Ireland Books

This book is great for intermediate quilters and those who ready to tackle a log cabin as their next quilt. Mary Ellen's Slap and Sew methodology makes the piecing a breeze. The samples in the book give you idea after idea about how versitile this block really is. I'll be using this book to teach my next quilting class.

Note to Andrea above re yardage: You'll need 1 1-1/2" strip of light and 1 1-1/2" strip of dark, plus a center for each 8" block in the quilt.

Mary Ellen Hopkins really knows her stuff. Learn from her years of experience and helpful advice. For example, she writes about what size logs look best and how many light logs vs. dark logs to use. This book makes reference to her famous book, "It's Okay If You Sit On My Quilt" which I highly recommend too.

Mary Ellen Hopkins tells in her special way how to lay out your log cabin to achieve the look of different quilts which would be more difficult to make. She shows you how to make a variety of star quilts without sweating the triangles. She shows how different colors can make a quilt look unique. I wish there was more help in determining how much fabric is needed, as I am still an amateur at this, but then you can make a scrap quilt!

Want to praise the book and the SELLER. I purchased my LIKE NEW/used book from Lameade and I give the service a five star rating. It was my first time ordering a used book and I can't say enough good things about the transaction.

Mary Ellen Hopkins has directed all her enthusium into this book. Imagine making stars using only strips of material. This book cannot but help to turn your enthusiam on. Start with a one block wallhanging and go on from there. Excellent fun!! Use all your scraps and no cutting triangles, or squares. Only strips and all the same size. I have never had so much fun!

Leprechaun's are tricksters that can't be outsmarted--at least, that's their reputation. Clever Tom knows this when he accidently comes upon one. So, HE'S not going to be fooled by any trickery. And what does Tom want of this tiny fairy-tale-like creature? The pot of gold that every leprechaun has hidden, which he will take and become rich. Even though leprechauns are tricky, they are honest to a fault, and that's what Tom is counting on.

He captures and forces the leprechaun to make a promise about the whereabouts of his hidden treasure. But leprechauns are known for NEVER giving up their pot of gold. How can this honest fairy promise Tom the location of his "loot" and still fool him so he can't find it? Well, as a leprechaun, he is very clever--that's how. You'll enjoy his cleverness!(Beautiful and humorous pictures, too!)

[This is an Irish folk tale picture book suitable as a read-aloud to pre-school through grade 3, or as an independent read for grades 3-5. It is recommended by the School Library Journal.]

A Non-Workbook, Non-Textbook Approach to Teaching Language Arts: Grades 4 Through 8 and Up

If you read the other reviews below, you will see that this is a fun and fabulous little story for kids or anyone who enjoys a good Irish story. What especially struck me was the two pages of "Source Notes" that the author put together at the end of the book. She covers T. Crofton Croker, the collector of many "peasants' stories, ballads, and keens" as well as terms that have been touched upon in the story itself. She gives us some great information on the origin of the tales and names of the little people called leprechanes, lurikeen, logheryman, etc. So, read the story of Tom's run-in with a leprechaun for fun and learn some fun information about leprechauns, too.

My 5 year old son loves this story (me too). We also have the audio tape giving it even more Irish flavor! I recommend the purchase.

Clever Tom is a big hit with my preschool class of 4 year olds. They laugh outloud as Tom is fooled by the leprechaun. Then, when I have finished reading the story, they beg to hear it again and again!

The only thing more fun for St. Patrick's Day is when we have our leprechaun hunt on the playground and find "leprechaun gold" scattered about the yard! The saddest part is trying to find my own copy so I can share it with my grandchildren at home!

Please hurry and find me a copy of the book Amazon!

Tom Fitzpatrick hears a leprechauns tapping in the woods and catches the little man. The leprechaun agrees to show Tom where his golds is hidden in exchange for his freedom. He takes Tom on a long walk over the country-side to an gigantic field of boliuns. He points to a plant and tells Tom that buried under the earth is his pot of gold. Tom marks the plant with his garder and make the leprechaun swear that he will not remove the garder. The little fellow promises not to take off the marker. Tom races home to get his spade as he plans how he will spend the gold. Appon his return he finds EVERY plant marked with an identical garder. He digs under the plant were he thought he put his marker but finds no gold. He digs all night but to no avail. Years pass and Tom tells the story over and over to the children of the village. He always carries his spade so that the NEXT time he catches the leprechaun he will have his forchune made! A wonderful book; it is the illastations that really sell the story. Linda Shute's leprechaun is so lovable and charming you can't help but root for him!

This is a scholarly analytic type book that investigates not only the colliseum building itself,but the spectacles that took place inside.The book also describes why the Colliseum was built as well as how it was bulilt.The Colliseum according to my read of the book was an important propoganda and public education tool of the Roman rulers.It showed the populace that not only had Rome conquered,but that all the beasts and "savage peoples" of the world were Roman possesions for amusement.The building may have also served as a warning,"you too could end up here" and was an outlet for high risk takers to make a name and a fortune. Also alot of these gladiatorial spectacles were actually public executions of criminals,the sword of a gladiator maybe no worse than the electric chair or gas chamber!Unfortunately no work on the Colliseum has covered the gambling on an immense scale that must have gone on at these events.For one I have always thought that the Gladiatorial helmet that is always used in movies and art appears awkward. It seems as if the fancy ornate designs and rims would block not just the peripheral view but about every other one as well.The author points out that these helmets that were found in the buried ruins of Pompeii may have actually been "parade helmets",used for the pre-fight spectacle to identify and give status to the Gladiator.In the arena he may have found such a helmet in fact a great disadvantage. That's the kind of research contained in this book.In regard to the wild animal fights the author spends alot of time breaking down and analyzing the industry that was involved in transporting "wild beasts" of all descriptions from various parts of the world. It must have been a great part of Rome's GNP.The author also questions alot of the traditional source material for acounts in regard to the Colliseum and its spectacles.It seems in times past that writers may have been as prone to exaggerations as they are today.You'll leave this book with a good knowledge of "the Games" and realize that alot of them were anything but "fair contests" between men and beasts.Rather alot of stage theatrics and "smoke and mirrors".Could it be that the the Roman popes banned these spectacles not only for the brutality,but because they were just plain boring.In fact these games were continued on well into the Roman Christian era,so there may not have been an initial Christian "moral outrage" when Rome was Christianized under Constantine.Anyway,I got my tickets to my first(and last) game from a scalper who had "copped them" free from a "charity organization"On the final page I seriously believed that the Retiarius Gaius was using steroids,and someone had spilled their greasy nacho cheese on my"Gladius" t-shirt.I also had to move 2 seats over because I believed the man next to me was coming down with a case of "bubonic plaque"That's how real this book is.

This is a rather specialized account of the Colosseum, and any student intending to visit the structure should read it. It debunks some myths about the place, but shows that it is a fascinating world wonder which deserves the attention of all visiting Rome. The research seems impeccable.

All the reviews here so far were written on the tourist side, not the scholar's. The great merit of this book, in my view, is that it fits both audiences in a very nice manner. Scholars would of course expect a more exhaustive treatment, but it's striking that there are almost no other academic books devoted to the subject of the Colosseum. Many studies on this building and other amphitheatres concentrate on technical, architectural issues, but this book offers concise and clear analyses on social aspects of gladiators, the interpretations of the Colosseum through the ages (a fascinating part!) and other varied issues. Profs. Hopkins and Beard are two leading authorities in Roman History, but their text is lively, fluent, good-humored and very pleasant - I wish all scholars could write like this! Therefore: for specialists, it's not a thorough book, but very welcoming all the same.

As for the occasional interested tourist, as others here have also said, this book is as useful, appealing and enjoyable as it can be. Having been to the Colosseum myself, though, I don't agree with the advice of getting there one hour before it closes (last entrance allowed is at 3PM). Packed crowds of tired tourists with noisy kids are better to be avoided if you want to take your time inside, so get there as early as you can. Also, like the authors, I strongly recommend a visit to the nearby Palatine - but get a good guide, so that you can understand the ruins you're seeing (use Oxford Archeological Guide, Coarelli's book, or even Blue Guide Rome).

Small though it may be, this wonderful book contains a wealth of information on the Colosseum. The authors - scholars in this field - very ably guide the reader along this amazing structure's long journey through the ages up to the present, debunking myths along the way. Although details on the formidable challenges faced by those who built the Colosseum are relatively few, its history and archaeology, as well as snapshots of the lives and times of those who used it and performed in it, more than compensate. Occasionally, the authors challenge the "generally accepted" interpretations of some of the often-sparse archaeological and historical evidence and offer alternative views. Near the end of the book, useful advice for the potential visitor is provided, followed by an extensive bibliography. The writing style is clear, friendly, authoritative and quite lively. This book can be enjoyed by anyone, but especially by those fascinated by ancient history and archaeology.

The Colloseum in Rome is arguably one of the five most famous buildings in the world but there are very few books about it. At least I have found that to be the case, as I have always had a fascination for the place. May this is the macabre side of me coming out. But it is not just the gladiatorial contests and many other blood letting contests that went on including wild animals fighting both humans and one another or the naval battles that were fought there. Yes naval battles, with real ships and the arena flooded with water. I readily admit that I find these interesting and have done for many years.

However the main attraction of the Flavian Amphitheatre, to give it its correct name is its architectural beauty. It is a building that we would be hard pressed to replicate today, even with all the modern building techniques that we now possess. A building that could fill with people and empty at the end of the games quicker than most modern football stadiums. A building that has stood the test of time. It is only vibration and pollution from modern day traffic that is now affecting the building more than the last two thousand years ever have.

A building that had more happening underground than ever happened above ground. Gladiator quarters, infirmaries. Lifts and hoists moved by an intricate network of pulleys and cables, that allowed wild animals to be brought up to the arena level.

This book tells you everything you need to know and more. It is well written And has some illustrations, but these are secondary to the excellent text.

This cookbook is great and contains a plethora of easy to follow recipes from appetizers to desserts. A must-have for your kitchen library.

I had the good fortune to take a three-day "cookery" course from Darina Allen at her school in County Cork. She is the Julia Childs of Ireland. The demonstrations were great and then the students got to cook selected recipes the next morning. I recommend this book because it has 1. tested and easy-to-follow recipes. (The school always has students and instructors working from the written recipes.) 2. The Irish specialties, particularly the breads, are wonderful. Ireland is now a "foodies" paradise with hundreds of homemade cheeses and other artisan specialties, superb seafood, and a whole "slow food" movement. This cookbook is in its way a bible to what's going on. It is one you will use again and again.

The `ballymaloe cooking school cookbook' by school co-owner and Irish TV cooking show host, Darina Allen is my second volume in my search for the perfect Irish cookbook. As it turns out, this very heavy and long (639 pages) book is much, much more than a book about Irish cooking, as well it should be, since it is comparable to the Culinary Institute of America's textbook, `The New Professional Chef'. That is, it is a general textbook for essentially all styles of European and American cooking, with a tendency to include more Irish recipes than you would expect from a French or Italian cooking textbook. In fact, a quick browse reveals recipes from around the world, many with an attribution to a close Darina Allen friend, such as Marcella Hazan.

When I saw Darina Allen on the old Sara Moulton show, `Cooking Live' on the Food Network, I had no idea that her Ballymaloe Cooking School was so big and well established to support such a comprehensive volume.

Ms. Allen's general tone in this book follows much the same path as the Chez Panisse guru, Alice Waters in that it strongly emphasizes good, fresh ingredients and a philosophy to waste nothing. Even the most lowly scraps can be recycled in the compost heap or the stock pot.

Unlike Ms. Allen's `The Festive Food of Ireland', I am happy to say that these recipes give all their units in an uncluttered and familiar English system of units, such as pounds and ounces, cups, tablespoons and teaspoons. I was just a bit surprised to see Ms. Allen recommend using standard spoons out of the silverware drawer to measure for savory recipes. On one hand, this is brilliantly simple, since a standard teaspoon (5 ml) is a rounded `teaspoon' and an English tablespoon (20 ml) is a rounded soupspoon. One important difference to note here is that the English (and Canadian) tablespoon is 25% larger than the American tablespoon (15 ml).

The book covers a very broad range of subjects, featuring 24 chapters on stocks & soups; appetizers; eggs; rice, other grains, & legumes; pasta and noodles; vegetables; salads; fish & shellfish; poultry; lamb; pork & bacon; beef; variety meats; game; desserts; cheeses; cakes & cookies; breads, scones & pizzas; jams & preserves; breakfast; barbecue; finger foods; drinks; and sauces.

One of the first things that struck me about this book is that it delves into subject which few if any other cooking texts touch, such as shopping, fashion, kitchen safety, and manners at the table. Many of the book's more conventional sections are a bit off. The `cupboard basics' section violates the notion that you should never buy an ingredient unless you have definite plans to use it in a recipe in the next week. Ms. Allen's list includes things such as dried fruit, Carr's Water Biscuits, Nam Pla (fish sauce), Pesto, and Ballymaloe's own brands of Tomato Relish and Jalapeno Relish. I would make pesto myself and I don't anticipate using nam pla, harissa, tortillas, Carr water biscuits, or chorizo in the next month, and maybe not even in the next year. The same general comment can be made of the `essential kitchen equipment' list. I always go back to Madhur Jaffrey's sound advice to simply make the recipes you want and buy for only those recipes. Sooner or later, you will have built up a pantry and assembly of cooking tools to match your personal style.

I do not weigh this too heavily against Ms. Allen, as she also has great advice on what to do if your power fails on your freezer or if you plan to move and are dealing with a full freezer.

Although this is a text for training future professional chefs, many of the classic recipes are remarkably unfussy. The master recipe for chicken stock cooks for only 3-5 hours, and adds all the vegetables at the beginning of the cooking rather than waiting for the last hour. Similarly, the master recipe for the basic omelet only cites one basic kind of French omelet and leaves out at least one of the fussier steps I have heard from various sources. The recipe for scrambled eggs is also not quite as fussy as the classic French method requiring a double boiler (bain marie).

Some techniques are illustrated with a set of photographs illustrating the steps, but these tend to be small and some major techniques are not so illustrated.

True to the author's emphasis on raw materials and the fact that the school has its own farm for vegetables, eggs, and fresh herbs, the introductory paragraphs to each section are rich in advice on how to pick and use raw materials. The introduction to eggs, one of my favorite subjects, is especially good on identifying the best eggs (how long ago was it laid) for each job.

Overall, this is an excellent reference for all sorts of recipes. I happened to check out the recipe for `basic hamburgers' and found a recipe that exactly duplicated my projected improvement over Julia Child's favorite hamburger recipe. Where Miss Julia has us put sautéed garlic and onion sandwiched between two layers of ground meat, Ms. Allen recommends the sautéed savories be mixed in with the ground meat, together with egg. A surprising touch recommends we also wrap it in caul fat, but this is optional.

One thing you will find in this book that you will not find in a CIA tome is a very personable, comradely tone which almost places Ms. Allen at your right hand as you read through the recipes. That means you will have a lot more fun reading this book than you may with a CIA text.

If you are very new to cooking, I highly recommend this as a first cookbook, especially if your ancestry can be traced back to the Emerald Isle! But, this is much, much more than a cookbook of Irish recipes.

I am a professional chef and have reviewed many cookbooks. This cookbook is one of the best I have ever seen and used. I was so impressed by it that I went and attended the 13 week course at the School in Ireland. The recipes are timeless,delicious,and will work every time if followed properly. This is what cooking should be fresh, beautiful, and nutritious.

The recipes are excellent and interesting, the commentary is informative and educational. The emphasis on seasonality is a good reminder of the real growing cycle of food, and the fairly simple treatment of ingredients highlights the flavor of well grown ingredients.

Ever wanted to visit Ireland? Then read this series. Linda Windsor takes you back to old Ireland and her word painting is so amazing that you'll feel like you're there. The action and adventure along with the faith and a bit of romance makes these books fun to read. This 3rd book in The Fires of Gleannmara doesn't let you down. I have never been disappointed with any of Linda Windsor's books and highly recommend them all.

Linda Windsor outdoes herself again in this 3rd book in her series, The Fires of Gleannmara. Keeps you reading until the last page with plot twists, adventure, and romance. Excellent!

If you are looking for ADVENTURE,then this is the book for you. Deirdre is kidnapped by Saxon pirate Alric. They fuss and fight through out the story both wanting their own ways,but in the end realizing that God is in charge of their lives. Linda Windsor has a wonderful balance in writing the spiritual as well as the personal of the characters. Also,don't miss the first two books in this FIRES OF GLEANNMARA series-'Maire & Riona'.

Setting: Seventh Century Ireland and the Northumbrian kingdom of Galstead

Princess Deirdre of Gleannmara is ship bound with a king's ransom on board to rescue her brother Prince Cairell from bondage when a Saxon pirate, Alric of Galstead, captures her. Deirdre dons a priest's robe to conceal her royal identity and hides the legendary sword of her ancestor, King Kieran, under it for safety. The rest of the treasure, she and her companions stow in a wine cask, but things go awry and Deirdre is found out to be a princess.

When Alric discovers her royal cloak with the Glenmora brooch among the ransom meant for Cairell with the same symbols on the cloak that his late mother had made for Alric when she prophesized his earthly kingdom would be won by love, he is shaken. Alric's mother was a Scottish slave whom his father Lambert loved dearly, but his political marriage to the wicked queen Ethlinda made their son Ricbert, a conniving serpent if there ever was one, the rightful heir to Galstead.

Raised in a court of bitterness and deceit, it's no wonder that Alric is so distrustful of everyone but his faithful dog Tor, and his aged nursemaid Abina, and the men who seek their fortune with him at sea. Consumed with a burning ambition, the illegitimate prince feels Deirdre might be the key to the birthright his mother spoke of in the prophecy. With the calculated decision to make her his bride to be, his life is turned in a new direction.

Deirdre is a feisty woman who is used to being in control of those around her and has a very sharp tongue that she isn't afraid of using. She knows she will do whatever she has to do to get her brother safely back and she uses Alric's sudden interest in marriage to achieve this end, enlisting his help in the terms of the wedding contract. Of course Alric has a few terms of his own, but the Lord has a master plan in store for this special pair's destiny and his love is the firm foundation.

This is a beautiful and exciting story of how wonderfully the Lord uses the imperfect to bring about his perfect and everlasting love. DEIRDRE is filled with colorful characters, as well as the emotionally stirring story of Deirdre, a devout woman whose faith in word and deed under the direst of circumstances conquers her conqueror, winning his heart and his trust in her God. Heavenly days, DEIRDRE is not to be missed!

This is one series that I made the mistake of not reading in order. Now I'm not saying that this is a bad thing unless you are like me that should be doing homework and not reading fictional books that are not on your school reading list. The book just refers back to the stories of the Maire and Riona and it made me even more eager to read those two books! :) Seriously though, this story was a really beautiful story and a really cool way of seeing how God can make weird circumstances work to His way. So read this book and check my other reviews!

JP Donleavy may well be the most hilarious writer on the planet. Darcy Dancer is a Bildungsroman about the coming of age of a young, educated member of the landed gentry in Ireland. He learns about love first- and second-hand through the auspices of a broad range of tutors including the brilliant Mr. Arland, a stablehand named Foxy, the sublime Miss Von B, the artist Clarissa, school chums, butlers and Rashers Ronald. Kildare wanders from one total fiasco of his own making to the next from the hunt and the stables to the mansions of the gentry and private schools and Dublin high society. He always emerges through chance and pluck and the kindness of others none the worse for wear and perhaps slightly wiser. What are we to make of this dubious young "gentleman"? As Kildare correctly surmises: "Every madman thinks everyone else is mad." Donleavy writes with a unique pointillism, using words as brush strokes, that is engaging, endearing and even breathtaking as each chapter ends on a brief poetic note, a pithy line of stacked type. The dialogue is outrageously real and human and uproarious. The character development is precise and each character lives and breathes with a separate unique identity that only a supremely talented writer can render so credibly. Having read nearly all his novels, Darcy Dancer is his best: it's truly a well-written, literary comedy. Discover JP Donleavy -- possibly one of the most under-rated and gifted writers of our era. You'll laugh your head off.

Darcy Dancer live's among the Irish aristocracy. This seems to be something of an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp as the aristocracy is disorderd, drunk and badly behaved. That said, J.P. Donleavy manages to take havoc and add order, excellent writing and a good plot to a fairly slender novel that had me weeping with laughter throughout. His father chasing him through the house, only to crash through a rotted floor to the waist was perfect and only to be outdone by the fox hunt.

This is one of Donleavy's best. It contains everything you could ask for in a book. A tragic love story, meaningless sex, drunken riots, and plain Irish fun. Darcy Dancer is tragic and hilariously funny at the same time. You never know if you will be laughing or crying at the turn of each page.
Read it.

This was the second Donleavy novel I read back in 1980. Since then I have read all of his novels and biographies. This book is also the reason that i stayed at the Shelbourne Hotel.

Full of gratuitous sex, violence drunken ribaldry, indeed it is almost a training manual for students.

It opens the door to positive thinking and instils in one that when things are really bad, they are not as bad as they are going to get, but never give up.

Learn negotiating skills, if a fist in the gob doesn't work, buy your man a drink.

Sex education, from aristocrats, whores, artists, teachers, plebean masses.

In all an excellent life changing book in which Donleavy displays true comic genius and has caused me hours of laughter.

You know - I've always found it odd that the few, the proud, the wierd, who share my literary tastes have never even heard of J.P. Donleavy. While the Ginger Man will always be hard to beat, Destinies isn't far behind. It takes about ten seconds to become hopelessly addicted to Donleavy's style and about five seconds to fall in love with Darcy Dancer and his adventures. Just a wonderful, wonderful novel from one of the most under-appreciated writers of our time.

I really found the book useful, but I wish it had a method to highlight "must see" things better. I was in Dublin for a very short trip and had difficulty combing through the book to figure out what I should prioritize for my limited time. In retrospect, I wish I had purchased the Ireland guide, rather than Dublin, so it would have been easier for me to pick out the key things to see. On second thought, I might not have had the great, detailed maps if I had done that, so maybe I went the right route!

I've had great experiences with Lonely Planet guides in general, though I also love Let's Go. They don't have as many out there, but I buy the Let's Go version if it's available - better info for people on a budget, and lots of great "off the beaten path" suggestions.

I bought this guide and the Rick Steves book to plan my trip to Dublin. Both were very helpful, but I left Rick's book at home because Lonely Planet has GLBT info in it and has better maps. I used the maps a lot, both to find my way and also to get back on track when I got lost. A lot of the prices for things quoted in the book had gone up, but that's to be expected. I highly recommend both Dublin and this guidebook.

As the other reviewers have said, this is a great guidebook. I used it to plan a three-day visit recently. The hotel I chose was exactly as described, and a good choice. Unlike some guidebooks, it has great maps. There are six detailed colored maps in the back of the book, a map of the Dublin Area Regional Transit trains, and numerous smaller maps inside (e.g., maps of walking tours, of Trinity College, of cathedrals). The book is chock-full of interesting and useful info on all the sights of Dublin. In addition, if you want to do day trips out of Dublin, don't assume you need a different all-Ireland guide - there is a section on "excursions" you can do in a day, and instructions on how to get there (public transport, car, organized tour). I will say that one of the tours I took wasn't quite how it was described, but I should probably take that up with the tour company. A few tips: a) for a breathtaking coastal walk, go to Howth. Malahide, another coastal town, wasn't worth the time for me. b) Glendalough is a beautiful park with two big lakes, and to me was worth more time than the organized tour I chose allotted for it.

My wife and I just got back from Ireland and had a great time, in part because of this book. The guesthouse we stayed in, several of the restaurants we visited, and more than a couple of the sites we saw were drawn from its pages. I'm happy to report that its guidance was uniformly spot on. We tend to enjoy simply being in a place, doing things in a low key way and deciding what to do next as we take our time wandering around. This guide was perfect for that, easy to whip out of a bag over lunch or on a street corner, though I suspect that it would be useful for those who prefer to set down itineraries, too.

For what it's worth, this has been our experience with other Lonely Planet guides as well (including those for Ireland and Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks).

This sweet, compact guide measures only 7" x 3", but packs a wallop in the info department! Went to Dublin last year, and out of 8 city guides I looked at, this was the ONLY one who had info on Bram Stoker (Dracula's author); his house in an historic landmark, and the author also leads you to his beautiful birth residence!

`Elegant Irish Cooking' by culinary scholar, teacher and professional chef, Noel C. Cullen Ed.D, CMC, AAC is a great foodie book; however it may not be the first Irish cookbook you want to get if all you want is a good cookbook with traditional Irish recipes. If that is what you need, go for `Irish Traditional Cooking' by leading Irish cooking school owner, Darina Allen or the much more ethnographic `Celtic Folklore Cooking' by culinary writer and folklorist, JoAnne Asala.

If Irish culinary traditions and cooking are major interests for you, this is an excellent second or third Irish cookbook, depending on whether you are more interested in cooking technique, fine dining and entertaining, or culinary lore. If your primary interest is in technique, get `ballymaloe cooking school cookbook' by school co-owner and Irish TV cooking show host, Darina Allen. Otherwise, go with this one.

Due to the author's dual life as both a chef and an academic, the book offers rewards for both interests. While Cullen is currently a professor in culinary and hospitality skills at Boston College, he trained and worked as a serious high end chef in many Irish and French restaurant kitchens and learned first hand the lessons of cooking to local products, at the same time unlearning his French cooking doctrines while he reached the upper levels of Irish `haute cuisine'.

The book begins with an excellent essay on the history of Irish food, including its high point during the Middle Ages monasteries and its low points during the potato famine. My only disappointment with this chapter is that it does not explain the mystery of why agronomists did not import one or more of the hundreds of other New World potatoes into Ireland when the potato blight affected only that one strain on which Irish livelyhood depended. On the other hand, this essay is very revealing about the curious fact that while Ireland is an Island, like the Greek Islands, there is a lot less seafood eaten than one may expect. Most fishing yields are sold to foreign markets or the Irish simply do not have a great taste for the fruits of the ocean, other than salmon and trout.

The title of the book and the author's background are excellent indicators of what we are given with the recipes in this book. We do not get standard recipes for traditional Irish dishes, although all the most traditional Irish produce such as milk, cream, cheese, apples, pears, potatoes, berries, lamb, pork, and game are well represented. Also represented is the one type of ingredient Ireland shares with another major Island nation Japan. This ingredient is seaweed. In fact, seaweed is historically important in that those who lived near the sea escaped the worst of the potato famine, not because they had fish, but because they had seaweed to eat.

While the book is primarily dedicated to Irish `haute cuisine', there is much here for the average cook. Opening the book at random shows me an excellent opening section in the chapter on `Salads, Dressings, & Cold Sauces' which details many variations on the classic French Vinaigrette. This may not be earthshaking for someone with 20 French cookbooks on their shelves, but for someone who only has room for a few good Irish cookbooks, this is great stuff.

I also find Cullen's plan for presenting a recipe very appealing, where each step is numbered, making it very easy to keep one's place in the procedure. It also means that each step is clearly identified, instead of being buried in a dense paragraph of text. This is especially rewarding in that the same gool schema is applied to all recipes, even those many which were contributed by `guest chefs', major chefs at restaurants and schools in Ireland. This also means that the many recipes which do not have a `guest chef' author are the creations of the book's author.

If by some chance, you have only room for a single Irish cookbook and this one appeals to you, I must say that many traditional dishes do find their way into the book; however, I cannot guarantee that the procedure is the same you would find at home in a private house in Dublin.

I especially recommend this book over `The New Irish Table' by Irish-American culinary journalist, Margaret M. Johnson, which also deals with recipes from Irish cooks, but more from the local pub than from the larger restaurants.

Last but not least, I find this an exceptionally well designed book for the average list price of $35. An excellent addition to any cookbook collection, and most especially to an Irish cookbook collection.

Elegant Irish Cooking is an impressive compendium of 166 classic and progressive recipes in celebration of Irish cuisine and culinary traditions. Relying heavily on indigenous ingredients, these fabulous recipes showcase the techniques, excellence, and variety of Irish dining. From Pan Roasted Quail with Kildare Boxty; Cream of Watercress Soup with Warm Herbal Drop Scones; and Poached Sole Fillets in a Clonmel Cider Sauce; to Warm Salad of Emyvale Duck with Orange and Balsamic Dressing; Roasted Rack of Wicklow Lamb with an Herb Crust and Mint-Butter Sauce; and Moore Street Vegetable Tart, (and enhanced throughout with color photography by Ron Manville), Elegant Irish Cooking will grace any cookbook collection and enhance any family meal or celebratory occasion.

I saw a demonstration he gave using recipes from this book a few weeks ago. The samples provided were outstanding. I went home and made the smoked salmon stuffed chicken breast, and it was a hit with everyone

The recipes in this book are terrific! Anyone looking for an escape from "traditional" Irish cookery books will love these unique and tasty recipes. Well worth the price! Clear, consise directions. Even the beginner cook will be able to make these dishes tonight! (All that being said, some related books I'd like to recommend on generations-old Irish recipes are Irish Heritage Cooking, Irish Traditional Cooking, and Celtic Folklore Cooking.)

The book is beautiful and full of history and depth. The recipes are authentic and delicious. Highly recommended for a beautiful St. Patrick's Day dinner or night of Irish food.

In "Emerald Gems", Larry Lambrecht has been able to capture the feel and distinct nuances of the Irish links. The stunning photographs and accompanying stories provide the reader with an incredible sense of how golf was and is meant to be played and enjoyed. David Owen said, "The thing I like best about golf is the sense of infinite possibility..." Emerald Gems presents a real glimpse at that possibility and is a must read for those fortunate to have visited and played, and those who dream of doing so.

Albert B. Antonez

I have seen Larry Lambrecht's work before in the annual "Emerald Gems" calendar and notecard series. Lambrecht is a world class photographer with a particular specialty in shooting Irish Golf Courses (as well as many others across the globe). Not only does Lambrecht capture a view of a spectacular golf hole through his camera lens, he also has an incredible eye for catching a moment in nature using golf landscape as a backdrop. (see page 18, 98, 114, etc.)

Ireland's "Links" courses are built along the coast, and as such in Emerald Gems, the connection between land and sea is apparent in many of the images.

Emerald Gems sits on a table in our home and is admired by guests and friends for the simple beauty of the Irish Countryside. Be warned though, If you have an affection for the game of golf and have never been to Ireland, the images of Waterville, Old Head and Lahinch alone will have you calling a travel agent. If you don't play golf, and have never seen the coast of Ireland, you may suffer the same impulse.

This book has incredible beautiful photographs of ALL of the great courses in Ireland and a wonderful written talk about each course. The book is big. It will have to go on the coffee table and not in the bookcase, but it is truly beautiful. Very highly recommended.

Emerald Gems is a terrific compilation of golf landscape photographs in a large coffee table type of format (11x12?). Many if not all of the very best courses of Ireland are reviewed.

One key element I'd like to point out up front is this book is very strong about landscape photograhy, but not so about the golf and how to play the game in Ireland. Thus I would say you need to be prepared to just enjoy the pictures for what they are: fantastic and breathtaking landscapes. The golfing is secondary.

Some may think my last comment is crazy, but I think if you take a closer look you will realize the photographs do nothing to prepare the golfer for what to expect golfing wise. Laurence's vantage point for 90% of the photographs consists in seeking the highest dune (usually behind or beside the green) and then frame for the landscape and make sure to include the green. Given this, you simply will not be able to figure out if the hole is a par 3, 4, or even 5. You will also have no idea how it's played. You simply do not get the golfer vantage point from the fairways and bunkers. The only exception to this is on par 3's where you guess the vantage point is from the tee. Unfortunately, the captions to the photos do nothing either to tell you if it's a par 3, 4, or 5. But then again, maybe this is by design because it wouldn't matter. Case in point: page/slide 200 illustrates a wonderful rock outcroping from some cliffs with a tiny green on a shelf. The caption reads "4th at Kilkee". Great landscape picture, but what does it tell you about the hole? Does it matter or help the photograph to even know this?

Instead, it's best to just admire the quality of the photographs. You start to appreciate the framing of the photos, the colors, the foreground and background and how it all works together seemlessly, the elements of wind/sun/clouds/shadows and how they contribute. It makes the golf part of a whole. One thing you will notice is the tremendous ruggedness of the regions and their dunes. This book is broken down into regions like the Scottish Golf Links book, and again here you'll grow to appreciate the differences from region to region. I still keep coming back to the print on page 182 of Royal County Down with a surreal set of colors and an almost mystical background. Just an unbelievable print. Simply beautiful in conveying what the landscape has to offer. I find myself gravating over and over again towards that region of northern Ireland.

The text is fairly simplistic with nice historical notes about the course being reviewed and is at times amusing, but don't look for grand explanations about a given course and it's holes. Granted there are a few highlighted holes here and there, but it's usually to express how difficult they are. Little is imparted on how to approach them. There's also very little if any correlation between the text and the holes being photographed. That aside, I think the best thing the text does is reinforce your desire to go over and visit Ireland for yourself. Some of the charming Irish culture comes through in areas of the text and it makes you want to appreciate the whole package in person.

In the end, I think this is a wonderful effort from Laurence. Beautiful rugged dune landscapes with intriguing surroundings in a perfect format convey the grandeur of Ireland. Tremendous colours and textures breath life into the prints. The regional variety expresses the richness the links have to offer. As for the golf, I think it acts more as a complement to the tremendous scenery being displayed.

This large pictorial covers every major links course in Ireland with beautiful pictures and course commentary by Irish writers and architects.This is by far the best book to help plan an Irish golf trip or to relive a past trip.It is well worth the cost and will be your reference for Ireland's links for years to come

Every now and then you come across a technical or academic book that is clear, concise and just beautifully written. This is such a book. One hundred and fifty years are covered at a cracking pace and I savoured each and every page. It's a large book at 750+ pages, but it left me wishing it had been twice as long.

Most books relating to this period cover who did what, to whom and when. Bartlett doesn't: he assumes if you're reading this book you already know, at least in outline, the events of the period. It does cover how people lived, worked, worshipped, swore, laughed and cried. It makes you feel that you understand what it would have been liked to have lived during the period.

The book is well structured and you can happily dip in here and there as your interest takes you.

One minor criticism is that there are many words and phrases which, it is plain from context, have a particular technical meaning that Bartlett doesn't explain. But with Google to hand that's just a minor irritation.

I just hope the rest of the series is as good.

Bartlett acts as a wonderful guide through the many layers of Medieval life. As he says in the Preface this is an "entry-point of the understanding of processes only slowly unfolding, sometimes across centuries". The book has a very narrow focus in both place and time, yet goes very deep in detail covering all aspects of medieval life. It is a long book that could easily be read in chapters in no particular order, but I read it straight through cover to cover hopeing it would not end for want of Bartletts engaging prose and wealth of fascinating source material. Perhaps the best compliment of all is my desire to want to learn more.

It is an academic book and not always easy with some sections that are fairly boring (economic production figures, calculations of the number of sheep in the country), but overall the balance of interesting material outweighs these sections and makes the effort well worth the veins of gold. Most of all, it is highly trustworthy and authoritative; Bartlett is one in a long line of English historians who endeavored to be readable, arming themselves, as Roger of Wendover (13th C) says, against both "the listless hearer and the fastidious reader" by "presenting something which each may relish," and so providing for the joint "profit and entertainment of all."

Bartlett tries to cover practically every aspect of life during his period, from court politics to village religious life to sexual mores. He does a nice jobe of balancing the general and the specific, reinforcing his general conclusions with interesting anecdotes. Some parts are more tedious than others, depending on your tastes - since he deals with so many issues, some are bound to interest the reader more than others.

Anyone familiar with the Cambridge History collection will be familiar with the format of this book. Essentially Bartlett's work is an expansion of an epoch of English history from, roughly, 1066 to 1200 and covers the reigns of William the Conqueror and the generations of Norman and Angevin kings succeeding him on the throne. Like the Cambridge History series, England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings dissects the period, examining life from nearly every aspect: military events of each reign, relations between king and nobility, king and commoner and king and heirs, social strata, cost of armaments, land holding and land use, cost of living and inflationary trends, law courts, rise of a merchant middle class, growth of cities, etc. The volume is incredibly thorough in its coverage of the period, and its bibliography is impressive. Original documents are described and cited throughout the book, providing the dedicated reader with primary sources with which to follow up his/her interests. It would be an excellent secondary source book for someone doing research on the period. It is however very deep and detailed and takes considerable time to read. Light reading it isn't, even for the history buff, but it is worth doing for anyone interested in this very active, very complex period.

This book is one that I reach for constantly when I need to check something; in addition Bartlett writes in an effortless style that makes him a pleasure to read. He's a master of the primary sources; the only think missing from this book is a good bibliography of secondary, specialized material.