List price: $18.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $12.99
Buy one from zShops for: $11.99
But I've lived there for a while, so I know these things. Paige Smith's book was out of print for a long while (But now thanks to U of Georgia P, the folks who brought back William Hedgepeth's The Hog Book--there's a pattern here), but now you can read and know these things as well.
The chickens will be grateful.
Used price: $11.12
Collectible price: $30.80
Buy one from zShops for: $11.12
Author Michael Perry brings his street-savvy writing style to children’s books in DANIEL’S RIDE. With the lyricism gained with his musical background, and an intense understanding of what motivates children, Perry creates a fun, hotrodding tale of sun, brothers and cars certain to delight young readers. Crisp, believable, readable dialog combine lends the story vibrant energy and promise. Very highly recommended.
Used price: $8.47
Used price: $5.98
Buy one from zShops for: $5.99
I had some problems though, with the author's forays into explaining issues of race, class and discrimination. At many places, where one least expects it, he stigmatizes people who react against discrimination and oppression and seems to think that they should just lighten up and swallow injustice. He seems to especially dislike African American militance but says nothing about the white violence that it is the mirror image of. This is a very dangerous attitude. We all need to speak out, constantly, against oppression and historical injustices, and recognize its toxic effects on all of us. Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. Its a bit insensitive to self righteously judge and condemn other people's pain, hurt and their resultant anger when one hasn't been similarly hurt oneself.
I think perhaps in the next edition, if the author wishes to condemn violence, he should select as a case study white violence - institutional and physical, rather than talking about the reactions of oppressed people to that violence.
I read Leighton's work carefully, wearing both my hats as Buddhist and Buddhist scholar. I take both hats off to him as he has fashioned a book that scholars will learn from and practitioners will deepen with. Non-Buddhists please take note: this would be a marvelous way to begin learning what Mahayana Buddhism is really about. All persons will grow from reading this book, and I hope they do.
Used price: $10.01
Buy one from zShops for: $9.99
Read this book. It's a mystery about cats and kittens and tails. This book is about a girl cat who has kittens and her friends from the alley. When she got back with her kittens her friends taught the kittens to do cat stuff, until one of the kittens got kidnapped by a one-eye cat. And some of Carlotta's friends go rescue the kitten by tricking the one eye cat.
I liked this book because it was funny. This book kept making me laugh. When I was reading this book it reminded me of a cat that fell off a tree and landed in my dad's arms.
I think the author wrote this book so that kids should find baby animals a home so they could know some animals are in danger.
Used price: $14.50
Buy one from zShops for: $19.95
Used price: $25.00
That having been I have to point out that taste is, of course, subjective. For instance, I've found, from trying a number of Kimball's recipes, that he is a salt-a-holic. I prefer to cook with little or no salt, as I find the taste harsh and unpleasant, and if I followed Kimbell's recipes exactly I'd be drowning in the stuff. I prefer pepper and tend to double or triple the often meager amounts Kimbell calls for in his recipes (usually he calls for four or fives times more salt than pepper, and I almost reverse that ratio). But, if your taste is the same as Kimball's when it comes to a particular food, his well-researched and thoroughly-tested recipes will be amazing!
I must also warn cooks that Kimball's cookbooks are books not necessarily made for cooking (odd, isn't it?). They are standard-bound hardcover editions that rarely lie flat (the latest, "The Best Recipe," is a little better than the others) and the index is dreadful--a fairly major gripe when you consider how important an index is to a cookbook when, say, you quickly want to find a recipe for "Chicken Soup" and you can't even decipher where the "Cs" start! There may be six or seven pages under the tiny heading "entrees," five of which may start with "chicken," leading you to believe you're in the "Cs" when you're actually in the "Es." It's very confusing. Many other people have recommended putting dictionary like letter headers (for example "CHI-CLA") at the top of each index page and, after trying it, I have to say I highly recommend this method.
All of Kimball's "Cook's Illustrated" cookbooks follow the same basic format: a long-winded, but often interesting, discourse on how Kimball views the "perfect" version of whatever it is he's showing you how to cook, including a lengthy explanation of variations he has tried, followed by his "Master Recipe" for the food, including common variations. In "The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles," Kimball covers everything from homemade pasta (surprisingly, he doesn't stress it's necessity, saying dried pasta is almost as good and a whole lot easier) to every type of sauce and other topping--Italian, Chinese, Mediterranean, etc.--imaginable.
Usually my biggest problem with Kimball cookbooks is this: If you have one, you have them all. He lifts whole passages and recipes and uses them in multiple books. "The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook," and the "Cook's Bible," for instance, have at least 50 identical recipes, not to mention verbatim introductions to each section and cookware recommendations repeated word-for-word. "The Best Recipe" features ALL of the recipes (as far as I can tell) from the "Cook's Bible," with the same commentary, which is, in turn, lifted in whole chunks from past issues of "Cooks Illustrated." I'm sure this saves Mr. Kimball a great deal of time when compiling his cookbooks but it leaves little reason to own more than one edition of his work. The "Pasta and Noodle" cookbook though, is an exception to this rule. While it does contain exact repeats from other books, it also adds a wealth of new recipes and information, making it more than worth your while for anyone who cooks pasta regularly. There is literally a lifetime worth of pasta recipes in this small book!
Used price: $27.95
Collectible price: $52.94
Finally, I know the difference between the Elder Gods, the Great Old Ones, The Outer Gods, and the Elder Things. You finally get the associations in the pantheon spelled out. You know how Cthulhu, Tsathuggua, Hastur, and Ithaqua (the Great Old Ones) differ from Azathuth, Nyarlathotep, Shuh-Niggurath, and Yog-Sothoth (the Outer Gods.) And of course you learn never to associate Nodens, Kthanid, and Yag-Thaddag (the Elder Gods) with any of these.
Come to think of it I probably shouldn't have spoken these names aloud while I was typing. What is that noise in the
Used price: $2.29
This book is a great resource... it examines nearly every famous ghost case and provides an objective look at all of them, without presenting an overly critical eye.
There are just as many instances where he applauds the stories for their elements (who the witnesses were) as well as presenting the facts as to why the veracity of certain stories should be questioned.
He also examines mediums and the popularity of ghosts in at the turn of the century. He has a great bibliography with even more resources for those who want to learn more, listing books from the turn of the century all the way up to the year before he published this book.