Budget Books

I really liked this guide. It was pretty much on the mark and crammed a lot into a small book. Much easier handling than other books on Colorado and gives a sense of the personality of each town and resort, if not always enough in-depth info on recreation.

I live in Colorado, but purchased this book after using other Fodor Guides on travels. It's a great way for me to explore my own state, and I've planned some great weekend getaways after receiving this book.

Excellent guide, whatever your interests. Gives "off the beaten path" and historic notes as well as nice lodgings and restaurants. I look for a Fodor's guide every time I travel.

Excellent book-- very thorough-- very informative.

You can't go wrong with a Fodor's travel guide- they definitely know their stuff!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This book was essential to our wonderful trip. I was able to focus on the things that really interested me, and I actually suprised my relatives who live in the area with some little-known places thanks to the book. It is full of useful info and great travel tidbits.

Very useful and informative. Saved me a lot of research time. Highly recommend these books to plan a trip.

These guides are small, convenient and helpful. The favorite thing I like about this book is the foldout map of the Tube in the front cover, as well as the larger foldout map of London snapped into the back cover. There is very little bulk to this very helpful guide. I highly recommend it!

This book was very helpful to me in planning my trip to London. The map included is very helpful as well. I recommend it.

This book contains basic "best of" nuggets of information. First-time travelers should be well equipped to visit the main highlights of London. The plastic-covered tri-fold map of the subway and of the main attractions (which is built into the book's front cover) is sturdy, easy to access, and just the right size. The fold-up map (stored in a pocket in the back of the book)would be cumbersome to use while standing on a street corner, but the detailed site maps within the book are very helpful.

Note that the publication date is 2006, so some attraction prices may have increased (for instance, as of 2/2008, the Tower of London's entrance fee is 16 BP, not the listed 14 BP). However, you can use web addresses listed in this guide to double check prices.

If you're looking for "off the beaten path" sites to visit, you may want to supplement "London Day by Day" with a more comprehensive guidebook (i.e., the thick books you leave in your hotel room as reference).

Advice for travelers: Take advantage of the subway (tube), which is easy to use, safe, and much cheaper than a cab. Also, considering the weak dollar, take advantage of the many free (and spectacular) museums: National Gallery, V&A, Tate Modern, and British Museum are my favorites.

I just got back from a five day trip to London showing my wife the sights on her visit. This book was our primary guide for two major reasons.

1. The day by day itineries show the must sees, including where the must see's are in the museums. If you know you're going to be there for a few days, you might wish to regroup them a bit (moving some things from one day to another) to ease a bit of travel, but are excellent overall.

2. The whole thing fits in your back pocket! Most travel guides now are encyclopedias you leave in the hotel room. This one with its convenient fold out high level street plan and Underground map made getting around very easy. The pull out detailed map in the map offers even more detail once you're downtown.

Also, the restaurant guides were superb, important when the pound is $2.00! We really like the Audley and Rules.

BTW, you can also get to Paddington station from Heathrow via the "Heathrow Connection". It's half the price of the Heathrow Express and only takes ten minutes more time. Essentially it's the local train on the same line.

Garfield Weighs in (#4) contains all daily garfield comics from March 31, 1980 through November 2, 1980. Within Garfield's First Tresury, are the color versions of #4's sunday comics from April 6, 1980 through July 13, 1980, while Garfield's Second Tresury contains the color versions of #4's sunday strips from July 20, 1980 through November 2, 1980.

"Garfield Weighs In" is the fourth Garfield strip set, (dailies and Sundays) from March-November 1980. Pretty entertaining. A few things happen in it. Bit of Nermal, Jon gets a date, the "Sludge Monster", Garfield's "History of Dogs". Worth a read.

I think it is obvious that I love Garfield the cat. For a dog person such as myself, Garfield is the one cat that I would love to own (or maybe not). It is so interesting, if not funny seeing how Garfield has evolved beginning with "Garfield At Large". He began as this big blob of ink. His eyes were small, had a t-shaped nose, and his ears were just as small as his eyes. I would have to say the evolution of Garfield stopped with "Garfield Sits Around the House". All of Jim Davis' books are hilarious. Through out the 20-some years that Garfield has been around, diehard fans such as myself would noticed that the gags and jokes have changed over the years. In the first several books, there were no spider jokes. Or the poor Mrs. Feeny who is constantly tormented by Garfield nowadays. In "Garfield Weighs In" (as well as the other first three books), Garfield is either being tormented by Nermal, the world's cutest (and annoying) kitten or being tricked into taking a bath. And then there is the sludge monster, a figment of Garfield's overactive imagination. I love it when Garfield mugs a girl scout for her cookies. Only Garfield would do something as silly as mugging a girl scout. Another classic moment in the book is when Jon attempts to train Garfield to be an attack cat but fails miserably. And of course there is the visit to Dr. Liz's office and the constant putdowns Jon gets from Liz. Garfield never ceases to amuse me. I still laugh at his crankiness and enormous appetite for all things pasta.

This book is very good! I like this book because in Garfield bigger than life, Weighs in and Takes the Cake, Jim Davis' illustrations are at their best. Other than that, the book is very funny and if you are buying this book, get the color edition, it is much better quality.

Contains all the daily and Sunday strips March 31, 1980 through November 2, 1980.

The first thing about this book that will strike the reader is its central unifying theme. From its blueprint-like cover art to the titles of its individual chapters, the home-construction theme-from the front porch to the kitchen to the garage-is apparent. Whether the reader is a young adult just starting life in the "real world" and hoping to build his financial "dream house" or an older person whose finances are in need of repair, this book will offer the tools and materials necessary to get the job done.

Scattered liberally throughout each chapter are "plumb-line principles," Bible verses that provide the foundation for the financial truths communicated in each section. Each chapter also closes with application questions that help the reader apply the principles to his or her unique situation, whether repairing debt, saving for retirement, or increasing charitable giving.

Numerous appendices offer the reader practical lists and worksheets for calculating one's financial situation and personal priorities. The book's contents are adequately documented in end notes, which also provide helpful Internet links for further study and information.

The practical aspects of this book should be enough to convince readers to buy it; endorsements by such luminaries as Ron Blue and Gary Smalley will ensure it. Readers will not be disappointed. The book is practical, insightful, and well written.

Popular topic, clever approach!

This book kept disappearing off my desk as one person after another - from twentysomethings to midlifers - kept asking to borrow it! Everyone wants to know if they need to make changes to the way they handle money as well as other assets.

This book, with its strong Biblical underpinnings (should I use the word 'footings'?) makes a useful tool and excellent resource. The practical assessments and end-of-chapter reflection questions sparked many enlightening conversations here. The end-of-book opportunities for commitment move people past the "ah-hah!" moment and into real application.

There are plenty of books out there for the person who just wants to gain knowledge, but this one is about making changes. If you need to confront the truth about your money-handling habits and you desire real change, this is the book for you!

Before reading Getting Your Financial House in Order, I thought I had a pretty good handle on my finances. My husband and I contribute to our credit union every week, tithe at our local church, don't put Christmas on credit cards, and do what we can to reduce utility usage. Now I see that even families like us can learn a lot from this book.

The book is written from a biblical prospective with a chapter on charitable giving called the Dining Room, and the another chapter, the Foyer/Entryway about stewardship vs. ownership, but even non-Christians wil find timeless, invaluable information about controlling their finances. Each chapter of the book is named for a room in the house. For instance, the kitchen gives the recipe for financial freedom. My favorite was chapter five, the master bedroom. There, the authors pointed out the communication problems concerning money between men and women, and how to overcome them.

From the college student, still living at home, and dreaming of the day he can move into his own place, to the retirees on a limited income, anyone can benefit from this book. The authors explain everything from the importance of operating on a budget to living without credit to retirement and investing. At the end of each chapter is a summary and application exercises to get you started on getting your financial house in order.

I recommend this book to anyone who owes even one dime in debt, has ever experienced anxiety over those monthly bills coming in, or has ever argued with a spouse or a child over money.

The authors use a word picture of building, repairing, and maintaining a financial house, making money matters interesting and easy to understand. Tools for this work are supplied with a strong emphasis on Biblical principles. "Plumb Line Principles" scattered throughout the book highlight Scripture verses that apply to each chapter's focus.

Financial planning is compared to a house, with each "room" containing a different aspect of money management, such as the garage for repairs and maintenance; the porch for reflections on the past and visions for the future; and the master bedroom for husband and wife communication. This metaphor helps to show how all parts of the money-management process combine to make a complete and sturdy financial plan.

I especially appreciated Chapter 7 on planning and budgeting. The authors took a subject which is threatening to many people and made it simple. They offer a step-by-step process for creating a budget and making it work, whether your income is steady or irregular.

Each chapter ends with questions that will help the reader apply what is learned. The appendices include space for notes on each chapter, a to-do list and a goals worksheet.

This book was well-researched and includes valuable statistics and personal experiences. Written in an easy-to-read and an easy-to-understand style, Getting Your Financial House in Order offers hope for those who have let their finances get out of hand and guidance for those who know little about finances (you'll know much more when you finish this book!) I recommend it highly.

Our culture screams, "Spend!" and the bank account groans from overload. Crave a new financial road? Hope is on the horizon. Getting Your Financial House in Order beckons, "You can change your financial situation; here's the plan!"

Whether one's financial house needs a little remodeling or a brand new foundation, David and Debbie Bargonier with Kimn S. Gollnick offer sound plans to meet anyone at any stage of the financial building process.

At first, I wondered how this book could be different. What help could it offer people like me who get glassy-eyed when the word budget is spoken? What options are available to flounderers in the financial sea? The answer -- plenty!

I was not overloaded in the first paragraph with guilt or an unrealistic set of goals. Instead, the authors invited me to sit on the porch, take inventory, and assemble the proper tools for the venture.

The eye-catching sidebars offering plumb line principles, captured my attention; I could scan the highlights of each chapter without missing the heart of the message.

Practical personal examples and strategies are tacked liberally on the pages. This plan is workable! I can record applications chapter by chapter. In the back of the book I can sum up any commitments and action goals.

I don't want any wasted space in my financial floor plan; therefore, Getting Your Financial House in order will serve me well now and in the future. A great choice for anyone!

I was a little surprised that the book was so thin but there wasn't alot of empty space. The author fills the book with great tips. Some you'll know, some you won't, but it's worth it.

If you're looking for some good insights for yourself, this is a great, easy-to-read book. But, it's really great to give as a gift to a young bride or an expectant mom. Yes, some of the things the author discusses should be common sense, but let's face it, not everyone has common sense and many of us forget to use it sometimes! Ms. Walker gave me some great ideas and got me to re-think some of the things our family does. I am the envy of my whole family because of the deals I get on children's clothing, and until I read this book, I really wouldn't have seriously thought about rummage sales and consignment shops. Now, you can't pull me out of them. If you're looking for a quick, down-to-earth start on getting a handle on your budget, this is a helpful and fun book to start with. Thanks!

This slim book is filled with common-sense ideas on how to save money such as cut coupons, buy in bulk, eBay, rummage sales, etc. If you normally live a moderately frugal lifestyle, you won't find any new insights here. In fact, I can add a new one: #66: Don't waste $15.95 on this book.

I like this book for it's practicality, simplicity and the fact that the author, whether intentional or not, made this an easy read that doesn't consume more of your time than necessary. Some of these suggestions are fairly common sense, others are eye-opening suggestions that could certainly make for practical use. Her writing style is not superior or overly-authoritative but more personal and conversational. Like reading a letter from a good friend who's "been there".

I am a mom of two little girls, and, like all other mothers, am always looking for ways to save money - but with precious little time to hunt for bargains. I thought that Christine Walker's book gave some easy, creative ways to cut costs on everyday items. As the author suggested, I have gone to my local grocery store and introduced myself to the store manager. He said he is happy to help point out bargains, and told me that he wished more people would take the time to seek him out!

Also, I went to a dollar store - never had been to one before - and it was a blast. There really are everyday items to be purchased for $1 - hairspray, shampoo, candles, etc.

This book is a quick read and a lot of fun. I highly recommend it.

We've all done it -- walked out after the movie and said "I can do better than that." Joe Queenan decided to give it a try.

The book works because it is so full of the details of his (ad)venture. Of particular note, he includes the full screenplay.

In his candor he shows a real contempt for screenwriting and for mental health care. Ironically, he ultimately proves that a good screenplay is essential to a good film and that he could use some therapy himself.

I get very excited whenever there's a new release by Joe Queenan. I don't think there's a funnier writer. I just love his dry, cynical view of the world. This one's the tale of Joe making his own movie - how I ache to see the end result. Buy it. You'll love it.

Joe Queenan has a gift for writing. I have read one reviewer saying his writing is, perhaps, pretentious -- and.. sometimes it is. But, come on... he's really funny. He's meanly sarcastic. It's so great. And who can meld wicked sarcasm with big words?

Oh, ok. I guess some other authors can too. But I still choose Joe Queenan over anyone else. This book, I must say, is either his finest or one of them.

As of 10/17/01, "The Unkindest Cut" is not available. Thank God I have a resonable library. I found this accidentally.. while looking for something else by Joe Queenan, "Balsamic Dreams"(which is also good). I took the book off the shelf, sat down at an empty table, and started reading.

Fifty pages later, I was more than ready to check "Unkindest" out.

Reading this was such a pleasure. I went through the adventures of Joe Queenan for a long time span. And since I'm an aspiring director, this was already an instant classic for me.

If you like Joe Queenan, you will most definetly love this book. Yeah, currently it's not available, but buy one used. They should be available here. It's worth it. It's touching, funny, dead serious sometimes, and just overall one of the better reads I've had the pleasure for a long time.

This project was designed as a parody of 'Rebel without a Crew' by Robert Rodriguez. Robert produced a movie for $ 7,000, taking numerous shortcuts along the way, so sarcastic writer Joe Queenan, having $7,000 to spare, decided to join him.

R's fundemental idea is that you become a director by doing everything from holding the camera to dressing the sets. Which is very good, but Joe - by his own admission - didn't even know how to use an Instamatic. So he needed help, and, well, help never comes cheap when your contacts are among the over-30 set instead of enthusiastic film school types.

As a result, even the proposed budget was seriously out of control. Why Joe continued despite this is a complete mystery to me, and - I think - to his readers as well. It was already clear from the start that Joe was not the type of person who could actually make a $ 7,000 film. (To put this in perspective, $ 7,000 was about what the film and developing cost on Rodriguez' picture).

But he did. I must warn those interested in this book: The script is ghastly. It's not that it's not politically correct; that I can surely deal with. But the truth is that there are NO sympathetic characters. NONE. The supposed hero is a tough, mean-spirited cop who spends most of his time insulting his partner. The villain is an evil shrink who taunts his patients. And his patients are annoying too, although their level of annoyance is pretty much built into the concept.

I recommend the book highly because it's side-splittingly funny, and because the lessons that should be learned from it are obvious: Don't try to make a film if you haven't got a few videos under your belt and have learned some lessons from them.

Incidentally, despite the ending, Joe Queenan has since made another film. Guess filmmaking ruined neither his finances or his marriage, despite claims to the contrary in the book. Or is he a closet masochist?

Mr. Queenan seems not to have grasped that satire is a weapon of the powerless against the powerful. When satire is aimed at powerless people, it is not only cruel but profoundly vulgar. -Molly Ivins, NY Times Book Review on Imperial Caddy by Joe Queenan

It's hard to imagine how Molly Ivins could be more wrong, though not the least bit surprising that she is. The natural target of satire is not power, but stupidity, and it is simply one of those brutal facts of life that the powerless are often so because they are stupid, while the powerful, though quite often stupid themselves, are usually less so. Satire is however an important weapon to use against the powerful, because their stupidity has a tendency to affect us all, whereas the stupidity of the powerless is generally fairly harmless. She is right though, that the satirist will often appear to be cruel and vulgar; after all, their profession basically consists of pointing out how stupid people are. But it is possible, perhaps even necessary, for them to leaven this effect by pointing out one other thing : their own stupidity. No humorist is more savage than Joe Queenan, but in recent years he's learned this lesson and taken to making himself the butt of his own humor.

When his job as a self described "hatchet man critic" found him watching the Robert Rodriguez film, El Mariachi, which was notoriously said to have been made for $7000, Joe Queenan decided that he was so sick of hearing these kinds of obviously confabulated stories about independent filmmakers that he would try it himself :

[A]ll Rodriguez had proven was that someone could make a movie for $7,000. What would be really cool was proving that anyone could make a movie for $7,000. And that anyone was going to be me.

This book details his misadventures as he sets out to do just that--well, actually to make one for $6,998.

He quickly determined that in order to keep costs down, and headaches to a minimum, his movie, Twelve Steps to Death, would have to be made without professional help, or rather interference, because professionals wouldn't be willing to make the necessary compromises. So instead, he wrote, directed and acted in it himself; used friends, family and neighbors; and shot the whole thing in his hometown of Tarrytown, NY.. Much of the book is taken up by the script and by the very funny process of making the movie, which ends up costing twice the budgeted price even with all the corner cutting.

Then an interesting thing happens, Queenan finds himself getting caught up in the whole deal and starts to think in bigger terms than just showing it can't be done. He starts to think about having a finished product that people will actually pay for. The cynic starts to care. And so he begins blowing larger and larger sums of money to get the picture edited, add sound effects and music, and produce a quality print. He stages and of course wins his own film festival, where Twelve Steps is the only entry and the judges are friends, in-laws, and his mother. Then he takes the movie to a Dallas Film Festival...and the roof falls in on his dreams. In its review of the movie, the Dallas Observer compared it to "a flatulent snuffalupagus, pausing before each target and expelling noxious gases."

This is all very funny, but along the way something more profound is also revealed. Queenan discovers that it just isn't that easy, despite all his sniping over the years, to make a good movie. More important, he offers the reader a chance to see just how divorced from that reality he became. Queenan actually deceived himself into thinking that the movie was good, when it was manifestly, and virtually had to be, awful. And he's one of the most cynical guys on the planet; imagine how much easier it must be for artists, with their inherently dreamy temperaments, to trick themselves. No wonder most art isn't very good. The people who produce it are fundamentally incapable of maintaining the emotional distance that is required to judge it objectively. In the end the joke is on Joe Queenan as he learns this valuable lesson--that people don't set out to make crappy movies, they just turn out that way, despite their best intentions--in devastating, but very amusing, fashion.

GRADE : B

Are you an unabashed cheapskate developer? Perhaps by the necessity of a limited budget. Or maybe you consider Open Source to be ultimately more reliable than closed proprietary code. For either reason, or better, for both, this book might interest you.

The authors shamelessly plug the combination of writing in Java and using Open Source applications that have arisen to support it. Starting with using Ant as a "super-make". Then testing modularity and programmatically with JUnit. If you need to build business rules, why not try Marc Fleury's JBoss? Plus front end UIs can be enhanced with SWT, if you want a native look and feel, instead of the default Swing/AWT. Also discussed are JMX, JDBC, JNDI and more.

All these packages are free and by now are very well tested. Sam-Bodden and Judd try to motivate you with concrete code samples. Because the packages can be forbidding in their totality. The authors show how you can integrate them into your needs in a systematic and doable fashion. The complexity can be minimised.

As an extra fillip, they devote a chapter to the very hot topic of having Web Services support mobile clients, via something like J2ME.

I must confess that the title is what first intrigued me. I like "process" oriented books, that tell me how to do more with less. But when I cracked it open, I found a very broad collection of quality open source projects, all available for free.

Rather than just listing the products and letting me fend for myself, the authors walk me through what to expect from an MVC or persistence framework, laying out the landscape and telling me what the tradeoffs are for each solution. It's a great idea. With a little promotion, a book with this title, philosophy, and organization *should* go places. I'm not sure why it hasn't so far.

Why I like this book:

- It gives a good overall coverage of the open source options that aids decision making.
- Something like this was well overdue.
- Reasonably well written, they know their stuff.
- Good pointers and relevant advicxe.

Why I don't like this book.

- As usual, the code does not work, ant generates warnings, some pages on the web application do not work, no install instructions, had to figure it out for 2 hours. No source files for the argoUML provided.
- SPELLING AND GRAMMAR ERRORS. If you can't stand them, like me, you will writhe in pain at some real shockers.
- The example application is TOO COMPLEX. If you provide an example system, MAKE IT WORK FIRST AND PROVIDE INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE.
- The website is "under construction", therefore no errata, had to go to the publisher's site for the source code.
- An online version of the example app would have been a good idea.
- I will probably only read it once and never refer to it again because of these issues, so kinda wasted it's potential.
- I contacted the authors and got the usual "not my problem" response.

I hope this helps you make a sound purchase decision, and just maybe it would have got 4 stars if the external issues such as cource code building, website, errata etc were addressed. Attention authors: it's not too late to address them. Unfortunately I do have that bad just-bought-an-expensive-java-book-again-and-feel-let-down-just-publish-it-and-forget-it kinda feeling.

I looked at the size of the book and didn't think it was possible for the authors to adequately cover all java open source technologies listed on the cover. I was mistaken. Since I am a seasoned J2EE professional, I thought I could skip over sections on Ant, Junit and UML. Again, I was mistaken. I learned many tips on topics I thought I was already an expert on.

Not only did the authors provide valuable information on each topic, but each technology was compared in an unbiased fashion. I felt each chapter provided enough background and detailed information for me to decide if it's a good fit for my application. The authors point out critical questions to ponder in each chapter when making architectural decisions. The chapter on "Data Storage Options" is a great example.

I found the theme of using the sample application throughout the book as a cohesive and a good way to demonstrate and contrast the different open source technologies. The sample application represented a real world scenario and demonstrated more than just the simple (and non real world) usage of the technologies.

I only have one wish, I would have liked to seen a little more coverage of Apache Axis in the web services chapter.

It would be impossible to thoroughly cover each open source technology included in the book since each one is a book unto itself. However, after reading this single book I feel educated enough to choose and further evaluate open source technologies that will meet my specific application needs. This sure beats having to research countless web sites, articles and technology specific books to find information provided in this one resource.

Given the scope of what the authors are trying to achieve here, I didn't expect them to succeed: it is, after all, just a lot of information.

Fortunately, they've proven me wrong. This book is excellent, technical, well-written, and well-organized. If you're looking for a mechanism go from Programmer to Developer, or from Developer to Lead Developer, then this book will give explain the technical material you need to master.

I bought this book well over 25 years ago when I was cooking in a kitchen the size of a postage stamp in midtown Manhattan. It was probably the first or second book that started my collection which has grown substantially in size since that time. It is dog-eared, pages are stained, but everytime I open it I am reminded of the wonderful smells of food cooking, the sighs of satisfied friends and family, and the fun I had playing with Jacque's recipes. This little book, much less expensive at that time than the "popular" writings of today, gives a novice cook the opportunity to follow his recipes to a T, or to veer off and imagine what they can really do. As for the experienced cook - he gave and continues to give them so much food for thought. His vegetable soup is awesome, but at the same time it inspires a cook to see what's happening on a cold winter's night, what's available in that fridge, and create something amazing. The pate, so simple, teaches techniques that make this dish a signature piece. It's all about food that's available, technique and imagination. Oh, and the Stew of Chicken Wings...a perfect play on a simple paella.

Jacques Pepin inspired the foodies revolution a long time ago, and continues to do so. As a previous reviewer noted, grab it if you can find it. My collection continues to grow. Jacques Pepin's book are definitely not taking up space. They will move over a bit, but they are here to stay! Most importantly, they will always be dog-eared!

This Pepin book has a wide range of recipes that are very interesting. Nothing is studied in depth, but there's a chatty informality about the text, where you can dig out more information. I enjoyed it on first read-through, and I'm confident I'll be quite at ease with cooking the recipes. Not an essential part of your cookbook collection, but one very enlightening that widens your horizons.

I've tried a couple of things in this book and they were great. I like the versatility of the recipes. Very homestyle cooking (remember he is French and preparing everyday recipes from his childhood) make this a great, and not overly difficult or inacessable, french cookbook.

The intention of this book is very commendable. The execution, however, is less than adequate, and I do not recommend it. The stated purpose of this cookbook is home cooking that is economical, uses leftovers, and educates the home cook to become `recipeless'. Pity that the author's selection of recipes does not match his intentions.

About the genesis of this book: I do not know. According to the author's notes, this book is a companion to a season of cooking shows on PBS. I have not seen or am familiar with this TV show, so I do not know. It states that the intention was to present many more recipes than time allowed for the TV show, so he included all of them in this book.

Happily, the author includes a number of really versatile home cooking recipes that are quite amenable to ingredient substitutions or are really preparation techniques and not recipes per se. Example: `Fish Fillets Nicoise' or `Grenoble'. It is a versatile preparation method for all types of fish, especially tuna and salmon, even though the author does not name these types specifically, but just refers to oily or fatty fish. `Vegetable Soup' can be made with, well, any vegetable.

There are a couple of format problems. The beginning of each chapter includes all recipes in that chapter; hurrah. Sadly, the rather goofy graphic layout of them makes it difficult to read at one glance. Many of the recipes recommend substitutions; many of them are cross-indexed in the index in the back, but not all of all the author's suggestions are so delineated (`Stewed Crinkled Kale' can be used for just about any tough, large, green leaf vegetable, but you would not know this by examining the index; you would learn this only by carefully reading the author's preliminary remarks to the recipe). In many cases, the only way to tell about these substitutions is to study the author's rather enlightening comments that precede each recipe. It would have been more useful to have some sort of chart that tells you what recipes are relevant based what leftover ingredient you are trying to use up from your refrigerator. It is impossible to know, unless you study each and every recipe in detail, that `Eggs Jeannette' is a wonderful way to use up hard boiled or deviled eggs, unless you study the index very closely with a magnifying glass.

About half of the recipes are inconsistent with the author's stated intention: lettuce souffle and several other recipes that use whipped egg whites; several recipes that use veal breast; liver pate with decorations. Many recipes are based on a specific ingredient, and substitutes are not mentioned or suggested, because the recipe the author cites is not that versatile: corn chowder, cabbage gratin, potato and gnocchi, cucumber salad, tomato salad, roe and liver persillade, mackerel in vinaigrette, pilaf of mussels, chicken cassoulet, chicken livers. In his `Pate Brisee' recipe, the author laments ; `You may get excellent results one time and ordinary pastry the next.' Monsieur Pepin: the reason your recipe is not consistent is that you are measuring your flour by volume using measuring cups. If you will please make this recipe measuring your flour by weight with a scale, you will discover that the recipe will miraculously work perfectly each and every time, regardless of the age of the flour, the ambient temperature in your kitchen, or the relative humidity.

On the good side, each recipe is surprising complete with many steps carefully and fully explained, along with several color photos of what is going on in each step. The author needs to learn, however, that just because a recipe is easy to explain does NOT mean it is easy for the home cook to execute properly.

On balance, it is a decent learning tool for the home cook, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

This is one of those books that is just fantastic. It is great for accomplished cooks as well as novices.

I consider this book the original "french food made easy" cookbook. All of the recipes are easy, and most of them are inexpensive to prepare. Jacques does a magnificent job explaining basic techniques within the recipes themselves. Just by using this book you will learn a lot of the techniques on french cooking.

Many of my friends that are new to French cooking has borrowed this book with great results. If you want to add some French cooking to your menu's but don't want to go into the depth of a Julia Child tome, this book great.

This book covers:
Menus
First Courses
The Main Dish
Desserts

Of all the recipes in this book I think the Crepes Souffles is my favorite; beautiful, unusual, easy and delicious.

If you ever run across a copy of this book pick it up, you won't be disappointed.

I'm currently in a position that forces me to move to an apt that is way smaller than anything I've ever lived. Going from a large house to a 577 sq foot space is scarey. Smaller income and health made it the only solution that was sensible. This book encouraged me that I COULD make it work. I needed this encouragment to help me see a picture that wasn't hopeless. THANKS to the author, I'm back on track. PB

This book is for those of us with little money, little time and very little or no decorating skills/creativity. If you are moving into an apartment (like me) and have a desire to create a pleasant living space, this book is definetly for you.

I like the book because it is very practical and it helped me focus on what I wanted my apartment to look like. It helped me establish a budget and a "look" for the apartment, so now, when I go shopping, I know exactly how much I have to spend, what I need and whether or not something will match or look good, etc.

The author also gives tips on where to find stuff on at a discounted rate and her sample budgets made me remember to buy the little stuff you tend to forget about, like a small trash can for the kitchen.

The best part about all of this is that the entire process, budgeting and creating a scheme only took a few hours to create.

This book is for those of us with little money, little time and very little or no decorating skills/creativity. If you are moving into an apartment (like me) and have a desire to create a pleasant living space, this book is definetly for you.

I like the book because it is very practical and it helped me focus on what I wanted my apartment to look like. It helped me establish a budget and a "look" for the apartment, so now, when I go shopping, I know exactly how much I have to spend, what I need and whether or not something will match or look good, etc.

The author also gives tips on where to find stuff on at a discounted rate and her sample budgets made me remember to buy the little stuff you tend to forget about, like a small trash can for the kitchen.

The best part about all of this is that the entire process, budgeting and creating a scheme only took a few hours to create.

If you have very little money, little time, little or no decorating talent, and the desire to make your apartment look great, this book is for you! This is the first decorating book I picked up where ALL of the ideas in this book are paractical.

How to Decorate helped me establish a budget and "scheme" for apartment. Following the author's guidelines will help you do the same. So when you go shopping for instance, you will not impulse buy and end up with furniture you don't really want.

The author also makes great suggestions on discount shopping stores, space and style consideration, cheapo ways to change the look of furniture, and how to "size up an apartment" during your initial apartment hunting period.

If your shopping/moving budget is $500 or less, this book is a must have!!

this book just didn't have any information in it that I didn't already have.

I've been using this book in Moscow and Western Russia and have loved it. It seems perfect for those who are spending time in Eastern Europe but don't want an encyclopedia on every last little town (i.e., Lonely Planet). It has as all you need to know for a good time anywhere behind the Iron Curtain -- it even has a little bit on Ulaanbator. Unless you're spending a ton of time in one place, it doesn't make sense to go buy of a bunch of more specific books. Plus, I should add that the maps in this Let's Go are much better than ones I've seen in the past.

Witty, thorough, and accurate, this is the best travel guide I've ever used. It made travel in Eastern Europe a pleasure. Globetrotters who love Eastern Europe (as all globetrotters should) owe editors Melissa Gibson, Richard Parr, and Angus Burgin an enormous debt for their spectacular work.

Let's Go guides have always been first rate -- particularly for students and other budget travelers. Having done quite a bit of traveling in Eastern Europe, I was impressed by this book. Thorough coverage, lots of useful info, and fun to read. I particularly enjoyed the section on Poland. I will definitely have this book under my arm when I travel next.

I've been using this book in Moscow and Western Russia and have loved it. It seems perfect for those who are spending time in Eastern Europe but don't want an encyclopedia on every last little town (i.e., Lonely Planet). It has as all you need to know for a good time anywhere behind the Iron Curtain -- it even has a little bit on Ulaanbator. Unless you're spending a ton of time in one place, it doesn't make sense to go buy of a bunch of more specific books. Plus, I should add that the maps in this Let's Go are much better than ones I've seen in the past.

The great thing about the "Let's Go Easter Europe" guide is it's current-- A new edition out each year ensures you get the latest possible travel information publishing deadlines allow. But, before you spend money on this one, I'd go to the local library to be sure it's what you want.

This is a basic travel guide with a significant amount of details, and a few exceptional articles, covering travel in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Because you're talking 17 countries here, you are not going to have a great deal of material in terms of background and history. If you want to know what the area you're going to visit looks like, wait until you arrive, because "Let's Go" doesn't believe in giving you any hints there- the "only" photographs in 840+ pages are on the cover and a couple of advertisements.

Another thing- you'll find a "duplicate" set of decent color maps for 4 major cities: Moscow, Prague, Budapest and Krakow. These are located on the front and rear sections adjacent to the cover. I assume that is so you can rip one out to take on the road with you. The rest of the countries have maps incorporated into the text (on poorer quality paper). The thing is- with Eastern Europe, it's tough to get a decent map at times. It would have been great if "Let's Go" invested in equally good ones for all the countries' major city.

Just in case you need to know, here are the countries "Let's Go" addresses in this edition: Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia.

All in all, I think the book is useful, but not the best available. I would not rely on this book alone unless you on a limited business trip or a short overnight type of stay or tour. If you are going to spend the money to really visit some of these incredible countries and gorgeous cities, find other

resources to supplement your travel preparation.

Here are my recommendations based on our experience: First, if you are going to the Baltics or Belarus pick up a copy of the "In Your Pocket" city guides. You can find out more about these quarterly-updated guides by doing a simple web search to locate their site. They are absolutely the best little guides! If you order them, allow about a month for delivery. Otherwise, when you arrive in a city they review (i.e. Vilnius, Tallinn, Riga, Minsk etc.), pick one up on arrival at the airport before you go. They may be at a better hotels, but often they are difficult to find once you leave the terminal.

Also I'd recommend checking out the "Insight Guide" series for your area of interest. The one for the Baltics is superb. They offer a depth of great background and history with tons of photographs. Also, Lonely Planet guides are my favorite for the amount of information in a small space. Either of these have my vote as "stand alone" guides if you were to only buy one.