5 comments about Miami Then and Now (Then & Now).

1. I was born and reared in Miami, the fourth generation of my Pioneer South Florida family. I was delighted with this book, it brought back so many memories.

   The old photographs are gems, and the descriptions well written and informative. I enjoyed the "then" pictures with the "now", in some instances they are almost unbelievable, the Coconut Grove Womens Club little Club House which I went to frequently is a good example, long may it survive!




2. If you have lived in Miami or have an affinity toward Miami, this is a must-have book. Few people in Miami like Arva Moore Parks have taken the time to document the City's rich history as the fastest-growing metropolis in the United States over the last 100 years. The "then and now" photos offer splendid matches, with interesting and informative historical notes in the caption. Great coffee-table book too!



3. Execellent book - highly recommended, but get down here and see for yourself - what's happening to the Miami is magical and really a golden opportunity for all. Over the next few years Miami's Skyline will be transformed as builders and investors seek billions in pre-construction investments to turn the city into a the epicenter of the region.
   
   
   http://realestate.1stmiami.com



4. Having grown up in Miami, I found the book particularly interesting. The pictures were excellent. I thought the captions could have been a bit more informative.



5. Being both a history buff and having grown up and lived in Miami for 20 years, I could certainly appreciate the spirit of this book. Miami is currently synonymous in popular media and culture with clubs and partying, sexy people and celebrities, and hip shops (even though this image is more descriptive of Miami Beach and South Beach rather than the city of Miami itself). Despite it being a relatively young city, though, it is still rich in its own history and thankfully this book goes beyond the present glossy, superficial party image of the city and transports the reader back to a simpler and more wholesome time. This is Miami how its founders and earliest residents knew it. Most of the "before" pictures date from the 20's and 30's, and it is really fascinating to see how things have changed. As I said, I grew up in Miami and there are places shown in the book that I never even knew existed, such as the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple and the Coral Gables Rock House. I am glad that the author explores not only downtown Miami and Miami Beach, but devotes pages of photos to other neighborhoods around Miami such as Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Little Havana, and even Opa Locka and Hialeah (being a Hialeah native myself, I would have liked to see more than just the one picture of the racetrack, but that is my own personal bias). While the book is certainly complete, I feel maybe too many pages were devoted to certain places, such as Coral Gables and Coconut Grove for example, and perhaps some of that coverage could have been reduced and made room for other places to be shown. I am glad that the author explores little known places familiar to residents and not just the touristy areas that visitors would know, but on the other hand, some of these are a little too obscure and I would have also liked to have seen what was in some of those touristy areas, such as Bayside, the zoo, major malls, etc. Just because of those little complaints I give the book four stars, but if you don't care about these, then this might as well be 5 stars and it is still a highly recommended book.

5 comments about Frommer's Hawaii with Kids (Frommer's With Kids).

1. This book had a lot of good general info on both Hawaii and good spots to visit with children. However, the restaurant reviews in general were not helpful. Restaurants rated positively for kids menus were often poor quality with limited children's selections. In one restaurant, the only thing our 3 year old could order was garlic bread!



2. Love this book! Very helpful when planning your trip to an island for the first time.



3. I think that of all the Hawaii-related travel books out there, this one is the best because it is full of pertinent information without getting to involved. It is perfect if you are planning your vacation to include children. It gives you everything from choosing family-friendly accommodations and dining to planning events everyone in the entire family with love. I am very happy that I chose this book.



4. While searching for information on traveling with a wheelchair user I came across this book with on line excerpts that contained just what I was looking for. The tips and special advice found here have answered many questions concerning travel around and accessibility of the various islands. Well worth the money.



5. This book is helpful in terms of finding accommodations and dining places that are kid friendly. However, I have 10-months twin girls and this book doesn't provide much information on things to do with infants. I look forward to using this book again when my girls are older.

1 comments about Cades Cove: Window to a Secret World.

1. I bought this book expecting beautiful photos of my one of my favorite places on earth, Cades Cove. I certainly was not disappointed. The photos are masterfully taken with great sense of proportion and composition. The beauty of the mountains and this special valley shine through. The photographer's love for his subject is obvious. What a pleasant surprise to find so much interesting and informative narrative on the people and history of the Cove. I learned so much and will treasure this book for many years. Thank you, Bill Lea.

4 comments about Insiders' Guide to Portland, Oregon, 5th: Including the Metro Area and Vancouver, Washington (Insiders' Guide Series).

1. INSIDERS' GUIDE TO PORTLAND, OREGON, 5TH is a great guide to the cities of Portland and Vancouver, as well as their surrounding suburbs. Besides such information as house values, attractions, and the quality of schools in the area, the book also features detailed listings of the radio stations in the area, as well as in-depth discussions of what types of healthy-eating ideas and ethnic cuisine you can find in this metroplex. The book lacks a deep discussion of shopping malls in the area, preferring instead to focus on the other types of stores where a guy can find things to keep his woman happy, including CDs to dance to with her and clothes to help him look his best for her, which seems to indicate that independent stores are often the way to go to keep such promises, especially in a high-culture area such as Portland/Vancouver. Despite the lack of information on local malls, however, it's a wonderful book.



2. I liked the information in this book, Even has school listings. I was purchasing it for tourism purposes and it covers that but doesn't have pictures or long descriptions and prices. Since that is what I was looking for I was a little disappointed. Good for info bad for tourists.



3. This book has lots of useful information, but fails to tie the information in to graphics for those of us who have trouble visualizing the locations from the text. The neighborhoods are described by their names, and rougly tied into the city as a whole. However, the maps are not specific enough.



4. These books (there is a series) are the first resource we go to upon learning that it is, once again, time for us to transfer. They have all the information that most people could need and I recommend them to every military person I know that is in the process of transferring to make their move just a little bit easier. A look at the contents of this particular book:
   
   Area Overview
   Getting Here, Getting Around
   History
   Bed-and-Breakfast Inns
   Hotels and Motels
   Restaurants
   Brewpubs
   Coffeehouses
   Nightlife
   Shopping
   Attractions
   Kidstuff
   Festivals and Annual Events
   The Arts
   Recreation and Spectator Sports
   Portland Parks
   Golf
   Day Trips
   Relocation
   Child Care and Education
   Health Care and Wellness
   Retirement
   Media
   Worship
   Index
   
   No, there aren't a lot of pictures, but I can buy a coffee-table book for that. This is information and lots of it - including addresses, phone numbers, and websites when appropriate. Great for visitors and potential newcomers alike!

No comments about Edges of Bounty:Adventures in the Edible Valley.

5 comments about Affordable Paradise: The Secrets of an Affordable Life in Hawaii.

1. This book is poorly edited, and looks like it was printed in someone's garage. No less than three different font types throughout the main text. Additionally, the title of this book is deceiving- it should be called, the secrets to an affordable life on "THE BIG ISLAND" of Hawaii. The author says straight up on the second page of this book that this book will not help you if you want to move to Maui or any other Hawaii'an island for that matter. However, from reading the cover, it says nothing about referring to 'Hawaii'' as the Big Island of Hawaii. It just refers to 'Hawaii.' Annoying. Bad on me for not reading further- Amazon recommended this to me when I was purchasing another book on Hawaii, and I fell for it. Not satisfied.



2. After reading reviews on this site I ordered Affordable Paradise, as well as So You Want to Live in Hawaii by Toni Polancy. I loved Affordable Paradise and highly recommend it. I do suggest purchasing both books and reading them together. Toni Polancy's (So You Want to Live in Hawaii) book is quite pessimistic, right from the opening lines...but it does contain some valuable information. Skip Thomsen's book is my favorite by far. The author also maintains a website where updates are available free of charge.



3. This is must have for anyone considering relocating to Hawaii. Very upfront with pros and cons.



4. This book has a lot of practical information and advice for people who think that Island living is as simple as just moving there. The author suggests many ways to make the move easier, cheaper and less stressful. He stresses the importance of assimilating to the island culture, rather than bringing mainland sensibilities with you. The author has a blog which is a great forum to share ideas and ask specific questions. Read this book and learn what it means to "Live Aloha"



5. This is a wonderful book if you're planning to move to the Big Island of Hawaii. It breaks it down in an easy to follow way. Plain spoken and unbiased (although the author clearly loves the island). Lots of practical advise but if you're planning on moving to another island in Hawaii this might not be for you.

5 comments about Making Dough: The 12 Secret Ingredients of Krispy Kreme's Sweet Success.

1. What a disappointment. Nothing new in this book. It's more of a poorly created PR campaign for the company.



2. After finishing Trump's Art of the Deal, I moved on to Making Dough. This book is one step above go dog go and reads like a guide to why Krispy Kreme is great written and published by Krispy Kreme (I thought marketing literature was supposed to be printed on all glossy pages?).
   There is little advice presented that would be easily applied to your own buisness, unless you are a KK franchise holder. This is amazingly disappointing since I love the product.

   My Advice.... Go to the library and take the book out for free, buy a few gallons of gas to get to krispy kreme; Buy a dozen doughnuts; Sit and skim the book for an hour, you will still be up $5 which you can spend however you want.




3. This thing reads like an advertising company wrote it for Krispy Kreme. I was hoping to find a bit more in depth history, and what led to the leveraged buyout from Beatrice Foods in the 80's. This book offered 3 mere pages on that. It does not talk about the competition, as far as this book appears, there is none.

   Sure, the doughnuts are great. For those looking for an unbiased view of the franchise, however, keep looking. This book is nothing more than a written commercial.




4. As owner of an online Lifestyle Magazine, we are all wondering will Krispy Kreme go low-fat, low-carb, or no-sugar?
   
   She Unlimited Magazine
   sheunlimited.com



5. This book is poorly written, as poorly as the obviously fake positive reviews the author always contaminates Amazon with for all his books. Look at his different books and reviews and you will quickly see how ridiculous he cheats.

5 comments about Bad President.

1. The books Bad Cat and Bad Baby are both hilarious; a friend assures me Bad Dog is equally funny. This book pretends to be part of the same series of books, but it's really not. Only about 3 picture/caption parings in the entire book are even a little bit funny, the rest is political propaganda against George W Bush. I bow to no one in my disdain for that man, but this isn't even good propaganda and it's not even fair; it's the type of brainless pablum that gives liberals a bad name. The format is similar to the other "bad" books, a candid picture paired with a caption, but in this case the captions aren't funny, they're a way of putting words in someone's mouth to score a political point. Every 3 or 4 pages, there is a "the sad truth" page to reinforce the point just in case you are so entirely brainless you didn't already get it, with 'facts' that in most cases aren't facts, just more opinions, or statistics taken out of context. What REALLY annoyed me is that its not like you couldn't build a good case against Mr. Bush if that was your objective OR write funny captions if being funny was your objective, or even write funny stuff that builds a case against Bush. After all, Jon Stewart does that very well and he's very funny as well. But this? Not even remotely funny.



2. I received this book as a gift from a friend; it proved to be as funny as it was downright depressing at times. What makes the book interesting is that it combines slap-in-the-face humor with jaw-dropping quotes/actions taken by the Bush Administration. Just two examples of many:
   
   As Governor of Texas, Bush presided over 152 executions, by far the most of any contemporary governor...
   
   Dick Cheney: "A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion."
   
   Though the purposefully humorous pages of the book do provide a fleeting sense of entertainment, I found the most shockingly hilarious sections of the book to be those pages showcasing the unbelievable, downright criminal and immoral actions of this Administration (about every 4 pages or so) - anecdotal tales that make one laugh and wonder, "Are these idiots for real?"
   
   Given its low price and high level of pertinence to the state of affairs in our country - as well as the cheap laughs you'll get from the clever use of captions combined with some rather candid photos - I would recommend this book to anybody, perhaps especially to those who find no problems with the USA's current situation.



3. Imagine ten million people putting every major city into grid-lock on 1 January, holding up a copy of this book, and chanting "Death to the Two-Party Spoils System--Electoral Reform now or every one of you is FIRED."
   
   My caption may sound like hype, but as the guy who invented the T-Shirt with a front that has God Bless Dick Cheney around his snarling face, and on the back, "Enema of the Republic," I am totally comfortable with giving this book a full five-star rating.
   
   Others are nit-picking this excellent work for no good reason.
   
   1) The photographs are priceless and brilliantly selected.
   
   2) The captions are not just thoughtful and hilarious, but often brilliant.
   
   3) The Sad Facts pages add solid substance.
   
   Bush is a village idiot, sexually confused, and a pathetic human being whose own mother does not like him. Cheney is the real amoral criminal.
   
   I strongly recommend this book as a gift. I am on my way to Iowa to hand out flyers and business cards and playing cards pointing America to 52 touigh questions at Earth Intelligence Network. Not a single one of the candidates can answer all of these questions. My Op-Ed on seven reasons why I might vote for Barack Obama, as an estranged moderate Republican, is at OSS.Net under my personal web page.
   
   I am having difficulty understanding why Americans are not burning tires in the streets and going on a non-violent national sick-out until Dick Cheney is forced to resign and go into permanent exile in Dubai, where his hide-out is now ready for occupancy. Go, Dick, Go.
   
   At Earth Intelligence Network, see 52 questions and answers that no candidate in Iowa can answer today, and the one-page outline of Electoral Reform legislation that some of us are asking Ron Paul and Barack Obama to introduce, with a ROLL CALL VOTE, when Congress returns in January. We will not accept anything less.
   
   For serious non-fiction that focuses on how a village idiot who had two elections stolen for him (born with a silver foot in his mouth), see:
   
   Bush's Brain
   Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
   Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
   Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders
   Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches
   
   Now the good news:
   A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
   The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
   Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
   One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization
   The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism: How the Financial System Underminded Social Ideals, Damaged Trust in the Markets, Robbed Investors of Trillions - and What to Do About It



4. This is a curious book in that just when the captions get going the authors weigh down with the serious, sad parts of the Bush presidency (of which there are many, of course). It would have been better formatted as simply a book of cartoon-captioned offerings.
   
   It may be that "Bad President" now appears to be somewhat outdated, two years after its original publication. Some of the contributions are mildly funny...none enough to make one laugh out loud... and refer to news items that seem stale today. Still, it's a reminder that while the dysfunctional Bush presidency hasn't run out of time yet, it ran out of ideas long ago.



5. A joy to read, past it around to 8 people at a long party, everyone enjoyed it. It does help to be Jewish

5 comments about One Small Blue Bead.

1. This book is used by me in my fifth grade class for discussion, predicting and appreciating challenging thoughts outside their comfort zone.



2. I am not even sure how this book came into my hands, but it has been influential in my life. I continue to get goose bumps, or sometimes cry when I read it. It exemplifies the brotherhood of man, the bridging of generational, as well as racial gaps. I had the good fortune to encounter another book by Baylor during my credential program, "I'm in Charge of Celebrations." I realized that there were other books and that this book was still available. It is a great gift, as well as great for use in kindergarten or first grade clasrooms. It can be used as an intro into friendship, acceptance of responsibility, risk-taking for the good of community, and much mmore.Enjoy!



3. "One Small Blue Bead" combines text by Byrd Baylor with illustrations by Ronald Himler. The story, which is told in rhyming verse, is about an apparently prehistoric stone age culture. The heroes of the story are an old man and a boy who are part of a stone age tribe.

   The old man announces his intention to go on a journey to discover if other humans exist. The boy, who is simply called "Boy," volunteers to do the old man's share of work while the old man is on his quest.

   "One Small Blue Bead" is a very moving story with striking illustrations. Himler makes effective use of warm earth tones. The book also contains an inspiring message about the interconnectedness of humanity across vast distances of both time and space. Truly a special book.




4. This book is very touching! When I was graduating college, the book was read to me by one of my instructors. She passed out blue bead necklaces to each one of us, after the story, to help us remember the experiences we had shared together. This book is about friendship and sharing of things with others, that are much like you. I love it!



5. I have loved this book for SO long, so when I saw this new addition I ordered a copy. I still adore the text. It is pure magic. I was very disappointed in the new illustrations, though. The original illustrations were often inside the cave lit by the fire with the feeling of the dark just outside its glow. Completely stunning and almost haunting! I miss them in this new addition.

5 comments about The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation's Most Ordinary Citizen.

1. In The Average American author Kevin O'Keefe chronicles his attempt to discover the archetypical resident of the United States, that one man or woman whose quantifiable attributes, preferences, and living conditions are as close to "normal" as possible (normal as determined by the 2000 census and a number of other polls and reports). O'Keefe arrived at a list of 140 criteria that his Average American had to meet, most of them suggested to him by conversations he had with regular folk while traveling around the country on his quest. In the end, the identity of O'Keefe's quintessential American came as a surprise to him, and makes for a very tidy finish to the book, particularly given O'Keefe's secondary motive in undertaking the project. The author portrays himself in the book as an unduly competitive, unlikable type-A character who's never accepted average performance from himself, who's racked up accomplishments not so much because he enjoyed himself in the doing, but because he needed to be better than everyone else. He suggests that in finding the average American he may find as well something that's been missing in himself.
   
   O'Keefe's chronicle is certainly interesting, sprinkled as it is with statistical tidbits which readers will inevitably want to measure themselves against. (The average American falls asleep within seven minutes of going to bed and eats three pounds of peanut butter annually.) And there is a certain frisson in the idea that every American reading the book was, for a short time at least, at the beginning of the project, a candidate for O'Keefe's Everyman.
   
   Except.... Except that some of O'Keefe's candidates were more equal than others. Among the criteria he uses to winnow out the un-average Joes are two geographical filters that alone knock much of the country out of consideration. O'Keefe required that his Average American live in the eastern or central time zones and that he or she live no more than 100 miles from the shore. Residents of California, for example, never really had a chance. O'Keefe similarly applies various political criteria to his candidates. The Average American, for example, is required to live in a state that is represented by at least one Democratic senator (as most Americans do). Thus the majority of O'Keefe's sifting of candidates is done by applying to the population criteria that are external to the individual. Whole communities, whole swaths of the country are thrown out on political or geographical grounds. It would have made for a far more interesting project and book if all of O'Keefe's criteria were instead centered on the individual. As it is, it feels as if much of the population was removed from consideration unfairly.
   
   Two other small additions would have made for a better book. First, I would have appreciated the inclusion of a series of maps in which areas being removed from consideration were shaded out. And it would have been more fun if O'Keefe's 140 criteria were presented in checklist form rather than in paragraphs.
   
   By now you'll be wondering whether your intrepid reviewer comes close to meriting the appellation of Average American. Decidedly not! My annual consumption of eggs and peanut butter is on the low side, and I buy far fewer clothes per year than most. I can't be certain, moreover, but my guess is that I won't be losing twelve of my teeth over the next nine years.
   
   Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece



2. The author works hard to build suspense in his final selection of "J. Average", the Average American. He also selectively reveals elements of his own life story to add focus to his project. On both counts, the book failed to capture my interest.
   I enjoyed the first three chapters of this book- then I realized that the structure was choppy but repetitive. Had the author condensed the first and last chapters into an essay, it would have been memorable. As published, I skimmed large sections in the middle of the book and don't feel that I missed anything.



3. This book keeps you interested. The search for the average american keeps narrowing and so builds your curiousity. The author travels the country on his quest, so its more about his experiences than a bunch of numbers.



4. 
   If you are an Amazon buyer you are probably not average, and Amazon reviewers even less so. I was compelled to buy this book simply on the premise that it would be interesting to learn what "average" was. I was NOT expecting an uplifting book that inspired reflection about what it means to be a good man, a good citizen, a good husband and father, and that is what this book is.
   
   Yes, it would have benefitted from maps as well as a statistical table and a calendar of the search, and I would normally have given it four stars for lacking those "visualization & closure" elements, but I simply cannot get over the fact that this book made me feel good about America and good about the standard run of the mill American.
   
   The idiocy and mendacity of our leaders aside, this is a great Nation, and I have tears in my eyes as I conclude the book, where the man chosen by the author as the average American, informed on the 4th of July, properly concludes that it is a great honor. Honor indeed. This is a superb book.



5. I heard about this book relatively late in it's life on Michael Feldman's "Whad'Ya know?" in late January 2008. Like most of the reviews I have read, the emphasis on the show was about the statistics. The statistics are both fun and important.
   
   But this book is more about Kevin O'Keefe and discovery. The book has buried tidbits about what life is all about. Kevin really took a journey of self awareness and I found many tidbits about life and what is really important in life buried in the pages of this book.
   
   One could read a book about Buddhism and have these points brought across to them. Or they can read this readable book with fun facts that we all know are part of our lives, and learn about ourselves and life along the way.
   
   The purpose of this discovery is uncovered by one of the individuals in the book. Most readers will figure this out before this section anyway. And where the book ends makes perfectly logical sense based on who wrote the book. One might call it poetic justice and be careful what you put on a T-shirt.
   
   Besides which, I found my self penciling in numbers that depicted my life in the margins near the numbers and values Kevin used to define the average American. I did not fit his definition to well, living most of my adult life 300+ miles from home and eating lots of chunky peanut butter. Thus, I weigh about 10 pounds over the average limit.
   
   I would suggest you buy the book and sharpen your pencil and have a go at it and discover yourself.