Every recipe in this book is very good. Most (almost all) recipes are very easy to make and looks like you worked a long time on them. The Pesto Mold on page 20 is easy to make and everyone will ask for the recipe. The sausage snacks on page 30 are a nice change to meatballs. Pesto tortilla snacks are very easy and great tasting also. The pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and fruity muffins make great gifts around the holidays. The Parmesan Caesar salad is a salad a I make all the time. All the potato dishes are great tasting; the squash casserole is the best I have every had. The sweet potatoes are great (even if you don't like sweet potatoes. I could go on. This cookbook has a nice feature with the children's section. I have used this book so much and bought so many as gifts.

This is a wonderful book. It is full of great recipes that are not only good, but easy to prepare. I highly recommend it!

I have tried many of the recipes in this book and like 99% of them, so do my family and my friends. My favorites include; Frogmore Pickled Shrimp, Swamp Chili, Okra and Tomatoes, Pasta with Shrimp, Lemon and tomoatoes and many more than I should probably list. The book is well laid out (easy to follow), ingredients are easy to find and the serving suggestion are on target. Try this book. You'll like it.

I was given the opportunity to catalog Dr. Gentry's herbarium collection at the Desert Botanical Garden in 1987-88. I haven't seen the new edition mentioned here, but read the original work at the time I was cataloging his herbarium specimens. Through it, I was able to share his experience as an explorer in the spirit of John Wesley Powell, someone who knew that the American southwest is best delineated by watersheds, not along false lat/long lines. I met Dr. Gentry a couple of times, and remember the occasions well. Last time I saw him, when I was cataloging his collection, I overheard a conversation between him and a consultant for the Fort McDowell Indian Community. The consultant was asking about desert-adapted crop plants. Dr. Gentry went into great detail describing many desert plants suited to agriculture - tepary beans, jojoba, Lippia (Mexican oregano), agave, chiltepines, gum arabic, etc. I learned a lot just by eavesdropping. The consultant listened, but did not hear the words. He recommended that the Fort McDowell people plant cotton. Not because it was best suited to desert agriculture - far from that. They planted cotton because it needs vast quantities of water. They did not want the best desert-adapted crops. What they wanted, instead, was the best crop for wasting water, so that they could establish valid rights to the water. Worse, I watched them clear off vast acreages of mesquite forests to make room for the water-wasting cotton crop. The Hopi call this koyaanisqatsi. This book should help folks in southwestern north America realize that we have a bounteous resource, if we can only learn to use it.

Located in a transition zone between the Sonoran Desert and the tropics,this region is well known for its biodiversity, thanks to a 1942 study by botanist Howard Scott Gentry. Revision of his classic work began before his death in 1993. For researchers, this is a must-read book. It provides a clear overview of botanical studies of the Rio Mayo, a contemporary view of the vegatation, excerpts from the original text and an annotated list of plants.

Wow the projects are easy to do! Most of the stuff you can find at home. Some of the crafts tell you where to get materials. My favorites were the pinwheel and the soap fish. Get this book it's a great gift for the craft or American Girl lover in your house!

I've been a homeschooling mom for over 6 years now. After using Concerned Communication's A Reason For Writing since the beginning, we stumble on A Reason For Spelling this year. I was tired of "boring" spelling curriculumns, so figured we'd spend the extra $$$ and give this a try. Well, we ALL love it (we're using levels A, C and E for our 1st, 3rd and 5th graders). There is a lot of activities packed into these pages, and you can pretty much pick and choose how much of it you want to do. There are reproducibles in the teachers manuals of additional activities. I'm thinking of using it again next year with all the activities, and I should be able to turn it into our full Language Arts program. One word of warning, DON'T try to use this without the teachers manual, you will be LOST! I find the teacher's manual invaluable!

I've been a homeschooling mom for over 6 years now. After using Concerned Communication's A Reason For Writing since the beginning, we stumble on A Reason For Spelling this year. I was tired of "boring" spelling curriculumns, so figured we'd spend the extra $$$ and give this a try. Well, we ALL love it (we're using levels A, C and E for our 1st, 3rd and 5th graders). There is a lot of activities packed into these pages, and you can pretty much pick and choose how much of it you want to do. There are reproducibles in the teachers manuals of additional activities. I'm thinking of using it again next year with all the activities, and I should be able to turn it into our full Language Arts program. One word of warning, DON'T try to use this without the teachers manual, you will be LOST! I find the teacher's manual invaluable!

This book is an excellent resource for non medical people who are interested in using herbs. Although it does not discuss many herbs, it is very thorough with the ones that are covered.

Side effects are addressed in every case.

All of the herbs in this book have been studied and tested and are known to have some medical effectiveness. There is a matrix of the herbs in the books and various medical conditions that is very useful.

I have a nice little library of herb books and this is the one I always check first.

This book was clearly prompted by the pairs skating debacle at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. Strong background on the promotion powerhouses that drive the elite level of the sport (likened to the studio system of Hollywood.) Lund provides a balanced framework in an essay format to let readers draw their own conclusions as to the future of the sport. Good quotes from skaters voicing opinions on both sides of the issues. An insightful retrospective on why skating went from double digit TV ratings in 1994 after the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding scandal with umpteen made for TV pseudo competitions to the present state of a nearly non-existant professional figure skating circuit.

Mark Lund tells it like it is, but even as this book was being written the entire world of skating was changing yet again with the scandals of Salt Lake City.

When Mark started International Figure Skating Magazine, I was the person who told him it's the "TIME Magazine of skating" and never has that been more true than it is today.

Mark and his staff, including Lois Elfman are wonderful investigative reporters and are not afraid of finding out the truth. I applaud their efforts on this book and cannot wait for volume two, which I am sure is already in their minds.

Congratulations for a wonderful effort. A Must read for all followers of this beautiful sport which has such a dark political undercurrent.

Ted Wilson
Laguna Hills, California

This is the twelfth of the Alan Watts' books I've read. The final chapter, "The Practice of Meditation," reproduced Watts' own caligraphy (he did this very well it seems) and was interesting enough to read, but the rest of the book covered pretty much the same thing from the same perspective as the first eleven books I read by him. Book by book, he is getting less interesting and more predictable. On page 27, in the "Play and Survival" chapter, he quotes Albert Camus in "The Myth of Sisyphus": "The only real philosophical question is whether or not to commit suicide." Well, I would expect that from Camus and his ilk. There are many many other legitimate philosophical questions besides that one, ones more interesting and beneficial than that. But it does seem to fit in with Watts' perspective on life. The darkness descends. One more book by him and then my reading project will be finished.

In 'The Way of Liberation', Alan Watts offers a "rich selection of literay works and transcribed lectures", according to his son Mark Watts. Chapter 1, The Way of Liberation in Zen Buddhism, is an essay written in 1955 which was prior to his extensive work, The Way of Zen. Following this is Play and Survival: Are they in Necessary Contradiction? Watts offers much playful synthesis of philosophical insight and gives us some idea of how his 'thought evolved through all that followed.' With Chapter 3, The Relevance of Oriental Philosophy, Watts discusses the fundamental questions posed by Eastern Religions to Westerners of Christian background. After 'Suspension of Judgement', we get an interesting section on Chuang-tzu, a Chinese philosopher who Watts states is "one of the only philosophers from the whole of antiquity who has any real humour, and therefore, he is an immensely encouraging person to read." The book ends with 'The Practice of Meditation' which is delightfully written in his own calligraphy and stands as a fantastic essay for beginners. Quotes from mindful individuals like Bodhidharma, Mumonkan, Rinzai Roku, and Zenrin Ruiju give this book high markings. Much talk on Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and the essence of liberation within those faiths. Mark Watts gives a special thanks to Rebecca Shrophire George Ingles. Dedicated 'to our fathers and our mothers.'

There are some unusual and fun projects included in this book. Most of them are fairly uncomplicated and many of the materials can be found around the house.

The book also includes many interesting bits of historical information related to crafting, sewing, and life in general at the turn of the last century.

I particularly liked the trinket box and the pressed flower bookmarks.

Fun and interesting for girls ages 8 to 12.

I have been a faithful consumer of Lonely Planet products for the last five years. However, this collection does little more than offer superficial information on every country in Central Europe. If you want to go anywhere besides the capitals and most well-known tourist "traps", forget it. I was particularly dissapointed with the book's treatment of Germany and Switzerland. Very vague, very minimal. If you want to visit any of the countries in Central Europe, buy the Lonely Planet Guide to that country or look for a different publisher. Sorry guys, this one doesn't go in my travel bag.

This book is fantastic. I was amazed at how thorough a book could be. These authors also have a great sense of humor. Lonely is an oxymoron. This book is very comforting. I highly recommend this book.