A poet and longtime aficionado of Baja California with an irrepressible sense of humor, Bruce Berger combines anecdote, history and research to bring the deserts, towns and personalities of Lower California to life. Her chronicle of thirty years of exploration and change in Baja California, recounting natural and human history, the madness of a total eclipse, bedlam in a nunnery, the animals that surround a salt company, a governor who celebrates Earth Day by serving endangered species, and the search for a musical Mata Hari.  (BJA15, $17.95)