Breeders Books

But I seem to have lost my copy. This really is a good story.

This book was given to my mother by her mother when the book hit the stands. I read it for the first time in 1996. Since then I have read it 3 other times and I am currently starting it again. Even though I have read it so many times and I remember the different ups and downs of the story it is still an awesome book to read in repitition. This is the perfect story in deplicting that no matter what back ground you come from if you want something bad enough and your willing to do what it takes to get there, there is no stopping you. I have to say out of all the novels i have read in my life (quite a few, i love to read anything with termoil) this one remains my favorite and probably always will.

I read this book a long time ago and to this day I remember it as my favorite!! Sure wish he would write another!! I still remember riding in the car, reading with tears flowing down my face. Please read this book, you won't be sorry!

This was the best book I've ever read! It's one of those where you can't put it down and at the end of every chapter you want to keep reading to find out what happens next. This book is excellent for students in highschool or even college. When called upon to write an essay on books, Bred to Win will fit into just about any situation!

I'm sorry, I've read wonderful reviews of this book, and I'm not sure why. I kept reading it just because of the racing/horse subject matter, but the plot was so weak. There was more tragedy than I could keep up with and I was never able to like a character. I think in effort to keep the book dramatic, it just became overblown and exaggerated. I would not recommend it if you like an intelligent plot.

relly nice book ,well written .Lots of informations
It is a must for a breeder in order to do a good job!!!

Every single dedicated breeder should have the knowledge found in this book.
In addition to important information on genetics, it has very interesting information on the evolution of dogs and a great chapter on behavior which even goes into detail on the stages of development in puppies and effects of environment on behavior.
There is excellent information about hereditary problems, genetic disorders, and even mate selection. There is a list at the back of every breed with their hereditary disorders listed and mode of inheritance when known, which should be especially helpful for breeders. There is also breed-specific information on coat colors and alleles- which, by the way, used to look like an exotic foreign language to me and now makes sense!

I had a very simple understanding of Mendelian genetics before I read this (from reading "The Joy of Breeding Your Own Show Dog by Anne Seranne- another great book.) This book made my understanding complete.

Before I read this book I thought that genetics were going to be difficult and boring to learn, but the author does a great job of keeping the subject interesting. The preface mentions that the author had her breeder friend, who was confused and intimidated by genetics, read the manuscript and point out areas that were especially confusing to a beginner or areas that needed clarification, etc. Maybe this is one of the reasons why this book is so effective.

A great, absolute must-have book that I highly recommend!

This book should be required reading for anyone serious about breeding quality dogs. Easy to read with lots of valuable information, but detailed enough for the experienced breeder.

I know the very subject matter of this book is difficult and involved, but unless you are at least slightly well versed in the subject or have a steel trap of a mind and remember everything you ever read, this will be very frustrating!

I was constantly re-reading to try to make sense of it all and trying to memorize the terms & their meanings. Even when I was successful, it was a short-lived accomplishment because the next paragraph introduced something else just as complicated or more often worse.

It isn't a total loss, though. There is some interesting dog/wolf history... even the history of science & genetics was interesting.

I don't think the average dog breeder looking for an introduction to genectics would find this an easy read or get a lot out of this book unless you use it more as a study mannual & had some to help guide you through it.

This one is on my shelf to be re-read at a later date.

I hope you have a better time of it than I did!!!

Dog breeding is an art as well as a science, and this book gives a pretty good explanation as to why this is the case. It gives a thorough overview of what we know of canine genetics, discussing physical traits, genetic conditions, etc, and what we consider our best guesses are for the inheritance patterns of various alleles.

But unless your breed of choice happens to be Weimeraners, you won't find many specifics in this book. If the breed you're interested in has fairly typical canine genes, you'll find more here than if your breed is more obscure. Moreover, the book necessarily goes into Genetics fairly deeply; I've a degree in Biology and I have more genetics background than the average joe, and *I* found the book a little overwhelming. I think it would be heavy reading for most people, especially if they do not have some basic idea of how the mechanics of Genetics work.

It's a good reference, but nothing I'm just dying to read. I got much more out of certain breed-specific books.

I had the honor and privilege of working for some time with Dr. Frankeny as her assistant in Reno. I can say with absolute sincerity that she is the most compassionate, dedicated and knowledgeable veterinarian I've ever worked with (and there have been many). Every word of this wonderful book can be taken as gospel.

This book is excellent for all breeders who work in conjuction with their veterinary surgeons.

This was a good book if you need to know medical info for horses. I wanted an all purpose book on training, fencing, caring for, etc. This is not the book to buy for general information. It did give me a lot of info if I have medical problems with a horse,

As an owner of both Arabian horses and Miniature Horses I decided to buy this Veterinary Guide especialy printed with information on the wellbeing of the miniature horse ,the book was reccomended to me , I have found it very helpful , full of information to all kinds of ailments in the miniatures, covering just about everything you would need to know without the expense, I bought this book to join my other veterinary books and, the information and advice is well worth reading, I'd suggest everybody keeps one , it's not just a reference book it's my miniature horses bible !!!!!!!,

This is a great book! Just what I had hoped for. Buy it - you'll like it! Lots of info for mini owners.

I truly enjoyed this book! Regardless if you show roses or not, this is a very informative book. I don't show my roses but as rose lover I really enjoy looking at "healthy looking roses" and learning so I really had a good time reading this book. Too bad it doesn't have pictures!!!!
It's a very easy and pleasurable reading! It makes me want to see the rose gardens she mention!

It was fun reading about people that I have actually met at some of the conventions.

If you're into roses, you'll read this book with a smile and also with a notepad to record new tricks of the trade.
The personalities of the featured rosarians definitely "come through."
The style, subject matter, and the rosarians are a delight.
This is a must read for any serious rosarian.

A wonderfully written book about a very special group of folks. Reading the book could make a rose lover out of anyone.

The innocent reader who knows nothing of roses will believe that extraordinary measures are necessary to grow them properly. Fortunately, that's completely untrue *unless* one plans to exhibit. The majority of people who love and grow roses have no interest in exhibition--but rather in the beauty of these plants.

The book is entertaining, certainly, but modern hybrid teas interest me not at all, so I was disappointed by Scott's lack of attention to old-garden roses.

A technical reader familiar with roses should have assisted in the production of this book. It is, unfortunately, rife with factual errors. Just an example from memory: Scott discusses 'New Dawn' and claims it was "bred" by a particular nursery. No, it wasn't. The most cursory research would have revealed that 'New Dawn' is a repeat-blooming sport of 'Dr. W. Van Fleet'. A sport is a spontaneous genetic mutation, thus 'New Dawn' arose from 'Dr. W. Van Fleet' and was not itself "bred" (hybridized).

A copy editor would have been useful as well. Somewhere near the beginning of the book Scott refers to someone "pouring over" reading material. Please.

We continue to be completely satisfied with the excellent service we receive through Amazon.com and its affiliates. Everything is sent quickly (usually ahead of the estimated delivery date), cleanly, in excellent condition, and exactly as advertised. Thank all those involved with this process.

Artfully written, factually accurate accounting of racing's most colorful sporting pageant. The in-depth research moves the reader willingly along through a series of mini-stories (chapters) that cumulatively provide a compelling overview of "Thoroughbred Racing's Greatest Day."

This an excellent book for anyone interested in horseracing and especially the Breeders' Cup.

I was lucky enough to spend some time with Lefko in the Press Box at Woodbine in the early 1990s and also while he was writing the first edition of this book in New York in 1995.

He is without a doubt the hardest working reporter I have ever met and it certainly shows in these tales of the great (and not so great) steeds and the people that love them, train them, ride them, live with them and and bet on them - legally and otherwise (Chapter 21 - The Fix Six).

Lefko probably did over 1000 interviews while researching this labor of love and he has woven these interviews together with previously uncovered gems of information to create a superb read.

Angel Cordeo, Franki Dettori, Pat Day, Cigar, Lukas, Arazi, the Paulson's, little known tidbits of horsey history, comments from real racing fans and more make this book one of a kind and a must for any racing fan.

Perry Lefko, Thoroughbred Racing's Greatest Day (Taylor, 2003)

First, be advised: this is not a new book. If you've read Lefko's The Greatest Show on Turf, this is a revised and updated edition to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the first running of the Breeders' Cup. I hadn't read the book the first time around, so I can't compare the two, but take note if you have.

They changed the title, but didn't really make it any clearer: Thoroughbred Racing's Greatest Day is about the Breeders' Cup. Non-fans are more likely to think it has something o do with the Kentucky Derby. Hardcore fans will think any of a hundred days (the Dubai World Cup? Grand National? Melbourne Cup, a national holiday in Australia?), the Breeders' Cup being one of them. The last group are right. Various and sundry stories about specific Breeders' Cup days, specific Breeders' Cup horses or families of horses, owners, trainers, Lefko pretty much covers the gamut of stories here.

It will do the reader well to remember that Perry Lefko is a journalist. He is also unaware that a book-length piece requires a different writing style than a newspaper article. It is best to treat this book as a series of very long newspaper articles; it'll help you get through it quite well. If that were the book's only problem, I'd probably give it an above-average rating and move on. However, the book has a number of errors that it's hard to believe any horse fan would make (most notably, the sporadic misspelling of the names of champion horses, like 1998 Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Escena). While I tried not to let it affect my judgment, Lefko, like most of the rest of the media, is obsessed with the Most Overhyped Event in American History(TM), and in any passage of the book dealing with the 2001 or 2002 Breeders' Cup, there will be far more mention of 9/11 than could possibly be warranted.

Recommended only for already-established racing fans. The rest of you would do far better to start off with something better-written (unfortunately, I'm not familiar with anything focusing specifically on the Breeders' Cup in book form that's better-written); William Murray's The Wrong Horse is a lovely introduction to the world of Thoroughbred racing, as is Bill Barich's classic combination of novel and memoir Laughing in the Hills. ** ½

Thoroughbred racing is a story more complex than simply which horse finished first. In this engaging "behind the scenes" look, the author lifts the veil to reveal an array of characters and events that have shaped the Breeders' Cup. Obviously well-researched, this book provides in-depth portraits of the Breeders' "players". Written in an amiable voice that takes the reader deep into the world of professional horse racing, one gets a clear sense of the monies, time and emotions invested by jockeys and owners alike. Avoiding pondering, pedantic rhetoric, this book is written by and for horse racing aficionados. Each chapter profiles winners, losers and horse whisperers and makes for entertaining reading. If you or someone you know is interested in horse racing, I recommend this book be included on your holiday gift list.

If you're allowed to grow then this is a great way to pick your next crop, but otherwise, if you're like the rest of us, it's a book full of beautiful pictures and dreams.

Good book, not as much as the first one, it has more articules, less pics. But it is very interesting book.

What a great "strain guide" type book! makes my mouth water reading them all. I guess I 'll have to start at the beginning and work my way to the end...tasting all varieties. LOL

Very good read and pretty enough to leave out for guests to read.

BUY NOW!

I loved vol.1 and now vol. 2 WOW. This book really goes in depth about buds. If you thought you learned alot from the first book this one is a must. The symbols make it very easy to understand. The information is great and I really love the photography. This book is perfect for any coffee table. All around this book looks great and is very easy to read.

I loved the first Big Book of Buds so I was surprised that there could be even more marijuana varieties to learn about and sample. The book includes some new breeders as well as many of the seed companies that have been refining marijuana for decades. With its bright colors and close-up bud photography this book is truly eye candy.

I found it difficult to get into this book....too slow for my taste.
This was my fourth book by this author, and my least favorite.
Try "Neverland" or "You come when I call you"

Breeder is the first book by Douglas Clegg that I have read and Clegg certainly lived up to his status as one of the best horror authors out there. The story reminds you a bit of Rosemary's Baby meets It's Alive but the character development is strong and the work stands on it's own merit. It took a while for this story to get really scary but once it does, it doesn't slow down until the end. There are some descriptions of violence in this book that are really disturbing and graphic but that's all part of the "horror" in my book. Just be prepared when the hammer comes into play. Overall, a good, quick, read. I'll continue to check out other works by Mr. Clegg

This was a messed up little story! Interesting characters with real conflicts, people trying to find themselves... and of course
cannibalism, nasty ghosts, and even a demon fetus! A very fast read with plenty of scares and violent happenings. HOUNFOUR...

BREEDER was the first Douglas Clegg novel I ever picked up and after reading some of his other (more recent) books I thought I'd drop in a few lines.
I must say however that, after BREEDER, mister Clegg seems to have gone a little downhill. His later novels like YOU COME WHEN I CALL YOU and HALLOWE'EN MAN were interesting, but a little bit to intellectual and literary for my tastes. That's why I think his second book BREEDER is (still) his best.

BREEDER is about this young couple who move into their new Washington home and, with a baby on the way, start looking towards a happy future. There is none however when all kinds of 'skeletons' start popping up, and with frightening results.
There's this really frightening baglady cowering through the neighbourhood, their landlady isn't all she says to be and soon the couple are involved with the resurrection of a powerful, and evil voodoo priest (but then again, aren't all voodoo priests evil?).
Without giving too much of the plot away I can say there's chills and twists aplenty here and I must warn the weak of stomach since there are some pretty disturbing scenes involving foetusses and childmurder.

I remember reading FANGORIA in the early nineties and at the time they were making Clegg out to be a big promise for the future. Giving his popularity he certainly has made good on that, I just think it's a pity he strayed away from the writing style that made books like BREEDER such winners.

This is the first novel by Douglas Clegg that I have read, and it's, well, great. It's about a young couple fresh out of law school who move into an old townhouse in the D.C. suburbs. They slowly discover that the house has an evil past, and that their downstairs tenant is not who she seems to be. Lots of gore, like most good horror novels, after all, what could be more horrifying than a man driven so far into madness that he bashes himself to death with a hammer? But it also has a lot of really non-gory scares, too, for instance, the children in the park. Read it if you're a horror novel buff. It's much better than I expected.

It was the classics of Marxism that revealed those errors and pointed them out."

These words were written by one of the great scientific quacks of the 20th-century, Trofim Lysenko. Much has been written about Lysenko, whose elevation to the status of hero of Soviet Science by Stalin and his enablers did more to ruin the development of Soviet agriculture. In fact, the hundreds of hundreds of millions of dollars of hard currency that eventually were used to purchase foreign-sourced grain no doubt contributed to the eventual collapse of the USSR.

Not a lot has been written about the man Lysenko replaced, Nikolai Vavilov. Peter Pringle, a journalist and author of Food, Inc.: Mendel to Monsanto--The Promises and Perils of the Biotech Harvest, has filled in this gap and given us a compelling biography of a man of science whose efforts in the field of plant genetics and agronomy could have, if left unimpeded, turned the USSR into one of the world's breadbaskets. The story of Nikolai Vavilov and his family is a compelling one. Pringle has done a very good job of research into Soviet archives and has uncovered a wealth of information about Vavilov's life and career.

The only quibble I have with the story is the fact that I think the book's title is a bit misleading. This is not a tale of murder even though Vavilov died in the Gulag. The imprisonment and eventual death of Vavilov is really nothing more than an inevitable coda to the story that preceded it. This is more a tale of the critical role of science in society and the disastrous consequences that can ensure when political ideology overwhelms the scientific method. Stalin's USSR was not the first regime to try to bend or pervert science to its will and one need look no further than the fights over creationism and intelligent design to see that the war on science is far from over.

Despite that quibble, Peter Pringle's "The Murder of Vavilov" combines intelligent writing and thorough research and the result is a book that has significance not only for those looking back at the past but for those who believe that nothing ever good comes when you let ideology pervert or destroy your science. L. Fleisig

Science is a wonderfully self-checking system. If science has data and explanations, it does not matter what governments think, or religions, or even a majority of people. Science isn't out to please partisans or appease dictators; when governments have insisted that science support particular explanations, the result has not been good for science or for government. The supreme example of this was Josef Stalin's support, on political principle, of the self-taught botanical quack named Trofim Lysenko. The disgrace of the Lysenko affair is well known; less well known is Lysenko's scientific rival, Nikolai Vavilov, whom Stalin and Lysenko arranged to be arrested and purged, and whose ideas were scrubbed from Soviet science until rationality resumed. Just what science and the Soviet Union and the world lost is told in the fascinating _The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov: The Story of Stalin's Persecution of One of the Great Scientists of the Twentieth Century_ (Simon & Schuster) by Peter Pringle, a British journalist and longtime Russia watcher. The story is a human one, however, and deeply tragic; Pringle has produced a clear and sympathetic biography of Vavilov, while also summarizing some complicated history and science.

Stalin didn't like genetics, preferring older ideas of inheritance which would support how one generation could suffer but bring forth a stronger generation, bourgeois could produce Bolshevik. Nikolai Vavilov was born in Moscow in 1887, and went on to study in Cambridge where he got a strong education in the newly-rediscovered ideas of Mendel. From 1916 to 1933 he made expeditions to five continents, hunting up lost specimens and seeds. There was danger, natural and man-made, in such exploits, but he was an inspiring figure, a sort of Indiana Jones, delighting in the work and full of infectious enthusiasm. He had Lenin's support, but Lenin died in 1924. Stalin preferred the "barefoot scientist" Lysenko, who was an uneducated peasant with the knack for self-salesmanship, and promises that he could "educate" wheat to make an Eden of Russia's wastelands. Stalin was impressed, and eventually Lysenko was in charge of Vavilov and all of Vavilov's research facilities. Lysenko denounced Vavilov as a purveyor of Mendelism, and under the cover of the start of WWII, Stalin's secret police made their arrest; Vavilov had international contacts and there would have been an uproar during peacetime. He died three years after his arrest, of malnutrition; he had tried to harness real science against famine, and starvation got him in the end. It was a tragic end, a terrible waste of an extraordinary mind.

After Stalin's death in 1953, Lysenko managed to gain power under Khrushchev, but after Khrushchev was ousted, Lysenko's skills in self-promotion failed, as science simply passed him by. His damage, however, to the academic discipline of genetics was to wound science in the Soviet Union for decades, and since his own theories were nonsense, they contributed nothing to the improvement of Soviet agriculture. The persecution of Vavilov and his theories might be said to have contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union, because the Communists wound up importing grain and other farm products even from the capitalists in the U.S. Vavilov got posthumous recognition, and is highly esteemed in his homeland, with his seed bank being a priceless resource that is even more valuable than in his day because of loss of plant diversity. Pringle tells this great, sad story with clarity and passion. He never explicitly makes the connection to our own times or society, but even now funding for education and research on topics of sexuality, global warming, or evolution are tied to what is politically correct. Science doesn't have all the answers, but it has answers, and we let political or religious whims overrun them at our peril.

This book is written as if it is just a murder story and it can be read almost as a summer beach book for it's entertainment value. But, it is really one of the most important and clearest history lessons of the 20th Century. Briefly, it tells the story of a man who literally devoted his entire life to the goal of trying to save the millions of his fellow citizens who were starving as a result of the Stalin's collectivization of farms and the enormous crop failures that followed. A man who was personally picked by Stalin because of his devotion to Russia and his fellowman to save the Russian economy and to lead Russia to scientific glory by developing new crops. Unfortunately for Nikolai, he was educated as a scientist, and he understood the nature of Mendelian Inheritance and thus the importance of collecting variant plants and cross-breeding them as was being done in Europe and the USA to create higher yield crops. Nikolai, in spite of his support from Stalin; having a massive number of institute scientists devoted to the task; and his personal devotion to the scientific work could promise only to accomplish his goals in 7-14 years. This allowed T.D. Lysenko, an anti-intellectual, self-promoting snake oil salesman, who promised he could produce far superior crops in just one year to gain Stalin's support. Here comes the history lesson. At T.D. Lysenko's urging scientists who `believed in' Mendelian genetics were declared political enemies by Stalin and sent to the gulag prisons in mass. The `teaching' of Mendelian Genetics as well as the practice of cross breeding to produce new stains of crops was outlawed. Yes, even textbooks and journals from the West were censored or banned outright. The politicians had decided that the science of genetics was heretical. (Can anyone spot the connection to that time in history and the current attempts to politically force evolution out of the classroom or failing that to force the teaching of creationism in or at least to force the newest 'anti-intellectual idea' called intelligent design upon students in the USA?) Well, it doesn't take much knowledge of the Russia of this 21st Century to realize that they have still not recovered from the politically motivated control of science that ended well over 50 years ago. Thirty years of bad education destroyed so many generations of potential scientists that the Russian academics still have not caught up to the West in crop production. They were essentially totally left out of the "Century of Genetics" that ended with the human genome project. This is clearly much more than just a murder story. Yes, Nikolai was sent to prison where he was tortured and starved to death within blocks of his wife and family who had no idea where he was. The reason that I give the book only a B plus is because the really good murder story is told very well but the extremely valuable history lesson was only a subplot. I would suggest that one read "The Rise and Fall of T.D. Lysenko" as a companion book to this one for the full picture.The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov: The Story of Stalin's Persecution of One of the Great Scientists of the Twentieth Century

Nikolai Vavilov was born in 1887, son of a prominent Moscow merchant. He was educated as a plant breeder, using the recently re-discovered work of Gregory Mendel about how inherited traits were passed from generation to generation - elevating plant breeding to the status of a science. By combining plants with desirable qualities, plant breeders could create superior seeds - seeds that were more resistant to disease, produced higher yields, consumed less water, and required shorter growing seasons.

In order to do his work, Vavilov believed he needed easy access to a wide variety of seeds. He devoted his life to creating a seed bank, personally going on expeditions all over the world. In the process, he earned the reputation of being a tireless worker, brilliant organizer, and superb scientist. At a young age, he became the head of a major agency in Moscow, dedicated to improving and overhauling Russian agriculture. Then along came Stalin.

Like many other accomplished citizens from Russia, Vavilov became a victim of one of Stalin's purges. He came from a wealthy family, was not a communist, and was friendly with some of Stalin's enemies. He was arrested in 1940, charged with serious crimes that were fabricated; then was tortured, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death by firing squad. Later, his sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison, but his jailors starved him to death in 1943. This book flows like a novel and documents his story and that of his nemesis, Lysenko, who captured Stalin's fancy but ruined Russian agriculture for a whole generation.

Vavilov spent his whole life experimenting with seeds. His innovations brought about huge strides in knowledge that could, at least theoretically, eliminate world hunger. In reading this account, I was struck with the serendipity factor that causes one scientist to be remembered over another. The young Charles Darwin was captivated by the way species changed over time. Newton dealt with gravity, planetary motion, physics, and calculus. Einstein's theories refined and modified Newton's work. Maxwell discovered electromagnetic fields and documented them mathematically. Madame Curie made significant discoveries about radiation. Bohr and Schrodinger developed quantum theory. Each of these scientists has attracted biographers. The story in this book suggests they probably didn't work any harder or more intelligently than Vavilov, yet they are all much better known. What they (perhaps accidentally) spent their lives studying, for whatever reason, was deemed more worthy of renown than the science of improving agriculture through genetics. Also to his credit, Vavilov appears to have had more positive attributes and fewer of the negatives than most, if not all, of the above. This is a guy you would like to be around.

Anyway, "The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov" is a fascinating read about a remarkable man who stood out as one of the best scientists of his generation - highly recommended.

Until Peter Pringle's brilliant new book, only a few specialists in the west knew anything about Nikolai Vavilov. Yet every visit to every grocery store, to every farm market, to every harvested plant and animal in the world owed a huge debt to a person who, ironically enough, was starved to death by Stalin in 1943. Pringle uses his own vast experience as a correspondent in Russia to gain access to many of the people who knew about, or worked with Vavilov. He also was given access to a vast collection of personal correspondence and photographs that flesh out the characters involved. The work is written in rich, detailed and at times emotional prose. This book will be enjoyed by anyone who wonders how politics can influence science, scientists, science policy and the rest of us as the consumers of science. The book is about the past but - unfortunately - the content is very relevant to today.

This makes an excellent coffee table book, but also a good read to curl up on the couch to and smoke a joint with.

What makes the narrative so intriguing however, is that author and breeder SubCool mentions outright that he is not a drinker nor drug user, he simply smokes marijuana because it enhances his life.

This book is not only great for its aesthetic and informative values, but also as a book on the admiration for the botany of the plant while adding an air of legitimacy to the marijuana activist movement.

a long awaited story told from one of the best cannabis breeder/growers in the industry today , Subcool , this is NOT a how to book , but an insight to the journey , sub takes us all with him on his lifelong search for DANK , throughout the book you will also take notice subcool is one of the most accomplished cannabis photographers in the industry as well , mouthwatering photos , a lifetime journey shared , info and tales you will not find anywhere but else , an all around MUST HAVE book , NO cannaseur should be without , if you're not reading DANK ..... you're reading shwag !!

A really nice book. Great pictures and concept. Enjoyable and informative. SUBCOOL is the MAN!

I thought this book would be similar to Soma's or Dj. Shorts books, in that, it would be full of cool tips and master breeder insight. Instead, it felt like an infomercial. I was a bit put off that it was another strain guide style book. That would normally be fine with me, but he only talks about how great his strains and genetics are. There are no tips on growing, selection, or anything. Just totally subjective reporting on tga's strains or their relatives. Oh, and he does mention a few strains other strains, but just to mention how bland they are compared to his. Trainwreck is ditch weed compared to his magical jack the ripper, by the way. I would only get this book if you want to become more familiar with tga's genetics and want to find out more about them, or you like pretty pictures. If you want an informative breeder written book on growing organically or breeding, get Dj Shorts book or Soma's.

This book, for me, is a new departure in the field of cannabis publishing. There are plenty of sub-genres in this field, but most of the literature tends to be 'How to grow great pot' guide books (for example Soma, Mel Frank, Greg Green etc) of varying qualities. There are wonderful travelogue and ethnobotanical photo studies (probably the best being the Lawrence Cherniak 'Great Books of Cannabis' series), but this book is something different.
Subcool is a breeder whose reputation has been growing quickly over the last few years and whose strains are notable for their fruity flavours and potency. As is apparent from this book, he is also a very talented plant photographer who is extremely enthusiastic about what he does.
The book itself is a lavishly-presented, glossy coffee table-type production that will let you gain fascinating insights into what Subcool looks for in a breeding plant, and it amounts to a historical record of his strains and his development as a breeder.
If you are looking for a straightforward 'how to do it' book, look elsewhere, as another reviewer here has suggested. This book has more to do with the work of Ferran Adria, or Heston Blumenthal (two of the world's greatest chefs) in their books on the evolution of their recipes, full of musings and useful details.
Do I have any quibbles about this book? Just one - for a book that is so well-produced (the layout is excellent, the photos exceptional, the content so interesting), it is let down by the spelling and grammatical errors that appear all too frequently, and I can only conclude that the copy editor/proof reader should be shot. This might seem to be nit-picking, but given the skill and effort that has gone into producing this book, it seems a shame to have not paid sufficient attention to this aspect although it does not detract from the value of the book.
I think this book will appeal to people who have an interest in cannabis, cannabis breeding and photography, whatever their motivation. Sure, you might see it as a series of glossy advertisements for his seeds, but suspend your cynicism and enjoy the art.

I love Diana Palmer, because her old books hooked me. Now it seems she makes mistakes about the rich rancher Mack Killain, asking a underpaid school teacher Natalie Brock if she is slumming,(pg120 he calls her a penniless two-timing orphan) when she comes to his ranch. She is the only one
Mack had few friends who could pronounce Mckinsey Donald Killain, I don't understand what is so hard about pronouncing that name.
Mack had an accident that blinded him when he was gored by a bull.
On page 9 Natalie is living with her aunt Mrs. Barnes when Mack is hurt, on page 98 she is living at an orphanage. Neither likes her tending to Mack.
Natalie lived with her aunt in a one bedroom home on the outskirts of Mack's ranch. Where she slept when her aunt was alive is a mystery.
But Mack takes her to bedroom in her aunt's house. (the one with only one bed room pg 27) pg 171 Afterward there was a mad dash out the door-done leisurely to accommodate Natalie's still slow pace. ???
I still say Ms Palmer wrote better books before she went to college to learn to write.
Anyway I will continue to read her books so I guess I need to quit belly-aching.

I have read Diana Palmer books for about 12 years and even collect them. Overall I like her books b/c I'm familar with her storyline formula, it makes for a comfortable reading experience.
The Wedding In White is one that I like to read again periodically. In fact I reread it just a couple days ago! Her books normally focus on a very young, timid virgin and a much older man (12-15 year age difference in most cases) and the man is almost always verbally cruel to the lady. But this book is a little different. There is only a six year age difference between Natalie and Mack (22 vs. 28 - same decade YEAH!). Natalie is a strong female who knows how to stand her ground with Mack and shows him that he doesn't scare her. His meanness is mostly based on a lie he was told. Of course, he should still know Natalie well enough to see the truth but he is also fighting his feelings for her which makes it easier for him to just push her away. When something terrible happens Mack realizes what his life would be like without Natalie and his heartache makes you forgive him for his cruelty.
For me Diana Palmer books are very similar to each other in plot/style but when you think about it many romance authors have a particular style used in their writings. Some of her more recent books have been a little disappointing to me (for instance Outlaw and Boss Man) but I like this one b/c it is very down to earth without all the "hokeyness". By the end you realize that Natalie and Mack are really made for each other and their love is very strong.

This is the best book. She's sweet and innocent but still has fire. He's rough and tough but still gentle and loving. If you like Diana's books this is a treat.

Description from the back of book:

Sweet, gentle schoolteacher Natalie Brock's life changed forever when handsome rancher Mack Killian branded her with his masterful kisses and gave her a tantalizing taste of true passion. Ever since that first sensual awakening, Natalie knew Mack was the only man for her. Trouble was, the rough-edged loner had sworn off marriage - especially to an innocent rose like her - and told her so on more than one occasion. But Natalie wasn't giving up. For Mack had taught her the best was worth fighting for ... and Natalie would not settle for anything less than all his love!

* This was my first Diana Palmer book & I really enjoyed it. This book will hook you right from the start. It gave me many laughs & a few tears along the way. I did find some of the phrase & expressions to be very repetitive. She used some of the sayings over & over again. That's my only real complaint. I would certainly recommend this book.