Pacific

The Dalles has been the center of commerce for over 10,000 years. Native Americans converged in this area for centuries to trade. Lewis and Clark camped at "Rock Fort", the Hudson's Bay Company established a post there in 1829, a Methodist Mission was begun in 1838, and the US Government built a US Mint in The Dalles in 1861. This town has a rich and diverse history to explore. The book will guide you to the most significant homes and structures and treat you to a glimpse of the past through the eyes of the present. Come explore history!

Salvatore M. Trento's works have revolutionary implications for the study of sacred sites. His theoretical approach is based on the idea that electromagnetic fields may influence the brain, and that many sites where inscriptions, standing stones, and stone chambers were located had aberrant magnetic fields. Trento hypothesizes that the "extreme geomagnetic flux associated with these locales" may stimulate "a cascade of pineal gland chemicals that altered cognition." Certainly the readings that Trento took at the sites presented in this book support this idea: they suggest that the locations of cave paintings and sacred sites were chosen as a result of these geomagnetic influences. His observations may have applications not only to the study of sacred sites such as are featured in this book, but paranormal phenomena such as UFOs, ghosts, and Mothman. I think that Trento, famed outer limits researcher John Keel, and anomalist Jim Brandon should all get together to see if they can come up with a grand unified theory of paranormal phenomena.

In connection with his idea that prior civilizations were more in touch with nature than we are, Trento reminds us that many of these places are sacred, and that we need to listen to them. They may have the keys to our continued survival on this planet. The guide thus becomes a means to once again restore our lost union with the earth: "To heal the spirit, if not the body," he writes, "we need to reconnect with our surroundings in ways that go beyond Earth Day celebrations and tree hugging. We must learn to feel what the planet is offering. But to do that we need to experience it firsthand." This book, then, reminds us, as did Emerson, that revelation is available to us all, and that "the sun shines today also," as it did for our ancestors. Perhaps it is not the sun shining that affects us, but rather geomagnetic forces flowing and ebbing. This is not, I admit, as poetic as Emerson's ideas, but it may be at the heart of our religious experiences in nature, and may indeed offer us a solution to the current ecological crisis.

Other places featured in this book are of interest not because of their impact upon the pineal gland or other biochemical systems, but merely because of their strangeness or grandeur: the fossil beds at Lompoc; the Calico Early Man site, which some say provides evidence that humanity was present in the Americas as early as 200,000 years ago; the locations of Bigfoot and sea serpent sightings; the pirate treasure of Neahkahnie Beach; the Sausalito Hum. My personal favorite is the Lava Beds National Monument, whose beauty and grandeur cannot be understated. Though the variety of topics found in this book might seem scattershot in its approach, in fact there are sufficient destinations here to satisfy a carful of people: anthropologists, archeologists, paleontologists, biologists and paranormalists alike.

My wife Fayaway and I have used this guide for years, and can vouch for the information contained herein: directions are clear, as are the maps, and contact information is included for some sites. This guide is recommended for those travellers in pursuit of the strange, the marvelous, and the strange in the Pacific Coast states. Happy travelling!

Pratt, Bruner, and Dickinson have produced a superb field guide completely covering all the islands of the tropical Pacific from Hawai'i west through Micronesia. This is a true field guide: it gives the field marks of every species, notes problems in identification with special emphasis on distinguishing similar species, and wastes no space on matters not related to identification. (The exception is that Pratt, a significant ornithologist as well as an expert in identification, summarizes controversies in classification whre appropriate.)

The text is organized by order and family, not by region, so the flycatchers of Tahiti appear next to the flycatchers of Palau rather than near other Tahitian birds. But the illustrations are grouped by region: Samoan land birds appear together, regardless of relationships. This greatly facilitates use in the field.

The illustrations are paintings, not photographs, which allows the authors to show similar birds in identical poses as well as eliminating the accidental marks which appear in even the best photographs and can confuse the user.

The authors have chosen to include the extinct birds of the region as well as the living ones. This puts a certain amount of "deadwood" on the illustration pages, which may be detrimental. But, considering that more than one "extinct" bird has been found after being missing for nearly a hundred years, it is probably worth the minor inconvenience.

I have used the book extensively in Hawai'i and believe it to be the best guide Hawai'i's birds. I would not consider being without it anywhere in its area of coverage.

Growing up on Vashon Island an island just west of Seattle I have such fond memoroies of going with my Dad and Mom, older brother and later on friends, to dig this wonderful monster clam at the Burton Beach.

This book is a book that every Washington State citizen with pride should own and those of us who live out of state should own and share with our local libraries. The Washington state native americans named this clam and Goeduck means "dig deep" which is what you have to do to get this gem of a clam.

I have a pic on my website that shows just how hard it is. In fact digging goeducks is akin to hunting the big buck or elk. Hard to do and you don't always get your clam as they dig down faster than some can dig.

Great book!

I think this book is excellent because it have things I didn't know about orcas like the size, some parts of their body, and many other things. I think this bbok is very different to the others because it have different things. I want to recommend this book for all the people that like orcas becouse is an excellent book, is one of the best books I've read of orcas.

This book was an excellent resource for choosing an Alaskan cruise!!!!!

This comprehensive guide offers useful information on every possible thing to see and do in the Las Vegas Area. Reviews of venues, sights, and sounds are great. Recommendations made by Ms. Widwell of the famous Las Vegas buffets were fabulous. Prices quoted for tickets and fees were a little low: approximately $2-$5 per person per admission should be added to the printed prices in the book. The guide is easy to read and follow making it an excellent reference. "Las Vegas Agenda" became an indispensible tool before and during my stay in Las Vegas in 1998. I would recommend that all vacationers who plan to visit Las Vegas purchase and make use of this guide. I was very satisfied.

This is a wonderful resource. Even without the huge selection of LA restaurants there is vast information about individual ingredients and individual dishes. Descriptions of Chinese banquets, the cuisine of Southern, Northern, Western, and Eastern China, arcane and great info for anyone who really loves and cares about Chinese food....it is all here with good photographs. The research is impressive and it is a fun read.

I enjoyed reading the book very much. I have visited a number of the places mentioned and found his information to be accurate. He provided information about locations I had never known even though I had lived there.

It also works well as a guidebook when vacationing

There are surprisingly few cookbooks covering Filipino food on the market and new titles are few and far between, which would make the appearance of this guide an unusual event in and of itself - but its attention to recipes gathered during the author's travels to the Philippines makes Fine Filipino Food exceptional even in its genre. Each classic dish is accompanied by a small history of its origins, plus a variety of variations on the theme. Thus you have classics such as Adobo which go beyond the usual Chicken Adobo to include such dishes as Cinnamon-Garlic Beef Adobo and Lumpias which include Pork and Shrimp with Lemongrass and Garlic Shrimp and Bamboo Egg Rolls. Dishes are easy to make too - no color photos, but this doesn't need them.