Cynthia Gibson is a very talented lady. Her obvious taste and style is featured through the lovely photographs. Not only is the information tried and true, it is accessible. This book is a winner!

The Bountiful Flower Garden is a beautiful, lavishly illustrated compendium for growing and showcasing cut flowers from the southern garden. Beginning with the influences of the European, Asian and American heritages. The Bountiful Flower Garden reveals how to extend the life of cut flowers in order to bring their beauty indoors. It details when, how and where to cut, as well as when and how to employ chemical extenders. The Bountiful Flower Garden offers the reader invaluable information on other plants effective in cut-flower arranging. The Bountiful Flower Garden is enhanced with lists, essays, and step-by-step instructions regarding trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, annuals, foliage plants, and berry/fruit plants. The Bountiful Flower Garden is the definitive guide and a wonderful book for family gardeners and interior designers to simply browse through in search of ideas and possibilities for enriching the atmosphere and decor of homes and offices.

Charleen Forrest (nee McNinn) is , in good Carol Shields fashion, mostly an observer in her own life. Still in love with her absent, long divorced ex-husband, she alternates bouts of scathing self criticism with ones of gentle dithering. Three days involving enormous amounts of travel, excitement and revelation somehow leave Charleen with just a minor adjustment in her modus operandi. Readers of Ms. Sheilds "Small Ceremonies" will be interested to find Charleen is sister to that novel's biographer heroine, Judith (who makes an appearance here with her husband, Martin, and children as well). Showing the reader what can and cannot be revealed through words as Charleen concentrates most of her energies on correspondence with a mysterious botanist, and showing as well her curious gift for rendering the intangible into a three dimensional state ("Yes." I agree, forcing my voice into short plumes of enthusiasm, "Really good. So tender.") Carol Shields gives this small book the weight of her full talents

Mr. Garden has done his homework here , the book is quite a masterpiece . The images shown are all classics. All areas of this hard to railfan line are covered, either by the author or other diligent photographers. The line history is likewise documented, from its beginnings to to present day. After reading this work, I am ready to pack my cameras and hike into some of the locations illustrated for a go at it. This book will be a cult classic in my opinion, well worth the money, even if you have never set foot in British Columbia, Canada.

An outstanding history of the late -1960s surrealist-hippie rock movement known as "tropicalia." Although tons has already been written about Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and the other heroes of the tropicalia scene in the Brazilian press and academia, it's been pretty slim pickings in the English-speaking world... up until now, that is! Christopher Dunn, who co-edited "Brazilian Popular Music & Globalization," skillfully combines hard academic research with a relatively light, conversational prose. This is dense yet captivating material, as Dunn deftly explores the historical and philosophical connections to tropicalia -- an art movement that was originally conceived as cross-genre and multi-media -- and previous Brazilian movements such as modernismo, which was Brazil's homegrown 1920s variant of the "futurist" philosophy that swept through Europe in the early 20th Century. Dunn also deftly tells the story of tropicalia's explosive growth as a subversive, psychedelic musical genre, and the harsh political repression it was met with by the dictatorship which held power from 1964 to 1985. This is a vital book, of interest to the many newfound fans of this wild musical style, or to art historians tracking the worldwide path of dada-ism and surrealist art. Highly recommended.

If you've ever wandered through a friend's or neighbor's garden and seen something so remarkable and yet so simple that you can't believe you didn't think of it yourself, you have some idea of what it's like to read this book. The author has done a wonderful job compiling information on everything from amending soil and fending off pests to creating garden structures from free materials. This book is a motherlode of ideas. I've been using the library's copy, but I'm going to spend a few of my well-pinched pennies on a copy of my own.

As a carpenter I'd give this book an excellent rating because unlike other books on underground structures this has an actual plan to follow to build the shelter! No guesswork or buying other blueprints if you're handy at all with basic tools and can mortar some concrete blocks together, etc..This book covers everything from the tools and materials you need to the exact size of the roof frame boards which is what I was most in doubt about. It covers the building of the hatch, footings, drain, and all, and offers points on maintaining it and providing a bit of heat and light and some storage requirements of individual fruits and vegetables and a few words on storage containers. Also the directions for building the stairs is included.A lot of information here in a small and inexpensive book.Following these directions could save lives in the event a tornado comes through, so I dug my excavation an extra foot to foot and a half deeper than the recommended four feet.

Wish I had this book last year when I wanted to make a simple table and chairs for the patio.

The drawings and photos are easy to follow, and as my skills increase, I can work up to some of the more difficult projects. Peters is right on the money about the small folding chair: I made one, and now everybody's asking me to make them one, too.

Not too complicated, not over-simplified...a great "how-to" handbook.

Get this book if you have been suspicious about the hype surrounding the Zen of garden building or if you want a hilarious account of a brave amateur confronting the sham purity of Japanese garden design. But this is also a serious and wryly understated account of how to confront the task armed with the basic philosophy of the design of a garden and teahouse, and as well, a humorous introduction to the kind of characters you might meet if you go past the DIY stores to meet the suppliers.

This book is a wonderful resource for anyone who loves to grow bulbs, whether indoors or out. The authors list the bulbs by genus and includes additional information such as the best species for all relevant USDA zones. The book also explains techniques for outdoor planting and indoor forcing, in addition to suggesting planting combinations. Overall, this book has made an irreplaceable addition to my gardening library.