Rating: 
Summary: Big disappointment
Review: This book was a complete disappointment to me, it was all I could do to finish it. I actually enjoyed Conaway's earlier "Napa" quite a bit. Although the mediocre writing was annoying at times and the level of detail out of whack across some topics, overall it provided a solid and fascinating social history and I gave it 4 stars. But Eden seems to me like a bad sequel to a movie, trying to squeeze life and extra pages out of an idea beyond its time. Yes, I wanted to know the details of the decade since Napa left off, but the writing went downhill, the trivial gossip increased, there was way more exaggeration and oversimplification, and too much dumb cuteness, e.g., "lucky spermers". Who among us is not a lucky spermer, and was it really necessary to repeat this phrase over and over again? Although I am definitely a slow growth-er and am saddened by some of the overdevelopment that has occurred in the Valley, I suggest reading Mondavi's book and Kolpan's "A Sense of Place" about the Niebaum-Coppola winery to at least hear the other side (also biased of course) to Conaway's one-sided hypercriticism and overly negative biases.
Rating:
Summary: How can he type with a massive chip on his shoulder?
Review: This is a book for people who hate Starbucks and complain incessantly about gentrification (while drinking expensive boutique coffee and loving the appreciation in their real estate). After reading half of it I got tired of the constant pot-shots and nasty, one-sided characterizations and had to put it down. I'm not clear on who the author approves of, but he's clearly against anyone who lives, builds, or conducts business in Napa Valley -- plus anyone crass enough to actually visit for a weekend and enjoy the place. If you are a part of the Napa community then you might enjoy the gossipy anecdotes in this book. If you are a hard-core, disgruntled environmentalist then you might find validation for your views. But if you are just interested in the region and land issues in general then you'll find a pissy, overblown screed that irritates more than it informs.
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