Customer Reviews

The Definitive Guide to the Waterfalls of Southern and Central California

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

With great expectation I looked forward to getting Mr. Shaffer's book, especially after reading a great review of it in the now defunct section of the LA Times called Outdoors...once in my possession, I would be among the cognoscenti of southern California's natural wonders...but alas it is not to be...First, I looked for the 80' three tiered Fish Canyon falls just above Duarte in the San Gabriel's...nothing was to be found...this is one of the most famous and beautiful falls in all of the San Gabriel's...a simple call to any, and I mean ANY ranger the area could have named it...no, nothing...Next, I looked for the well known but unnamed falls just off the Middle fork of Lytle Creek, three actually that include drops between 60' and 80' respectively...again nothing, not one word...both of these spectacular and beautiful falls can be seen in all their grandeur on the NET and at numerous sites...Definitive, hardly...two stars and only because of its beautiful layout...

I already owned a copy of Ann Marie Brown's book, "California Waterfalls", so I thought I would buy this book to see if there were other falls in it. Total waste of money. It looks as if the author bought Brown's book and simply visited all the waterfalls that she described, then added a few more really lame ones that are totally not worth the effort to get to... Not only that but his photographs are terrible, his directions will get you hopelessly lost, and he doesn't mention any information on flora, fauna, geology, or anything else interesting. Stick with Brown's book. It costs less money and it's far more informative.

This book is ridiculous. What the author calls a waterfall is often just a tiny drip of water... I am an avid hiker and backpacker and don't mind an extremely strenuous day in the outdoors, but if I'm heading out to see a waterfall, I want a real pay-off. After using this book a couple times and quickly realizing it was just some sort of ego trip for the author, I went out and bought Ann Marie Brown's "California Waterfalls" published by Foghorn Outdoors. This is a far superior book, written by someone who really knows how to write a guide book and gives the reader a great experience on the trail. If you truly want to see waterfalls, don't waste your money on Shaffer's book. The only thing it has going for it is color pictures. Buy Brown's book instead. It costs less money and it is a far superior guide!

You may find it interesting to check the reviews by the people who give this book five stars. None of them have ever reviewed a book by another author. Their temporal clustering is also interesting. I (who have over 500 "helpful votes" for other reviews) wrote a negative review that was removed. (First there was an extended e-mail exchange that resulted in Amazon agreeing that my review was within their guidelines. Then, a few months later, my review disappeared without notice.) Apparently the author of this self-published (per LA Times article) book won't tolerate negative reviews.

I bought this book with the expectation that it might help me find waterfalls missing from the Ann Marie Brown book.

And while Shaffer listed many waterfalls not in her book, you'll find that the vast majority of them marginally count as "waterfalls". Moreover, his directions were frustrating to follow and were simply not worth the trouble when you're out spending your valuable free time trying to enjoy the outdoors. The fact it doesn't have useful maps didn't help matters either.

When compared to the experience of using Ann Marie Brown's book, this book doesn't even come close to being anywhere near as useful as Brown's.

While I do appreciate the color and the plethora of photos (so you at least know what the falls look like), the lack of quality (e.g. blurry photos), poor directions (e.g. Salmon Creek Falls north of Kernville), lack of maps, and incomplete chapters (e.g. the Waterwheel Falls chapter) make this a book difficult to recommend.

I bought this book a month ago and have tried to go to three of the waterfall destinations featured. The directions were wrong to two of them (I lost about an hour at one, just driving around trying to find the trailhead). The third one, when I finally reached it, was not exactly what I would call a waterfall. I think this writer needs some lessons in how to write a guidebook. The book appears to be self-published (it's full of photographs of the author's friends, the layout is so garish it looks like it was done by a third-grader, and it is loaded with misspellings and bad punctuation). I read somewhere that this was supposed to be a "coffee-table" style guidebook... what a laugh. Don't waste your money on this one.

Not a single map in the book & no way points
1990s info is outdated-many falls & their access have changed

I read an article in the Stockton Record by Pete Ottesen about this book. I already had Ann Marie Brown's California Waterfalls, but Pete's commentary on the book made me want to go out and buy Shaffer's book. What a great idea. Shaffer's book is in full color and had way more waterfalls that Brown's. This guy did one heck of a job. I recommend this book for anyone who likes to hike or do anything in the outdoors. I've yet to see a better book on the market.

I bought this book for my husband for his birthday. We have gone to a few of the places listed since. The best part of the book is that its in full color and there are pictures on basically every page. We just scan through the pictures to find one that looks interesting, then read to see if its a place we'd be interested in. The directions are really easy to follow too. Great book so far! I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys the outdoors and exploring now places. Our dogs have a good time too! :)

For a change a book that's exactly as publicized. This book is the best outdoor destination guide I own (and I have a lot of them). I've been to dozens of the falls and never got lost once, the directions and descriptions are right on and the photos tell the story. Shaffer did an excellent job and I recommend this book to anyone who likes the outdoors.