Buyers' Choice
June 2008
The title-underlined links will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.
Yum-O! : the family cookbook by Rachael Ray.
"No one has helped more families find time to fit home-cooked meals into their daily routines than Rachael Ray. Now with the help of Yum-o!, the organization she founded to help kids and adults develop a healthier relationship to food and cooking, she has put together the ultimate family cookbook, which includes recipes that both kids and their parents will love cooking - and eating - together! With lots of full-color photos and tons of helpful tips for making mealtime the very best part of the day, Yum-o! is a must-have for every busy family." (Product Description, Amazon US)
Go green, live rich by David Bach.
"Go Green, Live Rich outlines fifty ways to make your life, your home, your shopping, and your finances greener - and get rich trying. From driving the right car to making your home energy smart, Bach offers ways to improve the environment while you spend less, save more, earn more, and pay fewer taxes. Best of all, he shows you exactly how to take advantage of the 'green wave' in personal finance without the difficult work of evaluating individual stocks. What's more, he will get you thinking about a green business of your own so you can help the world along as it is changing for the better." (Product Description, Amazon US)
How to be the perfect housewife : entertain in style by Anthea Turner.
"Hot on the heels of 'How to Be the Perfect Housewife' comes an inspiring new guide to entertaining - in style! From the simplest supper for two to a summer wedding buffet, every type of event is catered for, whether casual or formal, on a shoestring or pushing the boat out. And with impressive ideas for seasonal entertaining - from Christmas parties to Valentine's dinners - you'll never be short of inspiration all year round. It helps to discover: the secrets of successful entertaining; the art of preparation, invitations and budgeting; how to devise menus, drinks or themes; and, when to call in the experts. From breathtaking barbecues to praiseworthy picnics, 'Perfect Housewife's' countless ideas for any occasion will ensure you're the hostess with the mostest, every time." (Synopsis, Amazon UK)
The economic naturalist : in search of explanations for everyday enigmas by Robert H. Frank.
"Why do the keypads on drive-up cash machines have Braille dots? Why are round-trip fares from Orlando to Kansas City higher than those from Kansas City to Orlando? For decades, Robert Frank has been asking his economics students to pose and answer questions like these as a way of learning how economic principles operate in the real world - which they do everywhere, all the time. Once you learn to think like an economist, all kinds of puzzling observations start to make sense. Drive-up ATM keypads have Braille dots because it's cheaper to make the same machine for both drive-up and walk-up locations. Travelers from Kansas City to Orlando pay less because they are usually price-sensitive tourists with many choices of destination, whereas travelers originating from Orlando typically choose Kansas City for specific family or business reasons. The Economic Naturalist employs basic economic principles to answer scores of intriguing questions from everyday life, and, along the way, introduces key ideas such as the cost benefit principle, the 'no cash left on the table' principle, and the law of one price." (Book Description, Amazon US)
Stylish sheds and elegant hideaways: big ideas for small backyard destinations by Debra Prinzing.
"In Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, Debra Prinzing and William Wright showcase twenty-eight innovative and beautifully imagined spaces from New York City to East Hampton, from Seattle to San Diego, and from Atlanta to Austin to Santa Cruz. Some are elaborate and luxurious; others are delightfully modest. They are built in urban gardens and suburban backyards and tucked away on rural properties. Stunning, lush color photography graces Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, bringing the reader into each space and face-to-face with all its nooks, crannies, and details; the text describes how the owners' needs and interests inspired the shed practically and aesthetically. With sample plans for building a shed, advice on the practicalities of designing and decorating it, and thoughts from backyard philosophers who celebrate the appeal and possibilities of simple structures, Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways is both an inspiration for creating your own backyard destination and an armchair journey to some of the country's most private and serene places." (Book Description, Amazon US)
Against Happiness : In Praise of Melancholy by Eric G. Wilson.
"This slender, powerful salvo offers a sure-to-be controversial alternative to the recent cottage industry of high-brow happiness books. Wilson, chair of Wake Forest University's English Department, claims that Americans today are too interested in being happy. (He points to the widespread use of antidepressants as exhibit A.) It is inauthentic and shallow, charges Wilson, to relentlessly seek happiness in a world full of tragedy. While he does not want to romanticize clinical depression, Wilson argues forcefully that melancholia is a necessary ingredient of any culture that wishes to be innovative or inventive. In particular, we need melancholy if we want to make true, beautiful art. Though others have written on the possible connections between creativity and melancholy, Wilson's meditations about artists ranging from Melville to John Lennon are stirring. Wilson calls for Americans to recognize and embrace melancholia, and he praises as bold radicals those who already live with the truth of melancholy. Wilson's somewhat affected writing style is at times distracting: his prose is quirky, and he tends toward alliteration. Still, beneath the rococo wordsmithing lies provocative cultural analysis." (Publishers Weekly, February 2008)
The open road : the global journey of the fourteenth Dalai Lama by Pico Iyer.
"This is a brilliant pairing of writer and subject. Iyer has known the Dalai Lama, spiritual and political leader of Tibet, for more than 30 years, thanks to a long-ago connection between the writer's father, an Oxford don born in India, and a young Dalai Lama. And so the acute global observer Iyer, a travel writer, essayist and novelist, has long followed the fortunes of the astute globalist Tibetan Buddhist, who travels the world but can never go home to his Chinese-occupied country. This is not a biography but an extended journalistic analysis of someone deep enough for several lifetimes, as Tibetan Buddhists believe. Iyer organizes his observations by smart descriptions of aspects of the Dalai Lama's work and character: icon, monk, philosopher, politician. This allows him to plumb different sides of His Holiness, whom he demythologizes even as he expresses a clear-eyed respect for the leader's achievements. Iyer reminds readers of paradoxes: the Dalai Lama is highly empirical, yet holds beliefs such as reincarnation that defy observation. He is a public figure who is diligent about elaborate and private religious practices. Like its subject, the aim of this book is ultimately simple: behold the man." (Publishers Weekly, April 2008)
500 pendants and lockets:contemporary interpretations of classic adornments
"One look at these breathtaking suspended neck ornaments, and it's clear why Lark's series of jewelry design books has become so wildly popular. Every pendant is a masterful work of art, whether it's symbolic and purposeful (amulets, talismans, and charms) or purely decorative. Juried by Mike Holmes and Elizabeth Shypertt, co-founders of the esteemed jewelry gallery Velvet da Vinci, this beautiful color collection includes pieces crafted from diverse materials and techniques (including forging, casting, forming, and stone setting)." (Product Description, Amazon US)
O, the Oprah magazine cookbook
"Who wouldn't love to put fantastic foods on the table - extraordinary pleasures for everyday eating; simply delicious treats that can be prepared in record time; comfort food that brings family and friends together; luxurious meals that cost barely more than fast food; divine dishes perfect for guests or just for quiet nights at home? Now you can have all that and more, any time you choose, with this first-ever collection of 175 of the best recipes from O, The Oprah Magazine. Featuring more than 60 great chefs and food writers, alongside mouth-watering photographs, this cookbook presents an exquisite array of dishes from cocktails to appetizers, main dishes to desserts, soups to sandwiches, and everything in between." (Book Description, Amazon US)
Russia : a journey to the heart of a land and its people by Jonathan Dimbleby.
"Winston Churchill famously described Russia as 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma'. Even today it remains a country little understood by the West. But as a resurgent world power, with an energy-rich economy, we ignore Russia at our peril. In this timely and revealing portrait, distinguished author and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby crosses eight time zones and covers 10,000 miles, from Murmansk in the Arctic Circle to the Asian city of Vladivostok, in an attempt to get beneath the skin of modern Russia. Travelling by road, rail and boat, his epic journey takes him from the neo-classical splendour of St Petersburg to remote and inaccessible parts of Siberia. At the heart of this magisterial account are Jonathan's encounters with a diverse range of ordinary Russians - from urban intellectuals and the new class of entrepreneurs, to impoverished peasants and Russia's ethnic minorities struggling to cling to their distinctive identities.Jonathan was the only British television journalist to interview President Gorbachev during the Cold War, and, returning to Russia for the first time since those days, he discovers a land transformed." (Synopsis, Amazon UK)
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