Budget Books

All this book is is a monthly planner/calendar so you can visualize what is going out and coming in. You're better off getting a calendar at the store and using that, or do like I do, and keep track of it on a dry erase board!. All in all, kinda disappointing. It sounds like it's a book helping you create a budget, but it's just telling you where your money goes (which I admit is a good 1st step towards budgeting) but not helping you set limits.

Ok, So I thought this was going to have some sort of system to it...NAH. It is a calendar. You write on the Calendar when your bills are due. If I were you I would just go buy a calendar with lines on it. That is the basics of what this "system" is.

As soon as I received this book, I started recommending it to all participants attending my financial seminars, across the country. Many people say they are "too busy" to budget, when in fact, they are just not organized. And the first (and most important) step to getting out of debt and control of your finances is being organized. It can't get any easier than this. Try it and your money will be glad you did!!

This small volume is worth its weight in gold for those who have a hard time getting a handle on their finances. "The Too Busy To Budget Financial Organizing System" is geared toward people who are visual and it will assist with every part of the daunting task of budgeting: savings, paying bills on time, and much more. To get a firm grip on your finances, it really helps to see where you money is going and when. Not only does it allow for tracking monthly finances but yearly ones as well so you can see where your money has gone for the past year. If you are a non-custodial parent, you will also find this book useful for tracking expenses related to your kids. This book may be one of the most valuable tools you will have for any future court appearances. Order two today ~ one for yourself and another for a friend. He or she will thank you for it.

Too Busy to Budget by Kathy Miller is just what I needed to get my financial act together. Money and finances are complex and abstract areas for me. Miller provides a ready-made visual system to track bills, accounts, expenses and income.
She has already done the work of setting up the system. All I had to do was follow the directions.

Everyone needs a system for tracking finances. I recommend this one because it is comprehensive and easy to use. The directions and the forms for an entire year are all contained in this one book so that you can refer to the system as you go. Too busy to do it yourself? Treat yourself to a copy of Too Busy to Budget and get a handle on your finances today.

David A. Stockman served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) during former President Reagan's first term. President Reagan's platform advocated cutting taxes, eliminating wasteful Government programs, balancing the Federal budget by 1984, and a stronger United States military.

Congressmen, Senators, lobbyists and President Reagan's staff members all had differing priorities. In "The Triumph of Politics: ..." Mr. Stockman discusses an endless stream of strategies and legislative compromises designed to implement President Reagan's platform. Tax cuts are passed, existing programs are cut, and the military is strengthened. But the Federal budget never is balanced because tax increases were forbidden and the compromises placed off-limits many expensive Government programs.

The result is troubling. Former President Carter's proposed 1986 budget would have included an $80 billion deficit (pg. 358). In April 1983 President Reagan's budget "guaranteed $200 billion per year of deficits for the foreseeable future" (pg. 370) that will "consume two-thirds of the nation's net private savings to fund the federal deficit" (pg. 378) and require "$100 billion per year inflow of foreign capital to finance our twin deficits -- trade and the federal budget." (pg. 379). Mr. Stockman believed this huge recurring deficit was not sustainable and that compensating tax increases were not politically acceptable. Mr. Stockman left Government after President Reagan's re-election.

Today we face similar issues. Our trade and Federal deficits continue to grow, a Federal income tax cut was implemented recently, and the United States military is being strengthened. These are similarities -- what is the difference? ***Capitalization.*** In President Reagan's time, economists discussed the possibility of returning to the 'gold standard' (pg. 50) -- tying the dollar's value to the Government's precious metal holdings. Today the United States economy depends upon consumer spending and the amount of remaining credit card credit and home equity. Today our economy is based upon credit rather than capital.

If I had to describe this book in one sentence it would be Hunter Thompson meets Alan Greenspan. The author had a writing style that was machine gun fast with the sentences almost slapping you to attention. But before you jump into the book I would suggest digging up those old college Finance, Accounting and Economics textbooks because this author does not provide a basic course in government budgetary matters, you have to earn this books respect. The uniqueness of the book does not stop there; I have never read a book with more nicknames and odd adjectives used in describing people and events. It was almost if the author had some odd personality defect that forced him to ascribe nicknames to people.

The author covers his years in the OMB for Reagan, but to be fair he really spends about 80% of the book on the first budget and the process he went through to get it passed into law. If you are a fan of detail, this book has it by the bushel full. He takes the reader into every meeting, phone conversation and thought about the process. You see just exactly how much horse-trading and arm-twisting there is in this process and you come away feeling a little unclean. This is where the author finally comes to his point, which is that, the Reagan revolutions plan of dramatically reduced tax rates and government services failed. The tax cuts happened, but the spending reductions never had a chance. This, of course, created the massive government deficits that we have been living with for the past 20 plus years. Overall this is the most interesting part of the book. His realization that the budgets he worked on and the overall outcome could be more harmful to the long term interests of the US then if the old system would have been left in place.

Let me end this review by stating that I have never read a book by anybody so conservative as this man. Conservative is being kind, he is a hard core Libertarian who comes across as the only good government program is a dead government program type. He railed against all programs, even taking on school lunches for poor kids and wheel chair assistance programs for the poor. He could not stand government regulations either. He went into one section stating that seat belt and safety glass requirements for car manufactures were unnecessary and overbearing government intrusions into the private sector. Overall I felt the book was a bit too jumpy for me in the writing style and the detail was about 25% too much. There are interesting parts, but describing the 5th meeting on some section of the budget was a bit dull.

Stockman's book essentially provides overwhelming evidence that supply side economics was an intellectual fraud from the start.Stockman established that, even if all of the planned spending cuts had been approved,which was a pipe dream from the start(ANYONE WHO BELIEVES THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WERE GOING TO SUPPORT THE ELIMINATION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,AND DEPARTMENTOF COMMERCE IS REALLY LIVING IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE)the deficits in the federal budget would have continued to explode.
There is one area that Stockman really does not cover sufficiently.This area was the deregulation and privatization of the financial sector of the economy that allowed the Wall Street speculators and investment banks,aided by all of the major commercial banks and the Federal Reserve Board in Washington,to escape from the bottle of regulation that had been imposed on them since 1933.The last Securities and Exchange chairman to take his mandate to protect society from financial speculation and manipulation seriously was Bill Casy(1971-1973).The Reagan administration relied on the same kind of faulty supply side analysis from Wall Street(A Laffer,J Wanniski,and G Gilder were all closely connected to the Wall Street investment bank speculators )to support financial deregulation .This program was carried out by Phil and Wendy Gramm and others.The result was the creation of a shadow banking structure that is currently(2006-2008) collapsing.Naturally,they seek massive (and have been getting)government bailouts to protect them from economic obliteration.THe wisdom of Adam Smith could have prevented all of this.Simply prevent the supply side speculators from getting their hands on the bank loans needed to leverage their debt positions in the first place.This is what has not been done since 1978.

David Stockman's "The Triumph of Politics" is a sober look at how the chronic budget deficits of the past quarter-century came to be.

Stockman was the OMB director for Ronald Reagan in Reagan's first term. The president's large tax cut passed in 1981. However, when it came time to pass the commensurate spending cuts to ensure that budget deficits did not go into orbit, Stockman was dismayed to learn just how tenacious the special interests were in defending all of their spending--only a few token cuts here and there could be made without committing political suicide.

Stockman's book is still relevant today. Given that a) the Baby Boomers have now begun retiring, b) we ran large budget deficits even during the blazing economy of 2003-07 before the Boomers began retiring in earnest and putting more pressure on Social Security and Medicare, c) voters really, really, don't like tax increases, and d) voters really, really, don't like spending cuts, unbearable pressure will soon be put on the system. One wonders how the budget conundrum will be solved during the 2010s, when a much larger percentage of the Boomers will have retired and the nation's fiscal day of reckoning will no longer be something that can be kicked down the road.

To discover the subject matter of this book, you can look to other reviews. I will confine my comments to my own opinion, for what it's worth.

I have read this book several times, now randomly picking pages for a starting point. No other book comes close to understanding America's domestic political process. It is an intelligent view from the trenches, like Robert Graves' "Goodbye to All That".

A reader must understand that Stockman writes with a quick, wry sense of humour. He's beyond tongue in cheek. It could be titled "The Education of David Stockman". The content is fascinating (the right should take notice), but so is the style (the left has to marvel)!

This one is an esoteric classic - better than 'Six Crises'.

I like the way the recipes are healthy, from scratch, and introduce new vegetables, and for the most part are kid friendly. Almost all of the recipes are easy to make, and do not require a lot of fancy ingredients. HOWEVER, the reason for only 3 stars is several recipes have misprints! I've never seen a cookbook with misprints before. If you do decide to get this book, I would suggest reading through the entire recipe before attempting to cook it to be sure it is right. For a couple of examples: pg. 31, Double Cheeseburger Pie, it list the ingredients, but also lists the ingredients to a recipe two pages before it, the only reason I knew this is because I read the directions, and they said nothing about half of the ingredients that were in the recipe! Another example: pg. 76 Your Basic Beef Stew, in one part of the directions it tells you to transfer the beef to a crock pot, then they continue on for cooking in the dutch oven, and says nothing about a crock pot! It makes me nervous to try any of the other recipes.

This book is chockfull of recipes that are quick and easy to make - plus even my picky 10 year old will eat them. The only reason I didn;t give it 5 stars is that I think it could have been printed a little nicer. The ink ran a little when I got one of the pages wet. So just be careful about those splats. Otherwise this is a great cookbook to add to your family's collection.

After loving her later cookbook, Saving Dinner, I hoped this cookbook would be more of the same. However, I was disappointed. There are some good recipes, but this book contains fewer main dishes. The number of people the recipes serve vary, which means there is more adjusting. Delicious, nutritious meals are still Leanne Ely's specialty.

I guess I am the only person who finds this cookbook horrible. I ordered this book as a result of reading the reviews and the word "Frantic" in the title. I assumed that the meals would be quick, easy, and tasty, but I was wrong on all 3 counts.
I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 star because I've only made 3 of the recipes and assume that the rest are just as disappointing. A quick rundown of the recipes:
1)Cheap-o Cassoulet - Took a while to make as I had to thinly slice 4 carrots & 4 leeks, chop 2 onions, & 4 slices of bacon, press 4 garlic cloves, in addition to the 11 other ingredients. Result was bland and watery - my boyfriend preferred pasta and butter.
2) Make Ahead Cheese & Hamburger Casserole: Took about 45 minutes to make and then had to be refrigerated for 1 day. The result was an average tasting hamburger helper. The real Hamburger Helper can be made in about 7 minutes and with ground turkey. The result would be quicker, tastier, and healthier. This dish has 20G of fat!!!
3)I'll spare you from the bland "Autumn Chix Breasts" which took at least 40 minutes to prepare with a bland result. I recommend any "shake and bake" coating or a home-made similar one. Try one of the Loony Spoons or Crazy Plates cookbooks instead. It will save your $ and time!!

The Frantic Family Cookbook is an enjoyable escape into meals you can create in minutes instead of hours. There are no complicated instructions and the ingredients are readily available at your local grocery store.

The author is a food columnist and writes for E-Diets. She is a nutritionist and former caterer who loves cooking and enjoys creating healthy recipes that are delicious and nutritious. She also loves to save money, so the recipes in this book won't break your budget. She gives advice on how to save money and shares her tips and tricks for saving when buying ingredients for the recipes in this book. There are tips on stocking the pantry and a glossary of cooking terms.

Throughout the recipes, Leanne Ely's witty comments bring a smile and her creative writing style makes the recipes easy to read. Comfort recipes like Cottage Pie use ingredients like mushrooms, beef, onions, garlic and carrots. Worcestershire sauce is also a favorite in this cookbook and also gives flavor to Mini-Meaty Loaves.

The ideas about "Clean out the Crisper Vegetable Soup" have served me well. I use a rotisserie chicken and make a chicken stock with vegetables and then after straining the stock, make a soup. You can't imagine how many ways you can make a chicken soup once you dive into such adventures. This cookbook also gives you ideas for your own culinary discoveries.

Other delicious recipes include:

Fragrant Lemon Chicken and Potatoes
Turkey Tetrazzini
WAY Easy Chicken Stir Fry
Quick Orange Ginger Chicken
Curried Lentil Soup
Barbecue-in-a-Pot Beef
Baked Fish
Four-Cheese Vegetable Lasagna
Peach Melba
Very Berry-Lemon Pudding Cake

Yes, this cookbook even has the recipes for Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic! The recipe for the Lemon Chicken with garlic reminds me of my childhood.

As a bonus there is a section of "Masterful Mixes" to save more money. You can make your own Oatmeal Pancake Mix, Mexican Seasoning and Italian Seasoning.

The Frantic Family Cookbook is a wonderful mosaic of recipes and cooking knowledge that will benefit many families who want to save time and money all while having fun cooking up delicious meals. You may also enjoy reading the taste-testers comments which are cute and add a playful element to the well-organized pages.

~The Rebecca Review

P.S. Yes, there does seem to be a problem with the Double Cheeseburger Pie recipe, but you can still make it without the extra ingredients not listed in the instructions. Strange misprint. That is the only mistake I see so far and hopefully they have fixed it in additional printings.

This book offers a different approach for governments to prioritize their spending. It may not work for every body, but will provide a new way to decide where to put tax dollars to match tax payers priorities.

Great ideas if anyone can find government workers or teachers who know anything or care about ...budgets.
Focus on getting workers engaged in the planning process first before introducing even the word BUDGET or PRICE of Government.
Also, using the terms PERMANENT and CRISIS in the same sentence does absolutely nothing except cause eyes to glaze over.

This is a another great book written by David Osborne, with practical, yet out of the box ideas on balancing government budgets. A great process that can be emulated by public administrators to focus taxpayer dollars on the most important programs and services. It challenges administrators to go beyond hacking away at every program budget until all the programs are barely running on a shoestring and no one is getting the results that taxpayers want.

The PRICE of GOVERNMENT:
Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis


There is no doubt that money needs to be well-spent, especially when discussing money managers such as our state and national government officials. As a "customer" of this government, I'm looking for solutions, yet finding more problems. The Price of Government not only identifies those problems, but offers solutions. The premise remains the same- what are Americans willing to pay for the services that we need?

The authors review not only America's history of taxation, but introduce components from other sources. Such sources are countries where governmental systems are more effective than ours, and sometimes also citing an example of ineffectiveness followed by review and suggestion. Overall, this book is a valuable source for those who have an interest as to where their tax dollars are being spent. The authors suggest that all Americans should be more well-informed before they vote. After reading many reviews of this text, I believe the authors may wish to re-visit this idea. America wants results. There is a great deal of practical suggestions about moving toward a practical performance-based system. I believe that we are beginning to see this and use of the internet helps average citizens gain information we would not have had access to a decade ago.

What I especially enjoyed about this book was that it wasn't just shock and awe... we're going downhill heading for doom, etc. The authors state the obvious- that we've spent more than we have and there needs to be accountability for the money customers provide. I refrained from overusing the word taxpayer because the book does address ways to use these concepts in other arenas, making it a valuable tool not only for elected officials, health care and educational employees, but to business as a whole. The introduction jumps right in and offers a "prescription" to help save this sinking ship. In short, the authors compel government to "get a grip" on the problem, figure out how much taxpayers are willing to help with the problem, determine priorities and then allocate funds for those priorities until money is gone. Being in the middle of an educational administration program has exposed me to several similar texts. Often, reorganization is the focus to solve existing problems. These authors drew me in from the get-go, but the following quote sums up their philosophy well!

Native Americans have many sayings, and one of the wisest is this: "When you're riding a dead horse, the best strategy is t dismount. You don't change riders. You don't reorganize the herd. You don't put blue-ribbon commission on veterinarians. And you don't spend more money on feed. You get off and find yourself a new horse. "(Page 19)

To begin identification of the problem they look at demographics- an aging population with longer longevity and decreased population growth. In short, healthcare and social security problems have caused a deficit in the budget on a huge scale. The authors suggest budgeting for outcomes- determine what is really important, and then figure out how much it will cost and then buy it. I liked how they state to "use indicators that make sense to citizens". (Page 72) Often, schools report test scores but do not explain how they are interpreted. The authors suggest planning for outcome goals and including indicators of that success. They identify the difference between budgeting for Outcomes and performance management. The example of the child welfare agency being rewarded or punished based on child abuse cases solidifies the definite difference of the two. (Page 89)

In the consolidation chapter, the authors remind us that historically, American government reacts to a crisis through reorganization. Two examples sited are the loss of a child causing the child welfare system reform and Homeland security being developed after September 11th 2001. Reorganization is not always bad, but it not always what the organization needs either. I like how the book relates well to the educational system. Suggesting that schools be held accountable to achieve these goals set by the system would increase motivation to ensure child success. We are beginning to see this in charter school enrollment rising and some states having the option to voucher tax dollars toward private schools. The concept of "rightsizing" looks at whether or not the service is still needed, how efficiently those working in that area are doing their work and what can be done about it. If the service is still needed but time is wasted, for example completing tedious paperwork or signing time cards that the supervisor doesn't manage suggests looking at technology to streamline the work to be done.

Too often with new elected officials we saw their friends, companies and associates hired under their administration. The result was usually less than optimum effectiveness. Osborne and Hutchinson suggest competition to save the price of government from rising. Competition keeps prices low. To further stimulate effectiveness and efficiency, the authors suggest rewarding those involved. If the contractor winning the bid completes a job early and under budget, then a portion of the surplus goes back to the taxpayers while a portion goes to the workers as well. The authors claim that not only does this reward workers, but it improves morale of the workers and boosts the public faith in their government. I especially liked the suggestion they based from evidence of forgeign countries. "Shift public workers into private firms taking over the work... Require that contractors pay comparable wages and benefits..." (Page 161) These are but two examples, showing us that this could work. We could move public jobs into the private sector, without losing the quality of life they had established.

"Smarter customer service" is a chapter most of us could benefit from. It brings to light the things we too often do without question. In turn, wasting the company's money and driving costs up for customers. The example of signing time cards of people you don't personally watch was a perfect example. Yet, government needed to respond to a situation years ago in order to save money. Re-evaluate the needs of the organization. The 311 system empowered citizens while holding officials responsible for their departments. The quality must improve to improve the processes. The 311 telephone system brought performance data to a new front while keeping costs low through consolidation. By being more effective, costs are cut for departments, onto governments and maintaining if not lowering the price of government for citizens

They offer insight to many different aspects, focused on the key programs. They also offer practical suggestions and offer ways to deepen what they present, citing very good websites such as www.FirstGov.gov and www.irs.gov/efile. Systems working together will better align the system. The authors suggest in education of current employees for better efficiency as well. The focus should be on the results of the objectives, not solely the money, claiming the authors. They remind us to stay focused on the core objectives, as to not get lost in the activity. They suggest moving power into the hands of the employees, in essence creating "an organization of leaders" (page 322).

All in all, this book is not only very useful, but easy to read as well.

The timing for this book couldn't be better - an era of skyrocketing deficits, an aging population (boosting pension outlays), inexorable increases in healthcare costs (fewer workers with health insurance, aging population), and businesses increasingly threatening to move elsewhere unless they receive tax relief.

Simply cutting budgets accomplishes little - as Osborne points out, it does nothing to improve areas retained. In addition, service recipients or proponents (usually providers) simply complain ad naseum until an opportunity to restore funding occurs (eg. tax increase or economic upturn) presents itself - thus setting the stage for the next crisis.

Osborne is also correct in pointing out that the most common budget "cures" are simply illusions - accounting gimmicks (timing "games" regarding outlays and receipts, fudging estimates, temporarily ignoring voter mandates), borrowing, and delaying maintenance.

At this point, however, Osborne goes off the track by proposing some intelligent-sounding changes in approach (eg. identify the results wanted), and proceeds to go through a lot of razzle-dazzle that simply ends up with "business as usual."

Using Washington state as an example, Osborne cites how a citizens group decided to focus on providing more early-childhood-education and implementing skill-based pay for teachers - neither a "REAL" result. During the last 30+ years innumerable education "improvement" programs have been funded, while progress has been non-existent - eg. scores by 17-year-olds on the National Assessment of Education Progress (the only unchanged large-scale test in the nation) have remained unchanged, as have drop-out rates. This, despite a more than doubling of inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending in the last 30 or so years. As for "skill-based" teacher pay, study after study has found that - after taking into account pupil differences - payment for EXISTING "skill-set" programs (teacher experience or degree levels) contribute little (only the first few years of experience) or nothing to pupil achievement. So why add another dubious dimension? If one needs any more evidence, consider the fact that most private schools only cost about half that of public schools.

Universities are another major State-level expenditure; like K-12 education, MAJOR overhaul (not rethinking budgets)is required. Since the early 1990's, professors' teaching workloads have been reduced from three classes per semester to two. Nationally, and undoubtedly in Washington also, the length of the academic year shrunk from 191 days in 1964 to only 156 in 1993. Meanwhile, only 21 cents of every funding dollar goes into the classroom - the number of non-teaching professionals (eg. counselors) has increased from 3 per instructor in 1976 to 6 in 2001. Returning to those recent productivity levels, substantially reducing admissions of the roughly half unable or unmotivated to graduate, and shortening the average 5+ years required to graduate would allow savings of about $500+ million/year in Arizona and it is assumed that similar opportunities exist in Washington.

As for healthcare, Osborne's Washington process suggested dropping coverage for low-income workers - an ACCOUNTING GIMMICK that simply transfers the costs to providers, and adding more clinics. However, what is really required is a review of incentives and other care drivers - eg. the highest-spending areas in the U.S. spend about 60% more on Medicare recipients than the lowest, despite access to care and patient outcomes being better in the low-income areas. A second problem is that healthcare providers are REWARDED for their errors - payors need to insist on adherence to quality standards. A third major problem is that care recipients have no incentives to conserve - Health Savings Accounts (allowing cashing out of any funds remaining from a set amount) do so.

Clearly Osborne's work would be more useful if it focused on outcomes - both good and bad. Associated with that should also be a discussion of benchmarking (staffing levels, compensation for staff, and benefit levels), and continuous improvement goal-setting that emphasize reducing waste and improving quality "Toyota-style" - keys to success in the private sector.

The "bottom-line" is that the focus should not be on the budget process, but on permanent reform of the biggest consumers of government funds - education and healthcare.

Howard does a masterful job in detailing the the military preparations of both sides before the conflict, describing the war itself, and even going into some detail about the increasing importance of technology in "modern" warfare (especially transport). However, there are some shortcommings - the chief among them are the maps. While they are useful in giving the reader an idea of what happened where, they really needed to be more detailed, showing troop movements and positions. I also thought the lack of perspective on the war was disappointing - after all, the Franco-Prussian war was instrumental in the creation of German nationhood, the birth of the Fourth republic, and a foundation stone of the First World War. None of these important after-effects were discussed in any detail whatsoever. As a book of pure military history, though, Howard's book is beyond reproach.

The Franco-Prussian War is an unusual conflict in that it is in many ways a study in contrasts. Historically, it set the stage for two twentieth century conflagrations even as it settled scores from the early nineteenth century. Politically, it marked the zenith of French national influence, and the ascendancy of a united German power. Finally, militarily, it offered the first widespread use of breech-loading rifles and modern artillery, even as it often languished in the tactics of an earlier age.

It takes a broad brush to capture all of these elements, and in this book, Michael Howard has succeeded admirably. He has taken an often overlooked conflict and placed it squarely at the crossroads of modern Europe, and a new, more terrible type of war. For while the American Civil War (or even the Crimean War) is often referred to as the first modern war, it is in fact in the Franco-Prussian War that we see all the key elements of modern warfare: national mobilization, citizen soldiers under the guidance of a professional general staff, and the ascendancy of industrialization in both transport and new, more destructive, weapons. At the same time, newer, more insidious developments in the form of guerrilla warfare and the targeting of civilians centers for strategic reasons first make their appearance on a large scale.

Arising out of French objections to the Prussian selection of the Spanish monarch, this war, like many before and since, arose out of a complete lack of French appreciation for the changes that had overtaken the battlefield. While the French had relied on a small, professional army, the Prussians had adopted a model of mandatory service that allowed them to raise massive, reasonably competent forces with unprecedented speed. Thus, when hostilities broke out the French, who had assumed an easy victory, were caught on their heels and never regained the initiative.

Thus from the summer of 1870 through the depths of winter and into 1871, the story of the Franco-Prussian War is the story of the courage of the French soldier being failed utterly by inept leadership. It wasn't in the strength of Prussian arms, or in the courage of its soldiers that the war was won; rather, it was in the ability of the centralized Prussian command structure to adapt rapidly to events when their French counterparts were still in the dark that victory was secured.

Thus, while Howard's writing on the actual combat is vivid, it is in his appreciation of the fundamentally new Prussian way of war that he is most successful. From the king, through the Bismarck and Moltke, and on down through the rest of the senior command, he paints a vivid portrait of Prussian ideals and ambition. Conversely, he is equally successful at capturing the decrepitude and ineptness of a fragmented French government that lost the war in its opening days, and then prolonged it, to the never ending suffering of its soldiers, long after all hope was lost. Likewise along these lines, Howard nicely illustrates the increasing conflict that inevitable comes between politicians and the military in an era of total war.

That said, I do have a few minor complaints. The first is that Howard almost never translates quotes from the original French or German, and while I was just barely able to muddle through with what I remember from high school and college, any one who hasn't been exposed to these languages would certainly be frustrated. Secondly, as anyone familiar with European politics knows, nothing happens in a vacuum, and yet Howard spends precious little time discussing the implications of the conflict within the international system of the time. Finally, while Howard offers many maps, they offer little to know information about troop positions and lines of march, which leaves the reader flipping back rather than digesting a detailed map at a glance.

However, these are minor complaints about an otherwise eminently successful work. Howard has packed a tremendous amount of research into a readable and digestible volume. His appreciation of the politics and personalities is matched only by his understanding of the weapons of war and the nature of combat. Not only is this a successful history of the Franco-Prussian war, but also a model of what good history writing should be: balanced, well researched, and above all, readable. Finally, Howard's success elevates the Franco-Prussian War to its rightful significance as one of the root causes of the tensions that led to WWI, and hence, to WWII. Thus the student of history should appreciate this work not just for its success in considering immediate events, but for providing a bridge from the Great Power politics of the nineteenth century to the wars of the twentieth.

Jake Mohlman

I don't know enough about the Franco-Prussian War to criticize the research and the facts presented. But this is certainly not an enjoyable book to read. If that is a factor for you, be warned.

I actually have not finished the book yet, so forgive my hypocrisy. From an information and accuracy perspective it is probably the best book on the war. However it is a bit of a tough read, so be prepared. Howard details technology and warfare of the time, along with politics and the like and the book doesn't miss much. However, perhaps that is the reason it seems so long. overall I would say a good book.

This is a very detailed account of the military and - to a lesser extent - political maneuverings of the Franco-Prussian War. Given the detail and the heavy footnoting, it is a surprisingly brisk read, though I do have one suggestion to assist future readers: photocopy the various pages that have maps on them so you can easily refer to them as you read on. Since I hadn't thought of this idea while reading the book, I found myself holding two or even three such pages open with the fingers of my left hand while reading battle descriptions many, many pages later.

One disappointment was in the very brief epilogue. The author discusses how the speed of the Prussian victory raised the stakes for all European powers, Germany in particular, but the author does not really discuss the aftermath of the war in France or explain how France formed a post-war government given the fractious way it had fought the war. Every history needs to stop at some point, of course, but a brief explanation of France's recovery seems in order.

I think the ideas are great, but I feel like I will go through twice the materials they suggest using because I will mess up the first time due to lack of instruction. This book would be better with photos or at least a sketch of what the project might look like.

This book is not bad. It has alot of references to many artists over the past few centuries and it was interesting to learn about some of the newer ones. This book also contains alot of clever ideas for inexpensive projects. My only complaints are: there aren't any colour photos, or real pictures of what any of the projects will look like - only drawings. And the way the author writes is extremely informal and the book is just one big joke. Also, the way the author relates certain artists to projects seems forced. It seems like she just looks for ANYTHING that could be sort of related or not at all to try to mention an artist at certain points in the book. It's sort of a waste of writing when she does this.
Overall, it's an okay book. It has some good projects and some interesting facts about some artists, which you don't usually find in a DIY book.

This book coulda' tossed in a few pictures of completed projects. This book didn't have a single photo to inspire or guide. Sometimes you just need to see it done to know it's possible!

But - that aside, I like the ideas inside. Gonna pick one out & start soon...

I REALLY enjoyed this book. In fact, I initially checked it out of the library but liked it so much I bought it. What is surprising is that there are not a lot of pictures OR photos and I STILL liked this book. There are several diagrams so at least you get an idea of what how something is supposed to look. There was another book that had a similar feel, but this book is soooo much better. This is the book that , "Get Crafty: Hip Home Ec (see my review)"was trying to be. I like that the chapters are logical with an interesting layout that is easy to follow.

The chapters include Food (my favorite subject), Home Decorating, Wearables, Potions (soaps, bath, cosmetics) and Special Events and Gifts. I think there is probably something in this book that would address anybody's taste. I'm planning on making the Avocado-Mushroom Risotto tonight.

In addition to the great layout of the book, each project has an interesting tidbit about an artist, writer, painter or art concept and was quite educational and most interesting. Some of the projects include:

* Clocks from old things
* Diorama door table
* Bread-n-jam mini layer cakes
* Coin Necklace
* Oatmeal and Almond scrub
* Fortune Cookies
* New Year's Trash Hat
* Hanging Murphy Shelf

I give this book a 4.5 star, because it lacks photos and could use more illustrations. If they revise this book, I would recommend taking out some of the tidbits and putting in more pictures to make this a full 5 star book. Even though this book is for the "starving artist", it could easily be used by the starving student, starving college graduate, starving actress OR for someone like me who likes to stoke their creative side and have some fun.

This book is heavy on the art history references, and light on actual creative ideas. I guess the idea was to link the projects with well-known artists' styles, but it's overly wordy and these links are loose and uninteresting. The projects were totally lame and, without photos or drawings on most of them, hard to imagine or get interested in. The graphic design is even more banal, in fake typewriter font and two-color printing that's not even utilized well. A better version would have cut the copy by half (or more) and put in photos of the projects (or, come on throw us a bone--even a drawing of each one!) though some were so stupid even that wouldn't save them. Save your money.

I sent this book to my daughter to help her plan her wedding. She used it and found it so much more helpful than magazines. Great service. Thank you.

This book is full of advice that is either obvious or strange.

Most brides looking for a budget wedding plan to spend more than $300 on the whole thing, aren't going to sew their dress, and don't want fake flower bouquets made months in advance.

Odd advice includes:
- asking your local licor store to loan you glasses for the event
- the bride taking a shower well before the wedding since her family will be hogging the shower later
- getting your hair done first thing in the morning for an evening wedding so your hair will have time to "drop a little".
- serving alcohol even it it violates your beliefs so as not to impose your wishes on others (umm..it's your party)

If you are planning to have fewer than 10 guests, and do every last thing yourself, and you really only have $300, this might be the book for you.

If that's not the case, consult "Bridal Bargains" by Denise and Alan Fields for advice on how to have a beautiful wedding with no cut corners for less money.

Di Kivi's book was filled with absolutely the best information on budget weddings that I have found. I loved that her ideas and suggestions sparked my own creativity and gave me ideas for creating a beautiful and budget conscience wedding that was meaningful to me and my husband. I now buy this book for all of my friends who become engaged!

This book had a lot of common sense information on saving money, but nothing really earth-shattering. You take a risk hiring amatuer photographers or flower arrangers, and this book doesn't really seem to acknowledge that, for example. A lot of these tips, like having a mid-afternoon instead of a dinner reception, or not having an open bar are really common sense and make it evident to everyone that you want to have a budget wedding.

To really learn about a budget wedding (or just a normal wedding where you don't get taken advantage of by vendors), Denise Fields's Bridal Bargains is invaluable. I recommend that book instead. It will show you how to have a wedding for a reasonable price that doesn't appear to cut corners at all.

It's about time a book like this was written! I'm planning my own wedding right now, and all the other books and magazines I've read keep telling me that I have to spend $20,000 or more to do it right. This book has many great ideas, but best of all, it's written in a way that reassures us that yes, it's OK to not spend a small fortune...the etiquette ploice will NOT hunt us down! It has given me the inspiration to plan the budget wedding I want, and not the three-ring circus other people think I should have. And my fiance agrees 100%! Thanks for a great book!

I recommend this book to anyone, even though the tax cuts Paul Krugman argues against have already come. Krugman, who is a New York Time od-ed writer and also a policy professor at Princeton, presents clear reasons why the Bush tax cuts are not a good idea.

Conservatives will find the book biased, which it is since Krugman is pretty democratic. Although conservatives might be able to argue the political philosophy of progressive versus regressive taxes, they will find it very difficult to challenge the numbers that Krugman presents. The end conclusion is that Bush has used "fuzzy math" to propose a tax cut and that the money is just not there for such a huge cut. Krugman is right.

Even though the cuts have already come, this book is a great (and quick) read because it gives a clear explanation of social security, medicare, and other issues related to the national budget. Clear, concise, and easy to understand.

Every policy-maker and voter should read this book. After months of Krugman's anti-tac-cut NY Times Op-Eds, I was sick of hearing about this debate. But "Fuzzy Math" literally changed my mind in one night. It is not only a guide to the Bush tax cut but also a layman's guide to general tax policy, tax law, the federal budget, and distributional issues. Not only that, but Krugman provides a novel theory (at least to me) on why anti-big-government ideologues prefer tax cuts for the rich disproportionately over tax cuts for the bottom 99%. Krugman also exposes many statistical and other tricks that policy-makers play on the public in order to promote their programs. In short, this book does so much so thoroughly, and I am amazed that Krugman fit it all into so few pages.

This book needs to be read by every voting American, even those who support the Bush tax cut. Author Paul Krugman clearly explains the economic and political environments in which this tax plan takes place and concludes, first, that the tax cut is not only a bad idea but might have serious consequences as the Social Security/Medicare system becomes strapped and second, that "at every stage of the debate Bush and his people have tried to obscure what they were really proposing."
"Fuzzy Math" is a book written for intelligent lay people. I personally read it in two sittings (it's only 122 short pages), then, thinking that I must have missed smething, went back and read it again. It turns out I missed nothing. Krugman breaks down complex economic concepts and explains them with great lucidity and a little bit of wit. It's really an easy read.
Krugman begins by explaining how Bush arrived at his tax cut as the centerpiece of his campaign, first as an antidote to Steve Forbes' "Flat Tax" crusade and second, to secure the support of the far right elements of the Republican Party. He then describes the efficacy of tax cuts as an economic tool, particularly as they might be used to stimulate a sluggish economy (never an issue for Bush until the economy suddenly turned sour). He concludes that this is best left to the Federal Reserve Board's manipulation of interest rates. He further compares "demand side" tax reductions, aimed primarily at consumers, with "supply side" cuts which are directed toward potential producers and demonstrates that despite the Reagan rhetoric, the economic recovery of the early '80's was demand side driven and that a real supply side expansion occurred during the late '90's happened despite Bill Clinton's upper bracket tax increase.
Nexy Krugman explains the Federal Budget, beginning with where the money goes and then where it comes from. He explains that we've gone from being a "military state" to a "retirement state". He admittedly caricatures that, based on federal spending "the federal government has become a large retirement community that does some military stuff and a bit of humanitarian stuff on the side". He also explains that our national retirement program is not fully funded (as is a private pension plan). Instead the current group of retirees is living off the contributions of the current group of workers and that enormous problems will begin when the number of retirees begins to swell as the number of workers begins to shrink (about 2011). This is aleo why privatization of Social Security/Medicare is a bad idea: it will simply pull the rug out from under the feet of the current group of retirees. He discusses the origins of the recent budget surplus andhow it was tied to the recent economic boom.
He then breaks down the Bush tax cut, explaining who gets what. Using figures from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Citizens for Tax Justice (stats from conservative think tanks are unavailable) he concludes that about 40% of American families will get nothing or very little while the top 1% will collect about 45% of the benefits. He analyzes the Treasury Department's statistics in light of this data and exposes the hucksterism involved in the official Bush line. Unfortunately this is the only piont at which Krugman cites sources although he uses statistics elsewhere in this book. More citations would have given the book a little more authority.
Finally he proposes an alternative, a "smaller, faster, cheaper, better" cut that will get money into the hands of consumers faster and will be "front loaded" (benefits sooner) as opposed to Bush's "back loaded" (most benefits arrive much later) and so will have an immediate effect on the economy.
Krugman concludes with a swipe at the "utter dishonesty of the sales campaign".
There is no reason why every American citizen should not read this book. It explains what's going on in the tax debate and does so clearly and simply. In fact, bookshelves in any participatory democracy should be full of books like this.

by Steven Piraino. You are probably familiar with the recently passed Bush tax bill. You may also be familiar with Paul Krugman of Princeton University (formerly of M.I.T.), whose "New Keynesian" musings appear regularly on The New York Times editorial page. Recently, Krugman published his own critique of the Bush tax cut in a short, popular book entitled Fuzzy Math. To the author's credit, this book is brief, well-organized and tightly argued. Instead of aggressively pushing his own left-of-center political views onto the reader, Krugman spends most of the book exposing inconsistencies in the Bush administration's tax-cut sales pitch. He summarizes his own conclusions rather nicely: "Bush and his people . . . are radically understating the cost of their plan while overstating the money available to pay that cost. They have pretended that a plan that mainly cuts taxes for the extremely well off is basically a middle-class tax cut . . . And they have falsely sold the plan as an appropriate answer to a short run economic slowdown, when it is almost perfectly designed not to deal with that sort of problem." Much of this book is difficult to criticize on its own terms, as all of Krugman's claims have some merit. The Bush tax cut probably is less progressive and more "costly" than the Bush administration would have us believe. And, if anything, Krugman is not skeptical enough about the antirecessionary merits of using a tax cut to put money into consumers' pockets. This does not mean, however, that there is not a legitimate case for reducing taxes. As Krugman himself says, ". . . there is a case for tax cuts . . . though it is not the case the Bush administration is making." Unfortunately, the "legitimate case" that Krugman makes (and rejects) is weak and incomplete. The "correct" case for tax cuts, Krugman argues, is that tax cuts are a way to "induce people to work harder, save more, and take bigger risks." He then goes on to dismiss this case on the grounds that these benefits are unlikely to be dramatic. While superficially plausible, this analysis obscures the very essence of taxation and its costs. It is true that heavy taxation causes a variety of behavioral distortions, such as discouraging work, innovation, and investment. However, these distortions are not the costs of taxation, as Krugman suggests. They are the means that individuals employ to reduce the costs of taxation as much as possible. Furthermore, taxes are not costly because they reduce production; taxes are costly because they force individuals to consume a mix of goods that is less desirable from the standpoint of their own subjective preferences. This happens for two reasons. First, individuals behave differently in order to avoid paying a certain tax. As a result, goods that are taxed are underproduced. It is irrelevant whether or not the resulting mix of goods involves less labor, risk-taking, and investment than the mix of goods that would be produced on the free market. The important point is that the new mix is inferior to the old mix in relation to individual wants. Second, taxes transfer the command over resources from the private sector to the public sector. This is costly from the standpoint of individual wants. In the private sector, waste is minimized through the discipline of profits and losses. In the public sector, however, politicians acquire resources based on their ability to speak in public, smear opponents, and reward well-organized pressure groups. As a result, the spending projects financed by taxation generally bear little, if any, relation to the desires of consumers. Value-productive private ventures are starved of capital so that a whole host of useless or nearly useless "public goods" can be (over)produced. Consider, for example, the state of Massachusetts's infamous Big Dig transportation project (now running some $12 billion over budget), or the interstate highway splurge of the 1950s, or the pork-laden federal space program. Private investors would never pony up the extravagant sums that were necessary to fund these dubious projects, yet the list of public boondoggles goes on and on. Krugman's book makes essentially no attempt to defend politics as a means of resource allocation, making only the blithe assertion that "it's a value judgment, but I don't accept the idea that our government is too big and should be made much smaller." Krugman has the right to his own value judgments, but economics does have something positive to say about the market system-and that is that all parties necessarily benefit from the rights to voluntary exchange and association. This system stands in sharp contrast with the current political system, wherein resources are allocated with almost boundless disregard for consumers' wants. Whatever else can be said for such a system, the science of economics offers little or nothing to recommend it. If the Bush tax cuts bring us miles, yards, or even inches further from this system, a sound understanding of economics clearly strengthens, not weakens, their appeal.

In "Fuzzy Math," Paul Krugman debunks the deceptive hype deployed on behalf of the tax cut of 2001. Krugman points out how so extravagant a tax cut will force serious reductions in services - most likely, to social security.

Four years later, pundits and analysts told Americans of the dire threat to social security - a threat those same pundits and analysts dismissed when defending the cuts. As Krugman suggested they would.

Still, some might be disappointed to find that Krugman is less prophetic than simply an academic applying basic economic observations in a realistic manner. By clarifying processes of taxation, spending, and budgeting, Krugman succeeds in clearing away fog and myth, offering a healthy handbook for economics to all American citizens.

While I accept Angry Tree Dweller's ire about the 'updating' of the new versions of the Enid Blyton books, I am pleased to say that it hasn't spoiled my daughter's enjoyment of the stories (although must say that the transformation of Dame Slap to Dame Snap kind of destroyed the plot a bit!). I read these books over and over as a child. My daughter is a much more reluctant reader than I was but has still been inspired to try and read this book on her own after I read it aloud to her which is a real testament to its appeal.

This is a long-standing favourite from childhood. I read Enid Blyton books avidly when I was old enough to read, and they really inspired me to become a reader. In fact I read them until teachers tried to coax me away with more teenaged books (which didn't work, I went from Enid Blyton to adult writing like Orwell).
The magic of this particular book, which I remember having read aloud to my brother and me, is amazing. I imagined all of the characters, and the vibrant and novel people really do inspire children's imagination.
I'm now working on a PHD in literature and this book was one of the ones that began my passion for literature. I'm now revisiting it and looking for copies as my friends are beginning to have babies and I can't imagine a better gift for young children of either gender.

I remembered reading this book and it's companions when I was a child with my British Granny, so I purchased it to use as a read-aloud in my first grade classroom. My class LOVED it from the first page, and many requested the title and author so that they can read it at home too. Unlike many of the other popular children's titles available to the children in my class, this book is rich, full or detail and very wholesome while still being appealing. Your child will love it!

I agree completely with "Angry Tree Dweller" who articulated my fury perfectly. I too will continue to search the second-hand bookshops for this favourite from my childhood.

Enid Blyton is one of the best writers any new reader can be introduced to. She is the absolute master when it comes to making little eyes open wide with wonder and little hearts beat faster with the excitement of adventure and fairies and secrets and picnics and all the absolutely wonderful things that would tickle the imgagination of any little reader. And I must admit that I can read any one of her books even today.
The Faraway tree series are specially one of my favorites!The characters in these backs are absolutely delightful and memorable. Be it silly old Saucepan man who can never hear straight , or the Angry pixie who will never suffer anybody peeping into his home , or Dame Washalot who keeps herself busy washing clothes and then pouring the soapy water down the tree,soaking many an unsuspecting climber! And those are just a few of them...lets not forget Moonface and silky and Whatsisname and of course Dame Slap!!!It was with great pleasure and excitement that I shared these books with my children, who absolutely loved them! Its a pity that books by Enid Blyton are not easily available in the US.

Christopher Lowell is one of the best decorators around. This book helps the layman to understand how to put a beautiful room together!

I've seen his show a few times and really like how he envisions things and carries them out. This book is about the same thing, only with more description and instructions - plus you get to see how he did his bedroom. I liked the fact that he has you take a "personality-type quiz" and take those elements into your decorating. But if you're not a creative person, it may be harder to make the transition.

Though I admire his ability to transform rooms, none of them were really my "style." Lots of great ideas, but this book just wasn't for me. My house is just your normal 70's style split level so any of these ideas would take a lot of imagination and a bit of money. This book would be better for someone who has a larger home with character. Also, this book is filled with posed pics of Christopher - can be annoying if you're not a huge fan.

I love this book! Christopher's rooms are always excellent (even those featuring my not-so-favorite color schemes). But, no matter which color he chooses, I always find several things I like about each room - which is more than I can say for most books of this type! This particular book is a must have for anyone who likes zen, moroccan, or coastal/nautical designs. There is more, of course, but those are my favorites.

Don't get me wrong, I love his shows, although I think his rooms are somewhat overfilled with stuff. His built-ins and projects are great!

However, unless you've taped his shows, the instructions for the few projects he did include (l really would have liked the instructions for the desk in the kid's race car room but it wasn't there--looked very "Jetsons") leave a LOT to be desired. And instead of nice pictures of the entire room and full furniture layouts, you got a lot of his drawings over the color pictures.

So, bottom line, you cannot just pick up this book and hope to do this stuff without watching the particular episodes he's referring to.

I hope future books are written to correct this problem (present in all the books except his entertaining book), and also that he puts out a book with ALL of the projects he builds in it, with good instructions and lots of pictures.

This was my first encounter with Christopher Lowell and his energetic decorating. I'd recommend starting with his Seven Layers of Decorating book first. If You Can Dream It builds on that earlier book.
This is not just a collection of pretty room photos. It really makes you think about how decorating relates to your inner feelings and dreams. He gives the reader a great tool in the Dream Questionnaire, then explains how your answers can be applied to home decorating.
His own questionnaire reveals his love for things tropical/water/organic/bamboo, etc. That explains the dramatic rooms pictured in the book which may be overly theatrical for some people. The martini lounge and the retro room put me off, but I fell in love with his down-by-the-sea bedroom and some of the others.
Sandwiched in are projects (usually 2 pages each). These include making a circular pouf, a saucer fountain, a bookshelf room divider, an ottoman, modular bookshelves, a nautical bedside table, deco sconces, a bed/storage combo, refacing kitchen cabinets, and finally a car bed for a kid's room.
Well, worth a look.