2 comments about New Mexico's Best Ghost Towns: A Practical Guide.

1. I loved this book. I went on a trip recently to New Mexico and followed one of the paths listed in the book and tried to see if I could find all the places listed. The pictures helped in locating some sites. Some buildings in some of the pictures are gone but it turned out to be a fun and adventurous day trip. I recommend this book if you can get it.



2. Of all of the ghost towns books I own or have read by Phillip Varney, this is probably the worst. But that being said, this book is not that bad. It was written in 1981, so many of the sites are not there any more. It is a black and white photos, which is a drawback once you have seen his newer books. The maps are not really laid out very well. Also the chapters are a little confusing as to their organization. I think he has leaned how to write a perfect ghost town book since (his CO and AZ book are great). But the sites in the book are the best sites to see in NM, he didn't leave anything out. I have been to many of the sites and have taken fantastic pictures myself (in color and B&W). Therefore, I know how good the pictures in the book can look. But if you haven't been to any ghost towns before and you want a New Mexico ghost town book, then it is still one of the best ones out there.

3 comments about New Mexico's Sanctuaries, Retreats, and Sacred Places.

1. We all experience those dark nights of the soul. A sure cure is to follow author and photographer Christina Nealson on her pilgrimages to out of the way places in the state Georgia O'Keeffe called "the near faraway." As I accompanied Nealson on her spiritual journeys, I felt the strong, luminous presence of artists and writers like O'Keeffe and D.H. Lawrence. Nealson makes New Mexico seem "near" enough, but she never treats a sacred site in a way that robs it of its "faraway" feeling. She also shows a sure touch in her moving and respectful renderings of Hispanic religious and cultural practices. Well worth the trip!



2. This book made me want to get in my car and drive straight to New Mexico! Every page inspired me to visit yet another awesome, beautiful site. Not just the petroglyphs, but White Sands, and the Miraculous Tortilla Shrine! The descriptions of the sites and the fascinating historical tidbits kindled my desire to go New Mexico and see it all for myself. Not only am I motivated to travel to all these locations, I feel I'll approach them and even my home, with a renewed sense of reverence for the beauty all around me, after reading Nealson's inspired prose.



3. I think New Mexico was the greatest experience from the outside world that I have ever had. It certainly changed me forever...something stood still in my soul, and I started to attend. ~D.H. Lawrence
   
   Of all the places I've visited in America, New Mexico is where I felt closest to the earth. The heat radiating from the earth as you walk free and barefoot contrasts with a sudden hailstorm where you have to find shelter.
   
   Christina Nealson delves into this land of mystery and intrigues with her stories of places with great cultural significance. If you are a fan of D.H. Lawrence's writing, then you may want to visit the D.H. Lawrence Memorial in San Cristobal. Apparently Lawrence's ashes are in the walls of the shrine because his wife Frieda threw them into the concrete mix.
   
   Each listing has detailed information:
   
   Location
   Description
   Spiritual Significance
   Solitude Rating
   How to get there
   Accessibility from highway
   Facilities
   Fee Area
   
   There are 111 full-color photographs, 6 maps of New Mexico regions and color-coded tabs on the pages for easy reference. There is a list of Native American Feast Days and a Historical Time Line of New Mexico.
   
   Picturesque churches, mineral spring resorts, tree shrines, white deserts, petroglyph sites, snowy mountains and Navajo hogans make this land a choice location for spiritual renewal. If you are planning a trip to New Mexico, then this guide will give you ideas for day trips and places to stay. The solitude ratings are helpful if you are looking for quiet locations.
   
   Places I thought looked fascinating and a few quotes from this book:
   
   Monastery of Christ in the Desert: "How long has it been since you've heard live Gregorian Chant?
   
   White Sands National Monument, Alkali Flat Trail: "My brain said snow, snow, until I stepped from my air-conditioned car into the piercing heat and the immensity of a million great dunes."
   
   Casitas de Gila: "A short walk down the bluff puts you next to the stream, where a hammock invites you to dawdle."
   
   Of all the books I've read about traveling, this one makes me wish I was a travel writer, wandering through untamed lands. Christina Nealson's writing style is comforting and her knowledge of this area shows her love of travel and her deep appreciation for the need to find a sacred sanctuary where you can relax and heal.
   
   ~The Rebecca Review

3 comments about Best Hikes With Children in New Mexico (Best Hikes With Children).

1. My family loves this reference tool! We plan trips for our 5 children using this book as a guide. Even our baby can be included because the book rates the difficulty and distance of the various sites. We wouldn't hike without it!



2. This is a great book that really makes my camping trips. I have children and with this we are able to find the hikes that we can do with them so that everyone has a great time, a must for the New Mexico Hiker with kids.



3. I was recommended this book about 9 years ago...it is one of our most used reference books. The hikes described are quite accurate, with good driving directions. There are plenty of hikes listed throughout the state. I often give a copy of this book to families new to the area and they find it an invaluable resource, too. If you want to get out and about the Land of enchanment and turn your kids on, too...this is the book for you!

2 comments about Walks In Literary Sante Fe: A Guide to Landmarks, Legends and Lore.

1. Barbara Harrelson has put together a wonderful way to explore the very interesting city of Santa Fe. More than just a guide book to Santa Fe, it is more like a knowledgible friend taking you by the hand and leading you on adventures both historical and modern.
   
   For example. How many of us know that the English writer D. H. Lawrence owned a ranch a few miles from Taos, New Mexico, and his wife Frieda lived out the rest of her life there after D. H. died. They are both buried on the ranch.
   
   Have this book in hand when you explore Santa Fe and the surrouning area, or when you just want to curl up in a comfortable chair in your home to learn something about the history of the Southwest.



2. Santa Fe is home to an amazing abundance of well-known and talented authors--literally dozens of them--and this little book is an amazing guide to the city's incredible literary history.
   
   The book is divided into two easy walking tours--one in the plaza area and one around Canyon Road--and using those two tours to give the book a structure, this very readable little volume gives a concise and clearly written crash course in the city's literary past. What's even cooler is that you can't really tell such a history without incorporating facts from the city's broader history, so by the time you reach the last page, you're guaranteed to know the City Different much better than you ever did. It'll make you see the place differently, for sure.
   
   This is one of three great books about literary Santa Fe (that I know of), and certainly the fastest read of the bunch. For anyone who lives in New Mexico, and especially for anyone who lives in or visits Santa Fe, I couldn't recommend it more highly.
   
   The author also gives actual walking tours of the city (which inspired this book), and if you ever get a chance to take one, you really should. They're as good as the book--except you'll need to find a place to park.

3 comments about Rockhounds Guide to New Mexico (Falcon Guide).

1. I enjoyed reading this book the author has put a good amount of time and effort in the collection of collecting sites. I like the format used including the best time of the year to collect. In the southwest it does get really really hot in the summer. The elevation is also important for people with mid winter cabin fever. I used that data to successfully collect petrified wood in Cuba in January. The forward introduction is important to read for people not used to living and hiking in New Mexico. I have given this book a three star rating based mainly on it's age. It's been around since 1995. that means that the site data is eight years old. I found that the sites near big cities like Albuquerque tended to be picked over or even worse closed to collecting. All of the west has had a population boom and New Mexico is no exception. the sites near smaller towns were fairly well intact. If you are going to use this book or any other guide I would check with local rock shops before traveling any distance to a new site. If the author or the published ever reads this review I would like to suggest that in the site location that they include the GPS data for main turn - offs and the initial starting points for collecting. In the case of this book eight years is a long time for forest service roads to stay intact or new ones created. I also use Mapping software on my PC to pull up topo and aerial maps of the area. I would also suggest a notation on every site listing the date when it was visited.



2. I essentially agree with the previous reviewer. We live in Albuquerque, and my son wanted to start rockhounding, so we used this book to get us going in January, 2007. Unfortunately, the first site we tried (one of those near the city and close to I40, of course) did not appear to be accessible any longer. The directions were fairly good, but the place we were to get off the paved road had a sturdy fence across it and signage that indicated it was not open to the general public, which was not what the book said (presumably becuase it was not like this in 1995). We decided to try a different site from the book that was south of the city and much farther from an interstate. In this case, the directions took us right to a good area, and we spent the last hour before sundown finding petrified wood, jasper, and a whole mess of other things that we have not gotten around to identifying, but sure turned out nicely after going through the tumble-polishing process.
   
   In short, take care assuming the access and conditions have not changed substantially in the 12 years since this was published. One always has to take care not to trespass, but don't rely on the book to tell you if you need permission. Other than that, the more general information about areas to find certain things is still good - though you might have to go farther off the beaten path to find them on the surface now.
   
   I also agree that any future editions that include GPS information would be very helpful.



3. A well written book and it's obvious the author is familiar with New Mexico and with her subject. I especially like the simple figure she uses in each area to show what part of New Mexico she's talking about. She uses a small New Mexico outline with a little mine symbol to indicate quickly where in the state the site is located. I recommend this book to rockhounds.

1 comments about Historic New Mexico Churches.

1. Terrific book with great photography. Really gives a sense of the place. My husband and I grew up in New Mexico and know many of these locations first hand. Seeing the pictures made me feel right at home. New Mexico has a varied past in which these churches have played an integral part. The author has provided an interesting text to give everyone a sense of that history.

4 comments about Warriors of the Clouds: A Lost Civilization in the Upper Amazon of Peru.

1. I was looking for information on Machu Picchu, when I came across this gem. The cover stirred up fantasies of Shangrila. I was intrigued, ordered it, and was delighted.This is a photographic exploration of Kuelap, a mysterious citadel in the high Andes, discovered seventy years before Machu Picchu. The Chachapoya, or Cloud People (understandably so-called) were the inahabitants of this remote and inaccessible area.Keith Muscutt has provided a detailed and interesting text to accompany this visual feast. He photographs the present inhabitants of the region, supposedly the ancestors of the builders of Kuelap. Perhaps or perhaps not, but interesting anyway.The photographs of tombs built vertically in the cliff side are indescribable. All in all I highly recommend this, whether the interest is information or pleasure. Both are to be found in these pages. Thorough and interesting and visually beautiful.



2. One of the world's greatest civilizations was the Incan civilization. The Incas settled in Western South America, along the Andes range. This civilization was very similar to the Great Aztec Civilization. The Incas had adapted to their environment. They built terrraces and were skillful builders. Find out how the Great civilization adapted to their environment and how they were conquered by Pizarro's trickery...



3. The Chachapoya, or Cloud People, created a complex civilization in the upper Amazon of northern Peru in the rugged terrain separating the Marañon and Huallaga basins. Keith Muscutt spent over 20 years studying the civilization. His book is a treasure of careful and vivid writing, enhanced by wonderful photographs of a breathtaking landscape.
   
   The Chachapoya were conquered by the Inca around A.D. 1475, and shortly thereafter were decimated by Spanish colonial rule. Pedro Cieza de León described the Chachapoyas: "They are the whitest and most handsome of all the people that I have seen in Indies, and their wives were so beautiful that because of their gentleness, many of them deserved to be the Incas' wives and to also be taken to the Sun Temple (...) The women and their husbands always dressed in woolen clothes and in their heads they wear their llautos, which are a sign they wear to be known everywhere."
   
   Descendants of these people still live in the region amid the ruins. Muscutt offers splendid color plates of cliff-side tombs mixed with photographs of modern-day village life. His photos also capture the forest-choked valleys, high-altitude lakes, and orchid-studded vegetation.
   
   Vincent Lee's maps of of Vira Vira are excellent. The bibliography, compiled by Douglas Sharon and Muscutt, is first rate. Muscatt traces some of the life of Benigno Añazco, who spent 36 years deep into the green heart of the Andean forest, founded 14 settlements, abandoned his wife and many children, married one of his daughters, killed his son-in-law, fought drug peddlers, and sought to re-establish the Inca Empire.
   
   According to chachapoyas.com , a website devoted to this book, Keith Muscutt is Assistant Dean of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A native of England, he has traveled widely in the United States, Mexico, and Peru, photographing and writing articles about rock art and pre-Columbian remains. He is the founder of the Fundación Benéfica Niños de Chuquibamba, which promotes the health and education of children in the remote Andean village shown on the cover of this book.
   
   Although the book is ten years old, nothing seems to have supplanted it for a student of the Chachapoyas.
   
   Robert C. Ross 2008



4. This was an extremely well researched and fascinating book to read. Having been to Machu Picchu myself I was totally absorbed in this other ancient Peruvian culture. A must read for all archaelogy enthusiasts!

No comments about Return to Taos: Eric Sloane's Sketchbook of Roadside Americana.

2 comments about New Mexico, Rio Grande, and Other Essays.

1. If you ever read books of Tony Hillerman, be sure to take a look at this book. His love of the state of New Mexico is well known by readers of the Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn Mysteries, but this book is about the overwhelming beauty of the state. The vast open spaces, the silence and the history. This collection of essays together with the outstanding photographs is a must.



2. If Only!

   If only this book had been printed by the National Geographic Society, or Arizona Highways, or somebody who specializes in scenic calendars. The fabulous photos in here deserve top quality printing, and they didn't get it.

   However, I heartily recommend this book to all my fellow Hillerman fans, *anyway*, because the essays are great, and the background information on some of the events that inspired scenes in certain of the novels is priceless. If you loved 'A Thief of Time' as much as I did, you'll very much enjoy the descriptions of the actual site that inspired it. Hillerman's 'travelogue' down the Rio Grande is also wonderful.

1 comments about If Mountains Die: A New Mexico Memoir.

1. New Mexico, and the Taos area in particular, has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. John Nichols captures this beauty perfectly in his first of the Taos series, "If Mountains Should Die." Accompanied by heart-grabbing photographs, this book describes his first few years in Taos as a transplanted East-Coaster. Nichols not only captures the raw beauty of the land, but also the people that occupy it. Along with this, he describes the disturbing and continous struggle to keep it alive and free from suburbanization. His personal and touching accounts of his own struggle with the place and the people bring it alive in unexpected ways. There is also plenty of respect here, along with a deep anger for what is being done to the land, the people, and the unique way of life found in Taos Valley. As this is a very special place in my heart, I found it easy to cry and laugh along with him.