Tools Books

I got very curious about this book while reading Witold Rybczynski's One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw and I now am a big fan of Goodman's books.

This is a very good overview to begin understanding the origins of today's hand tools. A very nicely researched history of woodworking tools studied from the European tradition. Mr. Goodman's text has a welcome twist of British wit which make for an entertaining read.

Handsome production volume with 208 pages and 201 beautiful B/W illustrations.

Survey of woodworking tools from ancient to modern times, in eight helpful sections:
The Axe and the Adze;
The Plane;
The Saw;
Boring Tools;
The Carpenter's Bench;
The Rule;
Chisels and Gouges;
Miscellaneous Woodworking Tools.
Bibliography;
Some British Museums with Displays of Woodworking Tools.

I also highly recommend reading W.L. Goodman's other book: British planemakers from 1700 on the history of 18th and 19th Century hand-planes. Both published volumes complements each others in many ways.

Let's face it! Some holidays are more prone to teachable Christian moments than others. Of course, we all have occasion to discuss Christ's birth at Christmas, but how about Halloween and 4th of July, etc... You can create those opportunities with this Heritage Builder volume dedicated to maximize these opportunities. Our family has had such success with the "Intro. to Family Nights" volume that I got this one now and love it now too!

The holistic health handbook covers everything from healing the body, to California hearings on holistic health. It has charts that are detailed and easy to read. One of my favorite is Iridology. A 100 year old system of health analysis based on studying your iris. Also contains T'ai Chi, natural childbirth, natural cosmetics,hipnosis, and so much more! Great book! I recomend it, because it's so extensive, and very interesting.

"The ancient Yogis and native American cultures honored the wisdom in nature. My dog Goodboy and cat Sarafina have taught me about being in the moment, forgiving, unconditional love, living a genuine life, and attaining a higher level of emotional intuitive intelligence. ~Bruce Eric Van Horn

Bruce Eric Van Horn's work has been featured on Animal Planet and the CBS Early Show. He has now written a book to highlight the link between human and animal health.

The first topic of concern is how stress causes health problems. A number of studies show a link between human and animal health. I know for a fact that just having pets lowers my stress level. Bruce shows how pet ownership can reduce stress, lower blood pressure and even add years to our lives.

Through reading this original and thoughtful book, you can learn about the emotional bond between humans, canines and felines. Did you know pets can often predict earthquakes or pinpoint the geographical location of their owners?

I love the pictures of the yoga poses because Bruce and his cats are doing the same downward facing dog pose and spinal twist. My cat always loves walking underneath me when I am doing the cat or cow poses.

There are instructions for doing yoga and all the pictures feature Bruce's lovable pets. He also addresses issues like separation anxiety, how pets can make assisted living facilities more humane and why walking a dog can be a meditative experience.

You may also enjoy reading:

Making Travel with Pets Stress Free
Daily Yoga Class
Firm Footing in a Changing Marketplace
Enough is Enough
Soy Diversity

A Yoga for Healthy Living DVD and Video are now available.

~The Rebecca Review

There are far too few books for kids about tools. This one is great - well-drawn pictures of each tool and detailed descriptions so that a tool novice like me can answer all the questions my kids might have. This would be a fantastic gift for any kid who's house is undergoing a remodel or large repair.

I first checked this book out to see what it had in the way of canning. This book is just jam-packed with little bits of everything. I have not returned my issue to the library, I just keep checking it back out everytime it is due, until I can find a copy of my own.

For those of you interested in the basics of gardneing, herbs, livestock, you name it, this is the book you need to read.

This book is very well presented both graphically and with the text. Easy to follow and understand.

A television aerial made out of forks and a lamp made of aeroplane parts; a plastic colander mended in four different places; one shovel that recycles a `men at work' sign and another, the handle of a crutch; DIY sink-plungers, DIY torches, mudflaps, waffle-irons, telephones... These are a few of the `thingamyjigs' to be found in Vladimir Arkhipov's delightful `Home-Made', a sort of Blue Peter extravaganza of the Brezhnev era.
This small book, with it's colour photographs of funny, crudely made objects and short accompanying texts, achieves something matched by few conventional histories - a vivid and moving picture of real life behind the Iron Curtain. The shortages throughout the Soviet era and the Yeltsin years were, of course, the original impetus for much of this ingenuity. After the war there was terrible need, as the pathetic tools and rat-traps made during that time testify. Under Brezhnev, a version of communism was achieved in which money was more or less meaningless; there was not enough in the shops for people to spend their roubles on. Instead they relied on barter and complicated personal networks, friends who could weld metal or supply parts.
On the one hand, the `home-made' phenomenon is a lesson in why the Soviet economy collapsed - everyone was pilfering, not to mention spending their workdays doing their own and others' DIY. Arkhipov suggests that the activity was a direct response to life in the an oppresive state: `Each person who can make something with his hands prefers to make something small and concrete rather than uniting with others to change lives'.
On the other hand, to us living in the disposable age, Arkhipov's collection is something of a vindication of the Soviet Unions anti-consumerism. Each of these objects, however basic, is important. First it's creator had to search around for the materials, barter for them or recognise them in a punctured child's ball or a broken watch-strap. Then it was laboured over, perfected through a series of experiments. Finally it was used and used until it became worn by use. By this time the most mundane artifact is, as you can imagine, a matter for pride and affection. It is almost an heirloom.
Many of the objects are purely functional. But many, perhaps the majority, are not so practical. They are expressions of their creators' passions - rock climbing pegs and fishing reels, toys and tapedecks. Some reveal DIY geniuses for whom the pleasure was in the production itself, like the author's father who fashioned a radio out of a soap dish, flashing Christmas lights and a heat chamber for making rubber car parts. One that seemed to have a particularly Russian charm was a combination of pen and torch. `This,' says the inventor, `is connected with that romantic poetical period in a young man's life when the muse only takes it upon herself to visit him at night... You hold it under the pillow and use it for all your youthful musings'.
In the preface, Susan B Glasser, a Washington Post journalist, mentions a home-made radio `round which the family would huddle, listening to Voice of America', the forks bought `because the Soviet Union was about to collapse and there was nothing else for sale'. Like many Westerners, she seems convinced that everyday life in the USSR - unlike in the US or Europe - revolved entirely around the political situation. Yet one of the most pleasing things about this book is the light it sheds on Soviet citizens' real preoccupations - how to amuse your children while they are eating their dinner (a home-made bubble wand), how to keep your fishing bait dry (an ingenious little box), or how to soothe a sore back (a back-massaager made out of an abacus).
Arkhipov points out that the urge to thingamyjig is universal and hopes to create `a collective virtual record of a worldwide phenomenon'. If you are interested, visit [...]and join the party.

Charlotte Hobson.

This book is a boon for gardeners, farmers, or anyone who likes to tinker in a toolshed. Gates, boats, sheds, fences, tools... you name it, you can learn how to make it. The devices here stem from the early days of American farming, when things were made to last. Charming, practical, and over six hundred pages, this book is a real bargain!

hale