Mrs. Fiske has carefully sorted through early documents and developed a thorough and friendly history of the Thomas Cook line. She presents new thoughts, supports them with evidence, and makes this book a very valuable resource for those working anywhere along this line. Two fat! volumes may be obtained (be sure to tell Amazon which, or both, that you want) and you'll learn more than you ever dreamed possible about the Cooks. There are a few errors as can be expected in a work of this size (Grandpa's middle name was Orlando, not Oleander) but they appear minor in relationship to the vast number of entries.

This play is wonderful for schools and fabulous for community theaters to perform. Lots of intrigue with twists, turns and hillarity! Great work Mr. Cook!

It is a treat to see this work available again to the general reading public for a number of reasons. First, the book remains as fresh, exciting, and stylistically pleasing as it did when first appearing many years ago. Also, the book helps clarify and confirm the skills of the remarkable Frederick Cook as a writer of great merit, a photographer of immense talent, an intrepid and resourceful explorer, and perhaps above all as a kind and helpful human being both toward his fellow travellers and toward the indigenous peoples through whose lands he travelled over his long exploring career.

These talents of Cook's have been too often obscured by the intense and often acrimonious debates that have raged for nearly a century over whether he really achieved his claims of having been the first man to climb Alaska's Mount Mckinley and the first man to reach the North Pole. Whether he achieved those claims or not, his achievements on the expedition to Antartica recounted in this book cannot be denied as he played a vital role in keeping the crew as physically and psychologically sound as was possible during the long Antarctic night while their ship, THE BELGICA, lay trapped in the grinding ice. Cook was ahead of his time in realizing that raw penguin meat would protect the crew from scurvy and that sitting in front of a hot bright fire would help counteract symptoms of what we now call "seasonal affective disorders" that include depression, withdrawal, and other emotional problems. Cook was also instrumental in devising a system of digging and blasting out canals through the ice that allowed the ship to eventually escape into open water many months earlier than would otherwise have been possible. During their many months of confinement, Cook and his companions were pioneers in being the first to travel out onto the continent and experiment with Cook's novel ideas of sleds (they used a sail when the wind was favorable) and tents (Cook's design became a lightweight and sturdy standard for many future espeditions.)

But Cook is generous with praise for the other members of this international crew that included the Captain, Adrian de Gerlache who, though first forbidding Cook to serve raw penguin, was in general an enlightened leader who was instrumental in helping Cook in the planning and execution of their strategy for digging out of their predicament. We meet, too, the young Roald Amundsen who would become a lifelong friend of Cook's and who would later become famous for being the first man to reach the South Pole in his famous race against the ill-fated Scott expedition.

Cook's extraordinary photographic gift is amply shown in his famous moonlight picture of THE BELGICA as it sits trapped, its deck and rigging glittering in a sheath of ice. This picture, and others, astound when we consider the primitive equipment in use at the end of the Nineteenth century.

Cook brings home the excitement, the beauty, and the tragedy of this remarkable tale with a wonderfully descriptive writing style that will win over those readers with a yen for adventures of exploration, not only of a place but of the human heart and mind.

I purchased this book over three months ago, which of course, I just got to read on a Saturday afternoon (procrastination?). I was looking for a fast, light read as well as a book that would help me improve my time management skills.

I found that this book was excellent in providing multiple solutions and methods for addressing, improving and mitigating various situations dealing with time-sinks. There were multiple sections that I "dog-eared" to go back to dealing with to-do lists, characterizing activities, speed writing, controlling paper flow, optimizing waiting time and also solutions dealing with procrastination and "worrying". I have found the methods provided have very been effective.

If your looking for a book that will be a fast read with tangible guidance dealing with time management, this is an excellent choice (and cheap too!).

I've been growing my own herbs for a couple of years now, but didn't own a good cookbook on how to use them. "Today's Herbal Kitchen" solved my dilemma. The recipes are categorized by season so I always have the correct herbs to use along with appropriate dishes to serve. I highly recommend it.

In this true story, Cindy Cook vulnerably shares the difficulties she experienced of not loving herself and thus, finding it hard to love a step son. But through recognizing God's tender love for her and the wounds from her past and how they affected her, she was able to gradually love again. The story has a happy, tender ending!

I love cookbooks as my mother did before me. I read them for fun and getting the juices flowing without the calories! The recipes are fantastic and easy enough to follow for novices (myself) and the stories on the Texas Chefs are interesting, too. If you're a cookbook collector, you'll want to add this one for sure. Y'all be blessed!

The reason I like this book is that the diagrams and photographs are clear and use colored threads. You can learn how to make beginning torchon bobbin lace on your own with this book. Descriptions of how to wind on your bobbins and how to start are defined well and the method to make simple bookmarks all the way through to more advanced projects are explained in detail.

I first bought this book when I was 28 years old, and hadn't a clue about cooking. If you don't know how to cook, this book will take you by the hand step by step all the while telling a funny stories about his aunt gertie and the Mole. to this day I get compliments on a lasagna which I got from this cookbook, people tell me its the best they've ever tasted. I remember back in 1989 when I first bought it, thinking I hope I learn something? this cookbook gave me the confidence to keep on cooking. It is not like any other cookbook, most of which expect you to know cooking terms like "sweat the carrots or render this or separate that" Once you finish going through this cookbook you will be ready to tackle the other more intimidating cookbooks out there. a mighty fine book.

15 year old Nathan resents having to leave Kentucky where he wants to learn to be a doctor under his grandfather's guidance.But Nathans father wants to get away from civilization so they pack all their belongings on horseback and head for Missouri.Nathan has a special knack for doctoring and when his horse gives birth two weeks too early and the filly is unable to walk because it's bones are too soft,Nathan fixes bark splints to allow it to walk and eventually it can walk on its own.The real test for Nathan comes when his father must travel to enter their land at the land office several days journey away and doesn't return.Rumors of small pox reach the family and Nathan must decide toleave his mother and sister to find his father before winter sets in.My children begged me to read "just one more chapter" every night.A real pioneer story!