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Supplies Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Supplies
Advanced Water Distribution Modeling and Management
Published in Hardcover by Haestead Press (2003-01-24)
Author:
List price: $145.00
Used price: $141.98

Average review score:

An excellent textbook !!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-17
Advanced Water Distribution Modeling and Management is not only a complete and current reference for professionals involved in water distribution systems but also an essential textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses. In fact, what makes this book different is that it contains from basic hydraulic concepts up to the most recent researches and experiences in a comprehensive language.

Advanced Water Distribution Modeling and Management
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-05
Thank-You Haestad Mdthods for developing such a wonderful program. I use this book as a guide almost everyday.

Great reference for the professionals of water distribution
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-04
This texttbook, that I recently reviewed, was for me a great experience. This is a must have book for any Civil consultant involved in hydraulics. It is both a guide to water modeling and a practical reference to water distribution operation and management. Thanks Haestad Methods.

The Best "How To" Book on Modeling
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-03
This reference has given us an edge in satisfying client needs from the simplest capacity study to the most complex model. It has helped make our competent modelers more efficient and the up-and coming modeler function like a pro. Many common questions and problems are anticipated and clearly answered. Because the book so thoroughly covers system management issues, I believe many parts should be required reading for water resources engineers.

Great to have everything under one roof
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-03
I wish I knew of this book's existence years ago. For too many years, I have been using several other reference books to "answer" my never ending questions and doubts on modeling and related subjects.

It even has reference on non-concontinuous flow condition. A great book with lots of "weight." The price was right, too, I received this gem free as a bonus for signing up to attend a wwebcast sponsored by Haestad.

Supplies
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists
Published in Paperback by TFH Publications (1997-05)
Author: Robert M. Fenner
List price: $39.95
New price: $17.90
Used price: $14.95

Average review score:

Must read for aquarium owners
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-12
This is a very informative book for anyone who is starting up a new saltwater aquarium. The illustrations are great. It covers a lot of depth and provides practical tips to setting up and maintaining an aquarium.

Excellent Starting Point
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-19
This book provides a great overview of the hobby. This is really where most people should start off reading in the hobby to determine if they're going to create a reef in their living room. Perhaps some should start with Paletta's The New Marine Aquarium first as a quick 1 day read, but really those who plan on enjoying the hobby would be well served by skipping the superbasic and getting into this book. That's not to say this is the only book you'll ever need - but this is enough book for most people to be quite content with. (For those of you who are 'bitten' by the hobby, The Reef Aquarium series by Delbeek & Sprung is an excellent resource, but there are others.) Enjoy,

Excellent informative resource
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-13
This book inspired me to do a live reef tank instead of just a fish tank!

Great Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-10
Wow, this is a wonderful book. I am going to set up a reef tank very soon, and this book will be very helpful when I have to make decisions for my new tank.

A good foundation.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-06
I have been keeping a marine tank for less than 1 year. I got tired of just using the internet for all my knowledge-base of marine aquariums; spending many hours digging through all the forums for whatever current problem/issue i had, reading so many conflicting opinions and answers from 'experts', and often ending up at least as confused as when i began.

So I bought this book, read it, and feel much better equipped for the hobby. I still refer heavily to internet sources for more granular knowledge, but at least I now have a solid, reliable source for a foundation on which to build.

This book gave me more confidence, and left me eager to learn and do more in this hobby. It is beautifully illustrated, well composed, and the author conveys his own passion of the hobby and eagerness to educate responsible marine hobbyists.

Supplies
PC Annoyances
Published in Paperback by O'Reilly (2003-10-14)
Author: Steve Bass
List price: $19.95
New price: $0.86
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $27.74

Average review score:

Ok, I got an older book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-30
Since my book is older, it was a used version, the hints are for older things. It does have some helpful tools, but lots of the annoyances, I already knew about.

Worth Every Penny
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-17
This book is written in a very easy to understand language. The hints are pratical and should help everyone in some way. Microsoft will not tell you much of how to make your operating system work the way YOU want it to. Steve Bass takes care of that. It is a valuable resource for anyone who has a PC, novice or experienced. I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about computers and I even learned a few new tricks.

A sanity saver
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2004-08-23
I am still pretty much a neophite where computers are concerned, so I bought this book hoping that it could get me out of the "messes" I'm always getting into. It really DOES help! Thank you!!! Steve Bass, I'm now searching for other books you have written.

A readable computer book!
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-04
This is the first computer book I actually said down and read, cover to cover. It holds your interest, and each tip gets you excited for the one to follow. I call it my AHA book. All the time you read it, you go "Aha! That's the problem!" or "Aha! That's how to get rid of that!". Can't recommend it highly enough.

Concise, excellent, usable tips
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-14
I've read many computer books, and I have to say this is one of the most informative. More important, Steve provides hundreds of tips to overcome the small (and large) problems of Windows. It's nice to konw that even a well-known computer columnist experiences the same frustrations we ordinary users do. Happily, he willing to share the solutions he's found.

In my first reading, I discovered the answers to at least 7 windows annoyances I've encountered.

And instead of including a cost-raising CD, the publisher has made 100 utility programs available online, a better solution that including them on a quickly outdated disk.

A useful, and often amusing book.

You need it!

Supplies
A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
Published in Paperback by Charlotte Mason Research & Supply (1998-01)
Author: Karen Andreola
List price: $19.99
New price: $12.00
Used price: $8.75

Average review score:

Makes Charlotte Mason Very Manageable
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-07
This is a wonderful book for anyone wanting to know more about Charlotte Mason's educational philosophies. This book breaks it all down into manageable pieces that are very easy to follow and understand. This should be on every CM fans "must-read" list. An excellent book!

My favorite book regarding Charlotte Mason
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-18
This book was my favorite (as written by a homeschool mom) to describe the Charlotte Mason philosophy and how one can use it in a practical way to teach their own children at home.

It is not only easy to read but a charming book. I have passed it on to my oldest child, who has begun homeschooling her daughter and son.

Charlotte Mason Handbook
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-09
A book that makes the ideal childhood including education feasible and practical to implement. It shows that education does not have to take place in a chair and behind a desk. It shows that learning takes place all the time and the most important lessons are taught outside of textbooks.

Full of direction and inspiration!!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-12
This book gave me more inspiration, enthusiasm and direction for homeschooling than I ever expected to have with my oldest child still just two years old. Written by Karen Andreola, an intelligent, well-written and passionate mother who has homeschooled three children Charlotte Mason-style, the thrust of the book is not how to mold intellectually superior children (though that may be a natural result :) but rather how to nurture their natural curiosities and cultivate in them a love of learning. Reading "whole" or "living" books is foundational to this method, that is, books written by authors who have a personal passion for the subject, an enthusiasm that the reader may catch. Charlotte Mason is critical of most textbooks as they are over-stuffed with information compiled by committees aiming to meet generalized standards of what a child should learn in a particular grade. Charlotte felt that to know about something was not the same as knowing it personally. "Children are educated by their intimacies," was an oft-repeated theme which Charlotte was convinced of. A necessary partner to the reading of whole books is the "narration" of them, when a child is asked to re-tell what they have learned in their own words. Naturally the child will begin to incorporate the words of their authors into their own vocabularies. As they get older, they may narrate in both written and oral forms. In a child's early years (the first 6), no formal schooling is recommended but rather abundant play and exploration in nature, that they might experience the world through the five senses, as well as songs and books and practice at helpfulness in the home. Most importantly, Charlotte Mason recognizes Christ in her theories, placing spiritual formation as central to the child's education "...because knowledge without virtue is nothing to God."
A perfect compliment to this book in its emphasis on spiritual formation in the home: "Family Driven Faith," by Voddie Baucher.

Am I the only one who hates this book???
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-01
If you've read the Charlotte Mason 6 volume set, there is no need for this companion book. My hope in reading this book was to get a modernized take on Miss Mason's educational theories. I was sadly disappointed. I find this book to be just about as victorian as the original. I do believe that the CM method will work in today's homeschools, but let's be honest, my children (and my home for that matter) look nothing like the rosy picture painted by Karen Andreola. I was hoping this book would break down the meat of CM's philosophy into what works for the modern home. I guess I'll have to do that myself.

Supplies
Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living
Published in Hardcover by Rodale Press (2005-01-30)
Author: Annie Berthold-Bond
List price:

Average review score:

Great Book!!!!!!!!!!!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-28
This is an absolutely great book for anyone interested in "greening" their home. Their recommendations are great for the enviornment, for your health, home and save you money!

less toxic living
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-01
It's amazing all the products you can clean with that are already in your kitchen and, more importantly, not toxic.

Informative and useful!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-19
This is a great book. I got it not really thinking I would use it as much as I have. I use it for body creams, cleansers and moisturizers AND I use if for household cleaning, furniture polish, sachets, and more. And her explanations of how different ingredients work is also very helpful. I now buy very few commercial cleaners (Bon Ami, Ecover laundry detergent) mostly because I can't find washing soda anywhere locally.

Loved it!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-26
This is an excellent guide for a less toxic living approach. It provides you with 868 easy to make natural and chemical free formulas for Household Cleaners, Skin & Hair Care, Lawn and Garden Care, Paint, Art Projects and so much more. It's a great resource to have around. I really liked how most of the recipes only call for a couple of ingredients and are really easy to make. And best of all they work too. One of my favorites is the Aloe Vera Moisturizer with Avocado Oil. It's the only Moisturizer I still use for my face and it works great!

Highly recommend this book!

Terrific better Basics
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-10
This book is filled with natural and non-toxic cleaning products, personal care products and more. I have made a number of cleaning potions from Better Basics and am loving the way my house smells when I clean it! Meaning...instead of the old days using harsh chemicals, my home smells like almost nothing--just clean!

I was going to post a review for Annie Bond's Home Enlightenment: Practical, Earth-Friendly Advice for Creating a Nurturing, Healthy, and Toxin-Free Home and Lifestyle, but noticed it is no longer in print. Too bad, because it was good. However, if you want similar information, check out Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your PlanetBoth of these books deal with the next steps to take once your home is non-toxic, including ways to make your home your sanctuary.

Supplies
Sew Fast Sew Easy: All You Need to Know When You Start to Sew
Published in Paperback by St. Martin's Griffin (2002-08-20)
Author: Elissa K. Meyrich
List price: $23.95
New price: $14.49
Used price: $14.50

Average review score:

Delivers as recommended!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-18
I purchased this book based on its recommendations, and I'm not sorry I did. It's been 25+ years since I touched a sewing machine, and this book definitely helped take the fright away. Perfect for new seamstresses of all ages.

Holiday's are right around the corner!
Helpful Votes: 19 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-15
I have the Rip It! book and love it. I just got this book for my niece for christmas. She wants to learn how to sew and I know this is the best book out there for her. It's very easy to understand and comes with patterns for her to learn with. I'm also getting her a sewing machine from www.sewfastseweasy.com
I love giving! She is going to be so thrilled!

Sew inspired
Helpful Votes: 24 out of 25 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-18
I bought this book for my daughter and she has taken to sewing extremely fast. She's so proud of what she makes. Her enthusiasm for sewing now is almost too much for me to keep up with. This book was was easy for her to understand and the illustrations were very clear. She's been playing around with reconstructing her clothes so I'm thinking of getting her the Rip It book as well. I'm happy to see her involved in a positive hobby that she truly enjoys and gets satisfaction from.

My new found sewing bible
Helpful Votes: 26 out of 27 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-17
I just bought this book because I wanted to delve into sewing a little more. I knew how to sew but I didn't know much about sewing techniques or terms or sewing notions and how to use them. This book was very easy to understand and explains everything I need to know about sewing and using notions and patterns. It's now my sewing bible! If I get stuck on something I grab my sew fast sew easy book.

great book
Helpful Votes: 27 out of 33 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-28
The book is great it even comes with patterns. The book is easy to understand and has lots of detail. I would definatly recommend it.

Supplies
PC Hardware in a Nutshell (Nutshell Handbook)
Published in Paperback by O'Reilly (2000-10-01)
Authors: Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson
List price: $29.95
New price: $0.74
Used price: $0.37

Average review score:

A Gem of a PC primer!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2004-06-21
O'Reilly's an up and coming publisher of computer related books. Maybe a kingpin already. This selection is a true quick reference guide. Written by the Thompsons, this selection gives you a thorough look into buying, assembling and operating computers. You do need a basic understanding to get anything out of this book, but if this is the case, you won't be disappointed. I have a first edition copy, and it's still current. That says a lot, a first edition published four years ago is still not too outdated! Think about it. How many computer related books can you think of that's relatively current after four years? Huh?

All you need for PC hardware
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-13
This book is amazingly concise and thorough, yet also very easy to read. It contains many helpful photographs, and the authors maintain a great website that is tremendously useful and is a great addition to the book. I am not a big fan of the "In a Nutshell" computer books published by O'Reilly, but this book is definitely an exception. It's great for both beginners and experts.

Pull-no-punches opinionated and highly detailed
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-23
Robert Thompson is a man who doesn't hold back from giving his opinion on why something is good or bad, either on his website or in his books. In _PC Hardware in a Nutshell_, he tells you just what he thinks of what's good and bad about PC components in just about any category you can think of, and backs it up with all the facts, figures and personal experiences you could ever ask for. Every chapter includes historical information on the components under discussion, detailed reviews of what they do and how they do it, and recommendations on what to use (and what not to use). The final chapter walks you through building your own machine step-by-step, though, this being an omnibus book, the chapter is necessarily slightly skimpy in comparison to _Building The Perfect PC_. The writing style is clear and lively, in fact the book is well worth reading as a book even if you don't need any specific information at the time. The only real complaint I have is something the author has no control over - the fact that new PC hardware comes out so fast that it's just impossible to review every single new thing in a paper edition. (Well, that and the fact that Thompson doesn't like Western Digital because he's had bad experiences with their hard drives, whereas I've been using WD exclusively for years and never yet have had one go out on me. I think that can be chalked up, though, more to the fact that there's just so much PC hardware out there that different people are just going to end up having completely different experiences with components from a particular manufacturer. That, or I just got lucky with WD hard drives.) All in all, this book is truly indispensable.

A bit dated
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2004-08-15
This is a great book that covers every aspect of building a PC. However, as of August 2004, the 3rd edition of this book is a bit dated. For example PC3200 memory is considered the newest memory and both Pentium 4 Prescott processors and Athlon 64 processors were not out when this book was published. If you are buying this book, you may want to wait for a 4th edition, unless you are looking to assemble an old computer.

I would not accept the author's hardware recommendations as the final word. For one thing, the components they review are in many cases no longer manufactured. Magazine reviews and PC hardware Web sites are going to have different opinions on what the best components are.

Power to the People!
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-03
Let me start out with a huge thanks to O'Reilly. I'm not a big fan of large corporations or publishers - but I have come to trust O'Reilly implicitly wherever technical issues are concerned. Although I'm certain that they are not the "perfect" publisher, nor in the business for wholly (ha!) altruistic reasons, I AM amazed by the remarkable originality, diversity, range, quality, accuracy, and honorable business practices of this publisher. Oftentimes I wonder how they manage to maintain such a level, when their current library is so chock-full of tough-to-follow acts.

That said, PC Hardware in a Nutshell does not fail to meet up to these high expectations. Let me get the review portion of my review out of the way - simply put, this is the book I have been hunting for a couple years. That I did not immediately search the O'Reilly library only shows that I am a bit silly. I should have known better. End of review.

But I would like to carry this a bit further, and go out on a limb to discuss the only complaint prior reviewers have voiced: that the book is too "Microsoft-centric."

Rather than a weakness, I believe that this is actually a strength. Let me offer big kudos to the authors and publisher for realizing that a serious, yet accessible, compendium of computer hardware knowledge was necessary. The folks who register such complaints are those least in need of an in-depth introduction to PC hardware. These are the high priests of hi-tech, who rule the roost by virtue of their knowledge-monopoly on all issues technical. They would have you believe that if it was not hand-crafted from spare parts, duct tape, and copious amounts of solder and configured with the most obscure version of Linux, then it's only fit for a 4-year-old. They are, quite simply, dead wrong. Let them compile their own "PC Hardware for Only the Most Serious Tech Gurus", I say!

Thompson's very first point is that he intended the book to be of the most practical usability possible. The practical reality is that the people who desperately need such a compendium are poor fools, like Yours Truly, who are too technical to be satisfied with tutorials on how to use Microsoft Office, yet are not quite knowledgeable enough to get right under the hood of their PCs (never mind build a Linux box from spare hatpins and Reynolds Wrap). We, the "psuedo-techies", often do not come equipped with enough experience, knowledge, or confidence to take ourselves to the next level. We are the crowd who are using Microsoft products, yet would love to learn enough to understand exactly WHY Microsoft means "mush-mind" and Linux is God - but will never get there without a guide. This book is the guide, and to me it says, "Psuedo-techies unite! Power to the people!"

Supplies
Vivir para contarla
Published in Paperback by Vintage (2003-11-04)
Author: Garcia Marquez
List price: $15.95
New price: $8.00
Used price: $0.77

Average review score:

Muy mala encuadernación por Knopf
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-29
El libro es buenísimo, particularmente el estilo de Gabo es genial y lo que lo hace aun mas meritorio es que se trata de un relato autobiográfico. Lamentablemente tengo que advertirles de un error de encuadernación en la edición de pasta dura (hardcover) las hojas vienen mal cortadas, he ya ordenado dos libros y los dos vienen con el mismo defecto. La editorial KNOPF ha hecho un muy mal trabajo. Mi recomendación... busquen otras editoriales.

Vivir para Contarla
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-10
El autor es un relator latinoamericano costumbrista. El realismo magico es lo comun y corriente en esos pagos. De ilusion tambien se vive. Quiza algun dia se inspire en escribir una novela sobre el realismo magico de la tragedia cubana, dada su intima afinidad con el Doctor Fidel Castro Ruz.

I prefer his fiction
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-07-26
This book is the first in a series. Frankly, I hope that in his next memoir there iwll be more about his literary writing b/c this doesn't cover his marvelous literary career at all.

The first sections of the book which deal with his childhood and schooling are comic and moving, with great turns of phrase and details about his grandfather and large family. What I found less interesting were the accounts of his journalism career. Apart from a very compelling section about a political asassination and its aftermath, I was a little bored. Even worse, I did not feel that some of his bohemian friends were distinguished from each other.

I am going to go back and reread The General in His Labyrinth and the novels that I so adore. I just prefer them.

It Stands Unique by Itself!!!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-03
Although I can consider myself a GGM fiction fan, I encountered "Vivir Para Contarla" utterly more attention-grabbing than any of his other works. Perhaps It was just the fact that he related his real life, from the time before his birth until he was something like twenty eight years old, in such a magical way that I could just not put the book down for more than a few moments. I could come across in this volume with so much of the background that made the genius in Gabo, that I could not accept it as factual. Actually I was so beguiled by the story, by the idiosyncrasy of his large and astonishing family, by the actual brilliance and intelligence of the child, the adolescent and the young man in Gabo, that I unreservedly supposed I was immersed in one more of this author's accomplishments. He relates his non precedent childhood and early adolescent years as a conspicuous reader and writer of poems and stories- which he memorized and recited by hearth-, as a distinguished picture drawer, as a notable singer, as an extremely timid person, in sum: as another character out of its novellas and short stories. He, at the same time, enriches our reading with his detailed and exhaustive career as an anonymous young journalist in Colombia, who spends an awesome amount of his free time discussing literature with his fellow workers and friends, at a time period when literature was the coolest matter to be involved in. However, the social and political backgrounds of his whereabouts are so precise and stuck to Colombian and the World's historic and social events, that henceforth what he conveys us in this first volume of his autobiography must have a great deal of reality in it.
In spite of the fact that a myriad of the characters, locations and events that we find as basis for his novellas and short stories come out of his real life, I do not believe it imperative to be acquainted to any of his other masterpieces in order to devour and absolutely enjoy this volume. It stands unique by itself!
I am anxiously waiting for the subsequent volumes of this trilogy, however due to the actual author's sickness; I don't believe we will be receiving the complete trilogy at all.

Una magnífica crónica de los años que modelaron la imaginación de Garcia Marquez
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-11
"Living to Tell the Tale," ("Vivir Para Contarla"), is the first book in a planned trilogy that will make up the memoirs of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the renown Colombian writer who initially won public acclaim in the mid-1960s for his novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude." At that time, Garcia Marquez, a journalist and writer, had never sold more than 700 copies of a book. While driving his family through Mexico, he had a veritable brainstorm. He remembered his grandmother's storytelling technique - to recall fantastic, improbable events as if they had actually happened - literally. That was the key to recounting the life of the imaginary village of Macondo and her inhabitants. He turned the car around and drove back home to begin "One Hundred Years of Solitude" anew. To my mind it is one of the 20th century's best works of fiction, and was highlighted in the citation awarding Garcia Marquez the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature.

"Living to Tell The Tale" relates the early years of the author's life, although some of the book's most important incidents predate Garcia Marquez's birth. The impact of these experiences, the people and their stories, were to have a powerful effect on him, as a man and as a writer. This is the tale of his parents' courtship, marriage and the birth of their children, Garcia Marquez, (Gabito), the oldest, and his ten siblings. It tells of his early years which were spent in Aracataca, in the home of his maternal grandparents. His grandfather, Colonel Nicolás Ricardo Márquez Mejía, was a Liberal veteran of the War of a Thousand Days. He was supposedly a storyteller of great repute. The Colonel told his young grandson that there was no greater burden than to have killed a man. Later García Márquez would put these words into the mouths of his characters. His grandmother, Tranquilina Iguarán Cotes, had a major influence on Gabriel's life also. Another great source of stories, her mind was filled with superstitions and folklore, and she gossiped away with her numerous sisters within hearing range of young "Gabito." No matter how fantastic her statements, she always delivered them as if they were the absolute, verifiable truth. This was the style which was to effect Garcia Marquez's fiction, sometimes called "magical realism." These women filled the house with stories of ghosts, premonitions and omens - all of which were studiously ignored by her husband. He had little interest in "women's beliefs."

Aracataca was a small village, a banana town on the Caribbean coast, where poverty was the norm and violence was an everyday occurrence. On December 6, 1928, in the Cienaga train station, near Aracataca, 3,000 striking banana workers were shot and killed by troops from Antioquia. Although still a baby, this event, recounted to him, was to have a profound effect on the author. The incident was officially forgotten and omitted from Colombian history textbooks.

In 1940, when he was twelve, Gabo was awarded a scholarship to a secondary school for gifted students, run by Jesuits. The school, the Liceo Nacional, was in Zipaquirá, a city 30 miles to the north of Bogotá. It was during his school years, 1940s and 50s, that he was first drawn to poetry - a national obsession in Colombia. Verse was revered as an art form, and also as an effective means of social and political commentary. He and his friends, fellow students, would read aloud and discuss poetry late into the night. The youths admired a group of poets called the piedra y cielo ("stone and sky") and they were strongly influenced by Juan Ramon Jimenez and Pablo Neruda. Too poor to buy his own books, Gabo would devour novels borrowed from friends.

While still a boy, he decided he wanted to be a writer. The people who surrounded him in his childhood later became instrumental when developing the characters and the storylines for his novels. "Love In The Time of Cholera" was inspired by the romance between his mother and father. And his grandfather, who had twelve children, (some say 16), by two different women, became Colonel Aureliano Buendia in "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

One of the most powerful episodes of the book tells of the period called "La Violencia." In 1948 the Liberal presidential candidate, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, was assassinated. The murder led to rioting, and left approximately 2500 dead on the streets of Bogota, during "el Bogotázo." Political violence and repression followed. One of the buildings that burned was the pension where Garcia Marquez lived, and his manuscripts were destroyed along with his living quarters. The National University was closed and he was forced to go to the university in Cartagena. Garcia Marquez began his career as a journalist, writing stories and commentary for a Liberal newspaper in Cartegana. Later he moved to the coastal city of Barranquilla where he began to associate with a group of young writers who admired modernists like Joyce, Woolf and Hemingway, and introduced Marquez to Faulkner. In 1954 he returned to Bogota, as a reporter for El Espectador.

Garcia Marquez begins his book, however, not with his real birth in 1928, but with his "birth as a writer," at age 22. He and his mother took a trip from Baranquilla, where he was working as a reporter, to his childhood home in Aracataca, now virtually a ghost town. They were going to sell the ancestral house. Vivid memories were stirred up here, memories which electrified his imagination. This trip was to change the course of his writing life. "With the first step I took onto the burning sands of the town, Aracataca instantly became Macondo, an earthly paradise of desolation and nostalgia." His one great subject became his family, "which was never the protagonist of anything, but only a witness to and victim of everything." His is not a chronological autobiography. Garcia Marquez cuts back and forth through time to show how memory colors experience. As he says in the book's epigraph, "Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers and how one remembers it in order to recount it."

Humor, dry wit, a sense of the absurd, is a trademark throughout the novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and this autobiography is full of his deadpan humor. His anecdotes of his many mistresses and cafe society are wonderful. "Living To Tell The Tale" is not a conventional literary memoir. It is a magical combination of memoir and national history written in the author's remarkable voice. It is his personal mythology, from the repertoire which birthed Macondo. The narrative is intimate and sincere, filled with bewitching details and descriptions. In spite of poverty, and the political turmoil so prevalent in Colombia during his lifetime, Gabo acknowledges his early years were filled with joy, a sense of well-being and encouragement from many people. Garcia Marquez leaves us, at the end of this volume, with a glimpse of his future love, his wife, ""wearing a green dress with golden lace in that year's style, her hair cut like swallows' wings, and with the intense stillness of someone waiting for a person who will not arrive."

Bravo Gabriel Garcia Marquez!!
JANA

Supplies
State Series Quarters Collector Map (State Series)
Published in Hardcover by Whitman Pub Llc (2006-09-30)
Author:
List price: $7.99
New price: $7.99

Average review score:

Perfect way to display your State Quarter collection
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-29
I bought two of these maps for my 9 & 8 yr. old sons who just recently started collecting the state quarters. This map is a perfect way of displaying the quarters and it looks great.
There is a slot in each state for its quarter (or next to it for the smaller NE states), there are facts about each state, it is pretty durable and it folds for easy storage.
My boys both love their maps. I could not be happier with my purchase.

Good Collection
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-28
This one is a good one. Put the quarter into its state. Cool.... But I thought the cover is harder.

State Series Quarters Collector Map
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-27
We loved the quarters collector map. Bought it for a gift and it was nicer than I even expected.

Great price, but a little large!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-21
I purchased a few of these folders for my kids' quarter collections based on all the positive reviews it was getting. The folder offers a tidbit of information from each state, such as when they became a state, the capital, nicknames, mottoes, state flower and state bird. It also has a big map in which you place your quarters directly into a color-coded state, which helps you see when that quarter was released. Underneath the quarter is a picture of that state's seal. It is educational and a great place for kids to keep their quarters as well as a way for them to learn a little about each state.

There are a few things that I didn't like about the folder. First off, it's size. It does state the dimensions but I neglected to pay attention to that. It is rather large when I was hoping to get something more along the size of a large book. The other thing I didn't like are the 4 extra little spaces at the bottom of the map for you to put extra coins in. At first I was excited, thinking it was a spot to put the 4 new nickels that have recently been released. I thought that was such an ingenious idea to include that so the coin collection could all be in one place. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the holes were too large for nickels to fit. At that point, I was very confused as to what those holes were for so I went to the internet to find my answer. The 4 spaces along the bottom are there for you to put your favorite state quarters in. So you would have one state quarter in the actual state map and an extra on the bottom. I didn't like this, especially after my excitment about thinking they were for the nickels! Plus, how can I select my favorite state quarter when I liked them all just the same?!

That being said, I would still purchase this product. It is a great value for a spot to stick your quarter collection. I would never want to spend more than this ($7.99) for a quarter folder/book, especially when they are for my kids and I needed to buy multiple ones. This price was just right and it is a great tool and quarter holder for the kids.

Great Value!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-21
The State Series Quarters Collector Map is just the product I had been looking for. The quarters do not fall out of the holder as they do in some of the other products. The map folds and secures with a velcro closure which is nice. Each quarter is easily removed to view a picture of that state's seal which is an additional educational benefit. My son and daughter are both elementary school teachers (with lots of teacher friends) so I have now collected many sets of the state quarters and have used this product for all of them.

Supplies
That Perfect Stitch
Published in Paperback by McGraw-Hill (1998-06-11)
Author: Roxanne McElroy
List price: $24.95
New price: $166.99
Used price: $39.84

Average review score:

Rerfect book!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-27
Every single detail was handy and useful. It inspired me to achieve perfect results from the very beginning of any project. Simply the best in perfect hand quilting!

Excellent book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-09
I read thru this book in one afternoon. The illustrations and explanations are great.

That Perfect Stitch
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-28
I found this to be and excellent book. It is full of useful information, techniques and pros & cons on the use of some products. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in hand quilting.

I liked this book
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-26
This book helped me with my quilt stitch, but there is just no way a book can really teach a person to quilt. You need to be able to see it in action. But from this and another book I bought I now know I was pulling the quilt too tight in the frame. Beyond the actual quilt stitch there were many great tips. I am glad I bought this book, but I wish my grandmother was here to teach me the actual stitch.

Why is this book so good?
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2004-12-15
Here's why: 1. It's easy to read. The writing is there to convey information in an understandable easy way. I couldn't put the book down...it's that good.
2. The information is EXCELLENT. Few, far too few books are able to pack in good solid information you can really use. I was thrilled to get some solid infomation and why different threads, batting, etc., are appropriate for hand quilting. 3. In this book you won't have to plunder your way through useless paragraphs to get to the important stuff. It's right there without wasted wording and reading. 4. It's logical and makes sense. What a novel idea eh? 5. There are diagrams where needed and they do help. 6. The layout is excellent and comfortable. 7. Here is the biggie...YES it did help me, very much. I strongly recommend this book for quick solid information on threads, needles, fabric, thimbles, marking tools and batting. I found the section on marking especially helpful.
Thank you Roxanne...or rather your daughter for forcing you into writing this book. You go girl!!


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