Permanent Californians: An Illustrated Guide to the Cemeteries of California

Rating:
Summary: did NOT exceed my expectations!
Review: I do not normally pick up a book and hate it at first sight, but so it was with this one. At first I felt there must be something wrong with me, and tried reading it again. However, I feel obliged to say that at times the discriptions and explanations were long-winded, and his attempts at analysis were not particularly original.

Rating:
Summary: Don't believe everything you read...
Review: I've been using Permanent Californians for roughly 7 years now;while it provides great biographical information and a decent basicguide to who has been interred where, Culbertson and Randall have failed miserably in their efforts to provide specific gravesite locations. I have wasted too much precious daylight in vain assessments of which tree they presume to be the largest within a particular cemetery section, ultimately searching around each and every tree in said section only to conclude that the book is just plain wrong. I've noted many typos with regard to section numbers/grave numbers, and had to learn the hard way *never* to trust their directions as gospel truth. Very useful as a basic reference, but be advised: don't expect much in the way of orienteering.

Rating:
Summary: Until you know the facts.....
Review: This is a fun sort of a book which has a lot of interesting biographical information pertaining to those 'permanent Californians'. However, if you plan to use it as a guidebook you'll find that directions are often confusing and inaccurate. There are several books currently available which provide better information for locating burial sites and (for that matter) more comprehensive listings per cemetery. Just don't view this book as being accurate re: grave locations/directions. The end result will be total frustration.