San Francisco Like a Local


Book Description

Immerse yourself in the San Francisco scene with this insider's e-guide Home to waterfront esplanades, major museums, and a nightlife scene like no other, this cultural city is endlessly enticing. But beyond the well-trodden sights of the Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39 lies the real San Francisco: a whole other side waiting to be explored. We've spoken to the city's locals to unearth the coolest hangout spots, hidden gems, and personal favorites to ensure you travel like a local. Amble up secret stairways to pocket parks, browse record stores tucked away in colorful neighborhoods, and tuck into Mexican cuisine at tiny hole-in-the-wall joints. Whether you're a San Franciscan looking to uncover your city's secrets or seeking an authentic experience beyond the tourist track, this stylish e-guide makes sure you experience San Francisco beneath the surface.




Backpacker


Book Description

Backpacker brings the outdoors straight to the reader's doorstep, inspiring and enabling them to go more places and enjoy nature more often. The authority on active adventure, Backpacker is the world's first GPS-enabled magazine, and the only magazine whose editors personally test the hiking trails, camping gear, and survival tips they publish. Backpacker's Editors' Choice Awards, an industry honor recognizing design, feature and product innovation, has become the gold standard against which all other outdoor-industry awards are measured.




A Scatter of Light


Book Description

“Full of yearning, ponderances about art and what it means to be an artist, and self-revelation, A Scatter of Light has a simmering intensity that makes it hard to put down."—NPR An Instant New York Times Bestseller Last Night at the Telegraph Club author Malinda Lo returns to the Bay Area with another masterful queer coming-of-age story, this time set against the backdrop of the first major Supreme Court decisions legalizing gay marriage. Aria Tang West was looking forward to a summer on Martha’s Vineyard with her best friends—one last round of sand and sun before college. But after a graduation party goes wrong, Aria’s parents exile her to California to stay with her grandmother, artist Joan West. Aria expects boredom, but what she finds is Steph Nichols, her grandmother’s gardener. Soon, Aria is second-guessing who she is and what she wants to be, and a summer that once seemed lost becomes unforgettable—for Aria, her family, and the working-class queer community Steph introduces her to. It’s the kind of summer that changes a life forever. And almost sixty years after the end of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, A Scatter of Light also offers a glimpse into Lily and Kath’s lives since 1955.




Backpacker


Book Description

Backpacker brings the outdoors straight to the reader's doorstep, inspiring and enabling them to go more places and enjoy nature more often. The authority on active adventure, Backpacker is the world's first GPS-enabled magazine, and the only magazine whose editors personally test the hiking trails, camping gear, and survival tips they publish. Backpacker's Editors' Choice Awards, an industry honor recognizing design, feature and product innovation, has become the gold standard against which all other outdoor-industry awards are measured.




Spirits of San Francisco


Book Description

The bestselling book from two prizewinning, critically acclaimed contemporary chroniclers of San Francisco-a rich, illustrated, idiosyncratic portrait of this great city. In Spirits of San Francisco, #1 bestselling Cool Gray City of Love author Gary Kamiya joins forces with celebrated, bestselling artist Paul Madonna to take a fresh look at this one-of-a-kind city. Marrying image and text in a way no book about this city has done before, Kamiya's illuminating narratives accompany Madonna's masterful pen-and-ink drawings, breathing life into San Francisco sites both iconic and obscure. Paul Madonna's atmospheric images will awe: his wide-angle drawings offer a new perspective on the “crookedest street in the world” and vistas across the city. And Kamiya's engaging prose, accompanying each image, offers striking vignettes of this incredible city: witness his story of “Dumpville,” the bizarre community that sprang up in the 19th century on top of a massive garbage dump. Handsome and irresistible-much like the city it chronicles-Spirits of San Francisco is both a visual feast and a detailed, personal, loving, informed portrait of a beloved city.




Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region


Book Description

"You can't really know the place where you live until you know the shapes and origins of the land around you. To feel truly at home in the Bay Area, read Doris Sloan's intriguing stories of this region's spectacular, quirky landscapes."—Hal Gilliam, author of Weather of the San Francisco Bay Region "This is a fascinating look at some of the world's most complex and engaging geology. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in an understanding of the beautiful landscape and dynamic geology of the Bay Area."—Mel Erskine, geological consultant "This accessible summary of San Francisco Bay Area geology is particularly timely. We are living in an age where we must deal with our impact on our environment and the impact of the environment on us. Earthquake hazards, and to a lesser extent landslide hazards, are well known, but the public also needs to be aware of other important engineering and environmental impacts and geologic resources. This book will allow Bay Area residents to make more intelligent decisions about the geological issues affecting their lives."—John Wakabayashi, geological consultant




Bruised Passports


Book Description

As young kids, SAVI and VID, as they are popularly known to their followers, dreamt of travelling the world together. In 2013, they turned this dream into reality with the launch of their travel blog, BRUISED PASSPORTS. And now, countless flights, dreamy destinations and beautiful pictures later, the OG couple of travel has decided to reveal the secret of their carefree and footloose life. But this isn't just a book filled with dreamy stories of travel, people and culture; in these pages, Savi and Vid share their insights on how you, too, can live a life full of memories, adventure and the excitement of discovering a new place. With tips, plans and advice inspired by the hurdles and successes they have faced, Savi and Vid tell you how to be successful digital nomads in a post-pandemic world. From financial planning to, risk analysis, to taking that leap of faith, to how to create a brand of your own, BRUISED PASSPORTS promises to be a treasure trove for anyone who wants to take the plunge and set off on a journey to live life on their own terms.




Golden Gate Park, An A to Z Adventure


Book Description

Explore California's most visited city park in this A-to-Z adventure! A 2020 Eureka! Honor Award Winner "This book will be an instant classic and resonate with anyone who has ever fallen in love with Golden Gate Park. It is truly gorgeous and really captures the uniqueness of the park." --Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture at the San Francisco Botanical Garden "Did you know that a famous grizzly bear once lived in Golden Gate Park? Or that in 1921, 25 bison escaped their enclosure at night and roamed the streets of the nearby Richmond district? You couldn’t make this stuff up. Written by a GGMG mom of two, this A to Z book will make your family look at GGP with new eyes and will probably inspire you to explore new spots. Fairy doors, anyone." --Golden Gate Mothers Group Magazine "I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed this little picture book. Reading all these fun facts made me pretty curious about the place and I hope I get to visit it for real one day! I recommend this book for kids ages six and up!" --Kids' BookBuzz (Hannah, age 13) "To celebrate Golden Gate Park's 150th anniversary, the San Francisco Parks Alliance and West Margin Press have collaborated to publish this colorful, alphabetical introduction. . . For San Franciscans, and those planning a visit, especially with children, this book suggests a number of intriguing explorations. Especially useful in the region, but also where there's a general interest in geography and destinations." --School Library Journal From A for Artist Ruth Asawa's hanging wire creations in the de Young Museum, to Z for the Zebra on the carousel in the Koret Children's Quarter, this book leads you around San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Park to reveal a range of fun and surprising facts for tourists and locals alike. Step into art, science, nature, and culture by visiting the park's major attractions, like the serene Japanese Tea Garden; discovering secret destinations, like the magical fairy doors hidden in trees; or just relaxing on the green meadows where the bison roam. Included also at the back of the book is a colorfully illustrated map with extra trivia and details on the park's favorite sights. The board book version of this is available as ABCs of Golden Gate Park.




The Secret


Book Description

The tale begins over three-hundred years ago, when the Fair People—the goblins, fairies, dragons, and other fabled and fantastic creatures of a dozen lands—fled the Old World for the New, seeking haven from the ways of Man. With them came their precious jewels: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls... But then the Fair People vanished, taking with them their twelve fabulous treasures. And they remained hidden until now... Across North America, these twelve treasures, over ten-thousand dollars in precious jewels, are buried. The key to finding each can be found within the twelve full color paintings and verses of The Secret. Yet The Secret is much more than that. At long last, you can learn not only the whereabouts of the Fair People's treasure, but also the modern forms and hiding places of their descendants: the Toll Trolls, Maitre D'eamons, Elf Alphas, Tupperwerewolves, Freudian Sylphs, Culture Vultures, West Ghosts and other delightful creatures in the world around us. The Secret is a field guide to them all. Many "armchair treasure hunt" books have been published over the years, most notably Masquerade (1979) by British artist Kit Williams. Masquerade promised a jewel-encrusted golden hare to the first person to unravel the riddle that Williams cleverly hid in his art. In 1982, while everyone in Britain was still madly digging up hedgerows and pastures in search of the golden hare, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America. The previous year, author and publisher Byron Preiss had traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic casques. Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1984 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues.