It is a very detailed, helpful and inspiring vegetable gardening book. I go through the book almost every week. Nice pictures and writing style. I hope Mr. Ed Smith will write more books on vegetable gardening!

I absolutely love this book. The gardening system is sound and organic, and it is presented in clear, simple language in a lovely, easy-to-grasp design. So often gardening books are long on written advice but short on visuals. Or they are ONLY visuals, with the text nothing more than captions. This book has it all.

The title says it all. This is my vegetable bible. Being a novice, I was looking for something as simple and informative as a "Dummies" book but without insulting my intelligence. Not only is all the information you need to start or continue a garden, the pictures fill in details that as a first time grower I might not quite understand in words. His explanations are simple, concise and extremely informative. Most of all, it's filled with little hints throughout the book so that you may have a successful garden. It was the best purchase I had made on a gardening book so far. Thank you Ed! Happy growing!

Nothing comes close in the annals of modern literature to the Rabbit series. This is the book everyone should own. Well, every biting narcisist with no particular views, and with a major messianic complex. So, 99% of the population should own this book. There are SO many levels in this maelstrom of contemporary American culture, subculture, conture-culture, and pop culture. To find out more about the books, read the individual reviews, but bear in mind this is THE definitive edition, with an enlightening essay that works as an overture to the grand epic, along with the insertion of several passages editited from earlier volumes. BUY THIS BOOK, if you're ready. This is the closest any prose really gets to art. More relevant than ever, Rabbit will change your way of thinking about life. Two weeks after reading this book, if you wake up shaking, sweating from fear and paranoia over whats happened to your life over the years, you have Mr. Updike to thank. Then take! a breath, and dive back into the book on a second-wind. Be prepaed to laugh, cry, and most importantly meditate on the impact of this book; be ready to experience the Life and Times of Mr. Rabbit Angstrom, a character as deep as life itself.

For anyone who has yet to discover these extraordinary, sad. poignant, hilarious novels about the lives of middle class Americans in suburbia, I have this to say: I envy you.

These four novels, each written a different decade (50s, 60s, 70s, 80s) do more than capture the spirit of their era. They mark the changes in our neighborhoods, politics, entertainment and sports.

At the center is Harry Angstrom, a high school basketball star who never finds his niche in life. Harry is selfish, insensitive, yet also heart-breakingly sincere and a kind of protypical American romantic.

These books also are quite [nice] and have some of the best descriptions of sex I have read. And people have this picture of Updike as some boring WASP writer. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Pure genius. Updike knows everything, it seems, or is close to it. He evokes emotions with relevant detail at the same time, often without mentioning a character for a few paragraphs. I've never been moved so much by descriptive writing as I have with Updike. Your intellect is left enlarged and fulfilled. The Rabbit series is also a mini history source in contemporary America, the ever present thrid person omnisicent who seems to hold sway over Rabbit's life and all his disfunctional family and common friends. A must read for the literary scholar

John Jaffe's "Thief of Words" is a damned good book. It details the blossoming love of two, world-weary, divorced baby boomers. In a culture filled with stories of romances between young, well-chiseled model types, it was wonderful to read about a love between two people who had lived in the real world, two people with all of life's wrinkles and warts and wisdom.

And what a couple! Jack DePaul is a curmudgeonly journalist, bitingly honest and witty. Of course, beneath the crusty exterior Jack is a die-hard romantic, still searching for true love" in a world that seems to have little but heartbreak.

However, it was Annie Hollerman who stole my heart. Despite a titanic mistake in her past and a rocky romantic history, Annie still manages to woo the readers with her self-effacing humor and passion. Annie Hollerman's beauty flows from inside as well as out. She has dazzling red hair but it's her wisdom and wit that makes her appealing.

By the end of the book, I felt a real connection to the destiny of these wonderful people. They, like so many of us, must conquer a past filled with mistakes and pain, in order to create a present filled with love and joy. Although it would ruin the book if I spelled out just how they triumph over their histories, know that it made me see email in a completely fresh way.

Mr. Jaffe's writing is humorous, rich, and filled with life. He is an alchemist of words, yet never did I feel that the writing was showy. But even more important than the charm of his words was the power they had - the power to convince me that maybe love doesn't die at 40, that it is possible to right our pasts.

I could rave about the wonders of Thief of Words for days, but they are yours to discover.

Let it conquer your cynicism like it did mine.

Annie Hollerman is a has-been star newspaper reporter banished into oblivion for unknown reasons to the reader as the story opens. Jack DePaul is the features editor at the Baltimore Star-News. Both Jack and Annie are divorced and both are in denial about much of their personal life.

An arranged blind date by a mutual friend of the two, Laura Goodbread, leads the pair into a wonderful and continuing encounter of exploration and mutual respect...leading toward love.

The mystery of Annie's fall from her reporters job hovers in the background, lending an interesting air of mystery during their courtship. As their infatuation deepens, author Jaffe creates a real and caring sense for the characters by the reader.

As readers wend their way through this tale, they will be moved to laugh, cry, hope and believe in the genuineness of Jack and Annie. They will be caught up and immersed in the reality of the settings and events of those two lives.

This is a really wonderful love story that transcends the usual in this genre and becomes compelling and mustn't-put-the-book-down reading. It's a love story that transcends the genre and is involving, moving and believable. Here's a true to life Romeo and Juliet story based on an actual series of events.

The authors state John Jaffe is "a pseudonym for us: John Muncie and Jody Jaffe. We wrote the book together. In fact, our novel, Thief of Words, is based on our meeting and our romance. It's the prequel to our current lives. Now we're married and work together writing books."

Dazzlingly poetic, "A Thief of Words" has stolen my heart and has captured my literary attention. Penned by a new, soulful author, this book will deceive first-time readers with its cover's description of courting and romance; This book is a tool for healing. We all have painful memories which are seemingly impossible to forget, but Jaffe's exploration of healing allows readers to identify with characters who have not only "moved on" from their past struggles but have taken used their experiences as a sprinboard into a hopeful future and a refreshed past. The writing is captivating and descriptive, allowing readers to feel and visualize transformations along with the lovingly imperfect characters. Getting lost in this nurturing tale of reconnection with life's love and loss gives us a window not only into Jaffe's world, but allows us a glimpse into our lives as well. This is not the average romance novel- It is a soul-searching, thought-provoking, carefully crafted tale of rediscovering oneself through vulnerability, a lesson which we can all most certainly benefit from.

For me, a recreational sailor of over twenty years, this book has been like the bible. I've used it for voyage preparation, to teach new sailors and, when I wrote my sailing mystery novel, Inner Passages, this book was my first and primary resource!

Sometimes, late at night, nostalgic for the sensation of a sailboat deck underfoot once more, I pull it off the shelf and just dip inside. It evokes memories, reminds me of trips gone by, and I cam almost smell the sea air. This latest edition, replete with fine illustrations, should be a primary addition to any sailor's library.

I reviewed "Annapolis" for Good Old Boat magazine. The review, and an excerpt from the book is in the July/August issue. The book stands as the yardstick by which other sailing references must be judged. For this new edition, Rousmaniere did an excellent job of gender neutralizing the language without any awkwardness. He talks about "forehandedness", a state of being prepared for whatever the sea throws at one. This book is the best written resource to help one obtain that state. The book will be instantly accessible to the beginner. It will remain a good reference for the most experienced sea dog. Rousmaniere uses a lot of little tricks to help the reader retain the information in the book. While the book is chock full of facts, his love for sailing and the romance of the sea shows through as well. If you want to improve your sailing skills and knowledge, buy this book!

John Rousmaniere has created a comprehensive text on the sport of sailing and seamanship which is enjoyable to read and very authoritative. By their nature, sailors have strongly held opinions on most subjects, but virtually every sailor I know of who has read John's book holds it in very high regard. The illustrations are clear and not too busy to get in the way of showing the frequently complicated topics which are inherent in the sport. I also find that Seamanship is not just a repeat of tired old sailing methods of 30 years ago, but rather integrates the classic techniques (storm tactics, navigation) with the modern (Crew Overboard Recovery, modern anchors and electronics).

I highly recommend this book, and encourage anyone to buy it if they want to improve their sailing skills.

John Annerino portrays the Apache Puberty Ceremony, known as Na ih es, with a pictoral essay in a way that shows the sacredness of this rite. In "Dreams and Journeys", the first third of the book, the author tells of the experiences that brought him to the Apache. In "Images"(the reason I would recommend adding Sacred Path to Womanhood to your library), he takes you through "the Sunrise Ceremony" from the time they dress the girl to the point where she is filled with power and becomes White Painted Woman and blesses her people. Included are glossary terms and an extensive bibliography. In Annerino, I see respect for the Apache(Ndee). I recommend this book particularly for girls approaching and who have recently come into puberty, of any cultural background.

APACHE: The Sacred Path to Womanhood is incredible. I think it's Annerino's best book yet. It's really, really good.I love the pictures and the design. The pictures are really strong. It looks like a video - just walks you right through the ceremony. It's really exciting. The reproduction is really nice, too. I love the fire shots with the silhouettes. There are a lot of really nice shots in the book. I love the photograph of the girl with her hand over her mouth. This is an important book. Amazing.

APACHE: The Sacred Path to Womanhood is a beautiful book, illustrated with fascinating photographs. The writing is wonderful, which makes it all the more enjoyable. Annerino's dedication to documenting Native American culture should be commended, and I'm certain it has been. What a pleasure!

Mr. Milton is without a doubt, a liteary genius! I got intrested in the book from a quote, which I read in John London's The Sea Wolf. Even though, I am only 17, the views presented in Paradise Lost, as well as Paradise Regained could still be used today. I highly reccomend this book to ones who want to know where it all started.

I must admit that this has been probably one of the hardest texts that I have ever read ( well in league with Thomas Paine's Common sense). However, it, i.e., Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton, Christopher B. Ricks(Editor) also is one of the most beautifully written and well written pieces of literature ever produced. Milton, has a sense for language that can only be compared with the great writers of the literary tradition, e.g., Dante, Shakespeare, and Thoreau. Writers of today lack these skills and cannot write with the same complexity as the great authors of the past. A good example of this when one reads Dante's Inferno or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.; these stories are both good examples of a lost art that Milton was a master at. The art of writing a story in the form of a poem without the story in question sounding phony or having lines that do not make sense. The story itself, i.e., Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton, Christopher B. Ricks(Editor) is very hard to follow if one is not a biblical scholar and most of the angels are new to me ( which does not disturb me a bit, since most people nowadays, do not study the Bible as they did during the life time of Milton and his contemporaries). Overall, I would have to say that this story, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton, Christopher B. Ricks (Editor) is easily one of the most thought provoking stories that I have ever read and I will definitely recommend it to anyone remotely interested in well written literature.

John Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise regained are enticing, interesting, enjoyable, and thought provoking. Milton creats Satan, he whom we were all raised to hate, as a being not purely evil, but with aspirations just like the rest. More disturbing so, was the way Milton managed to portray God as not only good. This book causes one to think and reexamine everything they have believed to be true since they began studying and learning about their own religion. That isn't always a bad thing.

I first came across Scotch and Holy Water when I was a student in Alanya, Turkey, in 1994, and fell in love both with the country and the book. Unfortunately, the book belonged to someone else in the program, and I was never able to find a copy in the States until now. The stories inside are some of the funniest and warmest portrayls of a people you'll ever see, and Tumpane's wry (and self-deprecating) style of writing and living comes through on every page. If you have any interest in Turkey, read this book.

My husband and I first moved to Izmir, Turkey in 1996 and we both read "Scotch and Holy Water". We were still living in a hotel and had not yet experienced the country and very little of the people. I laughed through the whole thing and couldn't wait to see the places he wrote about. I read it again about two years later, we were still there, and it was even better. I couldn't believe how true the book was. It was like he was writing our story. Even forty years later not much was different. We did not live on a military compound and ended up moving to a very small village outside the city. We are very adventurous people with little fear of what kind of trouble we may get into getting lost. And we were lost MANY times!!! Learning the language was very important to really enjoy it. The people are wounderful and warm. Everyday there was something new that would crack us up. They have a very different type of logic. We will go back again one day.

I highly recomend Scotch and Holy Water even if you have no interest in Turkey. It is a great Read. He did a great job of bring out the realness of the country and the everyday living of the people as Turks and foriegners.

When I met John D. (as his friends called him) at the Karamursel Air Force Base in 1964, he had already been in Turkey for 6 years and was quite familiar with Turkish way of life. Having studied Latin, French and German and taught speech at the University of Notre Dame, he learned Turkish quickly. His passion for archeology motivated him to travel extensively in Turkey and visit the many ancient Greek and Roman sites there. As a bachelor he engaged himself in night life where he met interesting people, experienced local customs and became an expert (Saki) in drinking RAKI. An empathetic character, John D. had the innate talent to get along with people. He was a perfect diplomat with a charming smile, intelligence, humility (rare in those days for an American in Turkey) and a scholarly knowledge about practically everything. As an expert bridge player with capacity to drink anyone under the table, he was very popular in social circles. My brief friendship with him ended in 1965 when I left Turkey for an assignment in Canada. As a Turk I loved the book. It was a joy to read it. Thanks to "Scotch and Holy Water" I learned more about ancient history, Greek and Roman mythology and places I have not yet visited in Turkey. My Scottish wife who has been to Turkey several times and is very knowledgeable about Turkish culture also loved it. John D's humor, wit and description of Turks and American alike were just hilarious. When I read about my former colleagues Yuksel Enginsu, Bertram Crane, Kemal Simsek and John Hicks, it evoked so many fond memories of my days in Turkey. More than anything else in this book, as in life, John D. illustrates his deep understanding and respect for Turks and their culture. Anyone who has any interest in or connection to Turkey should read his insightful book. I was deeply saddened to learn that John David Tumpane, a truly Renaissance Man, died in October 1997. Muharrem Sev (Istanbul native), still residing in Ottawa, Canada (Sep 3, 1999)

I am not a reader of this genre. My daughter pressed the book on me. I do not write reviews (this is my first). I was so overwhelmed by this book I could not believe it and felt I must write something. Other reviewers have noted the terror, tension, suspense, the mind of the killer, but I do not believe anyone has mentioned the power of the authors' writing. The use of language and the topical references are more like Ken Kesey or Tom Robbins. The Prettiest Feathers is literature and music and poetry and painting, and all of these frame the depiction of a mind that is too easily dismissed as savage. I do not know if it was intentional (I think so), but I am convinced that John Wolf and Lucas Frank are two sides of the same person! In chapter two, when Sarah cannot find her shadow, the reader knows she is heading for something terrible. Even the minor characters (Fuzzy Lannehan comes to mind) are so well drawn, just a few words or sentences but they are so real. This is a difficult book and a wonderful book at the same time.

From the very first page, Prettiest Feathers is an eminently readable book. The smooth prose is comfortable to read. John Philpin speaks directly to the reader using the unusual device of first person narrative from the deviously brilliant mind of a serial killer, John Wolf. Building a complex scenario of seduction and murder, the reader is guided through the maze of deception by a master of murder and impersonation. I found the author's use of cultural and counterculture references a secondary pleasure to identify and interpret. Probably revealing my age, I will say I felt a twinge of pride having recognized most of what Philpin is alluding to. The music of Julian Cope escaped my knowledge, prompting me to delve into some pretty weird stuff to discover what John Wolf was really listening to. Prettiest Feathers contains enough mental challenges for even the most discerning intellectual. It is also possible to read the story just for the marvelous plot twists and turns. The ending reads like the climax of a motion picture. The pace quickens and excitement mounts. I was left breathless at the conclusion to what seems the final act of a killer seeking acknowledgment of his successful career from his able nemesis. But, is it really over?

Several years ago, co-author Patricia Sierra sent me a rough draft of this book. I couldn't put it down. Philpin and Sierra have great insight into "what makes people tick." I was thrilled when the second book in this series, "Tunnel of Night" was released. Keep 'em coming. Philpin and Sierra are a fantastic writing team. This book is a must read.

10 stars on a five-stars scale! Perhaps, the best way to describe this masterpiece is to say that I have re-read so many times, that I even don't know how many. You can pick up this book and open it on random pages, you can read the chapters in the backward order (I have done both)- it is still the best of the best! Several generations of Russians have incorporated quatations from "12 Chairs" and "Golden Calf" in their everyday vocabulary - these novels are just that great and popular. If you want to understand "the mysterious Russian soul" of the socialist period - this is perhaps the best way to do so. Oh, and be prepared to constantly laugh so hard that your neighbors will attempt to commit you! It definitely is one of the funniest pieces ever written. Borrow "12 Chairs" and "Golden Calf" books, buy them, steal them - just READ THEM!

If you talk to ANY Russian in the world, and mention "The Twelve Chairs" from their cultural heritage, or the "Rogei e kapuuta" phony business in the book, ALL Russians will spontaneously and uncontrollably smile. Normally glum Russians are unable to resist a smile at remembering the hilarious antics and insights in "The Twelve Chairs." It is set in the 'crazy time' when Russian society was in upheaval and some men just wanted to make their fortune. What do the Russians know that you are MISSING out on? They get the joke. You should get it, too! This English translation is a MUST read.

I've read the novel together with its sequel, The Golden Calf, in Russian about a dozen times. Now I simply have to get an English copy to share it with my non-Russian speaking friends! It is true: the speech of an average Russian contains quite a few quotations from the novel (also due to a number of film versions). Twelve Chairs is something definitely worth having in your home library: you can open it at any time and start reading on any page. In minutes, you're guaranteed, if not to laugh, then to smile.

This book capsulizes the essence of the sales process. Anyone - and I mean anyone - in sales should read this. It is a primer or a review. Either way the reader will walk away with practical hints and selling concepts that will inspire you to greater selling heights.

I know that there are lots of books on selling - but this one is one of the best I have ever read. It not only gives a clear picture of how the buyer thinks, but shows the seller how to assist the buyer in their quest to make a GREAT decision.

The author's insight and understanding of the sales process shows why he is one of the top financial advisors in America. It is a wonder more people who want to be world class have not read this book.

I would think any sales trainer would use this book as their guidepost to selling. Terrific book - a terrific read.

This is an incredible book with great insights for CPA's and attorneys. This author brings new understanding to the buyer's process and helped me see why I was losing client opprotunities. I think any professional - whether in direct sales or not should read this. Great Book.