Studios Books

I had never heard of Eric Newby until NPR did a story on him when he passed away a few months ago. He was in his 80's, a traveler and adventurer. My husband, John Newby, is also a traveler and adventurer, so I thought this book would be a unique Christmas gift for him--who knows, maybe they're distant relatives. My husband loved the book.

Eric Newby, who has considerable credibility as an entertaining traveler, has written what seems to me to be a wonderful set of brief vignettes on some of the more important ascents in Mountaineering. Each essay provides a succinct and uplifting description, along with enough pictures to bring joyfulness if you have been there, or if you wish you had. I've climbed a few of the ones in Europe and it's kind of nice to know who went before you.

For example, the author's unique essay on Tschingel of the Alps, a brave dog who took part in the Golden Age of Mountaineering, is worth the book's price. The author documents the story well and tells it with tenderness and appreciation -- the mountains have brought gifts to others besides humans. The story will probably bring a tear to the eye of anyone who has ever seen the enjoyment a mountain hike can bring to a beloved pet.

If you like bagels 'n lox, you must own this book. It's that simple. The chefs (nay, artists) whose creations grace these pages have each found the very Platonic ideal of the dish. The book is a feast for the mind's eye -- elevating a humble food into the truly transcendent. Behold these images and salivate. Eating this dish will never -- can never -- be the same again for mortal flesh such as us.

Alan "Battman" Batt has been photographing New York City and food for over two decades. This is more a breakfast table book than a coffee table book. It is filled with various renditions of the classic bagel and lox sandwich from some of the top chefs in New York City. Each photo can be a poster or calendar, and it really makes you not only salivate, but helps you to get your creative juices flowing by presenting a classic item in a new and unexpected way. My explanations cannot due any justice to the beauty and creativity of the actual photos, which is a must purchase, but included in the book are renditions by Gabriel Kreuther (Atalier) with lox on a bed of thinly sliced cucumbers; Rachel D'Amico (nicematin) with a smoked salmon nicoise that rises as a cylinder from a bagel hole, surrounded by quail eggs and sliced olives; Anito Lo (annisa) with a salmon sashimi and wasabi; Scott Romano (kitchen22) with salmon gravlax and crisp salmon skin cut in the shape of a sliced bagel; Amanda Freitag (`cesca) with lox and mascarpone on a ciabatta, photographed in front of a wood burning oven; Nichola Type (f+b gudtfood) with a lox hotdog in a bun topped with caviar and creme fraiche; Nitzan Raz (sushi samba) with a thin foot long cahaca-cured salmon and cream cheese espuma on a spicy yucca cracker, with the salmon folded like the undulating waves of an ocean. Joseph Cacaca (changa) presents us with a tequila cured salmon on a bagel shaped baked flour tortilla; and Florian Bellanger (fauchon paris) places lox on a croissant.

Elana Didier (alain ducasse) presents small circles of lox and one rectangular slice of a poppy seeded bagel; Vinny Scotto (gonzo) uses a bruschetta with robiola; and Jake Klein's (pulse) rendition is like a still life of bagel chips, lox, and three doctor brown's sodas. Some other photos include David Pasterack (esca) with a white salmon carpaccio sans bagel; Chueng-Hue Yang (mrk's) sculpted carrot rendition; and Stephan Lewandowski (tribeca grill) has salmon on latkas with fennel compote. Dannis Fitzgerald (remi) presents several types of bagels with lox, tuna, halibut, and spinach puree; Steven Duong (nam) has sticky rice with lox, fish sauce, spices, and mung beans; Greg Brainan (jean georges) uses smoked salmon gelee; Chris Geswaldi (montrachet) uses a cream cheese emulsion with dill oil and seaweed; John's Pizza makes a lox pizza; Kirti Pant (tamarind) has salmon fillet on naan and tandoori marinade; and in one of the best photos, Dan Silverman (lever house) creates a whole salmon with head and tail filled sideways with several layers of slices of cream cheese and gravlax.

Other highlights include executions from The Fours Seasons, Petrossian Paris, The River Café (but with oysters), Le Bernardin, Ida Mae, Nobu, RM, Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, and Jacques Torres' chocolate creation that mimics lox and bagels with molded white and dark chocolate ganache and strawberry fruit leather. My favorite is either Ari Nieminen (café des artistes) with his layers of lox displayed on the naked body of Ms. Jaeme Griffin, or Wayne Nish (march) with the classic bagel and lox deli style sandwich. But I am sure you will find others as find your faves in this creatively executed book.

Wayne Kinsey's books on Hammer Films (The Bray Studios Years and The Elstree Studios Years) together form the essential reference on the short-lived British studio that brought us the greatest horror films of the 60's and 70's. The books are well-researched and packed with behind-the-scenes stories and photos. If you love Hammer, you need to own these books.

I was under the impression that the first volume, Hammer Films: The Bray Studios Years, was out of print, because I had tried ordering it from several online dealers that were unable to get the title. However, Amazon's sellers just delivered a new copy to my doorstep recently. Snatch up these books while you can!

This follow up volume to author Wayne Kinsey's HAMMER FILMS: THE BRAY STUDIO YEARS is ever better than its predecessor. An affectionate and informative history of the great British horror film studio, the book is filled with a myriad of new facts and photos. I can't recommend it highly enough. I have just about every book written on Hammer is this is certainly one of the best.

I have two boys ages 8 and 4. At first they didn't seem that interested, but soon were laughing! My oldest son is struggling in school right now, and I thought these books would be a fun way to let him know that he is not the only one. It's perfect for this! Hank Zipzer easily points out all his acadamic flaws but is very creative in how he works around these issues. I can hear it now... "What would Hank do?" I'm looking forward to all the other books in the series. Thank you Henry Winkler for bringing laughter to what can be a very fustrating time in a childs life. And helping the parents and teachers see it from their point of view. This is a great book for all Elem. kids!

Hank Zipzer has more than his share of problems but these tapes will delight kids in the carpool or kids and grownups trapped together in t he car. Everybody will get a few laughs, and feel like they met a real live kid they'd all like to hang out with. Great listening for ALL ages.

I always wanted a crash course on wine that didn't require endless hours of
studying while leaving me with an empty bank account. Courtney's book is
beautifully written, easy to read, memorable, and most importantly
informative. If it worked for me, it can work for anyone!

Oeno-What? Don't worry, Courtney Cochran makes wine easy. She incorporates simple tips that give you that "A-Ha!" moment, over and over again. Cochran is the consummate hip sommelier, and HIP TASTES, the perfect companion. She's not afraid to go outside of the traditional, often safe, varietals and suggest delicious wines a little off the beaten path. Her tips aren't just tips, they are rules to live buy if you're serious - or not - about a good Aglianico. HIP TASTES is the pocket guide to wine success!

- Danny DiVella, Manager & Sommelier - Michael's NY

For the person like me who is planning on building a small studio, this is the book with the most information.
It covers everything you need to know from the first step to the last.
It also gives you money saving tips on how to build rather than buy.
My best investment yet!

This book was a great help to me when I was thinking about starting a recording studio in my home. I wasn't sure quite where to start, but this book has in-depth articles that were written specifically for people in my situation. It contains everything from setup and conditioning to gear and monitors to mixing a final cut. It was a great book that was easy to understand, but not "dumbed down" in the way it conveyed the ideas. This book is a must have for anyone who is looking to start a home recording studio.

As someone who's lived in Provence and visited the Camargue on several occaisions, I can honestly say this is an awesome book. You get a better sense of the horses from the book than from an actual visit. The few times I saw the horses in person was from a great distance as they are so shy around people. I was able to see them in all their majestic glory much better in the book. The photographer spent many months gaining the horses trust and so was able to blend into the background and get shots few people, if any, can. For those who don't know, the Camrague horses are to southern France what the Mustangs are to the western US. If you love horses, great photography, great scenery with a dose of local history/culture then this book is for you. It is definately worth the price and makes a great coffee table book.

Horses of the Camargue is by far the best book of horse photographs I have ever seen.

So why is it out of print? (Had no trouble getting one though.) This book is based on a series of magazine articles for Old Home Journal, so the style is informal. The carefully chosen color pictures set it apart from its competition, A Field Guide to American Houses, by the other husband and wife team. But mostly it's the authors' ability to explain in simple language the events that caused the rise and fall of the various styles: the switch to stud framing, the widely circulated pattern books, the Arts and Craft movement, World War I and the various European styles brought home by the soldiers, etc.

House Styles in America is a well constructed collection of american houses dating back to the old Ironworks houses, Like the Turner house and Bacons Castle,but this book also contains modern houses, like Phillip Johnson's glass house. This book is a great addition to anyones growing architecture library.

I can get all the info I need on equipment from magazines, but this book explains how to put it together professionally. Some of it is hard going, but the results I'm going to get will be worth it.

This book gave me an understanding of how to use specified pieces of gear to get professional results. It was a great guide for me to learn just about anything there is to know about how the home studio should be set up.

this book is really good, the author, arlene ferguson came to talk to us about it and she showed us a real junkanoo hat and everything. the pictures are really interesting and the history is brilliant (a word she used)!!

This book is a "true-true" part of Bahamian history. Very few books have been written about the history of this cultural festival and this one is phenomenal. Nash-Ferguson gives a first person account of the entire process and history of the festival and the reader truly feels a part of the experience. The graphics and layout of this book are also wonderful - from the scene displayed through a piece of ripped cardboard on the cover to the shots of the costumes throughout it is easy to see why Junkanoo is considered true Bahamian culture by many.