Wood Books

I found this book to be one of the most enlightening and informative books available today. So many of the questions I had regarding just what Toni does working with her eight spirit guides,what happens to us when we transition,what these life-times are all about,and much more where answered for me. Since reading this book I feel much closer to God knowing the "Truth" as Toni has given it to us. Piercing the Veil, as well as the entire series, is truly a 'must read' and needs to be in your home library as a daily reference for your peace of mind.

Toni Lynn Wood truly out does herself with this incredible collaboration with her Spirit Family. Toni Lynn's writing style is so easy to understand and absorb. Although in the previous Living in Both Worlds books, Toni's spirit family is introduced to the readers - Piercing the Veil provides a more personal introduction and welcoming to Toni's family. I found Piercing the Veil to be an incredible educating experience about spirit guides, mediums and piercing the veil between the earth plane and our loved ones in the spirit world. I take comfort in knowing that my loved ones are so near me and that when we die there is still so much more to come.

Living in both worlds, Piercing the veil kept me captivated. I have read fewbooks that gave me the feeling this one did. It resonates an energy that sends healing and transformation as you read. It has definately changed my life. I cant wait to read the other two books about this spiritual healer, Toni Lynn Wood. By the way, the message from God, all I can say is "wow". This book is a must read for anyone who is searching for a better understanding of life.

Afer reading the books, A Healer and Her Journey with Spirit and Piercing the Veil,these books are a fascinating account of her life with the spirit world. This is more than a remarkable story, it's insight into how we can better understand ourselves and the spirit world.It's a book you share with someone who may need comfort in a time of need.

Afer reading the books, A Healer and Her Journey with Spirit and Piercing the Veil,these books are a fascinating account of her life with the spirit world. This is more than a remarkable story, it's insight into how we can better understand ourselves and the spirit world.It's a book that could bring comfort someone in need.

This book is Fabulous. My one year old son loves the animals and the text is short enough to keep a squirmy baby's attention. He loves to thumb through it and point at the animals. Every time he sees it he squeals in delight. A must have.

My daughter loves this book. I have read it a least 100 times for her. It teaches so many things in a simple way-numbers, colors, and animals. The pictures in the book look like watercolor paintings and the colors are not exact, but it is illustrated beautifully. I was not disappointed.

My daughter was attracted to this book at 6 months and it continues to be her favorite book (now at 12 months). If I ask her to bring me a book, it's always this one. To me it seems to be the repetition of the similar phrases along with the colors and images that attracts her to it. It's hard, thick pages has stood up to her mauling and chewing on it.

I wouldn't use it as a learning tool as the illustrations, while colorful (great at 6 months) are hard to use as a counting tool and the animals while recognizable, aren't distinctive (ie. Goose and Duck are pretty much the same exect for color).

As a tool to keep her occupied and watch her grin ear-to-ear as we turn the pages together, it's outstanding!!

My daughter is 7 months old, and this has been her favorite book for at least 2 months. She immediately smiles and laughs when I begin reading the story to her every night (because we do read it _every_ night!). Several people have commented on the colors of the illustrations being too monochromatic, but I think that is part of the appeal. Some of her other books have very busy illustrations and I think are too much for her to take in. But the large blocks of color in Moo Moo Brown Cow are easy for her to focus on and she loves it. I would highly recommend this book!

A variation on the old nursery rhyme, "Baa Baa Black Sheep, Have You Any Wool", Moo Moo Brown Cow is pleasingly illustrated with artistic renderings of mother and baby animals. A little orange cat makes his way through the barnyard checking up on the new additions to the animals' families. Among the skills developed in the reading are counting, colors, names of adult and baby animals, and rhyming. Presented in a sturdy boardbook format, this gentle story is sure to please babies through preschoolers. You can even sing your way along using the old Baa Baa Black sheep tune. Lovely bit of kids' lit.

Another classic from Rosemary Wells! Here, youngest sibling of four, Morris, is not permitted to play with his older siblings' exciting Christmas presents, and no one wants anything to do with Morris's babyish teddy bear until Morris discovers a magic disappearing bag and everyone wants to play with his toy. Any younger sibling -- or even just a young child who feels powerless sometimes -- will relate. I like how Morris gets to live the fantasy of making his siblings "disappear" and getting to play with all their stuff in a gentle, non-violent way. The Christmas aspect of this story makes it extra fun around the holidays, but we read it all year long.

It's Christmas morning and Morris gets a teddy bear while his brother and sisters get great gifts that Morris isn't allowed to play with. While Morris mopes he finds a disappearing bag. Suddenly no one can find him. But when he's finally discovered, he gladly shares it with his siblings, who stuff themselves into it all at the same time. While they use the bag he has a fabulous time playing with their toys.
This is a great book. It's one of my all time favorite Rosemary Wells books that isn't related to her famous Max and Ruby. My children really enjoy it and wish they had a bag just like it!

Now a quick note: In the original publication of "Morris's Disappearing Bag", Morris is a little white bunny. He has now been colored brown. Very interesting choice on the part of the publisher.

I hereby nominate Rosemary Wells the winner of the Cute But Never Saccharine Picture Book Award printed between the years of 1800-2589. You are familiar with her work, even if you have never read it. Best known for her early board books starring the irascible Max and his patient elder sibling, the author also did slightly older fare. In every book, however, Wells takes the side of the underdog. The littlest sibling. The one most prone to feeling left out. In "Morris's Disappearing Bag" this theme has become all encompassing. Here is a story that truly captures what it feels like to be ignored and unwanted by your siblings.

It is Christmas Day and Morris is delighted. As he and his three elder siblings open their presents, each rabbit (for so they are) is enraptured by their gift. Victor gets a hockey outfit, Rose a beauty kit, and Betty (just to smash a couple stereotypes while we're at it) a chemistry set. Morris gets a lovely bear, but it soon occurs to him that his siblings don't appreciate his present. While they switch one another's gifts and experiment with them, Morris is left all alone. No one wants to play with his bear. It isn't until Morris locates an extra unwrapped present containing a bag of invisibility that Morris finally has a gift cool enough to lure his elder sibs with.

Is there a moral to be learned here? I dunno. If there was it would probably be something along the lines of "Get a better toy and win the love of your fellow man". I don't buy it, personally. I think this is just a fun adorable tale illustrated with Rosemary Wells's fantastic pictures. No one draws adorable bunnies like this woman. Or so perfectly evokes a child feeling sorry for himself. Morris sitting all by himself with his ears at half mast is so simultaneously cute and pitiful, you just want to give his roly-poly little body a big big hug. All in all, this is a fantastic book (the older brother applying make-up to his face is worth the price of admission alone). A great story for Christmas, and a wonderful tale for all the year round. Grab yourself a copy.

Ok so i was sitting in my kid's pediatricians office waiting (as usual) and reading one of the books in the room to my child. it was one of the Max books by Rosemary Wells. So, i'm sitting there looking at the book thinking...gosh! this art work looks soooo familiar! what it is about this book...then an old story comes to mind that i can barely recall. but it kept bugging me and in moments I recall this book i had as a kid about a bunny or something (looked a lot like the Max charactor in the authors more recent books) that got a magic bag for xmas. I couldn't rmember the title though. it's been on my mind on and off since then and I just found the authors name a minute ago on amazon while looking for kids books and decided i was going to investigate and surely find out if she is connected to that old favorite of mine. i could have whooped out loud when I finally spotted "morrie's Disappearing bag" on the list! i'd found it! now I HAVE to buy it for my two littlw ones! I love this book! it's so cute! funny thing is...my little boys name is max! not that this book is about max the bunny.....anyway, i highly recommend this cute book!

What if you were the youngest rabbit in the family and nobody wanted to play with your Christmas bear because it was too babyish? Would you feel left out if your sisters and brother said you were too little to play with THEIR presents? Would you sit in the corner with your ears drooping in sadness?

If that tugs at your heartstrings, meet Morris. He's the dearest little bunny you ever saw, and SO sad on Christmas morning. He loves his new bear but he's too little to play with Rose's beauty kit, Victor's hockey stick, and Betty's chemistry set. While they are having fun, Morris crawls under the tree and finds ONE FORGOTTEN PRESENT, a bag. He pulls himself into the bag and -- DISAPPEARS!

Oho! Now the other bunnies are singing a different song. They all want to share their presents with Morris while they try out his disappearing bag. Who can blame them? Wouldn't we all like a disappearing bag from time to time? Such a fine present. Morris generously gives turns with his bag and has a go with the other presents. He's got the most coveted Christmas gift of all, but all he wants is a little consideration, to be part of the crowd, to be included.

Rosemary Wells writes a terrific story and her illustrations are sheer delight. Little droopy bunny ears, puffy cotton tails sticking out of the bag, hilarious bunny play with the chemicals, the makeup, the hockey kit -- and precious little Morris with all his feelings worn on his sleeve.

I've had this book since my sons were little, and given it to a number of children. I always buy a new copy for myself, just in case I need it. My favorite!

Linda Bulger, 2008

I remembered this book for years after I lost my copy....and finally realized how easy it was to replace. Am I glad I did! What I remembered best was the art, especially the pictures of the princess in her amazing dresses, but upon reading it again for the first time in at least a decade, I found that the story itself was still as good as I remembered. Very well-written, and it was easy to imagine myself in her place. Great emotion. I love this book!

Although this story is commonly thought to be a variation of the tale of Cinderella, it is actually based on another Grimm's fairytale called "The Princess in Disguise". While in the original, the protagonist is irritatingly meek and eventually agrees to marry her father, "Princess Furball" reinvents the heroine as a clever and cunning protagonist who escapes the life her father chooses for her and instead finds happiness on her own terms. A fabulous tale with great morals for a younger female audience.

I have been searching for this book for years! I read it one time when I was about 8 years old, and fell in love with the story. Many years later, after forgetting the title and author, I have finally found it! I have spent countless hours searching for this book on-line and in bookstores. Princess Furball is a wonderful, inspiring version of Cinderella. I love that she isn't a damsel in distress that lets everybody do stuff for her, because in my mind that's not a heroine! Princess Furball has spunk!

The book Princess Furball is a good book because it is full of surprises. Her father is going to make her marry an ogre! The book is full of surprising twists and turns. I think that you should read this book.

I have been trying to find a copy of this book for over a year. A librarian read it to my class when I was just a little kid and I loved it. Upon finding it on Amazon I remembered why...it was such a great story. Not your average princess, she uses resourcefulness and her wits to take charge of her fate. Now my best friend is expecting her first child and I am excited to have someone to get this book for.

Who says whole grains have to taste like health food? Rebecca Wood lays out everything you need to know about the common grains (oat, wheat, barley, rice), the not-so-common (quinoa, millet, amaranth, buckwheat) and the downright rarely eaten in this country (tef, Job's tears). For each one she explains how/where it is grown, how to buy and store it, what it is used for, its nutritional advantages, etc. She gives basic recipes for cooking the grains plain or nearly so, as well as more complicated recipes and suggestions for what to pair with what. The chapters are divided first by the continent to which each grain is native and then by the grains themselves, and then for each grain there are recipes for plain grains, soups, main dishes, side dishes and desserts. I like this organization, although if you want to make a whole grain dessert, for instance, you'll have to look through the chapters on the various grains or in the index, as there is no organization by type of dish, e.g., soups, desserts, etc. The intros to each dish give you a good idea of what to expect, the instructions are pretty clear, and the results are spectacular. The Winter Squash and Quinoa Pottage is amazingly great (especially if you make it with homemade stock -- it is particularly awesome using the vegetable stock recipe from The New Basics Cookbook, but was also good with Swanson low-sodium chicken broth), is ridiculously easy, and extremely high in protein and vitamins. Just wash the quinoa really well first. Takes less than 1/2 hour plus the time to wash the quinoa and cut the onion and squash. The pinon (pine nut) crackers with amaranth are all whole grain, super easy and the only problem with it is that it's hard not to eat the entire batch myself as soon as it's done. Recipes include a good mix of vegetarian items and ones with meat so it's a good book no matter how you eat. My only quibble is that measurements for baked goods are given solely by volume, rather than by weight, which is more accurate, but it's a small one. This is my new favorite cookbook.

I knew nothing about this book when I checked it out of the library, except that it had recipes for some of the more unusual grains. It is only now that I looked it up on Amazon that I discovered that it won the James Beard award. I am not the least bit surprised, however, because all the recipes I have tried have been consistently delicious, wholesome, and creative. You will find very few run-of-the-mill recipes in this cookbook.

I check many cookbooks out of the library, but for many I can't find any recipes that I want to make, or if I do find recipes to try, once I make them I am generally not impressed. So I was amazed when I opened this cookbook to find so many intriguing recipes, each of which turned out better than the last.

Some highlights: The grilled millet and butternut squash cakes had so few spices I was sure they would be bland, but they weren't. They were subtle but sweet and crunchy and addictive. The millet, quinoa, and burdock pilaf again looked underseasoned, but the burdock adds a great earthy depth to the pilaf, and again, I could not stop eating this dish. Wood's recipe for Locro, a South American soup, has a large number of ingredients, but it is well worth the effort. The barley and beans that make up the bulk of this soup make it substantial and extremely filling. The celeriac is sweet and delicious, the anise seeds add a subtle mysterious note, and the roasted New Mexican chili and the kombu create a great tasty broth with more depth than a typical vegetarian soup.

The only recipe that I was disappointed in was her basic recipe for "steamed" amaranth. Wood swears it's the best way to cook amaranth, but I thought it turned out exactly the same as it always does when I cook it--gooey, but tasty. Also, as a previous reviewer noted, Wood doesn't use too many green vegetables in this cookbook, but since it is a grains cookbook I can forgive this one shortcoming.

Overall, this book is full of healthy, nutritious, creative, well-tested recipes that please the palate and the body, and are reasonably quick to prepare. The flavorings are generally subtle, but perfectly balanced, allowing the taste of the ingredients to shine through. If you like very strong tasting food, however, you might find the recipes a bit bland. The recipes are not all vegetarian, but there are enough vegetarian recipes that I just returned my library book and ordered this book on Amazon.

This is an Outstanding Cookbook by Rebecca Wood! In this book you won't find much for pictures, it's strong point is the wonderful recipes for Grains with Vegetables, Fish, Poultry, Meat and Fruit. I love it when reviewers list a variety of recipes in a book, that alone will make me want to purchase a book!
The Contents are divided into categories such as Native American Grains which include Wild Rice, Corn, Mesquite, Amaranth, and Quinoa. Native Asian Grains which include Buckwheat, Millet, Rice, and Job's Tears. Native Near Eastern Grains which include Barley and Wheat. Native European Grains which include Rye and Oats. And Native African Grains which include Sorghum and Tef. This book also includes Mail Order Sources if needed.
There are 394 Pages of information and Fabulous Recipes such as:
Wild Rice Tortillas With Poached Huevos Rancheros and Ginger-Peach Salsa, Elderberry Blossom and Wild Rice Griddle Cakes with Hot Apple Syrup, Mom's Wild Rice Stuffing, Whitefish Stuffed With Wild Rice, Traditional Grits, Cornmeal Mush, Posole From Scratch, Creole Corn Oysters, Corn and Clam Chowder with Roasted Parsnips, Herbed Posole Salad with Dried Cranberries, Stir-Fried Dried Scallops with Baby Corn and Bean Sprouts, Southwestern Cheese Sandwiches with Sweet and Hot Pepper Sauce, Greens and Herbed Cornmeal Dumplings with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Honey Carmel Corn with Roasted Almonds, Sage and Blue Corn Skillet Bread with Fresh Corn, Santa Fe Spoon Bread, Corn Tortillas with Marjoram, Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips, Corn and Quinoa Raspberry Muffins, Hominy Breakfast Cakes, Strawberry and Blue Corn Waffles, Popped Amaranth Cold Breakfast Cereal, Pinon Crackers, Quinoa and WInter Squash Potage, Quinoa Soup-Saigon Style, Quinoa Carrot Cake, Quinoa Butterscotch Brownies, Homemade Buckwheat Noodles, Jicama and Buckwheat Salad, Panfried Buckwheat Breaded Catfish, Baked Blinis with Strawberry Sauce, Buckwheat Rolls with Thyme and Oregano, Buckwheat Waffles with Peach Butter, Buckwheat Pumpkin Muffins, Overnight Millet Buckwheat and Coconut Waffles, Apricot Millet Breakfast Cake, Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Chinese Almond Cookies, Purple Amasake, Barley Poppy Bagels, Barley Flatbread with New Mexican Chilies, Yellow and Purple Bean Tabbouleh, Eggplant Zucchini Tofu and Penne Salad, Dutch Apple Pie, Wheat Pastry for Pies and Tarts, Pueblo Bread Pudding, 100% Whole Wheat Bread, Thin-Crust Pizza, Easy Rye Bread, Boston Brown Bread, Pumpernickel Bread with Currants and Walnuts, Coarse-Grain Sourdough Rye, Cream of Shiitake and Broccoli Soup, Irish Tabbouleh, Orange and Coconut Drop Biscuits, Oat Groat Pancakes, Granola, Vegetable Stock, Chicken Stock, Fish Stock, Shiitake Dashi Stock, Tofu Mayonnaise, and so much more! This is just a sampling of the Varieties of Recipes you'll find in this book. I felt it was important especially in this book of Grains to list many recipes, as you can see these Healthy Grains can be much more than a side dish! You cannot go wrong with this cookbook! If you are looking for different ways to use grains this is definitely the book for you!

I initially checked this book out at the library and just had to have my own copy. The author has done years of research and provides very detailed and interesting information about various grains to include their origins, historical uses and various methods of preparation. There is also a section detailing little-known places where you can order seeds to grow your own or purchase ready to use grains/grain products. This book should be in every home cookbook collection!

Wood's book is a must have for any cook serious about understanding how to cook with whole grains.

I am 62 years old and have always worked hard at leading a healthy life. I work out six days a week, train with weights, and play full court basketball three days a week. I have limited my fat and salt intake since I was 40. But I have had some problems that seem to come with older ages. This book really opened my eyes to all of the things I could do that I didn't even know about. I've only just finished the book and already I've added new things to my diet and adopted many of the wisdoms found therein.

I haven't been paining for at least one whole month. I was really shocked too. I have been to 3 doctors and had them check my legs so by reading this book I found out I had cold in my bones and arthritis. So thanks to this book, it really helps me.

I am a healthy 50-something male, with strong interest in preserving his health. But I cannot recommend this book too highly for the excellent quality of the writing. It gives a thorough, balanced, but easy to read, account of each topic. (Whoever the writer is, he/she comes across as an extraordinarily honest, balanced, decent, well-informed individual-- a saint and a sage rolled into one!)

Even the most esoteric medical research is presented with terrific clarity, and free of all unexplained jargon--this has got to be some of the **finest** medical writing for the laity i've ever seen. Neither does the author pitch to dummies--like so much of the advertising copy of the vitamin catalogs--for he has nothing to sell, nor does he speak over the heads of his readers.

If this tells you anything, to date I have bought 20 of the "Super Life, Super Health" books from Amazon. It is such a well written and informative book. I absolutely had to give this book to many people I know. I'm with Subway ("Eat Fresh") area corporate, and, as everyone knows, people go to Subway to aid in their quest for a healthier life. I do plan to buy many more of this same book for others. Health is more important than wealth!

This book contains much information for improving one's health and possibly extending one's life. Perhaps the problem with this is that there is so much that can be done that one does not know where to start. For example, there are numerous vitamins and supplements listed. Is one supposed to try to take them all? There are things as diverse as Vitamin B, Coenzyme-Q10, green tea, garlic, ginger, and selenium emphasized. No attempt is made to prioritize the supplements.

Exercise is listed as the closest thing to an antiaging pill. There is also a practical list of stress-busting activities that one can do at home.

There is a good table provided for substitution of foods with high fiber in place of foods with low fiber. Other tables give the vitamin contents of various foods. This book favors the low-fat over the low-carb approach to health. However, the hazards of a high sugar diet in terms of acceleration of aging are mentioned.

Not everything in this book is something one can do without a doctor's prescription. Apropos to this, there is a section on hormone replacement therapy for both men and women.

There's a fly on my toast! by Justin Matott is a book of poems. A Book at Night is really calming. There's a fly on my toast is when fly poop gets on his toast! Justin Matott has been a good author for many years. Nightmares is scary and funny. In the song his mom wants his room clean so he puts clothes under his bed. It is a fantastic book.

Jello squirting from your nose? Shorts that are too tight? Subjects that might raise an eyebrow until the parent or teacher listens to the other words that instruct in A Boy I Once Knew or others that make one think about the world as a better place. These rhymes will bring a smile, a frown and a giggle, but most important, they will bring a child's imagination alive! As a teacher I will keep this available for all of my readers to enjoy!

my mom got me shawn silverstine books and i read them all. I like crazy poems and then I got this one. It is so funny and has a ton of different kinds of things to read about. The pictures are funny too and i want to read more of Mr. Mattott books.

This book is SO MUCH fun! I have read and reread the funny, peculiar, thought provoking poems so many times with my daughter that it is already showing great signs of wear, after only two months. I hope this author is discovered by some big time talk show people. He deserves to be known as well as some of the others such as Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelusky and the others that keep us laughing. Encore! Encore! Encore!

I am nine years old and I think that Justin Matott's books are great for young kids to read. I have read all of them many times. My favorite poems in "There's a Fly on My Toast" are, "Revise This, Revise That" and "There's a Fly on My Toast." I can't wait for his next book!!

Walden Pond is a classic which everyone should be required to read. I read this years ago and wanted to add this one to my library. What a wonderful surprise it was. The pictures enhance this classic. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Thoreaus' works, Nature and getting back to the basics in life. In this busy life we live, it is relaxing to spend time reading this book.

Bought this as a gift for my husband and he really loved the photo illustrations. They are beautiful. Makes a nice "coffee table book".

* "I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion . . . I have thus a tight shingled and plastered house, ten feet wide by fifteen long . . . A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil."
~ Henry David Thoreau; "Walden"

* "Walden has become as much a state of mind as it is a place."
~ Scot Miller; "Walden - 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition"

For my birthday in 1984, my dear friend, Marty ("rhymes with party"), gave me the 1981 Avenel books hardcover edition of WORKS OF HENRY DAVID THOREAU. This compilation contained all of the famous transcendentalist's most significant writings and the thirty intriguing Herbert Wendall Gleason, black and white photographs that graced the 1906 publication of Thoreau's complete works.

My dear friend died in an auto accident five years later, but part of his legacy is the passion for Thoreau's philosophy that his gift awakened in me, and that book which occupies a prestigious place in one of my bookcases right between my Holy Bible and my 1st edition copy of Mark Twain's 1872, Roughing It. And my book, though yellowed now, looks pretty good for a volume 23 years without a dust jacket (I nearly always trash the things immediately), and for having been completely read twice, and thumbed through hundreds of times!

A couple of years ago, GFM (Good Friend Melanie) gave me a softcover copy of WALDEN AND OTHER WRITINGS, and I was glad to have it as it contained a couple of essays and excerpts I'd not previously read, and it provided me with a copy of Thoreau's best that I could loan out to others.

Therefore, when my friend, Pooh, and I flew into Philadelphia in late August 2005, to visit the birthplace of our nation, and then to drive north to visit Walden Pond and environs, I did not consider purchasing a copy of this 150th ANNIVERSARY ILLUSTRATED EDITION of WALDEN for myself while in Thoreau's hometown. I already had two copies of this true classic and couldn't see buying a third despite the stunning pictures included in this publication. I did, however, bring home a copy as a gift for GFM. (The woman in the bookstore in downtown Concord, Massachusetts, pointed out to me that the original publishing price - printed on the inside flap of the dust jacket - was $28.12, half a cent less than Thoreau tells us it cost him to build his little house at Walden's shore in 1845. (He officially moved into his homemade home on the appropriate date of July 4th, and an American classic was born!)

One day, shortly after returning from my memorable trip, I borrowed from GFM the copy I had given her, so I could gaze upon the nearly 100 SCOT MILLER photographs once again. And I was so awed by the indescribably gorgeous and practically breathtaking pictures of the Walden area and its flora and fauna, that I realized I needed to own this book like Thoreau needed solitude. And that's how I came by Thoreau's WALDEN for a THIRD time! While Marty's gift reigns for sentimental reasons, the 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition is tops in exquisite beauty - a lovelier and more profound coffee table book is simply unimaginable; a richer gift for a valued friend couldn't be purchased at ANY price! This edition is simply a divine marriage of Thoreau's insight into the nature of Man and his place in nature, and Scot Miller's illustrations of the natural world wherein Thoreau made those treasured observations over a century and a half ago. Hey, I even left the dust jacket on this book despite the fact that the jacket's photograph is also reprinted on page 2, and it barely even hints at the wonders inside.

In Thoreau's WALDEN, the naturalist makes the following observation in the chapter titled, "Sounds": "I had this advantage, at least, in my mode of life, over those who were obliged to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theatre, that my life itself was become my amusement and never ceased to be novel. It was a drama of many scenes and without an end." And Scot Miller has brilliantly captured with his camera the splendor of that "drama of many scenes" at Thoreau's old stamping ground.

I'm not knowledgeable in the techniques of photography, so I can't explain to you HOW Miller was able to make photographs like these (it seems obvious to me, however, that he must employ an array of various filters and such). All that I CAN tell you is that words can't describe the virtual explosion of colors (like nature vibrantly celebrating that 1845 4th of July within Herself) and the uncommon degree of visible detail (staring at those rocks and leaves in "Still Life Under Ice", I can almost feel the bone-numbing cold that any one of those stones would penetrate my hand with). "Magical Fairyland Pond" is the perfect caption for that dreamlike picture of Walden's sister pond. I can almost hear a lonely dog barking from across the glittering snow while hidden deep in the distant, wooded shore, when I'm lost in the "Sunrise On Frozen Walden Pond." I'm not even going to attempt to describe the "Nature's Palette, Heywood's Meadow" photograph on page 32. Suffice to say that God is "The" Master Painter. Incredible! (And Scot Miller, you're a wonder, too!)

This five-star beauty of a book represents the pinnacle of the publisher's art, and it includes a shot of the exact site of Thoreau's 1845 cabin (previously obscured by a cairn), and Henry's simple tombstone, which I visited at the Author's Ridge section of the Concord cemetary where our hero's physical body gradually became a part of the nature that his spirit loved so much.

On a family vacation many years ago, I visited Walden Pond and walked all around it. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Thoreau's Walden, the Walden Woods Project published, in 2004, this illustrated edition of the work with stunning color photographs by Scott Miller of Walden Pond and its environs. The Walden Woods Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Walden Pond and to the legacy of Thoreau. I found this book a fitting memorial of my walk around Walden Pond and of my earlier readings of Walden. The lovely edition, photographs, and memories inspired me to turn again to Thoreau's book.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 -- 1862) lived at Walden Pond, Masachusetts from July, 1845 -- September, 1847, in a cabin he built himself on a tract of land owned by his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was two miles from Concord, Massachusetts and one mile from his nearest neighbor. A railroad passed near the pond, and it was frequented regularly by farmers, hunters, picnickers, and others. During the two years, Thoreau left Walden Pond at times to visit friends in Concord, to lecture, and to visit other ponds and sites in the area. He made no pretense of being entirely isolated. In his book, Walden, published in 1854, Thoreau described the first year of his life at Walden Pond (he tells us that the second year was much the same) and his reasons for living there. Much of the book was written at Walden Pond, and Throreau also wrote other works there.

The book is short but it is written in a dense, difficult and condensed style with many long, complex sentences. It is also highly allusive and shows Thoreau's learning in classical literature and his interest in Eastern thought and religion. It is filled with many short, pithy, and provocative comments which have become proverbial in American literature.

In the opening and closing chapters of the book, Thoreau describes his motivations for living at Walden Pond and abandoning the life of commerce. For Thoreau, most people are owned by their possessions. He saw a need to live with little encubrance in order to understand himself and find inner peace. "Simplify, simplify, simplify" was his goal. In one of my favorite sentences of the book, he states (p. 67) "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Then, towards the end of the book, Thoreau recounts some of the lessons he had learned in the following passage:

"We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it, and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring."(p/253)

In the middle sections of the book, Throreau describes his life in the woods, again with recognition of his substantial interactions with other people during the time. (He was not a hermit.) He describes the books he read, his activites at his cabin, Walden Pond and woods, the changes of the seasons, and the plants and animals. The pond and its creatures are described with great detail, but Thoreau gives even more attention to internalizing his experiences and explaining their significance to his readers.

Scott Miller's beatiful photographs of Walden Pond add a great deal to this edition. They are well-placed to correspond with the discussion in the text, and they illuminate Thoreau's descriptive passages. The photographs, and the book itself, brought back reading and visiting memories and made me want to see Walden Pond again.

But much as Walden is revered for its descriptions of nature, the book remains for me primarily internalized and intropsective. Thoreau has many polemical things to say which will not, and should not, appeal to all readers. But the book documents the effort of an individual to try to understand his life, to reflect, and to understand change. As I have suggested, it is not an anti-social book as Thoreau was never far removed from friends and company. But it is a book about understanding one's life and learning not to be afraid of solitude or of being with oneself.

Robin Friedman

I'll not dwell on the author's content but on the publisher's choice of binding. Thoreau calls for a complete abandonment of possessions and to always choose the simpler, less expensive if something is needful. This beautiful coffee table book uses expensive glossy enamel paper with gorgeous photographs going way beyond necessity. Every time I picked it up to read, it's irony struck me first and weighed upon me until I set it down. It's a shame really, because with other content it would be luxurious.

Henry David Thoreau, as his many devotees (including this reader) know, is as relevant today as he was 150 years ago. His writings are available in a variety of hardback and paperback editions most of which are considerably cheaper than this book. So why purchase this particular edition. There are two reasons that seem to make sense: if you read and reread Walden a hard copy is more durable than a paperback; and this edition includes an excellent set of notes placed side by side with the original text which is a real convenience.

So what about the book called "Walden" and Thoreau himself? Well those many folks who are devoted readers of course understand the importance of Thoreau to American letters. For someone who might like to read either Walden or one of Thoreau's other writings out of curiosity or necessity (required reading) there is one thing that this reader finds particularly interesting about him and his works: Thoreau was a practicing philosopher who created a set of values and proved their validity by living them. "Walden" among many things is an account of how the practice of such values can effect the way one lives.

In academic philosophy there is a branch called "axiology" which is the study of values. Many a modern professor of philosophy would undoubtedly fault Thoreau for failing to build a value `system' based on recognized philosophic criteria. Well, this is the difference between a professor of philosophy and an actual philosopher. Thoreau did not profess a philosophy he lived a philosophy. The values that he developed if adopted today by an individual would be just as practical and lead to the same level of happiness as in his day. Reading through Walden provides a running account of how to deal with mundane chores necessary to live (and live well) and to deal with the more cosmic issues of space and time (as understood by the individual). There are of course other tangible benefits that come from reading Thoreau, but obtaining a philosophy for living is certainly among them.

This copy of Walden is beautiful and the extensive notes are very helpful.

I have at least six or seven different editions of Thoreau's greatest classic, and this one is my prized possession. Of course, if I took his ideas more seriously I would simplify things and give away the other copies, but they have my notes in them and I find it hard to let go of them. Part of the problem of this edition being so beautiful, on excellent paper, with very useful notes and images, is that I would hate to mark it up with the lines and notes that I have included in some of the other editions. Still, that's a good problem. The notes in this book are useful notes -- not just a haphazard list of some scholars' remarks (not always authoritative) on favorite passages, and not speculation, but clear sources for some of the obscure references in the text.

On the book as a whole, it is worth noting that Walden is rich in ideas and is one of the most profound American philosophical classics, and no reading could exhaust its wealth. It is much more than a journal of Thoreau's time alone in the woods (as it were) on the banks of Walden Pond (as it is often thought to be by those who haven't read it - I know because I often ask my students what they know about the book before they read it).

A quick introduction to the project of Walden, that will help organize and make sense of some of the variety of Thoreau's remarks here, is to think of his remarks as falling under three rough stages:
(1) an account of the problem we face, that we waste away our lives trying to make a living, that we seek to acquire property for the sake of freedom but find ourselves encumbered, that we associate the rise of modern technology with enlightenment but find that our technologies and advances increasingly take us away from ourselves and our self-sufficiency, and make us dependent on what we do not individually understand.
(2) an account of an experiment undertaken to discover what is truly essential for a life of fulfillment, and the discovery that a complete and worthwhile life can be achieved through a deliberate simplification of desires.
(3) an account of the many remarkable discoveries that can be made about ourselves and about the natural world and the relation between these when we voluntarily simplify our lives.

This is a book to read and return to throughout one's life, and there aren't many books that really merit such attention. Given its importance, having a copy in what is probably the best edition available now makes a lot of sense.

This edition of Walden is a joy to read, with lovely typeface and layout. I am not a Thoreau scholar, but found the annotations accessible and absorbing. The layout allows you to read Walden straight through or wander off into the annotated notes, depending on your mood.

A book that serves as a miniature vacation every time you open it.

Walden, since the age of fourteen, has always been a special place for me. Ironically, I did not disturb the leaf laden path through Thoreau's wood until seven years after, but at a young age I enjoyed the utopia this book offers. Interestingly enough the surface was read, and with little understanding of history, of which I know have a Masters degree, I did not know the context. With this Annotated version you are thrusted further into Thoreau's world than ever before. I suggest strongly to read the text, then start over with just the annotations. It takes you into the historical/political context of the book's purpose, and from that, into a world leading to civil war, that would traverse those growing pains into a time of reform. Truly a book before its time, yet speaks to the reform movement of the latter 19th c., and perhaps today.

This is my first Simon Wood novel and it won't be my last. A thrill ride from the start, Wood has created vibrant characters and a strong story that will keep you riveted all the way to the end. Plan your weekend around it, it'll be worth it.

Hayden Duke is delighted to be starting his new job at Marin Design Engineering, and even happier to be there at the behest of the man who was his best buddy in college, who he hadn't seen in three years. Now 28 years old, he is a successful design engineering contractor, but the chance to work under his friend on a very high level government project seems the best of all possible worlds. But his first day of work doesn't start out promisingly: The body of a Marin Design worker has just been discovered, an apparent suicide. According to a witness, his last words were "I have done a terrible thing, and I can't be forgiven. I must pay for it. This is the only way."

Within one week, Hayden's former best friend, Shane, is also dead, also a suicide, his last words: "I'm sorry, Hayden, but you don't understand what they've done. What I've done. It's terrible. I'm going to hurt you and so many others, but I have to do it." Hayden has no idea what Shane is talking about, but fears, one must feel with reason, that his own life may be in danger. When he returns home, he finds that the house has been ransacked, and among things his computer has been stolen. The only possible clue Hayden has is that on the night he killed himself, Shane had sent him an e-mail attachment, password protected, exhorting him not to read it but to store it and keep it safe.

The reader is thrust headlong into this suspenseful tale, much as Hayden is thrust into a situation fraught with peril as he and Shane's sister, Rebecca, try to discover what has led to these two deaths, and others that soon follow. The action becomes fast and furious and one just has to hang on for the ride. A terrific read, and recommended.

For anyone looking for a great thriller, this is the book for you. It's a fast pace, great read! Simon Wood has a creative mind.

From the moment you find yourself in a stolen BMW with Vee8 gunning behind the wheel, you can't stop reading the high-powered thriller, "We All Fall Down." Simon Wood takes us on a literary thrill ride, with plotting as tight as the twisting turns of California's Highway 1.

Suicide (or is it murder?), runs rampant at the secretive engineering firm where Hayden Duke has been hired as a short term contractor. As employee deaths begin to mount, Hayden is given key evidence, and finds himself embroiled in a dangerous game of "road rage." He also finds himelf falling in love with a victim's sister, Rebecca. But with cold, calculated assassins on his tail, will Hayden survive long enough to fullfill his contract--and his dreams of love?

If you want a fast-paced read that makes you think, "We All Fall Down" will take you there.

Well Simon Wood does it again with another great book. I couldn' put it down once I started. The excitement and suspense made it a quick page turning adventure. It's only a matter of time before Simon Wood is a household name and bestseller!! Can't wait till the next book.