Berry Books

This is a valuable addition to Wendell Berry's collections of essays for two primary reasons: (1) it documents a number of his pieces first delivered in speeches, whereas most of his earlier collections that centered on farming and local culture began in print, and (2) it further develops ideas as they relate to trends and events of the 1990's, a decade during which a number of his essay-driven books were guided by themes other than agricultural practice. I have noticed a number of critics who mention that this book is "not a good place to start when reading Wendell Berry," but this, as well as most of the associated comments, leave me scratching my head and wondering if these folks have actually read this book. These folks also seem not to comprehend in the least the difference between an essay and a master's thesis replete with lots of footnotes. Berry is an essayist, and to apply the words "shrill" or "vague" to his pieces is obtuse to the point of absurdity. In particular, he is quite precise in his addressing of particular cases, such as his critique of "The Kentucky Cycle" and its readings in local and national culture, and he is also distinct in his proposals for solutions and remediations concerning the issues that he addresses, whether agricultural, natural, or societal. His discussions of traditions, communities, and economic practices are solidly based on observations of how people live and interact; it is no small irony that those who critique his "rose-colored view" of the past simply subscribe to a mythologized concept of "progress" (assumed with technology) and a condescension toward "small town life." "Another Turn of the Crank" -- certainly one of Berry's funniest titles and refreshingly sharp covers -- should be read with a clear mind and its quandaries and provocative jabs at many of the assumptions of contemporary practices, whether agricultural or literary, will enliven any reader's mind.

I'd never read Berry before, but as far as I can tell, this brief collection of six essays and lectures sticks to familiar territory. However, it's probably not the best entry point for people who are newcomers to his realm. There are two related problems with the book: one of presentation, and one of tone. The problem with presentation is that the pieces are so short that there's no room for specifics. So, while one might be more or less in accord with the broad strokes of Berry's vision, there's no detail to back it all up. The problem with tone is that from the very first page the reader feels like they are being lectured at. Of course, some of the pieces are lectures, but there's a certain condescension that runs throughout the book. It comes out when Berry uses certain words such as the three As of "appropriate", "authentic" and "adequate". When these are used ( as they often are), there he's obviously made some kind of value judgment, but the reader is never let in on it. The end result of the two flaws is that the reader feels like a hectoring argument is being made without any supporting logic -- which ultimately smacks of preaching to the choir.

Which is unfortunate, since I tend to agree with Berry on a lot of things (though not his anti-abortion stance). Small farms are good, agribusiness is bad, stewardship of the land is good, extraction industries are bad, treating the body as an organic whole is good, and things of that nature. Alas, he has a tendency of making sweeping assertions and accusations that are far too simplistic and shrill to be useful. Two examples from the first 15 pages will suffice to illustrate: "This is a world in which the cultures that preserve nature and rural life will simply be disallowed." and "Communists and capitalists are alike in their contempt for country people, country life, and country places."

Berry also succumbs to the trick of creating straw men to counter his theses. For example, in one essay, he claims that conservationists are people who want to simply preserve land in a pristine, untouched state, and that's all. While there are certainly some conservationists who feel that way, they are a small minority of a a much larger community who actually is in almost total accord with Berry's views on stewardship and land use. It certainly doesn't help matters that his view of small-scale farming appears to be heavily tinted with rose-colored glasses. His claims that modern agribusinesses has rendered the small farm economically unviable sounds like a reasonable proposition. However, it ignores the fact that, historically, small scale farming ran on the thinnest of margins, was subject to all kind of external instability (weather, vermin, etc.), and operated on only slightly better than a subsistence level. In farming, cash is scarce, that's why people abandoned it in droves whenever the opportunity presented itself, such as in WWII, when all those defense-industry factories were opened in California. (Of course, in Berry's vision, you don't really need cash, because you barter for everything you need from your neighbors.)

Berry's exhortations to create small-scale communities is worthy stuff, and even in cities people are creating this. The growth of CSAs, farmers markets, and the like in the past decade is a tangible indicator of this. However, to achieve the large scale results Berry seeks requires a more rigorous roadmap than what is provided in this slim collection.

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Another Turn of the Crank by Wendell Berry should *not* be the first Berry book one reads.

Wendell Berry seems to attract two kinds of readers. One group of readers consists of the fanatical true-believers. They eagerly snap up every word he writes. One suspects that their objectivity has been washed away by their enthusiasm.

The second group of readers are those who have just stumbled across some portion of Berry's work in the course of their meandering. They have yet to form an opinion. This review is written for the second group.

Wendell Berry, as an essayist, has the ability to slice through the passivity that cocoons the modern reader. His essays challenge them to exercise their mind and to examine their value system. Berry is not an easy read, he does not mollycoddle the reader with short simple sentences. The complex sentence structure is not the result of whim or laziness. Rather, it is core to Berry's mode of writing. The image that springs to mind the exercise in logic that requires the student to sort through a box of marbles with a balance-beam scale to find the marble(s) that are different. Expect to work when you read a Wendell Berry essay.

Another Turn of the Crank, specifically, is a depressing book. Berry writes in the Foreword "The proper role of government is to protect its citizens and its communities against conquest - against economic conquest just as much as conquest by overt violence." The majority of the remaining 100 pages are devoted to showing how the government failed (short synopsis: Policy supports industrial farming/forestry. Industrial farming is a commodity-extraction process. Commodity extraction does not create much wealth but is efficient for *concentrating* wealth. Wealth concentration is a zero-sum game. Weath is concentrated at the expense of others. Consequently, industrial farming causes widespread impoverishment.) and why the government failed (short synopsis: Farmers are no longer electorially significant but the cash contributions of industrial farming are.) to fill their proper role. The book projects the anguish one would expect of a general who learned that the diplomats traded away the battlefield his troops bought with blood.

Another Turn of the Crank should not be the first Wendell Berry book that they read because of it's one-dimensionality. New readers of Berry will be better served to start with The Gift of Good Land, or What are People For? These collections of essays are Wendell Berry samplers. They give the reader a much better feel for the range of Wendell Berry's ability to savor the human condition and his ability to project that experience through the written word.

Wendell Berry is a Kentucky farmer--a "country person" (p. 46), and a former English professor. He is also among my favorite poets. I arrived at this collection of six inspired essays through Berry's poetry. He is no ordinary country farmer, and this is no ordinary book of essays.

These are not easy essays. They often raise more questions than answers. But reading them is rewarding. Poet Ezra Pound wrote, "Learn of the green world what can be thy place." For Berry, "thy place" means "good stewardship" (p. 57), which is the theme of his book. He insightfully examines farm reform, food quality, nature conservation, caring for local communities, and finding redemption in "a fallen world" (p. 102) that is controlled by "distant," "supranational" corporations. "I am a Luddite," Berry proudly proclaims, "not 'against technology' so much as I am for community" (p. 90). For Berry, "human beings, let alone human societies, cannot live indefinitely by poison and fire" (p. 47).

Berry begins his book with a memorable quotation from R. S. Thomas: "What to do? Stay green/ Never mind the machine,/ Whose fuel is human souls,/ Live large, man, and dream small." He ends his book with, for me, the two most memorable essays in the collection: "The Conservation of Nature and the Preservation of Humanity" and "Health is Membership."

With a "turn of the crank," Berry hopes to bring his reader to a starting place to care for the world. But the point of the plucked chicken on the book's cover eludes me still.

G. Merritt

Once again, Berry has produced a work worth reading over and over again. By far one of his best collections of essays, I found myself warmed and heartened by his words and was impressed by how well he expresses the compatibility of good human work with nature, as they are often seen as opposing forces. He shows us how the best of our cultural traditions can bring a better life to all of us. His writings simply get better and better. If you've never read anything by Berry before, this could be a great one to start with. I also highly recommend another book of his, The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. I will treasure this book for years to come.

This is the first Wendell Berry book I've read. I was vastly disappointed after reading some much praise for his works. Much of his work is overly flowery and long-winded.

There are a few gems this collection of essays: "A Native Hill" and "The Whole Horse" come to mind. These few essays stick to what Berry knows through experience. They reflect a deep connection the land and suggest a transcendental theme ala Thoreau.

Other essays focus on Berry's attempt to justify and explain the 'agrarian ethic'. Berry suggests that returning to locally based economies will restore a connection to the land. Having a connection to the land will result in people no longer destroying the earth.

While I agree strongly that this is the case, Berry does a terrible job of convincing anyone but religious and environmental zealots. The essays are filled with Biblical references and strange interpretations of obscure literature. He leaves much to be desired. Only rarely does Berry refer to anything practical or in the real world.

Berry's ideas are largely untested, untried and Utopian. He admits as much. Too often Berry refers to things as infinite and unknowable. This is a dangerous course. In attempting to discribe the ideal life Berry fails to point out the one thing that could bring down the house of cards Globalization is built on: local economics. Indeed for all his talk of human economy (running the household and community), he ignores the more standard meaning of the word.

Berry holds no punches in telling about sustainable living, holding traditions of old and how the way we're developing and farming this world can't last. Most of the essays were written 30 years ago or so, but Berry was way ahead of his time and a lot of his thoughts. This collection is especially important now as we've become "exploiters" of the land. These essays will inspire you to become a "nurturer" of the land.

For me the central theme of this book can be illustrated in this quote. " I don't think it is appreciated how much of an outdoor book the Bible is." Berry is a deeply religious man who lives his religion every moment in his deep, deep connections to the land, to all animals, to community,to the growing of food, and to the world as an organic entity.

As wonderful as it is to have Poet Laureates, I wish we also had Philosopher Laureates and that Wendell Berry had that forum. His thoughts are important for the national consciousness.

"The other kind of freedom is the freedom to take care of ourselves and of each other. The freedom of affluence opposes and contradicts the freedom of community life."

Berry advocates watching government closely, nationally but particularly locally. When it comes time to protest, he calls for facts and good arguments, not just slogans and buttons.
"I would rather go before the governement with two people who have a competent understanding of an issue, and who therefore deserve a hearing, than with two thousand who are vaguely dissatisfied."

These essays span several decades but the ideas are more relevant today than when they were written. The trends and programs, such as GATT and the loss of topsoil and the rise of megafarms, are as bad as he feared but time has proven them even more destructive.

"Restraint - for us, now - above all:the ability to accept and live within limits; to resist changes that are merely novel or fashionable; to resist greed and pride; to resist the temptation to 'solve' problems by ignoring them, accepting them as 'tradeoffs', or bequesthing them to posterity. A good solution, then, must be in harmony with good character, cultural value, and moral law."

While I agree with a lot of what Berry has to say, I found his approach off-putting, in a way that I think will ruin his message for many readers.

Berry supports a simpler lifestyle, and his ideas are much like Thoreau's as described during his experience in "Walden". He says that simplifying will bring us back to nature and a healthier way of living. I agree with many aspects of what he has to say, although I quibble with him on several points - but that's a matter of personal opinion and not a problem with the book. But Berry takes a fairly hard-nosed, holier-than-thou approach to explaining the virtues of the lifestyle he supports, and this grows tiresome after reading the book for more than a short while.

Berry is also very long-winded. His writing style is somewhat overblown and very difficult to get through. This book and perhaps this author are probably best read in small doses, whether you like him or not.

Sometimes, during and after reading a particular book, I feel as though I could not have read anything more appropriate at that time.

The book blows me away with its depth, its insight, or the amazing questions it raises.

The Art of the Commonplace is one of those books, and it may be the best introduction to Wendell Berry a reader can ask for. As a collection of essays over more than twenty years, it covers a wide range of social issues-such as agriculture and the environment, family and marriage, consumerism, and globalism-which is amazing given that all of them relate to agrarian topics.

Berry poses questions that most of us never consider, and I believe that is the main reason Berry is one of the most desperately needed Christian writers in today's America.

this book failed to clearly convey to the reader any sense of objectivity. dont read this book.

The Gift of Good Land is a wonderful thought provoking collection of essays about ancient and modern small scale agriculture and the ecological advantages of diversified small scale farming over the large scale industrial monoculture that prevails in the present day.

Writer and farmer Wendell Berry is known for his clarity and wisdom. This collection from 1982 is not a hiccough in that summation. However, this particular book may be slightly less accessible to general readers in that the emphasis is more on the "Agri" than the "Cultural." Though in his mind there is no such silly bifurcation. The first part contains essays about his visits to farms in Peru and the American Southwest, as well as an essay about the native grasses of his home state of Kentucky. From there the topics range from the pleasures and practicalities of using actual horsepower on farms to protesting against a nuclear reactor all the way to the essay from which the book draws its name. That essay alone (a theological study of land stewardship) is worth the price of the book.
All in all, these are excellent essays, but as many of them were drawn from farming journals, may find less of an audience. However, that should not stop anyone, suburbanite nor city dweller, from reading this fine, fine collection. "To see and respect what is there is the first duty of stewardship." --from "The Native Grasses and What They Mean."

I am not a farmer, nor do not live in an agricultural landscape. However, the degredation of the rural way of life and the depredations of corporate agriculture on it have long been an interest of mine.

This series of essays goes a long way towards describing how agriculture and rural life in general could be made sustainable. Today's 'modern' agriculture is decidedly not sustainable.

The book suffers a little for the passage of time. Some of the essays that I'm sure were topical in 1979 seem a little dated as far as content is concerned. Berry's lyrical writing rescues them, however.

If you have any interest in the food you eat and how it is produced, you should read this book (then join a Community Supported Agriculture farm).

The Gift of Good Land is a collection of 24 essays that were originally written for magazines. The original venue means that the essays are quite readable in terms of sentence length and punctuation. These essays cover a wide range of topics.

The glue that holds these essays together is Wendell Berry's love and concern for 'good' farming. To Berry's way of thinking, good farmers mimic natural ecosystems. That is, they cultivate a diversity of crops, both plant and animal. The diversity is not random but rather it is a patchwork quilt that is lovingly matched to the idiosyncrasies of the land. The Gift of Good Land focuses on people and cultures that have somehow managed to remain good farmers in spite of economic pressures. Ironically, many of these cultures exist in brittle climates. Hostile environments kill stupid economics just as quickly as it kills stupid people.

The thing I liked best about The Gift of Good Land is that Wendell Berry genuinely LIKES the people he interviews! He treats them gently, with dignity and respect. Many authors would see Berry's people as "subjects" that are stupidly struggling to maintain the basest existence. Berry sees them as people who are heirs to thousands of years of cultural evolution, living lives that are a heroic testament to human adaptability. I prefer to see through Berry's eyes.

Attached are a few of Berry's observations that I think are particularly acute:

(In Europe)"...'marginal' farms and their farmers are looked upon as vital resources that will be needed in times of crisis, and so policies have been evolved to keep them productive."

(In the Peruvian Andes) "I wanted to see ancient American agriculture that has been carried on continuously for...4500 years... (on) steep, rocky, and otherwise 'marginal' land." "What seemed so alluring and charmed then, and seems so hard to recover now, is a live sense of contrasting scales. The scale of that landscape is immense....This way of farming that has obviously had to proceed by small considerations. It has had to consider dirt by the handful. Every seed and stem and stone has been subjected to the consideration of touch - picked up, weighed in the hand, and laid down."

(In the Sonoran Desert) "In response to their meager (arable) land, the Papago developed a culture that was one of the grand human achievements. It was intricately respectful of the means of life, surpassingly careful of all the possibilities of survival."

(In the Mid-West) "A bad solution is bad, then, because it acts destructively upon the larger patterns in which it is contained."

(At home) "One of the ideas most ruinous to the small farm has been that the farmer "could not afford" to produce his own food....What is your time worth? Though often asked, I do not think this question is answerable. It is the same as asking what your life is worth."

(On children) "...parenthood is not an exact science, but a vexed privilege and a blessed trial, absolutely necessary and not altogether possible."

(In West Virginia from the seat of a bulldozer) "...it is virtually impossible to see what you're doing..... He (the person being interviewed) still seems a little awed to think that so large a machine has to be run so much by guess." And that is a fine metaphor for life.

Consider buying this book if this kind of writing appeals to you. Otherwise, save your money.

Dr. Brazelton tells you. Really.

the genius of this book is that he categorizes

the active baby
the average baby
the quiet baby

He Knows! Depending on your baby's temperament, they are Very Different Experiences during that first year...

i read this when i was first pregnant and it ushered me into a sense of what it would really be like to be responsible for a baby, and not just babySITTING!

then i read the chapter on each month as my daughter grew...

i'm sure i appreciated the wonder of what was unfolding before my eyes every day more than i might have if i'd gotten lost in the neverending feeding, changing diapers chore part over and over again...

it was a Great Gift - and boon to my own confidence as a new mom - that year.

also, somehow between the lines, Dr. Brazelton gets the message across that You Can't Do It Wrong... you are that baby's mother and so by definition, you're doing it right...

there's a new pediatrician who has a book about how to get an infant to stop crying - something like the Happiest Baby on The Block...

that - and this book - are my two favorite essentials.

Full of outdated advice such as putting baby to sleep on his stomach, scheduling feedings and leaving a newborn to "cry it out." Also focuses on the worst experiences of new mothers. It's important for struggling new mothers to know that they are not alone in their doubts, fears and resentments, but I found it very disheartening to read about these mothers (and fathers) who fantasize about escaping the demands of motherhood by "accidentally" dropping or drowning the baby and who resent, dislike and ignore (that is, neglect) their newborns. I recommend either The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two / by William and Martha Sears or Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5 / by American Academy Of Pediatrics instead.

I bought this book years ago when my children were born. Five children and twenty five years later, it is my favorite baby gift especially for a first time mother.

The book describes three different infants and their temperments so clearly that no matter what kind of a baby you have, you will find your child somewhere in the book. For a first time mother, when variations of childrens sleeping, eating, and temperments are so different, it is reassuring to know that the one in your crib is as healthy and normal as the rest.

Although the descriptions of different babies' development & temperment were somewhat interesting, this book is completely out-of-date. The photos and some of the advice was so old-fashioned (i.e. letting babies sleep on their stomachs, feeding healthy babies "sugar water" to delay feedings) that it was distracting. This book needs a major overhaul to make it worth the $17 pricetag. I returned it.

My children are 9 & 6 now. I was extremely grateful to have this book when my first was born. I had very little experience with children beyond teenage babysitting and a degree in psychology (not as useful as one might think, though it sounds impressive.) It was great to know just how extreme the differences can be between perfectly normal babies.

I can't believe this book was written by two people with doctorates. There were a couple of dry, "ha ha's" here and there, but nothing to write home about. I think I would have laughed my backside off if I had read this book back in the late 70's or early 80's.

I know you can't take this book seriously, and it is meant for pure entertainment, but this book struck me as being downright stupid. Some things are listed as being "ghetto" when it is actually based on economics. For example, #48 states, "You've ever used a coat as a blanket." This does not mean you're ghetto, it could mean you may have been poor at some point, or you've been in a situation where blankets were not available (i.e. waiting in an airport for a flight that has been delayed for 24 hours).

The authors consider you ghetto if you still eat at Denny's (see #129).

According to the authors you're also ghetto if, "You go to a beauty salon for a press and curl." (This is #89). I think a better ghetto point would have been if you still have your hair pressed and curled in your mother's kitchen.

Other items which are seen as ghetto are: #89:"You've called a radio station for anything." #345: "Any of the following is your favorite car: BMW, Caddy, Gremlin, Hornet, Jeep Cherokee, Lincoln, Maxima, Nissan, Pacer, Pinto." #375: "You were the only black person at your wedding."

I could go on, but I will stop here. This book was a TOTAL waste of my money.

I first read this book while riding the bus to work and laughed so hard and long people were looking at me. I saw a lot of myself and my family in this book. I'd give it 5 stars if it were just a little longer.

This is a book that transcends culture, class, race, and ethnicity. I don't think there is one person in America that did not see themselves in at least five of the descriptions in this book. I had everyone in my family read this book and circle in red the passages that described them. When I was done there were only about ten that had not been circled!!! Berry outdid herself it was great to laugh at myself, which we as Black people need to do a little more of. The book was in a way very therapeutic.

Dr. Berry will even have your saddity Aunt Geraldine nodding and laughing in agreement to half of the descriptions in this book. Some of them are enough to make you fall out from laughter, crawl under a table in shame or cry tears of sympathy for those who are too ghetto for their own good. If you ain't got at least 10 of these traits, you're in denial, lying or both!!! ADMIT IT: WE'S ALL GHETTO Y'ALL!!!

ooooh, I laughed so hard at this book! It makes you remember things you probably long forgot or just chose to block out of your mind. Whatta hoot! I think my favorite one was the one about the woman with the halter top on and her stomach hanging out thinking that she is da domb! I seen this lady in a resturant just the other day! I couldn't stop laughing thinking about her and this book. Don't get all deep with this book, it's meant to be lighthearted and funny, not a jab at black folk! Read it for what is was meant to be...hella funny!!

A very good account of life in 1930s Russia under the Bolshevik regime led by Lenin and then Stalin. Stalin's policies of collectivism of agriculture and rapid industrialization is very apparent throughout the book. What stands out is the dim view held by many Russian citizens of the capitalistic society of western nations including the United States which is clearly exploited by Stalin to pursue his objectives of social engineering and absolute power. You even find yourself buying into Stalin's propoganda as seems to be the case with the author, John Scott. But Stalin's brutal tactics must not be overlooked. He does create impressive cities and a very strong army, but at a great cost to the Russian people.

This book is a first-person account of work life in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Disenchanted with opportunities in Depression America in 1931, Scott takes off for the Workers' Paradise. He finds a job as a welder building the massive steelworks in the new Soviet city of Magnitogorsk in the Ural Mountains. Altogether, he spent six years living and working in Magnitogorsk until he lost his job due to Stalin's purges.

The conditions that Scott found himself working in are simply incredible. He rose well before dawn and went to work outdoors in -30 degree temperatures with no breakfast. Lunch, the major meal of the day, was a hunk of bread and some watery soup with perhaps a slice of tough meat. Work place injuries were extremely common, due to the cold, lack of food and lack of training or safety equipment. For example, Scott describes an incident where he was working high above the ground and saw something, or rather, somebody, go sailing past only to the pipes below. As a foreigner, Scott knew some first aid, so he was always called on to care for such injuries when they occurred at the work site. In addition to describing work life and living conditions, Scott also discusses the educational and training systems that were in place and spare time activities such as vacations. He also includes some anecdotes about ex-pat workers who he met in Magnitogorsk.

Scott remains objective throughout the book, making the message of the book extremely powerful, much more so than if he had pressed political arguments or personal viewpoints. A particularly interesting facet of the book is its discussion of the purges of the 1930s and speculation on their cause. Few other outsiders were living inside Soviet society at the time, so Scott's views can be uniquely enlightening about how Soviets perceived what was happening to their society and why. Scott identifies several possible causes for the purges, but seems to place great emphasis on the fear of foreign saboteurs and does not mention Stalin's personality at all as a possible cause. Area specialists and historians will find much of interest in this book, as will casual readers.

John Scott gives us the reader an interesting point of view of Stalin's Soviet Union. His epic journey is not one to bew taken lkightly. He was in an era when disillusionment was high -- the Great Depression and he believed in the fream of work, even in the figid vastlands of the Urals. Scott gives a good account of what wlife was like, but the book goes by either very quickly or very slowly and does not capture a medium of speed that is accpetable to some readers. However, it is a brittlant account of first hand experence if you are looking for suh an account, Scott is your man.

This is a great first hand accont of Stalinism at work. John Scott five year experience in Russia gives us a fairly good overview of some of the accomplishments (such as increase production of pig iron three fold in a decade) and also the problems usually involving poor planning or lack of materials. Scott as an American working in Russia gives us an unusual perspective that is quite refreshing. His writing is easy to read and includes many entertaining and revealing anecdotes. Also his writing is not bogged down by the didactic language and relentless facts that plague most works of history. True there is a history of Magnitogorsk that drags a bit but it is over soon enough. Generally, this is considered the definative work on everyday Stalinism

Other reviewers have done a good job pointing out the positives of this book; it's a unique look at a moment in history in a region most westerners have never heard of. One issue that needs to be made clear, however, is that this book is under no circumstance to be considered unbiased. In reference to Stalin's purges, John Scott makes such statements in as "Often they tried the wrong people, but in Russia this is relatively unimportant" and "Most of these people were innocent, but some were guilty, and some might have become excellent Nazi fifth-columnists. Stalin considered this investment a good one" without a hint of remorse. He plays the apologist, by constantly citing figures like pig iron production or cement tonnage, which are somehow supposed to negate the Stalinist terrors. Yes, the author is a victim of that same blind denial that kept Jews in concentration camps and the Gulag full of innocent Soviets. After reading Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg's "Journey Into the Whirlwind", her account of her life in Stalin's prison system, I almost felt physically ill when I reexamined "Behind the Urals". I can not blame Scott for what so many other Soviets fell victim to, the Cult of Stalin, but you have to go into this book with the mindset you would an uncritical book about the wonders of arms production in Nazi Germany. "Behind the Urals" is full of history, but it needs a liberal dose of critical interpretation, and an understandings that his political views should best be taken as an historical curiosity.

This wonderful little gem of a book should be read by daughters and fathers in every country. The stories are based on fact. I was there when we were being taped. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. To see the dads and some of the daughters who actually went through these experiences would confirm your belief that good comes from all experiences, happy and sad. My daughter read the draft and started to call me again. Thank you for writing this book.

First, I want to say to anyone reading this IGNORE THAT STUPID KIRKUS REVIEW!! That reviewer must have been having a bad day, because he/she missed the whole point of the book. This book is about looking at the instinctive power available in this beautiful relationship. It is well written, and I almost didn't buy it because of that dumb review. This book made me laugh out loud, cry and ponder over the good things I've done as a dad and the bad things. I highly recommend it for any daddy or daughter at any age. It is extraordinary for those who want a good read!

What an enjoyable read for any daddy or daughter! I didn't have a great relationship with my dad and learned so much from this book. It's helped me to forgive and reconcile with him, as I understood we all make mistakes. My dad and I thank you authors for helping us get past the past!

As a new father of a beautiful baby girl, I awaited delivery of this book with a great deal of anticipation. As soon as it arrived, I put aside the paperback I had been working on. Too bad for me. This book starts out promisingly enough. The first section (dealing with birth and early childhood) is kind of neat. But, as the book progresses (through the school years and adulthood), I found myself becoming more and more discouraged. The mostly dysfunctional father/daughter relationships did nothing for me. In fact, several of the anecdotes really disturbed me. The book becomes more of a downer with each page. I ultimately set it aside and did not finish it. To the authors - nice try, but, in my opinion, you did not do what you set out to do. Instead of touching stories of the unique bond between fathers and daughters, you presented a series of Inside Edition-like stories. I don't see the point.

This is a wonderful book. It was fascinating, and I could not stop reading it. It made me remember events in my childhood that I had long forgotten. I almost didn't read it because of the Kirkus review, which is wrong. I would like to thank the authors for creating such a touching collection.

This book is a good way to start your baby eating well from the beginning. Dr. Brazelton has a laid back, common sense approach that really works. After dealing with two kids that fight eating practically anything, I wanted to do things differently with my newest child. The advice not only worked for the baby, but the older kids as well! I recommend this book highly.

This is a fabulous book for any family fighting over food, and for any parent with their own issues about food. All the basic info is here, and it's so easy to find exactly what you need because it is so short and well organized. I highly recommend Feeding Your Child The Brazelton Way - I wish I'd read it when I was pregnant. It sure would have saved me a lot of trouble!
-L.G. Pasadena, CA

This is the ideal book for every parent who wants to know how to help their child learn healthy eating habits. But according to Brazelton, you'd better start early. I think parents everywhere will find this book contains everything they need to know - yet it is small enough to fit into a pocket: what a relief!

First of all, let me say that I am a big fan of Dr. Brazelton and appreciate his no nonsense approach. After I saw his week long series on the Today show I decided to purchase this book thinking it would help me with feeding my 15 month old.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed when I received the book. It details feeding your child from birth all the way up through elementary school. Because it's a short book there isn't a whole lot of information for any one age group. I found that Dr. Brazelton was able to cover just about everything written in this book during his five minute segment on the Today show.

If you've seen Dr. Brazelton discuss this topic in an interview then you don't need to buy the book.

Perhaps because Dr. Brazelton does use a common sense approach, there's little to write about? I'm not sure.

It won't turn me off from other Brazelton books though. I fully intend on purchasing his potty training book when the time comes. Since that topic has a more narrow scope, perhaps there will be more information relevant to my son's age.

I don't dispute Dr. Brazelton's advice on medical issues. On child care issues he seems like an aristocratic professor who handed off his own kids to wife and nanny and now sits in an ivory tower, smoking a pipe,dispensing common sense advice and collecting royalties. He just doesn't understand why you might not want your child in diapers and breastfeeding at age 3 or why the television might be on - in his world every child is an only child, and mothers don't work or have daycare providers like Mary Poppins. This book is just as arrogant and unrealistic as the other books he's written and the advice on breastfeeding problems could ONLY have been written by a man. The book in a nutshell: Don't sweat the vegetables - if your child gets enough milk and very little junk food, he'll be OK.

i dont remember why i dont use it but it must be that i didnt like it

I was disappointed in the book. It lacked some of what had been promised in the way of scientific documention, etc. Just another variation on the numerous spin-offs of the Atkins/South Beach approach.

This diet worked for me and now i don't have to be ashamed to go in public anymore. Thank you Drs. Goldberg and O'Mara. God Bless!!

The Go-Diet is a very moderate low-carb diet with practically no restriction of calories (usually the calorie intake was up to 2,500.) Dieters can have 65 grams of carbohydrate a day and no more than 12 grams of carbs at any single meal. They're supposed to eat a lot of yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk and not to be worried about the carb content in these products. This makes a lot of sense if one considers the growing body of evidence for health benefits of probiotics.

One of important points is fiber content: no less than 25 grams of fiber every day, mostly it comes with plenty of raw vegetables: 5 servings of leafy and cruciferous veggies.

The diet is high in calcium, magnesium and all other minerals. It contains vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K and requires practically no supplements.

The research results are consistent with another low-carb diets studies like these:

"Compared with the low-carbohydrate diet, the high-carbohydrate diet caused a 27.5% increase in plasma triglycerides and a similar increase in LDL-cholesterol levels; it also reduced levels of HDL cholesterol by 11%."(Diabetes. 41(10):1278-85, 1992)

In the article "Treatment of obesity with low-carbohydrate diets," the authors concluded: "Concentrations of plasma triglycerides and cholesterol turned to normal during therapy. There were no side effects on the gastro-intestinal tract." (Medizinische Klinik. 70(15):653-7,1975)

"Serum triglycerides decreased more after the high fat diet (52mg/dl) than after high protein diet (67 mg/dl)." (Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 4(4):451-9, 1985)

Please read more on evidence-based low carb dieting at bestlowcarbs.com

I have every book on low-carb diets that has been printed, but this one makes the most sense. After another low-carb attempt my cholestrol, etc. tests showed increases. Scary, very scary to me. This diet raises the monounsatured fat, lowers carbohydrates, increases fiber and is nutritionally balanced with normal protein levels.(Just as the cover states.) The weight is coming off, as with other low-carb attempts, but the blood test numbers are better and that is what we all aim for, right? The most encouraging part for me is that the Go-Diet is well balanced....you can live with it for a lifetime, even with an occasional "slip". I should have read this book first. I would have saved a lot of money and wasted time. Written by intelligent and compassionate professionals.