Lake Washington: 130 Homes »

The author, David C. Dykstra, lives on Mercer Island waterfront and has extensively cruised, photographed and researched the lake and its waterfront estates. His previous books are "Computers For Profit," "Easy Data Computer Comparisons" and "Manager's Guide to Business Computer Terms." David earned a BS in Chemical Engineering degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1963, an MBA degree from Harvard in 1966 and a California CPA license in 1977. From 1966 to 1980 he worked in accounting, finance and administration for major companies. His last major corporate position was Executive VP and CFO for TreeSweet Products Company in California.. In 1980 he started his own computer and management consulting firm in Newport Beach, California. He wrote numerous articles and two books based on his consulting experiences. In 1994, after 25 years in Newport Beach, he came to the Pacific Northwest on a consulting job and became a California to Washington State convert. He met his wife, Susan, and they were married in 2001. She has lived on Mercer Island waterfront for thirty-five years which is where they reside. He became a cruising enthusiast on Lake Washington. During his cruises there were always discussions about the homes and who lived there. A lot of friends were knowledgeable but their information was limited and sometimes based upon secondary sources. His friends and relatives would often say, "There should be a guide book about these homes' physical statistics and history plus information regarding the present and past residents and owners." He was challenged, since he is a writer and photographer, to research the public information and produce such a book. Heaccepted this challenge. As he delved into the project he found many intriguing stories. He expanded the initial scope to offer a book in a style that has never been used and will be interesting to a wide audience.

Lake Washington 130 Homes" is A Guided Tour of The Lake's Most Magnificent Mansions with: Easy to follow maps - Photos of each home - Values and statistics - Residents' Information - The Homes Present or Past, of Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Craig McCaw, Barry Ackerley, Howard Schultz, Mike Holmgren, Detlef Schrempf, Rashard Lewis + 100 more multimillionaires. Glacially carved Lake Washington is the most beautiful large lake in the center of a major metropolitan area. Billionaire row covers 15 miles of Lake Washington's eastside waterfront with Microsoft billionaires at each end and in the middle. Paul Allen lives at the south end on Mercer Island, Steve Ballmer lives at the northeast end in Hunts Point and Bill Gates lives in the middle in Medina. Based on Forbes' 2009 list of "The 400 Richest Americans," all of Washington state's richest of the rich live here. Unlike most tours of the stars' homes, the prime side of these mansions can be viewed from the water where they were photographed by Dykstra.
From the Mercer Island Reporter:
"Islander David Dykstra has published a truly unique book. The first of its kind, Dykstra recently completed 'Lake Washington 130 Homes,' a guide book to the lakeside mansions of the illustrious. Dykstra's guide book is not just a 'map to the stars' for Lake Washington; it's a document of history, geography and commercial industry."