Packing Books

The book was just what I had hoped it would be. Now I can make gun belts and holsters like they would have been made in the time of the old west for my cowboy events.

I saw this book several years ago in a book catalogue, I put off buying it because there really didn't seem to be enough subject matter to justify such a book. I could not have been more wrong. When I finally had one in hand I realized there really was a rich wealth of interesting material especially historically. This book shows the colorful evolution of holsters in the American West tradition. This is a fascinating collection of color and detail that leaves the reader in awe concerning this little known facet of traditional Western Americana. Well worth the price. Hours will be spent studing the beautiful illustrations and carefully researched text. You don't have to own a Colt sixshooter to apprecicate this beautiful book that faithfully follows and matches the tradition of the R.L. Wilson publications on the art of firearms.

This has rapidly become a favorite book of mine and, judging from the constant references to it from holster makers, has become a widely-used reference source. The quality of the book itself is excellent, with lots of crisp, large pictures and good accompanying text. The "frontier" period covered is pretty wide, really the colonial period into the pre-WW2 era. The emphasis, however, is on the 1800s. The first section of the book mostly covers military gunleather and its transition into civilian forms and usage. The bulk of part two is on California and Mexican Loop pattern holsters of the 1800's and early 20th century, although there is good material on a number of other subjects (all gun-related). The holster photo captions in part two tend to be very repetitious as there are numerous style variations presented, but ultimately don't detract from the pictures themselves or the text. This is not a book to buy if you are interested in costume or accoutrements other than gunleather, and you should pass it by if your primary interest is Western film and TV versions of gunleather - the buscadero, or drop-loop style is barely mentioned.

If you're into Cowboy Action Shooting or even history of the Old West, this is a must have book. The pictures are fantastic and the way the book was put together gives the reader an extremely great view of what they wore in the old days. Plus, there are some great pictures from the cowboy movie and television era. Great Book!

I received the book quickly, in great condition. I would definitely use this vendor again.

This book is full of good ideas for making the ordeal of packing easier. I have implemented some of those ideas for my recent trips and it has made my life easier.

Very useful book. Perhaps a litte too much detail, but the universal packing lists, esp. for children. are excellent. I now have an index card with a packing list for my daughter which makes things a lot easier.

The one thing I dread about traveling is dragging my heavy luggage around. I appreciated the author's solid tips on packing lighter. I'm going to try her bundle packing method in 2 weeks and believe it will work just great. I appreciated her lists and pointing out the things I probably could leave behind. She also listed many websites where I could review and buy luggage and packing accessory items. If I follow her advice I think my next vacation will be a little more pleasant than previous ones. Thanks!

All my life I have yearned for some unknown knowledge. Feeling incomplete, I began at an early age to selfishly take in as much information as possible. I read everything I could get my hands on, encyclopedias, dictionaries, textbooks, but nothing could quench this thirst. That is until I found this book. I still remember the day fate brought it to me. Opening its crisp pages I began to take in its glorious advice. Immediately captivated, I read the book uninterrupted from cover to cover, twice. Hours later, as I reluctantly closed the book, I breathed a sigh of relief. My soul at rest, I put down "The Packing Book: Secrets of the Carry-on Traveler".

First, decide you're ready to travel hassle-free (or as close to it as possible). Next, visualize your perfect carry-on travel wardrobe. Author and packing expert Judith Gilford makes it all a breeze in this readable, oddly interesting handbook. She includes specific lists to jumpstart your thinking about packing for business, vacation and special itineraries - adventure, business or cruise travel, for instance. She offers great tips, from how to pack a layered bundle to keep your clothes wrinkle-free to the best practices for stain removal. getAbstract recommends her guidelines if you want to be able to travel light and still have everything you need upon arrival.

Tyler E. Boudreau has written a very important book. Packing Inferno should be a mandatory read for any young man considering handing his life over to the United States Marine Corps. I think it would make some of them think twice.

This book is so informative about the "real" situation in Iraq. I felt like I was reading some top secret file or something. When I was done, my opposition to the "war" was quite stronger than before. It really helped me justify my feelings. Boudreau has the gift of being able to take you there with his words. its simple, to the point and highly emotional.

if you find yourself feeling confused about this war and wondering what the hell is going on over there, read Packing Inferno. It will shed some light on the situation.

I cant really say enough about this book. you should read it.

Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine (Feral House)

It is easy enough to find war books with 20/20 hindsight, but this is not history. "This is really happening!" to quote Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby. This is our war, and this is the war that has sent the American economy into a nightmarish spiral.

Boudreau, a truly talented writer, and a dedicated lifelong Marine, does not speak from an academic ivory tower. Boudreau documents his time in Iraq with brutal honesty.

Packing Inferno salutes our troops and their bravery, and their attempts to carry out missions with little or no instruction. He is incredibly articulate in describing how all missions in Iraq became missions to protect supply lines, and lives of American troops. And how, once in Iraq, the concept of winning hearts and minds became an impossible order, since no one was able to tell who the enemy was.

Packing Inferno is not only one of the greatest war books ever written, but also one of the best anti-war books.

Packing Inferno is a must have for any college, or public library, with so many returning veterens, with so little psychologic help for them, and so little understanding by an underinformed public.

Whereever you stand on the issue of the Iraq war, this is a MUST READ book.

This is one of the most sublime, real books that I have read on the soldier's experience in Iraq. The author has a talent of weaving on-the-ground anecdotes with deep questions and insights all in an attempt to come to grips with his ambivalent experience. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to see the mission through the eyes of a Marine.

In a word, this book is excellent. Captain Boudreau takes us on a journey, not only through the streets and countryside of Iraq during this "war", but also, honestly and movingly, through his own inner struggle as he searches within himself to reconcile his early years as a committed Marine infantryman with his existence in what we call "normal daily life."
You will learn much from this book: about War; about the "war" in Iraq; about contradictions (not only in "war", but in all of us); and especially about how one man/soldier has bravely attempted to deal with the internal turmoil which results from these contradictions. And, you will become engaged and stay engaged through the entire book.
Again: Excellent!

Tyler Boudreau's Packing Inferno is provocative and moving. It is the story of a gradual awakening. Boudreau does relate some hellish experiences in some detail, but he also interprets those experiences, and provides their context. Many of the best passages of the book are insightful descriptions of Boudreau's complex interactions with other complex human beings. Boudreau tells a gripping story of his own "unmaking," but, by placing his own trajectory in a larger context, he successfully builds a convincing argument against this war, and perhaps against all war.

As the title states, "Mechanical Components" is what this book is all about. This book contains a wealth of information for anyone in the engineering, machinery design, or troubleshooting arenas. It is not only limited to the aforementioned users but also to the home user who wishes to make repairs to home, car, boat, etc. At just under 7 pounds and 3 inches thick, this is a massive manual to read through any specific areas of interest or to simply use as a reference when needed. The reader will find many graphs, illustrations, and explanations for almost every type of mechanical component, sub-assembly, and individual parts in this book. Typical uses of parts as well as unconventional ideas are thoroughly detailed. This is not a book for anyone seeking information or ideas for "mechanical movements", but it will greatly supplement any other mechanical reference books you may have in your library. Before reading only 2 pages of the book, I had no idea how many ingenious uses that a simple flat washer could be applied to!

What a book! It is so easy to read and understand. I wish this book was around when I was going for my BSME. It is a great reference book that all designers should have on their shelves.

This book is so interesting to browse through. As a mechanical engineer I really appreciate it, and it comes in handy for getting ideas. Great illustrations and descriptions! I highly recommend it.

I am a farmer who enjoys making machinery. I design my contraptions on paper, then using a CAD program to refine the designs. Having no training in engineering I am frequently using references such as "Machinery's Handbook" and "Moving The Earth" and "Mark's Standard handbook of Mechanical Engineering" and others.
I have to say, that Parmley's book is a treasure trove of information, with heaps of unusual ideas for common compnents such as O-rings, rubber balls, pipe connections, washers and many others, plus hard information about more complex components such as gearboxes, cams, governors etc etc.
This is a big book, with many pages (numbering within each section only), lovely clear diagrams, and enough but not too many tables, formulae and specifications. It can be browsed cover to cover, (as I am doing for the 2nd or 3rd time), open a page at random and be fascinated, or look up specific topics in the excellent index.
I have read the other reviews on this book, and clearly it is a valuable rescource to professionals. I can tell you that it is also a fantastic mine of information to the interested amateur.

This volume contains the most comprehensive list of mechanical components and variations on any given theme that I've seen in one place. Additionally there are significant extensions to computation methods and overviews not found elsewhere. It is an extremely high value book.

First, take a bright, funny [homosexual] of a gal driving down across the Mason-Dixon Line, add a dash of danger & a pinch of passion...stir smoothly and prepare to be awake tonight enjoying a can't-put-down tale of mystery & more than a bit of madness. It may prove that "no good deed goes unpunished", but it left me wanting more of Jo's adventures & mysteries. Please, Anne-do it again soon?

What a fun book. I could hardly put it down for wanting to know what pickle Jo was going to get herself into next. I can hardly wait for the next book to come out so I can see what Jo will do next. The only disappointment to this book is realizing you reached the end and then you want to read it again. It is well written and it takes you right into the character. What a talented writer with a gift for twists and humor. LOVE IT!!!

A delightful mystery with lots of subtle humor. Loved it. When i finished it, i was glad to know that more were coming soon

Anne Seale spends half the year in an RV park in Arizona and half the year in New York, and she uses these backgrounds and all the settings inbetween for this romp across America.

Her main character, Jo Jacuzzo, is a delightful 28-year-old working class butch who finds herself doing a favor for a gorgeous blonde femme from an elite background who is a purveyor of fine art, and who is also in deep trouble. Jo's even dying her hair red and painting her nails and toenails and wearing a miniskirt at one point as she too tries to outrun the trouble.

Seale, who previously was known primarily for her lesbian feminist songs, performed on her comedy tape, "Sex for Breakfast," and at many lesbian events across the country, breaks into a new genre as if she were born to it. I picked up the book when I got home and didn't put it down until 3 am when I finished it.

The plot twists flow fast and easily, and Seale's humor underlies even the serious moments of this fun read. She deftly brings in some political points about the problems of Mexicans attempting to cross the border illegally into the U.S. for economic survival, and both those who support and who bitterly oppose them--but her message is not at all heavy-handed.

I am eagerly looking forward to Seale's next book in the series. Jo still has to pack Mrs. Phipps, and from the looks of it, that still isn't going to be an easy job.

This first novel from Anne Seale introduces readers to a new lesbian mystery series. Jo Jacuzzo, a 27-year-old, shy, intelligent (if not the most educated), softhearted butch finds herself thrown into a series of unexpected, complicated, and even life-threatening events. Jo's first person narrative is often amusing and her view of the world has a sweet, almost childlike innocence that is charming without being saccharine. While touchingly neurotic and somewhat naive, Jo is also loyal and a bit stubborn with a definite moral core.

Until the last few weeks, Jo has worked as a homecare-nursing aide. However, an accusation and complaint from the family of one of her clients has resulted in unemployment for Jo. Although she still lives with her mother and her mother's partner, Rose, Jo has been paying her part of the household expenses for years and her unemployment is a hardship for all. Soon her mother pushes Jo to accept a temporary job. That "errand" is to go to Tampa, Florida, and help pack up the snowbird mother of a friend for her summer return to Buffalo.

Of this mother-daughter talk, Jo comments, "I knew I was in for a deep discussion. [Mom]'d said, "So, Jo" when explaining what Kotex was for and before telling me that Daddy had left us, among other depressing things. (Having Daddy leave was depressing only because we didn't leave him first.)" p9

The road trip begins safely enough. Jo stops to visit her Uncle Dom in Cincinnati to help him with some chores. She gets the low-down on him from the neighborhood kids including, "The best bit, however, was that he pushed an evangelist off his porch last year and had to do community service. That's my family, heathenish to a fault." p15

When Jo's beloved Toyota truck has a break down in rural Georgia, she finds herself accepting a detour to Arizona to help the beautiful if enigmatic heiress, Charity Redmun, drive a motor home across country. The complications from here on are exponential.

Packing Mrs. Phipps is a very funny novel and Jo's observations are wonderfully droll at times. For example, this exchange with a woman who befriends Jo: "I guess people name their kids Faith and Hope, so why not [Charity]? Sonny and Cher even named their daughter Chastity. How'd you like to go though life with a name like that? What guy would want to have sex with a girl called Chastity?" [Jo's response] "I'm guessing that doesn't bother her too much." p184

The mystery's plot has several unexpected twists, not the least of which is Jo deciding to go undercover to try to find a killer, and dressing as a high femme named "Sheridan" to infiltrate a right-wing militia group near the Mexican Border. Few things are quite as they appear to be in this suspenseful little tale. There are one or two incongruencies uncaught in the editing process -- like the change of a meeting time from afternoon to morning within three pages and without the implied change of that time. -- Nevertheless, Jo Jacuzzo is one of most charming reluctant detectives since Sarah Dreher's Stoner McTavish series. This entertaining and promising first novel will have this reader looking for Jo's future adventures.

Wilson's was a remarkable presence in a town that that has never gotten over the loss of the high-pay meatpacking firm. Ms. Register wrote a fine and noteworthy account of a company town in rural America. My grandfather worked there for many years chasing cattle up a four-story ramp to the 'kill.' My father worked in the freezers after WWII and my uncle spent many years as a meatcutter. I worked there one summer as did many of my friends and it defined the baseline economics of the union town and it defined what drugery and workplace injuries were all about before we even knew the term carpal tunnel. Beyond working there I witnessed the impact of the strike in 1959. As a nine-year old I used to walk down the railroad tracks to the plant entrance and watch the rocks being thrown, cars being vandalized and anger controlled only by the National Guard. One of my friend's fathers crossed the picket line to work. He like other 'scabs' were labelled and treated as such for decades to come.

Ms. Register digs deeper into Albert Lea's labor past and unbeknownst to me identified an aunt as a striker at the local Woolworth's. The effort of the local union to interject itself into other businesses defined the patrons that businesses would have (another relative who refused to unionize his small retail business found himself boycotted) and the success or failure to follow.

I'm surprised this has not been picked up as a movie. Worth the read.

I don't much like memoirs. But Packinghouse Daughter, by Cheri Register, is not a typical memoir. It is enchanting, disturbing, and provocative. It should be read by a wide range of readers, including academics and other middle-class professionals who pride themselves on "siding with the working class." It shatters some of our illusions and our tendency to romanticize our identification with working-class people even as it encourages us to hold fast to our principles. The book should also be read by the countless working-class parents who worked hard to give their children the life they knew they could never have. Speaking for those children, this book says eloquently: we honor you, our parents, for your commitments and principles and will try to carry those into our very different worlds. As a bonus, the book's author tells her story so well, with a disarming openness about her conflicted emotions and with such humor and earthy but deep insight, that it will be accessible even to those who don't read much.

Register tells a story of growing up in the 1950s as the daughter of a longtime employee of the Wilson meatpacking plant in Albert Lea, Minnesota, not far from the more famous (and, in her account, more favored) Hormel plant in Austin. Coming-of-age memoirs now flood the market with stories that cater to our need for a revised Horatio Alger myth. In countless stories--many of them moving, important stories for our time--children grow up suffering from unspeakable poverty, abusive or otherwise dysfunctional families, or racism, but somehow survive and overcome those conditions to become not wealthy business moguls but their equivalent in our politically correct age: writers or academics who speak out against poverty, violence, and racism. Despite some similarities, this memoir is different. Register acknowledges gratefully that her parents provided an emotionally and economically secure environment for her, while educating her about her place in a world with more complicated class divisions than we see in most popular memoirs. It is, in part, her more subtle account of those divisions that makes her story so compelling.

Make no mistake about it: this is a one-sided story. Register's father is a loyal union man, and she is loyal to the union line, too, especially in telling the story of a particularly divisive labor dispute in 1959. But even when she makes it clear where she believes justice and unfairness lie, she complicates the story in ways that enrich our understanding rather than feed our prejudices.

I grew up in rural Ohio only slightly later than Register, the son of a small-town midwestern merchant in a solidly middle-class family with undoubtedly less disposable income than Register's. My father, like many of Albert Lea's merchants, resented the unions that secured better wages for the workers in the nearby General Motors plant than he thought he could afford to pay his loyal, hard-working employees--some of whom earned more than he did. That experience has always made me suspicious of class-based analyses of rural and small-town life. But Register's subtle class analysis of life in mid-century Albert Lea rings true even to my suspicious ears.

It also rings true because Register does not rely on memory alone. She consulted contemporary sources and interviewed a wide range of informants-balancing her interview with the union president by her interview and sympathetic portrayal of the plant manager, for example. Register knows what memories--hers and her informants--are good for. They convey the sentiment of the times. In that sense her account is sentimental in the best sense of that word. Her language is so vivid and her memories so fine-tuned that we feel we are walking the streets of Albert Lea with her, encountering mid-century sights and sounds that conjure up our own memories. But she knows enough not to trust memories when they become nostalgic, and she walks that fine line with a fine sense of balance.

Register also manages to succeed where many memoirists try but fail: though cast as a memoir, this book feels like it is more about the times than it is about her. Packinghouse Daughter is an eloquent and fitting tribute to the working-class lives of The Greatest Generation.

Even if you are not from the midwest or know nothing about the meat packing business this book will give you much to think about. Cheri has a way of bringing you into her experiences.

I first found out about this book in an article in the Rochester newspaper about the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Since then, I have purchased several of their books. *Packinghouse Daughter* won the American Book Award and the Minnesota Book Award for autobiography, and it deserved both prizes heartily! This book is full of interesting people, class struggle, a young woman coming of age, and old-fashioned Midwestern life. If you hate those whiney memoirs about bad childhoods then this is the perfect antidote.

I would also recommend Steven R. Hoffbeck's *The Haymakers,* which won the Minnesota Book Award for history, and Peter Razor's *While the Locust Slept,* which deserves to win every award out there--both from the Historical Society. These books, like Register's, are good stories concerned with how ordinary people get by and sometimes make an important impact on our culture. These heartfelt books should be read by Americans everywhere and should be the standard for all publishers to meet.

This book -- personal and warm -- is an extraordinary gift to kids of working-class parents. Cheri Register says things that I felt about my own dad and about my own home town, but that I was never able to say to him. She shows how what we do for a "living" is really central to shaping who we are in the bigger world. Thank you for this book!

This is an excellent source of information and I recommend it to anyone who is considering having a llama, and even to the veteran llama owner. This book covers extensive information on care of llamas that is not generally compiled in other places. As a llama breeder, we strongly recommmed this book to all our buyers and suggest that potential new owners read it BEFORE they make a final decision to own llamas. It contains great information in an easy to read format. For new owners, it provides tremendous insight on what to plan for with pasture, fencing, care, behaviors, etc. Note that this book covers many high-level veterinary care points, but is not intended to provide in-depth medical information.

I checked this book out from the library and found it so helpful and interesting that I'll be buying it to have on hand. I don't have llamas yet, but would like to in the future. In the mean time, I'm trying to read and learn as much about it as I can. This book was great for me as a beginner, but complete enough to expand upon if you've had llamas for a while. It covers all the basics of care and breeding as well as a great section on creating a business with your llamas like packing, showing, fertilizer, etc. Gale Birutta is a great author that presents everything in a clear and interesting manner. I loved this book and I recommend it to anyone interested in llamas.

I would highly recommend this book, it was very well written and organized.

This is one of the few books that addresses how to show, sell, care for and train llamas. It covers more areas of llama ownership than any other book I have read. If you want a llama for a pet, or for more than that, this is a good read.

This gives you an overview of everything you need to know about raising llamas. For breeders who sell llamas, the book is a great gift to go along with the animal they sell. It saves them time as it answers many of the questions the new owners have. A must for people thinking about buying their first llama It tells them what to look for so they can make a wise purchase..

`Where is My Bennie?' is a delightful children's story of love for a stuffed animal. Authors April, Celeste & Ruby Robins do a wonderful job of sharing the adventure of Austin's mission to find his missing `Bennie'. Any child reading this will sympathize with Austin and yearn to know if Bennie is found and where Bennie is found. The underlying story is one of storytelling magic and delight for all children. I highly recommend this children's story as a delightfully told mishap turns into a `happy ending'.

Rating Number Is: 5 *****
www.thebookattic.us
Reviewer-Author Anastasia Cassella-Young
and Author Theodocia McLean-Owner of thebookattic.us

I read this to the grand son at bedtime and he started repeating the line "where is my bennie?" every time I finished one of the search areas. He really liked it. This a good book to read at bed time.

This book addresses the special relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. It reminded me of the importance of taking children's losses seriously and how wonderful it is when you play a part in solving their problems. I loved it!

Where is My Bennie? deals with the love between a young boy and his favorite stuffed toy. Austin cannot go to sleep without his best friend, Bennie. Austin travels to his grandparent's home in the country to spend the week. Almost immediately, Bennie becomes missing. Grandma has gone to town, so Austin and Grandpa must find the missing Bennie. Hunter, Grandma's dog, follows their every move. The book has seventeen colorful illustrations depicting country life and the love between family members. It is written by a mother, daughter, and daughter-in-law writing team who have extensive experience working with the school systems. If a child has a favorite stuffed animal, he will love Where is My Bennie?

I would also recommend that you be on the lookout for ¿Dónde está Mi Bennie? which is the Spanish Language Edition of Where is My Bennie? It should go on sale before the end of the year, 2007. It is an exact Spanish translation of the English version: thereby, allowing a page by page comparison of the two languages for any age student.

Interested in buying this book, or the one on meatpackers by Roger Horowitz? See the symposium on Halpern and Horowitz's work in the journal _Labor History_ 40:2 (1999). They have also jointly authored a collection of oral history interviews -- all available from Amazon

This is one of the best labor history books I've read: it is scholarly, no doubt about that, but SO, SO "readable." Almost like a novel at points. It's important, too, because it sheds much light on the way in which blacks and whites managed to unite around common interests. It also makes wonderful use of oral histories, so that the characters really come to life.

Rick B Halpern is a renowned commentator on the American Meatpacking Industry, and in this meticolusly researched book he chronicles the results of years of inquiry into what Chicago proletarians in hushed tones refer to as 'the big slaughterhouse.' Don't be put off by the picture of the Cow being killed on the front - there's plenty more meat inside and it's not covered in blood and guts. I was particularly impressed by his use of oral history. Too many modern historians ignore this valuable resource, but Halpern is a man on a mission and no lack of written records is going to get in his way. Overall, I found this book was a valuable contribution to an underresearched area and I believe should be read by anyone interested in modern Northern American Labour history.

The old clichéd saying, "A Picture is worth a Thousand Words!" is very true, especially when considering such things as knots, hitches and lashings. And the saying certainly holds for HORSE PACKING IN PICTURES by Francis W. Davis. This book, written over thirty years ago, continues to be the standard when it comes to learn the ropes (and, yes, that pun was entirely intended!) about horse packing and the mechanics of making it effectively and easily happen. Handsomely illustrated, HORSE PACKING... will become your bible for getting from here to there with your packhorse in tow. From getting started, to choosing the right pack animal, to making your own packing gear, HORSE PACKING... is the book you need.

Good luck finding one, though. The book is currently out of print and I have seen them priced as high as $60 online. Your best bet is to find a used copy on Amazon.

THE HORSEMAN

I just got my hands on this book and can't wait to get some rope and try knots and hitches. The drawings are great and it is easy to make sense of what many other books try to put into words. The drawings are skillfully done to illustrate exactly what is being taught. It says in the back of the book, that this manual was originally intended and used as a textbook for people taking packing classes. Therefore it was designed for practical learning. I'm sure once I finally get out into the woods, that this valuable reference book will be muddy, tattered, dog-eared, but well packed into my mules panniers! I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone interested in packing, especially those just starting out!

I use "Packing in Pictures" as a text book for the horse packing course I teach at Casper College each year. It provides easy to follow drawings on each hitch, knot and procedure. My past students tell me that it a great brush up after not using the various hitches for some time. Best book out on the market!!