First & Foremost: A Guide to Northern California's Independent Bookstores

Rating:
Summary: Like phone sex - short, cheap and incomplete
Review: A very flawed book. It should advertise itself for what it is - a commercial advertisement for its membership list and not as a bookstore guide. I feel swindled as if I bought a logo t-shirt (paying for the privelage to advertise for an unknown other).

The book had the following flaws:
1) VERY incomplete listing of bookstores in the SF area not to mention the rest of California. The most notable lack of listings were the independent bookstores of the Mission District. Further, antiquarian dealers were left out as well. I could understand if they gave a complete list of bookstores with no ratings thereby letting the reader have a chance to explore and judge but the complete exclusion of so many independent book stores and dealers from even being listed was very odd;

2) No maps. The organization is simply by town with no maps of large book buying districts. It would have been nice to have a map of the SF area to give the reader an idea of where the bookstores are located in relation to each other and the reader. The general breakdown by large California geography chunks e.g.,Sierra Nevada does not induce one to go walking around town;

3) The book's subtitle, 'A Guide to Northern California's Independent Bookstores' is deceptive. It lulls one into the expectation that this book will give a comprehensive listing of ALL independent book stores, but instead gives fawning endorsements of its membership. I am still curious how one can be an independent northern California bookstore located in Arizona (mayhaps having NCIBA membership helps);

There were some saving graces. The section on Berkeley's book stores was reasonable. But if the book gives such short shrift to the rest of the Bay Area should I not think that the Berkeley section is flawed as well?

One of the great pleasures in life is finding the heart of any town through its book stores. Trying to track down that elusive pre 1920's Sinclair Lewis or even a 1982 reprint of Charles Babbage's analysis of manufacturing methods makes one know the smells, thoughts, desires and fears of a town and its inhabitants. A good guidebook is the starting point of a long love affair between the subject and the exploring reader. This guidebook by Akers is phone sex - short, cheap and incomplete.

Rating:
Summary: I thought this book was very helpful in planning my trip!
Review: I purchased this book while planning a trip to San Francisco and Northern California. I planned my trip around all of the great bookstores that I wanted to visit, and it worked out well. There may have been other stores that I should have visited in each particular area, but I feel the book represents the best of the best. It is impossible to list every single retail location that sells books, and it seems that is exactly what the other person reviewing this book wants. Either that, or the author of the review is a bookseller that was left off the list.

I had a fantastic time in Mendcino visiting the Gallery Bookshop. I plan to visit City Lights every time I visit San Francisco in the future. A bookstore is indeed the heart of a community, and thanks to First and Foremost I feel a deep and intimate connection with the communties I visited.