New Jersey Books

I read this book and found it to not only be interesting as a fiction novel, but in fact, it was non-fiction! Mr. Marrin was able to write about New Jersey during the time of our fore-fathers and he did so in a way to captivate the reader all the while telling a true story about New Jersey and being able to teach of us New Jersey's marvelous history. As many of us well know, history can be quite boring but Mr. Marrin's writing style had me enveloped in New Jersey history from the get-go. Having moved here from California and not knowing much about Jersey, I happened along this book and what a find! I would highly recommend it for its informative yet imaginative recapture of the historic New Jersey past. It was very envigorating to me and made me want to find more information to learn more about New Jersey and our forefathers of the colonial, revolutionary times! I can't believe this book is out of print. I am disappointed as I wanted to buy some for my daughter who is a teacher. Please print more!!!

This book covers the production of fine jewelry in the Newark, NJ area. A good variety of pieces are beautifully photographed. More importantly, the various US makers are indentified and discussed. A work of this type is essential before all record is lost of the unique contribution of these very fine and, until now, overlooked jewelers. The book is a revelation. Highly recommended. There is alot more to American jewelry than Tiffany's. Explore this unique heritage most of us didn't even know we had.

The work of educator James B. Kirk II (which was posthumously completed by his son, writer and poet James B. Kirk III) , Golden Light: The 1878 Diary Of Captain Thomas Rose Lake reproduces the leather-bound diary of a 19th century sloop captain shortly before his death at age twenty-two from tuberculosis. Extensive annotations enhance the humble and simple entries, in this engaging slice of nineteenth-century marine life. Providing a vividly presented "window-in-time" through the mechanism of a personal memoir, Golden Light will be of considerable interest to students of 19th century Maritime History Studies.

I'm sorry that this book is no longer available, because I think every member of my family should have a copy of this book and anyone else who wants to know the history of Gouldtown. Whether those of us who are connected by blood agraee or not, we should be eternally grateful for its existence as it gives us a stepping stone from which to do further research
Bonita Evans

I love hands-on projects for children, and this activity book is full of them, workable for a range of ages. From creating your own restaurant based on foods grown and served in Jersey restaurants to calculating cross-city mileage and designing your own town, the ideas can work on a weekend car-trip or as a year-long classroom project. Fun!

Pastor Richards was a person I would have liked to have known on a personal basis. Truly one of Gods blessed workers that let Jesus always be shown in all that he did. Bill

It gives everything that you need, including indication of one way road. toll plaza and even the ramp of the highways. Very good

What a wonderful book! What the men of WW II or any war for that matter faced!. this book gives GREAT detail! IT is based around Richard Lewis' experience as an Airforce man that gets shot down and travels his way through the underground with help from the people and finally gets caught and gets taken to one of Hitler's camps and tells of his fear and what psychological games were played with them- from wearing old bloody airforceman uniforms- to no heat or blasting them with it! THe details are wonderful in this book.. you can invision each and every phase this brave man - along with many others faced and lived to tell about it and share with his family and the rest of the world! Definitley recommend it!

This is a fun and interesting book I'm using in my ESOL class to teach American history. My students are mostly from China, Korea, and Japan so graphic novels are even more familiar to them than they are to many Americans. This format allows them to read about events in American History with less text to decipher and photographs to portray how people dressed in certain time periods. The events are more understanable to them and they can access more information about a subject. The Hindenburg Disaster is great because disasters are always intruiging and draws readers into famous events. This story is interesting to them.

While Thomas Edison was a product of the 19th Century and patented his incandescent light bulb in 1879, he lived until 1931 and worked on inventing and industry until very near the end. He befriended icons of 20th Century such as Henry Ford and his reputation glowed in the popular culture of my youth in the 1960s. While his presence in the popular culture has faded somewhat, his reputation and what he contributed to our modern way of life should remain. This fine book presents a couple of hundred pictures taken from the archives of the Edison National Historic Site. The book is in seven sections:

The Early Years (1847-1875)
Menlo Park Laboratory (1876-1882)
West Orange Laboratory (1887-1931)
The Phonograph and Motion Pictures (1886-1930)
Edison in World War I (1914-1918)
Family and Friends (1871-1931)
Fame and Legacy

We see Edison from his youth through his funeral. We see him in his labs with his fellow insomniacs and many of his projects. You know about the light bulb, phonograph, and his work in movies. Did you know about the process he developed to crush rock containing low amounts of iron ore and pulled it out using magnetism? What about his attempts to build low cost, good looking, and sturdy concrete homes?

Not everything Edison attempted was a success. The talking doll he made that used a miniature phonograph was too fragile for practical use and had to be recalled, as did his type E batteries. Nor did he optimize his return from every invention (he was granted more than 1,000 patents). In fact, he lost some battles. For example, he wanted to power the world with direct current, but for many reasons alternating current became the standard we use today.

The book also shows us his family life. His first wife, Mary, died young and they had two sons and a daughter together. He married Mina and they were together the rest of his life. They also had three children.

All of the pictures are fascinating, but I love the cubic foot of copper on page 40. The copper industry wanted to thank the man who had done so much to create demand for electric wires, motors, and so forth. They asked him what gift he would enjoy and he asked for a cubic foot of solid copper. Edison knew how difficult that would be to cast and it took them eleven tries before they got it right and gave it to him on October 13, 1911.

The captions are terrific, as are the helpful section introductions. These were written Leonard DeGraaf who is an archivist at the Edison National Historic Site. This is a very well done book and will help its readers to become more familiar with the very important Thomas Alva Edison. Well done!

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI