This is a beautiful book filled with eye candy but, better yet, full of practical advice for anyone ready to design a garden. Smith was smart and patient when he set out to design his own garden in Tennessee. Here he shows how the gardens of his childhood and most importantly, visits to the great gardens of Europe, helped influence and shape his design philosophy.

Smith uses the popular concept of "garden rooms" to illustrate twelve principles - Enclosure, Shape and Form, Framing, Entry, Focal Point, Structures, Color, Texture, Abundance, Whimsy, Mystery and Time. Each of these are illustrated with lush photos of Smith's own garden as well as his clients gardens.

The last section of the book discusses techniques and ideas on how to plan and construct your garden. Lists of plants are provided for specific situations.

Overall, a well designed, photographed and written book.

Wow! Allen definitely makes complicated gardening look easy and exciting in his new book. I love the way he compares rooms in a garden to those in a house. His suggestions on color are so inspiring. Allen's lifelong passion for gardening is so obvivous through his work. I am so ready for warm weather so my family and I can begin our outside rooms!

In this elegant new book, Allen has made grand garden designs easy to understand, and even easier to achieve in the garden. I love the juxtaposition of the traditional English perennial borders with the front yard of his home in Little Rock! I found the book to be inspiring - can't wait for spring. Hard to imagine it his first book... looking forward to more.

This is a really unusual book which is entertaining enough to pick up and read from cover to cover. However I think its real value is that it is an interesting and detailed reference book.

Have you ever read a horror novel that makes reference to some obscure demon up from the pits of Hell? This book will tell you all about it. Or some historical romance which makes reference to someone who spoke out against the church? Again, you'll find them here. As well as all manner of people who have spoken out against all manner of things throughout history and from all faiths and view points.

It was the title that made me pick it up in the first place, and I think the suggestion is that these are people/things who would populate the under-world. Rather tongue in cheek I think, but eye catching just the same.

So if you are a serious reader and you like interesting reference books, pick up a copy of this. You may surprise yourself at how often you look at it - it is full of fascinating things!

This book should be in every reference library, private and public, as it is a useful compendium of free thinkers past and present and organizations that support them. Information on groups includes addresses and phone numbers. It also makes fascinating browsing. Celebrities and politicians past and prresent are here. George Washington and Abe Lincoln qualify. Do you? The compiler of Who's Who in Hell may be rushing things a bit as many of the listed individuals are still very much alive but I am sure the title is tongue in cheek.

This is an enormously important reference work for anyone who would like to check if a historical or contemporary figure was or is a religious believer. Most standard encyclopedias will provide whole biographies of important persons, but obscure the fact they had grave doubts about God. Many of the fathers of the American Revolution were not Christians, but deists who accepted only the existence of a prime mover not Jesus. This does not prevent foolish, uninformed believers from claiming this country was founded as a "Christian" nation.

Smith will be criticized for many of his difficult choices and assertions. The book distinguishes between major entries, real unbelievers; minor entries of persons who only wrote something related to unbelief, and peripheral entries. To assess a person's belief is always difficult. Our concepts of religion and faith are arbitrary. Different convictions may be expressed in various writings, and belief may change over time. In addition, many persons had reason to obscure their doubts or pretend to a faith they did not share. For this reason, very few modern American politicians will be found in Hell.

Readers will find some good humor, many Nobel laureates in science, literature, and peace, as well as most important philosophers and a few statesmen in Hell. Mark Twain had it truly right when he suggested we go to "Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company." No religious or secular library should be without this book.

This paperback book is sort of a condensed version of Warren Smith's huge tome, Who's Who in Hell. with a focus on celebrities such as Woody Allen, Katherine Hepburn, Andy Rooney, George Clooney and many, many others. The style is quite witty and there is lots of dish on the "damned" famous people. You can open to any page and have a good time, especially if you are a freethinker! Religious fundamentalists will probably want to avoid this book, unless they want to learn about famous people who they believe are destined for the infernal regions.

Like they say, heaven for the climate, hell for the company!

I naively assumed every important person was into religion. When they die, they're always seen in funerals held in churches.

This book, however, lists dozens of inspiring leaders in show business (Bjork, Brando, Clooney, Dietrich, Garofalo, Crichston, Alan Cumming, even Michael Musto!) who are Ethical Culturists, freethinkers, secular humanists, Unitarians, who are not into organized religion. The title, in short, means the good guys are in Hell except Hell is a theological invention.

Culled from Warren Smith's huge 'Who's Who In Hell', this focuses on celebrities and others in show business and in the arts who are non-believers, Freethinkers, Humanists, etc.
A fascinating and entertaining reference work, full of interesting facts and details.