Malibu is a hiking book about the natural beauty and ecology of Southern California. It combines philosophy with a love of nature and California's unspoiled coastal beauty. It is also a tragedy, as that landscape is torn up and paved over for "progress", and Malibu is reduced to just another celebrity suburb of L.A. Malibu is a mixture of a West-coast "Walden" and a modern day "In Praise of Folly." It is an epithany and a lament, lyrical and ludicrous. It extols the virtues of a surfer's life and decries the "illth" of modern materialism. It is a polemic on the core values of modern life and challenges the premises of our everyday lives. Malibu invites you to read this book and take a hike.
Michael A. Banks is the author of 43 books, the most recent of which is Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World's Top Bloggers. He also wrote the New York Times bestseller CROSLEY: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation, The eBay Survival Guide, and several science fiction novels, as well as a number of other non-fiction books.
An up and down book. Some parts are great. Others overwritten. Lots of interesting references, but at times too much. With stronger editing and more of a narrative it could really be something.