Every time I flew Aloha (and I ALWAYS flew Aloha, may it rest in peace), I'd dig out the in-flight magazine, Spirit of Aloha, something I don't usually bother to do, and see what my freelance friends were writing about. One feature I'd always save for last, a kind of bittersweet dessert.

Sweet, because the reading was always good. Bitter because, as a feature writer in the same community, I often wished I'd gotten to the story first.

The writer was Jocelyn Fujii and the feature was the monthly profile of exceptional Islanders — many of whom didn't consider themselves exceptional, wherein lay a great deal of the charm.

In this well-designed book, Fujii has collected 130 of those profiles written over the course of 23 years. Poignant to see in Brett Uprichard's photographs many characters and businesses that are gone now — Annette Nahinu of La Mariana Restaurant & Bar on Sand Island, Ooka's Store on Maui, Ono Loa Hawaiian Food on O'ahu, Ka Iwi activist and photographer Al Benedict of O'ahu, Strawberry Connection gourmet shop on O'ahu, Helen Chock of Helena's Hawaiian Food in Kalihi. Lovely to read and reminisce.

Another feature that many enjoyed in the Aloha magazine were the recipes contributed by Aloha employees. I was always leaving the plane with a ripped-out recipe stuffed in my purse or, guiltier still, with the whole magazine in my briefcase. Jocelyn has scattered a few of these through the book, I was halfway to cutting out the crab tofu cakes when I remembered I own the book.

"The canoe ride is pleasant when the paddler is skilled," goes the old Hawaiian adage. Fujii is, indeed, skilled, gifted with discernment (picking not only the right people to profile but the right, succinct quotes to use) and the ability to wrap a lot of solid information into a short, gracefully written package.

Scrambling for your carry-ons, negotiating the aisles, you felt as though you'd learned something about your community and, often, picked up some new ideas on where to shop or visit, or greater insight into problems from water conservation to the taro shortage.

As Richard Chamberlain writes in his introduction, "To embrace the soul of Hawai'i, take Jocelyn's hand and follow her into the lives of Hawai'i's greatest treasures: her people."