Top Trails San Francisco Bay Area: Must-do Hikes for Everyone Review

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(More customer reviews)I think one could plausibly argue that San Francisco and the surrounding Bay area offers more immediately accessible outdoor recreation than any other metropolis in the country. Between the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, numerous state parks, Point Reyes National Seashore, and perhaps the best regional park system in the country, the Bay Area offers the best in hiking. Several years ago, David Weintraub wrote the first edition of Top Trails San Francisco and it quickly became one of the most sought after guides to the region. Now Ben Pease, a local cartographer, has updeated the original Weintraub book and the result is even better than the first edition.
Like all books in the Top Trails series, this guide is not meant to be a comprehensive listing of trails in the Bay Area. Instead, this book aims to describe the best routes and introduce hikers to as many ecosystems found within the Bay Area as possible. The book, like most Bay Area hiking guides, is divided into 4 chapters: Marin and North Bay, Peninsula, East Bay and South Bay. Each chapter begins with a short snapshot of hikes covered so one can quickly find a route that suits ability and interest. All 44 trail descriptions found in this book can be done in a single day though a few (Sky Trail in Point Reyes, Frog Lake in Henry Coe State Park) allow for overnight options. Each trail then receives an extensive write up followed by a two color map, elevation profile, and list of significant milestones.
Of the 44 hikes listed, I have taken five exactly as described in this book. However, I have also explored several portions of other routes. Based on what I have seen, the authors succeeded in identifying some truly choice trails in the Bay Area. The maps and mileage are accurate and the black and white photos complement the text nicely. I plan to take this book with me on my next vacation to the Bay Area. Highly recommended.

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Coalescence (I Found My Heart in San Francisco, Book Three) Review

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(More customer reviews)Finally! They're actually going to get busy! This is the honeymoon book. It's a bit light on plot, but the love scenes are very well-written. This author knows the difference between a hot sex scene & a hot love scene! Jamie discovers the joy of lesbian sex & Ryan finally ends months of tortuous celibacy. There isn't a lot of conflict, although we do get a glimpse of how hard it's going to be for Ryan to accept Jamie's wealth.
Do not read at work!

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The Unofficial Guide to San Francisco (Unofficial Guides) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've bought several of the Unofficial Guides and they are my first choice in travel books. The rating system for hotels, restaurants, and attractions makes it very easy to compare one to the other and choose whatever is appropriate for your needs. More importantly, they are upfront about what to avoid. We all know about the "best" things to see and do from the other travel guides. The Unofficial Guides let you know what's a waste of time and/or money, as well as giving you tips on how to get the best out of the "best". I buy the Unofficial Guides to get the nitty gritty on areas of town to avoid due to high crime, lack of public transportation, etc. This helps me pick a hotel in a decent area and time my sightseeing trips accordingly. Very straight forward and easy to read. I hope the authors someday write Unofficial Guides to European cities as well!!

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Hotels, motels and inns ranked and rated for value and quality, plus proven strategies for getting the best deals
"Best of" listings giving candid opinions on things ranging from bagels to baguettes, five-star hotels to the best views of San Francisco and Bay Area by night
Driving and walking tours of the city's top neighborhoods
The straight truth on all the attractions, from Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge
The best day trips in the surrounding Bay Area and beyond, including the Wine Country

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Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery Review

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(More customer reviews)This historical mystery set in the foggy gas-lit world of Victorian San Francisco is a complete package of a modified locked room puzzle, more than one murder, daring undercover snooping, romantic tension and a few twists and turns for a powerhouse of a debut novel.
When I finished this book I immediately missed Annie (a liberated woman ahead of her time!) and the other characters, showing just how well they had been brought to life and made, dare I say...memorable. The mystery was well plotted so I went down the wrong path along with the police at first. The setting of Victorian San Francisco and period details are rich and layered, easily woven in the overall story from the attitudes towards Chinese and class divisions to the strict propriety rules restricting women. The journey back in time seemed so complete I felt jarred if pulled back into the modern world when my reading was interrupted.
The climax and revealing of the murderer was tense and an edge-of-your-seat ordeal where Annie is in very real danger. The ending was satisfying and I put the book down smiling at the wrap-up.
Read the complete review at [...]

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It's the summer of 1879, and Annie Fuller, a young San Francisco widow, is in trouble. Annie's husband squandered her fortune before committing suicide five years earlier, and one of his creditors is now threatening to take the boardinghouse she owns to pay off a debt.Annie Fuller also has a secret. She supplements her income by giving domestic and business advice as Madam Sibyl, one of San Francisco's most exclusive clairvoyants, and one of Madam Sibyl's clients, Matthew Voss, has died. The police believe his death was suicide brought upon by bankruptcy, but Annie believes Voss has been murdered and that his assets have been stolen.Nate Dawson has a problem. As the Voss family lawyer, he would love to believe that Matthew Voss didn't leave his grieving family destitute. But that would mean working with Annie Fuller, a woman who alternatively attracts and infuriates him as she shatters every notion he ever had of proper ladylike behavior.Sparks fly as Anne and Nate pursue the truth about the murder of Matthew Voss in this light-hearted historical mystery set in the foggy gas-lit world of Victorian San Francisco.

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Historic Walks in San Francisco: 18 Trails Through the City's Past Review

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(More customer reviews)If Adah Bakalinsky's Stairway Walks in San Francisco (see my review) is like touring the city with your eccentric, but lovable aunt, Rand's book is like a walk with her history professor husband.
Rand's book is very well organized and presented. He provides maps and directions, like Adah, but adds in trip length and degree of difficulty, which are welcome information omitted from Adah's Stairway Walks.There is little of Adah's whimsy here: it is replaced with exhaustive research on the area for each walk and its architecture. This results in a very different walking experience.
The first major difference is that many of these Historic Walks are on flatter ground, meaning they both cover different ground from Stairway Walks and are more accessible to people who have trouble with all of the climbing inherent in Adah's routes.
The second major difference is that, given his focus on history and architecture, not sweeping views, Rand's walks are not as diminished by bad weather as Adah's are.
The last difference is the sheer amount of history. The walks in this book always take me much longer than I think they will because I spend so much time standing around reading. Sometimes this is good, e.g. the Castro walk's extensive information about how Harvey Milk helped shape the area, but sometimes, like when there is an extensive discussion of old maps and how hard it is to trace exactly when a particular nondescript house was converted from a nondescript barn, you just want him to get on with it.
I like this book as a contrast and follow on to Adah's Stairway Walks book but, unless you are a history buff, I'd do Adah's first.

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The Cable Car and the Dragon Review

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(More customer reviews)You don't have to be from San Fran to love this little story, although I am sure that it helps. The plot follows Charlie the cable car as he and a favorite passenger (the narrator, who is Caen himself, of course) leave the cable car routes and decide to explore their hometown of San Francisco, coming into contact with Chu, a Chinese New Year's dragon. Caen's legendary wit is surprisingly well-suited to this kind of writing; I loved his personification of the young cable car (he compares Charlie's voice to "a piece of wood being rubbed across steel"). Byfield's watercolors help tell the story (making the book a good mixture of visuals and text) but are also pleasures in and of themselves.
The story does not have a very specific and blunt point for children to take away (which is fine with me). That said, it does imply that thinking out of the box (or off the trolley routes) is good and that making friends with people from other cultures is beneficial. Kind of appropriate for San Francisco when you think about it.

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Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture (A City Lights Anthology) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you're live in or are academically interested in the Greatest Town On Earth, this is a good book. It's a collection of studies and essays that well illustrate how we became the City we are today. Thoughtful, somewhat balanced, but unafraid of being controversial, it's a solid read.

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Reclaiming San Francisco is an anthology of fresh appraisals of the contrarian spirit of the city—a spirit "resistant to authority or control." The official story of San Francisco is one of progress, development, and growth. But there are other, unofficial, San Francisco stories, often shrouded in myth and in danger of being forgotten, and they are told here: stories of immigrants and minorities, sailors and waterfront workers, and poets, artists, and neighborhood activists—along with the stories of speculators, land-grabbers, and the land itself that need to be told differently.
Contributors include historians, geographers, poets, novelists, artists, art historians, photographers, journalists, citizen activists, an architect, and an anthropologist. Passionate about the city, they want San Francisco to be more itself and less like the city of office towers, chain stores, theme parks, and privatized public services and property that appears to be its immediate fate.

San Francisco is not alone in being transformed according to the dictates of the global economy. But San Franciscans are unusual in their readiness to confront the corporate agenda for their city.

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Bohemian San Francisco, Its Restaurants And Their Most Famous Recipes; The Elegant Art Of Dining Review

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(More customer reviews)Very fun and interesting book that combines local history, food history, restaurant history with tons of recipes. From 1914.
Also at gutenberg and manybooks.
Recipes are simple, whole foods kind: Chinese, Japanese, American, German, etc.
Sample:
Oyster Omelet - (For two): Take six eggs, one hundred California oysters, one small onion, one tablespoonful of butter, one tablespoonful of flour, salt and pepper to taste. Beat the eggs to a froth and stir in the onion chopped fine. Put the eggs into an omelet pan over a slow fire. Mix the flour and butter to a soft paste with a little cream, and stir in with the oysters, adding salt and pepper to taste. When the eggs begin to stiffen pour the oysters over and turn the omelet together. Serve on hot plate with a dash of paprika.
The only thing I find amazing about the above is you need 100 oysters to feed 2 people!


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PhotoSecrets San Francisco & Northern California: The Best Sights and How to Photograph Them Review

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(More customer reviews)This is not a book for pro photographers looking for insight or technical secrets. The pictures in this book have interesting composition, but they are not world-class photos. In fact there are some which are plain poor (... there are several out of focus pictures and some with poor exposure). This book isn't for the pros though, it is for the amateurs. But what the book DOES have are outstanding tips for helping amateur photographers understand why to do certain things in certain locations, such as what lens selection does to the shot composition, and how to pick intersting angles.
Is it a travel book? Not really. It lists locations in a given area but it won't help you plan your day in a city.
Now with that said ... this book is truly a photo location list. Most travelers are not pro photographers, but they love to get a tip or two on how to take good photos. Having this book alongside a travel guide goes a long way to help finding and composing interesting pictures. Travelers want to find places where they can take memorable photographs, but travel books don't help with that much. So this book definitely fills a specifc need.
I find this book enjoyable in this aspect, ... It is extremely well illustrated with pictures, examples, maps and beginner photo tips. Don't buy it for travel tips, don't buy it for photography lessons, but buy it to find out how you can make the most of finding the truly memorable locations, and buy it for seeing a photo composition process by working backwards from the final product.

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All-color guide for people who enjoy photography.

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Weekend Adventures in San Francisco and Northern California (Weekend Adventures in San Francisco & Northern California) Review

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(More customer reviews)Carole Terwilliger Myers, author of the 8th Edition of Weekend Adventures in San Francisco & Northern California, points out in her introduction that there is nothing more disappointing than returning home from a vacation and finding out that you had missed an interesting attraction or you overpaid for your hotel accommodations.
I would have to concur, and as I am a stickler for preparing my travel itineraries well in advance-I just hate surprises and disappointments.
Although there may be several travel guides available pertaining to San Francisco and Northern California, each seeking its own market niche, the Weekend Adventures in San Francisco & Northern California is built around providing information that will aid the reader to quickly ascertain what is of special interest in the area he or she is planning to visit. Moreover, the guide contains useful advice concerning bargain rates, welcoming of families, aesthetically pleasing, historic significance, etc. In addition, the author provides phone numbers, toll-free numbers, fax numbers, and websites.
The 469 pages of the guide is bigger, thicker, and longer than most and it is divided into sixteen sections, a substantial index, and many well-chosen black-and-white photos.
The author commences with San Francisco, and as pointed out, all other destinations radiate from here. Chapters are devoted to Coast South, Coast North, 101 South, 101 North, 1-80 North, 1-880 South, 1-5 North, Highway 49-Gold Rush Country, The High Sierra, Santa Cruz Mountains, The Delta, Wine Country, Lake Tahoe, Winter Snow Fun, and finally Miscellaneous Adventures such as family camps, houseboats, river trips, pack trips, and camping.
Excellent suggestions are offered as to annual events, what to do, where to stay and eat.
For example, if you read the section pertaining to Monterey, you will notice that some of the events listed are the Monterey Scottish Games & Celtic Festival, the Grand Prix auto races, the Jazz Festival, and Christmas in the Adobes.
As for the last one, we are informed, that each year a group of historic adobes are festively decked out with period decorations and illuminated only by candlelight.
Terwilliger Myers' writing is brisk and entertaining, and you can see she has done her homework, as evidenced by her well-researched and useful information.

All in all, the guide makes an excellent reference to visiting San Francisco and Northern California and is a must-have for anyone traveling in the region.

Norm Goldman Editor Bookpleasures

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Lonely Planet San Francisco Encounter Review

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(More customer reviews)The Lonely Planet Encounter guide to San Francisco follows the snappy, concise format of the other books in the series--a highlight chapter, followed by sections (by neighborhood) on where to Shop, Eat, See, and Play, and a conclusion with page-long snapshot essays and details on transportation, history, and practicalities. The opening chapter is a list of 11 top excursions in the city, with parenthetical references to the page number where specific restaurants and sights are discussed. Even the back cover is a useful to six exciting adventures--vintage shopping, club-hopping in SoMa, writing Beat poetry, visiting the Mission, strolling bayside, and visiting foggy Alcatraz.
As a Southern California resident, I visit San Francisco annually. I've used dozens of different guidebooks, and I thought I had a good handle on the city, but author Alison Bing has written about a treasure trove of smaller museums, shops, and entertainment options. This guide is especially useful for the traveler who has the lay of the land and wants to uncover more gems in the city. The closing chapter also has some great suggested reading titles for anyone looking to explore San Francisco a little deeper.

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What Will Your San Francisco Encounter Be?Snapping a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge from the ferry to AlcatrazChoosing between tacos al pastor and seared scallops in the MissionHanging out with the white alligator at the California Academy of SciencesSipping fair-trade coffee and people-watching in the HaightSqueezing fresh fruit at the Ferry Building before hitting the shopsPoking around the Beat Museum then toasting Kerouac in North BeachDiscover Twice the City in Half the TimeFull-color pull-out map and detailed neighborhood maps for easy navigationOur local author points you to the very best sights, restaurants, shops, bars and clubsUnique itineraries and highlights help you make the most of a short tripLocal experts chime in on San Francisco, from Lemony Snicket on the city's oddities to foodie author Raj Patel's tips on seasonal and sustainable cuisine

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The Tablehopper's Guide to Dining and Drinking in San Francisco: Find the Right Spot for Every Occasion Review

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(More customer reviews)I have purchased 23 books for touring San Francisco. I live about 45 minutes away and I love to go there as much as I can. Marcia's book is the BEST book for me! It is all about the drinking and eating, not about sites and tourist traps. I would recommend that a tourist forgo the sites and dive straight into the heart of the city: it's unique dining establishments both swanky and funky/eclectic and the taverns, pubs and posh hotel bars. That is what SF is all about. I am giving this book as Christmas gifts to everyone I love -- if I can wait that long. Probably not.

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Photographing San Francisco Digital Field Guide Review

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(More customer reviews)I consider myself an amateur photographer and in my free time enjoy taking pictures of people, landscapes, and cats. A friend of mine gifted me Bruce Sawle's "Photographing San Francisco: Digital Field Guide" and I love it. This book takes the guess work out of where to get the best shot of famous landmarks, and for those who like to experiment more with their camera lens, it details in plain language which type to use for that postcard quality photo. The book even has maps to locate the cities famous attractions, if you're not from the area. "Photographing San Francisco: Digital Field Guide" has something for both the amateur and professional photographer. I enjoyed reading it and use it, and recommend it for the shutterbug in your life.

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Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin, With a New Preface (California Studies in Critical Human Geography) Review

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(More customer reviews)There are books that change the way you think about things. "Imperial San Francisco" changed the way I look at the city I live in, revealing the machinations behind the development of the Bay Area and its environs.
Brechin's book is part academic treatise, part shrill denouncement, and part insightful tell-all about America's favorite sweet-hart city. Basically, according to Brechin, a moneyed oligarchy destroyed the regional environment, poisoned our streams and wetlands, steered us towards a consumerist society dependant on fossil fuels and highways, provoked war, dumped toxic waste in workers' neighborhoods, and bought and control all significant media, all in order to make a buck. All the problems plaguing our modern society-poverty, crime, pollution, materialism-stem directly from the path of our greedy, imperial, and disgusting past.
Well researched (with occasional holes better filled by other reviewers), with plenty of gruesome anecdote and illustration, the book made my skin crawl, turned my belly aflame, and made me grit my teeth each morning as I read it on the Muni. All the passing sight from the train was just evidence of Man's greed and selfishness. What's worse, it only reminded me that the pace of our development only increases here in California.
But while Brechin was quite skillful in revealing the underbelly of San Francisco's past, his tone is grating and incessant. The book is like that obnoxious friend we all have who's politically savvy and unduly righteous. Reading the book is like being backed into a corner by this friend at a party and having to listen to all the products you should be boycotting.
And what was the alternative, after all? Certainly not the agricultural-philosophical town Brechin rhapsodizes about in the introduction. Jefferson extolled the same type of society, but his model needed slavery to uphold it, as did the Greeks', who Brechin praises as the ideal. So, after putting the book down, we're left with acrid taste in our mouths, yet no refreshing alternative with which to cleanse our palate.

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San Francisco Then and Now (Compact) (Then & Now Thunder Bay) Review

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(More customer reviews)It's remarkable how the view of many corners and streets of San Francisco have been preserved, despite the city's growth and the intervention of natural disasters. In "San Francisco Then and Now," we are treated to dozens of photos and stories about how the city looked in previous years, some reaching back to the late 1800s, and what it looks like today.
This book is clearly a labor of love; no doubt many, many hours were spent collecting old and new photos for comparison purposes. What the photos show is the life and growth of a city built on tough terrain. If you don't already know San Francisco is one seriously hilly environment, you'll certainly know it after viewing just a few photos. Architectural creativity is definitely on display.Some of the photos:
Chinatown at the corner of Grant Avenue and California Street looks very much the same, with primarily tenants changing; The Bing Chong Importing Co. has turned into a food court but otherwise, the street looks virtually unchanged.
Clay Street to Nob Hill, shown in an 1872 photo, was the site of the world's first cable-car line today, the cable line is gone but still, several of the buildings and trees create the same look, though the street is now one-way, downhill.
The famously crooked Lombard Street, shown first in a 1922 photo as its many twists and turns, to accommodate drivers trying to negotiate the steep decline, were being installed. The authors note that it's not the city's crookedest street, saying that recongition belongs to Vermont Street but is not on the tourist map.
Other photos show views from the Marina District, Crissy Field, Powell Street turnaround, Palace Hotel, and Steamboat Point, the latter once a thriving shipping area. A 2007 photo shows dozens of tiny boats holding people hoping to catch Barry Bonds' record-setting home run.
Not all of the older photos are dated. There's a marvelous packaging of two photos showing the the steep rise of Market Street in the Castro district, with a theater sign showing clearing in both, traffic passing by, and many of the buildings looking quite similar in both. The older one I can only guesstimate, based on car models and, best of all, names of the movies on the theater marquee. Both "Hold Back the Dawn" and "The Lady Has Plans" are shown on the marquee in the old photo, indicating that the picture is from about 1942; in the newer photo, Kate Winslet's name shows prominently, in "The Reader," dating it to 2008.
Still, this is a wonderful book for tourists and city residents alike who enjoy knowing what the city looked like and how it grew to what it is today. Well done, thoughtful and entertaining.


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Home to social revolutions of every kind, a vibrant counterculture, and the crookedest street in the world, San Francisco is a city like no other—and always has been. This compact edition of San Francisco Then and Now looks back at the intriguing architecture and design of this extraordinary city, highlighting the differences between its picturesque past appearance and its no less fascinating present.There's the Barbary Coast, once a district of song and dance and scandal, but is now a sedately beautiful street. The Golden Gate Theatre, which was once home to vaudeville classics, continues the theatrical tradition with the latest Broadway hits. And the ornate Palace Hotel, was and still is home of the city's finest luxury.San Francisco Then and Now also highlights the changes that the city's various earthquakes have brought, showing how some of the Bay Area's most iconic sights quite literally rose from the ashes of its earlier landmarks.So whether you've never set foot in the Haight-Ashbury or whether you're an expert at jumping on and off cable cars, San Francisco Then and Now is the perfect introduction to this amazing city—and its equally amazing history.

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The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market Cookbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Impeccable Produce Plus 130 Seasonal Recipes Review

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(More customer reviews)"The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market Cookbook" is filled with fabulous photographs, appetizing recipes and excellent tips about seasonal fruits, vegetables, herbs, meats, cheese, eggs and fish!
Peggy Knickerbocker has done an excellent job at researching seasonal foods and the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market! She is a food and travel writer that has written for Gourmet, Food & Wine, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and Saveur.
Christopher Hirsheimer is a photographer whose work has appeared in Saveur, as well as cookbooks written by Lidia Bastianich, Rick Bayless, Julia Child and Jacques Pepin.
California is a state bursting with flavor. In such a large state, virtually anything can grow there. Kiwifruits, rice, wine, olives, tomatoes, corn, strawberries and much more! The influx of other cultures help infuse their produce and culinary contributions.
Excellent recipes in this book are: Avocado and Grapefruit Salad with Frisee, Fried Zucchini Blossoms, Shaved Raw Asparagus with Lemon Vinaigrette and Roasted Halibut with Braised Artichokes and Potatoes.
This entire book reminds me of my previous life in California where food never tasted fresher. Where ingredients are fresh, recipes are simple, yet the result was sophisticated and intoxicating.
Great book!

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Walking San Francisco: 30 savvy tours exploring the CityAEs distinctive enclaves, colorful history, and back alley intrigues Review

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(More customer reviews)Being a pedestrian in San Francisco can be adventurous enough given the wild-eyed drivers here. However, if you are not worried about making appointments, getting to work or simply too exhausted to look beyond your feet when you trudge home, this compact, well-organized book is a good reminder of what this city does offer for local and tourist alike. Bay Area travel writer and Lonely Planet contributor Tom Downs traces thirty walking routes that range from the familiar to the surprising spotlighting the key sights to be seen along the way. Like a true hiking guide, he gives the distance and difficulty level, the latter of which can be wildly variable thanks to the hills and valleys indicative of our cityscape.
For each do-it-yourself tour, Downs provides helpful public transportation information and a sense of the parking challenge, perhaps the most common logistical dilemma when starting and ending these walks. His concise descriptions of the unique sights are bulleted in helpful fashion. The areas covered are what you'd expect in a guidebook - stretching from a strenuous coastline hike from Land's End to the Golden Gate Bridge to an easy stroll along the refurbished Embarcadero Walkway. There are hidden gems to be discovered in neighborhoods as diverse as Bernal Heights, Westside Cordillera and the Presidio. Along with periodic sections to describe worthwhile detours and interesting back stories, there are also appendices that organize the information by walking themes and points of interest.

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In Walking San Francisco, Tom Downs has created an exceptional guide to exploring the best of the City "on the ground," from North Beach to Lands End, Bernal Heights to Golden Gate Park. Take one of these specially designed walking tours, and you'll not only get great exercise but also soak up the history, culture, and vibe of the City by the Bay. It's like having a savvy tour guide at your side, showing you where to find great mojitos, and pointing out a rare worker-owned strip joint. Two special tours sample the best bars in North Beach and the Mission District. Locals and visitors alike will appreciate insider tips and entertaining asides in the 30 walking trips. Each tour contains a clear neighborhood map and critical public transportation and parking information. Route summaries make each walk easy to follow, and a "Points of Interest" section outlines each walk's highlights.

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