“Self-publishing gurus Kathleen Goodwin and Richard Blair, who've glossied up many a local coffee table over the past decade with their hardcover photo books Point Reyes Visions and California Trip, return to the picture-essay arena with Visions of Marin, the most quintessentially Marin entry in a series that's becoming the definitive visual history of the county.

Where Point Reyes Visions focused on the majesty of the western portion of the county, Visions of Marin points a far wider angle at Marin as a whole, chronicling the histories, apocrypha and legendary figures and monuments that have left their literal and figurative marks on the landscape.

Chapters cover everything from towns and municipalities to parks and open space, "ethereal landscapes" and, toward the end of the book (apparently when they'd run out film), Goodwin's own plein air paintings of the county.

Farms, bocce, the Coast Miwok, windsurfing, Blackie, Sir Francis Drake, the Mountain Play, Joseph Eichler, the Dipsea, John Reed, William Kent, houseboats, Frank Lloyd Wright, Olompali, tule elk, William Richardson, Marinship and the Grateful Dead are all in there as well. And they look great.”

—Jason Walsh, Editor in chief, Pacific Sun