Bean Books

Amazing recipes with alot of global variety. Very informative. It is exactly what I expected.

You may have a variety of good reasons to eat your beans: whether you have discovered allergies to certain foods, are a diabetic, or pre-diabetic trying to increase your dietary fiber, or simply are a health-conscious person trying to move away from refined foods--whatever your reason you will find much to enjoy in this cookbook. The first thing is that the recipes are very good. I just made a lentil soup from this book that was outstanding. The "Mexican style green beans with chorizo" has become a staple recipe for me. The other helpful element is an extensive introduction about how to cook the different varieties of beans, the health benefits of beans, and how to deal with the "gas glut" caused by beans. I bought this book 8 years ago and I still use it often.

I was so pleased to find this book!

Johnny Valentine writes light hearted children's tales which any child would enjoy. The characters of these stories are no different from any other story book and very subtly, all their parents happen to be gay or lesbian. This is done tastefully and without any mention of sexuality. A perfect opportunity to expose children, ANY children to the concept of same sex relationships, without it being a central focal point.

My own six year old loved the stories and never stopped to question the fact that one character has two mothers. I felt that this created the perfect building blocks of an open mind for my child. With most children's books portraying the stereotypical nuclear, heterosexual family, this book can add a bit of diversity to any children's library .

None of the stories have homosexuality as their main topic. None of the stories have sexual content at all. The stories are funny and moral and just nice kids' stories.

I highly reccomend this book to any parent looking to expose their child to alternative lifestyles in a gentle way. When we can recognize the people around us, in all their beautiful diversity, as the friendly characters from our childhood fairy tales, the world will truly be a more tolerant and loving place. For this reason, I highly reccomend this book to ANY parent

The Duke Who Outlawed Jelly Beans, by Johnny Valentine, is a collection of five original fairy tales: The Frog Prince, The Eagle Rider, the Dragon Sense, The Ogre's Boots and The Duke Who Outlawed Jelly Beans. Embedded within the stories are a cast of gay and lesbian characters.

In The Frog Prince, a little boy is adopted by two fathers. With this little boy's help, a frog becomes a prince again and is also adopted by the fathers. In The Eagle Rider, a young girl fulfills her dream of becoming an Eagle Rider whose job it is to watch out for dragons even though this is a privilege reserved for boys. In Dragon Sense, a young boy and his lesbian mothers are so poor they cannot pay the rent until the boy hears of an old treasure guarded by a dragon. The Ogre's Books tells a story of Little Jenny who is too small to do much, except save one of her mothers from the hungry giant ogre.

The final story is The Duke Who Outlawed Jelly Beans. When the Duke's parents go away an! d leave him in charge, the people of the village are devastated. Not only does he outlaw jelly beans, but anyone who does not have a mother and father is sent to prison. The children of this town see to it that they and their friends are not sent to jail. They strut about the town imitating the Duke and making silly speeches. Horses, for example, are forbidden to burp and pet goldfish have to be toilet trained. As the adults begin to think about these children's comments, they find it difficult to listen to and obey the Duke's speeches.

Many children and adults will find humor in Valentine's fairy tales. These stories are a humorous and needed addition to those which illustrate positive images of gay characters, including gay and lesbian parents. The illustrations are sparsely laid out in the book, but the text is full of imagination. Through the several color illustrations, various races are depicted. The stories do not focus on the gay and lesbian families, except for the! Duke who wants to imprison children who either have too ma! ny mothers or fathers, or not enough. This infusion of lesbian and gay people in peripheral positions in books for children is a refreshing change. These are truly stories for six- and seven-year-old children (and older) because they are not so much explanatory books as they are fanciful tales that all children should be able to relate to.

EagleÍs Plume, by naturalist Bruce E. Beans, is an ambitious book well rendered. In search of bald eagles and the reasons for their recent endangered status and remarkable ñcomeback,î Beans travels from threatened New Jersey wetlands to the wilds of Alaska and provides memorable portraits of heroes and villains as well as indelible images of this most majestic raptor. Readers (in all likelihood, the majority) who have never seen an eagle in the wild will not soon forget his descriptions of the bird in fl

I found this book to be, much to my surprise, a very good read. Examples: The story of the college professor hoarding illegal poisons to sell to ranchers which are then used to kill eagles and coyotes; the retired man who learned to climb 100 ft trees to band eaglets; the Indians who kill, buy and sell eagles and eagle parts for profit; the western ranchers who live off government subsidies but who feel free to kill eagles as pests. There are many heros and bad guys in this book, including undercover agents risking their lives to catch the bad guys. But the good guys are winning and the eagles are going to make it back. A very good and readable book.

Terrific pieces of advice. Very motivating stories. Well portrayed and quite realistic. Very encouraging, Simple Language & Appealing to all Ages!

This book is a must for young females. It begins with the stories of successful girls and young women entrepeneurs. These are written by the young girls themselves. The book then gives hints and information how to start your own business. It is an easy read and focuses on successes of young ladies irregardless of race, socio-economic status, and location. Perfect for young girl support groups, scouting, gifted and talented classes, or other groups that could benefit from positive role models.

I think I liked this book better than my son did. There isn't a storyline, but its a wonderful tool for teaching the concept of simile to a child. The colors are rich and the text nicely descriptive.

This is a really sweet book about what color you would be if you could be. There's a little boy in every picture, somewhere, and we had a lot of fun finding him!

The line paid out smoothly through the guides, pulling the leader and fly forward to settle gently on the pond. Moments later the three pounds of large mouth bass had his breakfast and the fisherman a good morning tug of war. Scenes like this one come to mind as would be fly fisherman read L.L. Bean's "Fly Fishing for Bass Handbook" by Dave Whitlock. This easy reading guide to fly fishing covers equipment, casting, bass habits, flies, and bass fishing philosophy. As a seasoned trout fisherman I found this book enjoyable as well as informative. The book presents some very specific information when it comes to fly fishing for those large bass. If fly fishing for bass is on your list, then this book should be on your shelf.

This is a helpful book, but it suffers from the following problem: it is aimed at experienced fly fishers for trout who are bass neophytes on one hand, and experienced bass fishers who are new to casting flies on the other. Each of these groups will find some parts of the book relatively unhelpful. Otherwise it's a worthwhile read.

Laguna Local Color provides the reader with a dazzling glimpse of the incredibly charming atmosphere of our artistic seaside community. The book presents the town as accessible, inviting, interesting and comfortable. THe photos capture the rare beauty of one of the great destinations, resorts, vacation and year round living locals rivaling virtually any other in our remarkable world.

For the twenty years before I became a resident of Laguna Beach, I visited this paradise as often as I could. Now, 20 years later, Laguna has not lost its magic for me. This wonderful book captures the history and special charm that makes us "Lagunatics" know that we'll never live anywhere else. A visual treat!

It's not often that staff officers receive the kind of attention combat commanders do, but even in the War Between the States, when staff officers frequently had as much front-lines time as private soldiers, Sandie Pendleton was something exceptional. W.G. Bean does an excellent job showing us why.

I first encountered Alexander Swift 'Sandie' Pendleton in Douglas Southall Freeman's essential 'Lee's Lieutenants,' in which he cites the need for a comprehensive biography of this important officer. A few years later (Freeman wrote in the 1940s, and 'Stonewall's Man' was first published in 1959), W.G. Bean -- appropriately, the Douglas Southall Freeman Professor of History at Pendleton's alma mater, Washington and Lee University -- took up the challenge. This is a sympathetic, but still thorough, look at the man 'Stonewall' Jackson 'loved like a son,' and Dick Ewell called 'the most promising young man' in the Army of Northern Virginia.

Pendleton was something of an intellectual, having graduated from Washington College (later W&L University) and entered the M.A. program at the University of Virginia when the War began. His quick and organized mind was ideally suited to the needs of a military staff, and he quickly made himself invaluable to Generals Jackson and Ewell. By the time of his death in 1864, shortly before his 24th birthday, he had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and was assistant adjutant general (essentially, chief of staff) of the Second Corps.

Bean does a fine job of relating all this. He also doesn't skip on the equally important details of Sandie's personal life, particularly his romance with, and marriage to, Kate Corbin. This book is filled with excerpts from Sandie and Kate's personal letters, as well as those of their families and friends. By the time the book is complete, I felt I knew Sandie well, and, with his wife and family, genuinely mourned his untimely death.

Freeman said that part of his motivation in writing 'Lee's Lieutenants' was to rescue from obscurity some of the lesser-known commanders and officers of the Confederate armies. Today, when any acknowledgement (let alone defense) of the CSA is considered in some quarters a 'hate crime,' Freeman's mission is more important than ever. I'm very pleased, therefore, that 'Stonewall's Man' has been re-released, and urge its study by anyone interested in the Army of Northern Virginia. The staff corps, too, has its heroes, and Sandy Pendleton's is a life worthy of remembering and respecting.

Stonewall's Man, by W.G. Bean, is the biography of Alexander Swift "Sandie" Pendleton, 1841-64, who is best known as Chief of Staff to General T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson during the American Civil War. Bean, Professor of History at Washington and Lee University, focuses on Sandie's life and family, bringing the major events of the Civil War into the story only to the extent that Sandie played a role in them or they played a role in Sandie's life. This style gives the book two parallel themes: (1) The role of the military staff during the Civil War and (2) The life and everyday events of ordinary individuals in caught up in the midst of the Civil War.

At the time of the Civil War, the military staff had not grown the prominence it achieved only a few years later in the Prussian army, let alone the bloated status it "enjoys" today. Jackson's Second Corps, at its height, was composed of perhaps 30,000 men, and the staff typically numbered about four or five officers, including the Corps surgeon, Dr. Hunter McGuire. Its role was to facilitate Jackson's communication of with his subordinate commanders and with higher Headquarters, i.e., General Lee. In this era, "communications" meant hand written communications when time allowed and oral communications otherwise. During battles, "transmitting" orders typically meant getting on a horse and riding until Sandie found the intended recipient. Along the way, he was expected to render all appropriate support as dictated by the situation: Rallying retreating troops, bringing damaged artillery back into action, and, on his own initiative, improvising and acting for the commander. There was, and still is, a very delicate balancing act between acting on one's initiative and overstepping one's limited authority. Apparently, Sandie, at the ages of 21 to 23, had an extraordinary sense of this balance as he was held in the highest regard by both Jackson and his subordinate commanders. In addition, Sandie enjoyed an unusually close personal relationship with his notoriously tight lipped commander. After Jackson's death at Chancellorsville in May 1863, Sandie enjoyed similar professional relations with Jackson's successors, Generals Ewell and Early, although his personal relations with them were less close than with Jackson. Sandie was killed in late 1864 in the Battle of Fisher's Hill between Early and Union General Sheridan who had embarked on the burning of the Shenandoah Valley to starve the Confederacy into submission.

Sandie had been offered promotion from his staff position as a Lieutenant Colonel to command of a bigade as a Brigadier General. He declined the promotion as he thought the staff position carried greater responsibility. It did. Sandie greatly ehnanced the effectiveness of the Jackson's command. He was the war's most effective staff officer, highly adept at implementing the orders of its most brilliant general.

The personal life of Sandie Pendleton centers about his parents, his sisters, and his wife, Kate Corbin, to whom he was married less than a year prior to his death. All were prolific letter writers which provided Professor Bean with his primary source material. Sandie's relationship with his father, William Nelson Pendleton, is particularly interesting. W. N. Pendleton was, successively, a West Point graduate, Episcopal minister, headmaster of the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Lexington, VA, master of a boy's prep school in Lexington, and Brigadier General and commander of Jackson's artillery. He evidently had a profound influence on his son who taught in his father's prep school and hoped to follow his steps into the ministry. Serving on Jackson's staff while his father was an important subordinate commander must have further complicated Sandie's balancing act as chief of Jackson' staff. The personal events and letters of the family paint a clear and sad picture of lives caught up in the tragedy of the Civil War in Virginia. For example, in approximately one year, Kate Corbin lost three small nieces and nephews, her brother, her new husband, and their son who was born shortly after his father's death.

Professor Bean's narrative also indirectly highlights the prominent role of religion in every aspect of these people's lives. Many of us today tend to forget, if we ever knew, that the Civil War and American Revolution both had aspects of religious crusades, the Civil War on both sides, the Revolution primarily on the American side. For more on this theme, see Kevin Phillips, The Cousins Wars.

Bean's book certainly presents a fresh approach to reasoning about causation. His ideas on causation under time reversal and backward causation are interesting, indeed. The reader will find this work inclusive of physics, Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy quite stimulating.

Bean is an original and careful thinker. His ideas challenge refutation. Those interested in physics, philosophy, and cybernetics will find this work to be a stimulating departure from traditional views on causality.

While these were abridged versions of the books, the editing was very well done. My only complaint were the occasional mispronounced word - suite pronounced as suit, for example. This is a very small thing, but it served to bring me out of the story. The biggest drawback was that I listened to these books in the car and didn't want to go in to work until the current exciting bit was done. Barr's descriptions of the parks, the people, and the events were very well done, crisp and clear, and brought you right into the story. Well done!

Joyce Bean brings Nevada Barr to life. This performance is brilliant. I lived inside Anna Pigeon's head (a great place to be) and felt like I was seeing the world through her eyes. Bean's delivery is matter-of-fact. This may sound strange, but I like the way Bean lets you hear her breathe. She is reading and it feels like you're sitting around a campfire with the best of them. On top of Bean, this is a fantastic plot. The long opening scene of the recovery in the cave is gripping. The first long third of this book takes place underground but Barr brings each room, tunnel, corkscrew and wormhole to life. The characters around Pigeon are interesting and diverse and while the action moves to the surface for the middle section, it's equally compelling. The wrap-up? One of the best. Great story of greed, brilliantly read by Joyce Bean.