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Book reviews for "Whicher,_John_F." sorted by average review score:

Cracking the Sat & Psat 1998 (Princeton Review Series)
Published in Paperback by Princeton Review (1997)
Authors: Adam Robinson and John Katzman
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A focused, easy to understand preparatory book
I needed to get this book for my 12 year old daughter. Since she was so young, I was worries that she would not be able to follow the logic needed to comprehend the objective. This book has worked wonders. She picks it up each nite, on her own, and studies a little. I only need to be there to reinforce the books philosophy.

lots of helpful tricks and strategies
This book not only presents the reader with a detailed layout of the SAT, but also treats the SAT in a fun manner. The book always sticks in little tricks and strategies that are an added plus to just knowing the information that is tested by the SAT. I recommend this book to anyone who has a reasonably good score but wants an even better score. I also recommend taking a princeton review class cuz this really helped me raise my score.


Best 331 Colleges: 2001 Edition (Princeton Review Series)
Published in Paperback by Princeton Review (22 August, 2000)
Authors: Robert Franek, Robert Franek, Eric Owens, and John Katzman
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The Best All-Around College Guide
As a high school Junior, I've gone through my share of college guides (Fiske, Peterson's, College Handbook, etc) and my final conclusion is that Princeton's 331 Best Colleges is the ONLY general guide you need. Each college gets a full 2 pages in this book, which seems to be just enough. The format is the most comprehensive that I've seen, and the information is the most useful (for both parents and students). It tells you everything you need to know, right down to what the kids do for fun (from drinking, hanging out and doing laundry, skiing and hiking, to political protests), the Admissions information (SAT Ranges, ACT, GPA, things the admissions officers look for), quotes directly from the students about the student body and town/city, a general overview of the feeling of the college, a perspective on the Academic pressure and strengths/weaknesses, Financial Aid Info, and a general profile of the student body and of the social/extra-curricular life. It also shows a list of percentages of the diversity of the students, and "Survey Says" section (for example, it will say: Athletic facilities are great, Great library, Musical organizations are hot, Computer lab needs improving, etc). Other things that I've found to be helpful are the "Most Popular Majors" section, and the list of other colleges applicants to a certain college looked at and preferred/didn't prefer.

Generally, this book does not try to "sell" the schools, as all viewbooks directly from the colleges tend to do. The quotes from the students seem honest, from points of view on how challenging the workload is, to how diverse the student body is, to how much school spirit the kids have. Everything in the book is pretty candid, and I feel like the information is trust-worthy.

Overall, I feel much more informed about the colleges I plan to apply to after reading about them in Princeton's Guide. For another perspective, I'd also recommend "The Insider's Guide to the Colleges," which is written by college students. But overall, The Best 331 College is a good buy for anybody entering or in the middle of the college process, parents and students alike.

The Ultimate College Search Book
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is beginning his or her college search. It not only gives you the facts, but student opinions too. That combination is the best jumping off point to make your college choice. You won't need another college reference book as long as you have this one.

I have recently graduated from the college I found using this book. I probably never would have made the choices I did or attended the college I did, if it hadn't been for this book. I am completely happy with my college choice, and it has gotten me into Harvard for graduate school.

When I began my college search, I felt overwhelmed by all of my choices. After buying this book, I narrowed my search to only the colleges listed in this book. I figured 306 (a lot less in my day than the 331 of today) colleges provided enough choices, and if a school didn't make the cut for the book, it could be skipped in my search. From that point I began looking at schools that kept popping up in the lists for good things (students happy with financial aid, dorms like palaces, schools run like butter, happy students, etc). I never thought I'd attend a women's college, but after I saw all the wonderful things students had to say about their own women's colleges, I started to visit a few. In the end, I attended the school that first drew my interest in this book.

Again, with this book, you won't need any of the other books out there. This one will be the most valuable resource in your college search.

What I Didn't Know
This book is great. It not only provided me with numerical statistics on colleges, but it also gave students' commentaries on colleges. The only thing it didn't do -- and it's not a fault, but not in the scope of this book -- is explain what the basic philosophy of college education is supposed to be all about in the USA. It's what I didn't know, and I think what most people don't know. For that, I found and read an interesting book called "West Point" by Norman Thomas Remick. It was important because it saved me from making lifetime mistakes down the road when I got into the nitty-gritty of specific colleges. You should read it. Then, dig into "The Best 331 Colleges". It's definitely a five star reference guide.


Literature Lost: Social Agendas and the Corruption of the Humanities
Published in Hardcover by Yale Univ Pr (1997)
Author: John M. Ellis
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The Damage of Political Correctness
"Literature Lost" is timely and important book that explains the influence of political correctness on campus and its degrading effect on academia for student, professor and administrator alike. Yet this is less a discussion on the environment of today's campuses, and more on how things got to be this way. Ellis specifically focuses on literary criticism, and modern Marxist attempts to reduce everything to a political/power argument whether the author intended such an interpretation or not. Meanwhile, examination of "art for art's sake" and of the questions that such literature was written to reveal takes a back seat. Whole careers seem to be built on this very skewed view of literature, and Ellis is even more worried that the prevailing PC dogmas of oppression, sexism, racism, etc. will fade only to be replaced by yet another intellectual fad. Sometimes Ellis's writing is a bit dense, but if the reader sticks with Ellis's arguments, he or she will find "Literature Lost" to be an interesting and illuminating work.

Devastating Critique of Pseudo-Literary Theories
...After reading 'Literature Lost', I have found fresh ammunition for logically debating and disseminating the host of anti-intellectual literary "theories" and critiques concerning contemporary studies of the Humanities. Ellis book lays in conjunction a host of well-balanced perspectives and rebuttals into a systematic outline for understanding what exactly the problem pertains to.
The Amazon review already discusses the example of Tacitus, setting the tone for the mentality of the Race-Gender-Class critics and how their viewpoints are nothing new or original. As a complementary point to this, Ellis explains that questioning the Enlightenment and Western Culture by it's critics is a unique trait of the Enlightenment itself, since previous cultures never questioned the validity of the social, cultural, religious or class status in their own cultures. So the irony behind what the Race-Gender-Class critics think they are doing as unique is in fact a part of Western Civilization and the Enlightenment.
The same goes for the next point concerning the supposed "racism" that Race critics cry as isolated to Western Culture. This is true in the respect that "racism" was never questioned until the Enlightenment came along to challenge the notion of racial tribalism that historically pitted members of one racial community against another. When the Enlightenment came along it stressed the virtue of getting along with others for their ideas and achievements, and the result created the ideas that "racism" is itself immoral. The "Race" chapter also throws a little venom at the Post-colonial extremist Edward Said, targeting his hypocrisy of pretending to be a champion for values against racism but spits at the originators of the notion for supposed infractions of "Orientalism" and hegemony; a bogus notion undoubtedly.
Ellis reserves the bulk of the personal critique on Frederic Jameson-a lover of Marxism (this will come as no surprise as we will see later) who blindly and continuously espouses Marxist theory as a viable perception of literature and economics. Jameson deserves particular wrath by espousing these views in the face of the mounting evidence of against Marxism and the evils resulted, which Ellis expounds upon in detail.
'Literature Lost' doesn't preserve itself solely to de-bunking illegitimate literary theories but also to more effective methods of assessing literary studies; his utilization of quasi-scientific reasoning and logic for uncovering the meanings behind a literary work seem particularly intriguing, as well as the endorsement of Leo Spitzer's work "Linguistics and Literary History".
The second to last chapter "Is theory to Blame?" discusses yet another problem reaching both in and out of literary studies: revisionist history. Ellis provides the factors behind the recent trends of revisionist history, trends pertaining to either careless documentation (or lack thereof) of the facts, or the malicious manipulation and changing of the facts by the critics with both overt and covert political agendas. The perspectives offered here are causes for concern considering people like Said and Jameson have thousands of followers in academic departments spewing these theories of race and class oppression...

AT LAST,"REAL" ACADEMIC FIGHTS BACK !!!
DR. ELLIS HAS DONE A GREAT SERVICE TO ACADEMIA BY WRITING THIS BOOK.HE EXPOSES THE VARIOUS FLAKES THAT SIT IN TENURED POSITIONS MAKING DISGRACEFULLY HYPER-EMOTIONAL CLAIMS/DENIGRATIONS AGAINST THE VALUE OF WESTERN SOCIETY/CULTURE, ALL WHILE "SUFFERING" UNDER THE "OPPRESSIVE" YOKE OF THE CAPITALIST/DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM .THEY BIDE THEIR TIME BY SPEAKING OUT AT WELL PAID SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS WHERE THEY CAN VENT THE FULL EXTENT OF THEIR SORROW FOR THE "PROLETERIAT",WHILE FIGHTING "THE SYSTEM" AT THEIR LEISURE OF COURSE. ELLIS' EXPLANATION IN CHAP.1 ON THE ORIGINS OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS ARE AS USUAL FOR HIM WRITTEN IN A CLEAR,"DIRECT" LANGUAGE.I THOUGHT SO HIGHLY OF THIS BOOK,THAT I LENT IT TO A PHD CANDIDATE I KNOW,WHO AFTER READING THIS,QUERIED THE OTHER 9 CANDIDATES AT HER COLLEGE AND FOUND THAT EXCEPT FOR HER EVERY OTHER STUDENT WAS DOING RACE/GENDER/CLASS SUBJECTS(another topic Ellis tackles).HIS "DE-STRUCTION" OF THE PERVERSE RAMBLINGS OF FREDRIC JAMESON ARE WORTH THE PURCHASE PRICE ALONE.ANYONE WHO HAS THE IDEA OR BELIEF IN THE PEACEFUL EXISTENCE AMONG AND BETWEEN PRIMITIVE SOCIETIES SHOULD READ THE BOOK BY ROBERT EDGERTON CALLED"SICK SOCIETIES-THE MYTH OF PRIMITIVE HARMONY" ALONG WITH THIS BOOK,AND YOU JUST MAY APPRECIATE HOW WELL WE LIVE IN THE WEST,NOT PERFECT,BUT BETTER.


The Miracle
Published in Paperback by Grove Press (2003)
Authors: John L'Heureux and Kathy Crafts
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Entertaining But Weak Story
Father Paul LeBlanc is a troubled priest--good-looking and witty--too witty--gets in trouble with the local hierarchy--is "exiled" from his South Boston parish to the New Hampshire coast. There he is supposed to be assisting the pastor, Father Tom Moriarty, who is dying of Lou Gehrig's disease. As he struggles with his vocation, spirituality, sexuality, trying to be a good priest, he is peripherally involved in a miracle. A girl who seemed to be dead, but then is alive.

If this is a turning point for the troubled priest, it is hard to say where it takes him. Confusion, irritability, conflicts about intimacy, a night of wild lovemaking with his housekeeper, terrible guilt, questions about his vocation, and finally his decision to renounce the priesthood.

It could have been a great story, but it left me disappointed. The characters seem to have been sent over from central casting, and--in spite of much introspection about their inner conflicts--they remain poorly developed. The troubled priest, the alcoholic priest, the alcoholic town doctor, the woman who fears commitment, the dying priest who is reputed to be a "saint" or at least to have great wisdom--all remain sketchy and hard to connect with. The story meanders to an inconclusive ending.

L'heureux writes well, and the book is an easy read. I found it entertaining. It could have been so much better.

A Well Done, Witty Novel
John L'Heureux's The Miracle is a very well written novel that it witty and contemplative at the same time. Father Paul LeBlanc is a priest in Boston in the early seventies when his ideas on the Vietnam War and birth control, among others, gets him sent to a small beach community in New Hampshire to care for a dying priest. This setting gets him in much more trouble. He witnesses the death of a young woman who "miraculously" comes back to life. This miracle plunges him into, for the lack of a better word, soul searching, where he deeply questions his vocation. L'Heureux writes well and this is a quick, engrossing read. I found a couple of the characters a little unconvincing, but other than that, an excellent novel.

An Emotionally Satisfying Read
Reminded me at times of John Irving's A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY and some of Gail Godwin's writing. I wish it was longer -- at just over 200 pages, it is a "fast read" and you'll probably miss the characters when it's over. (How cliche is that?!)


Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning
Published in Paperback by Ten Speed Press (2003)
Authors: John Bear and Mariah Bear
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Even top students should consider colleges in Bear's book
Even the most highly regarded traditional colleges--e.g., the Ivys and Stanford are FAR worse, in my view, than the public perceives them to be. Think of the passivity of their notorious large lecture classes usually taught by a professor more expert and more interested in his or her narrow, arcane specialty than providing what students more likely need. Think of the minimal feedback generally offered to students on their work. Think about the tests and assignments which are often designed more for easy grading than what will result in greater benefit to students. Think of how many students graduate (even with graduate degrees) unable to write or think. If students graduate from colleges with good writing and thinking skills, it's largely because they came to the college with high ability. The evidence in my view, is clear, that colleges, ESPECIALLY, the prestigious ones, have not demonstrated sufficient value-added for the 4 years and $135,000 sticker price--EVEN when one factors in the career-enhancement that accrues from an Ivy diploma.

With many of the degree programs in Bear's book, the instructors are more dedicated to teaching rather than research and they tend to offer more feedback, on average. Perhaps most important, distance learning programs tend to offer greater options for individualizing a program to meet the student's needs. And of course, the best options such as Thomas Edison State College, allow the students to pick the best and best-suited courses from among the hundreds of institutions offering distance-based courses, rather than just the few that the local university happens to be offering that semester.

I have spent much of my life evaluating higher education, and I would argue that all students--EVEN teenagers--would be VERY wise to consider colleges in this book.

Yes, I have a Ph.D. from Berkeley, but if I were to do it over again, knowing what I know now about traditional higher education, I would probably forgo any graduate degree, but if I did pursue one, it would likely be from an institution in Bear's book.

This is the BIBLE of non-traditional/distance learning!
Pardon the hyperbole, but no "nontraditional" (i.e. working adult) student should be without this book. John and Mariah succinctly and humorously break down the good, the bad, and the ugly in this guide to the world of nontraditional and distance learning.

If you're a working adult considering your options for continuing your post-secondary education, you need this book. There are many ways to earn or complete a degree, and Bears' Guide attempts to show you the myriad paths and how best to select and pursue them.

Last, but not least, there are many "institutions" in the US and abroad that would love to have your money. In fact, many of them would be perfectly willing to sell you a degree that would serve you better as toilet paper than as a credential. This book helps you tell the difference between institutions that deserve your money/time and those that deserve to see your backside.

There are only a couple of high-quality general treatments of the topic of distance and nontraditional education, and this is one of them. The other is Marcie Thorson's Campus Free College Degrees. Peterson's guides get an honorable mention from me.

In closing: I own it; I love it; I highly recommend it. Now go buy a dozen copies!

Without question, the best resource for adult learners
I admit I was skeptical when I responded to a small classified ad offering this book for sale.

But the book written by John and Mariah Bear turned out to be an extremely well-written and carefully researched work, offering valuable and practical assistance on completing a degree at any of a hundred-plus quality, regionally accredited schools. The schools, including some very high-profile ones, offer many different specialties. Some are State-affiliated, and several allow the industrious student with a lot of work and life experience to complete an accredited undergraduate degree in under a year for less than $3000!

The book also has great -- and amusing -- information on various "less-than-wonderful" institutions to stay away from, as well as an interesting and colorful historical section on past diploma mills.

All in all, an excellent resource, enjoyable to read, and very highly recommended.


A Business Week Guide: The Best Business Schools
Published in Hardcover by McGraw-Hill Trade (1993)
Authors: John A. Byrne and Business Week Editors
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There's more than the US
This book is fine for people looking to get into a US school. If you are also considering a European or Asian school, spend your money on the Economist (EIU) review.

Wealth of Information
Feels good with the information that was discerned with an initial review ...

Very useful and accurate information
The information is up to date and useful for potential applicants


The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education
Published in Hardcover by Duke Univ Pr (Txt) (1995)
Author: John K. Wilson
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Can't wait for the sequel...
...which should convincingly argue that the sun actually rises in the west and sets in the east, and that there really is a Santa Claus and an Easter Bunny.

The authors astounding willingness to go on record denying that universities all over the U.S. have been taken hostage by the PC crowd is breathtaking. Sorry pal, but at the tender age of 30 I decided to go back to college and I SAW the ugly face of political correctness up close and personal. It has a lot in common with Mao's Cultural Revolution, and is just as repulsive.

I can't say it better than the review above: "Double Plus Good;' and if you'll excuse me I have to get to my 2-Minutes Hate session.

R. Easbey

Double Plus Good, citizen!
As a judge in the New Orwell Awards, I have the pleasure of trying to find the best piece of Orwellian attacks on the individual.

It is one tought competition, with many people vying for the top spot. Here, our intrepid author has penned a serious attack on free speech and in defense of repression everywhere. For this, we are grateful to him in a way we proletarians will never be able to repay.

While not as good as some attack on free speech (Richard Feldman comes to mind), I have to give Mr. Wilson some credit for several areas:

Brazenness- that Mr. Wilson has the braveness and stoutheartedness of character to argue that political correctness doesn't exist in the same country that is sending Joe Rocker to a re-education camp for "insensivtivity" requires an ability to stare reality right in the face and deny it with hand on heart. I give Mr. Wilson my sincere admiration for his bravery in the face of annoying reality.

Our other reviewer pointed out that claiming that political correctness doesn't exist or is "distorted" is a thankless job. I agree. We must learn to thank people like Mr. Wilson for their tough job in trying to convince people of the dangers of believing in real things, and learn to see the importance of not believing in uncomfortable concepts that fly in the face of our ideological convictions and nostrums. I for one will never forget the dear lesson our brave teacher has given us: namely, that reality is no impediment to our well being and that freedom is terribly overrated.

What do I rate this book? Double Plus Good!

fact-filled refutation of a pack of lies
Not so many years ago, very few people had ever heard the phrase "politically correct," let alone any horror stories about politically correct leftist college professors and students trashing the canon and burning labryses on the lawns of white, unapologetically heterosexual and capitalist men who bravely persist at reading Shakespeare. Recently, though, political correctness has become so well-known and such a stigma that even people who in any other context would be seen as members of the PC thought police routinely proclaim themselves politically incorrect--often in the course of taking positions that have remarkably little to do with politics, correct or not. The problem with all of this is that political correctness is largely a myth, as John K. Wilson argues in this aptly titled book.

One component of the myth of political correctness is that all people on the left are entirely lacking in humor or any sense of proportion, particularly about themselves and their politics. According to the popular mythology, someone who is PC can be identified by his or her habitually grim expression and belief that saying "pet" rather than "animal companion" is a crime equal to, say, disemboweling live puppies. Wilson shows the irony of this, as the term "politically correct" originated on the left as humor, "used sarcastically among leftists to criticize themselves for taking radical doctrines to absurd extremes." In addition, The Myth of Political Correctness never takes itself too seriously and is at times very funny.

Wilson looks at many of the widely told stories about political correctness, countering them with the solid documentation of facts that tends to be missing from the internet forwards you've all been reading, and exposing distortions and outright lies in the versions you've probably heard told by people like Dinesh D'Souza, William Bennett, and George Will. The book also contains a great many valuable statistics disproving common beliefs, such as that, due to affirmative action, qualified white men can no longer get jobs.

In addition to retelling -- and refuting -- the standard repertoire of stories about leftist political correctness (my favorite is the one where it was reported that a professor had been driven from his department by politically correct colleagues for saying something they didn't like, but really the guy was still in his job and the only problems he had experienced as a result of what he said was that some people were annoyed with him and didn't talk to him in the hall anymore), Wilson gives (well documented) examples of much more grievous behavior by the Right. These are included throughout the book, though they are especially concentrated in the second chapter, "Conservative Correctness."

I don't mean to suggest that the entire book is one anecdote after another. There are a lot of them in the book, but interspersed with excellent analysis of the ways that the myth of political correctness has been used specifically against higher education, reasons for the myth's acceptance, and reasons for the left's inability to answer accusations against itself. Wilson is not afraid to critique specific programs, such as affirmative action, or the left in general, and does so very sensibly.

The Myth of Political Correctness is worth reading cover to cover, but each chapter also stands on its own for those who are interested in a particular issue but don't have time to read the whole book (which, for the record, is not that long and goes pretty quickly). This book really should be required reading for all of you who want to declare yourselves rebels against political correctness. Chances are, you wouldn't want to spend time with most of the people who made sure you know about it and dislike it (unless of course you are a member of the Rick Santorum-Trent Lott fan club).


1996 Directory of Academic Gis Education
Published in Paperback by Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company (1996)
Authors: John M. Morgan, Bobby Fleury, and Richard A. Becker
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The best resource for those looking for schools teaching GIS
This directory is the result of a comprehensive survey of college & university GIS programs. It has important information for students looking for either undergraduate or graduate programs in GIS. Every geography dept. and library should have this book


Keepers of the Spirit: The Corps of Cadets at Texas A&m University, 1876-2001 (Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A&m universiTy, 89)
Published in Hardcover by Texas A&M University Press (2001)
Authors: Ray M. Bowen and John A., Jr. Adams
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Tired
As if anyone really cares about the Corp, and that includes the new breed of Aggies. It's a tired tradition of a bunch of military wannabe's that couldn't get into U of Texas. Come on...no one other than Aggies will buy this book, just another constant reminder to Aggies that since they got a second rate education they can fall back on school pride. While you Whoop and Holler....the rest of the world says "WHO CARES".

Great book for Aggies and those who love Aggies
This book is full of great information about the University and the Corps. Best compilation of data I have seen and written in a captivating manner. Several humorous stories help to bring the history to life. Amazing how more things changed over the years, the more they actually stayed the same.

No Reason To Go To A&M If You Don't Join The Corps
This is one of the two best books about the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University, the other being "The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band" -- both infinitely better than honorable efforts such as "Hey Aggies, You Caught That Damn Old Rat Yet?" and "The Corps at Aggieland." In addition to Corps organization charts that trace the organization's structure from its earliest chronicled times, Adams' account is rich with anecdotal and archival material about an established and unique Texas institution.

I was in the Corps at A&M, two classes after the author, so I recognized his descriptions of those times as wholly accurate and illuminating.

I did not want to be in the Corps. I thought it was a bunch of puerile stupidity. My parents insisted I try, giving me permission in advance to quit, if I wanted to do so. After about a week, however, the challenge and the spirit captured me completely, and -- despite the extremely difficult, peculiar environment -- I determined that nothing could make me quit. An upperclassmen, one of Adams' contemporaries, advised one evening: "If you quit this, you will find that quitting is easy, and you will make it a habit. It's the worst habit you can form."

The habit of not quitting, for which I fully, wholly, completely credit the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University, enabled me to complete the Army's Airborne and Ranger Schools while I was a cadet in the Corps, then later overcome numerous difficulties in my ensuing mainstream career.

Adams' book makes a fine gift for anyone thinking about going to Texas A&M, anyone presently attending A&M, anyone who ever went there, and all the folks who wish they had. The Corps of Cadets is the embodiment, the vanguard, the foundation of the Spirit of Aggieland, and is responsible for making Texas A&M a university worth attending.

If you go to Texas A&M and you don't join the Corps, you might as well have gone to Texas, TCU, San Marcos or any of the numerous other plain old vanilla fraternity/sorority schools in the state. The Corps of Cadets is what makes A&M the best college Texas has to offer. Period.


The Sustainable Vegetable Garden: A Backyard Guide to Healthy Soil and Higher Yields
Published in Paperback by Ten Speed Press (1999)
Authors: John Jeavons and Carol Cox
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An Engineer Plants Onions
This is neither a book for beginners nor a book for experienced gardeners. There are some valuable concepts, quickly presented, but the book fails to connect with real life.

A four sentence quotation will speak for itself. These are "growing instructions" for green onions on page 62: "Use .39 ounce (1 tablespoon + 1 1/4 teaspoon)of seed per 100 square feet (col. BB) or .0078 ounce (1/8 teaspoon)for 2 square feet (.39 ounce x 2 sq ft [divided by] 100=.0078 ounce. On 3 inch centers (col. CC), a 100-square-foot area will hold a maximum of 50 plants (2,507 plants x 2 sq ft [divided by] 100 sq ft=50.14 plants). To ensure 50 green onion seedlings to transplant, you will need to sow 72 green onion seeds (50 [divided by] .70 germination rate [col.AA]=71.43). The 72 seeds broadcast (col. FF) in a flat will take up approximately 1/10 of a flat 6 to 8 weeks (col. HH) before the scheduled planting date."

The same sort of homey advice is offered for corn, beans, etc.

A Good Introduction to Biointensive Gardening
A revised edition of Lazy-bed Gardening (1993), The Sustainable Vegetable Garden is a concise and easy-to-read introduction to concept of biointensive gardening. Essentially a resurrection of ancient farming practices, biointensive gardening is supposed to increase yields (the authors claim four times higher than one should expect from a standard garden) while maintaining a garden ecosystem that preserves the vitality of the soil for future gardens and generations of gardeners. For one to be able to subscribe to the system that Jeavons and Cox outline, one really has to have a sizeable garden plot, so that one can grow calorie-crops as well as compost-crops, so in this respect the book is not suited for the typical urban backyard gardener with only a few square meters of plot. One thing that really put me off was the suggested calculation method for determining the numer of seeds that need to be planted in order to attain an optimal yield-rate. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book, and it has led me to rethink my approach to gardening.

For organic vegetables - start here!
What is 'biointensive vegetable gardening? In brief it features the following methods: - focus on the health of the soil as the starting point for a productive garden (this is the meaning of 'bio-'); - emphasis on growing the most vegetables in the least possible space for maximum efficiency (hence '-intensive'); - vegetables grown in narrow beds (for ease of access and positive microclimate)which have been 'double-dug' and composted; - closer spacing of plants than usual due to greater depth of soil, assisted by companion planting; -organic nutrition and pest control throughout.

This short book is a great introduction to organic vegetable growing, especially the 'biointensive' method. It is also a useful work for experienced gardeners who want to know about John Jeavons' highly successful methods, but don't have lots of time to study the weightier 'How to Grow More Vegetables'. That book is a real classic of organic gardening, and stands alongside Elliot Coleman's 'The New Organic Grower' as a 'must-have' reference book. However, 'The Sustainable Vegetable Garden' is more than just an abridged version of Jeavons' earlier book. It actually makes many of the key concepts easier to understand and put into practice. It is full of useful diagrams which will be invaluable to the novice and expert alike. You don't just read about how to 'double dig' a bed - there are step by step images to help you see exactly how it's done.

For beginners, just about everything you need to know is covered. Its rare to find a book that explains the details to clearly and concisely. For more experienced gardeners, you will almost certainly discover tools and methods you can use by reading this book. I found I could more or less skip the chapter on composting but was particularly interested in Coleman & Cox's approach to planning how much of each crop to plant in a season. A number of charts and plans are included for you to photocopy and use yourself. In fact, the approah to planning a vegetable garden outlined here is a particular strength of the book.

Here's what the book includes: 1. Thinking about raising food sustainably 2. Before you start 3. What do you want to eat? Choosing what to grow 4. Preparing a biointensive bed: Double-Digging 5. What to feed a biointensive bed: Compost 6. Seedlings 7. Planning and planting crops 8. Growing compost crops 9. Growing more calories 10. Arranging what goes into a bed: Companion planting 11. Keeping the garden healthy 12. Seeds for next year's garden Appendices on supplies and resources and additional tools for garden planning.

So what are you waiting for? Buy it and get growing!


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