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Review Date: 11/7/2013
I guess every generation has its thrifty heroes. The stories here are more up to date than those in the Tightwad Gazette but the tips cover the same ground. This book also seems more patched together. What I was really soured by was the patronizing tone -- where the person doing the writing was advising the person doing the thrifting and cooking and parties on how to do it better instead of being able to write "I" and "we" in the tips.
Review Date: 2/4/2011
I grew up with my grandfather's 1917-ish copy of this book. For a girl living in the city, the projects such as how to build a boat, how to build an archery target, how to have a pretend deer hunt (including making deer-track irons for the feet of the "deer") were often frustratingly beyond reach, but the book still rooted itself deep in my imagination.
Kevin Kelly posits in "What Technology Wants" that no class of human tools, once invented and widely adopted, ever truly stops being used, and "Woodcraft" ends up being an introduction to many of those tools in a way that's accessible by young people -- including how to cook over a fire, how to lash poles together into structures, how to use a knife, and most importantly, how to entertain yourself with a story and a few friends.
Kevin Kelly posits in "What Technology Wants" that no class of human tools, once invented and widely adopted, ever truly stops being used, and "Woodcraft" ends up being an introduction to many of those tools in a way that's accessible by young people -- including how to cook over a fire, how to lash poles together into structures, how to use a knife, and most importantly, how to entertain yourself with a story and a few friends.
The Complete Tightward Gazette: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Lifestyle
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
12
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
12
Review Date: 10/14/2013
Helpful Score: 1
I'm more handy than I am thrifty, per se, and I've always loved the Tightwad Gazette articles. I see them as examples of how to turn what you might have on hand into things you need so you can put off buying for as long as possible.
One example is her description of how they use the old Betty Crocker Potato Bread recipe to meet most of their weekly bread needs -- including sandwiches, rolls, and pizza crust. While the recipe sounds interesting, I've never made it. But I do make tortillas. And I think back to the article when I get the impulse to buy pizza or pizza dough and remember that I can make a pizza I love on tortillas I already have.
Another example is the macaroni and cheese article. She does a cost comparison of boxed mac and cheese verses buying bulk bags of elbows and making the sauce from scratch. It's a detailed examination and the results surprised me. They're a good reminder that shelling out for the bulk bag and some elbow grease isn't always the most efficient path to your end goal -- a happy, creative, home where money is a tool, not an obsession.
One example is her description of how they use the old Betty Crocker Potato Bread recipe to meet most of their weekly bread needs -- including sandwiches, rolls, and pizza crust. While the recipe sounds interesting, I've never made it. But I do make tortillas. And I think back to the article when I get the impulse to buy pizza or pizza dough and remember that I can make a pizza I love on tortillas I already have.
Another example is the macaroni and cheese article. She does a cost comparison of boxed mac and cheese verses buying bulk bags of elbows and making the sauce from scratch. It's a detailed examination and the results surprised me. They're a good reminder that shelling out for the bulk bag and some elbow grease isn't always the most efficient path to your end goal -- a happy, creative, home where money is a tool, not an obsession.
Review Date: 11/5/2013
This was the first book I bought for myself as a child. The stories are quite understandable for 3rd and 4th graders and I was fascinated by them.
Review Date: 2/4/2011
Helpful Score: 1
This is the to-go size of Pollan's "In Defense of Food". Taking the three primary guidelines of the previous work: Eat Food, Not too Much, Mostly Plants; he gathers pithy statements from the ages and sorts them into the above-named sections. The result is a kind of secular devotional. Something to dip into for short periods, over and over, to change the way you see and think about food.
Review Date: 8/24/2014
Written in 1993, "The Giver" is an early post-Soviet dystopian novel. As the title character stresses to Jonas, the Utopia they live in was chosen and built by the residents. It is maintained by the daily choices of those residents -- with the help of effective medicines.
The book is a few hour's read but it will give you many hours of thought into what's really essential in our culture, and what you might be willing to give up to make it better.
The book is a few hour's read but it will give you many hours of thought into what's really essential in our culture, and what you might be willing to give up to make it better.
Review Date: 2/4/2011
These are not the poems from your high school literature text -- poems selected to teach you something about the time or the style they were written in. These are good poems selected by a man with a love of the spoken word and of poetry. Keillor knows the power of a figurative "whack on the side of the head" to spark a sigh of refreshment, creativity, compassion, or release.
While not obtuse, the poems are also not frothy -- it's likely you haven't met these in the card aisle. Many of the selections are both American and modern and so echo familiar themes of housework, driving, pets, kids, distractions, but also urban spaces, empty spaces, and wild spaces.
If you love to listen to the lyrics of songs or the dialogue in a well-written tv show or movie but you think you dislike poetry, I suggest giving Good Poems a chance. You might change your mind.
While not obtuse, the poems are also not frothy -- it's likely you haven't met these in the card aisle. Many of the selections are both American and modern and so echo familiar themes of housework, driving, pets, kids, distractions, but also urban spaces, empty spaces, and wild spaces.
If you love to listen to the lyrics of songs or the dialogue in a well-written tv show or movie but you think you dislike poetry, I suggest giving Good Poems a chance. You might change your mind.
The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
7
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
7
Review Date: 3/14/2014
Matt Taibbi, while working for the Rolling Stone, goes undercover at an Evangelical megachurch. He finds a welcoming community he didn't expect to experience but also a willingness to engage in conspiracy theories. During his time undercover he explores many such mindsets covering both the right and the left. He concludes that the function of these worldviews is to give people who have feel powerless in our political system a reason for and a distraction from that powerlessness. If you read this book it's likely you'll have holes poked in a pet theory or two -- Whether that's UFOs, false flag operations, the oppression of true Christians in America, or the government planning out the demolition of WTC buildings on 9/11. In the absence of these theories you'll find yourself challenged to get to know your neighbors and get engaged.
I Am Potential Eight Lessons on Living, Loving, and Reaching Your Dreams
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
2
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
2
Review Date: 3/1/2011
A sweet, hopeful book about facing the healing power of family and the blessings that come from facing the the world with innocence and optimism.
Review Date: 2/4/2011
Helpful Score: 2
With his characteristic journalist's eye, Pollan takes on the food marketing industry in an attempt to prompt/shock his readers into selecting food more mindfully.
This book is his answer to the question posed in "The Omnivore's Dilemma": Given that our bodies can digest nearly anything, is there an optimum way to eat? Nutritionists give us one answer: all we need is the right balance of macro nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) plus our required vitamins and minerals. A can of Pepsi and a bag of Doritos is nutritionally identical to a banana and an ear of corn, plus a little bit of fat for frying.
Pollan argues that the data from the 40-year Nutritionism experiment is in and the results say the source matters -- perhaps even more than the macronutrients. His answer to the optimum diet question is "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
This book is his answer to the question posed in "The Omnivore's Dilemma": Given that our bodies can digest nearly anything, is there an optimum way to eat? Nutritionists give us one answer: all we need is the right balance of macro nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) plus our required vitamins and minerals. A can of Pepsi and a bag of Doritos is nutritionally identical to a banana and an ear of corn, plus a little bit of fat for frying.
Pollan argues that the data from the 40-year Nutritionism experiment is in and the results say the source matters -- perhaps even more than the macronutrients. His answer to the optimum diet question is "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Review Date: 7/5/2014
Helpful Score: 1
An entertaining romp through 5 common ways in which we trick ourselves into thinking we know more about the world than we really do:
1. The illusion of attention (we believe we notice more about the world around us than we really do)
2. The illusion of memory (we believe our memories to be accurate and permanent, especially when they're detailed)
3. The illusion of confidence (we frequently assume confidence means competence)
4. The illusion of knowledge (we often assume that familiarity with an item, system, or field means we understand how it works)
5. The illusion of cause (how our pattern recognition abilities can lead us to assume unrelated things cause each other)
The book is well-grounded in research, but the authors have instead illustrated their points through famous and familiar stories which are easy to read and entertaining. By the time you reach the end of this book you may be a little less certain about what you know but you'll have had fun getting there.
1. The illusion of attention (we believe we notice more about the world around us than we really do)
2. The illusion of memory (we believe our memories to be accurate and permanent, especially when they're detailed)
3. The illusion of confidence (we frequently assume confidence means competence)
4. The illusion of knowledge (we often assume that familiarity with an item, system, or field means we understand how it works)
5. The illusion of cause (how our pattern recognition abilities can lead us to assume unrelated things cause each other)
The book is well-grounded in research, but the authors have instead illustrated their points through famous and familiar stories which are easy to read and entertaining. By the time you reach the end of this book you may be a little less certain about what you know but you'll have had fun getting there.
Review Date: 9/29/2014
"The winners write the history books" says the old adage. Howard Zinn sets out to correct that truism with regard to American History in this book. He takes the minority/losing point of view each of several turning points in American History -- settling the original colonies, the antebellum period, the Civil War, westward expansion, the industrial revolution, the wars of the 20th century and so on up through the Clinton presidency.
It's incomplete as it assumes you've been educated in the victor's version of these stories, but it adds color and depth to one's knowledge of history and gives you a better understanding of tensions in American culture today.
It's incomplete as it assumes you've been educated in the victor's version of these stories, but it adds color and depth to one's knowledge of history and gives you a better understanding of tensions in American culture today.
Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and with (Almost) No Money
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
14
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
14
Review Date: 2/4/2011
Helpful Score: 1
So many articles on living modestly are about maintaining your current lifestyle while using coupons and membership clubs to your advantage. Then there are classic books, such as the Tightwad Gazette, that challenge you to adjust your lifestyle -- while still being part of the greater society. And then there's this book.
From tips of how to raise and cycle a stock of rabbits for meat, dumpster diving, and brewing alcohol for fuel and fun this book is about completely dropping out of U.S. social norms in order to opt out of the financial obligations of it.
If your concerns are maximizing frugality or maximizing sustainability this book will push you into areas you probably haven't considered (although perhaps at the expense of relationships with anyone outside your immediate family). If you're not ready to go that far but are tired of the same old suggestions the glossy magazines reprint on an annual schedule, you'll probably find a couple good ideas, some things to laugh at, and a better sense of your own values.
From tips of how to raise and cycle a stock of rabbits for meat, dumpster diving, and brewing alcohol for fuel and fun this book is about completely dropping out of U.S. social norms in order to opt out of the financial obligations of it.
If your concerns are maximizing frugality or maximizing sustainability this book will push you into areas you probably haven't considered (although perhaps at the expense of relationships with anyone outside your immediate family). If you're not ready to go that far but are tired of the same old suggestions the glossy magazines reprint on an annual schedule, you'll probably find a couple good ideas, some things to laugh at, and a better sense of your own values.
Review Date: 5/5/2014
Helpful Score: 1
I was looking forward to a book about women and their friendships but somehow in all the reviews of this book I missed that this was Christian fiction.
I'm posting this in hopes that people who will be blessed by it will pick it up and that people who will find it hurtful will avoid it.
I'm posting this in hopes that people who will be blessed by it will pick it up and that people who will find it hurtful will avoid it.
Review Date: 2/4/2011
Helpful Score: 2
First, I did read the whole book and I am an avid fantasy fan. This book needed a much firmer editor's hand than it got. It rambled, it left key parts of the story underdeveloped and the whole denouement after the climax left me feeling as if I was starting another book rather than wrapping up the first one.
Review Date: 9/8/2015
Helpful Score: 1
More like "A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley or "The Prince of Tides" by Pat Conroy than the fantastic romp promised by the garish colors and the exclamation point on the cover promise. This is a coming-of-age story for three teens who find themselves tossed out of the nest following their mother's death from cancer. The story is itself a kind of swamp -- full of the smell of death, languid, lulling, the buzz of insects marking the passage of time, but everywhere you look the stubborn strength of life bursting through.
Review Date: 7/11/2014
I found this book on the "recommended" shelf at the library and read it as an adult without kids at home. This is a "string of pearls" non-fiction book about how the author started dog-sledding, the dogs he trained, and his experience running the Iditarod. Part Jack London and part Annie Dillard he describes his environment with both the eye of the naturalist and a love of wild places -- both in the heart and in nature.
What makes this a children's book is simply the short length and the absence of adult topics like alcohol and sex. There's plenty of wonder, suspense, and heartbreak here for readers of any age to enjoy.
What makes this a children's book is simply the short length and the absence of adult topics like alcohol and sex. There's plenty of wonder, suspense, and heartbreak here for readers of any age to enjoy.
Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
61
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
61
Review Date: 11/7/2013
In a book on personal finance you want one thing: a concrete plan which engages your unique passions and desires. There are only a few such books out there. This is one of them. Dominguez and Robin start with the famous Laffer curve -- the idea that increasing a behavior leads to increased rewards only up to a definite point -- and apply it to money. Then they give you concrete ways to feel out where the point of diminishing rewards is with spending money. They walk you through dreaming about your passions so that when you forgo the latte you're not enjoying much anymore you remember the lakeside cabin or the trip of a lifetime you're working toward. It is a powerful plan for paying off debt, saving in ways that don't require you to master the stock market, and get out of your employment early enough that you can enjoy your life.
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