My 8 month old son was diagnosed with CP at 4 months (though we knew there were issues from the beginning due to birth injury). I started reading this book a month ago and am so happy I found it listed as a resource in the book "Children with Cerebral Palsy". The emotions the author feels and shares are so similar and validating that it could not help but to reassure me and to help me not feel so alone. I have wanted to try alternative therapies from the beginning and had only been exposed to cranio sacral therapies. This book is invaluable in that she has already done so much of the research and shares her experiences that it cuts my time down in half and gives me starting points to begin my own research. So many of the things that she shares I had not heard of, but knew in my heart had to exist - she put a name to them. Her ongoing changing feelings and Seth's changes give me an indicator of things to come and things to watch out for, hopefully side-stepping some of the problems she experienced during her journey. I am so grateful for this book!!

A great writer and parent who paved the way for many with this moving book. An extraordinary resource for parents seeking help children with special needs and for adults who have special needs who also want to live full lives.

A great writer and parent who paved the way for many with this moving book. An extraordinary resource for parents seeking help children with special needs and for adults who have special needs who also want to live full lives.

While PERFECTION SALAD is certainly about food, it is also a rich cultural history of women and food. With a wonderful selection of resources, from a recipe for raisin stuffed marshmallows to a celebration of Fannie Farmer, this is a delightful and interesting treat. Introduction by Michael Stern, co-author of EAT YOUR WAY ACROSS THE U.S.A and Gourmet Magazine?s popular column "Roadfood."

Foodies and feminists alike should read this book. As part of the Modern Food Library reprints, chosen by Ruth Reichl (who is known for her good taste and her own laudable literary contributions - "Tender at the Bone" and "Comfort Me with Apples"), "Perfection Salad" describes all the elements present at the turn of the century that combined to forever change the way Americans view food. Food, its preparation and presentation became a female obsession in an time where the kitchen was really the only arena in which a woman could rule. The female nutritionists and cooks from that era seemed bent upon exerting control on SOMETHING, and that something turned out to be food - with sometimes terrible consequences. After reading "Perfection Salad", I understood the recipes that my grandmother (born in 1898) and my mother after her learned and served. Don't be frightened by the scholarly look of "Perfection Salad" - there are hilarious nuggets in the text - like color-themed menus (everything green and white, for example), putting everything into gelatin for the sake of "daintiness" (no messy lettuce leaves hanging out of your mouth) and covering absolutely anything and everything with "white sauce". For more laughs, peruse "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" by James Lileks in which he has gathered some of the most revolting-looking photos of the consequences of "Perfection Salad".

This highly readable, beautifully researched book provides a fascinating look into American "cuisine" circa 1850-1920. The Boston Cooking School and other institutions promoted Americanization through cooking conducted on scientific principles, although immigrants proved reluctant to give up their "coarse and unsavory" meals for triumphs of digestibility such as the following, served to President Wilson on his first day in office: "cream of celery soup, fish with white sauce, roast capon with two white vegetables, a fruit salad,and a dessert made with gelatin, custard, and whipped cream"(212). Other triumphs included a salad made of bananas and pimentos bound together with mayonnaise and whipped cream and, later, grapefruit pieces mixed with dessert mints. Often funny and always interesting, this book
also helps readers to understand the convenience food mania of the 1950s.

Maybe I missed the fine-print or something, but this book isn't what I was expecting, really, or what I was looking for. The book doesn't get three stars because it's bad -- it's not a bad book -- but because I think, well, the title is a sort of false advertising. When I picked up the book, I was expecting essays by successful writers about how they broke into the business of screenwriting ... inspirational-type stuff. Instead, what the book contains are stories about:

"The first time I ...

"... sold a tv-pilot after working for fifteen years as a staff-writer for a highly successful television show."

Or ...

"The first time I ...

"... adapted one of my highly sucessful stage plays into a screenplay."

And so on.

Many of the personal essays are interesting, some are funny, and the book is worth reading, if what you want to read are the kind of mildly amusing, sometimes hopeful essays contained in this book. If what you want is a book of essays by highly successful screenwriters about how the broke into the business, you'll find little (although some) of that here.

For anyone who's ever wanted to get paid for it, you ought to read this book. Especially wonderful for those who follow the Who's Who of Hollywood writers, and how they struggled. The foreword by William Goldman is especially charming as is the closing anecdote by Steve Zaillian, which I found touching. Audrey Wells' tale is flippant and funny as is Pamela Gray's.

One of the things I'd like to do in my life is write a screenplay. I haven't actually done it yet, and I have no idea what the process is like. But this book was a very interesting read. It has given me a renewed sense of hope. Some of the writers' stories in this book are like fairy tales to the hopeful screenwriters, and some of the stories show the reality to us. Reading these has helped me learn what to expect--because I understand that most of these writers were lucky, and that's a lot of what it takes to make it in Hollywood. Let's hope I have it.

Also, I must point out that the forward by William Goldman was worth the price of the book all by itself. I thought I was going to die laughing. I think I read the whole thing out loud to my roommate.

All in all, this is a wonderful book, with many memorable and hopeful stories.

I bought this book because I have a child with severe cerebral palsy and profound mental retardation. I wanted to explore alternative therapies for him and thought this book would provide useful information. I was sorely disappointed and sorry I had wasted my time and money. I can't imagine that many parents will relate to this author who complains about the stress of traveling back and forth to stay in her waterfront house in La Jolla in order to get expert care for her son. Most parents reading this--though I hope not many waste their time--would love to have the means the wonderful care that this author was able to afford but continually complained about. It seemed to me that the author gave no thought whatsoever to the reader and instead as the other reviewer said was just looking to exploit her child's disability and make herself feel better by spreading misery. By her account, her son was not nearly as disabled as my son and I found her attitude offensive and far from uplifting. Her incessant whining about people and her advantaged circumstances were extremely annoying. It seemed to me that she probably just published her journal without putting any time, effort or thought into what readers might get from the book. The only reason I give this wretched litany of spoiled rotten whining, one star is that the resource section did contain some useful information. (although even that didn't contain any information that isn't available from many other, less painful sources) Save your money and encourage this author to end her writing career by warning your friends to buy a better book.

Laura Shapiro Kramer's book is wonderful.

It shows how a family dealt with circumstances thrust upon them by seeking and exploring every available option.

I gained a great deal of knowledge and insight reading about this family's experiences. It is an inspiring and thought-provoking story particularly for anyone dealing with a child who has special needs. I highly recommend this book!

Any mother wants what is best for her child and Laura Shapiro Kramer does not differ in that respect. Leary of what modern medicine had to offer her mild to moderately cerebral palsied child, Seth, she began to explore alternative therapies from homeopathy to Feldenkrais. A mother's struggle to help her young child lead her beyond the mainstream and into the oft times controversial world of alternative medicine. A powerful book, a success story for one family, but not for everyone.