No comments about The Thomas Guide California Road Atlas.

3 comments about Historical Atlas of the United States.

1. Several things will strike you about this book. The cover's bird's-eye view of Boston in full color is a precursor of things to come. Next, the book measures 13-3/4 by 10-1/4 inches and weighs over four pounds. Every map and every page is printed in gorgeous color. The layout is superb, and most important, the historical information the author gives on these important maps is accurate and well researched.
   How can such a magnificent book be published at this price? By having it printed by C&C Offset Printing Co. in China. Incredible.
   The author begins, "The story of America's past has been told in many different ways, but never before in any comprehensive form from the unique geographical perspective allowed by the study of original maps." The author embarks on a broad journey covering more than 500 years from conception to colonization and on to the Cold War - from 1492 to 9/11, if you will.
   The 535 maps illustrated include almost all of the significant maps which form the rich context of our country's history. Those of us who have been clamoring for history teachers to use maps to encourage students now have a powerful ally in this book. It belongs in every school library in the United States. We know students today concentrate on the visual, not the written word. Here are double page visuals that leap off the printed page to show our changing country. Beautiful bird's-eye views and maps printed large enough so the text explanations can be read with the naked eye.
   At this price hopefully you'll want to send a copy to your kids or grandkids. If they're not impressed I'd be surprised and you don't have to tell them how little it cost. A great investment for bringing that generation into the map world.
   Bill Warren, Past President, California Map Society



2. This is a outstanding book displaying our history through excellent hand drawn maps of America. Many maps presented in this book are from European mapmakers which adds to the "discovery" aspect you will find very interesting; you probably have never seen any of these maps before. There are sometimes four or five colorful maps on each page; the size of this book enables you to easily study the maps as well as provides plenty of room for commentary by Mr. Hayes. This is a quality large book that you will enjoy over several cups of coffee! A great addition to your collection.



3. I purchased this book as an aid in understanding the geography of the United States at different periods in history, and it has fulfilled my expectations perfectly. I am writing a biography and this has filled in my lack of knowledge of how people moved from one area to another in the past, when territories became states, the building of the first railroads, who the first nations were who settled the eastern seaboard, and many other details pertinent to my research.

5 comments about Historical Atlas of California.

1. This is a fantastic book! I gave it to my father for Christmas. He loves it. He is also a historian. Highly reccomended.



2. This beautiful book contains copies of 476 historic maps dealing with California history from the earliest times to the present. This book is for any historian interested in California history, and any individual interested in maps. These are located in repositories all over the United States, thus we can virtually travel and update our history by reading this wonderful book. I was particularly delighted to find an 1847 rendering of the battle of Los Angeles between the Americans and the Mexicans. Each map is thoroughly cataloged in an appendix along with a fine bibliograhy.



3. I was delighted with the book. It is a treasure trove of information provided you use it properly. I use a magnifying glass to view the maps in close detail to get the most out of the book. If you look closely at the maps you are treated to an "evolution" of the state from the time that it was thought to be an island to the present. By inspecting each map very closely you see places that now don't exist, lakes that have disappeared, and roads that have gone from dirt paths to super highways. If you love history as I do, you'll love this book, I also recommend "the Historical Atlas of the United States" by the same author. Same format, same great look at the nation through time.



4. This chronologically depicts California's discovery, development, and divisions. It follows the guesses of the earliest European explorers (I wonder what a native map would look like, but none's represented) and you see the island gradually become a peninsula or archipelago before assuming over the centuries its coastline. Then, the interior begins to take shape, and cities and farms and railroads fill the spaces. A sort of time-lapse ideologically and practically from the past five centuries.
   
   You better understand the gaps: Virginia is shown a few days from California in one early attempt, while the Gold Rush pioneers used routes that were narrowly drawn and could not be deviated from-- around the rest of the West there might be empty spaces, figuratively or cartographically. San Francisco benefits especially throughout its growth, and a 1906 aerial drawing shows dramatically the fire sweeping some--but not all-- of The City. Hayes informs us in his text how the fatalities had been underreported (under 500) when they may have been three or even six thousand. The speculators and profiteers did not want to ruin their chances of rebuilding and selling to new residents. Such chicanery can also be found in the early Spanish who kept their findings off the maps, or kept the maps secret, to avoid tipping off discoveries to the rival British.
   
   Not only rail and auto and industrial, but oil, military, and unusual maps appear. Those in which the patterns of Los Angeles 125 years ago can be found in the train routes, and how these mirror the freeways today, are instructive. I also learned that a 185-mile interurban line once ran from Chico to the Bay Area, to my great surprise. Among other finds: the color-coded charts directing the Japanese relocations during WWII, Jo Mora's Sierra cartoon (but his Hollywood one's not here), and a 1887 Hollywood real estate map from its first booster who, typically, showed many more mountains than even a pre-smoggy day could be glimpsed from Tinseltown-- let alone the beaches!
   
   The text is informative, but I caught an error: Henry Kaiser's steel mill would have not been built at Fontana "eight miles inland" to avoid Japanese attack. Perhaps Hayes meant "eighty"? I do wish some of the maps were larger; the book's affordable and portable enough, but this invariably cuts down the ability even with magnification to discern the kinds of precision that any lover of maps likely has who'd buy this book.



5. Hayes' "Historical Atlas of California" is a real treasure.
   His book spans 500 years of the history of CA.
   It is very readable and a "must have" for any student of historical geography. I strongly recommend it. It is well written and very well illustrated. A real find.
   Anybody interested in California's past and future would be well advised to at least peruse this "coffee table" sized book.
   It has a wealth of information and lots of rare maps.

3 comments about Map and Guide to Yosemite Valley.

1. It gives you an up close view of Yosemite Valley mapped. No more squinting and turning your Yosemite park map every which way just to get a bird's eye view of the valley trails. Major trails are listed along with their milage. It even gives an adequate view of how the trails bend and curve, so you have a rough idea what to expect while out on your valley hikes. Included in the map is historical captions about some of the landmarks along with blk/wht and color photo snippets. There is even a basic park phone directory and a time line of historical events. This is a great magnified map made from a thick durable paper and easy to handle because of its smaller size, NO map folding FUSS! That's an A+ in itself. Just an overall great map to take along on your hikes.



2. This large-scale, easy-to-read map of Yosemite Valley and surrounding areas is a must-have for anyone visiting Yosemite National Park, especially if you are a hiker. Instead of a straight down view, as is done in most maps, you see the valley from an oblique perspective, from south of the valley, with the mountains shown as they would look in 3-Dimensions - a very pleasing effect. All trails are shown, of course, but also bicycle paths, shuttle bus stops, campgrounds, picnic areas, restrooms, parking areas, etc.

   But this is only the beginning! Each trail also has its own description, including approximate time to complete, distance, elevation gain, and trailhead location. Another really nice feature is that many "Vista Points" are included, which are shown on the map, including which direction to look, and are described in their own section, complete with a color photo. Several other parts of the park are also descibed, with photos. There are also detailed write-ups concerning Yosemite's history and geology, plus info on tourist facilities at Yosemite Village. And last, but not least, lots of Natural History information, including photos and drawings to aid in identification of mammals, birds, wildflowers and trees found in the area.

   Writing as one who has been a cartographer for more than twenty years, and also as an avid hiker, I wish that I had the opportunity to produce something like this myself!




3. If you want a great bird's eye view of Yosemite Valley to orient yourself to the location or if you plan to hike around the Valley -- you want this map. It's plain, simple, to the point and gives you an up front idea of what the terrain is like in an oblique topographic view -- almost three-demensional.
   
   The other side of the map is filled with information about hikes and scenic wonders of Yosemite Valley. I'm sure Ansel Adams would have approved of this one for getting around the place! Fabulous supplement to the NPS guide.
   
   And if you want a broader view of Yosemite NP, National Geographic has a fabilous fold out map.

5 comments about Streetwise Los Angeles Map - Laminated City Street Map of Los Angeles, California - with integrated red line tracks and stations.

1. This map of LA includes detailed maps of all the essential areas you're likely to want to visit. It even has the location of major hotels and attractions on it. The overview map of LA is also good for information at a quick glance. All of this is made even more useful and handy by being packaged in such a relatively small and DURABLE laminated map (and it folds up nice and small too!). This map will be with me at all times on my upcoming trip to LA.
   
   UPDATE: Just got back from a week in L.A. and this map was a true lifesaver... perfect, spot-on, with all the right landmarks and coverage of just about all the most common areas you may visit. Within two days, the map helped me feel like I was an old-hand at the L.A. streets. Study it ahead of time, too!



2. I am an avid fan of Streetwise maps. They are handy to carry and waterproof. Before visiting cities, I use a permanent marker to locate my hotel, places of interest, subway/bus stops, one-way streets, etc. I recommend them highly.



3. I love L.A., but getting around the city, even for a native can be very arduous, especially if you get into the hollywood hills. This map, though limited, is a very good item to have it you get lost in west L.A., as with all of these streetwise maps, it focus's on the most traveled part of town, and in the case of L.A. it's downtown and the Westside. As for quality, these maps rate high, they are easy to access, are well crafted, and the font is easy to read and the map graphics are first rate. If you are in west L.A. or downtown often, then i highly suggest this map, you can really get lost on the westside of L.A...ever seen the beginning of Pretty Woman, Gere should have picked up one of these along with the Lotus.



4. Durable, portable and easy to fold! Great for navigating the downtown LA area. Street names and intersections very clear. However, not a very useful resource for navigating the outer fringes of the city.



5. I don't like this map. It doesn't cover the USC area and the print is too small. It also doesn't extend far enough northward.

5 comments about Streetwise San Diego Map - Laminated Center City Street Map of San Diego, California - Folding pocket size travel map with integrated trolley lines & stations (National & International Titles).

1. I needed a city street map of San Diego for an upcoming visit for a wedding and a vacation, but couldn't obtain one at my local AAA office. I've used these Streetwise city maps before both in Washington D.C. and in Seattle, and it was very convenient to have at hand on both occasions. They are easy to manipulate, unlike paper maps, and can be carried around with no trouble.
   
   I received this product in a very short time from the seller. Many thanks for a great sale!



2. This map is confusing. All of the labels read from North to South, so the natural instinct is to hold it in the readable direction. But that makes the left side of the map North and the right side South, as opposed to normal maps that read from West to East. Since I am not from the area (hence the map purchase) it is confusing. Took me a minute to figure out why the Pacific Ocean was South and East!



3. I like this laminated map. At first I was confused because it's sideways but then it does give you the North east west compass directions. I guess they made it like that because you can fit more into the map.I like the flip side of the map that shows you a larger area. I'll be staying at the travelodge at palm avenue by the mexican border and I can see how to get to the heart of San diego. It show you the tourist spots and the business district and the various beaches and the airport. It also shows you the trolley lines which I'll be using. Really nice concise map.



4. This map arrived today and when I opened it I wondered where the REST of the map was. San Diego is a huge city and this map shows only the tiniest portion of it. Details are difficult to see. If you need to go beyond the east side of Balboa Park you are out of luck.



5. I love the laminated map. It's broken up and not as easy as it could be to read, but it provided useful information.

5 comments about Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History (California World History Library).

1. This important book is so well written that, despite its broad sweep and intellectual distinction, it flows beautifully. The first chapters provide one of the simplest and clearest descriptions of cosmology I've ever read, perhaps even bettter than Neil deGrasse Tyson's in Natural History. Christian provides a marvellous theoretical framework for understanding history as playing out repetitive patterns, and the sweep of learning, while careful, is extraordinary.



2. I took his class last semester, and used the book. Fortunately it coincided with my views of the world, and I was able to finish the book and class with ease.
   This book teaches you your spot in the universe. How people, matter, creatures and geography have lived and died, shaping the coils of history to bring you to where you stand today. This is the most scientific and coherent compilation of explanations we have today - Christian is able to see the bits and pieces of life that is around us, and put it together in a book. His theories that are scattered around the book are interesting in themselves.



3. Intellectually stimulating, rapid-fire journey, the "powers of 10" movie specialized for history buffs. Some of the material I found superficial/generalized to be of substance, but the author acknowledges that can be the nature of Big History. An ambitious book which talks directly to ideas that most historians only philosophically discuss. A charge of inductive reasoning would not be far fetched, ie. cherry picking of facts to support prefigured models. Excellent overview of Big History and World History ideas and methods and themes. Annotated bibliographies at the end of each chapter, and large one at the end of the book, are very good for further exploration, most book recommendations are recent (1990s and early 2000s). Despite criticisms learned some new and important perspectives and recommend it highly.



4. The book is not always easy, but well worth reading. It debates the different theories about life, the Universe and everything, through zooming in. The first part is about the big bang en the formation of stars, than follows the geological processes that formed the earth, the evolution of live, humans and our history. It ends with the 20 th century and possible futures. What I liked most about this book, was that it did not present a clear story, but gave the facts, and the different theories (different stories) that might come with those facts.
   It was for me the book at the center of my expending library, because it comes with a extensive bibliography from which I'm now selecting books about the different parts of the big everything to continue reading.
   The best book I've read in years (and I read a lot of (non)fiction books, about a large variaty of subjects).



5. David Christian had a great ambition with this book: to write the history of everything there has ever been. In other words, it describes not only human history but also natural history from the very first beginning. Of course, I had read this on the cover but I had not quite anticipated how elaborate and detailedly the author would describe the formation of the cosmos from the moment of the big bang. I had expected the book to go rather briefly through this part of history and to move on quickly to human history. But I was pleasantly surprised because this first part of the book turned out to be the most fascinating part, as far as I am concerned. The rest of the book is quite interesting too, I must add. The plan and ambition of this book are great, the way the author has worked them out, too. If you liked THE HUMAN WEB by JR McNeill and William H. McNeill, you may like MAPS OF TIME even more. If you admired A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME by Stephen Hawking, you may admire this book just as much.

1 comments about California Atlas & Gazetteer (Delorme Atlas & Gazetteer Series).

1. I was recently the navigator on a 10 day California coast road trip. I ordered the Delorme Atlas to serve as a back-up to my Nuvi GPS. The map is certainly is the better way for looking ahead for rest areas. Half way through the trip, the binding cracked and pages began to fall out. Not good when driving in a convertible with the top down! So I stopped at a Kinko's Copy Center and they replaced the binding with a spiral binding. Now it went from a good atlas to a great atlas! I'm certainly going to do this to any other Delorme atlas I use in the future.

5 comments about Benchmark California Road & Recreation Atlas, Fifth Edition (Benchmark Road & Recreation Atlas).

1. Great altas for navigating backroads or planning trips. Would have rated it 5 stars, but received the 4th edition instead of the 5th as advertised.



2. Benchmark Atlases are the benchmark from which all other road atlases are measured. My GPS nav system, as well as Google maps, will direct me to take dirt roads as part of a 'shortest route.' This is not an acceptable route on my Goldwing. These detailed maps clearly and precisely show the type of road from interstate to 4-wheel drive. It has helped me avoid bad routes numerous times. I also have one DeLorme Atlas (Nevada). The DeLorme has topography on the maps, but the lines are faint and tough to see and not detailed enough for real topo use. The Benchmark maps do not have topography, but they have a decent representation of elevation through coloring and shadowing. From cross-country travel to back-road use, I recommend Benchmark.



3. I purchased this atlas for motorcycle touring in California, and as a map collector, this is by far the best small-road atlas of California I have ever seen. The relief is excellent, they show a multitude of small roads, and could spend years going through this atlas looking for day trips on the bike. This shows roads much better than a topo map, and relief much better than a road map. It is the best blend of what a traveler needs for unfamiliar roads in California. I have to keep an eye out for updates when this one gets old!



4. I expected a little more backroad detail, info, & ease of use from (what I thought was) a Topo atlas. Amazon as usual had the best deal. Its a good CA map, but not the detailed topographical map like the ones you get from Ranger stations I had hoped for? I read on other 4x4 websites that this was a topo atlas, not so.



5. This is an excellent map book that makes the distinction between hard-pack secondary roads and paved secondary roads. I do a lot of California back roads on my motorcycle and found this to be the best of the map books.

5 comments about Streetwise San Francisco Map - Laminated City Street Map of San Francisco, California - with integrated BART map including lines and stations - MUNI lines, bus routes.

1. great map to quickly find your way around SF and to avoid you admitting you're totally lost. And being plastic, it can play with water (it rains seomtimes in SF...) and will not tear, whatever your level of frustration is.



2. I have a few of these for various cities and they are all very good and great for residents, new residents or even vacations or as a gift for someone moving to a new place.
   
   It provides laminated clearly written and very detailed for it's size. It provides, buses and subway lines, landmarks and tourist attractions for many major cities.



3. These "streetwise" laminated maps are the best there is to get you around any city. Walking OR driving. We wore this one out on our recent trip to San Francisco.



4. I stayed at The Red Vic in Haight-Ashbury, a little off the beaten path. This map and my weeklong muni pass paid for themselves a gabillion times. The map worked great; I was never lost. The way they depict the touristy section of Lombard Street makes me giggle.



5. Handy map, with excellent info on bus routes and all manners of public transit!!!! Can't do without this map if you're on your own and want to use public transit!