In Past To Present, photographer Joan Almond has documented village life in Moslem desert communities for over twenty-five years: her travels and discoveries are documented in a work that shares her photos and many cultural insights. The photos are presented as full-page images unsullied by description; the text resides in the front for a fine introduction of Almond's efforts.

Enhanced with a brief but informative introduction by Karen Sinsheimer and Roberto Tejada's insightful essay, Joan Almond: The Past In The Present showcases an amazing and impressive photographic journey by documentary photographer Joan Almond through the Islamic desert communities of North Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East in a outstanding anthology of images featuring ordinary village people and daily life in a profound black-and-white photography that fully captures the spirit of a land and its people. Brief thoughts and a short essay or two are interspersed between the lengthy sections of captivating photographs. An extraordinary look at the human culture and the daily quest to survive and prosper, Joan Almond: The Past In The Present is a very highly recommended and enduring contribution to personal, professional, and academic collections.

Almond has spent over 25 years photographing the life of Muslem people in Third World settings, following their rituals, religion, and personal lives. Almond Eyed: Past In Present presents location shots of these groups, displaying a set of images which have almost vanished from the world. From faces to architectural wonders, this packs in fine coverage.

Davis, in a stroke of genius, has written a book about, well, junk. We all have it, we are all loathe to part with it, we're forever buying more of it and no one ever seems to know what to do with it. Davis knows, though, and she graciously invites us into her home via Townsend's photographs to see exactly how lining our walls with junk can make our homes exquisite.

Davis has written a readable, highlightable little book in her unique and playful style and has consequently introduced us to the treasures that lie dusty in our own garages. Everyone who lives within 200 miles of a flea market must own this book!

I really enjoyed reading the book. It is fun and has a lot of ideas for "junk" a holics.

The book was really a lot of fun! I enjoyed it.

Making history accessible to everyone is not only a rare talent but a great service to the public, and this is a book that can be enjoyed by everyone. It is full of wit, insight, wonderful illustrations and photographs. It captures the most important political details of the last five centuries in a way that brings home to the reader the true historical significance of events many of us have only ever heard or read about from a single (authorized) perspective. Much of history is so bloody and disturbing that it can deter people from delving into it. Mark Almond's book is gripping enough to prevent readers from turning away from the horrors, and the importance of that should not be underestimated. We all have a responsibility to be aware of the real causes behind the great tragedies in human history. The great revolutions of the last 500 years have occurred at such a horrendous cost to mankind that for any of us to simply sit back and say "that could never happen again, not in this day and age" would be tantamount to criminal negligence. How many people predicted the terrors, wars and famines of the last half millennium? As the author writes in the opening chapter, "Complacency has rarely been a good prophet." Taking those words to heart, any reader of this book should find he or she has the impetus to read on. As an added bonus, the reader should find tremendous enjoyment in turning the pages.

If you want to know about revolution around the world you should read this book...

Revolution-500 yrs of struggle for change is an excellent review of some of the most influencial revolutions that have ever happened. I love this book as it is so informative and intresting. I definitely recomend it to any one intrested in revolutions. The pictures are excellent too!! With the pictures of old art to photos of Che Guevara and Boris Yeltsin. and it also has maps to explain things. There's loads of great quotes from pple, it's wonderful!!!!!!

A Sweet Quartet is a charming tale about the history of sugar, almonds, butter, and eggs, and how each made its way independently into the kitchen and became the foundation of all desserts. She tells the story of each ingredient by weaving history with personal recollections in the field at a sugar mill, at a hatchery, as owner of a patisserie, and other experiences. The story is compelling, and comes complete with 33 recipes. -rkc

Four basic elements make desserts possible: sugar, almonds, eggs, and butter. A Sweet Quartet blends a culinary history of these ingredients with a recipe guide and travelogue. No color photos, but the easy recipes don't need them, while the culinary history of dessert-making is fascinating, adding a literary touch to the results.

Fran Gage's "A Sweet Quartet" is filled to overflowing with gorgeous writing about four basic baking ingredients: sugar, almonds, eggs, and butter. She refers to these with the charming assertion that they are "the DNA of desserts." Although I'd disagree with her here (in my book, flour would replace almonds, much as I love almonds!), this former bakery owner makes her case so winningly and with such conviction that you are swept along in her cause.

The recipes are few--just under three dozen total--which may seem like very little for a cookbook that costs over twenty bucks. But Gage isn't trying to provide you with recipes as much as she's trying to fill you in on the background, the history, the chemical properties, and the world view of these ingredients. On the task she sets for herself, she does beautifully. Did you know, for instance, that:

"The Germans have loved marzipan since it arrived in the sixteenth century from Venice. They sought out the best almonds for it, and trade guilds regulated its sale; only apothecaries were allowed to sell it, much to the chagrin of confectioners . . . Neideregger, a marzipan maker in Lübeck since 1805, still boasts two hundred varieties."

or . . .

"The rhythmic slapping of balloon whisks beating egg whites in copper bowls is more than a romantic holdover. Atoms from the copper bind with one of the white's proteins, which promotes cross-linking between the protein molecules, resulting in a foam that is creamier and not so easy to overwhip."

or . . .

"There is real butter, and there is fake butter, and they are not the same . . . Spurred on by a challenge from Napoleon III in 1869, Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès came up with a cheaper substitute. Relying on shaky biological knowledge of how a cow produced something that became butter, he mixed the oil from beef fat (oleo) with skimmer milk and water, throwing in a strip of cow udder for good measure. His invention was surprisingly like the veritable item. He called it margarine, after the Greek word for 'pearl,' a name that reflected its glossy appearance. People liked the price, and some may have liked the taste. The new product became popular."

"A Sweet Quartet" is filled with fascinating nuggets like this, studded with information that way one of Gage's desserts might be studded with dried cranberries or chocolate chunks or, well, almonds. This is a super book for anyone interested in peeking behind the bakery curtain to see the whys and wherefores of the way these essential dessert ingredients work and how they affect both each other and other ingredients. And the recipes, by the way, are wonderful!

I found Get Better Not Bitter by Joseph Almond to be clear, direct and penetrating. For me, one of the most powerful ideas was the concept of "Defining" attitudes, ideas and issues over which I DO have control in my life. As a professional counselor, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in specific tools to rise above adversity and weave their aspirations into a richly textured and meaningful life.

Joseph Almond is an awe-inspiring motivator who takes you into the realm of uncertainty to expose life's failed attempts to take us down. From his trials and tribulations to his triumphs and celebrations - Joseph leads you on a journey of human experience that everyone can relate to. He shows us how to overcome life's obstacles and live life to the fulliest. Get Better Not Bitter is an inspiration for the young and old! It has definitely been my lifevest in the midst of a hurricane. It can be yours too.

Like all the other Magical Pokémon Journeys, this one is still funny. This makes the TV series look like someone reading an address book (humor-wise). This isn't the funniest of the series (that would probably be Cooking With Jigglypuff); but it's not the worst, either. I had to get it from the library because I missed it when my comic book store brought it out. But I still read it.

This book explains how a political systems works. Democratic and non-democratic political systems are analysed deeply in their structures, processes, forms and institutions, and afterwards are compared in order to check the main diferences between them. A fantastic book!

This is is the first book to unite art and poetry to portray the recently deceased Times Square sexual underworld. Written from the perspective of a participant and not a voyeur, the book is an effort to document an unique aspect of New York which has been lost under the Guliani regimes double sexual standard. The color, danger and freedom of this landscape of desire is documented here for future generations that don't necessarily think that Times Square as Disneyland/tourist trap is an improvement. The locations are real, the stories true and images are based in reality with the real denizens of the "forty deuce" as models. Any fan of John Rechy, Genet, Bruce Benderson or Herbert Huncke will delight in the text. Any fan of Jim Bidgood's 'Pink Narcissus", Guy Peelart's photomontages or like the idea of Pierre and Giles with an unappologetic american grittiness will love the beautifully printed color full bleed plates of Marc and a wide cast of new yorks underground gorgeous deviants.

Filtered Logic by Betty S. Almond began as a cautious walk into the mine fields of old logic and lost innocence. Her poetry takes the reader to that point beyond Eden where perceived values are tested against reality.

The author has incredibly caught the (Bethy) character in an amazing outline. I give a thumbs up to this book. With anxiousness I turned each page. Great book for all ages. Inspiring!!!!

Two people carrying scars of a life spent away from home, now return to face new conflicts and experiences in their tangled efforts to reach one another. Great romance, heartwarming and touching!
Evelyn Horan - teacher/author
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Books One-Three

The more I read, the more LIKE A PROMISE hooked me. What a great reflection on the challenge of returning home. As more history was revealed in each chapter, I became mesmerized by the relationships and action. We carry our childhood all our lives, but can move past our self-imposed limits as adults.

How ironic that you named the town Weehope, when Bethy ultimately found so much hope and joy there. The story reminds people to take risks and embrace second chances.