Reed Books

This is a well researched and written aid for the student or practicioner who wishes to revue prior to taking a phlebotomist certification exam.

I am an avid reader of quilt history and found this book to be a remarkable sideline item. It deals very little with the actual quilt, but rather uses it as a jumping off point to study the life of a woman who owned it. It deals directly with the hardships and lifestyles of the women who settled the country through the story of one lonesome girl uprooted by marriage.

I weave pine needle baskets, and am doing research for a basketry class I'm teaching this month. The Pine Tree Book by Peterson is the clearest, easiest to read book on pine trees I've found so far. The material is very well organized, not too technical, and the illustrations are beyond compare! I certainly hope the publishers reprint it so I can buy a copy - I found it at my local library!

I picked up this book at a grocery store when my son was justan infant. He is now 19 months old and is always asking me to read this one to him. He loves to suck on the straw in "Pink Drink." It is a great book!

Author, Ethel Reed, and Artist Kathy Cernusak, have merged their talents in creating a cookbook which will delight the historian as well as the culinary artist.

Pioneer Kitchen features a collection of heretofore lost, or soon to be forgotten, recipes of the American West Frontier. If you want to bake bread for a wagon train of pioneer immigrants, you "pour a bushel of floor in a trough..." and proceed from there. If you are more interested in eliciting compliments and a bouquet of daisies from your modern "frontiersman," you might try one of the many modified pioneer recipes, still in use today in ranching communities throughout the American West.

Included in Pineer Kitchen is a humorous collection of Frontier stories and "home remedies." Most readers will be surprised to discover such little known facts as the Pioneer remedy for "leanness." The sage advice of one Frontier authority was to, ...eat oatmeal, cracked wheat, graham mush, baked sweet apples, roasted and boiled beef, Cultivate jolly people, and bathe daily!"

My daughter absolutely loved this book! She could relate to Piper so well, she is 8, Piper is 9, her daddy is a chief, so is Piper's, and Piper is moving to Pensacola or Pepsi-Cola, we live in Pensacola. This was the first book that my daughter actually sat down and read all the way through in a matter of a few days; she didn't want to go out and play, play vidoe games, or watch T.V., she just wanted to read about Piper. I highly recomend this book to/for all "Navy Brats!"

This biography of Caitlin Davies' experiences during 12 years in Botswana "pulled me in" and I had several late nights, reading it in only 4 or 5 sessions. One of the reasons is the building tension and constant feeling that something dramatic is about to happen - and several things DO happen.
What was frustrating for me was what I perceived as Caitlin's occasional foolishness in dealing with the tension her husband Ron felt in trying to balance the demands of his extended and nuclear families. Whilst she is generally very level-headed, worldly, and intelligent, there were times when I sensed an impending conflict and thought "please Caitlin don't react in such and such a way"... and she did, inevitably exacerbating the problem. But then again - this is a biography, Caitlin is a real person, and real people sometimes do "less than optimal" things. I commend her honesty in not trying to portray herself in a more favourable light.
The sense of place is powerful, and I felt that if I were to visit Maun (the town in northern Botswana where she lived) I would recognise it. The descriptions of the physical and human landscapes are vivid and brought the book alive.
I would love to know what has happened to Caitlin, Ruby, and Ron and his family since the book ended. (Caitlin, you need a website!) I'd also have liked to hear more explanation about why Alice, Caitlin's step-daughter and adopted daughter, was so resentful of Caitlin, and whether Ron did anything to try and mend this relationship. I had several other questions about the relationships in the book, which reflects the extent to which I felt that I knew the people in it and cared about what happened to them all.
Also, the book presents insightful portrayal of some of the social problems of modern Africa (particularly AIDS), and demonstrates the importance of understanding the culture before attempting to impose solutions that have worked elsewhere. Balanced with this is a presentation of many aspects of Africa that work better than in other places, such as caring for extended family, respect for community, and a strong sense of pride in identity.

Jeremy Reed proves he can write decadent fiction with "The Pleasure Chateau Omnibus." Imagine Huysmans writing a contemporary novel, that is Reed at his best. Between sumptuous set pieces that are marvels of decadent description (Leanda's banquet in "The Pleasure Chateau", Sade's various chambers in "Sister Midnight", and all of "The Purple Room") there are ferocious passages of savage eroticism. Bondage, whipping, orgies, excess, and luxury all combine in a cognac of the highest eroticism. This is literate porn at its most literate, since Reed chooses to extend the literary tradition of masters like Sade, Sacher-Masoch, Huysmans, Baudelaire, David Bowie, and Rimbaud. He is part of that tradition and that traditionalism is what makes the trilogy so radical. There is introspection and emotion, but definitely not of the "Bridges of Madison County" variety. If you like philosophy with delicious dollops of unbridled sexual frenzy, this is the novel for you.

I am a professor of City and Regional Planning and I found this book a much-needed addition to the urban-planning literature. The book is written at a level appropriate for a wide range of audiences including planning students, policy makers, politicians, urban planners, and community activists. The comprehensiveness of the work provides a much-needed explanation for students yearning for a broader understanding of how an ensemble of urban elements can help American cities accommodate growth while sustaining a sense of community for their dwellers.

What is unique about Portland's current land-use system? If planning is so popular, how does one explain the recent backlash? Where would be the balance between regulatory rules and other possibilities? These are examples of questions asked by The Portland Edge (edited by Connie Ozawa), written by a team of academics at Portland State University's School of Urban Studies and Planning. The thirteen chapters of the edited book are organized in four sections. The first section presents the demographic, economic, and civic character of the Portland region by presenting data on key dimensions of economy, equity, and environment. The second section traces Portland's growth-management policies and details the institutional structures by describing a range of the roles of regional and city bodies, such as Metro (the elected regional planning authority), the Portland Development Commission, citizen-involvement mechanisms, and neighborhood associations. The third section unveils Portland's social structures that allow people to create collective visions of community and offers examples of how the underrepresented groups and the citizen advocates work to voice themselves. The last section lays out several issues of the most interest, such as the liveliness of downtown and neighborhoods, housing affordability, implementation of state transportation and environment policies at the local jurisdiction level, and Portland's responses to the homeless.

Those interested in examining the ways in which urban policy and planning have made a difference in the Portland region will find that the book offers a valuable overview of the region, a helpful background of the stressors on the current urban political and social system, and an effective explanation of current conditions in the context of the people and social institutions that have been influential in shaping today's Portland. The book offers the reader a comprehensive range of matters: each chapter picks a different angle of the inquiry--for example, the struggle between the well represented and the underrepresented, the competition between the central city and the suburbs, the rivalry between highways and transit, and the balance between Portland's natural landscapes and the interests of today's property owners. The bulk of the book presents a balanced view of Portland today through operationalizing the concept of quality of life. The book contributes in integrating environmental, social, and economic issues in a systematic evaluation framework that allows other communities to carry out critical and empirical inquiry to examine civic identity and urban environment in their communities. The book does a good job of what it intends to accomplish: to detail successes and challenges in Portland communities.

What a great book of RK Post's warped and beautiful visions of fantasy and horror. This hardcover book has a comprehensive selection of the cream of the crop (to date) that RK has painted and drawn, including Klick Klack, Unmask (Magic The Gathering card art), Avatar of Hope, Avatar of Will, and, yes, it has the girl gunslinger in the black duster coat as well.

I only wish that RK had put in comments for each of the works.

If you liked his paintings that appeared in the yearly Spectrum books, this would make a great addition to your library.