Reviews Books

A fantastic book about the fastest growing area of DVD releases at the moment, TV series! With breakdowns of cast and guides to the best episodes and releases I only hope enough credit goes to the website [...] who helped TV Guide put this book together!

Fantastic resource for anyone who likes watching reruns and is interested in contemporary tv culture. There are loads of forgotten facts in this book for all the classic tv shows and new ones for current programs. This is an inheritently readable book that belongs next to everyone's tv!

The descriptions of the shows are priceless--they brought back so many memories! And the guide covers a lot of shows that are new or still running, like 24 and ER. I'm not even a serious DVD collector, but the book gives great trivia about all my favorite shows (when they aired, what the names of the original stars were, which episodes went down in TV history). This book is really a history of TV in America, and it covers so many different categories that it really does solve the gift problem for just about everyone on my Christmas list. They won't be able to read just one or two of the listings; once they start in, the trivia will have them hooked. It's organized like a reference book, but It reads like an entertainment magazine.

If you are a tv junkie like me, this book is a blast. It's a handy offline reference to all the shows now available on DVD, and it's filled with lots of trivia and lists. Be ready to shop because the book will make you want to buy even more DVDs for your home library...

This book isn't perfect (I'd rather have more pictures of DVD set covers than old TV Guide covers, for instance, and the descriptions are a bit dry in places), but it IS cool to have a handy-dandy reference like this to use when you can't get online to look up the info. Good to take to the store or keep next to the TV. And if you read the fine print, you'll see that this book was made with the help of data from TVshowsonDVD.com, which is the best place I've seen online for that sort of info. Cool 'dat, and maybe for the next edition of the book TV Guide will work more with that website's staff to talk more about what's new, what's not out (any hints as to why), and what's expected to come soon. You know, show more of the TV-DVD enthusiast in this book...there's a lot of us out here!

I have read many books on this topic, and this is the most thorough (BY FAR!!) and definitely the most interesting. It tackles the subject from a million different angles, and I couldn't breeze through it in an evening (like I can with most books).

Five stars!

I thought this book was so much fun and quite handy!

I especially thought the pop quiz section was a lot of fun. I've already played with my girlfriends. And I love the "chick flick" recommendations...I would have thought I had seen all "chick flick" films, but boy was I wrong! I better get my butt to Blockbuster....Happy renting Gals!

i think the best part about this book is that it has movies for everyone cuz usually it's just like for people who are older and stuff. why don't more books have stuff for people who aren't like a million years old and things that's why this book is cool because it has movies for people who like weren't born in the 70's. what's up? this book rocks.

Word on the street is that "The Ultimate Guide to Chick Flicks" is a worthy companion to Ms. Adelman's other critically acclaimed books. I was very pleased to have this exhaustively rearched book handy when looking for movies to add to Netflix. I will not have to suffer through another bad Ashley Judd film...thank you Kim!

What's a chick flick? If I have to explain, this book is NOT for you. Most women know intuitively what they think makes a "chick flick," but after reading this Guide, they will understand what elements make up the best chick flicks; the ones we gush to girlfriends, "You have just got to see!"

American's movie sweetheart (someone women will love as much as men do) today is Julia Roberts, with Meg Ryan and Sandra Bullock close behind. Can we think of Meg Ryan without remembering the scene in "When Sally Met Harry." We ALL wanted what she was having.

Did you join millions of women who bought a polka-dot dress after seeing a bad girl become a fashion plate in "Pretty Woman"? You get the idea. We buy into these heroines, what they wear and how they treat men (and are treated by men).

I loved these subtitles under How to Create the Perfects Romance.
1. Create a sympathetic heroine.
2. Offer up a love-worthy hero (we know, the Tom Hanks type).
3. Don't forget the best friend.
4. Something is wrong with the heroine type.
5. They meet.
6. Toss in impediment to the romance.
7. They dance.
8. Memorable moment (like Angela Bassett torching her wandering husband's car in "Waiting to Exhale." You go girl!).
9. The hero employs the three magic words.
10. Achieve the ultimate happy (or unhappy ending).

I highly recommend this book as fodder for girlfriend conversation over a fudge brownie sundae. It made me check out my video (yes, video) supply. There I found almost every one of the often-watched movies mentioned in the book. Am I into chick flicks, or what?

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R28WFPYI61I948 I am also listing what I would consider the 5 most important learning-Spanish resources availalbe for self-study which I think you will not only enjoy but also benefit from if you love learning Spanish as much as I do:

1. Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions This book covers the proper usage of Pronouns and Prepositions and just like Spanish Verb Tenses, you will find plenty of exercises to improve your Spanish-language skills.

2. Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses This is a must have book for learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs for both beginners and advanced students. You will want to read it from cover to cover and then keep it as a learning-Spanish resource.

3. Learning Spanish Like Crazy: Spoken Spanish, Vol. 1 (2 volume set) This is the self-study course that I would recommend for someone that needs to immediately learn how to speak Spanish in order to communicate with Spanish-speakers that have recently arrived in the U.S or for someone that expects to be speaking to people in familiar situations in Latin America. This course comes closer to teaching the colluquial or familiar style of conversational Spanish that you will hear native speakers use among themselves. I like the fact that they only use native Spanish speakers in this course.

4. The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs with CD-ROM, Second Edition This is a must have book for learning how to conjugate hundreds of Spanish verbs in the various tenses. But if you already have 501 Spanish Verbs: with CD-ROM (Barron's Foreign Language Guides) then you can skip this book.

5. Mierda!: The Real Spanish You Were Never Taught in School (Plume) Actually, this one is not a must-have book. It is optional. But it is very entertaining so after studying Spanish hard I always find it helpful to use a learning-Spanish resource for pure fun. And this book is lots of fun. That's if you are not easily offened by vulgar language. Even if you are not the type who would use dirty words in a conversation you'll probably still find this book very entertaining to read. At the very least, you will pick up enough slang and vulgar Spanish words so that when you hear it you will at least recognize it.

I hope that my review has been helpful to other Amazon shoppers.

Non-native Spanish students, listen up! This is the *ultimate* book!!! All 14 tenses are explained with crystal clear comparisions to the English language. What does the English language do in the subjunctive that the Spanish language does or does not do? This book answers that question and sooo many others!!!! "Haber" is no longer my enemy.

The order of grammatical concepts is sensible. (Unlike the way I learned them in the 90s!) I gained a lot of confidence with each exercise. The exercises also offer different ways of becoming more competent in Spanish. For example, sometimes you have to identify the subject of the preterite tense, other times you are translating from English to Spanish, other times Spanish to English, and then sometimes working with multiple tenses. The activities get more challenging as the book progresses.

There is a complete answer key in the back.

This book is better than most at explaining the complex rules of Spanish, but also some of the interesting background behind the rules. Not for beginners, but definitely a great book for year 2 Spanish learners.

I have been using The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice: Mastering Spanish Grammar for Confident Communication as a review and reference book. It has seen me through Spanish language exams, travel to Spanish-speaking countries, business meetings where I had to speak Spanish, and even social situations. I read Spanish language newspapers and magazines and even some history and literature and watch Mexican telenovelas with a high level of comprehension.

I've been seeking a good follow-up review text and at last I found it: The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice: Mastering Verbs and Sentence Building for Confident Communication. This amazing book is taking me through verb forms in all the tenses. The explanations are crystal clear and there are loads of exercises for practice. I love the Building Sentences section in each chapter because from the simple conjugated verb I learn how to build sentences by adding the verb + infinitive construction, or create sentences with double object pronouns; I learn how to express probability, how to focus on a certain element in the sentence, etc. I can say all the things I've wanted to say about "if something happens" or "if something were to happen" or "if something had happened" (possible conditions or contrary-to-fact conditions).

I like the presentation of Spanish grammar contrasted with English grammar. I'm a native English speaker but never really thought about English grammar until I used The Ultimate books. I find this very helpful, and I'm learning a lot about English, too!

Spanish has a lot of tenses and a lot of irregular verbs. The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice is helping me to learn and practice them in context. I really like that the book allows me to go out of order which means if I need more practice on the present subjunctive (which I do!), I can jump right to Chapter 11. This book makes learning Spanish so logical and even enjoyable.

I think the Language Boxes are great because I'm learning interesting facts about Spanish. I didn't know that about 4,000 Spanish words, such as ojalá, el café, el alcohol, and hasta, were borrowed from Arabic. I am also learning many words that Spanish borrows from English to describe computer terms, such as crashear, linkear, and cliquear.

The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice is the gold standard of language teaching books.

I began reading this book and doing the exercises after a very basic beginner's class which sparked my interest in learning the language more thoroughly. While I would say this book can be a stretch for beginning students of Spanish, it's perfect for intermediate and advanced learners. I read this book two years ago and once I had completed it, I took a placement exam for the University of Costa Rica's "Spanish for foreigners" class. I was able to qualify for the advanced level! Since then I have purchased more than sixty books which cover all aspects of the Spanish language. This book is, by far, the one I consider most useful and still use as a review. The explanations of the grammar are straightforward and easy to understand (even the dreaded subjunctive!) There are plenty of very useful exercises with an answer-key in the back of the book. Chapters often build on previous information and is best to work through this book sequentially. I can't say enough good things about this book!

After reading Cortazar's The Winners (1960), I've decided that what makes a novel a classic is that the author writes about the worst of human behavior in a style that assumes every reader is a genius. This novel called on me to use all of my perceptions and knowledge as a person, as a reader.

By now, you will have learned that this novel is about a group of people who win a lottery and the prize is an ocean voyage, and that once settled onboard, several of the passengers behave badly, and the ship's crew is such--well, I won't give it away--that the voyage comes to an end only three days after it began. You will also have read from other reviewers or the publisher's notes that the character Persio has clairvoyant abilities; in a way, Persio is the higher consciousness of the novel; his thoughts lead the reader into self-examination (or not). For me, this novel was not a simple, summer read--but don't let me stop you.

The Winners is highly metaphorical: is the ship life itself? I think so. But the writing is more beautiful than life: many of the characters have the most sensitive, humane, and literate conversations, like Claudia and Paula, or Paula and Carlos. Surely, if this novel is Argentina, then people from Buenos Aires are living among the gods of culture and human potential. In that regard, this novel is hardly the Argentina I've heard about: breathtaking landscape, and women and men who love culture, but every now and then a dictator who murders people. The ship's crew is secretive and cunning like that. Read and see.

Appropriately, there is a sinister feeling about this novel from page one; something terrible impending, something beneath the surface of these polished people. I was totally fascinated, intrigued by many of the "characters": Claudia Lewbaum and Gabriel Medrano, Raul Costa, Carlos Lopez and Paula Lavalle, and Don Galo and Dr. Restelli, and the unforgettable Felipe Trejo, the 16-ish student, passionate for life, but without parental guidance, "lured" into the depths of the ships lower cabins where the crew seem alien and unpredictable. What a textual voyage--one in which the characters had to learn so much about themselves!

Cortazar places his characters in categories I've found people all fit--one or the other--like it or not--we are each either a duck or an eagle. Ducks follow of course and eagles set new paths. Ducks may have easier less lonely lives. Unless of course they inherit wealth and power--in which case they must be very confused and inflict chaos on the less entitled. Eagles succeed in endeavors against all odds and are therefore resented by those they seek to please. None of us has an easy time co-existing with others. No one wants to admit this of course! This book encourages reflection that may have social value, but it doesn't offer much in the way of a hopeful outcome for the social redemption of mankind--at least not in this generation. Therein lies its depth. We must expect less from our companions in life. We're all horrifyingly flawed. Somehow we must find the path to honesty and forgiveness. The book--?--I couldn't put it down. Now I can't get it out of my mind. If you want to live in denial don't read it.

I enjoyed "The Winners" though at times I found it a bit "heady". Its a novel that requires you keeping track as you go along. It took me while to figure out the setting, and what was happening (which means Cortazar did his job). There's so much symbolism and historical significance in his writing. I highly recommend the short stories collection "Blow Up" if you liked "The Winners."

What to say about this sardonic book that won't sound like an essay from the journal of the Modern Language Association? Yes, it's liminal. Yes, it's Lacanian. Yes, it's an existential comedy. Oy! Poor Julio Cortazar put himself in the sites of all the scholars of pretentious post-modern interpretation - just check out the amazon list of articles and books designed to take the fun out of reading him - and it's just about spoiled his reputation. But The Winners is a wild ride, my friends, an outrageously entertaining book in which a whole zoo of oddball Argentinians wind up together on an ark of satire.

There's an old tradition of books depicting a "ship of fools", from Erasmus to Sebastian Brant to Katherine Porter to Cortazar, and I suspect Erasmus had a classical model. They're all fun; I've never read a ship-of-fools book I didn't like, though I wouldn't mind NOT being a passenger on that ship myself. Reading The Winners reminded me strongly of Herman Melville's most experimental novel, The Confidence Man. None of the critics, so far as I've noticed, draw any connection between Cortazar and Melville. Heads up, PhD grubs! There's a thesis topic for you! Likewise, lovers of reading just for its own sake! I'm giving you two recommendations: The Winners & The Confidence Man. In the climate of the upcoming American elections, books about bunko and deception are bound to be comforting.

I read and enjoy Cortazar in the same way I enjoy Luis Bunuel films, in fact I think Bunuel could have made a wonderful film of THE WINNERS. Like Bunuel, Cortazar finds the things we accept as normal to be quite absurd but also like Bunuel he has a certain affection for those he makes fun of. All those on board the Malcolm are guilty of some sort of petty prejudice or limited world view but they all mingle and tolerate one another to a point. When things go absurdly wrong the lottery winners begin to wonder what it is they've actually won. Cortazar is an existential comic. A book which succeeds because it never forgets that despite our differences we are all bound together by our not knowing exactly what is going. With a little help from Cortazar we can see that knowing is just a pretense.
Perhaps the novel like Camus Plague is a parable with many possible levels of meaning. Not the least of which is the political level. After all Cortazar left Argentina under Peron to live and write in exile.

I'm midway through Susan Casey's book, "Women Invent!" and I just love it. It's very inspiring to read these tales of how many cool and practical inventions were brought to us by women. The book has loads of info. and a great, accessible writing style that doesn't talk down to the reader. As a smart adult, I found myself really enjoying it--and my husband's been reading it too, and really loving it. It's definitely not just for kids, although kids would find it super-inspiring. Honestly, I wish I'd been exposed to this material as a student myself. It would have given me a lot more vision for how women have contributed to society in a field (science and things mechanical) which we don't traditionally associate with women's accomplishments. Great book; I hope there'll be others by the same author.

Susan Casey's book "Women Invent!" is a lively parade of women and girls who solved problems and shared those solutions. Besides the stories behind many inventions, the book explains the process of patenting an invention and includes a dandy resource guide. I found the book to be entertaining reading as well as inspirational, causing me to think about ways to make life easier and to wonder if I have an invention to share. Best of all, I enjoyed reading "Women Invent!" Although aimed a young readers, it kept me turning pages. It is great to know the stories of so many inventions. Ordinary objects have come to life. I'll never look at a paper bag or a baby backpack the same way again.

When I was a girl the age this book was written for -- between ages 9 and 12 -- I devoured every book that existed about the lives of curious girls and powerful women...and then re-read them, because it seemed there were no more than five interesting females in all of history. Where was WOMEN INVENT! then? Susan Casey lets young girls know that women have been asking important questions and inventing revolutionary solutions for centuries! And not just a handful, but a multitude. Thank you, Ms. Casey, for broadening the minds of today's children AND their parents. Thank you for introducing and re-introducing these fascinating stories to a new generation of inventors.

This book "Women Invent!" was one of the best books I have read. I'm an avid reader of any book I can get my hands on but this book was exceptional. It is factual yet very interesting. It is written very well and keeps your attention focused. As soon as I read it I felt like going out and inventing something on my own.

I bought this book for my daughters, because I like them to read about strong women. However, I ended up reading Women Invent! myself and enjoyed it very much! My daughters also enjoyed the book and it has gotten the both of them interested in inventing things themselves. This would be an excellent book to give to any young girls and it's one that teachers ought to use frequently. A very good book!

I was visiting New York City from Tempe, and I really really was looking forward to seeing where a lot of my favorite films and shows took place. This guide helped me out a whole lot!!! I recommend it to any and all show and film buffs out there!!!!!!!

I heard about this guide on the radio and bought it. I love it, it has most of my favorite movies like Maid in Manhattan and Sleepless in Seattle. There are a couple of other movie guides out there but this has newer movies and is easier to use. My friends who go to New York all ask to borrow my guide.

I came across this book one day and it is so fun. I am a huge film buff and have lived in NYC for years but didn't know anything about these locations except for the obvious ones like the Empire State Building in Sleepless in Seattle. Little did I know that I live down the street from where the Friends characters live...and Friends is my favorite show! Now when people coem to visit I always point out locations that I got from the guide.

I also like that the guide is lightweight and easy to carry around, and the map is not a huge embarrassing pullout so I don't look like a tourist when I whip it out.

I think anyone who loves movies and entertainment (and NYC) should get this guide.

I am obsessed with Sex and the City and this guide has tons of the clubs and restaruants that you see on the show. My girlfriends and I like dressing up and checking these places out on the weekend.

I went to New York this summer and used this guide. It was great. I have been to the city a few times so I was tired of doing the same old touristy things. With this I was able to find places from movies I loved. Plus it's really easy to use.

This book is one of the most useful tools you can buy to help you succeed in law school. Sure, there are plenty of study guides and study aids out there for law school - teaching you the ins-and-outs of proximate causation, useless stuff like the meaning of "possibility of reverter," and how to say if a statement is hearsay. But success in law school involves much more than getting good grades in Contracts, Property, or Evidence. The key to distinguish yourself in law school (and immediately after) is your writing ability: Are you on law review? Have you written a note/article worthy of being published? Do you have a stellar writing sample for that clerkship application? Until this book, there was not a practical guide teaching academic legal writing. Every 1L should buy this book and read it before they attempt to take a seminar class or write a law review note. It will make a difference.

My only complaint about Prof. Volokh's book is that it was not available until my last year of law school. Had it been published earlier, its lessons would have drastically improved my seminar papers and law review note. But if you're like me and no longer in law school, still check this book out. It isn't solely for law students. It is an extremely useful guide for new attorneys who hope to write publishable articles after law school.

To borrow from the "give a man a fish...teach a man to fish" cliché (and thus horribly violate a lesson of Chapter 4), Prof. Volokh teaches law students and lawyers to "fish" by showing them how to write their own scholarly works.

If you're writing a law review comment, Eugene Volokh's slim volume "Academic Legal Writing" is indispensible. However, anyone who wants to learn how to write clearly and how to cut the fat from their prose will benefit tremendously from the book as well. Especially good are the sections where Volokh takes you step-by-step through the editing process, turning a flabby piece of writing into economical, muscular prose. His appendix of words to avoid (eschew "eschew") is also excellent. So don't be fooled by the title. Good writing is good writing, in the legal academy and elsewhere. This is a book about good writing in general, and a terrific one at that.

I highly recommend Professor Volokh's new book, Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, and Seminar Papers.

As the title suggests, it focuses primarily on legal writing, especially for aspiring and current law school students. However, anyone who wants to improve his/her writing and critical thinking skills should read this book. The book--which is only 189 pages--abounds in smart advice on how to write better and avoid common errors such as wordiness, unduly harsh criticism, overly technical language, etc.

Speaking as someone who starts law school in a month and a half, I am glad I read this book. It gave me a nice view about what type of writing is expected in law school. And unlike some academic books, it is affordable and highly readable.

Volokh addresses every possible question that a pre-law student could have about academic legal writing--how to choose a topic, how to test its claim or hypothesis, how to research it, how to use evidence (i.e., cases, law review articles, statistics, surveys, etc) correctly, and how even to publish and market your work.

To take one example: Volokh advises that in the process of conducting research always check the original source. In other words, do not simply assume that a secondary source will correctly represent the original article or case. For example, even the most revered Courts (such as the Supreme Court of the United States) sometimes misstate facts, arguments, and holdings in cases.

I can personally attest to the soundness of this advice. I once cited an article by a political science professor of mine in a paper I wrote for him. I relied on a secondary source to summarize his main thesis. When my professor graded the paper, he circled in red ink the citation of his work and wrote, This is not the argument I made. Did you bother to read the article?

Again, this is a great book for anyone considering law school. It should be on every pre-law student's must-read list.

I teach undergraduates, many of whom want to be law students. Sometimes I help them get started on legal writing.

Since the day I read Volokh's book, I have not sent a student off to law school without it. Given the amount of writing that is required of any law student, and given the substantial career advantages to publishing, everyone should try.

Volokh is clear and very usefully organized for students who have to parse their time carefully. He includes insights about the practicalities of law review publishing and shopping an article that go far beyond anything available when I was a law student.

This book is also a great tool for graduate students in fields akin to law. To those students, refereed journals are the norm and law review publication is a mystery. This book is an excellent, readable way to make law reviews less mysterious.

Eugene Volokh is a genius--well, maybe not a genius--almost nobody is a genius--but he's pretty darn smart.

Tender and true. I hated hated hated for it to end.

This book is better than J.R. Moehringer's The Tender Bar and the The Tender Bar is a near perfect Memoir. Here is the difference. With Moehringer, like Crandell, you are getting a story that will change you, but with Crandell's The All-American Industrial Motel you are right there beside Doug, hearing what he is hearing, seeing what he sees, and trying to breathe like Doug is trying to breathe. Chapter 18, is one of the best chapters in modern literature. Those who need this book the most, men twenty-six to forty, the Gen Xer's, whose confusion and raw votes led us to the America we have today--the killing--will try to say Crandell's account of finding your life in the Reagan Years and it's black greed wake, doesn't apply. But a few oh so lucky ones will know they have finally found the salve. While they didn't grow up in the forsaken tornado flatland of Northern Indiana, they still struggled and are still struggling with everything Doug Crandell has been so brave to share. Crandell has raised the shades men. It's time to give up the Kettle One. Put the Red Bull and Jaeger back on the shelf men and pick up Crandell's All-American Industrial Motel. Those products were meant for someone else your same age, not you. You are the son of your own father. Thank you Doug Crandell.

This exquisite Memoir will split your heart in two and you will wonder how you had survived with just the one before. The union workers in The All-American Industrial Motel are men I have known and loved my whole life. Their lives are as true as the story Doug tells of his awesome summer in Indiana working in the ceiling tile factory with them and it has taken me three quiet days to gain sufficient perspective from the book to write about it. It is that piercing, that honest, the voices so vulnerable that the reader is raw from the connection.
Doug Crandell writes to us so much of himself and of so much love and respect for his family that you want at once to hide in the life you've made, safe from the hurt of having left, all the while longing to be there again soaking up all the intricacies of family.
To real work, real love and real risk the author pays homage and I am grateful to have been in the audience for such bravery!

Like his first memoir, Pig Boy's Wicked Bird, the All-American Industrial Motel takes place during one pivotal year in Doug Crandell's life. In this new memoir, the year is 1990 and Crandell is one class away from college graduation and is working at a factory in Indiana along with his father. The farm is gone, and his family has been facing tough times. The tension within the family at this point is volatile, and Crandell's deteriorating relationship with his father is described in fantastic detail. Crandell finds an escape in his friendship with Jerry, a rough co-worker who he's known most of his life but has only befriended during his time in the factory. His ordeal is heart-wrenching as he tries get his father to open up emotionally and balances whether he should just leave with his degree or stay and become a "lifer" at the factory as he watches those who have taken this path. The book may seem bleak, but you will not be able to put it down. You feel a connection with Crandell, and will find yourself drawn in by the people who he befriends in the factory. You will also find yourself frustrated by Crandell's own frustrations and his family's bad decisions. Crandell is a writer of extraordinary ability, a wordsmith which you should not dismiss.

My Top Ten list of American writers changes with my mood and interests. The list is populated by Sherwood Anderson, David James Duncan, Ezra Pound (not from Europe, but from Idaho actually!), Steinbeck, Tennessee Williams, Delillo, O'Connor, et al. But, with his earlier work, PigBoy, Doug Crandell leapt onto the list, and his place is cemented by his latest memoir, The All-American Industrial Motel. The story is tender and frightening in the way that secrets between fathers and sons can be: the truth you both know but don't dare speak. The book is funny, heart-felt, and strangely riveting. Having had more minimum-wage jobs than I care to recall, where I was the college boy amongst the blue-collars, relating to this story, and the thick atmosphere of the factory culture, is comforting in the way that sleep is after pulling a double shift.

Crandell reveals enough herein to make one nervous with an anticipation of future events that other authors could never wring from common lives. This is the author's gift: making the melancholy struggle of mid-west lives seem more important than those we read of in the tabloids. And of course, they are. Thanks Doug for a great book!

I think it's very funny that she doesn't waste paper by diving right in with tips and doesn't bother to space out paragraphs. I actually like this more than Tightwad Gazette which tries not to be too preachy. Not Mrs. Childs, she's my kind of charismatic and she's preaching to the choir! I wish I lived as frugally as I should but this book is wonderfully bracing. Her analysis of consumerism still applies today.

The thoughts and ideas of the 1800's could be applied to todays world to make it a better place. Like putting more energy into our morals and pride rather than trying to keep up with the Jones'. A wonderfull and funny look at many things that have gone wrong with society over the years.
I read just a few pages in a little store, than had to come home and find it to buy for myself.

Both the prose and the basic philosophy espoused by this book are refreshing on todays palate. No over-wrought writing or get ahead mentality here. The book gives a wonderful view of household life in the 1800's, covering ground from pudding recipes to the best and cheapenst method for cleaning your candle stick holders and treating common ailments. Liberally spiced with the philosophy of a frugal housewife who's example many of us would do well to follow.

I bought this book at a Revolutionar War event this past weekend and I've read it 3 times already (Purchased Sunday, and it's now Tuesday morning). My husband can't believe that I can't put this down. But I find it fascinating reading. Many of the little tips in here are still on many websites today for frugal living (olive oil and a little white vinegar for a wood furniture polish, for example).

Easy and fascinating reading for anyone interested in history, frugal living, and occassionaly a good laugh.

I got this book over 10 years ago, at the Sturbridge Village gift shop, and I swear, I've read it so much that I probably have whole sections memorized! It is, without doubt, THE best book of its kind.

The American Frugal Housewife is fascinating on a variety of levels, not the least in that Child wrote the book with the emphasis on "AMERICAN." Other such books existed at the time, but they were written in England and for English women. Child was one of the Transcendentalists who were huge advocates of personal self-discipline and restraint, but believed to their core the importance of fighting for what they knew to be right. It wasn't just a religious fervor -although Child's Christianity, like that of Catherine and Harriet Beecher Stowe, was extremely important - but a belief that the still relatively new United States had a unique destiny that set it apart from the rest of the world, specifically the old, decrepit world that was Europe.

Child was no blindfolded nationalist, however. She saw the flaws and contradictions that bound the new Republic. Child, like many other Transcendentalists, was a fervent abolitionist and a proponent of women's equality, and worked all her life toward achieving those ends. Even with its problems, Child was an ardent American. She saw Americans as a unique race of people with a unique and powerful destiny. Americans, she believed, were new and unique, and that the American destiny was far different from the degenerate, rotting hulk of Old World Europe.

So what does all this have to do with the American Frugal Housewife? Well, Child wrote the book specifically to address AMERICAN houswives and what she knew to be their unique problems and issues. It's much more than just a recipe book; it embodies Child's philosophy that the only way toward virtue was self-restraint and sobriety, and that the way to tutor the new nation in these values was by teaching the nation's housewives - the hand that rocks the cradle, Child believed, did indeed rule the world.

The new nation was becoming prosperous, and Child saw that then, like now, people had a difficult time learning how to restrain themselves financially. One part in particular has to do with how mothers should raise their daughters. Child believed they should teach their offspring the virtues of frugality, that it was better to put savings "out at interest" and earn wealth from it, then to indulge in the latest fad - one in this case being something called a Brussels carpet. As new brides went out to set up their household, Child lectures at how they drive their husbands to bankruptcy by embracing fads and trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Other, cheaper types of carpet "will answer just as well," Child wrote. She also recommends using cheap illustrations, nicely framed, as wall art, rather than going overboard to buy the latest European style.

Some of the best sections are on frugality. Child was the "Hints from Heloise" queen of her day, and she's got a solution for everything that could possibly beset the early 19th century housewife. The interesting thing, as others have noted, is how so many of her tips still work so well.

I don't know that I'm ever going to need her instructions on how to brew my own soap in a backyard kettle or how to keep my homemade pickles in a barrel from turning soft, but I did get a burn mark out of an antique chest by using rottenstone and oil, just as she prescribed.

What's rottenstone, you ask? Well, you can buy it at a hardware store, but if you want the recipe, buy the book! It's a fantastic window on early American life, but the sound advice inside, about not getting into debt and how to "do up" your brass so it doesn't tarnish, is still amazingly useful.

I guarantee you'll become a Child fan, just like me! :)

I receipt the book very quikly and in excelent conditios of use, as a new book.

A dear friend gave me this book for my ninth birthday back in 1990. Today, I am a structural engineering associate with a major forensic engineering firm, and I know that much of my fascination with the field began with Salvadori's riveting explanations of the basic principles of structural design. This book is incredible for any kid with any scientific inclination!

I've been rereading this lately. This morning I showed everybody in the restaurant where I was eating the book saying, "if this had been around when I was in middle school or junior high, I expect that I would be an architect or structural engineer now.

For a person who wonders why a bridge is shaped the way it is, or why buildings lean and don't fall, this is an ideal introduction. Useful for anyone interested in structures (e.g. model railroad truss work, furniture design, etc.) and would be very good for a student interested in civil or construction engineering as a future career.

i love this book! it truly explains why buildings behave the way they do and why they are built the way they are. it takes complicated engineeriing and makes it simple, very simple. every principle has an easy to follow sketch and example. this book is a must for architects, engineers, builders or anyone who wants to go behind the scenes and understand the 'why' of buildings. many of the principles and examples only apply to large scale commercial projects like high rises and bridges, so it may not be pertinent for the home builder, but i'd still recommend it. i love to understand why i build houses a certain way. this book explains basic building principles.