No comments about Insight Fleximap Seattle.

No comments about The Rough Guide Map to Washington DC.

1 comments about Romance of Waterfalls: Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington.

1. Romance of Waterfalls is a unique book on the magnificent waterfalls within day-trip range of Portland, Oregon. The 252 page work combines the best of a hiking book, coffee table book, nature book, art book, and a work of poetry and literature.For each of its 100 featured waterfalls, it provides a photograph-like pencil drawing, complete directions, time and distance, map, description, nearby attractions, hazards, accessibility to the physically challenged, view and kissing spots, picnic areas, restrooms, historical trivia, and a poem. Introductory and reference sections offer advice on weather, children, pets, and safety, and information on local wildlife and plants, the Chinook language, and phone numbers for reservations, information, and emergencies. It contains 165 illustrations and 111 poems, all original works by the authors.This one of a kind book can be enjoyed year around by all families, couples, and individuals, it should be in the library of every resident and visitor to the Pacific Northwest.

2 comments about The Campground Guide: Oregon/Washington Edition.

1. This was one of the worst purchases I have ever made. If I had looked at it in a bookstore, I never would have bought it. It is nothing more than a list, with a few scarce details of each campground. Granted, it lists every campground. But there is no way to distinguish betwen the very good and the very terrible, the details are so minimal. I am not always a fan of the review systems other books use, but at least most of them tell you why they like or dislike a location, and you can weigh those opinions in your decision of where to camp. This book tells you virtually nothing. I have looked up campgrounds I know very well. Not only do I not recognize them based on the descriptions, I can not find any reasons that I would choose them over any other campground. Save your money! Buy something else, ANYTHING else.



2. Don't buy this if you are looking for a tour book. This is a campground guide. The guide includes 471 Free Campgrounds. If you want to know where to see the sights...Don't buy this. But if you want to know where you can park your R.V. or put up a tent...then this is the book for you. Simple maps, easy to read.

No comments about The Smithsonian Guides to Natural America: Pacific Northwest: Washington, Oregon (Smithsonian Guides to Natural America).

No comments about Historic Hotels and Hideaways: Washington Weekends.

No comments about Mystery Reader's Walking Guide: Washington, D.C..

3 comments about Veg Out Vegetarian Guide to Seattle and Portland.

1. I have been a vegetarian living in Seattle since 1991; this book revealed some great new vegetarian places I had somehow missed! I gave it to a visiting friend. Great book for a person visiting town; fits right in your pocket.



2. "The food ranges from the samosas, pakoras, and curries found in Indian restaurants to upper-worldly treats such as Tseral-mixed vegetable balls..." ~George Stevenson describing Himalayan Sherpa in Seattle, WA
   
   There is an entire world beyond salads and side orders of vegetables and this book proves it. If you love visiting Seattle & Portland or you are a Vegetarian looking for an excellent dining guide, this should impress you. The size of this book makes it easy to keep in your backpack, purse or car.
   
   The Restaurants are found in Seattle, Bellingham, Olympia, Tacoma, Portland and Eugene. There are listings for Tea Houses, Juice Bars, Farmers Markets and Green Grocers. You could enjoy tea in a Chinese Temple, visit a fun PCC Natural Market (my personal favorite for natural foods and organic products) or sample Mulitethnic cuisines at many interesting locations. They even list Larry's Markets where I used to work.
   
   Some of the highlights:
   
   The Elliot Bay Café - Try a Veggie Reuben in the café in the basement of the famous Elliot Bay Books in Seattle.
   
   Shalimar - Exotic foods like Mulligatawny Stew or dishes with eggplant, mango and lotus stems.
   
   Persian House - Pomegranate sauces and lentil dishes and they have a nice buffet lunch at a very reasonable price.
   
   George Stevenson's creative writing style is refreshing and honest. He makes each location sound completely tantalizing. The listings all have a star rating, hours, payments accepted, Parking locations, Yes/No for Alcohol and Atmosphere Description. Some of the restaurants are completely Vegan and some have Full Menus with Vegan Options.
   
   You could go to an upscale restaurant in the evening or stop by a Family restaurant with great artwork and enjoy a relaxing lunch.
   
   The next time I'm in Seattle or Portland and my husband asks me where we should eat; this is the guide I'm going to show him. In fact, you could almost plan a trip just so you could visit some of these locations.
   
   Also look for Veg Out Books for Southern California, New York City, San Francisco Bay Area and Washington D.C.
   
   ~The Rebecca Review



3. The Veg Out Vegetarian Guide to Seattle and Portland is a pocket guide designed to slip in a purse or travel bag. It's got a sturdy cover and slim design. It also includes a fold-out map of both cities (somehow the map of Portland is much larger and easier to read, perhaps because the editors decided to cover a smaller geographical area.)
   
   The book is organized geographically and actully includes "Seattle East," which is really the cities of Bellevue, Kirkland and surrounding suburbs; Bellingham (north of Seattle); Olympia and Tacoma (south); and Eugene, Oregon in addition to Seattle and Portland. Grocery stores, farmers markets, and juice bars have their own chapters and there's a short list of local northwest vegetarian orgainzations. There are three indices: alphabetical, by cuisine, and an index of "top ten" lists for food, atmosphere and best buys.
   
   Each restaurant is rated by star and price. There's a cuisine designation and the bottom of each entry tells how "veg friendly" each location is, for example "Full menu with vegetarian and vegan options." Since most of the restaurants listed are not exclusively vegetarian, I would have appreciated an index listing the veg-only restaurants. It has been omitted from the cuisine index.
   
   Seattle and Portland are both veg-friendly cities, but it might be hard for a visitor to know where to start. The VegOut editors have listed all the major favorites of local vegetarians as well as some of the lessor known finds like Hillside Quickies in Seattle and The Tao of Tea in Portland. --Amy O'Neill Houck

1 comments about Best Wildflower Hikes Washington (Best Hikes).

1. I looked forward to getting this book; after all, I've been an avid freelance nature photographer and hiker in this area for many years and had yet to see a title like this. Alas, after buying and reviewing it, I was a bit disappointed. Although it is well-organized (characteristic of "Mountaineers Books" publications) and has a thorough appearance, the photography and image-print quality, some incomplete or inadequate descriptions of locations listed, and the absence of any real photography advice was not up to what I felt could have been better standards. It feels like the Mountaineers took references from their other books, added (35 of 50) chapters written by Karen Sykes, (an avid hiker-journalist writing trail articles for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper and possible source material for the core of the book), used some older general location photographs (taken by Spring) and repackaged it under a new title / approach with enhanced text. See for yourself - wouldn't you expect the photography to be representative of the best wildflower areas being hiked ? Not so here. Instead, there are some general hiking trail shots, or photos of small flower patches, individual flower subjects, even critter portraits. But for most of it, nothing that visually justifies many locations being listed as the "Best Wildflower Hikes". Examples of choices I particularly question are the Rialto Beach, Burroughs Mountain chapters (these are largely barren of wildflowers, yet are listed among "Best Wildflower Hikes"?! and their representative photography leaves alot to the imagination). And why not "Skyline Divide" at Mount Baker? I also know of wonderful wildflower areas in Mount Rainier National Park not identified, even in chapters for those areas! It is sad thing, because although the book justly credits (the late) Ira Spring's historical contributions to other Mountaineers books, this book does not itself justify its own title. Nevertheless, the book is a decent reference to have.
   [...]

2 comments about Longfellow's Tattoos: Tourism, Collecting, And Japan.

1. Charles Longfellow was the son of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Charles visited Japan in the 1870s intending a brief visit, and stayed for two years, returning to Boston with photos and elaborate tattoos he had 'collected' on his body. But Christine M.E. Guth's Longfellow's Tattoos: Tourism, Collecting, And Japan is not so much a survey of collectible items nor even tattoo history, as a cultural expose of Japan in the 19th century travel world. Chapters survey the state and nature of Japanese culture in the world of the times, using art and curios as a focal point.



2. This is one of the most fascinating stories I have ever read. Politically correct academics have succeeded in erasing Longfellow from the American canon, replacing him and his contemporaries with names you've never heard and will never know how to pronounce. Perhaps this bit of exotica if not to say erotica will give life back to this former pillar of American culture. It is the son, not the sage of Cambridge whom Professor Guth has chosen as her subject. But what a character he is. Longfellow Jr. had very little going for himself besides boredom and a nearly limitless bank account, so he went on an extended grand tour of the Orient, setting himself up in a Japanese harem, stocked like a koi pond which nubile Japanese maidens. Besides an addiction to Asian flesh, young Longfellow seems to have keyed into that great American pastime known as shopping with the result that he brought a warehouse full of souvenires back to fill Boston's museums and the mansions of his father's aristocratic friends. Any way you look at it, this story has legs. It's a miracle Hollywood hasn't grabbed hold of it. Stay tuned.