Customer Reviews

Moon Handbooks: Silicon Valley (1st Ed.)

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2 star:		(1)
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This is a very well-researched and well-writen book.

As someone who grew up in San Jose, I found the history in the book fascinating.

As someone who has not lived in the area for eight years, I found the new information invaluably informative.

Finally, a great book on the history and exciting places of Silicon Valley. Despite being born and raised in the area, I wasn't familiar with all the places Cheek highlighted. This book is not only informative, but fun and easy to read. If you like to explore and you either live in the Bay Area or will be visiting, this is a "must have" book. Believe me, you'll be glad you bought it.

Whether you live in Silicon Valley or plan to visit the area, The Silicon Valley Handbook, will bring you reading pleasure as well as insightful information to the area. Places to visit and historical data about how Silicon Valley came to be will keep you turning the pages from cover to cover. Walking tours, wine festivals, parks and attractions for children are all described in detail throughout the book. There is something for everyone. And the writing style makes it a truly pleasurable experience.

Silicon Valley is the subject of daily news, and is the home of so many marvelous inventions. Yet to the naked eye, the area is incredibly unremarkable. Martin Cheek has transformed my view of the area (I live here) and put interest in the otherwise uninteresting. For instance, I found out I live less than a mile away from a comedy club that housed the first pong (video game) location. It's still not much to look at. . . but hey!

I would recommend this book, not to the tourist (do people really visit Silicon Valley on tour?) but to the local. It will help you put the history in perspective, and it will make you a better tour guide. The reading is a bit tedious (more like a history book), but side stories about the more colorful characters make it all worth while.

My eyes were drawn to the unusually attractive cover of this book, for it has a perfect color photograph of the world famous Winchester Mystery House, a mansion with hundreds of rooms. That was built by the heir to the Winchester gun fortune, Sarah Winchester. By legend, a fortune teller told her to keep the building process going as a way to atone for all the Indians killed by Winchester firearms, and that as long as she did that she wouldn't die. In the past I couldn't suggest much more to Silicon Valley visitors than a visit to the Winchester Mystery House, or perhaps the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, which houses the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts west of the Mississippi. I simply thought of the San Jose area as being mostly a cultureless wasteland in suburbia, but things have certainly changed there. I was raised in the Bay Area, and over the years the occasional errand takes me through, but I had no idea that there were so many interesting things to see there. In part this is attributable to the accelerated urban development brought on by the computer industry, and in part it's because I didn't bother to monitor progress in the greater San Jose area, but that's also because no one had previously published a guide book filled with so much of its local history. Now that I have Martin Cheek's book, I look forward to my next visit for any reason. There's an article called William Shockley - Brilliant Weirdo (The author was de-emphasizing his subject's unpopular opinions about race) on page 19, and it explains how Shockley won the Nobel prize for being the co-inventor of the transistor, the cornerstone of the high tech industry. Speaking of controversial people, another interesting person is mentioned in an article on page 191: "The Holy City Of Hilltop Hustler "Father Riker." Denounced as an eccentric cult leader by some, Riker is also fondly remembered as the most colorful character in the history of San Carlos. From 1918 until about 1941 his Utopian community was active on a mountainous summit to the west of the downtown area. Riker's large signs advertised the greatness of the white race, and his original commercial buildings provided a great variety of roadside attractions for those traveling between San Jose and the seaside community of Santa Cruz. The old highway still cuts through the mountains, but Riker's businesses greatly declined when his stop was bypassed by a much more modern and faster highway. All that remains of Holy City today are a few private buildings: Riker's house, garage, a storage shed, and the timeless background of beautiful hills that his visitors liked to use as the background for their photos. Across the street from Riker's house, where the commercial buildings once stood, the owner of a modern glass shop (Which uses the name Holy City Glass Shop) keeps original copies of Riker's old newspapers posted up on his bulletin board. After getting introduced to that site through Mr. Cheek's book, I found out that there was a book in print by Betty Lewis titled Holy City - Riker's Roadside Attraction. I'll let you know how good that is after Amazon sends it.

I was fortunate to have received a copy of the Silicon Valley Handbook, as a birthday gift. And what a fabulous gift it has been. Aside from being a very precise and efficient guide to the many attractions and places to visit, this book presents the human side of the Silicon Valley. The evolution, history and the origin of this technological maze. Martin Cheeck's sense of humor in this book, reminds you to maintain a balanced life, here in Silicon Valley. I strongly recommend, obtaining a copy of this handy guide, and keeping it close by. And on those occasions that you become restless, let this book, guide your senses.

As a frequent visitor to the Silicon Valley area, I find difficulty with the fact that there are still no books directed towards business travelers. This area is NOT a tourist spot, so I found this book, while historically interesting, not particularly helpful for my requirements. Practical advice like, "good luck finding a room during the week" was not included.

Great information on the Silicon Valley. Would make a great welcome gift for employees who are new to the area.