Can anyone advise me if The California Gold Rush History book by QDB is a good book?

drddm · April 23, 2007 12:36AM

Can anyone give me a little review on what they think of this book?

It looks like it has a lot of info, and I'm a fan of Bowers so I'm thinking about getting it.

Is the leather bound edition nice? Does anyone have this deluxe edition?

Thanks everyone

RYK · April 23, 2007 12:43AM

This is a massive tome on the California Gold Rush and is written in the typical, readable Bowers style. It is well-illustrated with lots of contemporary historical photos, drawings, letters, and news clips. My only problem with the book is that it is physically to big to comfortably read and to voluminous to attempt unless you have a lot of time on your hands.

fc · April 23, 2007 12:49AM

i have forgotten all the books i have read about the gold rush, but
what i do know is the best place to start for information about that
time frame is your local library.

while you are there ask them about this book. i am sure a local library
in your state has a copy and would gladly lend it to your for a week
or three.

it is surprising what books give you good info about that time frame
and which ones just regurgitate the same old stories.. the initial
discovery, the famous gold areas, etc...

i believe the best way to study it is to find the oldest books possible
about the era. try to read material written by folks who were there
to get a sense of the time frame. your library will have those books.

drddm · April 23, 2007 2:30AM

Thanks, can anyone else provide a review for this book?

Pistareen · April 23, 2007 2:36AM

My only complaint with that the book is that it's too big and has too much great info -- it's utterly overwhelming!

It's a great read, beautifully produced, and a must-have if the subject matter interests you. Also, since the sale of the loot from the SS Central American underwrote the production of the book, it was actually sold for less than it cost to produce.

ttown · April 23, 2007 2:44AM

Here's a book review:

Cal Gold Rush

Longacre · April 23, 2007 2:44AM

People always say the book is physically too big for a single volume. Does anyone know why it wasn't produced in two volumes?

RWB · April 23, 2007 3:27AM

Excerpt from a review by Robert B. Cook, Auburn University from “Rocks & Minerals Magazine.”

The review is very positive however:

“This fabulous work is unnecessarily difficult to use. Its table of contents is only a single page long and essentially lists the chapters by name with no way to home in on topics other than to open to the beginning of a chapter and begin to thumb through the headings and subheadings--and this assumes that someone searching for a particular topic knows the year in which the event occurred. For example, there are more than ninety such subheadings in chapter 1 alone, many of which are intensely interesting but for which the reader is unaware prior to arriving at that page in the book. The index is of some help in this regard if one is searching for the mention of a historical figure, and then it is wonderfully complete. For a book of this length, it would have been a relatively trivial matter to devote another few dozen pages to a comprehensive table of contents. If length were actually an issue, the book title could have been deleted from the top of each page and the space saved used for the expanded table of contents.”

You might also want to examine “Treasure Ship” by Dennis M. Powers.

CaptHenway · April 23, 2007 3:33AM

I was fortunate enough to be able to read the entire book, line for line, in galley form, so that I did not have to pick up the finished volume!
The book is incredible! The saga of the journeys West is gripping reading notwithstanding the later parts about the coins. Buy it, read it and enjoy it!
Tom DeLorey

Mark · April 23, 2007 3:50AM

I have owned the book now for 2 years. But I cannot read the book in bed, which is my favorite reading spot and time for numismatic books. The book is simply too large. If you do not own the book, it may seem odd to complain about a book's physical dimensions, but once you buy it you'll understand. Longacre's question is right on the money: Bower's tome on dollars was produced as 2 books; I surely wish the Gold Rush book had likewise been produced as 2 books.

CaptHenway · April 23, 2007 5:22AM

Hey, it's a coffee table book!
Put legs on the four corners, and you've got yourself a coffee table!!!!!!
LOL
TD

DaveG · April 23, 2007 8:47AM

You can read some of the book for FREE here!

fc · April 23, 2007 9:00AM

thanks dave. this will make fun reading while i wait for an auction
to close. i love the gold rush era.

Can anyone advise me if The California Gold Rush History book by QDB is a good book?

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