As a late 50's and early 60's surfer growing up in Imperial Beach, CA. I could have used this book on our excursions north to surfers paradise, take your pick, this book list them all. Gosh what can I say what a trip, I found my book at a flea market and paid 50 cents for it. I would pay easy for this book what they are asking for it. Original price 8.95 for my 2nd edition. If Ida only known. My son moved to Ventura last year and I loaned him the book and he was so jazzed. He found all the places mentioned and got to surf a lot of them. He wants me to win the lottery and move to Hollister ranch. I had forgotten about sneaking into Hollister back then. Awesome Surf and a very special little book. Thanks to the authers for a great trip down memory lane.

[Amazon people: On July 8 I sent you the following revision of my review, but it still has not appeared on the website. When will it appear?]

When Bill Cleary and I lived three houses away from each other at Topanga Beach and he began to write this book, we never dreamed that it would become the appreciated classic that it has. I simply want to thank the surfing public for having expressed their appreciation to me many times during the 38 years since we wrote it.

In March of 2002 we brought out the second printing of our "35th Anniversary Nostalgia Edition"; the first printing (1998) sold out.

And then, on July 4, my friend Bill died. Of a heart attack. At age 64. He was the first surfer I ever saw (it was 1959), and he was then one of the fittest athletes I'd ever seen. The last 15 years he had Parkinson's Disease, which destroyed his coordination and made his life hell. May he rest in peace.

I don't surf much any more, but I do count myself a surfer -- by my own minimalist definition, which is that if I catch at least one wave per calendar year I'm still a surfer. Otherwise I'm an ex-surfer. At age 66 I'm a surfer, in Israel, where I live. And Bill doesn't.

Nevertheless: Happy surfing!

I've probably spent more time with this book than any other, except for the Bible. That's because SURFING GUIDE is the Bible of surfing guidebooks. For me, it's more than nostalgia. I actually used it quite a bit when it first came out, and I found its information very accurate. Of course, since I've been away from the Pacific for lo these many years now, it has become essentially a nostalgia trip. And since the surfing scene is so different now than when it was written, unless you're a full-bore retro longboarder (and I know there're lots of you out there), it's probably almost per se an exercise in nostalgia. But don't let that put you off. Cleary and Stern are very clever fellows and shrewd observers. Their wry observations and sly sensibilities propel this book out of its homely little genre and into the vast ocean of truly great reads.

This colorful and enjoyable book makes a strong case for the importance of California's commercial potteries in drawing on the state's unique cultural heritage to introduce dramatic new colors and styles to the United States. The book is easy to read and filled with interesting facts, with beautiful color photos on almost every page. I was fascinated by pictures of pottery from the 30's, side-by-side with the handmade folk pottery on which the designs werte based. This is a must for any serious pottery collector! Note that the book parallels an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The author, Bill Stern, was the curator for that exhbition.

First, you have to understand it's not a biography. Actually the book's premise is summed up very well by the Sinatra quote on the dust jacket. "I think my real amibition is to pass on to others what I know. It took me a long, long time to learn what I now know, and I don't want that to die with me." I think this book does that very well using a series of ancedotes culled from Mr. Sinatra himself as well as others. It covers things such as the Las Vegas "Rat Pack" years, his style of dress, his code of conduct, his loyalty to friends. The book succeeds in what it was meant to do, but to get a real feel for the total man I'd suggest reading one of the many fine biographies that are out there. Whether you love or hate Frank Sinatra you'll have to admit he was a very complex man who lived life on his own terms. This book will give you some insights into what drove him to be the way he was.

What a GREAT book about the Chairman Of The Board! The text and pictures are first-rate,and the captions quoting Frank are priceless. An absolute must for the genuine Sinatra fan, you will pull it off the shelf to read it for years to come.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? About 3 or 4 years ago I wasn't doing so well. I was looking for some guidance, some help to define myself and create my own identity. I came across this book on a sales rack and picked it up. I had been a Sinatra fan for awhile, had a few books and some albums. But this, this was something special. You come away from it really knowing who Mr. Sinatra really was. You get to know the man behind the "legend."

Immediatly I began to change the way I was. I began to relax, not worry so much. I changed my wardrobe (For years I had been kind of a bum, really not thinking about my dress) to more of a "classier" one. I became less of a cheapskate and helped any of my friends who needed help. Why? Because that's what Frank did! Not to mention I discovered "his way" to mixing drinks the way with women.

One cannot talk about this book without mentioning the excellent writing of Bill Zehme. He really gets to the soul of the experiences. The writing has the same flair as Sinatra's speech, always hip, always to the point. It's no wonder he has written the liner notes for the live Rat Pack cds. He really "knows" Frank and the boys and shows it.

So read this book. Who knows what could happen? You may come away from it with a new view on life.

Once again we have one of those As-Mediocore-As-You-Can-Get kind of books, with potential and a less than satisfactory execution.

Like so many other Trek books, this one- taking place in the post-Wesley phase of the fourth season- is also backed up with an ethical dilemma.

There is a very low risk in that kind of story, since intellectual people- myself included :)- rarely grow tired of ethical problems, like we do of so many other things.

It doesn't work that way in this novel, though, since the ethical questions concerning slavery are ignored entirely, instead pointing the story in the direction of the all-too-familiar action-adventure formula, and doesn't do even that very well. The continuing presence of Deja Vu is very disconcerting.

As for the plot-twists in this book: they are rare and predictable, but the story doesn't grow boring because of the professional writing style of the authors. But even that doesnt eradicate the feeling of this book being written as a distraction, as if the authors didn't have anything better to do.

The other big problem turned out (once again...) to be the characterization. Once again we get a bunch of characters who have the same names and positions as our familiar TNG characters, but- with the possible exeption of Doctor Crusher and maybe Riker, who have prominent roles in the book- don't have anything else in common with their television counterparts.

In short: This was a readable TNG book that wasn't good or bad, packed with unfamiliar characters, but an all too familiar plot. If you don't know what mediocore means, read it. This is it at it's purest.

Star Trek - The Next Generation: Chains of Command written by Bill McCay and Eloise Flood is an interesting story as the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew explore a remote sector of space, they run acrossed a group of devastated class-M planets and wonder what had happened.

As the story progresses the Enterprise receives as distress call from a glacial world... and the call is from humans. Human occupation is not supposed to be this far out in remote space, but nevertheless, humans are calling for assistance. Now, the Enterprise crew becomes involved and finds out that there are human slaves on the forbidding world. But the ultimate slave masters are a big yellow avian race... known by the slaves as chickens but they are known as Tseetsk.

It seems that the Tseetsk have been in this sector of space for a very long time and have digressed throughout the years due to an ongoing war that has pretty much devastated this sector of space. All in all, this story will captivate you as you becom engrossed into the story and the resolution to this story is quite novel.

This is a solid 4 star book and has some unique parts as the Enterprise and her crew fall into the middle of a conflict.

I recommend the book be read, but don't expect a blockbuster like Vendetta or Imzadi. The book is a little slow at the beginning, but does pick up as the story progresses.
If you like a lot of political action, then this book has some good twists. Also, it introduces the reader to a new alien race with an interesting history.

This highly entertaining book differs from others in the genre in that it is not a fawning fan book. It is lots of fun and very well written. Some OTR fans have slammed it for its numerous errors (and it's true; it could have used a fact checker), but Nachman is after more important game than radio trivia, and he succeeds,

But I do have to register one strong objection. It's his assesment of Eddie Cantor. Now, Cantor may indeed have been a lousy rat in his personal life, as Nachman's informants report --that I don't know about -- but the book is one hundred per cent wrong about Cantor's show (at least his show from the mid-forties on). Nachman dismisses Cantor as an essentially talentless hack, and his show as depressingly unfunny. A few years ago, back when I first read this book, I accepted Nachman's criticism as probably factual (though I did remember enjoying Cantor's movies on the late, late show many years ago). The fact is that at the time I had never heard any of Cantor's radio shows so I had nothing to compare his comments with. Then about a year ago I ran across a partial episode of one Cantor's shows. It was hilarious and made me hungry for more. A few months ago I was able to obtain six or seven dozen shows dating from WW II and later. Now, it's possible that Nachman was going by Cantor's shows from the thirtes, when radio was much different than the situation comedy oriented 1940s. Whatever the case all I can say is that going by the fifty or so shows I've heard so far, Nachman is wrong, wrong, wrong. Cantor's show is hilarious and every bit as good as Burns and Allen, Jack Benny, Phil Harris, or any other top shows of the period. The writing is first rate. Second bananas Harry von Zell and Bert Gordon as the Mad Russian are standouts, and as good as any supporting players on the other shows. Better, really. Cantor's show has quickly become one of my very favorites. My 11 year old son loves it. Even my 15 year old daughter -- the one with the metal stud in her nose -- loves the show.

So read Nachman. He's good. More important, listen to the shows yourself.

This book is an excellent overview of the world of radio. Unlike other books which tend to concentrate on only one genre (comedy, superheroes) or one type of show (Jack Benny, Fibber McGee, etc) this book covers them all. It also isn't written for the octogenarian that happens to remember when Ma Perkins was on the air. It is written as to compare it with contemporary times and people. It dares to compare Fred Allen with David Letterman and to say that the Lone Ranger was the first politically correct superhero. People who've never heard of Allen now understand his wit and talent because they know Letterman. Nachman is right on the mark with his observations and lines such as the one describing the Lone Ranger's silver bullet as the "bullet from Cartier's" are priceless.

The book doesn't quite get five stars in my opinion because of some of the (hopefully) unintentional slurs that are offered. The word "uppity" should be banished from the language, let alone be used to describe a Rochester or Beulah character. Some anti-Semitic slights can also be inferred when some negative comments about Groucho, Benny, and Burns are made, but guys like Bob Hope are OK because they are "good old americans." Again, I assume that these are unintentional, but if a WASP like me can pick up on them...

All in all, well worth the money and despite the slights, one that is difficult to put down. Hopefully one more in depth is on the way.

Regards,

What to do if you're trying to make something as stupid and boring as the bible into something that a poor gullible child will accept? This is the problem faced by the authors, and they do a half-way decent job of presenting bible idiocy as something partly entertaining as a comic book. Should be useful for gullible, brainwashed parents attempting to produce gullible, brainwashed children. Start them with Santa, and if they believe that, move on to the bible in comic book form.

Great idea with uneven results. Some superb art in places, but not always as an appropriate counterpoint to the accompanying Scriptures. The parts that do succeed are worth the cover price alone.

This book was well received by me and my teenagers. There needs to be more artistic interpretations like this that tackle scripture. Not every translation done in this book is accurate to the Word of God but every piece is brilliant in its own right. Bravo! Encore!