No comments about Maple Sugarin' in Vermont: A Sweet History.

4 comments about Everyday Dress of Rural America, 1783-1800: With Instructions and Patterns (Dover Books on Costume).

1. I ordered this book a few weeks ago. I have been looking for books to help make costumes to take my grandchildren to reenactments, which has stimulated their intrest in history. This book is the most balanced book I have seen-in that it tells you what you want to know, why it was what it was, and it is easy to read and understand. It covers men and women's clothing, with illustrations and graft patterns, along with fabrics and sewing techniques. I find this book delightful with information put in a fun and usable way. There are not enough book's that I have found on everyday dress, so this is a great and much needed addition.



2. This is a great book for those looking to get basic knowledge of late 18th century clothing. It has clear illustrations of the everyday garments worn by men, women, and children. It shows layer by layer the many garments being used at this time. I have seen other "beginner" costume books leave the reader baffled as to how and when a garment was used; that isn't a problem with this book. One thing to remember is that fashion was in transition at this point in history so the patterns are really only good if you are trying to reproduce dress specific to that time frame. I have been studying this field for over ten years so this book was not of much use to me, but I would definately recommend it as a good foundation for a beginner.



3. This book was not what I expected. it had basic drawings of a few garments from colonial america and showed some native american garments. I wish it had more in it. It was very short and I expected it to have more pictures of the clothing in it.



4. Was shipped timely. Book was still in good condition but was exactly what I had expected...

5 comments about Stones and Bones of New England: A Guide to Unusual, Historic, and Otherwise Notable Cemeteries.

1. Although this book is great for giving histories for graveyards and unusual individuals, beware. Get directions to these locations first. If you follow the book's directions, most times you will get lost for hours. Some of the roads in the book's directions do not even exist, others will lead you to an area miles away from the actual graveyard. It is my opinion that the author has not visited most of these locations, and is only speculating to their whereabouts.



2. This book begs for a road trip...by the author! A truly phenomenal book on this subject would have required more than just research. Visits to most every graveyard/cemetery in New England (anyone traveling through small New England towns can tell you that there is much more to see than those listed in the book), plus interviews with the locals and families that date back centuries, seems necessary.
   
   Much of what is in the book seems to be simply research, which could be done by anyone on the internet and at local New England libraries. Each cemetery listed mentions only one or two graves of interest. Also, each state section of the book should have had its own introduction including some history of the state, as well as lore. And while this doesn't need to be a gothic novel featuring Barnabas and Quentin Collins, narrative on the meaning, legends, lore and FEEL of graveyards in New England could have added so much more, including color photos taken during all four seasons. I am reminded of a book on ghosts in New England (forgive me for not recalling the author or title); that author visited many towns and interviewed locals to "get the scoop." Whether you believe the legends or not, it was a great read because of the amount of information provided by locals.
   
   Seems like a rush job. With more work, the book could have been an invaluable resource and historical reference.



3. This book had promise, but it never lived up to it. It probably gives a comprehensive review of the cemeteries available for viewing and hints on where to park, but the actual cemetery information is scarce. Sometimes it will talk about a special monument and there is no picture. It left me wanting more.



4. I love cemeteries, the older the better, so I was already pretty much the ideal reader for 'Stones and Bones' from the get go. During my recent vacation to New England I spotted Rogak's book, in one of the approximate 20 or so gift shops my children dragged me into, and as soon as I saw the cover I knew I was hooked. I practically hurled my money at the cash register, as excited as I was to get my hands on this book.
   
   I read the book everytime I had downtime over my trip. It proved to be a good book to dip in and out of. The short chapters are conducive to that. The content was definitely of interest to me, and there were some great, interesting tidbits as well as good local lore. For me, someone who's been to New England only once before, and never before to its cemeteries, it was interesting to read. I definitely wanted more concrete information, but I whiled away my quiet time very nicely with this book. The author's intent wasn't to be comprehensive, but rather to whet the appetite and provide a little guidance on the subject. I'd like to graduate to a more detailed book from here, but I thought 'Stones and Bones' served its purpose quite well.



5. I picked this book up while stuck in an airport, and was optimistic about its contents. I was turned off however to find vague and short descriptions, and at several times, plain inaccurate information. Maybe someone might consider doing more research and writing a book for each cemetery mentioned in it. When you can find the correct information simply by paying attention to the History Channel, maybe it's time to think about writing your own book, or re-writing one you have been careless with.

No comments about Lost Ski Areas of the White Mountains.

5 comments about New England Forests Through Time : Insights from the Harvard Forest Dioramas.

1. Imagine yourself transported back in time to an ancient forest in central New England prior to settlement. As in a time lapsed movie, the ecosystem is transformed before your eyes into a subsistence farm surrounded by forest, to one dominated by prosperous farms with only remnant patches of forest dotting the land, to the forest reclaiming the abandoned farm landscape. This was part of an ubiquitous land use history that was replicated througout much of New England. The history is superbly depicted in Foster's and O'Keefe's "New England Forest Through Time: Insights from The Harvard Forest Dioramas". The narrative and photographs of the breath-taking dioramas capture the economic and natural forces that shaped the New England Landscape. The description and pictorials cover the abuses the land suffered from deforestation, overgrazing, and widespread clearcutting, and exacerbated by unnaturally high incidence of fire. The book expounds upon the different wildlife habitat associated with the changes that have occured as well as forest management techniques and current forestry issue. This book is an excellent tool for natural resource managers and educators as well as the layman who wants to know why there are apple trees, stone walls, cellar holes in the middle of the woods.



2. Perhaps microcosm is not quite the world, Forests Through Time offers a fascinating angle of insight into one aspect of the ecological development of New England. For a wider angle, one reads Bullough's Pond, and for the complete picture of the land in colonial times, Changes in the Land. This however is a fascinating view and well worth perusing.



3. Many people do not realize that Harvard University has its own forest in New England. The forest has been a source of study for silviculture since its founding in 1907 for almost 100 years.

   In the late 1920s, Harvard professor Richard T. Fisher joined with a philanthropist, Dr. Ernest G. Stillman, and talented artisans in the studio of Guernsey and Pitman in Harvard Square to develop a remarkable series of dioramas to capture conservation issues for future generations of silviculture students to study. These dioramas are the basis for the text and illustrations in this book.

   New England was mostly ancient forest when the European settlers arrived. The small Native American population cleared only a modest portion of the forests, and used the game from the forests rather more than the timber. With immigration, New England rapidly became one big farm. So much for the original forests. Next, the New England farms were put out of business by richer, midwestern farms shipping their goods to the east. Within a few decades, new forests arose to cover the temporarily cleared and abandoned fields. With rapid growth in pines, a second wave of clearing occurred about a hundred years ago, leaving the forests to start to regrow again. The current hardwood-dominated forests are a result of this man-driven process. These experiences provide many lessons for understanding the impact that people have on forests, and for suggesting better practices for the future.

   In one sequence of seven dioramas depicting the same place over time, you can see the whole historical process take place. I found it fascinating. I recognized in each image places that I had visited in New England. Now I can connect each site to what it represents in terms of environmental circumstances. That is like learning to read nature in the way I can read a book to get a message.

   Today, we think ahead further (but probably not yet far enough) to consider the implications of our actions on future generations and other species. These dioramas show the importance of capturing the natural history of an area to begin to draw those lessons.

   Another set of dioramas were designed to exemplify the conservation issues in New England forests, including loss of old-growth forests, habitat needs for wildlife, natural losses due to hurricanes, erosion from cutting forests, imported pests that feed on forests, and the impact of natural fires and fighting forest fires.

   To me the most fascinating part was in the suggested good principles of forestry management. Each stage of forest growth and regrowth is displayed, along with what needs to be done for each stage. This reminded me of being asked about what to do by a client with very large holdings of forests in Maine a few years ago. If I had known about these dioramas, I could have given much more appropriate and valuable advice. I do feel quite a pang of regret at the missed opportunity, as a result.

   The final section of the book shows the detail of how the dioramas were created.

   The book also tells you about the history of the Harvard Forest and how to reach the Fisher Museum where the dioramas are displayed. I recommend the visit!

   The reference to Bullough's Pond in the title of this review is for the highly regarded book that slightly preceded this one, about the ecological history of a man-made pond in Newton, Massachusetts. If you have not yet read that fine work, you have a real treat ahead of you. Anyone who is interested in understanding the rhythms between humans and nature can learn much from these two books.

   Having read these two books, a new question occurs to me. At one time, forest fires were aggressively avoided in New England. The current view is that these are a natural process and should not be so aggressively countered. Where else do our views need to be shifted to reflect the long-term best interests of all?

   How should use of forests and water reserves be adjusted to reflect optimum benefits for the next ten generations? How would our use change if this question were stretched to cover twenty generations? Do we even know how to think about these questions? Do we have plans to be able to learn how?

   Overcome the presumption that only the here and now is important. What we do here and now is very important, but our decisions need to be much more independent of momentary needs and perspectives.




4. This book is the result of a three-way collaboration between a scientist, a philanthropist and artist dedicated to producing a diorama depicting 300 years of New England's natural and cultural history.

   The work, started in the late 1920, captures the essence of the Harvard Forest approach to environmental science, in which a solid understanding of the landscape history provides a basis for interpretation and conservation of nature.

   Lifelike and detailed, the dioramas' historical and ecological approach remains relevant today as it becomes more apparent that changes in nature can only be assessed through long-term perspectives.




5. Major overlook. The Indians did not cut down many trees, but changed the forest ecology dramatically by burning out the underbrush once or twice a year in massive fires, so that they could move and hunt more freely (and move silently). This omission spoils the understanding of forest life by injecting a modern political angle of environmentalism that would be better left out.

No comments about Fodor's Boston 2008 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1 comments about Housatonic River: Fly Fishing Guide.

1. I was sent jeffs book as a gift along with other items I must honestly say what a fantastic read it is too. the insight to the hous is superb the invaluable tying and usage descriptions are second to non although I have never been to the states reading jeffs book you can actually imagine being threr

   thanks jeff a really treasured gift

3 comments about Chow Maine: The Best Restaurants, Cafes, Lobster Shacks & Markets on the Coast, Second Edition.

1. Well worth getting for locals and visitors alike spending time on the Maine coast.



2. I have lived in and have travelled to Maine for over 40 years and have a pretty good idea of both the local restaurant scene and the new commers. However, in a travel format I think the book should have focused more on the wonderful Seafood, Lobster Pounds and Clam shacks dotting the Maine coast. Yes they have some but give too much space to new wave cooking. If you are going to visit Maine I think you want the flavors of Maine, not spaqgheti alla carbonara.
   This book missed the mark and excluded several of Main's best well known Lobster Pounds and Clam Shacks.



3. The idea of such a guide is great...but the result is lousy not to say something worse. This is supposed to be a food guide but you have no ratings! in addition you have no signs enabling you to know at first sight if a place mentionned is a luxury restaurant, a casual lobster place or a family hamburger cafe.
   In addition to the negative side, no mention of wine list.
   Out of the tens and tens of restaurant guides I have bought, this one is certainly the worst.

5 comments about The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls.

1. This is a wonderful book...it's about stone walls, and about building stone walls, and all the things stone walls have meant and done for 350 years, and what it feels like to live and work in a place where just past the urban sprawl every one of those 350 years blends with this one (and if you look out the corner of your eye there're older times than that hiding in the shadows.)

   It's not a homeowner howto, though it's got everything you can learn from a book. It's a book for masons who love their craft, New Englanders who love their home place, and anyone who likes good work. Whatever that means to you.




2. Of the half-dozen books I bought in preparation for recycling some of the old stonewalls up through the woods on our farm into a new retaining wall, this is my clear favorite. It is more detailed than John Vivian's Building Stone Walls, particularly when it comes to retaining walls. Because it is not as glossy and illustrated as Haywards' Stone in the Garden or David Reed's Stonescaping (which are, by the way, both excellent in their own right), I'm not as wary about taking it out to the project with me.

   The text is clear and concise, and includes a healthy dose of stone philosophy and the index is detailed enough to help the do-it-yourselfer find what he needs, but short enough so that he can find what he wants, even if he does not know the proper name for it.

   However, the main reason I like this book so much is Gardner's assurance that anyone who puts his mind to it -- which includes me -- can build a stone wall. While his respect for old stone walls and the art of building them is obvious, he also has a healthy dose of practicality. "The notion that all, or even most, of the old stone-work we see around New England is the result of concentrated applicaion of arcane skill," he write, " is demonstrably false." Once that sacred cow was out of the way, my confidence level went up and anything seemed possible.

   The black & white drawings that illustrate the text are clear and very helpful.




3. The Granite Kiss is an endearing look at the practical and esthetic aspects of creating and repairing stone walls. The book has an artistic quality with its extra wide pages with pen and ink drawings of walls under construction or old walls still standing. There are no photos.
   
   There is a feeling of working alongside the author while he idly rambles about the task at hand and jobs he has completed in his career. I especially enjoyed his nicknames for the various rock shapes likely to be found in any imperfect rockpile and the relationships the shapes may have to each other in a completed wall. All in all, stone wall building is a task of patience and persistance - which the author relays in topics such as: spreading the "good" rocks out; working with rocks that are not perfect blocklike shapes, time management; and what is likely to stand the test of time.
   
   This is a book to get you into the slow and methodical, but contemplative mood for learning and practicing this dying art.



4. I surprisingly enjoyed this book. I purchased a few other stone wall books with the intention of building my own wall. I originally did not buy this book because other reviewers indicated not any pictures & a few drawings (this is true). But it is a easy read & tells of the pleasure of building in addition to techniques.



5. I was excited to get this book, being from New England I was looking forward to having a stone wall book focused in that area. Unfortunately I was immediately let down when I received it. When I turned the pages I quickly noticed that there wasn't a single photo in the book! In my mind this is almost a crime, it would be like purchasing a book on sunsets and finding out there were only scattered black and white illustrations inside.
   Also, the most knowledge filled tidbits of information are quotes the author uses from other stone masons. I recommend their works instead; Charles McRaven's Stone Primer , and John Vivian's Building Stone Walls (a good mix of photos and illustrations, all in B&W, but less expensive than most.)

2 comments about A Country Doctor (Bantam Classic).

1. What an enjoyable book! As a 19th century novel,it's slow paced enough to reflect upon the value of one's life and work.The young heroine's plan to study medicine is unaccepted by many people, but Nan is determined. She is lucky to have the backing of her guardian, himself a doctor. His thoughts about and support of her decision are very progressive for the time, and heart-warming. Nan's choice is challenged when she meets an attractive young man. The mores of the time demand that she choose between marriage and a profession. The weight that a profession carried at that time made it more a vocation than simply a job. A person chose seriously, his/her future as her life-long identity and contribution to humanity. This novel was thought producing,and its perspective interesting - I recommend it.



2. This little book gives us insight into the New England culture of the late 1800's and what it was like to grow up as a girl in a small town. Having lived in recent years in the very town of the authoress, I found it authentic in the characterization of the community she described. She portrayed the simplicity of New England living and their penchant for using words sparingly. The inspiration came from tidbits of philosophy for the development of the strength of character to overcome the expectation for one's role in life in a way that was not confrontational, but realistically the right thing to do. This little book reminds us that character and manners can make life much more pleasureable.