Mark Lamonica

The bestselling book about the Los Angeles River, originally published in 2001, is updated with an Afterword that includes the Los Angeles County 2021 Master Plan to improve the quality of life and ecosystem health in the region--all centered at the original source, the Los Angeles River. RIO-LA: Tales from the Los Angeles River 20th Anniversary Edition traces the history and lore of the Los Angeles River. When the book was first published in 2001, few people even regarded the river, but because of Morrison's devotion to the topic, LA River has been rediscovered. The river has become the center of the county's 2021 MasterPlan to reestablish it as the heart of the city, its lifeline to all things positive: an antidote to homelessness; a source of increased affordable housing; new jobs, good health; serenity. Morrison traces this rediscovery in her extensive new Afterword, following pages of river history, dating back to before the founding of the pueblo called Los Angeles. Together Morrison and Lamonica explore the river and the culture that evolves around this virtual oasis in a land of super highways and celluloid dreams.

Whacking Buddha is a unique comparison of the works of William Shakespeare and the world of Buddhism. This book takes you on a journey through Shakespeare's work and the Buddha's teachings, opening your mind to the philosophies within. Whacking Buddha is spiritual-literary dynamite. -Jon Winokur, author of Zen to Go Does Will Shakespeare have a Buddha nature? Mark Lamonica makes an intriguing case in Whacking Buddha, a fascinating journey into Elizabethan dharma. Delightful, surprising, and smart. -Dinty W. Moore, author of The Accidental Buddhist Shakespeare and Buddha-who knew? But Shakespeare, who gave us " the mind's eye" and Buddha of the third eye have much to say to one another. The dialogue between the Bard and the Buddha is rich, and Mark Lamonica has opened it up for us in a wild disorderly way, for our pleasure and instruction. -Rodger Kamenetz, author of The Jew in the Lotus Whacking Buddha is full of thought provoking ideas. Mark Lamonica has surpassed his previous books in this well researched and carefully woven tapestry. -Dr. Bruce Goldberg, author of Past Lives, Future Lives Revealed Whacking Buddha challenges our assumptions about Shakespeare-and by extension, Western culture. Mark Lamonica's theory that Shakespeare was the reincarnation of Buddha, seems at first preposterous, then plausible, and by the end of the book, almost inevitable. Like a master illusionist, he turns the Buddha into Shakespeare and back again before our very eyes. -Norrie Epstein-author of The Friendly Shakespeare Mark Lamonica is a photographer and writer. His first book was the critically acclaimed Junkyard Dogs and William Shakespeare (1997) which was hailed as "a mark of a curious genius." His most recent book was the critically acclaimed bestseller, Rio LA. It won high praise from the Los Angeles Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Weekly, and many other publications. It was named one of the "best books of 2001" by the LA Times Book Review, and won the 2002 Southern California Booksellers Association Award for nonfiction.