This is an excellent resource for the calorie counter on the go. It really does fit into your pocket. It also allows you to track what you eat by looking up the caloric value and turning a dial to accumulate your intake for the day. While foods are not tracked by brand name, all food groups are covered.

Having worked in the heavy industrial electrical/mechanical field for the past 26 years, I have worked at many facilities similiar to those illustrated in this book. I love them! You can say what you'd like regarding their environmental impact, but I can tell you, these are great places to work. The process is usually very interesting, and the customer most always demands a quality job. So...there's some polution, but not one of you reading this review can say that your purchasing habits, and style of life has not contributed to the very images that you would now turn your nose up at. Sure, the EPA would love to have you believe that they are cleaning up the world, when the fact is, they are only driving real industry out of the USA, only to produce the same if not more 'polution' over the borders. And with our governments blessing. 'Still buying the same products, are you not? Look and see where they were made next time! It makes me sad to see these big industrial sites closed down. I love the book, because I can show my kids, and my grandkids the types of places that used to exist in this country_The type of places that has enabled us to go around as the police department of the world, and enforce what WE deem as right on every continent of the earth. It would have made a nice closing statement though, if you would have included an arial shot of the Pulp & Paper Mill that produced the pages of this book. I am assuming that is, that they were made in the USA.

While Charles Tyng's brothers became wealthy as doctors, lawyers and land-based businessmen, Charles (due to his poor study habits) was forced to pursue the much more dangerous and uncertain vocation of sailor and sea-merchant. This is definitely no dry account of business deals. This story is about Charles' struggles against cruel and incompetent superiors, ferocious storms at sea, mutinous and violent crews, pirate attacks, shark attacks and, for good measure a bout with cholera. If even half of Tyng's account is true, he was very, very lucky to live to old age. Tyng was obviously a man who was very curious by nature and so he was able to describe in detail many aspects of the people, places and operations that he witnessed (such as whale hunting, sugar processing, and opium smuggling). Most of it is very interesting because it paints a piture of a world very different from our modern world. Tyng himself is likable, for the most part, although he definitely was a bit of a rogue; he pulls a few pratical jokes on people that adds some humor to the story. I only give it four stars because there were a couple short dry patches in the book. Overall, though, very enjoyable.

In the early days of American history, the merchant trade was the predominant occupation on the Eastern Seaboard. Charles Tyng's memoir, "Before the Wind," captures that life in a way histories written today never can. Tyng lived a colorful, adventurous life, and had the ability to record it in a fresh and vivid style. Tyng's early life reads like a combination of Charles Dickens and Horatio Alger. The son of an affluent but no-nonsense father, Tyng was farmed out to various relatives and school headmasters until his father sent him to sea, hoping to cure his son's self-confessed rebellious streak, and to teach him a trade. Although this sounds rather severe, it was far from uncommon, especially in large families such as Tyng's to apprentice or force children to seek their way at a very early age.

Once at sea, Tyng experienced a variety of hardships at the hands of sadistic shipmates who seemed to have no regard for a boy's safety or well-being. However, his early experiences at sea energized Tyng's dormant ambition to rise above the position of sailor and become a ship's officer. The memoir contains recollections of Tyng's studies, trips, and early efforts at trading on a small scale. Eventually Tyng rose through the ranks to become a ship's officer, captain, and eventually the owner of two ships. His memoir is filled with recollections of entrepreneurial deals, mutinies, and pirates. It is also filled with the day-to-day details of life aboard a merchant vessel. In a more general sense, it is also filled with the routine, but now forgotten, details of life in the early 19th century. One notable quality of this memoir is how Tyng's tone actually changes from that of an overwhelmed and somewhat unruly "ship's boy" to a mature, ambitious, and self-assured ship's captain and merchant. This change and growth in character seems natural and unforced, which lends a greater air of credibility to this book.

Tyng's story is typical of many New England boys who turned to the sea and the merchant trade to make their fortune. In his case, Tyng actually succeeded at both his chosen trade and in his ability to recount a life once common, but now forgotten. Highly recommended.

This book is the real thing. If you want to know what it took to be a sea captain in the early 19th century, this is the book for you. informative fascinating, it shows how by force of personality, an ability to command, a bit of luck you,starting with no money, you could rise up through the ranks from sailor to owning your own ship and become a merchant prince. Very inspiring.

No matter how hard I search, I've yet to find the "perfect" book on herb use and herb growing. This book isn't perfect, but it does have some real strengths.

Rodale's ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HERBS is organized in a strange way--everything, and I mean everything--falls into alphabetical order. For example, "Gardening with Herbs falls between "Foxgloves" and "Garlic" and "Growing Herbs" falls between "Grindellia" and "Hawthorn."

The book is printed on semi-gloss paper so it will stand up to use and not crumble in a few years. Each entry contains line drawing illustrations and a few sections of the book are highlighted with color photos.

The plant profiles are succinct, covering topics such as 'history', 'cultivation' and 'uses.' Many entries contain material from other sources such as Maud Grieves' A MODERN HERBAL Vols. 1-2. Some information is repeated without attribution or verification. I always find "They say" and "It is thought" offputting, while I appreciate direct citations of which there are many in this book.

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA covers some topics not readily found in other books. The most useful of these is a compendium discussing the "Dangers of Herbs" (located between "Dandelion" and "Deadly Nightshade." The editors have compiled the FDA listing of "tricky" herbs (could kill or cure depending on use) from PREVENTION magazine, as well as similar ratings from James Duke's CRC HANDBOOK OF MEDICINAL HERBS, Jean Rose's HERBS AND THINGS, and Varro Tyler's THE HONEST HERBAL. You realize on reading this section that everything is relative.

The biggest problem with the misuse of herbal remedies is the misclassification of plants by the practicioner. To be an herbal healer one simply must understand botany. The second biggest problem is conflicting information about what a plant will or will not do based on singular accounts (which could be the result of a misclassification of plants or a misapplication of the plant extract). The third problem is idiosyncratic plant and human interaction. One man's poison can be another man's elixer. As with synthetic drugs, each individual has a unique chemical compostion and the herb in question may or may not be effective, or in some cases may provoke an allergy. Of course, there are some herbs that are downright deadly as every mystery reader knows.

This wouldn't be a Rodale book with out a section on "Pests" and "Pest Control" or the synergistic and conflicting effects of various plant combinations in the garden. This information and the sections on poisonous attributes make the book worth it's cost. All I can say about plant combinations can be summed up to this...plant catnip. You'll have to read the book to find out which kind.

This book has *fabulous* illustrations of the plants it details - something usually lacking from herbal books by way of plant identification. The plant descriptions and suggestions for use, as well as the old lore associated with each one are all very useful, and well formatted for easy lookup.

The only thing it doesn't have is the same thing most herbal books lack: complete and comprehensive information on the dangers of certain herbs - although I understand that the reason is that since this isn't a licensed medical text, they're not allowed to present thier information as actual medical advice, and so some of the precautions fall under that umbrella. As with any book on herbs, the reader must remember that the information, especially the warnings, are not necessarily complete.

That said - this is a really useful book with lots of great information, that you'll be glad to add to your herbal library at home.

Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs is the best herb resource I have ever found, and that is saying a lot, since I own over twenty, and have checked many others out from my local library. It is thorough, interesting, more complete than any other text (no herb book can be complete - it would be thicker than a telephone book!), and always enjoyable to read. Reading it as a child was the initial inspiration for my love of herbology. Most entries start with stories about the plant, or a short talk about it's particular history. Some of those stories are better than most I see in print.
If I could, I would give this book a ten star rating. If you are starting out in this field, this is the place to start. This book is my bible

I found this volume satisfying and very well done. I have ordered the James Cameron book too, but really this volume stands well on its own. As I probably won't get to see the traveling exhibit, I especially appreciated seeing the actual artifacts "strewn" throughout the book, much as they appeared on the ocean floor.

As a graphic designer, I thought the design was admirable--contemporary, not overdone, yet sensitive of the period. I have several Titanic books, and consider this to be the most comprehensive visual assortment of information I have seen. To me, what was really special about this book were the computer illustrations mixed in --the opening sequence has a beautiful illustration of the bow coming into contact with the berg. The computer recreations of the ship's interior are also of high artistic quality and give the volume a dreamlike feeling. This together with informative charts and graphs give the reader a sensitive, nicely balanced account of the event--a true keepsake volume.

This book is a really good book for people like me that want to learn more about the Titanic and maybe see it with there own eyes one day. It has really good facts ,pictures, facinating articles,and memorabilia of the people who survived and were killed by the R.M.S.TITANIC on April,1912. I don't have the book,but I intend to get it before Christmas 1998.

This book is an extraodinary look at the Titanic. It has wonderful pictures, and text. It even has a list of all the passengers who were on it's Maiden voyage. You definately should read this book!

With this novel, I think that Cooper has created a fun and original work. It is a story of a boys acting company who travel to London to preform at the rebuilt Globe Theater. For one boy, the trip involves not just a voyage across the Atlantic, but a journey in time as well. Nat Field finds himself back in Elizabethian London acting in the role of Puck in Shakespeare's personal production of A Midsummer's Night Dream.

This odd transposition in time allows for some interesting interaction with the setting. For a twentieth century boy, the London of Shakespeare's day is a strange world. Having no modern convieniences (such as toilets) and having the drink at every meal be ale are things that don't fit the everyday life of a young American boy. But Nat gets along and proves himself as an actor in Shakespeare's own production.

Given the general elements of this book, not all young readers would enjoy it. To identify with or even to like the main character, one cannot by a typical American kid. The theatrical world and the ability to understand the historical setting of Shakespeare's time are, unfortunately, completely foreign to most kids these days. So this book is not for the typical nintendo-playing sports-loving kid, but rather for the imaginitive book-lover. (For the book is full of imagination and history.)

The book isn't perfect, but it is still a fun read. As an adult reader, I wished that I could have read more about the purpose behind the time travel, but I realize that what was written is sufficient for a younger audience. So, as a young adult novel, it is a great book, well worth the read.

A seamless, poignant tale of a young boy's grief, time-travel and William Shakespeare.
Nat, an 11 year old who is orphaned and ridden with hidden grief, is chosen to join a contemporary, Shakespearian theatre group to perform as Puck in A Midsummer's Night Dream at the new Globe Theatre in London.
This journey becomes more than a transatlantic adventure for a budding actor. Nat finds himself plunged into Elizabeathan London 400 years earlier where he has to adjust to life as an apprentice in the original Globe theatre and play Puck with the great actors of the day but most of all meet and be entranced by William Shakespeare himself. Ultimately, this is a story of how a young boy must face his greatest fears and achieve healing under the guiding hand and poetic wisdom of the Bard himself.
Cooper creates a vivd and pungent world of London and does not shirk from the violence and political intrigue that must have existed at the time .
This book is for those of any age who can let their imaginations run easily and let the mastery of the author lead you through a deeply satisyfying and touching experience.

In this book, Nat is a young actor who had been shattered by the death of his parents. He traveled to London to perform as Puck A Midsummer Night's Dream in the remake of the Globe theater, and is mysteriously transported back in time to when the play was first performed. He soon bonds with the Bard himself who helps him begin to heal his emotional scars.

I absolutely loved this book. Susan Cooper is one of my favorite authors. She really brought the world of Shakespeare alive with her descriptions of the life back then. When she writes about Nat's emotions while he is acting, you can almost feel yourself onstage with him, getting caught up in the moment. You should read this book!!!!

Not many books seem to cover a scout's exploits during the Civil War in the form of a personal memoir. Berry Benson's account seems to be a diary mixed with recollection and struggle. Benson's writing is vague at times and a bit hard to follow. He seems to jump from event or time frame without much flow or detail. His involvement at Sharpsburg, Chancelorsville and Petersburg is disappointing when it comes to detail and the action. Had an author placed this book together to build the time frame up and then switch to Benson's accounts would have made this book easier to follow or had Benson been more descriptive in his story it would have completed this book.

What made this book interesting was his escapes from two Union prisons and his personal struggle to survive and get back to Virginia. His descriptions of his escapes and his run for freedom was very interesting and made this book come to life.

The title itself which mentions sharpshooter fails to live up to it's name as very little is written about his involvement as one and again the detail is missing. Had the title mentioned escaping twice from Union hands, it would have been properly titled. Though the lack of details and vague approach stumbles the reader an opposite read is featured in regards to his survival and escaping Union control. Without his prison stories which fortunately takes up a large portion of this book, it would have been confusing and frustrating. Because of those stories I felt this book deserves a 4 star rating.

Berry Benson tells it as it was. He does not fill the pages with fluff, but merely gives a straightforward account of his trials and tribulations during the war. At first, I was skeptical about all that he claimed to have gone through, but after some research, his story holds true. Benson was just shy of 18 when he joined the Confederate army. During his service, he was a sharpshooter, fought under Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson, was captured and escaped TWICE: once from Point Lookout and once from Elmira. At times, I wished that he would have gone into more detail, and that is the only downfall of this book. For example: he goes into some description of Point Lookout yet fails to give a good picture of Elmira. However, his story is not one to miss and I suggest it for anyone wanting to read a more personal account of the war that is a little out of the ordinary.

From the point of view of the enlisted man, this is a really good book. It held my interest well. Let's face it, the enlisted man's perspective of the War Between the States, or any war for that matter, is going to be very narrow. The rank and file do not have the luxury of having access to the grand strategy of general officers. All they can relate is what went on in front of them. Otherwise it wouldn't be their story. This book is about what one common soldier saw, experienced, and felt. And it let me see a refreshing point of view.

This is the first book I bought when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It is the "bible" for women with the disease, and recommended by them for newly diagnosed women. And so many breast cancer patients can't be wrong.

The book is chock full of great information. But for those of us diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, that information is so scarey and hopeless sounding that I began to wonder if I should even bother with treatment! I would never recommend the Breast Book for an IBC patient. (In fact, I warn them off, and I have talked with other women with IBC who had my same reaction.) I agree that it's important to be a "straight shooter" and give all the information, but to deny hope is a terrible thing -- especially in a field where the odds change every day, as new drugs and treatment regimens are discovered and implemented. No book on breast cancer will ever be truly "up to date." By the time it's published and available to readers, the research is at least a year old. But if Dr. Love wants to tell us how grim our outlook is, she also needs to point that out. (In fact, by the time I was diagnosed her book was sadly out of date with regard to IBC survival rates, which had skyrocketed with new treatments.)

So, yes, a very good reference book, but one to be avoided by women newly diagnosed with IBC (and perhaps some other advanced breast cancers).

Dr. Susan Love clearly defines the difference between lobular carcinoma insitu and ductual carcinoma insitu.This helped me make a decision to follow my breast surgeon's recommendation to go to a cancer center for a second opinion when I was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma in February, 1997. Only 10% of breast cancers are lobular in nature. The multidisplinary team approach that the cancer center offered me was very similar to the one that Dr. Love described in her book. This helped me to understand more about my type of breast cancer and to make an informed decision as to type of treatment. I thank Dr. Love for being courageous enough to come out and encourage women to be active participants in decisions made in regard to their health.

I bought this book for my sister when she was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. This became a bible to her - she referred to it at every point - surgery, radiation & chemotherapy and every set-back during treatment. She lives in the UK and had me send several books to her friends and later to her gynocologist (all diagnosed with breast cancer). The gynocologist believes it to be the best book written on breast cancer.

Low and behold if I wasn't also diagnosed with breast cancer this year. This is a huge book and I found I could only read the parts that were significant to me at the time. Knowledge is power - and this book definitely gives every reader this! It gives strength to make decisions and understand the options. Dr. Love explains how some women choose not to follow treatments recommended - and how they still survive. Yet, how others follow standard treatment and for no rhyme or reason the cancer returns. (There were just a couple of examples mentioned). Dr. Love gives you all the facts. I did not find her book scary - I want to know whatever I can! There are many charts giving info on studies. I found the chart showing the recommended treatments were right on for what both my sister and I were recommended.

Without a doubt I feel that Dr. Love's book (and her Website with live chats with specialists) has helped me tremendously. I am sure I would have felt lost without this help. I highly recommend this book!

a good read, but can be confusing for kids. It takes a while to comprehend all of the Shakespearian langauge, but is very interesting. It is boring at parts.

The Winter's Tale contains some of the most technically difficult solutions to telling a story that have ever appeared in a play. If you think you know all about how a play must be constructed, read The Winter's Tale. It will greatly expand your mind.

The play opens near the end of a long visit by Polixenes, the king of Bohemia, to the court of his childhood friend, Leontes, the king of Sicily. Leontes wants his friend to stay one more day. His friend declines. Leontes prevails upon his wife, Hermione, to persuade Polixenes. Hermione does her husband's bidding, having been silent before then. Rather than be pleased that she has succeeded, Leontes goes into a jealous rage in which he doubts her faithfulness. As his jealousy grows, he takes actions to defend his misconceptions of his "abused" honor that in fact abuse all those who have loved him. Unable to control himself, Leontes continues to pursue his folly even when evidence grows that he is wrong. To his great regret, these impulsive acts cost him dearly.

Three particular aspects of the play deserve special mention. The first is the way that Shakespeare ties together actions set 16 years apart in time. Although that sounds like crossing the Grand Canyon in a motorcycle jump, Shakespeare pulls off the jump rather well so that it is not so big a leap. The second is that Shakespeare captures entirely different moods from hilarious good humor to deep depression and remorse closely adjacent to one another. As a result, the audience is able to experience many more emotions than normally are evoked in a single play. Third, the play's final scene is as remarkable a bit of writing as you can imagine. Read it, and marvel!

After you finish reading this play, think about where your own loss of temper has had bad consequences. How can you give yourself time to get under control before acting rashly? How can you learn to be more open to positive interpretations of events, rather than dark and disturbing ones?

Love first, second, and always!

The Winter's Tale is a lot of things: heart-breaking, exhilerating, funny, beautiful, romantic, profound, etc. Yeah, it's all here. This is one of the bard's best plays, and I can't believe they don't teach this in schools. Of course, the ones they teach are excellent, but I can see high school kids enjoying this one a lot more than some of those others (Othello, King Lear).

The story is, of course, brilliant. King Leontes goes into a jealous rage at the beginning against his wife Hermione. Leontes is very mistaken in his actions, and the result is tragic. Shakespeare picks the story back up sixteen years later with the children, and the story works to a really, really surprising end of bittersweet redemption.

This is one of Shakespeare's bests. The first half is a penetrating and devestating, but the second half shows a capacity for salvation from the depths of despair. Also, this being Shakespeare, the blank verse is gorgeous and the characters are well drawn, and the ending is a surprise unparalleled in the rest of his plays. The Winter's Tale is a truly profound and entertaining read.

As an American student looking to find work in Europe, this book was absolutely no help to me at all. It is published in Great Britain, and probably 95% of the addresses she gives are in the UK. I found a couple of interesting ones in the U.S., but all the good ones were not American. Also, prices are in pounds, not dollars, which makes it difficult for an American to fully comprehend without a calculator and info on exchange rates. If you are British, this would probably be a great book for you!

Another thing which I found not very helpful is that the book is targeted to people who want to just want to hop from place to place, hence the title. It is geared for the vagabond worker, and assumes that these people will settle for whatever job it takes to stay travelling.

What really turned me off was that the book highly suggested hitchhiking as the primary mode of transportation, and spent a great deal of space discussing the beneftis of hitchhiking. Any other travel book strongly discourages this!

In a nutshell, if you are not British and you do not feel comfortable with hitchhiking, do not buy this book!

While this book is written from a British perspective, it is an excellent guide for anyone who wants to travel around the world on limited funds. The author relies on "been there done that" travelers to supply information and anecdotes from the road and I can vouch from experience that those nuggets show up in revised editions.

I bought this book before my first trip around the world and it led to my first English teaching job--in Istanbul, Turkey. (Griffith's Teaching English Abroad title is a good guide for the teaching path specifically). This is also a good book to read when deciding what you're NOT willing to do. Comparing some of these jobs to working another few months at home instead to save more money puts things in perspective.

Understand that this is a guide to short-term work opportunities, so it does focus on ways to make enough to get to the next destination. It's not an international career guide, but rather an inside scoop on where to get paid while you travel. It's an entertaining read and a good investment for shoestring travelers.

Tim Leffel
author, The World's Cheapest Destinations

I was introduced to an early edition of this book by a couple of English blokes I lived with in Minneapolis in 1989. Above all, it made me realize that travelling around the world for a working class fellow was a realistic option. It gives a lot of specifics on how to find work in different parts of the world. I have seen no other book that comes close to providing the information that a working traveller needs. Being in its tenth edition shows that many others have found it valuable as well.

I spent a year working and travelling in Europe and Africa. Working your way around the world is a good way to educate yourself.