good book. i lived in SF during that time
930642
good book. i lived in SF during that time, but was in graduate school. i also came from a small city, this was very interesting to read about what life was like in the real world. all those men dying was terrible.
3718123
The book is a ride through the most troubling period in SF history. It is fascinating, disturbing, and enlightining . The characters that shaped the city are heros and villans. The plots of the Dirty Harry/Streets of San Francisco movies from the 70's are very real to what was happening. The culture that started with mellow hippies created drug crazed demons. The chilling zebra killings (local blacks murdering whites for sport). The civil war that removed  the "old in's and installed the "new out's" was a megolithic cultural change that altered the soul of the city forever (for better or worse). Unbelievable violence and pollitical corruption raged from the left (New World Liberation, SLA, Peoples Temple). Jonestown, Dan White's assasinations of Moscone and Milk within a week of eachother were almost to sureal for the citizens to believe. You will be holding your breath throughout most of the book, but will exhale when a divided city comes together for the first 49ner superbowl victory(amazing what sports can do). I was there for it all and can tell you the author got it right.
3367763
I'm a gay man in my late 50's; have never been to SF.  FSB gives a good depiction of the "gay scene" in SF in the 70's and 80's.  Really enjoyed it.
4775787
This is a great book if you sail or spend time on San Francisco Bay. Very interesting to see why different parts of the bay and different SF neighborhoods have such different climates
2861770
I thought it was a very pleasant read.  I live in San Francsico and I wanted to read about people who lived here in the Victorian era -- what they did, what their lives were like, etc.  This book fully fit that bill and was extremely pleasant to read.
2449654
The book was good.  Just loved reading about the early days of the weed smugglers.  Though quite different than todays smugglers, that time period held some basic business standards that included less violence, and more trust.  The writing style of his book was somewhat hard to follow and his use of words that were not necessary was sometimes challenging to read. Overall, the story was great and it would make a great movie.  If you liked "Blow", you will enjoy this book.  I recommend it and look forward to the movie. (Or TV series)
R. Decker , Novato, CA - email BeachBoy1 at aol-com  PS- If there are any old "air cargo cowboys" from the old days that are interested in some art regarding this subject, shoot me an email and I show you some ceramic hanging art i made that has a DC-3 making 2 passes dropping the square groupers off Andros with a boat waiting and  picking up the drop at sunset.  I hope to enter it in the Marin County Fair this year,  I also do art to order.
407705
It took me back to the summer of love era, which was when I came to San Francisco in '67 in the heart of it all. I was entertained with the story line and my interest was piqued. I felt I was right there with them the era was depicted very accurately.
3516439
Good story layout. I enjoyed the accurate SF references as I grew up there. The new e-books seem like they all could have been written by the same person. "Waggled eyebrows" show up in all of them as well as some other things. The misuse of "I" instead of "me".
4517223
I grew up on Harrison, among many others - All the classic SF writers. Good space opera stuff to re-read.
4302327
"San Francisco's Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights" [= 'Heights'] is part of Arcadia Publishing's standardized series of books, many covering neighborhoods of San Francisco.  The books are mostly photographs with captions, all introduced by a short essay.

This particular edition was unusually well researched.  Although most books in the series say, "Here is a picture of some people doing something or of a building that was in existence then," 'Heights' does a bang-up job of identifying pretty much all people, including their names and some of their major accomplishments, and giving details on who built the buildings when and for what purpose.  I have many books in the series, and this one gives the reader the feeling of being an insider on the architecture and society in earlier times in these neighborhoods.

While I can come up with additional buildings and people, for a book of standardized length, this one does very well.  The one item that seemed odd to me was a mention of Grant Primary School on page 74, which was said to have been around from 1889 through 1972 on Broadway near Broderick and is shown as a fancy wooden building.  I attended there several years around 1960, when the school was an undistinguished Mission-style concrete affair, later torn down as an earthquake hazard and turned into condos.  The photo is from an earlier period only.

I would have liked some attention to have been paid to the natural history of the neighborhood - its configuration, hills, geology, soil, drainage, plants, and animals before development occurred.  A series of photographs taken from the Bay over the years might have  captured the pace and impact of settlement.

Still, for having a stroll about the neighborhood and getting a sense of the value its previous residents added to the larger community, this book is terrific.
601646
Enjoyes reading this book...Memories from back then.
359733
EDIT: somehow Amazon has combined the records for Foundation and Foundation and Empire. Foundation is one of the first science fiction novels I ever bought. I read it and reread it back in high school. Now, years later, I hoped it would hold up to my memories.

And it did! The concept of psychohistory is fascinating to me. I loved how the Foundation grew and evolved. I'm going to enjoy reading the next book in the series.

I will note there's not really a good strong woman in the book. I didn't mind that because I'm used to the SF of that period which was mostly written from the male viewpoint for other males.

if you like classic SF and haven't read this book, you need to. If you want to explore the roots of SF, this is a good choice. If you like cracking good stories, this is a good choice.

Foundation and Empire: This is another science fiction book that I first read decades ago. Even remembering the "reveal," I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I particularly liked Bayta, a very strong female character. Magnifico is one of those characters you will never forget.

However, the book is uneven. The first part was mostly of interest because it set up the last half. That part was worth the ride.

If you like science fiction and have read Foundation, I think you'll love this book. If you like SF but haven't read Foundation, start there.
2824230
This is a quick read and it's interesting because it is set in San Francisco.  The opinion of the writer regarding the two big tourist destinations align with mine.  I found the heroine a bit like mercury when it came to her boyfriend.  This is  a good spring break or summer read, and didn't cost me much besides a few hours of casual reading.
4713824
Sager's book can be read piecemeal. Incident by incident. From some 10 years of cab driving in maybe the strangest city in the US, San Francisco, he regales us with anecdotes of his experiences. No doubt, the bulk of his customers are stolidly mundane, and hence occasion no mention here.

But he was fortunate enough to set up shop in SF. The period he covers is roughly that of the dot com era. Also associated with greater SF. Well, Silicon Valley. But that is indeed in greater SF. This book is a useful reminder that in the 90s, SF was not all high tech glitz. There were other (sub) cultures, lives and milieus that inhabited this area.

Some of the anecdotes could also be told by cab drivers in other large American cities. His encounters with transvestites, trans-sexuals and prostitutes might have hailed from trolling the streets of Hollywood in Los Angeles, for example.
1038949
The author looks at four cities across the US in the 1980s.  The most important chapter is on San Francisco.  This was during the rise of the AIDS controversy.  Nowadays, this chapter seems outdated.  But at the time, it was quite interesting.  I think urban studies majors or journalism majors may find this book quite useful.
2783980
I read this while living in LA, and it really resonated with what I observed at the time. I look forward to reading more from this author.
2504472
Good read!
What will it take to leave a down and out old San Francisco hotel?
I had a feeling that I knew each chacter.
It took guts to stay even a year in such sroundings.
I had a sad emptyness when I read the last page, I wanted more. I hope Michale will continue with his move to the sunset district.