France Books

I bought this for my daughter for Christmas along with a crepe maker. We've used it THREE times since Christmas...three different recipes in three days and each has been DELICIOUS! Great pictures...wonderful recipes and tips!

I originally found this book at a library, but after checking it out over and over again -as I love it, I checked on Amazon and it was here!! Love it! It has such a wonderful variety of crepes, using different flours etc., sweet and savory, and so many tips and ideas. I share this book title with everyone at my cooking shows. Definitely worth the price and then some!

I took a crepe making class just to learn the technique and take the fear out of crepe making. While I took away from that class a few recipes, none were interesting enough to make at home. This book is wonderful--what closed the deal on purchasing it was when I saw that it included a recipe for blue corn crepes. While vacationing in Santa Fe, I fell in love with their blue corn pancake/muffin mix. I can't wait to make the blue corn crepes with the blue corn mix I brought back to Houston. The recipes in this book are exactly what I was looking for--diverse and simple to follow.

I opened the book, and made excellent crepes right away, within minutes. Can't do much better than that!

The introduction to this book and the basic recipes for crepes are well worth its price. The crepes turn out tender and flavorful every time. One of my new favorites for savory crepes is the Garbanzo Flour Crepe recipe. Another excellent feature is that Seibert-Pappas gives useful information on how to fold and store crepes.

One drawback to this book is that Ricotta cheese is used as a filler in virtually all of the savory crepe recipes. This can be a problem if you do not like ricotta cheese or if you do not like it when it is combined with certain foods (e.g. seafood). The recipes for dessert crepes are more varied.

Smart, almost too funny. I have presonaly recommenedd this great book to at least 5 ladies. Must have book to all woman. Love it.
Thank You
Lauran

This book is awesome for all the single girls, newly single women. If you need direction in how to find a man, and how to learn his reactions this is the book for you.

Lauren Frances is one clever fox.

She knows how to 'play the cold/cruel game' the men so blatantly boast about..

but in a warm/sophisticated and feminine manner. If men aren't human enough to stay with the woman he has just had a wonderful/intimate night with ..then so be it.. however he is clearly not human.. but a bird who flies away.. lol! This is the new revolutionary book to seduction and what mindset to have when playing this 'game' that men have started...

lookout guys, you've stirred up some trouble!

Lauren Frances is the leader to the new crew of women who are "pimps" (LOL!) to say the least... hehe

This is one of the funniest books I've ever read on the mating game!

Ms. Frances has done her field work and her observations are not only witty and entertaining, but very insightful.

Should be a "must read" for every female.

The woman who wrote this book is clearly quite clever. Her associations of men to birds is truly amazing. There are quite a diverse number of birds out there, from eagles to doves to peacocks. This book is entertaining, but I can't say it changed much about the men in my life (or how I deal with them). I'd buy it for the humor, but not for the self-help aspect.

This is one of Elizabeth David's classic cookery books, bursting with good advice and as always, beautifully written. Her research was excellent and she always added interesting historical asides and information. If you are looking for a typical recipe book with artfully arranged photos, and the latest trendy dishes, then this will not be for you. The book, written in 1960, has some line drawings, but is otherwise pretty much free of frills.
However, if you are a serious cook, either amateur or professional, and enjoy reading about great French country cusine, this this is for you!

The truly remarkable thing about Elizabeth David was not so much that she could write enthralling and compelling cookbooks ("Mediterranean Food", "French Provincial Cooking", "Italian Cooking"), but that she transformed a glum, drab post-war England by the beauty of her prose and her ability to evoke the sunshine and brilliant colours of the mediterranean. And, further north, the simple beauty of cuisine bourgeoise, home cooking french style.

It was this book that got me started on a lifetime of home cooking. Like all great cookbooks, it can be read and savored without cooking at all. Her ability to evoke time and place is startling -- for example, her recipe for little courgette souffles is wrapped in the story of how she first enjoyed them. Of course, this was in a small country restaurant where the proprietor used his own recipe to make them for her.

She talks vividly about La Mere Poulard and her Mont St. Michel omelettes, for which she offers the original recipe. Roughly translated from the french, it reads: "Monsieur, I get some good eggs, I put them in a bowl and beat vigorously. Then I put them into a pan with good butter and stir constantly. I will be very happy if this recipe gives you pleasure".

I remember, over 30 years ago, the first time I made her recipe for pork chops "to taste like wild boar". They do indeed, and very good they are. Her recipes for classics like Cassoulet, and Bouillabaisse are vivid and provide the cultural context as well as precise directions. Her description of a bouillabaisse on the beach makes you want to catch the next plane there.

She explains the environment of her recipes, their milieu, and their progenitors so that you get right inside the whole theory and practice of french cooking. This is not haute cuisine, though it is not always simple to execute. But her sympathy for the process of cooking and her ability to describe it precisely prefigured writers like Richard Olney and Alice Waters, who owe her, as do we all, a great debt.

In any case, she is directly responsible for the appalling culinary assaults I have perpetrated on family and friends for longer than I care to remember. I still use the book, though most of its pages are now stored directly in my memory.

This book assumes that you know something about cooking and working in a kitchen. Many times amounts of ingredients are not specified, but easily guessed at. The recipies are relatively easily prepared and well worth any effort. I have never prepared a poor meal using this book. Ms. David was a leader in Britain in bring continental cooking to the British Kitchen. This is not a new book but still one of the best, and a favorite. I have used it since 1972 and am still finding things to make. Compared to Alice Waters, the preparations are less fussy but equally satisfying. I would recommend this book to a cook who has experience, it is most likely not a good wedding present, but entirely appropriate for the 5th anniversary.

Elizabeth David is one of foremost writers on food in the latter half of the 20th century and this book has her most celebrated writing. For this reason, I was inspired to write this modest review when I saw Amazon feature the volume as an offering, 43 years after it's first publication in England.

It is a coincidence of no small meaning that this book appeared within two years before the publication of Julia Child et al's landmark `Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. Child was even worried, when David's book appeared, that it may steal a lot of the thunder from Child and her colleague's effort. The fact is, the two books are very much like the Wittgensteinian `duck rabbit' optical illusion in that they deal with the same subject but from different points of view.

One distinction is that while Child's book is simply a cookbook of French recipes, David's book is a long essay on French cuisine, offering the sketches of recipes more as exercizes to be completed by the reader than as true recipes. In fact, it is one of the most enduring legacies of Child's book that it redefined the detail to which a recipe writer should go in order to adequately communicate the process of preparing a dish.

A second distinction between the two is that they deal with two different facets of French cuisine. As David recites from work by Curnonsky, there is haute cuisine, la cuisine Bourgeoise, la cuisine Regionale, and la cuisine Improvisee. David discourses on the third while Child, et al present the second.

For many, including such luminaries as Jeremiah Tower and Alice Waters, Elizabeth David is the fountainhead of thinking on the French notion of `la cuisine terroir', sometimes interpreted by the notion `what grows together goes together'. For David, this is the heart of regional cooking, and the thing which most distinguishes it from cooking at restaurants where clientele arrive at any time of the year or the day and expect to be able to order virtually any well known French speciality.

One of the passages which best characterizes David's approach to a lot of cooking is her opening statement on the perfect omelette: `As everybody knows, there is only one infallible recipe for the perfect onelette: you own.' I'm sure this would not work for Daniel Boulud, but it works just fine for me, after having seen about five (5) different, contrary techniques on how to make the perfect omelette.

It's interesting to constantly encounter reminders that the book was written before the widespread distribution of Teflon coated cookware, as there is no mention of it, even for egg cookery. I believe the book is all the more valuable for this fact, in that it paints a picture of a cooking style which has irrevokably been changed by technology. A second technological change brought upon the world by the French themselves is the 'robot-coupe' or food processor. It's noteworthy that the device is only mentioned in Notes to the 1985 edition where it is pointed out that the device was a major contribution to both the good and the bad aspects of nouvelle cuisine.

As stated above, the recipes are not as much presented as a blueprint to reproduce every dish cited, but rather to illuminate the discourse. One of my favorites is the entry for Salade Nicoise, where not one but four (4) different variations are given, including the variation of Escoffier.

The sections on French kitchen equipment and French techniques appear to be quite complete and absolutely essential if you embark on reading a cookbook written in French. The book has a short essay on each of the major culinary regions of France, starting. Almost obviously with Provence which is blessed not so much with great culinary talent as a great source of produce, similar, perhaps to the situation in California where the `la cuisine terroir' could take root much more easily than in Toledo or Albany. The largest portion of the book is chapters on cuisine by type of foodstuf or type of preparation such as:

Sauces
Hors-D'oeuvres and Salads
Soups
Eggs and Cheese
Pates and Terrines
Vegetables
Fish
Shellfish
Meat
Composite Meat Dishes
Poultry and Game
Left-overs
Sweet dishes

The book ends with a bibliography which alone is worth the price of the paperback volume.

This book begs to be read from cover to cover. The only other writers who come to mind of a similar caliber are John Thorne, M.F.K. Fisher, and Harold McGee. Elizabeth David's books belong in the library of anyone who loves to read and prepare food and this is her best.

This book is unequaled, engrossing, superlative. It remains, despite the four decades since its publication, the finest book on authentic French cooking in the English language. To that extent, it is uncompromising - a quality not likely to endear it to the timid or fadish american cook - but never daunting. The sheer sensuous beauty of the food evoked in these pages is a loving, prolonged essay on one of the glories of western civilization.

At school my whole class read this book for read aloud! It was a very good book. Frida was very good at art. She had five sisters but it seamed like they didn't pay attention to her! She was always lonely and she was bored.But atleast she had Imaginary friends to comfort her. One day she got in a horrible bus accident! Read this book to find out how Frida turned out after her pain. Reccomended for people who may want to learn how to turn pain into beauty.

I own the Spanish version of this book, and I love it. So do all my students - I teach Preschool Spanish (ages 3-6). My 5 year old daughter is an artist and she loves the vivid colors and imaginative characters that follow Frida through her life. The children I teach do not know Spanish, but they are able to look at the pictures and understand the story. They regularly request this book and enjoy looking for the 'spooky' characters.

My son and daughter could really relate to another person's life thanks to this well-written and cleverly illustrated book. Frida was, as they are now, someone who wasn't always able to have her mother's attention. She lived out fantasies in her mind, just as they do. She used her imagination even when she was unable to move her body, just like they do before they fall asleep at night. Frida's quotidian and extraordinary experiences spring to life thanks to the inventive illustrations and sympathetic writing.

More than once, creating art saved Frida Kahlo's life. Even though she had five sisters, she was almost always lonely and sad. When she was infected with polio and she was very sick, even her imaginary friends couldn't cheer her up, but painting and drawing rescued her. Most of her life, she was in heart-breaking pain after being in a horrible bus accident. Read this book to find out how art saved her once more. Recommended for people who want to learn how Frida Kahlo turned terrible pain into beautiful masterpieces.

My mom read me this book and I saw that art is important and special, it can save you and allow you to express your imagination even when times are tough

Zola's The Ladies Paradise is a fine translation from the French original. The author is right on target when it comes to consumer culture in nineteenth century France. He predicted well, how big businesses would swallow up the mom-and-pop shops, and create a need for material possessions. The character of Denise was one of strong ambition in a time when women had less than half a chance of leading an independent life outside of an andro-centric culture. Denise is a young heroine in her own right, rising up from poverty to become a strong voice in the world of the department stores. She has to fight vicious rumours and unwanted affections to make it to the top with out sacrificing her own beliefs. I highly recommend Zola's The Ladies Paradise.

any one who has started a business or has worked in a business should read this book. It clearly outlines all marketing principles, sales psychology and the benefits of being in distribution rather then production. Amazing. Grow your mind and read.

THE LADIES' PARADISE is a sequel to POT LUCK (POT-BUILLE), which I read last year. Both have Octave Mouret as a central character. In the earlier novel, he was a young salesman on the make, both in his profession and with the young women in his apartment building. At the end of POT LUCK, he marries the owner of a successful drapery establishment. At the start of PARADISE, his wife has died; and Octave has entered on an expansion program from drapery into a department store named the Ladies' Paradise that threatens all the other shopkeepers selling clothing and accessories in the area.

Enter Denise Baudu, a country girl from Normandy, who moves to Paris with her two brothers after one of them has gotten in trouble back home. Her uncle runs a store called Au Vieil Elbeuf, selling drapery and flannels, but is unable to give her room or a job because business is threatened by the presence of the Ladies' Paradise across the street. Denise finds a job at the Paradise at the risk of angering her relatives.

Salesgirls at the Paradise live in a dormitory on the top floor of the department store. Room and board is part of the job, plus a token wage and commissions on sales over quota. Little does Denise know she had entered into a whirlwind of gossip and backbiting. She is made fun of by her fellow workers, but Mouret resists getting rid of her because he is drawn to her. At one point, however, two of Mouret's "spies" in management come upon Denise and a young salesman from her region who has sheepishly fallen in love with her and kisses her hand as head axe-wielder Bourdoncle watches. Denise is promptly dismissed.

As Denise finds another position in a less profitable store than the Paradise, the focus turns more to Mouret, who did not know of her dismissal. Mouret plans a large-scale expansion of the store and calls upon Baron Hartman (in real life, Baron Haussmann) to allow him frontage on the new boulevard being cut through the neighborhood.

One day, Mouret runs into Denise on the street and asks her to consider returning to the Paradise, which is just as well as the store where Denise had started to work was going under. To sweeten the offer, Mouret makes her an assistant buyer in the new children's wear department. With her enhanced status, Denise is now winning admiration from her co-workers, though some backbiters remain. In the meantime, Mouret's passion for her is growing -- despite Denise not encouraging it in any way.

There are several set pieces in the novel which are a feature of Zola's fiction. They come under the heading of giant mechanisms that grind people down. In GERMINAL, it was a coal mine; in POT LUCK, an apartment building; in HUMAN BEAST, railroads; and in THE BELLY OF PARIS, the food market at Les Halles. In every Zola novel, there are scenes showing off some giant mechanism at work crushing people under it like the wheels of a Juggernaut. In PARADISE, these scenes are highly successful sales which show a crush of frenetically spending customers and overwhelmed sales clerks as Mouret keeps "pushing the envelope" of what is possible in the apparel business. Even wealthy shoppers who came "just to look" are caught up in the frenzy and leave the store having committed themselves to buy more than what they could afford.

The owners of neighboring shops feel that the Paradise is like a hungry beast that strives to devour their businesses and put them out in the street. Which is exactly what happens. Denise's cousin Genevieve dies of consumption after her lover Colomban -- the main hope of Au Vieil Elbeuf -- runs away to chase a slutty Paradise shopgirl who is one of Mouret's cast-offs, and who doesn't even want him. Aunt Baudu follows her daughter soon after. When as the result of a series of sharp moves, Mouret buys their properties, the shopkeepers are evicted; and Uncle Baudu goes to a nursing home, completely dazed and broken.

Eventually, Denise and Mouret do hook up, but on Denise's terms. The novel ends as they announce their upcoming marriage.

I have found that the ten or so Zola novels I have read have been of a uniform high quality, such that I have difficulty recommending one over the other (though I have a particular fondness for NANA). THE LADIES' PARADISE is an excellent read and paints a fascinating picture of life in the emerging Paris department stores of the late 19th century.

The Ladies Paradise written in the nineteenth century rings true of today's consumerism. Emile Zola examines in this socialistic novel the effects of consumerism on customers and employees. The customers who are women are drawn to the items that are displayed on the tables. Octave Mouret, the storeowner, knows what women desire and sets forth to use it to bring in profits. The lace, stockings, velvet are feminine fabrics that entice women to spend money, even if they don't have it.

As a retail employee, I have dealt with customers who don't have the money to buy the items but want to get it. I am a customer who buys what is displayed because I think it is going to be an investment. I can relate to small stores like Uncle Baudu's. Businesses like his struggle to stay afloat amongst corporate expansion. They entice clients with their sales and bargains--things that I look for when I shop. Small stores can provide what the big stores don't have. One way or the other, the consumer can get some sort of balance. Working at both a community store and a corporate store, one thing that matters most to customers is service. Customers want to be treated with respect and they expect sales associate to be enthused and answer their questions; even if it is trivial.

Denise Baudu, a simple country girl, arrives in Paris to get a job at her uncle's drapery shop. To her disappointment he doesn't have a job for her because his store is losing customers to the Ladies Paradise. The mall provides goods that are cheaper than the small shops and have a selection of fabrics not only from the mother country, but imported from Asia. He suggests to his niece that she get a job there.

The store fascinates her but she does feel some betrayal towards her uncle. Her uncle's business, along with the small stores, are struggling to stay afloat. With the expansion of the mall, these stores are forced to close because they can't compete with them. Uncle Baudu's hopes of his business staying for the long haul are shattered.

Denise is at first, shy and awkward. She is the target of cruel and malicious slander from the employees including assistant buyer Madame Aurelie. Zola unfolds the lives of the sales employees. The money they make in retail isn't sufficient to support them. The women take to prostitution. Claire has three men supporting her material needs. Pauline befriends Denise and suggests that she get herself a lover to support her financially. Denise doesn't take that advice because it is not in her interest to be a prostitute. She is determined to keep herself and her family together without falling apart which makes the women envious of her.

The novel is centered around an actual person Aristide Boucicaut who founded Le Bon Marche which remains today at the center of Parisian culture. Denise is believed to be the model of his wife Marguerite. Zola puts into a social perspective that exists til this day.

After reading the book for an art class I was suprized to find out that I actually enjoyed the book, it had quite a twist to the department store/love story. I think Zola's description of the scenes were wonderful and helped me use my inmagination better. I would reccomend this book to anyone who likes learning about Paris bourgeous life and the mechanical system of the department stores. Definitly a good read.

If you loved the outsized adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel (Penguin Classics), you will surely be delighted by Armstrong's second novel, The Last Troubador: Song of Montsegur. Set in the turbulent, insecure 12th Century when Christendom set itself against Islam in the east and reforming elements at home, this book has the large stage in which to handle some universal themes.
What sets this apart from most historicals and calls Rabelais to mind is the author's tongue which is so firmly planted in his cheek that even when we are transported by the death-defying action, we're always aware of the multiple levels of meaning. Most historical novels are necessarily short-lived: their view of history is a product of their own moment and so they become dated. The Last Troubador will no doubt be around for a long time because the wink and the nod to the reader is truly timeless.

By the way, I found this book because I'd read Armstrong's The Game, a very different detective novel that shares the same dry inviting humor.

Lynn Hoffman, author of the semi-Rabelaisian bang BANG: A Novel

Yummy characters. Doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, but it is. Yummy, yummy. From the twisted and dark Diableteur to the golden-haired troubadour, there's isn't a character I didn't fall in love with. The Seigneur who redeems himself through love. The object of his love, the untouchable Dame of the Cathars. I even love the future pope (don't tell anyone!) Cardinal Sinibaldo Fiesco. This is a triumph, everything I love in a historical, from fighting, spunky ladies to romantic men with swords, and other weapons! I have to admit I was a little uncertain at first when the author made this tie-in from characters to Tarot cards. This was how I heard of the book, but I was all ready to hate the idea. I loved it. The Troubadour is the fool. The Magician is a woman, a snowy, white haired pagan sourceress. The Empress was the ever-pregnant mother of the travelling Baug Balar. And the Baug (it's like a circus, with trained horses, magic tricks, acrobats, really nice) is my favorite collection of images. The author throws in a nice dash of humor, but doesn't get carried away, shaking it up with some well-researched historical events and environment. I've been to Carcassonne, and it was so nice to see this beautiful place come to life. Over the top? Not really. Just so much to enjoy! The only thing I'm not happy about is the ending... it's fulfilling, with the main mission achieved, but as it turns out it's the beginning of an even greater quest. Which makes me very impatient for book 2, The Last Quest, which I'm definitely going to order. The Last Quest: Song of Montsegur

You don't have to know anything about the mysteries of tarot to enjoy this engrossing, fun read. It's a well-done combination of sword-and-sorcerer fantasy and historical adventure set in the 13th century. The tone is light, yet layers of period detail give it more depth than you might expect, and the characters are fascinating whether or not you understand their tarot inspirations.

Ramon Troubadour, the hero of the trilogy (yes, this is the first of three volumes), is a Fool extraordinaire on a quest to save the holy Dame of the Cathars from the fires of the Inquisition. The story is full of knights and kings, circus acrobats and animal acts, mysteries and magic, not to mention continuous action and sharp-tongued humor from the Fool as he goes about the business of discovering the secrets of the age.

The Catholic Church doesn't come off very well in this tale, as you might expect since it's set in a period when red hot pokers were as important to the holy orders as communion wafers. The trilogy itself is driven by a quest to find the world's most important religious relic and the machinations of the Pope and the evil Diableteur, a scythe-carrying devil. Other fun characters include a one-eyed Knight who may or may not be a Templar and a circus fortune-teller who also happens to be a witch.

The story moves along and carries the reader with it. I found it both engaging and entertaining.

If I didn't know better, I'd say that Derek Armstrong wrote this delicious novel purely for my own amusement and pleasure. With wit, wisdom (and more than an occasional wink) he offers a work that panders to nearly every one of my cultural, spiritual, and historical prejudices. Set in thirteen century France - that hotbed heroes, heroines, and heresy - it's a wide-screen Technicolor adventure worthy of a full Errol Flynn treatment... an adventure for spiritual grownups that educates as much as it delights. I can't wait for the next in the series.

Lon Milo DuQuette - Author of Accidental Christ

Witty, dry, well-paced, this story worked for me on all levels. Original plot and well executed, what else can a reader ask for? I recommend it for everyone to read. The characters are engaging - you are made to feel as if you are there with them, which is what a great story is meant to do. I loved it and will certainly read another novel from this talented author. Derek Armstrong is a keeper for me.

This is a huge book packed with information and gorgeous photography. There is plenty of science contained in these glossy pages from how the planets in our solar system formed, to the breakup and movement of our land masses to their current day positions, ocean currents, weather, ecology, glacial periods, and so much more. Most of the first half of the book is devoted to these subjects. The second half of the book gets into ocean life, from the smallest to the largest, how they live, feed, defend themselves. The pictures are breathtaking. This is a great educational book for all family members. Trust me, this one won't just sit around on your coffee table.

I recently sent this book to my younger sister who has inspirations of becoming an oceanographer. The book is so colorful and educational I think I want to become an oceanographer now!

This book is not a typical "coffee table" book. Although full of beautiful photographs, there is equal emphasis on educational text. Instead of being a book containing only full-page photos of ocean life, each page is a collage of wonderful photos and short articles that you will want to read. The publisher of this book (DK), offers a variety of books in this format (travel, etc), and the layout of this book is similar. That is not to knock the photos at all - they are great and some are full-page, but this book isn't page after page of full-page photos as some others are.

That said, this is an excellent educational text with so much interesting information to offer. (It made me want to read the book cover-to-cover, which would probably keep me busy for at least a few days!)

The four main sections of the book include:

Introduction
Ocean Environments
Ocean Life
Atlas of the Oceans

The Introduction section takes a scientific look at the earth. A sampling of the topics of this section include "The Evolution of the Oceans", "Tectonics and the Ocean Floor", "Hurricanes", and "El Nino and La Nina". Mixed in with the photos are a number of color drawings and graphs to help the reader understand the concepts.

The section on Ocean Environments includes articles on specific places like San Francisco Bay and Hardanger Fjord as well as general information on habitats such as Salt Marshes, Mangrove Swamps and Rocky Sea Beds. The pages are full of photos of the areas as well as typical species found there.

The largest section is on Ocean Life and focuses on the variety of creatures found in the sea. Exhibited within these pages are a number of amazing photos of plants and animals that I had not seen before (though I'm not an expert on this subject) including creatures such as the Glass Squid, the Blue-Ringed Octopus and the Goblin Shark. I thoroughly enjoyed the short paragraph articles describing unique aspects of the species shown as well as the longer texts on topics like "Echinoderms" that includes anatomy, reproduction, feeding and defense sub-articles.

The last section is Atlas of the Oceans and includes maps of the different oceans and text describing them.

Again, the focus of this book is learning, not just amazing photography, and it does an excellent job of offering a smorgasbord of articles on different topics. If you really want to learn about the ocean and its inhabitants while paging through fantastic photographs, you will thoroughly enjoy this book!

NOT 500 pages and if I had paused to read the item description properly I wouldn't have bought this book! Way too good a price to be true, it is not another edition of the wonderful Cousteau-forwarded book, but a perfectly respectable DK full-color children's book with many very nice color photos. Probably very worth $7.99 and I was just far too greedy to read the fine print.

I had been looking for a comprehensive ocean book for a while, and more or less found it here. A complete overview of the ocean: physical features, marine life, fishing, exploration - this book covers it all. Great photography and short pieces of information on hundreds of the ocean's species will immerse even the most casual terrestrial browser.

The species featured in this book are well distributed - representing all classes of animals and plants, and all zones and ocean communities, from the coastal to deep sea ecosystem. Their mini synopsis of species is proceeded by a helpful overview of the general category that covers them (such as mollusks: their basic anatomy, movement mechanics, feeding and life cycles for the entire group) before telling you about, let's say, the octopus. The bulk of the book is on ocean biota, with a smaller sections on ocean environments and an atlas of the oceans.

Perhaps the biggest gap I see in the book is that it covers fisheries and other human impacts (trash, pollution, warming, acidification) only minimally and sporadically. The human impacts are highlighted for only a few key species, instead of treating it as an separate issue in its own right that affects, directly or indirectly, all forms of marine life. Indeed, the subtitle for the book, "the world's last wilderness revealed," is misleading and biased. It's akin a travel brochure selling an overrun tourist destination like Waikiki as exotic and pristine ("come and watch the natives surf!" I read once somewhere) - given our massive interference with most of the ocean, the term "wilderness" simply does not apply, except perhaps for the Antarctic region, for now.

But what the book does cover, it covers it well, being both engaging and informative. Over 500 pages serve as a good introduction to our waterworld.

Thank you, David and Alison, for sharing your Paris with me. Soon I will have the pleasure of spending a month in Paris, and the joy of being able to introduce my 16-year-old grandson to the greatest-of-all-cities. Your book deepened my knowledge of Paris, and will allow me to share more of its history with my grandson. I will be taking your book along, reading it in Paris, and looking for all those pieces of the city that you so beautifully described. Again, merci!

Downie's essays offers a quirky sense of humor and a wonderful eye for the details behind the details that at once demystify Paris and add to her mystery. Although the book is not a guide per se, the essays make me want to follow Downie's trails. As such, the book would have been better served with an index and some neighborhood maps. After all, give us a few more clues.

This just couldn't get any better. It is full of interesting tidbits and numerous places to visit accompanied by stories of people and places you normally don't hear told. I couldn't put it down, and I have recommended it to several people.

David Downie's recent memoire on Paris is a diminutive delight, a series of "thought prose" on different and unusual aspects of La Ville Lumière. There are countless books following a similar approach, but Downie's stands out due to the unusual information and presentation of somewhat obscure and arcane information that he has collected over the decades in which he has lived near the Place des Vosges in the Marais district of Paris. The result is an insider's point of view of the city that is quite unlike other tourist books, and perhaps implies that those who might most greatly enjoy the book are those who have actually visited and explored the city to some extent. Without having experienced the city itself first hand, the information presented here is a bit decontextualized and a little abstract.

For those who have visited the city and even perhaps stayed or lived there for any length of time, Downie's book opens up a world of insights that is often hidden from common view. This makes it now possible to explain why Downie has selected the name, "Paris, Paris" for the text, where the second "Paris" is written in italics. Downie explains that the meaning of this structure indicates that there are two simultaneous, yet nevertheless distinct, "Parises," the first being the "Paris" that the typical English-speaking, non-French national sees and experiences, and the second (the "Paris" in italics) is the one that native Parisians and Frenchmen know, a reality removed from the more cursory visitors of the city.

Downie chooses an interesting example drawn from the Paris metro system to illustrate the title's metaphor. For anyone who has used metro line 14, the fully automated and state-of-the-art Parisian metro line, the sound of the automatic station announcement will come to mind. As we approach Chatelet Station, for example, the system announces "Chatelet" in a springy, almost stylish manner. As the train begins braking and stops at the station, the automatic system again states "Chatelet," but in a much more terse, low-key manner. This interesting announcement technique that all riders of metro line 14 have doubtless noticed (whether consciously or unconsciously), serves as a gentle reminder that there are two Parises, and few people ever get to know them both.

The book is composed of a series of short, targeted essays on a wide variety of locations, personages, and historical events related to the city. Each section runs only six to eight pages, which is a perfect length not only to convey the topic, but also for targeted reading day after day. The writing style is clear and engaging, and as mentioned before, filled with tidbits of information about the city that anyone interested in Paris would enjoy learning. We get to read about such famous "Parisians" as Coco Chanel, the engineer who is in charge of nighttime lighting for all of Paris, and a host of others in addition to interesting historical aspects of the city itself.

An enjoyable book with a memorable set of stories, anecdotes, and "mysteries" of the city, "Paris, Paris" is a welcome addition to any Parisphile's library.

A wonderfully ill-tempered, sentimental, and informed account of nooks and crannies in the most interesting of cities. If I could arrange it, I would introduce Downie to the venerable Guy Grangeret, a visite-conference guide to Paris who is nothing less than Downie's spiritual twin. Neither man's dicta are suitable for beginners: all that irony and allusion would be wasted. Both provide insights and make connections that enrich the experience as well as thinking of the seasoned visitor.

Stephen Mitchell's translation is a great intro to the Tao. Simple, a little convoluted at times and yet somehow straight to the point. I bought this illustrated hardcopy as a gift and keep a text version as my guide.

I have come to have a fondness and deep appreciation for Mitchell's work and choices of subjects. I bought this translation because of high praise for it hidden in one of Jim Harrison's poems. This version is, perhaps, the most readable of all I have encountered. Many people find it inspiring and that must be why it is such an acclaimed translation. Having dealt with a dozen or so translations and the texts behind them, I do note that Mitchell takes some liberties. His is a very idiomatic translation, which often reads better than word-for-word literalness, the latter often proving too wooden to be enjoyable or clear. And Mitchell might even omit a few phrases or add one here or there. But the spirit is all Lao Tzu. Also, the volume is full of the most exquisite ancient Chinese illustrations, making it the most beautiful of any of my Tao Te Chings.

Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way) has long been referenced by those who seek to understand the Eastern philosophy of the harmony of the universe. In simple, eloquent verse this collection of poems (though there are those who would object to the 'poem' label) the secrets to shedding the self with its attendant judgment, desire, and critique provide the guide for finding oneness with the cosmos.

Steven Mitchell is the translator of these ancient texts and his sensitivity to the poetic flow of the concepts and instructions enhance this version of the TAO TE CHING. And as if that weren't sufficient reason to make this your access to these ageless meditations, this book is an 'illustrated version', tastefully combined with old Chinese drawings and paintings that allow the eye to roam while digesting the moments of beauty of the words.

This book becomes a constant companion for those who look to make sense of the world and its chaos. If ever there were the perfect gift for the friends in your life, this elegant little book is surely one of the best. Grady Harp, March 05.

In this version, Peg Streep edits James Legge's 19th century translation. The editing is a major bonus, as it adds something
to the overall flow of the work. Here is an example of the poetry of the words: "Abstinence from speech marks him who obeys the spontaneity of his nature." Whereas countless other translations are well worth the read, the text in this edition offers something every bit as beautiful as the artwork that accompanies it.

If every philosophy or religion had a book like this, it would be much easier to appreciate and perhaps even enjoy the diversity of belief among humankind. Mitchell captures the simplicity and straightforwardness of the text, and what we get is a incredibly beautiful book of verse. Some scriptures and cornerstone philosophy texts try to argue their way into your head; the Tao, especially as translated by Mitchell and coupled with stunning artwork, effortlessly works to seduce its way into the core of your being.

When you put the book down, you may disagree with many components of the Tao's underlying philosphy. But during the short time you live between the book's covers, it is a joy to enter the rhythmic flow of the Tao and put skepticism on hold.

This book is so much packed with information and data!
Well presented and well written, you will find more in this book about Napoleonic warfare than any other books focusing on a single topic:

-weapons and equipments
-beautiful uniform plates
-Infantry and cavalry tactics with diagram
-full bios of many of the generals
-full order of battles
-accounts and explanation about particular engagements on the battlefield with diagrams and actual battlefield pictures
-historical interpretation: you will learn for instance through a rational explanation why it was almost impossible to break an infantry square by cavalry
and much more

My only complaint would be that at times I had the feeling that the book was a bit all over the place, however, each time, there was something so interesting to pick.

This book is a real treat, addictive, informative, going well beyond the battle of Waterloo to encompass the essence of Napoleonic warfare at dirt level. At this price, with so many pages of pure pleasure, it is a true bargain.

This is an excellent book for who begins to study the battle of Waterloo. Complete, clear and very entertaining.
A very good purchase.

This is an excellent read, full with illustrations, photo's of the actual battlefield and information in general of napoleonic warfare.

Wow, What a book! If you would choose one book to give you all the background information on this famous battle; This would be the one. Outstanding graphics, maps and photos! Well done!!!

This is one of the better books on waterloo. Good graphics and detailed maps. Fair and balanced view.