great book. very informative. Easy reading. All the info you will need to plan your trip.

This is more than a guidebook; it is an enticing narrative into a remote and spectacular wilderness land. Lee Mercer and Ralph Maughan lead you into the untraveled nooks and crannies of the Yellowstone Ecosystem with grace and respect for this most magnificant of landscapes. This is the best written, most informative, and most readable guidebook I've ever encountered. The photo quality makes the reader salivate for a chance to encounter this spectacular wilderness land in the first person. This book has something for everyone---from short day hikes to two week backpacking trips. Tips and suggstions abound, as the authors describe river crossings, grizzly country etiquette, trip planning, and off-trail segments in painstaking detail. The hikes in this guide book offers both the experienced and novice backcountry adventurer everything they've ever dreamed of, without the crowds found in Grand Teton National Park, Glacier, or the Wind Rivers. Once you start reading this, your first response is: I want to go hiking here! I read the book from cover to cover, and that is something I've never experienced before with any other guide book. This is a "must have" guide book to the last great place in the lower 48 states---big, rugged, wild,and utterly spectacular. Best of all, your solitude is assured. Buy a copy of this book, and prepare to be amazed!

This fascinating book is not only a look at Lew Wasserman and the MCA Hollywood empire he created, but a stunning and incisively written piece of business history -- indeed, a look at U.S. commerce, politics, and entertainment in the modern era. Bruck has the great ability to write about complex business issues and deals in a lucid and readable way. This is a must-read book for those interested in business stories, in modern American politics (Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan play key roles in the book), in Hollywood history (the break of the studio system, the movie stars, the move into TV). Bruck's canvas is so wide, yet she manages to combine all these various elements in a dramatic and compelling narrative. It's a brilliant book.

One would assume that the subject matter alone of a book with such a title as this one would condemn it to the same low-echelon level as your typical run-of-the-mill Peter Bart/ Border's Hollywood bookshelf fanfare; but what winds up being the most revolutionary aspect about "Hollywood" is the intelligence brought to a definitively intelligence-proof world. With such a powerful approach, Connie Bruck unlocks more doors than she would ever need, but does not simply stop at that. Her vicious appetite for the unadulturated truth tempers each of the six chapters in this book, cultivating a work of non-fiction as true to the multifaceted layers of its subject as Virginia Woolf is to human consciousness. As a result, Bruck's focused undertaking charts nothing less than the complete history of Hollywood as a simeultaneous force of awe and kitsch in American history.
Whether one considers Wasserman's odyssey relevant (which, in today's phenomenally globalizing era it most urgently is) needs not even be questioned; a book as scintillating as Bruck's clearly holds its own, regardless of its artistic content.

Long ago, I recall someone suggesting that diplomacy is "letting others have it your way." (I forget who said it.) As I read Bruck's holograph (it's more than a portrait) of Lew Wasserman, I was reminded of that observation. According to her account, Wasserman had a special talent for achieving his objectives while preserving cordial relationships with a wide and diverse range of potential antagonists. For example, with the heads of various studios with whom he aggressively negotiated on behalf of MCA's clients; with James Hoffa from whose union Wasserman hired 15,000 members; and with other talent agents after MCA became a major producer of films and television programs. As I completed reading this book, I felt gratitude for the brilliant presentation of the material about Wasserman but I was also favorably impressed by Bruck's demonstration of skills which we normally associate with a cultural anthropologist. As we all know, "Hollywood" is far less significant (if significant at all) as a place than it is as a state-of-mind. Bruck appropriately establishes Wasserman as the gravitational center of her book but she also probes deeply into basic sources of power and influence within the evolving culture of the entertainment industry, sources which remain long after Wasserman was no longer actively involved. For me, the entertainment value of Bruck's book is derived much less from the glitz and glamor of stardom of "Tinseltown" than it does from her examination of all manner of business issues, relationships, and conflicts. It is impossible to understand who Wasserman was and to appreciate what he achieved without correlating his personality and career with the history, economics, art, politics, and psychology of the empire over which he reigned for so many years. Bruck makes such correlations with consummate precision while preserving, throughout her examination of Wasserman ("a shark you almost had to admire as he circled you") the nuances of his multi-dimensional humanity.

True, a percentage of the photos either weren't that good or that interesting, but the point of the book was to inspire people to shoot their own photos of the same places. I really enjoy the book even after a year of reading it. I bought it right before I moved up to S.F. I still go back and look at the photos and read the text for inspiration. I can name a number of things I discovered from teh book. I learned Sutter Fort is in Sacramento, discovered teh Sonoma Coast, Wine Country, etc.

My travel companion and I took a recent trip to California. We started in the Napa Valley and drove down the coast to San Francisco, Monterey, and Hearst Castle. This the first time either of us had been to this area. We both enjoy photography and when I read about this book I knew I had to get it for the trip. I brought two other guide books-the AAA book and "The Eyewitness Guide to California (The Eyewitness Guides are a worldwide series of guide books which I highly recommend for the info they provide and the photographs). "PhotoSecrets" was the book of choice. It gave great suggestions of where to go and what to photograph. I can't say that we got the exact photos as suggested but I got hundreds of great shots based on suggestions from the book. My favorite shots were taken at the Monterey Bay Aquarium all using the suggestions in this book. The book gives suggestions about the best times to take photos and I used this as a guide to planning each days itinerary. My biggest regret is not having enough time to visit all the great places suggested. This book has a unique prospective and I hope that someday there will be a whole series of "PhotoSecret" books.

This is a great book but you must understand that it is neither an instruction manual on photography nor a real tour guidebook for San Francisco. It is written to help give you a chance to get great shots of northern California landmarks. It not only points out the best locations from which to take pictures but also provides other info such as which time of day proviides the best lighting.

On a recent trip to SF I got some amazing shots of the Golden Gate Bridge from places I would never have known even existed without this book. It shows you perspectives from several different locations for each landmark so you can choose your favorite. This allows you to head straight for the spot you've picked out and know what time of day you need to be there to get them. This kind of plan of attack will greatly increase your chances of getting great pictures.