Rating: 
Summary: only in California....
Review: ....could so sharp-eyed an author collect such a crazy quilt of legends, stories, hard data, speculation, and eccentric responses to the oft-denied relationship between the San Andreas Fault he paces from north to south and the folks who live atop it. He has a reporter's knack for getting at the subtext of whatever details catch his attention--and the subtext is often deeply poignant, coming as it does from the shadow side of a given community.My one complaint is that the book spends too much time northward. One reads 3/4 of it and gets no farther south than Hollister. I hope future editions will include more about Southern California. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: California Fault is an absolutely wonderful addition to the literature about California, and the San Andreas Fault. Clarke's tales about the state, and how the Fault has influenced it, are highly recommended.I would rate the book up with Mike Davis' "City of Quartz" and "Ecology of Fear" as some of the absolute best writing about the state.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: California Fault is an absolutely wonderful addition to the literature about California, and the San Andreas Fault. Clarke's tales about the state, and how the Fault has influenced it, are highly recommended.I would rate the book up with Mike Davis' "City of Quartz" and "Ecology of Fear" as some of the absolute best writing about the state.
Rating:
Summary: No faults here
Review: Clarke certainly came up with a novel way to get to grips with the fading California Dream. His trip along the San Andreas Fault is filled with characters and places no one would ever visit except Clarke. This makes it all the better as how else would we know there are plans afoot to turn a polluted inland sea, the Salton Sea (where?), in southern California into a resort! Or stories like the weirdly wonderful Japanese businessman who built a "shrine" to James Dean near the spot on the fault where Dean crashed and burned...the list goes on and on. Somehow Clarke is able to weave it all together into a coherent whole and despite his wish to experience a quake on his journey, he doesn't yet leaves us all with a story that will add to the understanding of the elusive California Dream.
Rating: 
Summary: If you don't have anything good to say...
Review: Clarke makes it clear that he does not like California. He doesn't see why anyone would like California. He goes into great detail critcizing California and the people in California. The problem is, he NEVER suggests anything better; he never presents anything about anywhere that he *does* like. This makes for dreary, and at times infuriating, reading. Then again, I'm from California.
Rating:
Summary: If you don't have anything good to say...
Review: Clarke makes it clear that he does not like California. He doesn't see why anyone would like California. He goes into great detail critcizing California and the people in California. The problem is, he NEVER suggests anything better; he never presents anything about anywhere that he *does* like. This makes for dreary, and at times infuriating, reading. Then again, I'm from California.
Rating:
Summary: Facinating sociological look at California in the '90's.
Review: Mr. Clark follows California's San Andreas fault from the north to the south and documents the people he meets and the communities he visits along the way. Of special interest were his insightful comments on current residents' knowlege of local Native American history. This book is an illuminating look at California culture in the '90's. I'm sending it to my friend in Eureka who introduced me to some of the same Native American history Mr. Clark uncovers, and to my brother in Fremont to see what he thinks of Mr. Clark's viewpoint. This is a great travelogue for those who enjoy both people and geology.
Rating:
Summary: Facinating sociological look at California in the '90's.
Review: Mr. Clark follows California's San Andreas fault from the north to the south and documents the people he meets and the communities he visits along the way. Of special interest were his insightful comments on current residents' knowlege of local Native American history. This book is an illuminating look at California culture in the '90's. I'm sending it to my friend in Eureka who introduced me to some of the same Native American history Mr. Clark uncovers, and to my brother in Fremont to see what he thinks of Mr. Clark's viewpoint. This is a great travelogue for those who enjoy both people and geology.
Rating:
Summary: California's major problem is NOT the 'fault'
Review: San Jose, CA August '98. Being German and having moved to the bay area in `89 continuously forces me to compare the California life style to the German/European one. In a bargain sale i've bought Clark's book out of curiosity and was quite surprised to find a wealth of information on local history and politics of places i've already visited but never have learnt about their history and background information. For me more important than the description of the fault and earthquake issues were his remarks on commuter cities, vandalism, crime, non existing neighborhoods, non-existing functioning families and the problem how to bring up kids in such an environment. Are the Californians blind to all these issues? why does it need outsiders to surface all these important facts. Anyway after reading the book you definitely will have a different view of the 'golden state' and you'll probably come to the conclusion that the degrading social life is more of a problem to California than the Andrea's Fault. After all I'ld be very curious how Clark would write about my home country.
Rating:
Summary: California's major problem is NOT the 'fault'
Review: San Jose, CA August '98. Being German and having moved to the bay area in '89 continuously forces me to compare the California life style to the German/European one. In a bargain sale i've bought Clark's book out of curiosity and was quite surprised to find a wealth of information on local history and politics of places i've already visited but never have learnt about their history and background information. For me more important than the description of the fault and earthquake issues were his remarks on commuter cities, vandalism, crime, non existing neighborhoods, non-existing functioning families and the problem how to bring up kids in such an environment. Are the Californians blind to all these issues? why does it need outsiders to surface all these important facts. Anyway after reading the book you definitely will have a different view of the 'golden state' and you'll probably come to the conclusion that the degrading social life is more of a problem to California than the Andrea's Fault. After all I'ld be very curious how Clark would write about my home country.
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