Wilson Books

This book is filled with practical advice and energy saving suggestions, with illustrations and instructions that explain the "hows and whys" of energy savings. The book takes you through the house from attic to appliances, from windows to CFL lights, with the Real Story on each. The advice is highly practical and much better than some books that simply point out the obvious. The book is FULL of practical projects you can do this weekend to make your home more efficient. This book will pay for itself the first weekend you own it.

Written by Jennifer Thorne Amann (Senior Associate in the Buildings and Equipment Program at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy) Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings is a handy resource for homeowners, state utility companies, and anyone else interested in saving money and reducing environmental impact. Now in its ninth updated edition, Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings offers in-depth comparisons between available energy-saving technologies, cost-effective repair and replacement options, step-by-step instructions for finding the right equipment for one's needs, and much more. "Try to install your clothes washer as close to the water heater as reasonably possible and insulate the hot water pipes leading to it to minimize heat loss through the pipes. Also, if possible, locate the washer and dryer in a heated space. This is particularly important with dryers, which depend on heat to dry." Simple black-and-white illustrations help to clarify key points in this solid money-saving guide. Highly recommended.

this is by far and away best english language book on Costa Rican politics.

this book is the finest book on CR political economy in print.

The author has really done justice to this biography, resisting I am sure the temptation to `sex' the book up, which would have been totally wrong and also unnecessary. This is a wickedly funny biography, a story of a woman, whose name many people will never have heard. It is the life story of Harriette Wilson, who became one of the most famous and most sought after courtesans in the whole of England.

Harriette's beauty was a rare sight to behold when many women, even of a young age were disfigured with pox marks or the loss of their teeth and any of the other multitude of diseases prevalent at the time. But apart from being beautiful she was intelligent and funny. The author has managed to draw from a multitude of sources, which have enabled her to distinguish fact from fiction. Although having said that, Harriette led such an extraordinary life that at times the book reads more like a novel than a biography.

Harriette Wilson had a sensational and at the same time scandalous life. She was nobody's fool and when her former lovers, some of the most important men in Regency London, including the King himself and no less than four prime minister turned against her, Harriette knew exactly how to take her revenge upon them.

Harriette Wilson (1786-1845) was among last of the great courtesans and became one of the most notorious when, foiled in collecting annuities that had been promised to her by several gentlemen in her retirement, she published her "Memoirs" with the intention of blackmailing virtually every man who had visited her boudoir. The lawsuits sent her publisher, John Joseph Stockdale, to debtors' prison. But Harriette Wilson's "Memoirs" were a sensation that thrilled the reading public and caused panic at the highest levels of British government. Wilson was blackmailing King George IV and his royal mistress Lady Conyngham, among a long list of powerful personalities. Author Frances Wilson presents a meticulous and lively account of Harriette Wilson's colorful life, from her birth into a tradesman's family in Mayfair, through her reign over England's demi-monde and seduction of its grande-monde, when she cost £50 (over $3000 today) for just an introduction, to her eventual retirement and publication of her "Memoirs" in 1825, through the last years of her life.

For all that she wrote about herself, Harriette Wilson is a perplexing character. Born before the anti-sex fervor of the 19th century posited chastity as the primarily requirement of femininity and women with any carnal appetite came to be feared, Harriette Wilson valued her freedom above all else. She might have had an aristocratic marriage, but she didn't have the temperament for it. "Constancy and convention in relationships were anathemas to her." That's refreshing. But was Harriette's personality bigger than her talents? She reminds me of Mae West: saucy, bold, flirtatious, and completely convinced that she is the most fascinating and sexiest woman around. So certain is she of her allure that force of will makes it so. She excelled in self-promotion. Was Harriette a wronged woman or a vicious blackmailer? She didn't confine her threats to those who had reneged on promises. She begged money until the end. But if only a few men had paid her what she asked -which many did- Harriette would have had enough money to live on. She handled money poorly and lived beyond her means.

Adding to the considerable drama that followed the publication of Harriette Wilson's "Memoirs" was a rebuttal of Harriette's account by fellow courtesan and former friend Julia Storer Johnstone, which Miss Johnstone called her "Confessions". The "Confessions" are accepted by some as the more truthful account, but Frances Wilson points out that is not the case. Harriette Wilson took liberties with dates and details in her "Memoirs", but many of the events can be verified by secondary sources. When the "Memoirs" must be relied upon for explicit information, they are problematic. The men who successfully bought themselves out of the book do not appear within its pages. So many of Harriette Wilson's liaisons remain a mystery. "The Courtesan's Revenge" is an intriguing biography and an detailed piece of the social history of Regency England's demi-monde. There are 2 sections of illustrations containing more than 30 plates of Harriette Wilson and her contemporaries.

The Crow Flies offers a deceptively simple fantasy that grows on your sensibilities and becomes more real as the story unfolds. It searches for the truth, while holding an X-ray to our culture. It is no ordinary road book, and by the journey's end, you'll discover the imperfect beauty of our country, as well as a promising new author in Everett Applegate. - Christopher Klim, author Everything Burns, Jesus Lives in Trenton

I like crows. They are abundant in our Sacramento, California, neighborhood. They adapt easily to city life. They will drop down from power lines to snatch an apple core or Big Mac leftovers off the pavement as cars speed by at rush hour. The crows I see on my morning walk through the neighborhood drop pecans from nearby trees onto the pavement from a height of 30 or 40 feet to break them open. I've read that they like to steal shiny objects and can even make primative tools. So I was curious to see if CROW, the protagonist in Applegate's delightful novel, THE CROW FLIES, lived up to this reputation. This is a cleaver, mischievous, but compassionate crow. From his fortunate rescue by Travis, a San Francisco wino trying to put his life back together in the Big Apple, to the motorcycle trip the two make across the United States, we get to see some slices of American culture through a crow's eyes. Crow learns quickly that some humans are good, some evil, and even discovers he harbors some prejudice against birds of a different feather. But Travis and Crow learn from each other and determine to make a difference in the lives of some of the people they encounter along the way. Crow's dreams, his sense of humor and unusual, but crow-like practical jokes had me chuckling throughout the book, especially when he discovers a way to beat the slots in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. His encounters with a despondent girl on the Golden Gate Bridge, and birds in San Francisco, the Grand Canyon and the Great Plains shows that even crows have feelings. But, unfortunately, Crow is finally caught in the sights of a couple of hunters with pellet guns in the cornfields of Iowa before he can meet back up with Travis. Wounded, and losing altitude, he manages to find refuge on the top of a silo where he falls into a dreamlike state of semi consciousness and is spotted by a pair of falcons looking for a meal. Do crows dream? Well, this one does and his dreams definitely add color, charm, and fantasy to a tale that make you forget that crows are unable to talk. Now on my walks through our neighborhood, I stop and watch the crows at work and play. And I don't think I would be surprised if one started up a conversation with me. I think that's how a good story should leave you feeling. Of course I would ask such a crow if he had any idea what happened to the CROW in THE CROW FLIES.

Hostetter has put together a crucially important book on Cuba--well edited and well researched, it provides expansive insight into this island nation. A must-read for scholars, as well as all others interested in understanding this country and its rich history and culture.

Hostetter does it again! Her insight into the Cuban nation offers a new perspective on this tiny island nation. I wouldn't be suprised if Castro himself lights a cigar, strokes his beard and curls up with this masterpiece! MUST READ!!!!!

Five star rating. Great pictures, humerous story for young and old alike. We checked it out of library weekly, and had each chase memorized after reading the story several times each day when he was 5 yrs old. My son is now 16 and we bring up Cully every so often and get a good laugh.

This book for 3-4 year olds (and any adult) I could read over and over again, the pictures complement the text and the quiet humor of both is worth any money. A great pity that this book is out of print.
Cully-cully wakes and decides to go hunting for a bear skin. He and the bear end up chasing round a large tree, overtaking each other.
As the bear staggers of into the distance cully-cully counts yet another bear as he continues to run around the tree. The book ends with cully-cully exhaustedly asleep but without the bear skin

pure romantic fantasy, when you need a temporary escape from the trials and tribulations of real life!
the hero is the 100% alpha male; heroine: lovely innocent and almost perfect lady!

Back cover reads:
"I remove obstacles that stand in my way!"
Nick Martella wouldn't allow Joanna's love for another man to cause him any problems. Joanna, of course, resisted his high-handed attitude, but it seemed that wherever she went, whatever she did, Nick was always one step ahead of her. It was hard enought to deal with him in England, but on the small Caribbean island Nick called home, Joanna found it even more difficult to outmaneuver him. It was, though, only when Joanna realized that she was not only fighting Nick's single-minded pursuit of her, but her own growing love for him, that her problems really began!

This book is very educational! I would say kids of all ages should read this book. This book is about a girl named Thembi who lives with her great-grandmother and parents. Well one day Thembi's mom comes home crying because black South Africans are finally going to get to vote and it it very special because it will be Thembis great-grandmothers first time to vote. At first Thembis parents say her great-grandmother cant go vote because they will have to be at work when she votes so she will have no way of getting there. Also that there will be very long lines and they dont think she can stand for that long. This book has very nice pictures that you should look at even if you havnt read the book! It teaches kids that in some places in our world people are not so lucky like we are, they dont have very much freedom. Also that children should'nt take things for granted and should respect what they have because other kids arent so lucky!

Contemporary authors tackle issues that would've been unheard of, fifty, even thirty years ago. "The Day Gogo Went to Vote" addresses South Africa's emergence from its apartheid past to the present politically-balanced form of government. Taking place in the days prior to the election of Nelson Mandela as its first black president, the book shows how important it is for open and free representation at the polling places.

The wonderful illustrations, coupled with the inspiring characters, make this a fascinating and insightful read. The love shared between the old lady and her grandchild, as well as the respect the community has for the elderly, helps to promote citizenship and family values.

"The Day Gogo Went to Vote" belongs in every library, every school, and, if things were perfect, every home.

ah, ziggy. Will we never tire of this portly, bald icon of everything that is right and innocent in this world? What can one say? As we turn the pages, we laugh, we cry, we smile wistfully as our befuddled chrome-domed antagonist stumbles through a world world as confounding and cold as anything kafka ever envisioned. A day in the life of ziggy recalls james joyce's ulysses, in which it is shown that for modern man, even getting through one day is an epic of heroic proportions. It is an epic that Ziggy has completed at last. Bravo, ziggy. Bravo.

Ziggy rules! This collection, besides being perhaps the best compilation of comic strips ever published, leads its readers to realms previously unimagined. A different take on the strength of our Democratic government, a new perspective into the works of Freud, and the inspiration to spark a cultural and society-based revolution are just some of the smaller issues and intellectual delvings this masterful book provides its readers with. Rock on Tom Wilson! Your next masterwork is anxiously anticipated by the huddled masses!

Dear Cara is a book about a man and a woman, across the world from one another, both in miles and the lives they lead. Otto Frank, who survived the death camps of the Holocaust but lost his daughter there, shares his hope and inspiration with a young American woman whose life is unfolding. His shares his unfailing human spirit and his love with Cara, a young woman who first wrote to him at the age of 13. Throughout her life, from her teen-age years, to college to marriage to motherhood, Otto Frank is there with her, offering his support and his inspiration. He listens to Cara's dreams, her troubles, her worries and through their correspondence, she feels the joy that a young person feels when someone is listening. A young woman's voice is heard. When, as an older woman, Cara's world is turned upside down, the wisdom and hope that Otto Frank gave her for twenty years, sustains her through her pain and provides her the support she needs to endure and accept, and ultimately, to grow from her own experiences. This book is must-read for young people and for adults who believe, or want to remember, through pain and turmoil, how important and precious hope, and love, is.

"I received your kind letter and thank you for it. It was very nice of you to send me your photo, so that I have a better impression of you as a person..."

So begins Otto Frank's first letter to a young American girl in 1957, a suburban California girl named Cara as much in the mainstream of American society as the pop songs she listens to on the radio. That girl had read Anne's diary, had been deeply moved by it, and had written to Anne's father.

He wrote back.

Cara wrote to him again. Otto wrote back. She wrote again. He wrote again. And so on and so forth...for decades. They grew close. Cara faced all the same questions we face, about school, love, marriage, child-rearing, politics, family. But she had a very, very special mentor.

This book is her story of that relationship. Yes, it's a remarkable pairing. But it's also a remarkable tour through the last half of the 20th century, through the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam, the Watergate days, too many wars in the Middle East; all reflected in a single woman's coming of age. The letters back and forth are always revealing and quite often gripping. They are about private troubles and public issues. And when Cara, as a woman, goes to visit an ailing Otto, by now an old man, it would take a reader with a hard heart indeed not to feel a lump in the throat, at least. Then, when Otto her a collection of something that takes us, the reader, completely over the edge, in the best possible way.

We recommend this book to anyone, of any age. It is just special.