The photography by Comstock is amazing, worth buying just for the beautiful clivia images.

The concept of the book is fine, but there are a number of factual errors and misspellings. For example, the book refers to a view of "Los Padres National Park". If the authors don't know the difference between a national forest and national park, one wonders what else they did'nt know in writing the book.

I spent about an hour looking at various books on California beaches, with an eye to one that would tell me where to go and where not. This one had the right balance of useful information, easy to follow codes (like a symbol for surfing), and accuaracy (at least based on my own opinions). One of the authors used to do this for a living for the California Coastal Commission, and it's clear that they've done their homework - they know California's beaches.