Berkeley and the East Bay area are so appealing, travelers to California may find it hard to squeeze in its sister city across the bay. Sparkling weather, a well-founded sense of community, a diverse population, unique architecture, and a lively mix of cultural, culinary, and collegiate atmosphere appeal to visitors and transplants alike. This thorough guide, filled with thoughtful reviews and insider tips, will have readers feeling like natives in no time.
Customer Reviews:
great orientation for newcomers July 25, 2008 It can be hard to find in-depth introductions to the East Bay, which, though lovely and a big city in its own right, is generally overshadowed by the glamor and tourist-readiness of San Francisco. This fills that gap.
The author has been a long-term newspaper reporter in the area, and the writing has the great casual assurance that only years of professional experience, *plus* first-hand understanding and affection, can easily convey. So much guidebook writing is such hackwork, a boosterish string of addresses and cliches, but the narrative here has intelligence, a sense of recent history and occasionally some understated-yet-sharp insights behind its listings and descriptions.
While most of the book focuses on Berkeley and Oakland, the author also gives some attention to "beyond the tunnel" -- the suburbs that are inland from O & B. This wasn't important to me, but could be useful as an even-rarer info source for folks who are looking to live in or visit those communities.
So far, I've used the book as background info for an apartment hunt in Oakland and Berkeley in preparation for an upcoming move. Oddly, one of the more useful sections for this was the "Shopping Districts." Although I had zero plans to buy anything in a "cute shop," knowing where the little neighborhood mainstreets were made it easier for me to judge whether potential apartments were in walkable neighborhoods, and the description of the mix of stores gave me a sense of whether I'd find the shopping useful, rather than malled-out or gentrified.
Once I get there, I definitely plan to consult the book some more, for restaurants, festivals, parks, etc.
If I had any gripe, it might be the design and layout, which does *not* negatively affect the content, but makes me think the publisher was cheaping out a little. The cover is really bland, with that over-familiar Cal gate, and what's up with the way-early-90s purple-and-green "desktop publishing" fade-effects? The visual presentation gives Oakland and Berkeley short shrift as cities, implying that the university is the only interesting thing. The text inside seems to have been mostly flowed-in and auto-formatted -- if you're looking for large-ish text, great, but if you like information presented compactly and efficiently, well, get your page-turnin' finger ready! Repeat: That's no gripe on the above-average writing and helpful info, though, which makes up for the basic design.
All rights reserved. Amazon.com is a trademark of Amazon.com Information about prices, products, services and merchants is provided by third parties and is for informational purposes only. Caribbean Travel Books does not represent or warrant the accuracy or reliability of the information, and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use.
