the most on a recent trip to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Others, such as Parent's book, were also useful and I would therefore suggest having a look at all available guides. However, Hill's work includes legible photocopies of USGS topographic maps, and most of the newer hiking guides tend to feature homemade maps which give the user far less information.
   In my particular case, the material on trails in and around the Guadalupe Reef was most helpful, as Bill Schneider's recently re-released book on the Guadalupe Mtns and Carlsbad Caverns National Parks doesn't include information on the trails in that part of the Reef in between these two parks, certainly worth visiting for those who are lucky enough to get to this area.
   That the book is ten years old is an obvious drawback; things happen, even in a state like New Mexico that has so much public land. For example, a very hot fire had burned up most of the north face of Capitan by Roswell, rendering the trail up the NE side pretty faint. But of course, if you're not willing to ask questions of the locals in this fairly genial state, and do a bit of poking about yourself, you probably don't belong in a place with such rough and potentially lethal geography anyway.



3. I purchased this book in 1996 while moving to attend UNM in New Mexico and learning (by asking) as a fairly new comer where to go and how strenuous the hikes were for a Jersey transplant. While building up my lung capacity on the Sandia Crest hike, I referred to this book over and over again to plan my hikes and really see this beautiful State from the trails. And I still recommend it to those folks traveling to New Mexico for the first or the 10th time. It is the best book written by a local devout hiker and used by local devout hikers. You can not go wrong with this book-it will show your topo maps, truly rate the hikes and give you the details needed to plan, it will be a treasured addition to your library and a good travel companion for beginners and seasoned hikers. Don't forget your water & happy trails, enjoy!!!!

5 comments about The Law of Love.

1. Reading all of these reviews many people compare this book to her first one. Had this been a sequel for the her first novel, then go ahead and compare it. But this is an entirely different book with different characters. Many authors go through different stages in their lifes and many times it shows through in their writing. I enjoyed this book because I had no high expectations for it. I was dissapointed with the CD because I felt that it didn't fit the book as well as it could have. I did enjoy the past lives, but I did also feel that 'magical' things appeard to help the characters out of a tight spot. (Which actually, helps the story move along quite rapidly if you just accept things as they are and not question them.) Enjoyed the book, didn't enjoy the CD so much, loved the pictures and the general idea behind it. Good bathroom reading.



2. Since you read the title, you must guess it is not a realistic book (Can anybody really mention A Law of Love??) Yet, it is really entertaining. What the author mentions in her story is the idea that people reincarnate several times until they settle any conflicts existing in previous lives, and to do so, it is necessary that in the following lives the people who you had these conflicts with, reincarnate close to you. I think this was really a fun book not only for the plot itself that is quite creative, but also because it as a multimedia book. It includes an audio CD and lively illustrations to make you feel as part of the book. For instance, if the person in the book is listening to some music that makes her dream of something, you can also listen to that same music with the aid of the CD while you see the illustrations and share her dreams. Isn't this innovative enough to be worthwhile reading it?



3. Fortunately I have not read Like Water For Chocolate, and so I didn't have particularly high expectations concerning the quality of prose in this book, and reading the jacket prepared me for a rather sappy story. Nevertheless, this was both the most poorly written and poorly conceived book I've read in a long time (if ever!). The writing style reminded me of that of an overstimulated teenager, and the characters were all but empty of substance. What I found most appalling, however, were the ridiculous new-age pseudophilosophies, and the horrendous misinterpretations of karma and reincarnation. Honestly, the whole thing was so bad it was just embarrassing. So glad it was a loaner, not a purchase!



4. After all the hype regarding Like Water for Chocolate, and in view of my deep interest in reincarnation in fiction, I had greatly anticipated this book. It had a compelling start, in detailing the karmic events set into motion with Rodrigo and Citlala, but the switch to the futuristic setting, with all its fantastical and foreign new technologies and philosophies, was too much far, far too soon.
   
   Problems I identified were: poor, scanty characterization; almost total lack of blocking (description of setting); and comprehensive, almost omnipresent 'telling' instead of 'showing'. We are never allowed to draw our own conclusions about the characters from their actions and words-- Esquivel informs us, either through her narration or that of a guardian or demon, exactly what we are to think of everyone. And both the preachiness and massive breadth of the metaphysical 'stuff' was intrusive and annoying, giving the impression she's telling us what to believe, as well.
   
   The ending is, as with so many novels nowadays, rushed and insufficient, a mere wrap-up chapter telling us what happened to all the main characters after the fact, the lazy man's (woman's?) way of getting the damned thing over with. We aren't shown how any of these things occurred, though it would have been both interesting and satisfying to see how these people came to their rewards or punishments.
   
   And worst of all is the pat and ludicrous resolution of the distance between Azucena and Rodrigo. After their initial meeting at the start of the book, they are separated, and the story basically details (with many flourishes) Azucena's travails in finding him again. But when they do find each other, he doesn't remember her any more, and only has eyes for the reincarnation of Citlala, of whom his violation in a prior life was so lovingly recounted in the first chapter.
   
   Azucena, then, finds love with Teo, and enthusiastically copulates with him at every opportunity. This is explained away with a few convenient sentences by Esquivel, who gives Azucena's reunion with Rodrigo the same treatment in her rushed ending. "Oh, Rodrigo remembers Azucena and leaves Citlala and now only has eyes for his soul mate." Just that easy, was it?
   
   I guess a scene of such power and emotion wasn't important enough for her to render for her readers, but I was left wondering if he felt shame for forgetting Azucena was his soul mate and taking up with Citlala, if Azucena harbored resentment for it. Of course, knowing how Esquivel prefers to tell us what to think, she'd have just informed us with a sole paragraph how it all went down, so I suppose that we're not missing anything by her leaving it out.
   
   Also ludicrous is how easily Azucena forgives Isabel's transgressions against her and the others-- again solved with a convenient telling instead of showing. Esquivel proves how poor her grasp of human nature, and how inadequate she is at rendering it in words for her readers, if she thinks that being murdered and abandoned repeatedly by the same person over multiple lifeties can be erased with a sentence or two.
   
   The multimedia aspect of the book feels gimmicky. The music is redundant in style and theme, and the graphic novel parts feel more like Esquivel couldn't be arsed to describe the scene herself, so got someone else to draw it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, she saved herself about 25,000 of them with the artwork. Convenient for her, but ultimately dissatisfying for us.
   
   In general, this book felt like a wacky sci-fi concept that Esquivel wanted "out there" but didn't feel like bothering to put any effort into. Her heavy-handed treatment of both the story and philosophical issues too many 'WTF' moments, where we have to stop and thing hard about what in the world is happening, gives her an overlooming presence that prevents the reader from becoming absorbed in the book; we're too aware it's written, rather than unfolding before us.



5. I bought it in its spanish version. I loved the way that Laura Esquivel wrote "Like Water for Chocolate" all this funny situations and romantic inspirations not to mention the recipes. So, I decided to look a work besides that one. I have the theory that, if you get in love with a book, is pretty uncommon to find a writer that could make a new book surpass its predecessor. This is one of this cases. I got it and started to read, it just got me involved in all this reincarnation theme and how much does it cost find love. Is a book you'r definitvely will get involved and enjoy.

No comments about Mexico: 28 Destinations for Leisure and Pleasure.

No comments about Tidepools Southern California: An Illustrated Guide to 100 Locations from Point Conception to Mexico.

5 comments about Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon.

1. This book was informative but not a real "page turner". The author went off on tangents often that took away from the story at hand. It was not a bad book, but it was not full of the adventure that you would have expected the trip to have been.



2. I enjoyed this book very much. So much that I have loaned it to family and friends to enjoy.



3. This is a pretty decent book for the newcomer who has never read anything about Powell. I found it less entertaining than my fellow reviewers though, as it follows the tedium of the daily journals a little too closely. I also found the narrative to be interspersed with too many digressions. These range from opinions of the Green/Colorado river by modern rafting experts to accounts of other early rafting expeditions, and a lengthy 2-chapter segment on the American Civil war and Battle of Shiloh. This latter exercise contributes nothing to the book, by the way! The reader is also left in the dark about the Native American peoples, Mormon settlers, and miners who inhabited this area at the same point in time ... Really, it is as if the expedition were done in a vacuum. Even worse was the lack of information on 9 of the 10 men who took part in the expedition. While there is more than enough about John Wesley Powell, readers get only sketchy details about the lives of the other 9 men. Even the simplest details like where these men were born is left out, nor are we given much about the kinds of lives they lived (careers, families, etc.) prior to the expedition (and precious little afterwards as well). Although 6 of these 9 men were, like Powell, fellow Union veterans of the Civil War, but we get nothing about their wartime experiences! We also have no clue what motivated them to join this expedition. This oversight would not doubt have suited the egotistical Powell, but is a serious oversight for a modern historian.



4. I've "rafted" the upper Colorado.
   
   Of course that was in a motorized raft, led by experienced pilots, with a map and they did all the cooking and if something really bad happened the ranger service could chopper in and get me (Hey, I *did* hike out from Phantom Ranch)
   
   I can't conceive of doing it in an ungainly rowboat, without a steering oar, having little provisions, without a map or even knowledge of the river (what happens if you hit a 100 ft fall and nowhere to portage?), and where a broken ankle would have meant an almost certain death -- and with one arm.
   
   Truthfully, its amazing this exposition survived.
   
   Dolnick weaves in Powell's embellished account with the other expedition journals to craft a balanced account of the expedition, along with correlating the trip with known features of the canyon. Dolnick describes the tensions within the team -- categorizes their moves, good and bad and tracks their trailblazing passage.
   
   Excellent read.



5. This non-fiction book is about the expedition of John Wesley Powell and their pioneering and death-defying exploration of the Grand Canyon in 1869. Powell, a college professor who had lost an arm at Shiloh, was well-prepared to map the canyons of the Colorado and do a scientific andgeological survey. Unfortunately, he was no leader, and the expedition suffered terribly for it. He rounded up a crew of mountain men and ne'er-do-wells, as well as a few neurotic former Civil War veterans and set off in rowboats that couldn't have been more ill-suited to running the violent rapids of the Colorado. Powell and his men saw amazing sites, but they almost perished multiple times. Finally there was a mutiny in which several men ended up leaving the party and trying to hike out of the canyon(they were never seen again); the others ran the rapids and somehow lived to tell the tale.
   
   While I liked learning more about Powell's expedition, Dolnick has little sense of pacing, and uses annoying modern metaphors every time he gets the chance. The result is a plodding read on what should have been a can't-miss story. Down the Great Unknown has its merits, but the definitive book on Powell and the Grand Canyon has yet to be written.
   
   Reviewer: Liz Clare, co-author of the historical novel "To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis & Clark"

No comments about The Rocky Point Gringo Guide : A Travel Guide to Puerto Penasco Mexico.

No comments about Mexico from the Driver's Seat: Tales of the Road from Baja to the Yucatan (Sanborn's Mexico Books).

No comments about Bandelier National Monument.

No comments about On the Road to Tetlama: Mexican Adventures of a Wandering Naturalist.

2 comments about Slouching towards Birmingham: Shotgun Golf, Hog Hunting, Ass-Hauling Alligators, Rara in Haiti, Zapatistas, and Anahuac New Year's in Mexico City.

1. You may go to college,you may go to school,you may drive a black Cadillac,don't be nobodys fool.-Elvis Presley '55 I've been trying to write this for the past 2 mos. It,s really a crime our southern culture has been packaged and sold. It's like buying red-hots at Wal-Mart.The Hot-Shots finally did it. They bought our sports,music,food and writers.Our damned culture for Christ-sake. Wrapped it up, in a neat package, sold man. Lock- stock and barrel for the allmighty dollar. Thank God, for one of the last,outlaw southern writers. A gentleman, and reporter.A man that brings us the essence of the dying breed.Michael D.Swindle, will always be a true original. I love him. When it,s gone it,s gone.



2. But I read the whole book, and thoroughly enjoyed every chapter in it. Swindle reveals some good and bad attributes about living in the South, and finding political refuge in literary and other hard-drinking circles. Having lived and worked in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, and Georgia, I couldn't agree more with his prognosis and descriptions. I'll have to find some more of his work. This is a great read.
   And the chapter on hog hunting was pretty decent.