I am the kind of cook who routinely misreads tbl. for tsp., wonders how long "browning" should take (and keeps poking to see what the underside looks like), and tries to substitute ingredients--all with disasterous results. The Basic Gourmet has been a lifesaver for me in this regard: it tells me exactly what I need to know when I need to know it, and it doesn't leave me guessing or, god forbid, interpreting.

The book's first section lists and discusses equipment in detail, setting a teacherly--not bossy or condescending--tone that continues throughout its many delicious recipes, each of which is followed by tidbits such as when you might want to substitute one herb for another, what might make a good accompaniment, etc. The book is detailed and packed full of tips and suggestions, but it doesn't bury the information so that a beginning cook can't see the forrest for the trees. From scrambled eggs and omlet flipping techniques to stuffed pork chops, this cookbook covers all the basics while managing to treat its readers like the potential gourmands they are: even the scrambled egg recipe makes me feel like I'm sitting down to really appreciate a meal rather than taking baby steps or just "making do" for dinner that night. The authors anticipate common mistakes and questions, explain their terminology, give a range of preferred options for altering a recipe, and, best of all, have included all the information you need for each recipe with the recipe itself--not in an index or introductory section somewhere else in the book.

I love my Joy of Cooking, and I refer to it and the Silver Palate often, but this is the cookbook that I learned from and to which I regularly return. This is a great cookbook for beginners, well-conceived and well-executed, and very well designed.

This is great cookbook for dedicated beginners who want to learn to really cook not just get by. The recipes are varied and once you master them are easily adapted and changed around to suite your sense of adventure. The zucchini bread and chocolate gingerbread are always a hit and the tabbouleh page is the dirtiest page in the book...always a sign of a good cookbook...pages that stick together!

As a cook who has over 15 cookbooks this is the one I reach for most often. The recipes are simple but exceptionally tasteful. An experienced cook will find a multitude of useful variations and substitutions listed for each recipe, as well as forgotten techniques. For once there is a whole cookbook full of items you can find in a regular supermarket.

I first read this book 20 years ago and was awed by the importance of the distribution of grain to the world, and particularly to one-party dictators. Anyone who understands political power knows that a small number of soldiers can control a much larger populace of people i.e. the German SS figured one storm trooper for roughly every 1000 plus people. However, when those people are all hungry at the same time it becomes another matter entirely, as in more difficult.

This book shows how a few big companies control the distribution of grain throughout the world. In so doing they are not prone to accept "aging receivables" from dictators, tin-pot or otherwise. Every political leader must understand the importance of grain or face a coup. Of course, one can find those who have lasted longer than others, but only at the cost of so weakening their state that it ultimately crumbles from internal implosion.

Read this book to understand history and more importantly the origen of our food supply and how it reaches our table.

An excellent work detailing how only a handful of families have controlled the worlds grain trade for centuries. A great piece for families that till the soil, but one that is even more important to the people who live in the city; and have no idea of the power and control that these families wield. Reading this book will show you how these families control the cheap food policies as well as the commodities markets and other products world wide.

I am a captain on Mississippi River towboats. I have pushed millions of tons of grain down the Mississippi River for years. But I never really understood the gobal impact of the world's grain company's until I read this book.

Now I understand the real power behind families such as Cargil and ADM's Andreas.

I took this course as a part of staff development offered by GMU. This book is so much better than the one I learned from in college. There is so much more offered to the teacher in a very easy to follow format. There are plenty of examples at every grade level to satisfy anyone. I wouldn't be without this book. Thanks to Ms. Richardson,et al. for writing it and thanks to my school district for offering it. This book will stay with me forever. If you are having reading problems in your class then get this book and quit pulling your hair out.

As an assistant principal, I have been witness to the positive effects of the strategies in this book, both for teaschers and students. The strategies are practical and more importantly they work. Students get a much more in depth understanding of their reading if these strategies are used. I would recommend this book to anyone teaching or studying.

When I decided to start entertaining professional colleagues in our home, I needed help FAST!I found it in this wonderful book which is full of creative and impressive meals. There are a variety of menus for a variety of situations; including "stand and nibble" entertaining,celebrations and holidays, buffets, sit-down dinners, brunches, and even outdoor entertaining. A section called Mixed-up Menus creates even more menus from those already laid out. The recipes use readily available ingredients and are not time-intensive. All are simple enough for a beginner like me (step-by-step with timetables,and illustrated) but sophisticated enough to make me look good! This book has been a real life-saver.

This is a fascinating book on the migration of people from the Midwestern Dustbowl during the Great Depression and what happened to them once they got to California. It is extremely well written. It makes reading the newspaper in California much more interesting because many of these people have gone on to shape current events

My wife and I recently purchased this book with the hopes of being able to plan ahead for the week with a gourmet twist. This book has exceeded our expectations in every way possible. The meals are not only fun to prepare, but have gotten rave reviews with everyone we have shared them with. The book contains a broad selection of menus with varied meats as the theme. This versatility has really kept us trying each set of meals. We have currently tried the first two weeks and are excited about the remaining eleven. The chocolate cheesecake for week one is outstanding. If you like cheesecake, this recipe alone is worth the price of the book. The pepper crusted tuna with grilled asparagus and grilled potatoes will keep you coming back for more. If you are a person who enjoys cooking good food, but also enjoys a very busy and active life, then this book is for you. Enjoy and bon apetite.

This is a great cookbook for busy people who like to eat delicious, healthy, creative meals. The recipes are easy to follow, with short ingredient lists. The preparation is simple but elegant. And the main idea behind this book, that you can "cook big" on the weekend and still not be doomed to eat exactly the same thing as leftovers for the rest of the week, is a lifesaver for me. The pictures are beautiful and the layout is easy to read. My only concern is that the binding will not hold up to years of use in the kitchen. I checked this book out of the library and liked it so much that I am now buying a copy.

Cooking for the Week : Leisurely Weekend Cooking for Easy WeekDAY Meals by Diane Morgan, et al

This is one of the better cookbooks I have seen. The book is well written, the recipes are clear and easy to follow, not to mention delicious.

I recommend this book to anyone who has asked themselves what to do with leftovers or said that there is nothing in the house to eat.

This book will get you thinking in a new, better, way about menu planning.

GBS wrote play with "approaching audiences as citizens capable of thought and prompting them to think imaginatively to some purpose" in mind, as Margery Morgan says. And there are plenty for one to think seriously about in Major Barbara.

The most interesting is his conviction that no money is untainted. That's interesting because it means the donations and public fundings the environmentalists take in come from no less than the evil polluters themselves, perhaps feeling, which GBS rightly agreed, as the Salvation Army would that they "...will take money from the Devil himself sooner than abandon the work of Salvation." But GBS also wrote in the preface that while he is okay to accept tainted money, "He must either share the world's guilt or go to another planet." From what I can gather from the preface and play, GBS believed money is the key to solve all the problems we have, hence his mentioning of Samuel Butler and his "constant sense of the importance of money," and his low opinion of Ruskin and Kroptokin, for whom, "law is consequence of the tendency of human beings to oppress fellow humans; it is reinforced by violence." Kropotkin also "provides evidence from the animal kingdom to prove that species which practices mutual aid multiply faster than others. Opposing all State power, he advocates the abolition of states, and of private property, and the transforming of humankind into a federation of mutual aid communities. According to him, capitalism cannot achieve full productivity, for it amis at maximum profits instead of production for human needs. All persons, including intellectuals, should practice manual labor. Goods should be distributed according to individual needs." (Guy de Mallac, The Widsom of Humankind by Leo Tolstoy.)

If GBS wasn't joking, then the following should be one of the most controversial ideas he raised in the preface to the play. I quote: "It would be far more sensible to put up with their vices...until they give more trouble than they are worth, at which point we should, with many apologies and expressions of sympathy and some generosity in complying with their last wishes, place them in the lethal chamber and get rid of them." Did he really mean that if you are a rapist once, you can be free and "put up with," but if you keep getting drunk (a vice), or slightly more seriously, stealing, you should be beheaded?

Shaw can be absolutely captivating even when he is being an evangelist for political philosophies that the twentieth century has proven to be nothing but vehicles for repression and mass murder (Communism - Shaw approved of Lenin even when the evidence showed him to be pure evil). This play-among his best (if you can see the movie with Rex Harrison, do not miss it)- has such brilliant dialogue and sparkling humor that it is easy to forget that one is being preached to. Shaw thinks human evil is due to socially deprived environments. Ergo, pour money into poor neighborhoods and social evils will vanish. Unfortunately for Shaw's argument, poverty and human evil are two different things entirely and only intersect occasionally and coincidently. The poor can be poor due to lack of opportunity or due to a culture of self-destructiveness (illegitmacy, drug/alcohol use, disdain for values that lead to achievement, disdain for skills that lead to steady employability). It is difficult to sustain an argument that the poor in the USA are so due to a lack of opportunity when recent immigrants have pretty much taken the available opportunities and ran with them, rapidly entering the middle classes within a generation of arriving here. Shaw simply cannot believe that anyone would choose to remain poor. Well, they can and do, when getting ahead means putting in 40+ hours a week, and not loafing all day on a street corner in an inebriated/stoned condition. Accepting that fact would have saved millions of lives that were sacrificed in the last century in the attempt to build a perfect "worker's paradise".
Leaving the silly premise behind the play aside, Shaw has crafted a startling piece of theatre and uses his magisterial command of the English language to amuse, provoke, and amaze the audience.

The playwright uncovers the debate about war and pacifism. Shaw also illuminates the poverty industry, and shows that all money is tainted. The play is a vehicle for a debate on philosophies, the burning issues of the day. Shaw shows that the audience can laugh and think, in the same play. Probably Britain's best known playwright, after Shakespeare, Shaw shines in Major Barbara

I have read all but the first Brian McKenna Book by Dan Mahoney. This was the only disappointment. It was good enough to finish, but was slow going.

Most of Dan Mahoney's books are well written, and drag you in, even if it is not a subject you are particularly interested in, but this one missed the boat.

I give it three stars because I finished it.

Books by the author have never let me down. Mr. Mahoneys insight on the NYPD is second to none. He combines made-up characters with real people to form a great plot. This story piting McKenna Verses a Doctor/Killer is truly engaging. Not as much behind the scene stuff with McKenna and family. I kind of liked it that way. More of this good murder/mystery came about. Interesting characters, whose careers you can follow by reading the whole series. All in all a great act. I look forward to Edge of the City(the only one of the series I haven't read) and all new works by the author. Thanks to my friend that lent me my 1st Mahoney.

HYDE really hits the spot as police procedures are represented in its rarest form. Believable plot and characters is what makes this book work. Having spent time in the same neighborhood that the story takes plaace only added to my appreciation of this book. Mahoney in New York is what Connelly is in Los Angeles. These guys should team up one day.

This was my first read of Dan Mahoney's work. I must say I liked it alot. The character of Brian McKenna is a strong one. The story with the two killers is very interesting. The Police work is well decribed.The character Tommy McKenna is based on a real person. He, along with Greve, Bynum, and Big Ed make the investigation end a real good show. The outside agencies, FBI, Arizona Sheriffs, and Singapore police add flavor as well. The Political side show, with Barrone and McMahon, add a good sub-plot. The story, which had parallels to the movie, 8mm, kept me very interested. This book will have you feeling bad for the victims. I look forward to more books by Dan Mahoney.

I'd never heard of Dan Mahoney, but the title caught my attention and the back cover caught my interest. Being a retired police officer, I view with some skepticism any so-called authority on police procedures and policies. I was surprised when I found my attention riveted on the story. I truly couldn't put it down. I couldn't wait to learn the outcome and the fate that awaited the bad guys. The only thing that struck me as being less than authentic was the fact that every investigator from every police agency was not only intelligent, dedicated and persevering, but a really nice guy to boot. That just doesn't happen. I will definitely buy another Dan Mahoney novel

Normally Police Procedurals are not my cup of tea; however, Dan Mahoney's BLACK and WHITE kept me riveted. This was my first (but not last by now) Brian McKenna book by Mahoney, and while I like Brian a lot, my hero and person I'd like to see more of in future books, is the tenacious, intutitive, elderly retired black policeman. I guarantee, you've never met anyone like him. They made him and threw away the mold! As you can tell, I really get into my books - good ones come alive for me - and this is a good one!

There are other very unusual characters in this book that you will come to know and like (or dislike), and this is another book you will hate to put down.

I started this book in the morning, took it with me for my flu shot (stood in line reading) at the Church, and stayed up all night to finish.

I think you will like it!

I enjoyed my 2nd reading of Mahoney..interesting story involving the Hero, Brian McKenna...his good relations with his department, NYPD..his dealings with the Brits, Iceland and the IRA..the interesting story of the cop gone bad(not McKenna)..the involvement of family of the victims and McKennas too...good informative stuff and easy to follow..The presentation of the Det from Iceland, Thor, was rather neat as well..the ending seemed kind of rushed but i liked it all things considered..i look forward to Mr. Mahoneys other work..

If you are a Brian McKenna fan, this is a must read, but be prepared to learn a lot about the Irish fighting in Belfast, Ireland. To me, while some of this information was important to the story, the excessive amount of information about Ireland did not move the book forward. I was beginning to feel he was being paid by the word for Ireland experiences.

Fortunately, this book is also set in New York and Iceland. To me this would have been a 5-star police procedural if it had taken place only in New York & Iceland.

Iceland's criminal justice system and its Chief Investigator are priceless. This information (scattered throughout) alone is worth reading the book.

Overall, I recommend you read this book if you like Police Procedurals or Dan Mahoney (McKenna) Books.

This book grabs your attention and doesn't let go for a week after you finish it. As a former Police Officer and someone who has been to Iceland and Northern Ireland I found this book to be very realistic in every sense. Brian McKenna is the type of guy you want to be your partner, your friend , and the cop who comes when you dial 911. He is Dan Mahoney's main character in all of his books, a NYPD Detective who in spite of past problems rises to the task of solving the toughest cases that come along. In this book he travels to Iceland to find a missing girl and ends up in a personal battle with the IRA's best bomb man. If you want a safe, predictable story then DO NOT buy this book. But if you want a gripping, realistic story of intrigue, with heartstopping action thrown in. Then get off your chair and go buy this book !