Customer Reviews

San Francisco Bay: Portrait of an Estuary

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

 

 

I bought this book as a fan of David Sanger's photography. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Sanger and Hart were able to show me parts of the area I've lived in for 20+ years that I did not know existed. While San Francisco Bay is an exceedingly urban area, it also abounds in wilderness and wildlife. I was particularly taken with the descriptions of several ways of daily life in and on the bay.

The tone of the book is factual without being dry. John Hart's writing style felt like a wonderful conversation with someone I've known a long time. I learned a great deal about how the bay is changing and why those changes are occuring. There are several very detailed maps of the bay that correspond to the areas discussed and I referred to them often. The photographs are exquisite. The bay is always beautiful in those golden hours before sunrise and sunset and David Sanger must have spent a great deal of time to capture so many evocative images.

After reading through the book and spending time with the images, I felt like I wanted to participate in the restoration of this unique area. The appendicies are helpful, offering a list of 20 places to visit and a comprehensive list of agencies and organizations that are central in the preservation and restoration of the bay. All in all, a very satisfying book.

I love the Delta and have been a fan for a long time. For most people in the Bay Area it is an undiscovered area. The Delta is a fascinating place to explore. I have been traveling and searching around for more than 30 years and I have barley scratched the surface. Unfortunately there is very little written about either the human history nor the natural history. On the surface this book looks like a glossy medium sized coffee table book full of first class beautiful photography of the natural environment but it is a lot more. It is broken down into sections or vignettes of modern life on the Delta, from the huge tankers and commercial ships that squeeze through the rivers to the operating farms and the people who are working fishing and preserving the fisheries. Great book of artful photographs which are actually useful illustrations for the informative text instead of the other way around. If you are interested in the San Francisco Bay or even better if you have no interest in the bay this book may spark a life long interest in it and make your life in the area that much richer. Buy it, you'll like it.

San Francisco Bay: Portrait of an Estuary does a good job covering much of the Bay Area and not just the most accessible, well-known features. The photos are often stunning. I personally would have liked more in-depth information on the prehistory and history of the region.