CALIFORNIA: How to Live, Work and Have Fun in the Golden State

California, most diversely extreme of America's states, is gaining population at the rate of 1,100 persons every day. Monroe's attempt to explain why this should be so is no more definitive than an encyclopedia, is fully descriptive of every place and thing known to man, but it is a good try, for all that. His approach is geographical, from San Diego to Mexico and back (safely), up the coastal strip to La Jolla (beware of sharp elbows: grunion fishing is only legal if you do it barehanded), to the redwoods and through the wine country to San Francisco, through the Sierra foothills and agricultural valleys to the ""improbable deserts"", out to the islands and back to Los Angeles, ""the city nobody knows"". En route, cicerone Monroe points out major features of the terrain for camping, tourism, and permanent relocation, recites items of historical pertinence, speculates on how long it will take to remedy certain hazards and difficulties, cites persons and agencies to be contacted for the latest in specific data, explains developments in business, industry, agriculture, transportation, and special enterprises like aerospace centers. The chapter on educational opportunities is perhaps the most broadly researched. Monroe's zest for his subject never flags, but is kept under control so as not to overwhelm the reader. IF he sees California through a golden glister, who can really blame him? As he says, ""where else is such a cornucopia?