by Dashini Ann Jeyathurai,18

When I first received my copy of Blue Jean: What Young Women are Thinking, Saying, and Doing in the mail, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. On one hand, I had seen the creative talents working on Blue Jean Online but on the other hand, I had read many paltry attempts of young women attempting to address issues they knew little of. I should have known better than to doubt Blue Jean.

Numerous young women individually mold subjects that are close to their hearts ranging from the meaning of feminism, the attention deficit disorder to the dilemmas of mixed parentage. The success of their writing lies in a simple formula that each young woman adopted and that was to write about something that they knew and felt intimately about. Dina Rabadi, 21, dispells the myths of studying in a women's college through her honest insight into the hidden benefits of studying at Smith College. I find myself re-evaluating my own choices for college and wondering why a women's college is conspicuously absent from my own list. It is this kind of writing that compels me to look inward and to reflect instead of simply heaving a sigh of relief at the end of an estrogen pumped collection of works. Erica Bryant, 16, reaches beyond the pages of the book through her mature outlook on "Black Feminists Talkin' Back". Being an Indian, I found myself unconsciously nodding my head as I read her piece that tackled the double prejudice of being a colored woman. When I read the various pieces, it wasn't so much the writer's creativity or fluency that captured my attention, but the sincerity with which they wrote. With Lida Haber-Thompson's piece on the attention deficit disorder, there is a conscious effort to take this condition out of a medical journal and put it into the words of a teenager. What made me want to know more about the disorder was the turmoil within Lisa's that is reflected in her words. Anne Preller, 15, presents an informative and passionate piece on sexual harassment that made me stop to think of the times I may have dismissed something I was not comfortable with for fear of being called school marmish or priggish.

Blue Jean: What Young Women are Thinking, Saying, and Doing is crucial in creating a sense of solidarity amidst young women who are separated by geographical and cultural boundaries. That leap in one's heart to see that "I'm not the only one who feels this way" is what a collection of such works offers young women everywhere. It's captivating to read the way young women have jumped at the opportunity to defend their own beliefs and to stand up to the flawed images of women that one is constantly bombarded with by parents, boyfriends, tradition and the media. Sarabeth Matilsky and Danielle Kabelle, both 16, look at the manner in which gender stereotypes are instilled in us from childhood and whether size determines beauty, respectively. Such writing is living proof that while there is a majority that strives to achieve Barbie-like proportions, there is a significant minority that determines success and beauty by their own standards.

Alongside these key issues, Blue Jean: What Young Women are Thinking, Saying, and Doing showcases young talents in creative writing that build new worlds for us to venture into through the words on a page. If I could, I would go on and on about what a feast this book is for the reader, but I think Julia Rodriguez sums this book and what it represents beautifully in the last two lines of her short story "Lilacs Bloom Every Spring". "We will find our right to be. Until then, lilacs bloom every spring".

by Mary Kate Brennan, 15

Empowering, inspiring, and stimulating. In a world full of beauty do and don't magazines and other superficial publications, this compilation is purely refreshing. Blue Jean: What Young Women are Thinking, Saying, and Doing allows for teenage girls to read about significant issues that pertain to all, not just what shade of pink is in for this spring. This anthology starts with a bang, and influences readers to get out and actually do something. In the first chapter, volunteering and activism is addressed. It tells of actual things that young women have already accomplished, such as the one with girls assisting with a seeing-eye dog project. This book goes beyond simply telling, it encourages activism, not just dreaming, doing.

Between the pages that bring down feminist stereotypes and help for the mind and soul lay the true feelings and emotions of all girls. Though targeted at the 14-19 set, Blue Jean: What Young Women are Thinking, Saying, and Doing defies age barriers. It is a collection of illuminating words that evoke dreams, hopes, and stories. Most importantly, it explains that common phrase "if you don't succeed at first, try, try again." Rather then put pressure on women, Blue Jean uplifts and helps girls shape themselves into independent, self-sufficient women. It does not make women feel as though clothes, makeup, and hot-dates define who we are, rather it coaxes our inner spirit and drive to challenge and overcome setbacks.

by Shayla Price

I was absolutely astonished by how young women, like myself, are making a difference, coping with life, and just simply having fun. Blue Jean: What Young Women are Thinking, Saying, and Doing is more than just a book; it is a resource that will guide and teach you about situations you may face in this challenging world. It is full of insight that goes beyond fashion and cosmetics and touches on young women's dreams and accomplishments.

Throughout the book, true-life experiences are discussed to inform, involve, and empower you. "Suffering in Silence: Sexual Harassment" gives an outstanding investigation of sexual harassment in schools, while touching on many different viewpoints. My spirit was uplifted and brought to a new level as I read "The Key to Confidence". The story,"Black Feminists Talkin' Back", really touched home because it expressed the conflict of how African-American women feel separated between sexism and racism. The amazing question and answer section, "Dear Dr. Beth", gave great advice on difficult everyday experiences that young women deal with. These are just a few of the many terrific articles that will make you really dig deeper in learning about who you are as an individual.

Additionally, the book devotes a section on how you can publish your own zine, reviews of other zines, and information on how you can contribute your writings to Blue Jean Online ....This book should be in every young lady's collection. After you read Blue Jean: What Young Women are Thinking, Saying, and Doing, you will have a greater awareness of society, and your perspective on life will truly change.

This book is so well-written, techniques so clearly illustrated, that a really great piece of jewelry can be turned out with little previous experience. It one of the best how-to books of its kind I have seen. For silversmithing beginners, it shows chains that can be made in your living room on a tray from fine silver wire, with a mini-torch, and requires no sophisticated soldering.

This book should be on every craftsperson's and metalworker's workbench!! It is thorough, detailed, and easy to follow. This is a wonderful book written by a gifted teacher and metalworker. If only Jean Stark would write more books, especially one on granulation and gold alloy metalsmithing...

Jean's book saves time! If you are a craftsman working in gold or silver just the ability to make a quick reference to wire guage and number of links per inch makes this book one of the most useful in the workshop. For the more experienced worker the basic instructions can easily lead on to more complex chain making. It really is one of the most stained, abused and distressed volumes on my shelf.

Although I found this to be a good cookbook, it seemed to address the mainland Portuguese style of cooking and I guess I was looking to see more of the Azorian type of cooking also know as the "poor mans" cooking.

My Luso-Americano husband bought me this cookbook when I expressed my desire to try to learn to cook Portuguese food for him like his mother and grandmother did. I pulled off a few good meals and loved reading about the country and the Portuguese way of life. A few years later we moved to Portugal to work there, and I found out for myself just how delicious virtually every dish really is! Jean Anderson's book became even more helpful to me, as I was able to translate the ingredients I was buying, understand the reason for combining certain flavors, and taste the original inspirations for Jean's choices. Portugal is one of the most beautiful countries in the world and its people (and cuisine) are friendly and accessible -- I wish everyone who wants to experience a truly unique culture would visit. It is NOT Spain or a poor imitation of Spain, and does not deserve to be lumped into all of those travelogues as if it were. We lived there for 4 1/2 years and I can tell you that Jean Anderson's recipes will give you as close a taste to being there as is possible! (Jean, if you're out there I'd love to compare notes some day -- please write to me!)

The recipes in this book produce food just like I ate in Portugal. Delicious and easy to make, with an unusual combination of seasoning that consistently impresses my dinner guests. My only complaint is the high fat content of many of the recipes (many dishes call for lard, for which you are told not to make substitutions)... but that's probably why they taste so good. I highly recommend this book to those looking for something tasty and different.

This book is a great incite into the times of elizabeth the first. Written from the perspective of Elizabeths cousin, this was an honest, enlightening and interesting book. It has certainly got me gripped on the British monarchys history. Elizabeth is seen to be a domineering, spoilt person but yet extremely loyal to friends, family and her favourite servants. She is torn between the love of the charming Robert Dudley and her obsession not to have to share her crown.

this is a really wonderful book. it's so descriptive and it feels as if you are looking through an window of Tudor England and seeing everything, from a jewel on a queen's splendid crown to the look in a man's confident eyes. Lettice tells her story so well, and makes the characters so real and believable. It is a good mix of entertainment and history.

It was refreshing to see Queen Elizabeth from a different point of view; you always hear her described as "Good Queen Bess". Of course, we are shown through this book that the Queen wasn't as good and sweet as everyone thought she was. Granted, though, she was still brilliant.

It was also interesting to see more about the Queen's "favorites". Overall, I would highly reccomend this book.

Fantastic analysis and documentation. Proves that just like the empty slogans of "freedom" and "justice", in so called "advanced societies", woman's liberation is reduced to a slogan to sell products and held subservient to the economic aims of the "sellers" of such liberation. Exposes the ulterior motives of the corporate elite and their advertising propaganda network and the false consciousness they produce to control women and people around the world- the connections and extensions can easily be worked out by all thinking readers. I'm very grateful to the author for this great service to society.

I loved this book when it was originally published at Deadly Persuasion. Be careful when ordering...in TINY letters on the cover it says "Originally published as Deadly Persuasion."

I encourage you to buy and read this book. It's a source of reason, enlightenment, passion, love. It's meaningful, revealing. I read it in a few days, subtracting time to my other activities. Each time it has been difficult to stop reading and close the book. If you are going to read only one book this year, choose this one.

This book is focused on a few, fundamental, issues (excerpts are between "quotation marks").
1 - It explains that advertising works. Most people think they are not influenced by advertising. But advertising works best precisely because people don't think it works on them.
"If you are like most people, you think that advertising has no influence on you. This is what advertisers want you to believe. But, if that were true, why would companies spend over $200 billion a year on advertising? Why would they be willing to spend over $250,000 to produce an average television commercial and another $250,000 to air it? If they want to broadcast their commercial during the Super Bowl, they will gladly spend over a million dollars to produce it and over one and a half million to air it. After all, they might have the kind of success that Victoria's Secret did during the 1999 Super Bowl. When they paraded bra-and-panty-clad models across TV screens for a mere thirty seconds, one million people turned away from the game to log on to the Website promoted in the ad. No influence?"

2 - It makes you understand that the message mass media and advertising repeat us moment by moment ("The average American is exposed to at least three thousand ads every day") is that happiness comes from products. Alas, products are only things: no matter how much we love them, they won't love us back. By the way, didn't you ask why - in the car commercials - there are all those cars entering tunnels?
We are sold models impossible to follow - and just wrong. But effortlessly advertised: you are made up to think they're true. Thus, a sense of strain comes. I think that many problems our society faces (high divorce rate, violence, alcoholism, drugs) come from this split. I'm a pharmacist: it's amazing how many tranquilizers I sell every day.

3 - It lets you to realize that advertising often turns people into objects.
"It is becoming clearer that this objectification has consequences, one of which is the effect that it has on sexuality and desire. Sex in advertising and the media is often criticized from a puritanical perspective - there's too much of it, it's too blatant, it will encourage kids to be promiscuous, and so forth. But sex in advertising has far more to do with trivializing sex than promoting it, with narcissism than with promiscuity, with consuming than with connecting. The problem is not that it is sinful, but that it is synthetic and cynical. (...) We never see eroticized images of older people, imperfect people, people with disabilities. The gods have sex, the rest of us watch - and judge our own imperfect sex lives against the fantasy of constant desire and sexual fulfilment portrayed in the media. (...) We can never measure up. Inevitably, this affects our self-images and radically distorts reality. "You have the right to remain sexy", says an ad featuring a beautiful young woman, her legs spread wide, but the subtext is "only if you look like this". And she is an object - available, exposed, essentially passive. She has the right to remain sexy, but not the right to be actively sexual."

4 - Did you know that we are a product? Mass media sell us to advertisers.
"Make no mistake: The primary purpose of the mass media is to sell audiences to advertisers. We are the product. Although people are much more sophisticated about advertising now than even a few years ago, most are still shocked to learn this."

"Through focus groups and depth interviews, psychological researchers can zero in on very specific target audiences - and their leaders. "Buy this 24-year-old and get all his friends absolutely free", proclaims an ad for MTV directed to advertisers. MTV presents itself publicly as a place for rebels and nonconformists. Behind the scenes, however, it tells potential advertisers that its viewers are lemmings who will buy whatever they are told to buy."

5 - I think this book is also valuable because it re-states the ethical principle that there are no shortcuts to riches, no shortcuts to happiness. There are no free lunches.
"Today the promise is that we can change our lives instantly, effortlessly - by winning the lottery, selecting the right mutual fund, having a fashion makeover, losing weight, having tighter abs, buying the right car or soft drink. It is this belief that such transformation is possible that drives us to keep dieting, to buy more stuff, to read fashion magazines that give us the same information over and over again."

Beautiful pictures depict romantic spaces with clear details, they helps me as an architect to re-create the Spanish living environment with many examples from different projects. The 20 houses in this book are gorgeous and inspiring -whether you are looking for ideas or merely relax reading. This is not a book showing only pieces of details for decorator use, it's an awesome architectural book as well as a perfect collection for my coffee table.

One of those books that is just full of great images of the Spanish Revival/Moorish style architecture of So. California. While not heavy on text, this book is a very important visual reference for designers, etc. who want to see how it used to be done. Many photos are of the interiors, but most are of the gardens.

If interested in the glazed Malibu tiles seen throughout the book, check out "Ceramic Art of the Malibu Potteries: 1926-1932" by Ronald L. Rindge.

This is a gorgeous book full of color photos and description of Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture in Southern California. The beginning of the book provides a review of the style with information on stylistic influences and historical setting. As another reviewer mentioned, the homes in this book are mostly huge, and it really would have been nice to see some well-done modest homes (i.e. the 1000 or 1600 square foot variety). Nevertheless, this is the ONLY full-color book I have been able to find on this style, and I do think it provides helpful elements for use in smaller houses, but one needs to be imaginative to find them. If you are living in a smaller house, you can't just lift a whole room out of this book. For example, the cover photo features a huge staircase and fountain. It is very difficult (and would be inappropriate) to duplicate this type of thing in a smaller home, but I might notice that the decorative tile on the stair risers and the saltillo tile on the steps could be used on the steps up to my own modest front porch, for example. We have used a number of individual elements from this book in our own home, and we've used the photos to get an idea of what "works" and what doesn't in this style. I do really wish, though, that there was a companion book that showed how this style can be used to advantage in smaller homes, since the vast majority of homes of this style are in the 1000-2000 square foot range.

Overall a beautiful and helpful book, and I do think it was worth the money.

A FORTUNATE MAN: THE STORY OF A COUNTRY DOCTOR, first published in the mid-1960s by John Berger, has as its subject a certain John Sassall, a rural physician in England. This small volume, 169 pages in paperback, is also nicely illustrated with many apt b/w photographs by Jean Mohr.

If you've ever been enchanted by ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL by Dr. James Herriot, an English country veterinarian, then A FORTUNATE MAN starts out promising enough with a half dozen or so brief accounts of Dr. Sassall's interactions with his patients. Then, the remainder and greater portion of the text is a lengthy Berger essay based on his observations of the physician and his place in the community. Sassall himself, as might otherwise be revealed by his very real and illustrative day to day rounds, is reduced to the introductory cameos.

Berger mixes philosophy and social commentary as he explores such subjects as the doctor/patient relationship, the art of diagnosis, the physician's social standing in the community, and the physician's view of suffering. The flavor of Berger's dissertation can be sampled from this snippet regarding suffering:

"The objective co-ordinates of time and space, which are necessary to fix a presence, are relatively stable. But the subjective experience of time is liable to be so grossly distorted - above all by suffering -that it becomes, both to the sufferer and any person partially identifying himself with the sufferer, extremely difficult to correlate with time proper. Sassall not only has to make this correlation, he also has to correlate the patient's subjective experience of time with his own subjective experience."

The book is less about Dr. Sassall then the author's discernment of the man, and the two are not necessarily the same. This volume would be well-received as part of any medical school curriculum - Theory of Bedside Manner or Medical Ethics 1A, perhaps. For myself, as one who is grudgingly granted 10 minutes of a doctor's distracted attention during the annual physical - the HMO's time is money, after all - I wanted to be presented with first hand evidence that real doctors (like my father the GP who made house calls!) still exist somewhere in the world. Berger's lecturing, while well-meaning and perceptive, didn't do that. It just bored.

I read this book for the first time as an undergraduate in 1987, now as a graduate student in health care, I'm realizing the wealth of information about how an effective system of care looks like. It's not the HMO approach, it's the approach that keeps one close to the ground in their community.

If you care about people and health care systems, read this book!

It begins as if it were fiction, and ends as a study of one man's life, his relation to his patients, and the economic and social conditions which frame this connection. It is less biography than philosophy, and it extends beyond doctors toward all people and their actions.

This is not to say that John Berger's observations of Dr. Sassall's life can be applied to all people. Much is specific to Sassall's identity as a doctor. His depression, Berger claims, is a result of "the suffering of his patients, and his own sense of inadequacy." But there is a theme of existentialism that underlies the book, and it is ultimately about, I think, the pain of searching for purpose after one has faced and understood absurdity. Berger cannot conclude his essay because Sassall's essence cannot be truly captured, and his existence is not yet finished.

Besides being a philosophical book, it is also very personal. It is difficult to categorize FORTUNATE MAN into nonfiction categories because it is very intellectually intimate. It is a unique and thoughtful book, not only to be enjoyed but appreciated with effort and time.

This book divides parenting into two sides: nurture and structure. The authors give more than enough examples of the diffent types of each. All of this information gives the reader a new way of looking at how we interact with eachother and ourselves. There is also a great section with affirmations and helpful behaviours for each developmental stage.

Reading Growing Up Again has given me tremendous insights into the kind of parenting I was given and how that is affecting my parenting and grandparenting. I find that I go back to the book often and re-read portions of it. As an adoptee, I especially appreciated the chapter devoted entirely to adoption. Thank you, Connie and Jean!

A very insightful book about the different stages of human development. It's written in a way that anyone who doesn't have any experience in psychology can clearly relate and understand. An eye-opener for our relationships of origin and a tool for improving the families we are creating

If you were a fan of Dietrich and were allowed to own only ONE book about this woman, then this should be the book to own. To reiterate another reviewer's thought -- it is EXQUISITE.

This is a dream of a book. Full of glorious photos and facts. I highly reccommend this to all Dietrich and film fans. All public figures should be the subject of a book like this.

A delicacy! The best book of photographs I have seen on Dietrich and a compendium of beauty, not only hers but all that was created through and with her. A must have book.

I would in fact prefer to award this 3.5 stars, but the Amazon system seems to compel one to choose between 3 and 4, and I think 4 is too generous. To begin with the text, there is no doubt that this is not the best Shakespeare to buy. It is to a large extent based on the Oxford Shakespeare, which - quite rightly, in my view - has attracted a lot of criticism for some of its peculiarities. Thus, for example, Oxford prints TWO versions of *King Lear*, the quarto text and that of the folio. Norton rightly takes issue with this, and produces the kind of conflated text that most readers would want, but adds the other two AS WELL (so we are offered THREE versions!). This kind of thing is, in truth, academic self-indulgence - it shows an undue respect for academic concerns which to most readers are not of the slightest interest. There is a similar tendency to pay scant regard to what most readers really want and need in the Introduction: that tells us a good deal about Shakespeare's time, and the material is interesting, but it is not often shown to be relevant, or necessary, to an understanding of what Shakespeare writes. The explanatory annotation accompanying the texts is not bad, but often inferior to that of comparable editions, notably Bevington's. The introductions to individual plays are usually stimulating, but not necessarily convincing. Thus Greenblatt on the one hand says about Macbeth's murder of Duncan, "That he does so without adequate motivation, that he murders a man toward whom he should be grateful and protective, deepens the mystery ..." (p. 2558), yet adds a few lines later: "Macbeth and Lady Macbeth act on ambition ...". Precisely, that IS Macbeth's motivation for the murder, as Macbeth himself points out unequivocally in 1.7.25-7 - there is, therefore, absolutely nothing mysterious about his motivation. The edition does, however, offer a number of good references to other writings about Shakespeare. All in all, I do consider 3.5 stars is a fair "grade", in seeking to assess this for the benefit of the majority of readers looking for a complete Shakespeare to buy; but I consider David Bevington's by far the best edition of the complete works, then the Riverside, and only then this one - though, with its annotations, it is certainly more useful than the Oxford edition on which it is based. - Joost Daalder, Professor of English, Flinders University, South Australia

I confess that after examining 5-6 of the top-selling complete Shakespeares I tried not to like the Norton. There are less expensive editions, there are editions with glossy pages and colored photographs, there are editions that are half the weight and bulk of this leviathan, which is far more Shakespeare than the average reader--perhaps, even scholar, for that matter--would ever require. But despite its bulk and unwieldyness, its 3500 (!) thin, flimsy pages, its sheer excess, I couldn't ignore its advantages. The small print enables the publishers to squeeze in contextual materials--in the introduction and appendixes--that in themselves amount to an encyclopedic companion to Shakespeare's works; the introductions to the plays are written not in "textbook prose" but in an engaging style worthy of their subject; and perhaps, best of all, this is the only edition that places the glosses right alongside the "strange" Elizabethan word instead of in the footnotes. You can read the plays without experiencing vertigo of the eye. So this is the edition, though you may wish to go with the smaller, bound portions that Norton publishes of the same edition--especially if you can't afford the cost of a personal valet to carry this tome from home to office. On the other hand, the complete edition is excellent for doing crunches and other aerobic exercises--activities many of us who read the Bard are abt to ignore.

As a fervent admirer of Shakespeare, this complete collection, comprising excellent introductions to each play and helpful textual notes as well as informative writings on the history of both England and the art of acting that shaped Shakespeare's writing, was like a dream come true. While before I had to walk around trying to find a good edition of the play I wanted to read, now I can open the Norton Shakespeare and read without being afraid of not understanding words or missing the point of the play. This book's obvious drawbacks are its heft and, as mentioned, its delicate pages, but these are easily outweighed by the abovementioned advantages! Buy it and read!