I used to be a "complete idiot" when it comes to baking, not anymore, thanks to this book. It explains many of the "how" s and "why"s of baking that used to puzzle me. Now, I can bake confidently and I bake about twice a week. My friends think I am a great baker!

This book is really great for a beginner. It gives you the foundation, the basic. But even now, after 3 years of baking, I still refer to this book when I try a new recipe and failed.

You said "what about the recipes"? Oh, they are good for beginners. Basic and simple recipes that a novice baker won't be afraid to try. They have one of the easiest yellow cake recipe I have ever seen, and another one for chocolate cake. I have tried some recipes (about 10) from this book and they all worked beautifully and tasted great. The "Wonderful Pear Tart" had many of my friends asking for the recipe, the chocolate cake which I frosted with chocolate frosting also in this book had my friend asking me if I had bought the cake form a restaurent! And they also have a nice and moist "Banana bread" recipe.

I recommend this book for absolute beginners. It is a good place to start.

Baking is easily the most mystifying and landmine fraught area of cooking for me. It is just plain difficult. BUT: _The Complete Idiot's Guide to Baking_ makes baking seem not only possible but fun. With patience and practice, you can bake. Unbelievable? I thought so, too. But, this book gives you the guts and sense of culinary adventure to try and try again.

No fact is too simple to be presented in this book. And, that's a good thing because baking often goes catastrophically wrong because of one tiny, simple error. This book is very reassuring to a beginning baker. And, it not only gives the hows but also some very interesting whys of baking -- information of interest to even seasoned cooks.

If you think that the scent of baking bread belongs only to great grandmas or bread machines, read this book. If you think warm, gooey, fresh cookies can only come out of a plastic wrapped tube, read this book. It will empower and educate you to bake.

My copy of this book is worn out. It's hard to explain it's charm, perhaps it's the way it covers so much ground so quickly and fluidly (without leaving everything as an exercise for the reader). A particular emphasis on quadratics: residues, forms, class field - not surprising since the author himself won the Fields Medal for his work binary quadratic forms in 1970 and previously in 1966 proved a long-standing conjecture of Carl Gauss: The only imaginary quadratic fields with unique factorization are d = -1, -2, -3, -7, -11, -19, -43, -67 and -163.

This book packs in as many concepts as number theory books five times its length (divisibility, arithmetical functions, congruences, quadratic residues and forms and fields, and diophantine equations and approximations) and is still (surprisingly) very clear. There are even exercises to keep you busy.

This is a wonderful collection of work to date by a talented photographer whose photographs are beautiful and full of feeling, esp for the iconic moments of childhood. It's amazing how the pictures don't feel at all like those taken by a mother, but like they are taken by another child; she has a rare gift in this and I bet she is a cool Mom.
Obviously, I don't mean that they seem childish in any negative sense. I can readily see some of the carefully observed work that has helped to shape her viewpoint; a little Diane Arbus, some Debbie Caffery maybe, certainly some Keith Carter, all photographers who look at children but with an adults nostalgia for childhood and none of the immediacy of being a child that Feinstein manages to get. This affinity for a childs way of seeing the world is very much her own.
The only other photographer I know who was able to work in such an innocent, open way of playing (the primary creative activity of children)was Gene Meatyard.
Anyway, I really like what she has shown me in these pictures and hope to see lots more. Gloria Baker Feinstein has a strong voice.

Feinstein's images are at once mysterious and enlightening, gentle and jarring. Her sensitivity to emotion, expression, and light makes each photograph elegant and poignant. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for new and unique work by a talented emerging artist.

Hope that this book is reprinted -- we've had it for years and use the recipes in it frequently. It's nice sometimes to be able to open a cookbook and get an entire menu with all the items complimentary. The lamb and papaya skewers are perhaps the best -- ALWAYS a hit at parties! The Christmas menu is also a good one.

This is such a nice cookbook. I have had it for years and years. Just reading through it makes me want to embrace all the lovely things that life has to offer and to give back as much as I can. By the way, Crabtree & Evelyn owners, I am so glad that one of your stores has recently opened near me. Thank you for the enduring quality of your products!

I was impressed by this book and am not surprised that it won the Pultizer Prize. It was a well written telling of the struggles of the German Jews.

I had heard about Rabbi Baeck several years ago but had never read about his life. He was a brilliant scholar and very influential in Reformed Judaism. I'd have liked to know more about his wife. She was an essential companion in his life.

He refused to go to the Gestapo office on his Holy days even when commanded. He remained a great source of courage to the Jewish community and refused to leave them even when offered safe emigration.

He is a great example of a man of peace. I once read in a magazine his moving and controversial prayer for the forgiveness of the Nazis. This is an excellent and readable book.

Leonard Baker's Pulitzer Prize winning biography is an compilation of the life of one of history's greatest unknowns. In addition to taking the reader through the life of the "seelsorger" known as Leo Baeck, Baker shows the changes in Germany from the beginning of the twentieth century through the horrors of the Second World War. One can see first hand how the bitterness losing in World War I evolved into the greatest and most frightening regimes to ever take power. This book is perfect for those interested in German history, the Holocaust, and anyone who loves biographies. By the end of this book, you will answer Patrick Dolan's question of, "Who the Hell is Leo Baeck?"

A fellow medical student showed me this pocket book and I am glad I bought it. It is very easy to use and the print is readable. The best part of this book is the list of dosing for Peds. I don't have to look up the amount based on the kg of the child; its right there. Highly recommend for those of us who work or do clinical rotations in the out-patient setting.

This is an amazingly useful and easy to use book! Unlike most other antibiotic guides this one gives you all the information you need when a patient with an infection is in front of you in the office. Not only the drug of choice, but useful alternative therapies, dosages (adults and children), common adverse effects and other helpful prescribing information. And it's so easy to find the infection you're looking for- since the book is arranged from anatomical top (HEENT)in the front to bottom (GU) in the back. There's a separate section for antimicrobials in addition to the one for the disease syndromes. The book fits perfectly into a lab coat (or shirt) pocket and is up to date and highly accurate. The best antibiotic guide I've seen.

Everyone has heard of Martin Luther King, but few remember what Ella Baker did. Baker helped to develop the civil rights movement by working at the grass roots level with the NAACP and SCLC but, since she worked outside of the spotlight, she has received little credit for her accomplishments. Known to most activists of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, Baker is well-deserving of a biography and this is particularly well-written one. More information about her private life could have been included though.

More than any other single figure, Ella Baker represents the heart and soul of the civil rights movement at its highest and best. Starting earlier than most any other central leader, Ms. Baker was instrumental in sparking more of the major events in civil rights history than any other. Yet always working as the behind the scenes organizer and pushing others forward, particularly grassroots and youthful leaders, Ms. Baker is probably the least known outside the movement. No more important task exists than preserving her memory and Joanne Grant has done an excellent job in this important book. Even insiders will be surprised at what they'll learn in this comprehensive account. A great followup to Joanne's earlier documentary: Fundi - The Life of Ella Baker. Ms. Baker is universally revered among movement people for her wisdom, courage and acute political analysis that taught and guided thousands. Truly she was as close to a real saint as this world produces and to! ! uched her times in the most redemptive and revolutionary way.

I read this book after final exams for some reason Emerson and the whole American Renassiance mystic was calling to me...I finished the novel packed my bags and drove straight to Concord, Mass...The tour guides at the various sites I visited where perplexed by my numerous inquires...This book drove such a desire in me to learn and love literature from that period...Well worth the time and the read...and make every effort to visit Concord when your done it adds to the experience...

As its title suggests, this scrupulously researched tome portrays Emerson as perhaps the most stable and secure (and kindly) among a group of eccentric, sometimes borderline crazy writers and thinkers. A must for any interested in the transcendental movement, or in perhaps its most distinguished man of letters.

Thoroughly traces Hemingway's whole life from birth to shotgun finale. Splendidly done by Baker. I am in agreement with the previous reviewer; this bio is up there with Manchester's bio of Winston Churchill.

Carlos Baker's biography of Hemingway reveals the life of Hemingway to be far more interesting and compelling than anything Hemingway wrote. Baker shows himself to have literary talent equal to that of his subject, and has written a thorough and thoroughly readable biography of Hemingway. Anyone who has enjoyed William Manchester's biography of Winston Churchill will be equally entertained and informed

I purchased this book for my Dad and he loves it.

A Field Guide to American Windmills is the most thorough book available on the subject of American windmills. Baker has painstakingly researched the histories of dozens of American windmill manufacturers, photographed surviving examples of each, and finally provided a silhouette drawing of each model to aid the 'windmill spotter' in identifying them. This book is a must for anyone interested in American history, rural heritage, or who just likes windmills.