Columbia Reviews

While the pictures are, for the most part, fantastic, the author does tend to make outlandish claims about some of them...The ONLY picture of JFK holding one of his kids, or the ONLY picture of him with Dr. Max Jacobson. Simply not the case! A little more care with details like that would have been nice!

And PS RED Fay did not serve aboard PT 100, as is claimed in the book.

What a classy book that one is! The White House as it was at the time of the Kennedys... and looking at some of those never seen before pictures, we can relive the elegance, charm and grace of that unique period. Two thumbs up Mr. Sferrazza!!

This one has it all. It has the best photos ever seen of the Kennedys. Lots of them are revealing and more personal than ever seen. There is a closeness that the pictures have that the same old ones somehow miss. Also it summarizes the story of this famous family compactly. The writing has depth and understanding.

This book is convenient. But you can also find many things online for free if you are willing to do some research.

If I was ever able to drive the Alaska Highway, the only way I'd do it is w/the MILEPOST. It's very detailed & I've found it fun just looking through the book & checking out all the websites. It's a must-have!

The Milepost provides the Alaska and Yukon bound drivers with all of the support (lodging, gas stations, dining, vehicle repairs, medical, etc.) and sight-seeing information needed to have a safe, comfortable and informative journey. It details this information on mile-by-mile basis which allows the traveler to know the joys and potential hazards of the trip. It also provides this same detail for all of the major roads that lead to and from the Alaska Highway - within NW Canada and throughout Alaska. Also a necessary reference for the traveler who flys to Alaska and rents a car in Anchorage or Fairbanks. It also provides history and trivia of many of the little towns in the Alaska Wilderness. Alaska adventurers should also consider getting Discovering Denali if they are going to explore Denali National Park.

It's obvious from Voyage of a Summer Sun that Robin Cody loves the wilderness and the river, but he does an excellent job of presenting its importance without sliding very far into environmentalism per se, by which I mean he also shows the people and projects that have tampered with the Columbia, sometimes drastically, and he shows them with a minimum of slant.

Cody's prose is easy to read, and his focus shifts pleasantly between the people he meets, the river itself, the issues surrounding it, and the workings of the canoe trip.

The real problem I see is that Cody took his trip in 1990. Some of his information, obviously, is still solid, but in other areas, Voyage is getting dated. There's been a whole new round of power generation arguments, salmon policy changes, and weather shifts since then. The Hanford tank farms, in particular, have completed a major cleanup project, and a lot of the menacing toxic-waste threats he announces have been solved, softened, or shown to be less dangerous than thought. So it's a good book, but you have to read it with its age in mind.

Of the hundreds of books I have on the Pacific Northwest, this is easily one of my favorites. Aside from Robin Cody simply being an excellent writer, enjoyable to read, easy to follow, this book specifically invokes a true sense of place of the Columbia. It has a flavor of the classic Farthest Frontier, adventure, outdoors, wide open Northwest in the spirit of David Thompson, Theodore Winthrop, James Swan and the like (not to mention Lewis & Clark). Robin Cody evokes a sense of place right up there with the best like Stewart Holbrook, Murray Morgan, Ivan Doig, etc. The books touches on places here and there along the Columbia giving the reader a good feel for not only the Columbia of today, but in the past, before the Damns! Man thinks he's "tamed" the Columbia, but the majesty & power is still there and Cody conveys some of it. The main problem with the book is that it is much too short, I wanted more - I'd like to see the full journal of his travels. You couch potatoes (ok me too) dont really understand what it really means to spend nearly 3 months and 1200 miles in a itsy bitsy canoe on one of the world's biggest river. Clearly the mighty Columbia spoke during his journey, Cody listened well, and did a good job telling us about what the River said. A must read, along with the similar flavored The Good Rain by Timothy Egan.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Cody's observations on the impact of technical advancement on an ecosystem were candid and not overly political or strident. This would be an excellent book for students of atmospheric and earth sciences. Robin Cody is a gifted story teller and narrator.

The book had excellent information on each B&B, Resort, etc.. However, it was very disappointing that most of the book was about lodging in California. The title indicates that it's for the "West Coast". I expected more information on each state, not just California. The listings for WA, OR and BC are limited.

I've used the West Coast version of On the Road Again with Man's Best Friend for many years and have found many gems all along the West Coast. We've stayed with our dogs on house boats in Washington and British Columbia, a dude ranch in southern Washington, and in many of the neat waterside accommodations along the Oregon coast. We not only rely on the Habgoods' excellent descriptions, but also on their extensive appendix where there are hundreds of other dog-friendly places to stay that cover the entire West Coast. We live in the Seattle area and have yet to use it for our adventures in California, but look forward to doing so soon!

We've found the Habgood's "On the Road Again..." books invaluable on our travels with our wonderful Golden Retriever, Murphy. Each location is given a complete review with tips about sights of interest nearby. We have stayed in many quaint B & B's, up-scale hotel/spas, beachside resorts, and charming inns, all found through these books. Murphy has enjoyed all of our visits and gives the Habgood's books a "tails up".

Judith Barnes' freshman novel is an expansive tale set mostly in Canada. She does so many things well. The story is one that captures our attention. Garnet Harris is a black man who as a youth experiences a difficult beating and family history. He escapes his tangled history and acquires the skills of an excellent horse trainer. In 1946, ragged and worn, he stumbles upon Salthill, a ranch in British Columbia owned by Irish immigrant, the aristocratic Grey St. Ogger, who welcomes him and gives him a job. Over the next five years these two men bond in a special way. Grey's own son Gordon decides he wants to become a doctor, much to the dismay of this family of horsemen. Harris seems to step into the role of an adopted son. Sister Flavia marries and starts her family. Grey helps Harris buy a nearly wild horse, Red, who becomes one of the most well drawn animal characters I've read. Barnes encompasses and brings to life the independence and passion of this amazing horse. Daughter Elsa who was left in Ireland with an abusive grandmother early in life goes to school and magically returns a young woman. Elsa's and Harris' chemistry connects in an exploding passion that despite her youth and the difference between their races cannot be denied. Barnes takes the novel fully into this steamy, seemingly ill-fated romance. Harris feels something between guilt and betrayal toward his benefactor Grey despite his inability to resist Elsa's advances. This lead Harris to pack up and leave. The novel jumps years ahead as the consequences of this unresolved romance come to light as well as the hidden history behind the St. Oggers of Salthill. As Barnes writes him, Harris is hardly the most likeable of protagonists, an abrupt man who is haunted by his history as well as drawn by his ability. Elsa, a talented artist and painter, has a bit of the Irish vinegar running in her veins as the two bash and smash at coming to terms with their illogical and irresistible romance. By the conclusion the novel seems to have run its course rather than achieving a magical denouement. This is an excellent read that makes us hope for more magic in Barnes' sophomore effort. Enjoy!

I read a good review of Salthill in the Globe & Mail. It talked about the lyric writing and full-bodied characters. Besides, I like horses! So I bought the book. Salthill turned out to be about lots of other things too; family and redemption, and the nature of love. It's not a light read, but it was so involving the pages seemed to fly by. The setting, a horse ranch in the Canadian wilderness in the 1940s, was intriguing. I would recommend Salthill to anybody.

Salthill is ..., not unlike The Thorn Birds, but set in the tangled wilderness of rural Canada. It reads like a seriously sexy movie, but with unusual poetry and depth. I can see it as a movie with Denzel Washington playing the lead character of Harris, a ... muscular black American with a good heart and a horrible past. For the love interest, I'd cast Gwyneth Paltrow. It's a book about family loyalty, and ultimately about love. This book just grabbed my interest and wouldn't let go. It's a page-turner. I would definitely recommendthis book for a good read on a cold winter's evening.

Having worked for a number of summers in the Yukon's hotel industry, I just wanted potential purchasers to be aware that the information here is not always accurate regarding businesses. Do not be surprised if the establishments do not offer the services mentioned, or the prices differ, from what The Mile Post publishes and be prepared!

On the whole, the book gives a glimpse of what life on the highway is like.

My wife and I picked up a copy of the Milepost before we went to Alaska for 2.5 weeks. We traveled around Anchorage and Fairbanks and found the book to be indespensible. If we changed plans at the last minute, we pulled out the book and found a new place to stay or destination to visit. It made a flexible itineray easy to manage. And more importantly, the information was extremely accurate and we found no surprises in terms of prices or availability in the trip.

I lived in Alaska for 17 years and now live in the Lower 48. Although I've made the trip both ways a dozen times or so, I still pick up a new copy for every trip. It tells me what to expect along the way, even down to the tenth of a mile. This is VERY important for remote highways. For instance, one year a forest fire wiped out several roadhouses, increasing the distance between gas stations. Without my Milepost, I wouldn't have known!

As the contributing editor for "Oregon" on Suite101,com, I'm always on the lookout for great books about Oregon. Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest is great for what it includes and should probably be broken into three separate books so that more places in Oregon, Wasington, and British Columcia can be featured.

I agree wholeheartedly with the picks included. There are just so many great restaurants and B abd B's that are missing.

An entry in Bend, Oregon states that Bend is known better for outdoors kissing spots than cozy restaurants, yet I can name Kayo's Dinner House, Le Bistro, and McGrath's Fish House right off the bat that are left out.

In addition, I don't know if this would be considered a best place to kiss in other people's books, but growing up in Bend, the two best kissing spots were on top of Pilot Butte (might be closed to cars now) and Pioneer Park. Neither were included.

In Washington, Centralia's got a very cozy B and B I'd love to go back to visit (no Centralis entries) and Ocean Shores isn't even mentioned.

That said, the most annoying factor of the book is its organization. Within each section, (e.g., Vancouver and environs) towns are listed all higgledy piggledy! Ladner comes after West/North Vancouver, which is followed by Tsawwassen, then Point Roberts. It took me longer than it should have to find what I was looking for.

The write-ups are fair and show little bias. It is very journalistic, without any real personal stories. I really wanted to know why each spot was chosen.

What's there is good and even great for some areas. It's too bad there are gaps.

This is a terrific travel guide for true romantics. I have used it on many trips and have never been disappointed. A great companion book to take along is The Romantic's Guide: Hundreds of Creative Tips for a Lifetime of Love.

From the Oregon Coast to the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, my wife and I have relied on previous versions of this book. In every case, the B&B's have been accurately reviewed and the restaurant choices top notch. You can trust this book.

I was disappointed in this book. The Hudson Valley is a magnificent well for story tellers and I was excited to read about the generations who had lived in a single home and worked on its orchard.

This is much more a creative writing guide than a history of a house/family. Philip spends chapters describing the writing process, but not enough about the actual home/family. The writing parts would have made an excellent preface, but the book needed more substantative history.

Too often Philips interupts herself to backtrack to modern times.

This had great potential, but left me looking for another book.

Evocative, elegant account of family history, deftly blending geneology with present day realities. Highly enjoyable read~

After all the books about houses in France and Italy, it's nice to see a truly American story about a house and the family that has owned and loved it for nearly 200 years. Philip deftly interweaves the personal and the historical into a memorable narrative. Although nonfiction, the book's flow and vivid descriptions make it read like almost like a novel. Talvera may be the most interesting American country house since Tara.

Cliff Robertson once told me: "Dennis Foley is a lying sack of crud. I've never met him, never even heard of him; what a pathetic loser."

First things first. This book only gets an "8" becuase I realize some people could care less about studio executives in Hollywood(unless their name is Julia Phillips or Steven Speilberg, both of whom make appearences in the book) but it truly is a ten. It is truly an amazing tale: what starts out as a theft of less then a $100, 000 becomes a battle for corporate power. David Begelman, the man behind the scandal, isn't even the main character of the book. It's Alan Hirschfield trying, desperately, to do the responible business decisions he was hired to do and is one of only a few major players in this detailed history to remain a completely sympathetic person by story's end. Indecent Exposure is truly is one of great true life American Dramas I have ever read. (Review by Michael Goodman)

David Begelman would never have been exposed as the crook he was without the dogged, principled determination of Cliff Robertson to get to the bottom of corruption at the top levels of Hollywood. This excellent book documents Robertson's heroic efforts to get at the truth -- for which he was blackballed by the Hollywood establishment for years. Cliff once said to me: "Of all the things in my life I'm proud of -- if I'm proud at all -- is not winning the best actor Oscar or Emmy; it's my part in bringing down that crook Begelman." But perhaps the book is most valuable for its exposure of the top echelon of Hollywood -- controlled by people with lots of money and no taste; people who know nothing whatever about movies. And could care less. I hope this book is reprinted soon. It is timeless.

Keller tells the story of his search for God's presence in his life trough an engaging story about his working relationship with his first sheepdog Lass. Well written, it was a quick read that I finished in one evening. The parallels between Keller and Lass and Keller and God are well thought out. I also enjoyed this book from the view of a manager. Keller wrote the book about the working relationship between God and man through the story of his dog, but, I found most of the ideas translate directly to managing of people. Good read. I highly recommend this book.

Philip Keller does a wonderful job of drawing a connection between how a sheepdog relates to its owner and our relationship with God. EXCELLENT witnessing tool. I own 60 sheep and am actively involved in herding and training herding dogs. Philip's analogy's are right on the money. I have bought several of this book to give to herding friends.

This book should be read by anyone who has a animal. It is so heartwarming and loving. And the tie between God and nature is so strong. I loved it. All kids should read this book. Teeens too.