Specialized Books

The instructions in this book are simple, the writing is easy to read and it introduces us to exotic plants we may never have thought of growing. Good planting instructions and suggestions on where to purchase seeds help the home gardener immensely. I can't wait to try them all!

I have read hundreds of gardening books by hundreds of experts who know little about teaching - this author not only understands her subjects and her biology, she know how to teach it because she understands WHY her students want and need to know this information. She teaches, not only how to germinate these seeds of fruits, but why they germinate and how they grow. She teaches the promise that every seed will live a happy and fruitfull life with the promise of its own progeny. That is happy gardening and the joy and confidence of growing something beautiful from "the pits". I am giving a copy of this book to every budding gardener I know. Thank you and kudos to the author.

You've come from the suburbs and liked the gardens and thought about a nice hoseplant for your city apartment window, but budget is limited and they cost so much at the florist and you don't know what will grow...here is the answer. From what would otherwise would be kitchen waste,you can have wonderful plants. This book will give you all the information you need to be successful at almost no cost. Should you get inspired to learn more along the way, the book will keep on being rewarding. The only possible problem is you may soon want a bigger apartment with more windows.

You can't recycle organics, only paper, plastic, and glass -- or can you? "Don't Throw It, Grow It! 68 Windowsill Plants from Kitchen Scraps" is a novel but effective guide to turning ordinary household organic garbage into a thriving personal garden. "Don't Throw It, Grow It!" promotes the ability to take the remains of countless vegetables and nuts such as almonds, celery, kiwis, squash, and others, plant them, and grow them once more into food. The veggies can then be consumed again, repeating the cycle anew. A conservationist's manual of efficiency, "Don't Throw It, Grow It!" is highly recommended for community library gardening collections.

While it's not really a cooking book, this little gem (6 ¼" x 7 ½") is a great resource for anyone--most especially teachers--who want to introduce the world of sprouting seeds and growing them to mature plants to their students. It was originally published as The Don't Throw It, Grow It Book of Houseplants (Random House, 1977), and with the Storey Touch it comes alive. As you read through the directions for each kind of seed and how best to grow it, it's likely you will think of Lois Ehlert's Growing Vegetable Soup as a likely source of seeds to grow and a read-aloud to start with. In addition to the obvious plants a classroom could grow using the author's simple "sphagnum bag" (a zip lock bag with sphagnum moss) method there are simple, encouraging directions for more exotic challenges like mango, ginger, papaya, avocado and persimmon. Why grow just beans when you can get your kids watching sesame seeds, mustard seeds and lentils? I didn't even know peanuts could be sprouted, or that pomegranates actually would grow inside the house. Among the projects to encourage hopeful botany projects you'll find sugar cane, taro, water chestnuts and jicama. Whoda thunkit? The directions are simple and include botanical name, plant type (Annual, perennial, bush, vine, bulb, tuber) and whether it's a quick growth prospect or not, whether you can grow it from seed (almost all of them), and how much light is required. What it looks like is an important section ab out what it grows up to be, but unfortunately, the illustrations are only simple line drawings. The projects that are truly easy have a little 'easy' label. Each seed has a sidebar telling its country of origin, and a small text section on eating it or cooking with it. The introductory text tells how the authors (both New Yorkers) would prowl around ethnic food stores back in the "old days" even before even the invention of the local mega-mart, looking for exotic new possibilities in the food aisles of small groceries. The Pits (an organization of pit-growers and pit-savers of which Deborah Peterson is the founder, newsletter editor and tireless missionary mother) also known as the Rare Pit and Plant Council is acknowledged at the end of the book, which I found reassuring because they did a delightful calendar a couple of years back with detailed instructions on sprouting pits of the most exotic types, to encourage even a black-thumb like me to partake of the magic of seeds and growth. Like the book says on the cover, "It's kitchen magic!" Share that magic with your students.

This is a very helpful book listing plants that deer prefer not to eat. Of course, there are no guarantees but the listings, plant descriptions and index should help just about everyone living in deer country.

Excellent resource for those of us who live in "deer country". No more half-eaten landscaping.

Gardening in Deer Country is a life savior. I was so frustrated with planning and planting my garden only to have it destroyed by the native deer. Now I have a way to live in peace and enjoy nature; I am guided to plants that are unappetizing to the deer yet pleasing to me. Thank goodness for the book of the season.

A major portion of Gardening in Deer Country is devoted to providing descriptions of deer resistant plants and their growing requirements. The novice gardener will find these descriptions extremely helpful. However, color pictures of the plants would be immensely helpful. The one thing I find annoying about this book is it defines the probability a plant may be eaten by deer as: Rarely, Seldom, Occasionally, Frequently or Absolutely NOT. I question the legitimacy of such detailed breakdowns, as deer are very similar to people regarding food. First, both people and deer have regional food preferences (e.g., Italian food verses Chinese). Deer in my neighborhood may love the same plant that deer in your neighborhood hate. Second, individual deer, like humans, have their own preferences. For example, I love garlic but my mother hates it. As such, it would be much more accurate and useful if the author categorized plants into one of three groups: Rarely, Occasionally and Frequently. This would also help eliminate discussions between confused gardeners and garden center staff trying to quantify the difference between rarely, seldom and, occasionally.

This book is the perfect companion to Deer Proofing Your Yard & Garden, by Rhonda Massingham Hart. The one area where Deer Proofing Your Yard & Garden is weak, plant descriptions, is the area where Gardening in Deer Country excels.

It is said; `All that glitters is not gold.' And while this is true, also keep in mind; `All that is green is edible.' Well, at least to something out there.

So when all of us urban gorillas, myself included, decide to forsake civilization in pursuit of the simple life, keep the former two adages in mind. Because to our four legged friends, all that is green is definitely edible to them. Fleeing the cities in throngs and invading the sub-urban country, we fail to keep in mind that we are the interlopers. Not the other way around. The animals definitely have the advantage.

However, our station, and an ecologically balanced existence, is not without hope. By reading "Gardening in Deer Country", you can level the playing field. The author provides an in-depth, tongue in cheek survival guide. He outlines this unfamiliar environment, provides a thorough description of its inhabitants, together with their strengths and weaknesses, as well as a comprehensive guide to actually enjoy ourselves while sleeping with the enemy.

Before you tell society to take its stiflingly crowded, single minded myopic existence and shove it, read this book. Follow it explicitly. Then go out and purchase as many bug zappers as possible and wait for the invasion.

There seems to be no end to the great stories that Mr. Hospital spins. In this, her fifth book, a young woman named Charade Ryan from the Australian rainforest travels to Canada, then to Boston in search of her English father Nicholas Truman. Her earthy mother, Bea Ryan, mother of ten children by as many men, at first offers little help in this young woman's quest as she advises her daughter to "let sleeping dogs lie." But as we have come to expect by now, in Ms. Hospital's stories things are seldom as they seem.

This writer's trademarks are all here: (1) the many references to other literary works and quotations from other writers: Captain Cook, Robert Oppenheimer, Primo Levi, Jorge Luis Borges, Claudine Vegh's I DIDN'T SAY GOODBYE: INTERVIEWS WITH CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST and finally THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT-- it becomes apparent that Charade is a modern day Scheherazade as she tells parts of her story night after night to the older MIT physics professor Koenig in an effort to make their affair last. (2) As always, Ms. Hospital writes about serious subjects: memory-- that the process of recollection is imperfect at best-- the Holocaust, a child's continuing effort to know her parents. (3) Of course, this author teases us with her prose-- "What quantumleaped me?"-- and (4) makes profound statements about relationships: ". . . a marriage has begun to end long before one partner moves out." "On the other hand. . . a marriage certainly does not end with the final decree of the divorce." And finally: "It is impossible to live with someone who is deeply and dangerously unhappy. And it is even harder to leave. . ."

This novel is at once cerebral but also deeply emotional. You won't be able to put it down.

This book, as does most of her stuff, will turn your world view upside down. Do you feel secure in what you believe? How do you know? Like taking LSD in book form. Read 'Borderline', 'The Last Magician', 'Tiger in the Tiger Pit', for a similar experience. Janette - e-mail me

As is usually the case with Hospital, you start out slow and even a bit bored - but continue on and soon you find yourself saying "wow" at both the plot and the prose. "Spellbinding" is frequently used for alot of fiction in general, - for Hospital it fits. This is one you will sit down and read again as if taking a trip to a private magical place

If you want a trip to where the arcane world of new physics meets the tropical wonderland of northern Australia, Janette Hospital Turner will take you there. Her Australian character is in search of her father at a university in the United States and spins in and out of a professor's life like an electron knocked out of its orbit. The story also takes you into her past, and her family's past, to a dead man in the woods who she befriends, to rural Australia with all its toughness and lushness. A book to be savoured, not least for its kick-in-the-pants twist at the end.

Superb book. Guenon is a truly profound thinker and well-versed in spiritual philosophy. His philosophical exposition is subtle and masterly, drawing on a wide variety of knowledge and a real understanding of the trials of the mystical life.

This book discusses, in the first few essays, the nature, source and purpose of mystical symbolism in general. The rest of the book tackles many of the symbols of the Western tradition. Each symbol has its own short essay, previously published in journals, and every essay gives much food for contemplation. Guenon doesn't expound a personal philosophy so much as draw together a scholarly summary of the world's esoteric teachings and fill it with his penetrating insight. His approach shows a deep understanding of Neo-Platonist tradition. A fascinating and valuable book - not the easiest of reads, but certainly not dry or merely intellectual, and the shortness of the essays makes them digestible.

This book is a magnificent recompilation of studies of René Guénon about symbolism, accomplished with extreme dedication by his follower Michel Vâlsan, published originally in 1962, by Gallimard, in France. - But, actually, what is a symbol? - According to the tradition, the symbols make the intermediation between the spiritual world and the manifested world, where we are at present. It can be inferred then the transcendental role that the symbols represent for all the traditional forms without exception, from the Hinduism to Islam, including the Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and all the other authentic doctrines. It is important to mark that the work is not destined exclusively to studious or academics, but to all that have interest on the subject. Guénon demonstrates great domain and mastery, without being obscure or impenetrable. These are nothing less than 75 chapters distributed in 8 thematic parts, embracing a wide approach that contemplates several traditional aspects of practically all the religions and doctrines today existent. René Guénon in tells us of the symbols of " The Center and of the World ", in the ancient traditions (like Druids, for instance), dedicating to this theme 10 studies, among them, "The symbolic flowers", "The Guardians of the Holy Land", "The Zodiac and the cardinal points", and "The letter G and the swastika". Another general theme is the construtive symbolism, with 11 specific studies, among them "Lapsit exillis", "Black Stone and cubic stone", "The dome and the wheel", "The narrow door". About the axial symbolism, we have "The tree of the world", "The symbolism of the stairway", "The passage of the waters"; about the symbolism of the heart, we have "The heart and the brain", "The eye that sees everything" and much more. "Fundamental Symbols: the Universal Language of Sacred Science" is a very important and indispensable book to anyone who has true interest for this subject, of capital importance for all the religions and doctrines. Luiz Pontual IRGET

Este livro é uma magnífica recompilação de estudos de René Guénon sobre simbolismo, realizada com extrema dedicação por seu seguidor Michel Vâlsan, publicada originalmente em 1962, pela Gallimard, na França. - Mas, afinal, o que é um símbolo ? - Segundo a tradição, os símbolos fazem a intermediação entre o mundo espiritual e o mundo manifestado, onde nos encontramos presentemente. Pode-se depreender, por isso, a importância verdadeiramente transcendental que os símbolos representam para todas as formas tradicionais sem exceção, desde o Hinduísmo até o Islã, passando pelo Budismo, Taoísmo, Judaísmo, Cristianismo e todas as demais doutrinas autênticas. É importante assinalar que a obra não se destina exclusivamente a estudiosos ou acadêmicos, mas a todos que tenham interesse sobre o assunto. Guénon demonstra grande domínio e maestria, sem ser obscuro ou impenetrável, muito pelo contrário. Ao todo, são nada menos que 75 estudos/capítulos distribuídos em 8 partes/temas, abrangendo um amplo leque que contempla vários aspectos tradicionais de praticamente todas as religiões e doutrinas hoje existentes. René Guénon nos fala dos símbolos de "Centro e do Mundo", nas tradições antigas ( como os Druídas, por exemplo ), dedicando a este tema 10 estudos, entre eles, "As flores simbólicas", "Os Guardiães da Terra Santa", "O Zodíaco e os pontos cardeais", e "A letra G e a swastika". Outro tema geral abordado é o "Simbolismo Construtivo", com 11 estudos específicos, entre eles "Lapsit exillis", "Pedra negra e pedra cúbica", "Pedra bruta e pedra talhada", "O domo e a roda", "A porta estreita" e outros. Sobre o simbolismo axial, temos "A árvore do mundo", "O simbolismo da escada, " A passagem das águas", "Laços e nós"; sobre o simbolismo do coração, temos "O coração e o cérebro", "O olho que tudo vê" e outros. O Instituto René Guénon de Estudos Tradicionais há vários anos vem lecionando sobre temas tradicionais, e seu curso básico "Olhar Oriental", assim como os demais, são inteiramente fundamentados sobre a obra magistral de René Guénon. "Símbolos Fundamentais da Ciência Sagrada" é um livro importantíssimo e indispensável a quem tem verdadeiro interesse pelo assunto, de importância capital para todas as religiões e doutrinas.

LUIZ PONUAL IRGET

Este livro é uma magnífica recompilação de estudos de René Guénon sobre simbolismo, realizada com extrema dedicação por seu seguidor Michel Vâlsan, publicada originalmente em 1962, pela Gallimard, na França. - Mas, afinal, o que é um símbolo ? - Segundo a tradição, os símbolos fazem a intermediação entre o mundo espiritual e o mundo manifestado, onde nos encontramos presentemente. Pode-se depreender, por isso, a importância verdadeiramente transcendental que os símbolos representam para todas as formas tradicionais sem exceção, desde o Hinduísmo até o Islã, passando pelo Budismo, Taoísmo, Judaísmo, Cristianismo e todas as demais doutrinas autênticas. É importante assinalar que a obra não se destina exclusivamente a estudiosos ou acadêmicos, mas a todos que tenham interesse sobre o assunto. Guénon demonstra grande domínio e maestria, sem ser obscuro ou impenetrável, muito pelo contrário. Ao todo, são nada menos que 75 estudos/capítulos distribuídos em 8 partes/temas, abrangendo um amplo leque que contempla vários aspectos tradicionais de praticamente todas as religiões e doutrinas hoje existentes. René Guénon nos fala dos símbolos de "Centro e do Mundo", nas tradições antigas ( como os Druídas, por exemplo ), dedicando a este tema 10 estudos, entre eles, "As flores simbólicas", "Os Guardiães da Terra Santa", "O Zodíaco e os pontos cardeais", e "A letra G e a swastika". Outro tema geral abordado é o "Simbolismo Construtivo", com 11 estudos específicos, entre eles "Lapsit exillis", "Pedra negra e pedra cúbica", "Pedra bruta e pedra talhada", "O domo e a roda", "A porta estreita" e outros. Sobre o simbolismo axial, temos "A árvore do mundo", "O simbolismo da escada, " A passagem das águas", "Laços e nós"; sobre o simbolismo do coração, temos "O coração e o cérebro", "O olho que tudo vê" e outros. O Instituto René Guénon de Estudos Tradicionais há vários anos vem lecionando sobre temas tradicionais, e seu curso básico "Olhar Oriental", assim como os demais, são inteiramente fundamentados sobre a obra magistral de René Guénon. "Símbolos Fundamentais da Ciência Sagrada" é um livro importantíssimo e indispensável a quem tem verdadeiro interesse pelo assunto, de importância capital para todas as religiões e doutrinas. LUIZ PONUAL IRGET

Hobby gardeners: if you intend to do a lot of tree-plants-shrubs purchases for your garden, then consider buying this book; it's great for what the title says!

An excellent text, written with passages about the width of some garden rows wide enough for work horses. Tt is written for the self reliant gardener, with recipes for grafting wax, and descriptions of tools used in grafting. Only one short fall, it is written for seasons and weather in england, and has limited information on specific plants. A book that always will be close at hand.

Aimed at the serious amateur or professional. Covers a broad range of grafting techniques and issues. As a person who taught myself grafting by reading books, I found this book to contain a lot of useful information and be interesting to read.

Just what a beginner would need to start in the esoteric field of grafting. Short on specific advice for types of trees, which would take a much longer work

I received this book as a gift several years ago and I look at it for information and ideas every year. I have two other kitchen garden books but this one is the best. It is a gorgeous book full color with fantastic photos and ideas for every kind of space including tiny city balconies (perhaps the previous reviewer missed this chapter). Most importantly I have created some fantastic vegetable gardens using some of the ideas in this book over the years. My neighbors come over and take pictures.

I ordered this book from the library and after reading it, felt this was one I simply had to buy. Out of the seven "kitchen garden" books I've read or browsed recently, this one not only inspires with photos and drawings, but also provides extensive information on the variety of vegetables available today by seed and how to grow and harvest them. Then it goes one step further and provides suggestions on how to prepare them. As a seasoned flower gardener just now dipping my toes into the world of vegetable gardening, I found this particular book does the best job of guiding the new kitchen gardener from start (planning the garden) to finish (eating your results).

The pictures and information in this book are gorgeous & informative. The only issue I had was that though vegetable gardens are meant to be useful & practical, in many instances the attractive aspects of her gardens neccessitated the plants going to seed, therefore becoming inedible. The gardens were also often quite larger than the average person might want to manage; but I enjoyed dreaming about having the energy & space to implement her designs.

This is my favorite gardening book. I put in a vegetable garden this year and THIS book was the basis of my handiwork. Beauty and bountiful harvests are the result of hard work. This book was an inspiration for me.

This is an excellent guide for anybody who wants to learn HTML. Lemay does a wonderful job of thouroughly explaining every tag in HTML 3.2. The book does really live up to it's name, within a week I was comfortably writing web pages with links, images, tables, and frames. I highly reccomend this book.

The title of this book says it all--you CAN teach yourself HTML in a week using Ms. Lemay's step-by-step process. She begins with basics that any computer-literate user can apply, and she progresses through everything an HTML novice needs to know to construct a well-thought-out web site! My first pass through her tutorial took me a little less than a week, and now I keep this book beside me while putting my sites together. I was a COMPLETE HTML NEWBIE when I picked up this book...one month later I'm designing web pages as a sideline! That alone should make you read this book!

This book is divided into days, each day incorporating two chapters. Day one explains what a web page is, how to access it, the different types of layout for your web pages, and gives you information about the different types of browsers. By the end of day one you should have an idea of what you want on your web page and how you want it organized. Day two explains some of the basic HTML tags and also explains the anchor tag for creating links. Day three teaches you about lists, other formatting tags such as bold type and explains about HTML editors. Day four teaches you about Netscape and Internet explorer extensions and how to create tables. Day five teaches you about using images, sound and video in your web documents. Day six explains the Do's and Don'ts when creating web documents and gives you some examples of what type of information you may want to include on your web pages. Day seven helps explain how to find a web server and what it does, how to test your pages and advertise your site. You will also learn about what cgi scripts are and when to use them. This book also includes a bonus day. On the bonus day you will learn about forms and image maps along with what is to come in HTML 3.0. This book is a good starting place for someone who wants to learn to write web pages quickly and with good style and all the extras.

This book is very well planned out and is well illustrated, insightful and good for beginners to intermediate HTMLers. Laura Lemay helps you learn, discover and explore HTML. Anyone at all can learn HTML with this book. It covers HTML 3.0, HTML 2.0, Netscape and CGI in a single bound. Terfific book Laura, it helped me immensely.

Excellent book. Learned much. Plan to expand my traditional orchard. Will keep on my reference shelf.

I've gleaned much useful information from this easily read item.

The how-to illustrations are clear and should be easily understood both by old-timers like myself and novices in the greatest hobby known to mankind, HOME GARDENING.

This is a very well written book. There are 23 chapters, each devoted to a single fruit or berry -- all of which are considered "lesser known" to at least the American gardening culture. The chapters all contain a lot of information on lore, characteristics, planting, culture, propogation, and harvest.

What is missing are: listings of particular cultivars that do well in certain regions of the country, certain microclimates, etc. Further, little attention is paid to climate in general with the exception of a few references to USDA zones.

Still, I recommend this book to you with the caution: find out (from a grower or a high-quality nursery in your area) which cultivars are known to work in your area. Consider a line drawn from Monterey CA to Jacksonville FL. For those living above this line, the only real concern is which varieties taste better. For those living below this line, you have the additional question of which varieties will bear fruit and actually survive.

Lee Reich has complied a wonderful, detailed listing of "the fruits less planted". His style is very readable and the photos and illustrations compliment the written material very well. Detailed information on plant descriptions, cultivation, propagation and recommended cultivars. His vivid plant descriptions are enough to make your mouth water, and he has purposely focused on fruits that are relatively low maintenance and disease free. Plants also vary in size, so there are options for those who use containers to those who have room for full grown trees. I enjoyed the book very much, and look forward to adding many of these plants to our homestead.

If you like gardening - and winters make you sad - I think you will love this book. This is the perfect book for anyone who is a bit intimidated by season extension or has had difficulty with prior attempts and has been disheartened. I have had the book for three weeks out of the library and I have to buy it. It's just that good!

The author goes into great detail on how to make an attempt at extending your growing season without this attempt costing you much money or time. The experience he shares through this book ensures success! He tells what ideas are impractical, and why, and gives plentiful advise on how to get the materials you need for the process for free or on the cheep. My favorite is this hint: volunteer to help change the covering on a commercial greenhouse. Nurseries take the plastic off a year before what is recommended and you can take a lot of quality surplus home for free if you just ask!

And guess what? I took this book out from the library just before winter hit and I am proud to say that with the advice contained there in, I now, in January on a 15 degree day, have three red romaine lettuces, escarole and coriander growing happily - with no heat needed - with materials I already had around. It cost me nothing.

I will definitely be building additional winter gardening contraptions once the ground thaws again, with this book as my guide. Happy gardening!

This book has a wealth of wonderful ideas for the serious gardener who wants to extend her/his season. Although I do not intend to go to the lengths that the author does, I have gleened numerous ideas, many of which I have already put to use in the short time I have owned the book. If you are serious about extending your season, this is the book to buy!!

I love this book, and will refer to it often.
Mr. Ashton has provided the reader with clear photos and excellent instructions for a large variety of season extenders. He also explains WHY he prefers certain materials over others.
Reading this book, written by someone more experienced will be a big help to those of us just starting out.
I can't wait to get started!

Advanced Home Gardening: Cutting-Edge Growing Techniques For Gardeners is expert gardener and gardening instructor Miranda Smith is a beautifully presented and informative gardening guide enhanced with over 800 color photographs and illustrations. Featuring detailed instructions about growing flowers, vegetables, herbs, fruits, and just about anything one desires using expert means of raising the healthiest plants and coaxing the highest yield, Advanced Home Gardening is a solid, practical, "user friendly" reference covering everything from plant pests and hardiness zones to exposure requirements, blooming seasons, and propagation information. A first-class guide for the serious-minded home gardener, Advanced Home Gardening is enthusiastically recommended for personal and community library gardening reference collections.

Advanced Home Gardening: Cutting-Edge Growing Techniques For Gardeners is expert gardener and gardening instructor Miranda Smith is a beautifully presented and informative gardening guide enhanced with over 800 color photographs and illustrations. Featuring detailed instructions about growing flowers, vegetables, herbs, fruits, and just about anything one desires using expert means of raising the healthiest plants and coaxing the highest yield, Advanced Home Gardening is a solid, practical, "user friendly" reference covering everything from plant pests and hardiness zones to exposure requirements, blooming seasons, and propagation information. A first-class guide for the serious-minded home gardener, Advanced Home Gardening is enthusiastically recommended for personal and community library gardening reference collections.

This book is helpful to not only sophisticated gardeners, but also beginners like myself! I have a better understanding of what to plant and where, and what to do to make the best out of my garden. Superb!