Manufacturing Books

This is a great history of a family ice cream business that expanded beyond the bounds of its original county and state of Texas. The developments of new flavors and stories make it a fun coffee table pictorial and a must for any Native Texan.

In the late 1980s, my family moved to Brenham where we lived for three years. Blue Bell Ice Cream was just beginning its tremendous expansion through Texas at that time, and we were excited to be moving to Blue Bell country. As we quickly found out, Blue Bell ice cream defines Brenham. Whenever the Creamery comes out with a new flavor, it makes the front page banner headline of the local newspaper. And in Brenham you can get ALL the flavors, many that you've never even heard of before.

The schools serve hand-dipped Blue Bell in their cafeterias. So do all the restaurants, and even some of the gas stations. To us, it seemed there were buckets of hand-dipped Blue Bell just about anywhere we looked. We once counted 28 places that served hand-scooped Blue Bell in Brenham, which at that time had a population of only 12,000. And then one day, during a rainy football game, as we sat in the high school stadium right across the street from the Creamery, out came a rainbow and arched right into the top of the Blue Bell factory.

This year, Blue Bell Ice Cream celebrates 100 years of production, with a handsome picture book in commemoration. It is filled with gorgeous color and black-and-white photographs, but also laden with historic ads, some extraordinary engineering information, and lots of just plain gee-whiz facts, the kind that will be so much fun to tell other Blue Bell Ice Cream fans.

For instance, in 1907, the ice cream was made in hand-cranked freezers just like your grandma's. On a good day they could coax out almost two whole gallons. Then delivery boys would hitch up a horse and buggy and rush the ice cream to nearby families where they ate quickly, before it melted!

Even up into the 1940s, ice cream sandwiches were made by hand slicing slabs from a 64-ounce ice cream block, and fixing the slab between two chocolate wafers. Automation came later, in the late 60s, but by 2006, Blue Bell had expanded from the single little creamery in Brenham, Texas into sixteen states, with forty-four creameries churning out Homemade Vanilla, Buttered Pecan, Cookies `n Cream, and Moo-liennium Crunch.

Also included in the book are some of the flavors that didn't make it, like Jelly Terror, Dill Pickles `n Cream, and Licorice which turned a consumer's mouth black. At the end of the book are letters from people, mostly funny letters, most requesting that Blue Bell hurry to their towns.

There used to an Apple Tree store on Market Street in Brenham. On weekends they often had demonstrators handing out samples. One Saturday, a lady was offering tastes of a startup ice cream brand from the Valley. She gave her pitch to everyone who walked by her table. People were polite, but they were also declining, and by the time we arrived, the poor lady was desperate. My younger son, feeling sorry for her, went over to take one of the small cups of melting vanilla. She watched gratefully as he ate the single scoop in one bite. He shook his head at her, and with pity, said, "Lady, this is Blue Bell country."

"I know," she answered. I can still hear the surrender in her voice.

Blue Bell has a lively web site: [...]. Go there to find out about the factory tours, (a terrific idea for Spring Break), to enter flavor-naming contests, and to learn all about the 100-Year Celebration planned for June 19-12 in Brenham.

This book is one of several I considered for an in-plant class to teach Blueprint reading. It is full of examples, questions and tests.

Duhhhhhhh... I read this book and duhhhhhhh... I tink it was very helpful in helping me to learn how to read dawings. It learned me alot about alot of stuff about views and what day mean and ... dahhhhh where day come from. It also learned me about how to leadership... yeah... dats it... leadership.

Now I tink now dat I know how to read stuff... I learned alot about... leadership.

I am ready for da trades now... I tink. As soon as da people next door show me da way... Day also taught me about four letter words in da successfull ways in leadership. I tink every anyone... considering working for da auto companies ought to learn dis book. Duhhhhh.. I tink dat covers it... all.

Here is the classic book for the fountain pen collector. It shows lots of pens, provides a value guide, and gives you plenty of information about the pens, the companies. The photography is top notch and you wont have to squint to see what the authors are trying to show. Loads of really rare pens also, so there is something to be on the lookout for. I really like this book and also have it in the limited edition of 300 with the leather cover.

If you want a book with lots of colour photos to compare and admire,then this is the book for you.As all coffee table books,not exactly overflowing with information,but has more than the usual.

Being a collector, dealer and trader with my own online cast iron business..., this the what most collectors call the Bible of Griswold or the BLUE book. It is well laid out with great pictures. The author, Dave Smith, is friendly and easy to approach with questions and is very knowledgeable. It is the first book I go to.

Finding the author online and then finding his book. What a great book for the first time collector, the continuing collector or the expert. Precise information presented in and easy to read format. Great pictures and lots of neat little notes. A sample of the pricing of any and all. Includes a short history of most of the companies that have made cast iron cookware, and other items in cast iron.

I didn't buy this book due to stuggles with fish taxidermy, but rather to see what secret tips the experts would share to help me fine-tune my craft. I was certainly not disappointed. Reading this book made a huge difference in my outcomes. Rather than my fish mounts looking very good, my fish now look alive. If you are a beginner interested in mounting your own fish, you need this book. If you are professional, you owe it to your future customers to have this book as part of your reference library. This book will answer every question you've ever had about fish taxidermy, with the exception of what specific colors of paint to use. For that, you'll have to buy Breakthrough's fish painting book.

Walt Fulps
Ozark Taxidermy

Great manual that covers all aspects of fish taxidermy. Instructions for all levels of mounting. Easy to use guide loaded with pictures and information that beginners and pros can use. No other book comes close, believe me, I have them all.

Peter Blum served as the official Strohs historian for many years and this book shows the depth of his knowledge. What is truely remarkable is that his knowledge was not limited to his former employer. Reading this book, one truely gets a sense of Detroit's unique and bumpy history of beer. For my Pfeiffer Beer web page, I contacted Peter for research. Even though it was just prior to his passing, he was very generous with his time and even helped me find some of his original source material. I asked him if he had to leave anything out of the book due to space and he replied that "It's all in there!" So, you can trust that by getting this book you'll be exposed to all that Mr. Blum had to offer on the subject - and that's quite a lot! Thanks Peter.

Detroit has had breweries in its history! Blum, an exec at Stroh's for many years, is an authority on the history of Stroh's and its competitors. Anybody interested in breweriana will find this an invaluable guide to ads, labels, and other collectibles from Detroit-area breweries. (The Stroh company provided many of the beautiful color illustrations used in the book.) Oh, that Motown were still Strohtown!

As all the Haynes Workshop Manuals I've bought, it was exactlly what I was looking for.I consider this manual is the first step of a proffessional restoration of a classic bike.

This was Haynes' 1st repair manual and it is the best single-source manual for pre-unit twin BSAs. As in all subsequent Haynes manuals, their staff actually dismantles and rebuilds a BSA, presenting readers with photos of the whole operation. This book and a copy of the spares manual are all you need to keep your Golden Flash, etc. in fine trim.- Bill Litant, president emeritus, BSA OWners Club of New England

The first reviewer is absolutely right. I too built this car (although I had never built anything else). It was a thing of beauty,and it ran great, and I thought it was practically indestructible until some Cub Scouts ran it into a boulder. Even then, I could have repaired it.

Great book! I found this book in the Whole Kids Catalog years ago as a Child. I built my own Buffy from the plans in this book, by myself, as a child. If you do it right, the Buffy Porsen, which is a soap box derby version of the 1934 MG Midget, will be a family heirlom. --- Daniel Restis, Chicago

Great pictures, simple text. We've taken this book out of the library so often, the library thinks we own it. Well...now we will!

If you have a boy who loves building machines, this book is a definite must. There isn't a storyline in it - it's just full of building machines operated by Teddy bears, with descriptions of what they're doing, what the machines are used for, and how they actually work. They're cartoons, but it's so informative, that my little guy just loves knowing what all the machines do. He even knows what rebar is now! I can't say enough how neat this book is and what a great find it is too. My personal favorite is the underwater bulldozer. Who knew that existed?! A great, great book and something every little boy should own. I'm going back for more in this series!

I have wanted to make my own snowshoes since I was 14 years old but did not know how. I stumbled upon this book about a year ago and knew this is what I was looking for. I have read it several times and am in the process of building my steam box. This is the best, and as far as I can tell, only book on how to build snowshoe. It is extremely clear on the lacing and frame building proceedures. Thanks Gil!

Having misspent a great deal of time in the outdoors from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Alaska Range, I've wanted a quality pair of snowshoes for some time - and let's face it: plastic just doesn't cut it for serious outdoors gear, and neither do the mass-produced snowshoes meant to be hung over the fireplace - if you want good gear, build it yourself! This book is a detailed shop guide to building a pair of snowshoes that will beat anything you can buy. The directions are clear and well illustrated, and perhaps best of all the auther doesn't assume that you're a master woodworker with a complete shop at your disposal. There are several other books on how to build snowshoes (I have several of them), but my advice is don't waste your time looking for them - get this book first and use the time you saved to build a pair of snowshoes!