Home Garden Books

This seems like a very helpful book. We all need to learn to grow year round.

An interesting and different look at gardening. I plan to test the information I picked up this winter. I didn't really care too much about the travel log, but it did help explain the thought process. Well worth a read.

This was a great book for people like us who would like to be self-sufficient even in a northern growing zone. I learned a lot and I'm sure I will refer to it often.

This book is really better for those places that have four seasons. Not all of the book is applicable to our warmer California winter climate.

Very complete and clear on growing in the winter. Focuses more on northern climates, but still great for us in the south.

This is the Red Book of coins need you say more. Got to love this book it just keeps getting better every year.

This is probably the best book for coin collectors who have a limited background and no one they feel they can trust. It gives an honest opinion based on recent coin sale prices and conditions.

The one part that I feel they could have given more value for your money is a more thorough description of coin condition with more pictures and examples, that said, I recomend this book to anyone (most all dealers have one on their premises whether for your benefit, or to help them in a sale, it says something). Lastly, the price is right. I would always recomend checking the price of spot metals before any purchase.

We are beginners in the hobby of coin collecting. "United States Coins"
is a great help and we recommend it hightly.

I've relied on older editions of the Official Red Book for information about various coins that I've seen. Having been a coin collector since I was a child, I decided to purchse this book to see what information has changed or been updated. From time to time, I've found unexpected coins in my change and I enjoy being able to look them up to see what they are, what historical period they might represent, etc. It also helps me understand this country's history through its coinage.

This book was just what I was looking for. I have a coin collection that I want to sell and needed to find out the current market value. Easy to read, nice spiral binding.

I have relied on Sunset's Western Garden Book, in its various issues, for many years. From time to time, about every 3-4 years or so, they re-publish it. This particular issue has become my favorite "Working Bible" and I keep one copy in the house for reference and another in my garden/yard supply area. I bought this copy to give to my daughter and her husband, to introduce them to gardening in the Northwest, and to reduce the number of times I have to answer her questions by phone. Now I can simply refer her to the appropriate page of her own "Sunset Garden Book".

The two or three recent re-issues of Sunset's Western Garden Book have become more "posh" and sophisticated, like coffee-table issues, not meant for nitty-gritty work in the yard.

The particular volume I bought on Amazon was in incredibly perfect condition; my guess is that the original owner had never even opened it (it was inscribed as a Christmas gift from his parents!) And the price was amazing.

I ordered 2 books, going to 2 different addresses, & they both came right on time.

I purchased this book as a textbook requirement for a college horitculture class. Since purchase, it has become an very valuable tool both in my class work and my personal garden planning. I would highly recommend this book regardless of your level of experience in the dirt! It may clear up some very common questions you may have!

I have not come across a book that actually tells which plants would thrive in specific regions in the Bay Area. My roommate said it's the bible for gardening here in California.

The Western Garden Book Western Garden Book (Sunset Western Garden Book)is THE standard reference work for gardening from California to the Pacific Northwest, the desert Southwest up to western Montana. Includes descriptions and scientific names for plants that will grow in various climate zones. Plant descriptions include growing conditions, when to prune, and dealing responsibly with diseases and insect pests. It has been produced for over 40 years with many editions. Used editions are still good. Get a new one every ten years or so if you are a serious gardener. Makes great holiday/birthday gift for the new homeowner in the West.

The Library journal review does a huge disservice to this book.

Imagine a beautiful, highly productive, virtually weed-free,

drought-resistant, inexpensive, low-maintenance and ecologically sound

garden bed in your yard. It sounds impossible, but it is very simple

and only requires a few hours to create this fall, no digging required.

You can put to use the bounty of leaves and/or pine needles that are

provided for free to almost every suburbanite in the fall. This

is the ideal time, as the bed is better if it can break down over the

winter.

I have been gardening for about 25 years, and wish had I had heard of

this method sooner. It is perfect, especially for those who are not

physically able to dig, till or do a lot of weeding or simply have very

little time for gardening.

It involves piling up and wetting down 8 -12 inches of layers of

organic matter (we used leaves and some manure) on top of a thin layer

of newspapers or cardboard, with a small amount of amendments such as

greensand, lime and rock phosphate and manure underneath the paper. On

the top is a 1-2 inch layer of mulch (we used white pine needles), to

keep in moisture and suppress weeds. Come spring, you simply push aside

the top mulch and plant seedlings.

This 'sheet mulching' method came from this wonderful book by Toby

Hemenway. We have several sheet mulch beds this

year, and they are outrageously productive. For example, one 4' x 9'

bed in a very sunny spot, contains 6 large tomato plants, 3 sweet

pepper plants, 3 cucumber vines on a trellis, a short row of

sunflowers, one summer squash plant, and 7 winter squash plants. I

find this amazing considering that the ground underneath is very poor,

sandy and barely supported grass.


With apologies to Mae West, I have learned a big lesson, it's not the soil

in your life, it's the life in your soil!

I bought this book in January and have many times over saved the price in
time, mulch and bought amendments using ONLY the sheet mulch idea.

An excellent book and resource. At the time I purchased this book, I also purchased Bill Mollison's seminal work on permaculture. I intended to read Mollison's book first and Gaia's Garden second. After reading the first few pages of Mollison's book, I set it aside to "look through" Gaia's Garden just to familiarize myself with its contents. I discovered that I could not put it down because it is so well written and informative. I recommend this book to all persons interested in the subject of permaculture.

This was recommended by someone when I started asking questions about permaculture. I am glad he did! It is a great introduction without being too simplistic. It is showing me how to start small and gradually increase the use of permaculture.

I have shown it to friends who are all waiting to borrow it from me!

This book is excellent for establishing new concepts of applying time tested old technology. I use these principles everyday and I look forward to the days when we need to rely on our local resources and skills in order to make a living. This book teaches you how to make a start with permaculture.

I have totally enjoyed this book. The principles are a little murky because apparently this is a pretty new field and not very well developed for the eastern seabord which I live but it does provide enough guidance to begin setting up your own permaculture areas and start developing areas to be more ecologically sound food producing and living environments. I would HIGHLY recommend it as a first book on permaculture and the resources section alone has been a joy.

Good explaination of all the different types of systems. Advantages and disadvantages are listed. Home energy analysis is helpful in detemining what system may be best for you.

I was not impressed with this book. It was not what I was looking for. It should be more appropriately titled "Home Energy Saving Tips"
It did not offer enough practical information on powering your home with Solar.

This is a good introduction to how the energy from the sun can be put to practical everyday use. If you don't like to read a lot of technical stuff, this book is for you. Quick, easy reading the non-technical average person. with references for more information. This book has practical projects for the person who already has some knowledge of solar energy as well. If you're looking for a really detailed technical book of how to design and install your own solar collector (electrical or water), better get a different book. My 5-star rating is for those who are beginners or those that have a little knowledge of solar energy.

My husband and I have become increasingly consciencious about saving our natural resources. It has been our goal to add solar panels to our house but most of the books out there were not written for the average person. This book answered all our questions in a language we could easily understand. We learned how to make solar power an investment throughout our entire house! How cool is that?

The awesome thing about this book is it goes way beyond explaining the money we can save but includes vital tips on what not to do. I love when a book keeps me from making mistakes. I could go on and on about this book because I'm thrilled I finally have a great reference tool. I am eagerly anticipating creating a home that will actually not take so many of our precious resources from the earth.

most of what is there was interesting but it wasen't what I thought it would be. It's a facts about solar not a how to get started with your home. It had little solar projects but most of these are on the web anyway.

I thought this was a great cook book - agreed as someone said the only drawback is some of the recipes include having two different items cooking "at the same time" but all I did was separated the meal, making one item the day before and then the next, the most important item to come out hot and reheated the other item- confusing? Yes, but it worked for me! I thought the recipes were great, unusual and I am having a lot of fun making things I never thought to make in a crockpot!

Nice easy to follow recipies of all types in this book. I do recommend this and the price is right. My kids pick the recipies, I put together an easy delicious dinner and we are all happy!

I have another version of this cookbook that my mom looked through on her last visit. She commented that she'd really like one of these. Since we both agreed that the crockpot is the working woman's best friend, I ordered it and sent it to her for mother's day. She was very excited. The recipes are easy and although somewhat bland in several instances, they are great bases for using your own spices and ideas to spruce them up. It certainly helps with having dinner on the table by 6pm!

Son is on his own and now he can plug in his slow-cooker in the morning before work and come home to a tasty meal. Easy! He laughed at me at first, now he is loving the easy recipies and good meals!

I have "nearly" a small library of cook books as an aficionado of "always looking to something different" in cuisine. I bought this book with great expectations considering "just it's size"! The let down was big
size also.

I did not return it. I donated it to the Salvation Army. Maybe someone who has never owned one can use it. For me? It was a total waste of
money on something that had absolutely NOTHING new, nor relevant, nor even enticing that could live up to it's hype. Shame of B.H.&Gardens for the deception of applying a popourri of slapstick food combinations to make $$. Out of some 400 pages I found only 10 that had "some" appeal.
Slow cooker dressing that takes 4-1/2 hours to make? And then what? Another 8 hrs for the turkey? I'll have to rent a hotel for my guests.

I lost an amazingly loveable Dalmation named Roosevelt in July 2008, and I think Mr. Levin's book was very helpful. While there was some sorrow during the reading, it helped to realize that many people out there feel as my family and I do about how wonderful and childlike a dog really can be...and feel the same pain as we do when they leave us.

As some others have mentioned, the content here is better than the execution of the writing. While Levin may not have the command of telling a story that some do, his attempt here to convey his joy and sorrow over Sprite will hit home with those of us who "get it" over the loss of our best friend.

I bought this book as I am a dog lover. This book will make you cry and laugh. I have read other dog books and this one is not the best of the best, but is a good one

I love dogs, I love a good cry, I was ready to enjoy this book. I downloaded it on my Kindle. The book was self indulgent, self serving, ridiculous and corny. The author seems to have been insulated from life to such a degree that he is absurd. Parts of the book are all about bragging that he knows Rush Limbaugh, who he presents as Mr. Sensitive and the rest is just such a weak presentation of what could have been a lovely story. It was a surprise to me that someone in the business of writing could do such a bad job.

As an owner of an older dog, this book had me in tears the entire time. While it's not eloquently written and rather short, it just hit me in the heart. The love this man has for this little dog is one that any true dog lover can relate to. The way he had to face Sprite's fate was very real. It's a process to face the mortality of someone you love so much. While it was a sad goodbye to Sprite, you are able to see the healing process begin for the author.

I purchased the book after losing my favorite of three Labradors to a disease that took her in less than three days after my initial visit to our vet. I had just done an agility match with her less than a month earlier. I had no idea she was ill. Losing Tara so unexpectedly fast, had a very hard impact on me and I couldn't seem to come to terms with all that had happened. A friend recommended the book because he had listened to the radio broadcaster and had heard about the response by so many other grieving pet owners. He thought it might help me cope. I read and cried and read and cried my way through the book. As bad as my lose was, my neighbor across the street lost his dog seven days after mine. After I was through, with tears in my eyes I took the book to him and he thanked me because, even though he cried all through the book, it helped him with his grief. Thank you Mark Levin for writing a book that made me realize that, My grief was not so far out in left field that I was different from other people that lose their best "friend".

Pamela Bishop

Hi, I have NOT read this book, as it is "out of stock" currently...but I have taken this course, and others, from Margaret Fisher at various knitting conferences and she is TERRIFIC! She knows all the techniques and tricks to help a knitter get to the next level, and she is also a great, and patient, teacher. I am sure her book is just as informative and as helpful as she is in person. Whatever your current level of expertise is, I am confident this book will get you to the next with minimal stress!!

As soon as it's available again I plan to buy it for myself, and as a gift for some of my knitter friends who have not been lucky enough to take one of Margaret's classes.

This book is amazing as is all of the Better Homes and Garden cook books. The pictures alone draw you in. There is nutrition facts and fun easy, kid friendly recipes. Small amount of recipes, but I feel perfect. Should make kids want to cook.

my 12 year old daughter picked this out and i couldn't be more pleasantly surprised.we have other "kiddie" cookbooks but this is far and away the best.the beginning of the book is wonderful tips and basic food safety (like not buying dirty eggs).the book is divided into breakfast,lunch,snacks,dinner,and dessert.my daughter has cooked many recipes out of the cookbook entirely by herself because the directions are very clear and concise.and the recipes taste great too!all the ingredients are easy to find in any grocery store and they're quick cooking.i really think this is a must have for any preteen or teenage girl.couldn't love it more!!!

I bought this cookbook along with a couple others for my 3 boys. I was hoping to get each of them involved with some of the cooking in the house. I wanted them to learn some basic things that they will be able to take with them as they get older. So far, they have each enjoyed their evenings picking out the meal they want to make and preparing it. Their ages are 10, 7 & 5. My oldest can pretty much make the recipes by himself with a few questions about the recipe. The other two need a little more help. Overall this is a great cookbook for the beginner offering a decent selection of meals, snacks and desserts. Pictures are great and the instructions fairly easy to follow for the older ones.

I bought this for my 10 yr. old son for Christmas. He loves to cook. He was excited to get his own cookbook. The recipes are great, the whole family enjoys them. It is well laid out and is very informative. A great learning cookbook with very colorful and entertaining pictures. Definitely not boring. I really like the ring binder, the book lies flat when opened making it easier for him to use. I am very happy with my purchace and so is he. It arrived quickly and in good condition. Thanks Amazon.com!!

I gave this kid's cookbook only three stars because the recipes contained within rely too often on packaged/prepared food ingredients (canned soup, crackers, refrigerated dough, etc). I cook real food from whole-food ingredients and want my children to learn this way of cooking as well. The recipes that use whole foods are fine and kid appropriate.