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- Book Description
- Good source of Genealogical info for me.
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Benjamin Cason Rawlings: First Virginia Volunteer for the South (Army of Northern Virginia Series, 5th V)
Benjamin Cason Rawlings , and
Byrd B. Tribble
Manufacturer: Stan Clark Military Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0935523472 |
Customer Reviews:
Book Description.......2001-02-07
Benjamin Cason Rawlings was fifteen years old in December 1860, when he learned of South Carolina's secession. Certain that war was imminent and desperately eager to prove his mettle in battle, he impulsively left his home in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and traveled to Charleston, walking a good part of the way. His presence in Charleston as the first Virginia volunteer for the South attracted the attention of prominent citizens who, in an effort to edge Virginia toward secession, publicized his deeds in South Carolina and Virginia newspapers. After the surrender of Fort Sumter, Rawlings returned home a hero and joined Company D of the Thirtieth Virginia Infantry Regiment. His experiences during the rest of the war were at times heroic, comic, pathetic, and outrageously foolhardy. Rawlings saw the war begin at Fort Sumter and was one of but a few men in the Army of Northern Virginia who also were present at Appomattox. Those moments of fame which came to Rawlings in Charleston remained with him throughout his life. His Virginia contemporaries always ascribed to his persona the mystique of his journey to Charleston and his dash and daring throughout the Civil War. He was forever clothed in the "glories and garments of war." Ben Rawlings' story is based on his Reminiscences, family scrapbooks, letters, and other documents which comprise Rawlings Family Papers.
Good source of Genealogical info for me........1997-01-24
Story of my great-grandmother's uncle, Benjamin Cason Rawlings
Average customer rating:
- I could have started a review of this book in several ways:
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Smithsonian Institution Secretary, Charles Doolittle Walcott
Ellis Leon Yochelson
Manufacturer: Kent State University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0873386809 |
Customer Reviews:
I could have started a review of this book in several ways:.......2001-09-23
Monumental
(In the sense that Walcott's eternal busy-ness is a monument to human endeavour and achievement. And it's a loooong book.)
A necessary first biography
(In the sense that it sets out the chronology of a life, but in no way sufficiently addresses any one of Walcott's multiplicity of interests. This biography is data for other biographers, historians and historians of science to use for reference.)
Unfulfilling
(In the sense that a casual fan of the Burgess Shale fossils will be unsatisfied with respect to the explication of their significance to science, and to the history of science.)
Tearful
(In the sense of having read 1022 pages [including the first volume of Walcott's early years] of what is essentially a daily diary, and knowing that those diary entries would ultimately cease with his death. The day-by-day, season-by-season chronology develops a rhythm and momentum--a stateliness--into which the reader finds himself or herself drawn. Speaking for myself, I was unprepared for any of it to end. [Thank you, Dr Y!])
Readers need to be patient with Yochelson. He explicitly discusses his approach (page 435) in this first full biography of a truly huge life-Yochelson felt compelled to choose between chronology and theme. He opted for the (thankless, lifeless) former. Some readers will find this approach to be unsatisfactory.
Having now read both volumes I feel replete, as well as depleted. I have two wishes:
1. That others (not excluding Ellis Yochelson himself) will take up the themes of Walcott's interests (geology, paleontology, conservation, forestry, photography, aviation, business, art) and treat each of them in a dedicated way.
2. That the Smithsonian takes steps to return to the Dominion of Canada all of its fossil collections made by Charles Doolittle Walcott. (Yep, that's my wish.) (disclosure: I am a US citizen and taxpayer)
(apologies for length)
Amazon.com
How many of our faults are in our genetic stars, and how many in ourselves? Human geneticist Dean Hamer, whose research team found the popularly termed "gay gene," surveys what is currently known about the inheritance of human behavior and personality. Hamer and science writer Peter Copeland take a calm, broad-minded look at hot-button topics such as sex, drugs (especially tobacco and alcohol), and violence, as well as anxiety, intelligence, and eating habits. Their conclusions are solidly on the side of both nature and nurture: "A DNA map offers possibilities and predictions but not certainty.... Free will is alive and well, and probably genetic."
Book Description
No two people behave exactly the same. There are overeaters and undereaters, alcoholics and teetotalers, over--and underachievers. We have adventurers and armchair travelers, Don Juans and wallflowers, the timid and the bold-and every possible mixture and variation. Living With Our Genes argues that genes are the single most important factor in the wondrous variability of human behavior. In the past, studies of twins supported the assumption that inheritance plays a major role in why we feel or behave the way we do. Now, scientists are developing an impressive arsenal of research to identify the individual genes that guide human behavior.
Living With Our Genes will help readers understand their particular genetic make-up and decipher the mysteries of genetically inherited behavioral traits. Chapters are organized by various traits or characteristics so that readers can quickly turn to the issues most pressing in their lives, whether it's body weight or moodiness. Timid folks will investigate the molecular role in shyness. The flirtatious will turn to the chapter on sex. Am I angry because my dad is angry? What is it about my personality that prevents me from getting along with my coworkers? Hamer decodes the genetics of each trait, based on the very latest scientific findings, and then shows how the genes express themselves in real people.
In the tradition of Listening to Prozac, this is an anecdote-filled book that attempts to explain how we arrive at the idea of self in an ever-changing scientific landscape.
Customer Reviews:
This is a brilliant book.......2004-12-05
It's a little dated. For instance, they thought that there would be approximately 100,000 genes in the human genome when there actually turned out to only be 40,000. It's hard to say enough good things about this book, but the most important good points are:
1. An extremely light, easy and engaging read. I finished the whole thing in 1 day.
2. There is some much needed discussion of heritability, something that is very commonly misunderstood popularly.
3. A very cogent explanation of why genetic determinism is not sufficient to explain behavior.
4. Separation of the concepts of "correlation" and "causation." This is something that "everybody knows" are two separate things, but this author actually went into the details with his illustration of the "Chopstick Gene" that is found in Asian people. He also talks about what it means when you have two populations with fairly similar averages, which is: There will be plenty of overlap between the populations, especially if the "spread" is sufficiently high.
5. His handling of the genetic origins of intelligence are very sensitive and balanced, as well as his discussion of what IQ tests measure.
6. The experimental detail in this book is not overwhelming. It's just enough so that you'll get a sense of what is being discussed (if you're a dabbler in Biological Science).
7. Several very thorough discussions of genes as a basis for behavior. Homosexuality, impulse taking, etc.
Why oh why oh why do you do me this way.......2003-03-28
Dean Hamer, while working in his laboratory at the National Institute of Health, made headlines around the world when he discovered a genetic link to male homosexuality. From such notoriety comes this book, the essence of which is that ones behavior is much more a function of nature/genetics than it is of nurture or whether mother's dominance warped you for life.
Hamer goes through the effects of your genetics as it relates to your personality; your propensity to seek thrills; your tendencies toward aggression, anger and violence; your capacity for addiction; your needs in regard to sex and love; your body weight and eating habits; your rate of aging; and your emotional temperament. And, guess what? The odds are about 70% genetic and 30% upbringing and character as to how you'll turn out as an adult.
This book doesn't try to mystify the reader and is, in fact, easy to read. Hamer weaves in the stories of individuals in order to keep the reader glued to each individual's saga. The sine qua non comes with the twin studies. They've multiplied over the years and today offer an abundant body of proof in support of Hamer's assertions. The factual evidence is overwhelming in favor of genetics as the deciding factor in behavior. Read it and you will see.
This book was published in 1998 which makes it quite old in the rapidly moving world of genetic research. Let me give you an example of what has happened in the interim. Not only have genes for fear and confidence been revealed, but a gene or constellation of genes has been posited for one's proclivity for belief in a higher order being, God. The Darwinian selection for such a trait comes from man's need to organize and work together in groups, in arduous circumstances, over long periods of time. Wow? I knew that profound unshakeable belief had to be genetic after talking to so many "true believer" anti-war protestors. The whole concept gives a new slant to Eric Hoffer's classic, "the True Believer".
I've written often about man's seeming infinite capacity for self deception, but now I have, presto, a genetic component where none was available prior. The other half of this juxtaposition is man's inexhaustible need to feel morally virtuous, a way of puffing one's self-importance or so it seems from here.
After you read this book, and if you've never read much on the genetic influences on your behavior, you might see yourself and many of your friends in a completely different light. I really enjoyed the experience of reading what Hamer has to say, and I believe you will too.
groundbreaking.......2002-01-05
excellent evidence presented to support view of genetic role in predisposed personality development. includes how our genes might influence sex, addiction, hunger, disease, novelty-seeking, etc. conclusion on altering genetic tempermant is incredibly stimulating on the topic of bioethics.
Outstanding synopsis of our biological roots.......2001-03-02
The refutation of Dean Hamer's finding the gene for homosexuality mustn't deter readers from this important work. Ever since E.O. Wilson's Sociobiology, the biological role of behaviour is being earnestly scrutinized. Calamity howlers may regret that the concept of "free will" isn't as absolute as they might like, but there is clearly some link between our chemistry and our actions. Hamer and Copeland have brought together a summary of the most recent research in this field.
Selecting a group of major behaviour areas, they relate how studies have shown correlations between genetics and personality. The focus is on comparative and correlated actions in twins. With increasing numbers of studies of twin behaviour in different environments being conducted around the world, the presentation is more than a little convincing. Most significantly, this book confronts us with questions that must be addressed. Hamer and Copeland don't attempt to claim that this book provides any final answers to the relationship of genes with our habits. They do ask us to review our thinking about the issue. It's vital work in the effort to find out who we are.
Hamer and Copeland remind us that we're biological creatures, not minds being carried around by bodies. For decades zoologists described animal activity as "instincts, secure in the belief that animals could be trained, but not taught. Genetic research has shown this outlook is misleading. Living With Our Genes is the flip side of that view in showing human activity has strong biological roots. They accomplish this without adopting the absolutist view exhibited by earlier researchers.
Going beyond simple statistics of behaviour patterns, they delve into the findings of geneticists who've identified specific gene expressions in the body. That our cells produce numerous chemical compounds is old news. A wide spectrum of pharmaceuticals is available to counteract or enhance a number of these chemical signals. What is only now coming to light, as Hamer and Copeland point out, is how these compounds work on the body and why.
In their chapter on worry they discuss the research on serotonin, the "genetic Prozac". It turns out that in one segment of our DNA, there are more or less copies of the serotonin transporter gene. Such genes are naturally inheritable, giving a segment of the population a trend toward anxiety. Anger, and its expression in violence is another area of common concern. The authors provide an extensive description of various forms of anger expression. They stress that anger can be controlled - genetic expression is important, but not an absolute. As with anxiety, serotonin and its by-products provided an important clue in the study of violence.
Molecular genetics has accomplished an incredible amount in the fifty years since the structure of DNA was revealed. Hamer's extensive bibliography is an indication of how much work has been achieved. Today the research is expanding into a new field called behavioural genetics. As one of the first understandable accounts of what's been and what needs to be done, it should be placed on your shelf alongside Matt Ridley's Genome.
Great book!.......2000-12-31
So the "true-life" stories are a little simplistic -- this still remains an excellent explanation of genetics for the layperson. Eminently readable. Grabbed me right away and explained so much to me I gave copies of the book to the rest of my family.
Amazon.com
The Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia is perhaps the least well known by Americans. Tucked away in the northeastern corner of Italy, stretching almost from Venice to Vienna, the region proudly grows the widest range of grape varieties in all of Italy. The Friulians, therefore, are extraordinarily aware of the interaction between food and wine. Fred Plotkin wrote La Terra Fortunata after 25 years of visiting the small region. His knowledge of its food, its wine, and its people and their customs is immense. Plotkin offers a comprehensive history of the region and great insight and understanding in his choice of recipes and their instructions.
There are few generalities that can be used to describe this collection. Friulians are great wine drinkers and have a reputation for working hard, and so have a custom of eating small dishes to wash down with their wine and to satisfy their hunger between meals. So it's no surprise that many of these dishes can be served alongside one another. The herbs and spices used are not necessarily those we think of as Italian; they are much more international. Yogurt-Dill Sauce sounds Greek and Mustard-Wine Sauce sounds French, but both they and Montasio-Mint Sauce can be found in Friuli (the Montasio cheese gets just a hint of mint, beautiful on pasta or soft polenta). From a garlicky Mussel Frittata to the most traditional Frico Croccante (a thin crispy pancake made entirely of cheese, it makes a delicious cup for Gnocchi with Mountain Herbs or Risotto with Crabmeat and Peas), Plotkin's recipes are flavorful, unusual, and well explained. Because the region stretches from the coast to the mountains, traditional cooking includes everything from seafood to game and every herb, vegetable, and fruit under the sun. Plotkin introduces every recipe with a story, and they, along with his guide to Friulian wines, make La Terra Fortunata an indispensable guidebook both for the cook and for the armchair traveler. --Leora Y. Bloom
Book Description
A great food and wine region of Italy-largely undiscovered by those who live to eat-Friuli-Venezia Giulia springs succulently from the pages of
La Terra Fortunata by Italy expert Fred Plotkin.
Friuli-Venezia Giulia was one of Italy's best-kept secrets-until now. Between Venice and Vienna, with Trieste as its capital, this region has the most varied and sophisticated food in Italy. No other regional kitchen uses more fruit or spices or a greater range of meat and seafood. In
La Terra Fortunata, readers will discover gnocchi filled with plums or apricots; tagliolini tossed with poppy seeds and the region’s superlative prosciutto di San Daniele; sea scallops with almond sauce; risotto flavored with a rainbow of spices, including ginger, star anise, and nutmeg; cinnamon-scented veal stew, and, of course, frico, the region's signature dish, a delectable cheese crisp that is positively addictive.
Since Friuli-Venezia Giulia produces Italy's top white wines and outstanding reds, with more varieties than any other region in Italy, Fred Plotkin has included the most detailed list of the region's wines and their makers ever compiled.
With more than 160 recipes and an indispensable list for wine lovers,
La Terra Fortunata will come as a revelation to those who thought there was nothing new under the Italian sun.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent evoction ofFriuli-Venezia Giulia. Buy It........2005-10-30
`La Terra Fortunata' on the culinary landscape of Friuli-Venezia Giulia by noted writer on Italian food, Fred Plotkin belongs to the ranks of many outstanding books on regional Italian cooking such as `The Splendid Table' by Lynne Rossetto Kaspar, `Naples at Table' by Arthur Schwartz, and `Cooking the Roman Way' by David Downie. Not only does Plotkin give us a superb picture of the cuisine of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, he convinces me that this region easily ranks with Kaspar's Emilia-Romagna as one of the two or three foremost culinary centers in Italy.
There are at least three culinary reasons why this region is interesting. First, it is one of Italy's leading wine-producing regions, with a greater variety of grapes than any other part of this great wine country. Second, it ranks just behind Emilia-Romagna as one of the world's great producers of cured hams, with the procuitto San Daniele equal in quality to that of the more famous Parma hams. Third, it is literally at the crossroads of the Latin, Germanic, and Slavic culinary worlds, as it was once the primary port of the great Austro-Hungarian empire and it's dishes and ingredients show almost as much Germanic and Slavic influence as it does Italian.
One symptom of this multicultural influence is the large number of different recipes there are for gnocchi. While Rome is famous for the potato gnocchi, generally served in Trattoria on Thursdays, Friuli-Venezia Giulia gives us at least eight (8) different gnocchi recipes, some different by only the sauce, but some with different ingredients such as squash, ricotta, and plums. This makes total sense when you consider that gnocchi is halfway between Italian soft pasta and the dumplings and spaetzle of the Austro-Hungarian world. While I have seen recipes for gnocchi with squash and ricotta in other books, this is a first with plums. Although this leads to another highlighted difference from the rest of Italy. In no other region of Italy do I see as many savory recipes with fruits, especially apples, pears, and figs, combined with the `cookie spices' as I do in this book on Friuli-Venezia Giulia. While Sicily is famous for using `cookie spices' due to the North African influence, Trieste and the rest of Friuli-Venezia Giulia was actually as close or closer in contact with Moslem culinary influences when Trieste sat just on the border between Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman empire.
A major symptom of Friuli-Venezia Giulia's cosmopolitan culinary heritage is the fact that olive oil, butter, and pork fat all seem to be used in about the same quantity. There is no strong inclination to use one of the three as there is in southern Italy, Spain, Provence, (olive oil) or northern Europe (butter).
Of all the treatises I have read on Italian regional cooking, this seems to have the best evocation of the region's history and how that history influenced the people, the food, and the wine of the region. While Arthur Schwartz' `Naples at Table' gives a good picture of the history of Campania, Plotkin ties this all together more effectively and does it so well that one can almost sense the romance of the region which lead to its being home to so many notable literary figures such as James Joyce and Italo Sveve (who happened to be p protégé of Joyce as well as his teacher in Italian).
For those of us who really like treatises on regional cooking to be as `authentic' as possible to the language and ingredients of the area, this book pleases us in virtually every regard. The names of all recipes are not in Italian, but in the local Friuli dialect, all, of course with English translation. Where a local non-English name is used, the author always indicates whether the language is Italian, German, a Slavic dialect, or Friuli.
While this cuisine is just a little different from any other Italian (or German) cuisine, it is not inaccessible, as it is a cuisine of poverty which happens to include very common foodstuffs, with emphasis on greens, especially cabbage, lettuces, asparagus, and corn.
Corn, in the form of polenta, is also eminently important in that it is the primary daily starch of the region, edging out even pasta and potatoes.
By contrasting Friuli-Venezia Giulia with other Italian culinary regions, Plotkin dishes out some interesting insights on other parts of Italy. While he concedes that primacy in Italian cuisine goes to Emilia-Romagna with its Parma hams, Parmigiano Reggiano, and balsamic vinegar, he states that the while the cuisine of Campania (Naples) is great, it is not very portable. He also states that while Tuscany leads in reputation, this reputation is based largely on its wines and that the Tuscans are fairly low on the food chain with their doting on beans, spinach, and grilled meats, and not much more. He actually puts Liguria (Genoa) more on a par with Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Emilia-Romagna. This is little surprise, as this region is the subject of his earlier book on regional Italian cuisine.
Other reviewers have taken strong issue with the details of some of Plotkin's recipes. My reading tends to agree that Plotkin is much more the culinary journalist, historian, and geographer than he is the chef / anthropologist such as Paula Wolfert. I have found some recipes where one needs to exercise just a little culinary common sense, as when Plotkin throws fresh parsley into a hot pan with onions and garlic to cook for a few minutes rather than to add the delicate green herb at the end.
With that reservation, I must say that this book's rewards in revealing an `Undiscovered Region' far outweighs a little culinary misstep. While I did not discuss it, the book gives much information on the wines of the region and the major wine producers. I was tickled also to find sources for chairs in the author's appendix on regional ingredient sources. Now I know why Mario Batali gets all his restaurant chairs from Friuli!
Highly recommended.
Watch out..........2003-10-21
there are problems with the recipes. When the first two recipes I try don't work out I usually give up on the book. The recipe for apple cake with shredded aples etc didn't really work in terms of the proportion of dough to filling for me and the crust had too much of the baking soda or powder (don't have the book with me at the moment) flavor, especially the next day. I started the recipe for butternut squash gnocchi and that seemed off as the squash took much longer to bake and in the fridge there was no draining at all - I cut my losses at that point and did other things with the squash. Then I found a recipe that I had cut out from the NY Times when the book was reviewed for a poppy seed dessert and clearly there is a step missing, also, would the poppy seeds be lightly pounded, pounded to a paste? The NY Times reviewer mentions favorably that the recipes lend themselves to cooking the way a relative would instruct. Well, my mother's "a little bit of this, a little bit of that" instructions frequently do not work and this approach should not be over romanticized. The history of the region section in the beginning is a pleasure.
Lucky Land--Lucky You!.......2002-09-07
Why so many cookbooks these days? One reason is that anyone can troll the Internet for a few hours and download enough recipes to make a book with very little effort; some "authors" apparently do just that. Not, however, Fred Plotkin, who has produced here not a book but a feast that demands the attention of any serious cook or food-lover.
Fred Plotkin's field is Italy--all Italy (as in "Italy for the Gourmet Traveler," which you should order) and the obscure and less-known regions of Italy, as in this book, which is centered on Friuli-Venezia Giulia, high in the northeast, and in his previous one on Liguria (order that too, while you're at it), the superb "Recipes from Paradise: Life and Food on the Italian Riviera (order that, too). These regions--their very existence--will come as a surprise to many Americans, who have been led by decades of relentless and superficial media coverage to believe that Italy is Tuscany and that Tuscany is only the area between Florence and Siena.
Plotkin doesn't strip-mine a region and bung a lot of recipes into a book. He explores and absorbs it. He visits Italy frequently and has often lived there for extended periods, sharing the life of regions that call out to him. In this case, he writes--elegantly, feelingly--of a region he has known for more than 25 years. For this reason, people and places come alive as welcoming presences.
Recipes? There are recipes galore here, and you will be happy (I hope) to know that that are not the tired (and overhyped) Tuscan retreads. With its Adriatic coast, this region was deeply involved in the Spice Trade at its height, and so you will find many spices used here, some of which (cumin, for example) will come as a surprise.
I recommend this book for cold winter days. It'll warm you just to read it, and then you can start cooking too.
Bill Marsano is a James Beard Award-winning writer on wine, spirits and food.
It is indeed Splendid!.......2002-01-21
As Americans living in Italy, my husband & I have used Fred Plotkin's _Italy for the Gourmet Traveller_ as a guidebook when travelling throughout Italy. It has never disappointed us yet. Now we have added this *wonderful* book to our collection. More than a cookbook, this book explores the history and culture of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region (where we, quite luckily, happen to live), as well as the cuisine. There are great explanations of the region's different ingredients, herbs & spices, wines, cheeses, coffee, grappa, as well as travel information and sources for some of the harder-to-find ingredients. And then, of course, there are all of the great recipes, each with an author's note (and usually a wine suggestion)! Now I feel doubly fortunate--to have had the chance to live in this region, and also to have acquired this book so I can re-create a little bit of Friuli when we leave.
Bravo, Fred Plotkin!.......2001-06-12
"There is no frigate like a book," the poet wrote, and Fred Plotkin has proved it again. His magnificnet new book turns a little-known region into an exotic character, with whom we fall in love, and whose facets are revealed gradually and tenderly by the appreciation and eloquence of the narrator. Thank you, Fred Plotkin, for turning geography into biography.
Average customer rating:
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Catwise
Wilbur Pippin
Manufacturer: Random House Value Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0517065061
Release Date: 1991-08-26 |
Book Description
Complete guide to miniature woodworking, sewing, plus step-by-step instructions for 44 elegant dollhouse projects — quilts, pillows, towels, bedroom, ensembles, more.
Book Description
More than just a book about beautiful gardens and estates, this lavishly illustrated volume tells the story of a remarkable family through a combination of glorious photographs and extraordinary anecdotes.
The Rothschild family has enjoyed a colorful history over the past two centuries. Their skill as bankers enabled them to make a huge impact on Western social and political history. Yet while dominating the markets, the family has simultaneously expended a tremendous amount of time, energy, and material resources cultivating the landscape.
The family has generated many passionate and knowledgeable gardeners, skillfully creating magnificent parklands and gardens throughout England, Europe, Israel, and elsewhere. Enthusiastic and flamboyant, the Rothschilds have always been fond of showy bedding displays and elaborate topiary, but they have also enjoyed producing fruits and vegetables. Baron Edmond delighted guests at his households in Paris and Boulogne by inviting them to pick fresh fruit—ripe red or black cherries or greengage plums—straight from dwarf trees to the dining room! The fabulous scale of many of their enterprises is hardly imaginable today.
An entertaining and informative text covers Rothschild gardens from their beginnings in the German ghetto to the magnificent parklands of today. Miriam Rothschild, granddaughter of the first Lord Rothschild, explores her family's greatest estates and gardens as they are and once were, a privileged tour including her own beautiful conservation garden, home to birds, beasts, and butterflies. Archival pictures of many of the gardens and the characters involved accompany Ms. Rothschild's intimate, amusing look at the competitiveness and drive for perfection that has typified her family's behavior in gardening, as well as in business. The unique combination of historical and lush, contemporary photography provides a seamlessly integrated tour of both the Rothschild gardens and personalities and will appeal to history and horticulture buffs alike.
Other Details: 133 illustrations, 107 in full color
Customer Reviews:
GLORIOUS GARDENS.......2004-03-05
A feast for the eye is The Rothschild Gardens by Miriam Rothschild, Kate Garton, and Lionel de Rothschild.
With filial insight and love the granddaughter of the first Lord Rothschild presents a magnificently illustrated view of her family's private and public gardens yesterday and today.
Book Description
The avid gardener will need no other resource than this book to plan and maintain a natural garden on the country farm or in the suburban backyard, a habitat congenial to the scarlet tanager, the monarch butterfly, and the toad.
Unique to this book is author Beresford-Kroeger's concept of bioplanning, in which the gardener views the site as a biological system and the activity of gardening as an ecological task. To assist in bioplanning a garden, the author provides both plans that are adaptable to different garden sizes and shapes, as well as planting instructions emphasizing organic care, ecofunction, and environmentally friendly means of pest control.
A Garden for Life challenges everyone to create an ecologically valuable garden for the joy of doing so, and for the salvation of our natural world.
Diana Beresford-Kroeger is the author of Arboretum America. She is a botanist, medical and agricultural researcher, lecturer, and self-defined "renegade scientist" in the fields of classical botany, medical biochemistry, organic chemistry, and nuclear chemistry. She lives in Ontario, Canada.
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The Rothschild Garden
Miriam Rothschild ,
Kate Garton , and
Lionel De Rothschild
Manufacturer: Gaia Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1856750922 |
Book Description
"Diary of a Mother" author Christine Louise Hohlbaum champions the stay-at-home parent movement with her second book, "SAHM I Am: Tales of a Stay-at-Home Mom in Europe". As a spokesperson for parental empowerment, Christine offers her readers a renewed look at raising children through the eyes of an American expat in Germany. How different is it to bring up kids in a foreign country? From peculiar store hours to getting milk at midnight, Christine Hohlbaum's hilarious look at life with children in a Bavarian cow town will leave you laughing and crying for more.
Customer Reviews:
S.A.H.M is hilarious and insightful.......2007-05-29
Christine Louise Hohlbaum book, S.A.H.M. I Am: Tales of a Stay-at-Home Mom in Europe is a smart, well written and witty story. I do not live in Europe, however, this ia must read for any parent.
Terribly disappointing.......2007-03-14
Being a SAHM in Europe, too, I had high hopes for this book. But the jokes seem to be missing their punchlines, the "touching" stories are trite, and all the while the author seems to be trying just a little bit too hard. And why bother mentioning she's in Europe at all? She could be anywhere for the amount she has discussed her host country's culture or quirks and how they affect her life as a SAHM.
I can read this kind of thing, only better, on the internet, for free.
Not European Enough for Me.......2007-01-07
I am planning on being a stay-at-home mom in Europe and thought this book would be a perfect read. The author, however, could easily be writing from her home anywhere in America. The chapters seem to end abruptly and the punchlines just aren't funny. I'd suggest reading Vicki Iovine's books!
Real Mothering at it's Best!.......2006-04-28
Christine Louise Hohlbaum is a down-to-Earth mother and it shows in every word she writes. There is no sugar-coating here. She tells it like it is and it is refreshing to read.
It is one of those books that comes back to you when you are standing in line at the grocery store wearing mismatched socks and hot pink nail polish your daughter insisted she apply to you. You are getting dirty looks because your children are screaming, and you feel like the worst mother in the world. Then you remember that you are not alone. Chistine Louise Hohlbaum has been there, done that and survived.
She creates magic with her writing. It amazed me as I read it that Ms. Hohlbaum can take the smallest events and turn them into stories I will never forget. An excellent follow on to Diary of a Mother.
Just Not Amusing or Interesting.......2006-03-16
I wanted to love, or at least like this book, but I just couldn't. In the author's defense, I read her book right after reading Haven Kimmel's books and the latter's books are so incredibly witty that I laughed out loud through them--not so with S.A.H.M I Am. The humor in this book made me wince because I knew the author was really trying, and I was rooting for her, but she just was not funny. I also just completed the Happy Housewife by Darla Shine and I laughed and cried through that whole book, so I think that spoiled me for S.A.H.M I Am.
Maybe lots of mothers will see themselves in this book, but I am not amused by not cleaning your house. Maybe when you have a newborn, but not after that. Sitting at the computer is a luxury enjoyed AFTER the work is done.
Finally, I was hoping for lots of info about living in Germany (because of the title), but that was scarce. This read more like a journal and may be interesting to some people, but I was hoping for more.
Average customer rating:
- Lacks fierceness and depth
- An unforgettable character study
- One of the best novels I've read
- A slice of life in thrice
- a story with no agenda
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Three Junes
Julia Glass
Manufacturer: Pantheon
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0375422412
Release Date: 2002-09-05 |
Book Description
Three Junes is a vividly textured symphonic novel set on both sides of the Atlantic during three fateful summers in the lives of a Scottish family. In June of 1989, Paul McLeod, the recently widowed patriarch, becomes infatuated with a young American artist while traveling through Greece and is compelled to relive the secret
sorrows of his marriage. Six years later, Paul’s death reunites his sons at Tealing, their idyllic childhood home, where Fenno, the eldest, faces a choice that puts him at the center of his family’s future. A lovable, slightly repressed gay man, Fenno leads the life of an aloof expatriate in the West Village, running a shop filled with books and birdwatching gear. He believes himself safe from all emotional entanglements—until a worldly neighbor presents him with an extraordinary gift and a seductive photographer makes him an unwitting subject. Each man draws Fenno into territories of the heart he has never braved before, leading him toward an almost unbearable loss that will reveal to him the nature of love.
Love in its limitless forms—between husband and wife, between lovers, between people and animals, between parents and children—is the force that moves these characters’ lives, which collide again, in yet another June, over a Long Island dinner table. This time it is Fenno who meets and captivates Fern, the same woman who captivated his father in Greece ten years before. Now pregnant with a son of her own, Fern, like Fenno and Paul before him, must make peace with her past to embrace her future. Elegantly detailed yet full of emotional suspense, often as comic as it is sad, Three Junes is a glorious triptych about how we learn to live, and live fully, beyond incurable grief and betrayals of the heart—how family ties, both those we’re born into and those we make, can offer us redemption and joy.
Download Description
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2002 National Book Award winner for fiction, Three Junes, is a vividly textured symphonic novel set on both sides of the Atlantic during three fateful summers in the lives of a Scottish family.
In June of 1989, Paul McLeod, the recently widowed patriarch, becomes infatuated with a young American artist while traveling through Greece and is compelled to relive the secret sorrows of his marriage. Six years later, Paul's death reunites his sons at Tealing, their idyllic childhood home, where Fenno, the eldest, faces a choice that puts him at the center of his family's future.
A lovable, slightly repressed gay man, Fenno leads the life of an aloof expatriate in the West Village, running a shop filled with books and birdwatching gear. He believes himself safe from all emotional entanglements -- until a worldly neighbor presents him with an extraordinary gift and a seductive photographer makes him an unwitting subject. Each man draws Fenno into territories of the heart he has never braved before, leading him toward an almost unbearable loss that will reveal to him the nature of love.
Love in its limitless forms -- between husband and wife, between lovers, between people and animals, between parents and children -- is the force that moves these characters' lives, which collide again, in yet another June, over a Long Island dinner table. This time it is Fenno who meets and captivates Fern, the same woman who captivated his father in Greece ten years before. Now pregnant with a son of her own, Fern, like Fenno and Paul before him, must make peace with her past to embrace her future.
Elegantly detailed yet full of emotional suspense, often as comic as it is sad, Three Junes is a glorious triptych about how we learn to live, and live fully, beyond incurable grief and betrayals of the heart -- how family ties, both those we're born into and those we make, can offer us redemption and joy.
Customer Reviews:
Lacks fierceness and depth.......2007-09-21
I really found Three Junes by Julia Glass to be tedious beyond belief. In a way she seemed to be copying The Hours. The triptych, the gay man, etc. But her novel can't hold a candle to The Hours, since her narrative is pointless and sentimental too, which makes me realize that sentimentality (apart from its other flaws) is a smoke screen for the kind of writers who write emotionally dishonest work. So that the choppy sentimentality becomes a technique these writers hide behind so they can be evasive, chatty, charming, shallow and disingenuous.
Glass looks nice in her photo, though.
Not that this matters. And she's obviously intelligent. But she should stop writing for the book clubs and try to write something that has some fierceness and depth.
There! I've had my little tantrum...and she is only one of literally thousands of writers who treat novels as if they are potluck: a little of this and a little of that and let's hope for the best.
An unforgettable character study.......2007-09-19
Some books have transcendent plots that carry you away on a fictional journey. Others are like fine works of art; you read them to be swept away by the sheer beauty of the prose. Still others are clever or thrilling, always staying one step ahead, compelling the reader to try to figure out the what is going on and why. Then there are the detailed character studies--these books bring a single character to life so effectively that readers feel they know this person better than almost anyone else.
Every novel tries to deliver deeply wrought characters that spring to life off the page. But once a reader puts a book down, and goes on to another, generally these characters slowly disappear from memory. But not all fictional characters fade away; with some novels the entire focus of the work is on such fine and deep characterization that readers will remember that character for the rest of their lives.
"Three Junes" by Julia Glass is just such an incredible character study. The character we come to know so deeply is Fenno McCloud. It's a brilliant creation...no wonder it won the National Book Award in 2002!
And what type of character did Julia Glass bring to life in Fenno McCloud? Is he some larger-than-life role model? No, Fenno is just another decent human being struggling to live a good life in a difficult world. Perhaps he is unique because he possesses a strong moral compass and this is what attracts us to him. Fenno is gay, but his sexuality is not important in the overall scheme of this book; also, there is nothing in this book that is titillating.
Through its artistic three-part structure, Fenno McCloud comes alive. Much of the depth of the character study is derived from the book's unique structure. The author describes it as a triptych--a three-part work consisting of a large center novel flanked on either end by two small novellas. Each piece could stand alone, but together they perform symbiotically to create something far greater. It is a structure that allows the reader to learn about Fenno from different perspectives.
The first part, named "Collies," tells the story of Fenno McCloud's father, Paul, during June of 1989--a time in his life when he is vacationing in Greece recovering from the death of his wife, Maureen. There are many flashbacks where we are introduced to many of the major characters in the novel including Paul's eldest son, Fenno. There is a young American woman on the trip named Fern. Paul finds her disarming, and soon he is telling her his innermost secrets.
The long central novel, named "Upright," is set in June of 1995. Fenno is living in New York at the height of the AIDs epidemic. And the mantra that runs through his head is "stay upright and you will stay alive." In this section we are introduced to Fenno's friends and move with him through his everyday home and work life. There are numerous flashbacks where we learn about Fenno's Scottish family.
In the third part, named "Boys, " and set in June of 1999, Fern again plays a pivotal role. Fenno and Fern meet each other in New York, never knowing that Fern knew Fenno's father in Greece ten years earlier. Just like his father before him, Fenno finds Fern disarming, and soon he is opening up to her and telling her his innermost secrets. That father and son, would find Fern and both see her as the perfect confidant...well, that makes the serendipity of their coming together even more magical.
The three sections permit us to view Fenno not only from his own point of view, but also from the points of view of those people who are most important to him. The action of the book is centered around Fenno's relationships--those with his father, his mother, his two brothers, the brothers' wives and children, his friends and lovers in New York, and even his beloved parrot, Felicity.
This novel is not for everyone. If you need a strong plot or a compelling storyline, look elsewhere: this novel is decidedly a realistic portrayal of everyday life, nothing more. If you love a novel with deep character development, look no further: this book is about as good as they get.
If after finishing the book, Fenno becomes so much a part of your life and you want some more time with him, you will be happy to know that Fenno reappears as one of a group of major characters in Julia Glass' latest novel "The Whole World Over." Both novels are excellent and highly recommended, but "Three Junes," is truly exceptional.
One of the best novels I've read.......2007-08-03
Julia Glass is a masterful storyteller. Her characters are real and complex. This is one of the most engaging novels I've read in the past 5 years.
A slice of life in thrice.......2007-07-24
This well crafted story, especially about the interrelationships between members of a family, but also between those with whom they interact, starts slowly, but improves in speed and quality. Taking place in Scotland, Greece and New York City, three chunks of time, during which the month of June falls, are covered, each period narrated by a different person. The first, "Collies 1989" (55 pages) is told by a melancholy widower during a group vacation to Greece. Although it is the dullest section, the middle part "Upright 1995" (205 pages), narrated by one of the man's sons, more than makes up for it. The descriptions are wonderful as are the characters, especially a sarcastic witty gay man named Mal. The writer delves into the relationships between Paul, his three sons, and their spouses and children. The loose ends are neatly tied up in the final section "Boys 1999" (85 pages), which is narrated by a woman unrelated but connected to the others. Three Junes, winner of the National Book Award, is a literary treat. Also good: The Hours by Michael Cunningham.
a story with no agenda.......2007-07-06
Reading this book made me feel as if I was watching life. No conclusions, no moral of the story, no agenda. I thought the story telling was fluid - one of the few novels I have read where I didn't have the impulse to flip through the pages looking for the ending.
Average customer rating:
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The Moses of Rovno: The Stirring Story of Fritz Graebe, a German Christian Who Risked His Life to Lead Hundreds of Jews to Safety During the Holocaus
Douglas K. Huneke
Manufacturer: Dodd Mead
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0396087140 |
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