The Santa Monica Mountains: Range on the Edge [Hardcover]

Tom Gamache (Author), Matthew Jaffe (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

An ambitious book, as sprawling, quirky and varied as the range itself. More than a coffee table book and just short of a travel guide, it's nothing less than a love letter to the wild heart of Los Angeles.

--Veronique de Turenne- Los Angeles Times

A spectacular collection...a visual and literary tribute to an important but little known feature of this gigantic sprawl of a city...a rare and beautiful photographic portrait and historical profile. --Jim Cornfield in Rangefinder Magazine

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Angel City Press (December 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883318513
• ISBN-13: 978-1883318512
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,064,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeing What We Often Miss, January 31, 2007

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Santa Monica Mountains: Range on the Edge (Hardcover)

If they were located nearly anywhere else the Santa Monica Mountains would be considered such a small range of mountains that they might not even be given a name. But since these forty six miles of mountains go right through the city of Los Angeles, they certainly have a name.

Now they even have a book about them. And it's very, very informative. Normally we drive right by them, rarely giving them a thought. But here in a story told in a mixture of photography and text is a view of the mountains that show that beauty, wildlife, even the rugged outdoors is there, even when you need only lift your eyes to see the signs of civilization.

You might consider this to be a 'coffee table' book because of its brilliant pictures and quality printing, but it's really more than that. It's a lesson on how an artist can see exactly what we see and make it into something really special. Here are views and places that are not far away, that could well be made a part of a day off.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Journeys of One Mountain Range Bisecting the Noise of Los Angeles, January 17, 2007

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Santa Monica Mountains: Range on the Edge (Hardcover)

Author Matthew Jaffe and Photographer Tom Gamache have created a Valentine for Angelenos in this beautifully created and produced homage to the Santa Monica mountain range. And while the audience for this book is obviously for those who live in and around the title range in the basin of Los Angeles, the book is so well written and presented that it deserves wide circulation.

Jaffe and Gamache approach the Santa Monica Mountains from three vantages: Mulholland Drive where perilous houses and more than a few mysteries cling to the canyons created by the mountains; Backbone Trail uncovers the natural flow of nature as it is graced by waterfalls and wildlife; and Pacific Coast Highway where the mountains kiss the Pacific Ocean in a love affair that is dotted with mansions and clashes with nature's raw arguments of storms.

Throughout the book Jaffe's dialogue is informative and full of history as well as nearing poetry in his descriptions so well illustrated by the abundant fine photographs by Gamache. The range is captured is every form of foliage and light and some of the images here will remain embedded in the brain as rare glimpses of natural beauty that are too often overlooked by both Los Angeles outsiders and insiders. THE SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS: RANGE Of MAJESTY FROM THE SEA TO THE CITY is a romantic delight - an aspect of Los Angeles too seldom applauded. Grady Harp, January 07

5.0 out of 5 stars You Will Fall in Love With the Santa Monica Mountains, May 14, 2011

By 

G. Bryant (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Santa Monica Mountains: Range on the Edge (Hardcover)

This beautiful book reads like a love letter. If you have any connection with the Santa Monica Mountains, read this book. If you like the mountains now, you will fall in love with them. If you already love the Santa Monicas, you will savor this book. It begins with their molten origins and their plate-induced clockwise shifting which gave them their unique transverse characteristics. It continues with the many inundations of sea coverings and eventual appearances of the native plants and animals we may recognize today, followed by the Chumash, the Spanish, and finally the Southern Californians.
My hope is to spread appreciation and to inspire preservation what is left of this remarkable and unparalleled habitat.