Berry Books

This is a good book. You have to admire the author's initiative in hunting down jarheads from Maine to San Diego 30 years after the war is over. Berry has the men talk alot about their pre-service and pre-Korean War militayr experience, which adds alot of color to the book. Many of the stories get a bit repetitive as the fellas tell their tales of Pusan, Inchon, Chosin, and the subsequent stalemate, but there was enough of a twist to each rendition to keep this readers' interest. Berry does provide a useful survey of the post WWII political and military situation in the US...attempts to eliminate the Marine Corps, the severe force cuts and poor readiness of key personnel and equipment.

Every reader is likely to find a part of this book which sticks in his memory. Mine were as follows. ....Paul Martin, 1st Marine Division Recon, is sick and tired of this 'Chosin Reservoir trap stuff.' How could it be a 'trap' he asks, when everyone in the theater knew the hills were crawling with Chinese soldiers? Martin heaps praise on Major General Smith for going ahead with the runway at Hugaru-ri despite Almond's hesitation.

....Hal Roise on Vietnam as he neared the end of his career in the mid sixties. "It looked like a quagmire to me...I just don't think our intervening was worth the effort. This type of thinking made me a leper as far as the big wheels at the Pentagon were concerned. I figured i'd just get out."

....Maj. General Lem Sheppard's criticism of the denouement from Chosin, the Hungnam evacuation. The port was well defended from the ground, air and sea; the Chinese were 'finished.' Giving up the port was a "mistake which cost thousands of American lives over the next few years."

....The North Koreans would close the schools and release the kids to find escaped POW's. It was their version of 'kick the can...' when they found you they would start cheering. This from Colonel William Thrash, a Marine flyer who spent some time in Chinese captivity.

....Boston Red Sox fans will enjoy Ted William's stories about bombing missions, as well as his battles with pneumonia and inner ear infections.

This book teaches a technique of beading but there isn't much of a connection to earrings which is what it is supposed to be about. The diagrams are clear and in black and white. There are a few color pictures of beading. The authors didn't put much effort into making the pages pleasing to the eye.

From the inside cover: Francis Berry has travelled widely in Greenland, and has drawn on this experience to 'edit and translate' the supposed autobiography of Ingolf Brandsson. Largely attested by saga, historical document and archaeological find, it tells of Ingolf's emigration from Iceland to Greenland as a child and of his lifetime's experiences in that country. These experiences include the conversion of Greenland to Christianity and his participation in the Norse expedition to Vinland...

The narrative provides fascinating reading for all those interested in Old Icelandic Sagas and in medieval history, particularly the early Norse expeditions from Greenland to Canada and the United States. After this quote from inside cover, now my personal opinion: Great reading, yet bloody, raunchy, maybe controversial. I am disappointed that there is no facsimile of original documents and there are no references to academic work. While the book appears to claim to be authentic I believe that it is very probable that the author did not find original documents to the extent of the whole book and he probably has very creatively edited. While I am willing to forgive that if clearly labeled as fiction based on real documents, I would appreciate if the fictional nature were more clearly stated. If the book would present itself more credibly it might deserve 5 stars for people interested in the place, time, and people. This book also could be described in one sentence as "narration of the life and times of Leif Eriksson". Definitely not for young people to read. For a mature audience only.

I had hoped the book would be a literal translation (or transliteration) from the Hebrew, but it is not--- for one example, it still says "god" instead of "power males" for the Hebrew "el-ohim." It is a dissapointment.

As with the others in Kropf's holiday series, this book is an excellent example of developmentally appropriate early childhood education. The activities depicted are fun and age-appropriate and the children appear genuinely engaged. We see plenty of individual and group hands-on activities. We see activities that children naturally connect with, such as dressing up and eating treats.

An added benefit is that we see values being transmitted: in several pictures children give shalach manot baskets, and the class makes groggers from recycled materials. Thus we see both generosity and care for the earth being modeled. A sensitive endnote explains the source of the Hebraicized Yiddish term shalach manot.

The children represent varying levels of Jewish observance. Some wear tzitzit and kippot. Others have a mainstream appearance. A group shot of costumed children depicts traditional Purim costumes as well as a few others such as ballerina, horse-rider, etc.

A brief endnote about Purim is included but the book is very much intended for children already familiar with the holiday. This is a must for all Jewish early childhood settings.

This book was named a 2006 Notable Children's Book of Jewish Content by the Association of Jewish Libraries. To hear an interview with the author, tune in to the March 2006 episode of the podcast The Book of Life at www.jewishbooks.blogspot.com.

The lines are thick and very definite, creating a very stark and beautiful image. The paper, though, is thin and cheap, making it impossible to color (pencils poke through too easily, and pens bleed everywhere). There's most of your favorite classic scenes, but you'll be disappointed if you wanted some good shots of Ariel as a human.

The stories went right over my head. I knew that there was supposed to be some sort of meaning to them, but they were pretty bizarre. They are like portraits of ordinary life with a twist of weirdness. I figured these stories were supposed to have some kind of moral, but it escaped me.

And the characters all seemed ruthlessly unhappy, so much so that I became depressed myself. They didn't need to be recklessly happy, but their lives were so messed up and in the end, their problems were unsolved, and that's why it was so depressing.

This is a collection of stories that need to be read and re-read so that one can understand the meanong of them. Because I certainly don't.

In his classic simple language Jackson describes the costs of our current way of doing agriculture. He focuses on soil loss with emphasizing the fact that our dependence has gone from "soil to oil" for energy and fertilizer.

This book outlines Jackson's idea for a perennial, herbaceous, polyculture agriculture that mimics the natural environment instead of our current annual, herbaceous, monoculture. Jackson also gives a broad view of decentralizing our societies and distributing people across land according to its ability to support them in the proper concentration.

The critiques of current agricultural practices is well done but simple enough for the laymen to understand. Simple computations are used to illustrate the ecological and financial costs of capital/oil intensive agriculture.

The discussion of values and religion in chapter 8, though it has a good direction, is lacking in comparison to Jackson's other topics.

C.J.J. Berry's "First Steps in Winemaking" was such a smash hit that he was inundated with requests for more recipes. He responded with "130 New Winemaking Recipes." Berry certainly delivered what the title promised, and tens of thousands of home winemakers were better off for it.

Most of the ingredients are mainstream and easily found. Some are rather obscure outside of England. But every recipe is clear, unambiguous and makes decent wine.

While there is no duplication of recipes between the two books, there are variations of the same. But each variation produces its own unique wine with its own bouquet and flavor, and that makes each recipe unique as well.

The beginner will not find the detailed explanations of the basic steps in winemaking Berry's first book was so noted for. He was not rewriting his first book. He was adding to it. The title should warn the buyer that this is a recipe book, not a primer. But beginners will love and cherish this book anyway. When used in conjunction with "First Steps...," it doubles the reader's collection of recipes. And, perhaps most importantly, the recipes are presented alphabetically instead of by the month the primary ingredients are harvested in England (see my review of "First Steps in Winemaking" for it's presentation format).

This is a solid addition to any home winemaker's library. You may not ever want to make onion wine or oak leaf wine or any of the more esoteric wines found herein, but isn't it nice that you can if you want to? (Incidentally, onion wine is very good!)

If you'd like to expand your vinous horizons, buy this book and use it. You certainly won't regret it.

When I found out my great-great grandmother came from Quaker stock I was glad to find this book. After reading it I was scared to death that I would never find anything on her family! Don't let this happen to you!

Oh, you think I'm kidding. But I'm not. Let me quote from page 32, emphasis from the book itself:

"LEARN THE ELEMENTS OF THIS MONTHLY MEETING WELL. FOR IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO DO ANY VALID AND COMPREHENSIVE RESEARCH WITHOUT MONTHLY MEETING RECORDS. THEREFORE, IT FOLLOWS THAT THE MONTHLY MEETING OF AN ANCESTOR MUST BE KNOWN BEFORE ANY MEANINGFUL RESEARCH CAN BE DONE. WE CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS POINT ENOUGH."

This is the general tone of the book. All capital warnings are placed throughout. The above paragraph, by the way, is just telling you that you have to know where your ancestor lived and worshipped to be able to find out more about them. In reality, not so scary, eh?

Now, this book has its place. It has some informative background on Quakers and Quakerism, a nice biblography and a brief rundown on repostitories of Quaker Meeting records. Also, it reflects the year it was written in (1987) which was just prior to the popular boom of genealogy, and so its dryness is not atypical. However, it should have been so much more.

There should have been more on migration, and what that means to the researcher. For example, as soon as one of my ancestral Quaker families was all nicely settled in a town with great record keeping, they would pick up and move to the frontier! This was very common for Quakers who, for various reasons, wanted to move away from societies based on other religions. There should have been at least one migration map. The only maps included are reprints of certain meetings locations from an 1860 book, which to top it off, have no actual land behind them, leaving you with no more than a bulleted list.

Although I know the subtitle of this book is "Finding them in Quaker Records" I think one or two paragraphs should have been spent directing researchers to other records you would be likely to find Quakers in. You will most certainly find an ancestor or two in 'Loyalist' records of various kinds (as if you weren't pro-war, that immediately made you a loyalist during the revolution.) You will find them in court records (the Quakers even had their own courts in the 17th century colonies.) You will find them in land records and every other sort of non-religious civil record out there. You just have to keep in mind that your ancestors were Quakers, along with the implications of that, as you search. To be honest I was very surprised that the Quaker Courts and Loyalist angles weren't even mentioned here as they are specifically relevant to Quakers.

They also should have covered emigration records. Before 1800 many Quakers emigrated together, and the first ships to come to the colonies because of Penn are well documented.

Also, there are several times in this book the authors do not go into detail on subjects. They do not offer you reference, but refer you to other works which are usually difficult to find. They also do not approach Irish Quakers, which is a mistake, as Ireland was home to so many Quaker emigres of the 1700's. You will often find that an English family fled to Ireland first before making it to the colonies.

Besides being sparse, in the end this book does more work telling you what you're NOT going to find rather than what you WILL find. The last chapter itself was placed to give the reader 'words of encouragement' but then just goes on to tell you how difficult your search will be. An appropriate ending to this book, but inappropriate for an author trying to inform and interest a reader.

If you have pre-1800 Quaker lines you are going to have to buy this book. There are no other books like it on the market. Just don't be intimidated by it. Instead, use its core information and not its commentary.