5 comments about Cruising Guide to Western Florida (Cruising Guides Series).

1. This much-needed guide provide a wealth of useful information for the cruising sailor. Written in an enthusiastic and readable style, the author invites the reader to explore the varied cruising grounds of Western Florida. Of great value in this coastline of difficult channels is the detailed information given for each approach, including low water depths in shoal channels. Another feature is a listing of the charts (by number) to cover each area. Photographs and non-navigational charts are also shown throughout the book. Altogether, an informative and useful guide.



2. CLaiborne, like all his books, does an outstanding job. There is little to guess at, and he takes no chances in describing areas. If he says it is shallow, it is shallow. If he says do not go there without risk taking, then heed his advice. It would be nice if this book covered all of west FLA, but you have to buy another to cover the upper part.



3. Claiborne Young is his usual, informative self in compiling this excellent guide to cruising the Western Florida Region. He provides ample information including photos, detailed descriptions, waypoints and specifics useful to both sailors and power boaters. I highly recommend this book to anyone planning to cruise the beautiful Western Florida waters.



4. We picked this up for a week-long sailing charter out of Tampa. There is way too much information in here and no really good maps. (Certainly not any larger maps.) We wanted to locate good anchorages for day-fun and overnights.... This caters mostly to people who are looking to dock at a marina. I found the book confusing and not well indexed.... I was hoping for a bareboat charterer's guide like we have found for the Virgin Islands -- This is not it.



5. Mr. Young's cruising guides continue to impress us as the most useful and comprehensive available, particularly when linked with his excellent web-site.

No comments about Buenos Aires.

1 comments about North Carolina Is My Home (pb) (Broadcast Tie-Ins).

1. Through prose, pictures and poems, this book gives one the "feel" of truely being a North Carolinian. Even if you have never visited the state, you can laugh, cry and dream as Charles Kuralt paints picture words of his home. A lovely relaxing read.

5 comments about No Bells to Toll: Destruction and Creation in the Andes.

1. No bells to toll relata la tragedia de manera tan real que uno se adentra en ese mundo quebrado por el dolor y la desolación. Se siente la voz de los supervivientes de la terrible catástrofe ocurrida en 1970 en la región anidina peruana conocida como Callejón de Huaylas. En el libro transitan las voces sobre todo de aquellas personas sencillas que jamás tuvieron voz en la historia ofical: los campesinos. No Bell to Toll revela una forma de pensamiento andino, su cosmogonía, su manera de entender la religión; sobre todo el fervor que sienten por el Señor de la Soledad. En mi opinión, uno de los aspectos más interesante del libro, pues revela lo que para muchos puede ser una colorista manifestación del catolisismo andino, incluso algo pintoresco solamente, pero la autora nos revela la idea, la forma en que los campesinos andinos han sabido antener la idea de su dios precolombino enmascarado en la efigie del Señor de la Soledad. El libro nos muestras un mundo complejo de creencias, un mecanismo que cobra sentido ontológico. Es un palpitante retrato de la tragedia en toda su enorme complejidad. Encontramos voces diferentes, como en una buena novela, voces de personas cultivadas, de campesinos, y voces anónimas. Cada una de ellas desde puntos de vista diferentes. Descubrimos en No Bells to Toll que en el Callejón de Huaylas los mitos y las creencias religiosas se mezclan con la mayor naturalidad. Es un complejo y denso estudio antropológico que, entre otras muchas cosas, presenta el desastre natural desde el punto de vista de los supervivientes, cómo éstos evalúan los datos científicos disponibles para explicar por qué se producen los terremotos. En otro nivel es interesante ver cómo la ciencia y el mito se intercambian conceptos de una manera natural. Por último, hay un mensaje ecológico que sobrecoge: la culpa que dicen sentir los supervivientes por haber causado daño, involuntariamente o no, a la madre naturaleza, lo cual explicaría el castigo que han sufrido: la muerte de seres queridos y la destrucción total de su habitat y de toda una forma de vida.
   Con la catástrofe se había perdido todo, y empezando por el propio Gobierno, nadie era capaz de dar una respuesta eficaz e inmediata. Entretanto se establecía la pugna de los diversos sectores sociales: los funcionarios arrogantes, el clero con sus contradicciones internas, la población urbana superviviente desprotegida y desarmada, los campesinos desorientados por los conflictos generados por las reformas introducidas en los ritos religiosos. Todos estos hechos están presentados en el libro de manera muy viva y honesta. El admirable esfuerzo de la autora por averiguarlo todo, por indagar a veces hasta la obstinación lo que creía que tenía importancia han hecho posible este libro de extraordinario valor antropológico que no ha perdido un ápice de actualidad.

   Lalo Robles




2. No Bells to Toll. Memorandum of a Human Catastrophe, 16th November 2001

   Reviewer: Lalo Robles (see more about me) in Madrid, Spain.
   No Bells to Toll tells of a tragedy brought about by an earthquake so vividly that the reader is inexorably drawn into a world shattered by pain and desolation. This book allows the survivors of the terrible catastrophe which happened in 1970 in the Andean region of northern Peru known as Callejón de Huaylas to tell their story. It contains the testimonies of simple peasants who have never had any voice in the official record. No Bells to Toll describes one of the manifestations of Andean thought in the way the peasants interpret their universe and understand religion, especially through their fervent worship of the local Christ-figure (Señor de La Soledad). To me, this is one of the most interesting aspects of the book in describing a manifestation of Andean Catholicism which may seem merely picturesque to those unacquainted with the Andean world, but is in reality far from picturesque. The author reveals how Andean peasants have managed to keep the idea of their pre-Columbian god alive in the effigy of Señor de la Soledad.
   She also delves into a complex world of beliefs which go beyond appearances and make ontological sense. As in any good novel, this stirring account of the tragedy is suffused with a variety of characters: cultured individuals, peasants and anonymous voices who each express a different point of view. We learn from No Bells to Toll that in Callejón de Huaylas, myths and religious beliefs intermingle with the utmost naturalness.
   This is a comprehensive anthropological study which presents the natural disaster from the standpoint of survivors who use the scientific data available at the time to explain, for example, why earthquakes happen. On another level, it is interesting to see how science and myth are interchangeable concepts in the minds of survivors as they attempt to rationalise the destruction wrought by an earthquake in which 75,000 people perished. It also conveys a startling ecological message in the guilt the survivors say they feel through having caused damage, wittingly or unwittingly, to Mother Nature, which would explain the punishment meted out to them in the deaths of their loved ones and the total destruction of their town, with the loss for all time of a whole way of life.

   Everything was lost in the catastrophe and nobody, not even the then military government, was able to come up with an effective and immediate response. Meanwhile, behind the scenes a clash arose between disparate sections of society such as an arrogant officialdom, clergy with their internal contradictions, unprotected and unarmed surviving townspeople, and a rural community disoriented by conflicts arising from reforms introduced into religious rites. The book presents this whole background in a most vivid and honest manner. The author's admirable effort in checking everything out by eliciting, to the point of obsessiveness, the facts she believed were important, has culminated in this bang-up-to-date book of extraordinary anthropological value which has lost none of its topicality.

   Lalo Robles --This text refers to the Paperback edition.




3. A stunning account of a community's will to survive. In the process of reading, we become aware of the complex geo/political dynamics which lead to revolution and ultimately terrorism. This is an important read for anyone trying to understand how a people can get pushed so far as to commit seemingly inhuman acts. It is also a powerful testament to those that endure great suffering and yet do not loose their compassion. This book will open the eyes of all "first worlders" to life in the "third world".



4. This is a beautifully written book that draws you into the author's own life, as well as, the lives of the townspeople of the Callejon de Huaylas. Little did I know that when I picked up this book, I would be swept away by the author's passion and grace. She takes the difficult job of translating the survivor's lives into words, with ease.

   As this story unfolds, you get lost, in the sense that you begin to feel just as the townspeople did. Your own fears start to surface - you ask yourself... What would I have done? How would I have been able to survive such a tragic loss? Where was God that day? The author leads you through this tragic event trying to discover the answers with her very special gift.

   A great read....




5. This paperback is an Authors Guild "Backinprint.com" edition of a wonderful and awesome book originally published by Scribner's Sons in 1989. Whether you have ever been to Peru or the Andes, or know anything about earthquakes and landslides, you will find the book hard to put down once you start reading it. "No Bells to Toll" is the superbly well-written story of the worst natural disaster in the history of the Western Hemisphere. Yet it is a story that remains little known to most of us. In May 1970 a powerful earthquake shook Peru's Department of Ancash, triggering an enormous avalanche that roared down from the heights of Huascarán, Peru's loftiest mountain, into a serenely magnificent Andean valley, the Callejón de Huaylas. The cataclysm devastated the valley, leveling villages, towns, and entire cities, and it killed 76,000 people. Another 140,000 were injured, and as many as 180,000 were left homeless. The valley's infrastructure was destroyed. All this because of an earthquake that lasted less than 45 seconds. The quake was the cruel catalyst for a catastrophe that resonated not only through the religion, politics, and private lives of the valley's residents, many descended from Inca Indians, but through the Catholic Church in Peru and the very government of Peru itself. This is an unforgettable story. Read it!

2 comments about Coups and Cocaine.

1. There have been those who have complained (Booklist) that this first Anthony Daniels travel journal is "unpleasant." To borrow a phrase from Raymond Chandler, the idea seems to be that if Anthony Daniels was writing about a whorehouse, he would depict only the pail of slops at the back door. But this is just liberal nonsense. In the first place, Anthony Daniels circa 1988 is a long way from Theodore Dalrymple circa, like, now. The youthful A.D. comes across as a hyper-rarefied good time Charlie compared with the sober reflections of Theodore Dalrymple's ripened misanthropy. If I had a criticism to make of this first A.D. book it would be that the writing is far too philanthropic and permissive. Reviewers who think that Daniels' writing is too negativistic have either not spent time in the third world, or are the type of incurable liberals that cannot see the filth and degradation that is staring them in the face. They cannot see it because of their own degradation.



2. COUPS AND COCAINE is Anthony Daniels very first collection of essays. It's a travelogue of two trips he made to South America in the 80s. What he experienced is best characterized as a blend of Gilbert & Sullivan operetta and Stephen King horror. Unreal.
   
   The writing is sublime. It's much better than his mature essays. And the wonderful prose inserts you into the scene wherever he is writing about.
   
   Daniels interview of the Canadian prisoners in Bolivia, and his tour of their prison is, alone, worth the price of admission. Especially his remarks about the greasy broth with mystery meat they relish and must pay a premium for; and their comments about the prison dog everyone 'loves.' If you have money the prison will get you a woman.

No comments about The Carolinas & Appalachian States (Smithsonian Guides to Historic America, Book 9).

No comments about Bolivia (Lonely Planet Bolivia: Travel Survival Kit).

No comments about Cuba: The Elusive Island, LA Isla Ilusiva.

No comments about Mountain Bike! Mid-Atlantic States: Charleston, SC to Washington, DC (America by Mountain Bike - Menasha Ridge).

No comments about Guide to Brazil, 2nd (Bradt Travel Guide Peruvian Wildlife).