Category Archives: Reviews

Reviews on books, DVD’s, & websites related to grave hunting, dead celebrities, general death topics, etc.

Book Review: Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites by Brian Lamb

26 Saturday May 2012

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 Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites by Brian Lamb

Published by Public Affairs Books; Revised & Updated Third Ed, February 2010; ISBN 9781586488697; Pages: 247; Price: $16.95 U.S./$21.50 Canada.

One of the books I have in my growing grave hunting/cemetery book library. Is an interesting approach to the typical cemetery/grave hunting related books you’d find in your local bookstore or on websites like Amazon. The literary work I’m talking about is “Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites” by Brian Lamb.

“Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites” chronicles the lives (and usually the death’s) of each of the forty-four United States Presidents starting with our nations first President George Washington, and ending with our current President Barack Obama. Each biographical sketch between the covers of this fabulous book is narrated with a concise life story of the President being discussed.

Each biographical narrative of the forty-four Presidents, highlights that Presidents life, during his time in the Oval Office. Each well written concise biography also chronicles their lives after leaving office. Some of the highlights you will be overwhelmed with fascination include some of the positive, and negative impacts each President had on the American public while in office.

Some of the features you will find nestled in this book includes the statistical data of each President when he was in office, their birth/death dates, age at death, cause of death, in most cases their final words, etc. Another tidbit I find really fascinating is an imprint of each Presidents signature which is off to the side at the beginning of their respective biographical narratives.

This book includes forty-eight pages of beautiful glossy photos of Presidential gravesites (for those who’ve died) in many cases their official libraries, and homes they grew up in. Also included in the book in Appendix A through F is even more statistical data which includes lists of cemeteries the Presidents are buried in, who died in office, length of retirement after leaving office, gravesites by state, and presidential libraries.

Finally to close. This book is a must have for your collection. If your into Presidential history, American history, grave hunting, and things of that sort. While politics is not really my forte, I was easily blown away by what I learned about our nations forty-four Presidents. Needless to say I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Book Review: Final Resting Places: Orange County’s Dead & Famous by Michael Thomas Barry

17 Wednesday Mar 2010

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Recently I purchased the book “Final Resting Places: Orange County’s Dead & Famous” by Michael Thomas Barry, a new up-and-coming author. The book, which was published in January 2010 by Schiffer Publishing, has 224 pages including the bibliography and index. MSRP for this title is $16.99.

The book features over 20 cemeteries located throughout Orange County, California. Luminaries featured in the book include but are not limited to: esteemed western actor John Wayne, former President Richard Nixon, crime victim Nicole Brown Simpson, Sublime front man Brad Nowell, and a host of early Orange County settlers, athletes, entertainment industry big shots, etc. Biographies are concise and to the point, usually lasting a paragraph or two. I personally like it that way because the author covered key topics in such a short time.

What I personally liked about the book was the attention to detail in describing the cemetery histories of various cemeteries. It was a classy touch how each biographical story gets woven into the next story in many cases. I also enjoyed the biographies on personages I’ve never heard of which included the early settlers, many celebrities from the silent era, and others. There are many things I enjoyed about the book but its just too much to add.

Finding the grave sites was made easy with mentioning curbside numbers, grave markers to find, then where go from there in relation to how many markers or rows away the next grave was located.

Book Review: LA’s Graveside Companion Where The V.I.P’s R.I.P.

06 Saturday Jun 2009

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Well its been a while since I’ve written anything on the blog. I thought it would be fitting to write a review on a splendid grave hunting book I just finished reading. About two months ago I ordered the book “LA’s Graveside Companion: Where the V.I.P’s  R.I.P.” by Steve Goldstein who is a grave hunting buddy of mine.

LA’s Graveside Companion was published in March of this year (2009). There are 191 pages on high quality glossy paper. The suggested retail price is $19.99. Each page includes several photos with 270 photos spread throughout the book. There are 17 chapters on various cemeteries with 400 celebrities resting in eternal bliss mentioned on the pages of each chapter. The cemeteries mentioned include but are not limited to Hollywood Forever, Westwood Memorial Park, Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, San Fernando Mission, & Mount Sinai. There are a few other chapters on such topics as grave hunting in general, interviews with grave hunters (I thought this chapter was interesting), just plain dead which include your typical run of the mill grave sites with a humorous twist.

The thing I enjoyed about LA’s Graveside Companion is that Steve takes you on your own personal tour. Discussing the celebrities in the book as if he is walking along next to you, mentioning various things about that person’s life, the films they were in, and other interesting tidbits. One of the nice things about the book is that he gives you detailed instructions on how to find the celebrities grave sites via walking.

The only thing I didn’t like about LA’s Graveside Companion is the shape of the book with it being in some what of a rectangle shape. Other than that its a well researched enjoyable read. Not to mention full of nicely detailed photos, great information, a down to earth way of explaining things. If you happen to live in the LA area you can find Steve signing copies of his new book “LA’s Graveside Companion Where The V.I.P’s R.I.P.” at various local bookstores, and libraries, just check the dates and times he is available. Or if your like me and live 2000+ miles away from LA on the other side of the United States you can send him your book to sign for you.

Stairway To Heaven: The Final Resting Places of Rock’s Legends

15 Sunday Feb 2009

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The book , is the third book I recently ordered. Written in 2005 and authored by J.D. Reed, and Maddy Miller the book has 160 pages, and clear color photos.

The book features many of rocks legends, covering such genres as Rock, R&B, Country, Rap, etc… Some musicians featured in the book include Keith Moon, Shannon Hoon, Ray Charles, David Ruffian, The New York Dolls, Jerry Garcia, The Ramones, Florence Ballard, and a host of many other musicians and artists…

One of the nice features along with interesting stories on the various artists is the large color photos of the grave sites not to mention smaller photos depicting the musician… The only thing I don’t like about the book is the shape of it… The book is some what of a rectangle shape which is kind of odd shape for a book but none the less its a very interesting read and the color photos do make up for it…

If your interested in various styles of music… And wish to check out photos of your favorite musicians grave site I highly suggest this book… But the greatest way to pay homage to them is to trek to their final resting place… If that is not a possibility looking at photos is the next best thing…

The Stars of Hollywood Forever: A Who’s Who Guide of Hollywood’s Final Resting Place

10 Tuesday Feb 2009

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Updated

I recently ordered this book from the lulu website which you can check out by clicking here… The book has some great information pertaining to the birth and death dates with city/state, and/or country of birth and death, mentions the location with section and plot numbers noted, gives a general number of the movies the celebrity starred in with a select few movies mentioned with years of production noted, along with some other great info… The book has 239 pages not including the bibliography, and the list of celebrities mentioned throughout the book who are buried in other cemeteries… The book is in an encyclopedic format starting with celebrities with the last name starting with A and last names starting with Z… This book is great to have, I firmly believe you will not be disappointed with the purchase and to boot Tony will send you a FREE insert supplement of pictures in yearbook form of the celebrities buried in Hollywood Forever…

Over all this book is a very well researched I can tell the author Tony L. Scott put a huge amount of research, and countless hours in the cemetery tracking down the gravesites… I’m very pleased to include this book in my growing grave hunting library… I highly recommend this book if you have a passion or interest in checking out the gravesites of the stars buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery or have the desire to add to your grave hunting library… The only downside about this book is that it does not include gravesite photos… Being that it would probably cost more to publish the book with photos its understandable to leave out the gravesite photos… But as mentioned he does send you a free insert supplement of pictures of the celebrities buried in the cemetery so its nice to put a face with the vast amount of names in the book without searching all over the internet…

Overall its well worth the $30.00 purchase for the paperback edition or the $18.00 purchase for a downloaded copy I personally reccommend the paperback edition… To close Tony is a joy to correspond with I can tell he knows his stuff about this cemetery… Hell, he mentioned to me the next time I make it out to LA to get in touch with him to go graving…