Books

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

Average customer rating:

Survivor (for real!)
An interesting time in history
Devastation to land, Native Americans, buffalo grass, and mismanaged government programs
A must-read for understanding 20th century America
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survivied the Great American Dust Bowl

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
Timothy Egan
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0618773479

Book Description

The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Timothy Egan's critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, "the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect" (New York Times). In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, "The Worst Hard Time" is "arguably the best nonfiction book yet" (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature.

Customer Reviews:

Survivor (for real!) .......2007-06-27

I was not expecting the story that unraveled as I listened to this audio book. The author used the ecological disaster of the dust bowl to tell the story of the policics and cultural mind set of the time. Facinating!
All I could think of while listening is what would these current day whiney little SUV driving soccer mom's do if caught in a time warp and set down on the prairie of the 30's. This wasn't 12 weeks of Survivor on CBS - this was SURVIVOR for real.

An interesting time in history.......2007-06-27

I have not read this book but as a youngster I experienced this period in time. I am saving the reading for a planned summer RV trip, and am looking forward to read how others experienced this period in our lives.

Devastation to land, Native Americans, buffalo grass, and mismanaged government programs.......2007-06-25

Noticeably lacking and disappointedly are the high school and college history textbooks in their attention to the devastating effects in the personal lives of homesteaders, who broke for the unclaimed land of the panhandle and many of the middle states of the heartland of America. But in Egan's book, specific details chronicling the lives of immigrants and easterners arriving in what later would become known as the dust bowl show a government bent on 1) eliminating the food of Native Americans to solve the "Indian Problem, 2) increasing wheat production to meet global food needs with a guaranteed governmentally subsidized program, the results of which were hundreds of thousands of acres of buffalo grass plowed under, and 3) a continued governmentally organized agricultural program of controls amid guaranteed wealth for huge farms to leave the ground fallow. The obvious criticism of governmentally controlled programs, part of the book's features, raises questions about slap-handled decisions tantamount to the destruction of the environment and the irascible attitude of those today draining the aquifers under the former dust-bowl region at a rate of extinguishment within just a few more years, the consequence of which predictably will be another of the devastating scenes across America of a repeated "worst hard time." Egan's dedication, as in his other books, to carefully researched details, extensive endnotes, and actual quotes from those, who were and are witnesses to what becomes an archive of information on the subject, guarantees the reader with the sure knowledge of what textbooks written for history classes have left out.

A must-read for understanding 20th century America.......2007-06-20

This is an excellent piece of 20th century American historical writing that deserves a place on the shelf next to John Barry's fine books on the influenza epidemic and the 1927 Mississippi flood.

Like Barry, Egan does a tremendous job of making the reader aware of the unique confligration of events that helped this tragedy occur. In the case of the dust bowl it includes such seemingly unconnected things as Catherine the Great's resettlment of German-Russians; the final, dispicable U.S. acts of Indian exploitation; and the stock market crash.

Egan goes Barry one better however in the way he portrays the humanity of those involved. Just like a novelist, he uses the death of one of the characters' poor baby as a tragic turning point in the story.

The problem with the story is there is no satisfying resolution. The problems with the high plains remain unsolved, from what I understand, and things there could be building up to another future tragedy due to over-use of underground water.

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survivied the Great American Dust Bowl.......2007-06-13

Bought as a gift for mother in law. She called within two days of receiving it saying she couldn't put it down after she started reading it. She loved it and is loaning it out to friends and family. Can not wait for my turn.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir

Average customer rating:

Laugh aloud funny!
Careful about drinking while reading!
This will make your life better
A trip down memory lane ..
Great fun!

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
Bill Bryson
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 076791936X
Release Date: 2006-10-17

Book Description

From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s

Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid."

Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and OF his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.

Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.

Customer Reviews:

Laugh aloud funny!.......2007-06-25

Bryson skewers, among other things, Iowa, childhood, adolescence and all the silliness and inexplicable optimism of the 1950's in the US of A with a humor that is laugh aloud enjoyable. At the same time he tackles the intolerance and cruelty of the period, and that ain't funny. And ultimately there's a haze of nostalgia for a uniqueness of place and time that's long gone.

Careful about drinking while reading!.......2007-06-23

Also be careful about eating while reading - if you are fussy about not messing up your books and if it's a book by Bill Bryson. Especially this one, part personal memoir and part look back at the 1950's in middle class small-town USA. Because unless you've had your sense of humor extracted, or were born without one, you will laugh out loud many times, and we all know the risks of suddenly breaking out in a laugh when you've just taken a sip or a bite.

Bryson skewers morons and some of the shortcomings of the 1950's US culture with dead-on humor and paints an unsentimental and ultimately loving picture of his nuclear family.

I'm almost as "chronologically advanced" (a phrase used by another reviewer here) as Bryson and spent my 1950's childhood in a small town in the Midwest US. This book was a delight from start to finish, with a few bits that were a little weak but not enough to kill my enjoyment.

After I read Bryson's "In a Sunburned Country," I quit thinking "someday" and booked a trip to Australia. Now that I've read "Thunderbolt Kid" and quit laughing, I wish that I could book a trip to the 1950's.

I'm not passing my copy of this book along to anyone. I know I'm reading it again. I have sent a copy to one of my old neighborhood gang, though.

This will make your life better.......2007-06-22

Yes, I'm a Bryson fan, I've read several of his travel books, and often find myself laughing out loud with both appreciation and agreement.
I didn't rush to read this memoir, not sure that I was that interested in reading about the man himself. DO read this book, it has a little to do with Bryson but MUCH to do with: growing up in the mid-West, growing up in an unsophisticated place, growing up in the 50s and 60s, growing up with eccentric parents, growing up anywhere anyplace anytime.
Bryson's writing is not only hilariously funny in most places, but it is also sweet, notstalgic, and yet not sugar-coated. He knows, and we know, that lots of things were NOT better back then, just different. There are great photos that illustrate his life and times, and even a really interesting historical fact here and there.
Buy this book, lighten your load for some hours, laugh, and smile.

A trip down memory lane .........2007-06-21

Reading this book over a couple of cold winter evenings was great fun. Much of what Bill Bryson writes of growing up in 1950s America also (still) applied to growing up a few years later in provincial Australia.

Sure, some of the particular joys of 1950s American life didn't make it quite this far west, but enough of them did to make for a lot of shared memories. And, even if the 1950s is ancient history (shock, horror!), there are plenty of humorous observations that are really timeless. Those of us who are chronologically enriched will enjoy the memories, and those who aren't can enjoy a snapshot of the past.

This memoir is great fun. Filled with wonderful observations, interpreted as only an adult with memories of childhood as a period of growth, discovery and fun can do.

Read it and enjoy it.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Great fun!.......2007-06-19

When I finished this book, I immediately called my parents and told them they HAD to read it too. Next I called my sister and emailed 6 or 7 other friends. I don't remember the last time I laughed this embarrassing loud and long while reading! A good, fun read that describes growing up in Iowa as I remember it too. Jello with pretzels--I still don't get that one, but I ate it all the same!

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

Average customer rating:

Surprisingly dry account
great book
A Terrific Read!
Dark but Excellent
Exceptionally written non-fiction

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Erik Larson
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375725601
Release Date: 2004-02-10

Amazon.com

Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. --John Moe

Book Description

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America’s place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

Download Description

In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson, author of Isaac's Storm, tells the spellbinding true story of two men, an architect and a serial killer, whose fates were linked by the greatest fair in American history: the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, nicknamed "The White City."

Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century.

The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C.

The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds -- a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium.

Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake.

The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. In this book, the smoke, romance and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before.

Erik Larson's gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.

"Engrossing... exceedingly well documented... utterly fascinating."
   CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"A dynamic, enveloping book.... Relentlessly fuses history and entertainment to give this nonfiction book the dramtic effect of a novel.... It doesn't hurt that this truth is stranger than fiction."
   THE NEW YORK TIMES

"So good, you find yourself asking how you could not know this already."
   ESQUIRE

"Another successful exploration of American history.... Larson skillfully balances the grisly details with the far-reaching implications of the World's Fair."
   USA TODAY

"As absorbing a piece of popular history as one will ever hope to find."
   SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"Paints a dazzling picture of the Gilded Age and prefigure the American century to come."
   ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

"A wonderfully unexpected book... Larson is a historian... with a novelist's soul."
   CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

Customer Reviews:

Surprisingly dry account.......2007-06-17

If one has an interest in architecture then this book is recommended. Personally, I found the account of the development of the Chicago World's Fair rather boring. I guess I am not a big fan of architecture. I do highly recommend Ken Follet's "The Pillars of the Earth", but that is a historical fiction novel about the building of a Cathedral. Normally architecture is a subject that you just have to be fascinated by in the first place to enjoy reading about.

If one has an interest in psychopaths, then I do not give this book a high recommendation, for his account of a serial killer lurking in Chicago at the time of the fair is also rather dry. I just could not get into Larson's matter of fact style. For the most part the account switches chapters between the fair and the killer. He has woven an inferior account of what perhaps in more skilled hands would be much more fascinating.

When Larson did try to create suspense in his account, it failed. He foreshadows events constantly and not very effectively. The best example of this in the novel is his buildup to the murder of the mayor of Chicago.

There is little connection between the two tales beyond time and place. I give it 3 stars because overall the subject matter is interesting enough to warrant a read. If for nothing else to cause one to ponder over the great changes that have occurred in the world over the last 100 years. The setting of the world's fair and it's cutting edge late 19th century technology accomplishes that, but overall the account is not presented very well, and quite frankly I am baffled by its' popularity.The Pillars of the Earth

great book.......2007-06-13

This is a great book!! Written well and very thoughful. I just couldn't put it down!! I learned lots about lots and had fun doing it!

A Terrific Read!.......2007-06-11

Larson's work is the literary equivalent of eating fresh salmon. It tastes great and it's actually good for you. This book would stand on it's own as a terrific thriller - but you get the added benefit of learning a lot about early 20th century architecture, and a facinating historical overview of the World's Fair. There's nothing better than a book that is a real page turner, yet fills you with knowledge.

Dark but Excellent.......2007-06-11

This is a must read book if you want to know what went on behind the scenes of the 1st World's Fair held in Chicago. There were men and women who never gave up on a dream and held out in the face of many obstacles, but there was also a psychopath who was totally twisted. An excellent book, but don't read it at night if you are prone to nightmares.

Exceptionally written non-fiction.......2007-06-08

In this non-fiction serial murder mystery Erik Larson (author of Isaac's Storm) describes the events leading to the World's Fair in Chicago in the 1800's. In parallel to the Fair he describes the macabre activities of one of the earliest serial murderer's. Chapter for chapter he interchanges between the Fair development and the expansion of the serial murderer in a way that keeps you interested in their development. The ultimate is the pursuit of the serial killer and the strong determination of one investigator to bring the serial killer to justice. Exceptional search techniques in the pre-1900 era. An interesting, recommended read.

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana (Today Show Book Club #3)

Average customer rating:

Just What I Needed ....
Delightful and witty!
Zipped right through it!
Ignore the book cover !
A Wonderful Memoir, No Matter Your Perspective

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana (Today Show Book Club #3)
Haven Kimmel
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0767915054
Release Date: 2002-09-03

Book Description

When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period–people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.

Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy.

Download Description

Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy.

Customer Reviews:

Just What I Needed ...........2007-06-27

I just picked this book up at a rummage sale. Whoever donated it to the sale has my undying gratitude because this book was the sweetest and funniest book I have read in quite some time. I am a fan of memoirs and biographies but this one is so unlike any others that I am now hooked on Kimmel's writings. I want more Zippy!

Like Zippy, who is four years older than I am by the way, I grew up in a small midwestern town but not as small as hers! I would be considered big city girl in comparison! But the midwestern attitude is so familiar that reading this book was like traveling down memory lane for me! She's the youngest in a family of three kids. Her older brother and sister were already in Junior high by the time she arrived. Her mother refers to her lovingly as an "after thought." That is how the book started out (well, almost). Named Haven at birth, her dad decided to call her Zippy since she could never sit still. You can say that her memories of childhood reeked of love, laughter and cigarettes.

Zippy is precocious. Zippy is curious. Zippy is Zippy, a character that you will never forget. My favorite part is the scene where her sister told her that she's adopted. Outraged, she stomps in and asks her mother if that's true. Her mother stops reading for a moment and says, yes, you are. A band of roving gypsies with a pack of wolves that stand up and preach during a full moon came through the area. The whole conversation had me repeating it to my husband as it was so hilarious and something exactly like what my father would spin out to me when I was a child.

I haven't raved about a book in a real long time though I have read lots of really good books ~~ but this book is something I am going to urge my book club to read sometime in the next year. It is something I think we'll enjoy because not only is it funny and engaging, but it talks about a childhood that is now lost in the mists of time. Building your own bike? Who does that anymore? There are many instances in this book that I remember doing as a kid or have heard my parents do when they were kids. I know that Christmas is more different today than it was in the early 70s. It seems to be a simpler time back then even though it was harder especially after the Vietnam War ended. It was a time of change but Zippy had a happy childhood and those memories are funny and bittersweet.

This book comes highly recommended. If you need a laugh, this book is a good place to get one! It is just a really good read and perfect for a summer read!

6-28-07

Delightful and witty! .......2007-06-04

This book is a fascinating escape; it brings the reader back to childhood and also reminds us of questions we have long since given up asking. A great hammock swinging summer read!

Zipped right through it!.......2007-05-21

It was a required read for our book club. Can't say I would have picked it on my own. Felt like reading someone's journal although I liked the style of writing, you could visualize every event. It was a nice finish to our reading season, we take the summer off. I would recommend it to certain individuals but not everyone.

Ignore the book cover !.......2007-05-15

This is a good summer read with some sweet memories of "the good old days." Pick it up or put it down as you will, the characters (they live right in your neighborhood or under your roof) are easy to remember. And, while it seems to be a bit fluffy it does give the reader a good glimpse inside the life and love of a 60's family, warts and all!

A Wonderful Memoir, No Matter Your Perspective.......2007-04-15

"A Girl Named Zippy" has been called a love letter to a town - and the story of a happy childhood.

These might not be the first thoughts that come to every reader's mind.

Zippy's town is small and backwards, with a postmaster who won't allow people to subscribe to magazines because he thinks they should have to buy them at the drugstore in front of everyone.

As for her happy childhood, Zippy's tales are fraught with physical peril, angry and abused domestic animals, and terrifying adults, including mean teachers and the old lady across the street who wishes Zippy were dead.

On the other hand, Zippy has parents who love her and appreciate her keen intelligence and insight. She has dear friends. She has routines and comforts. She has a near-perfect bicycle.

What does seem to come to the minds of many readers is that "A Girl Named Zippy" is heart-warming, touching, deep, and lovely. Whether that's because it is a love letter about a happy childhood, or a tale told by a sensitive child who feels things deeply and sees the peccadilloes of her town and its people, isn't important. It's not what is said about this autobiography that matters, it's what it contains.

"A Girl Named Zippy" is wonderful, no matter your perspective.

Average customer rating:

Great Coffee Table Book
Great book for my overseas guests
Nice Review of Past and Present
flawed but fun Chicago historical pictorial
A look at old Chicago

Chicago Then and Now (Then & Now)
Elizabeth McNulty
Manufacturer: Thunder Bay Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Chicago at the Turn of the Century in Photographs: 122 Historic Views from the Collections of the Chicago Historical Society
San Francisco Then & Now (Then & Now)
The Encyclopedia of Chicago
Lost Chicago
Chicago Days : 150 Defining Moments in the Life of a Great City

ASIN: 1571452788

Book Description

The latest installment in the popular Then and Now series showcases the capital of the Heartland and one of the premier cities in the nation and the world: Chicago. Chicago's change and growth over the last century is captured in this photographic history. Modern color photos sit side by side with black and white archival photographs. Every important building, avenue, neighborhood, and point of interest is documented. It covers all of Chicago's landmarks from Navy Pier to the Stockyards and from the Southside all the way up the Magnificent Mile. Take in a game at Wrigley Field, then take it all in from the top of the Sear's Tower. The Water Tower and all the other architectural features that make Chicago great are also included.

Customer Reviews:

Great Coffee Table Book.......2007-04-11

Great pictures on every page of this wonderful book. Only Chicagoans will appreciate it however. The photos are large and grand, and the author has tried hard to recreate the original angle mostly. That's my only complaint. Lovely book.

Great book for my overseas guests.......2004-11-20

I have purchased this book for my departing aupair's for the past several years. While they certainly take pictures themselves they would never have a collection of photographs this large and they also get to see a bit of the history of Chicago. There are a lot of good pictures that will certainly spark many happy memories. For this purpose I would recommend it.

Nice Review of Past and Present.......2003-09-15

I enjoyed this book. Some of the pictures do not compare well because they were taken at different angles or from a different side of the street. Nevertheless, this is a great book. I found lots of stuff to compare. Native Chicagoans, who take an interest in the city, will like it. I purchased it for my brother for Christmas...liked it so much I purchased one for myself.

flawed but fun Chicago historical pictorial.......2003-02-13

I have several of these "then and now" books, and I would say this is the weakest of the bunch. I dearly love Chicago, and some of the old photographs were very interesting, but the book has a few problems. First, the photographic perspectives are rarely in synch, so it is difficult to compare the two pictures directly; either the angle is off to the side, or it's at a different distance. This seems rather to defeat the purpose of a "then and now" theme, which is to facilitate comparison. Secondly, a great many of the buildings and scenes are virtually identical to what they were, so one wonders why they were included. Finally, a map should have been included.

On the positive side, many of Chicago's key spots are targeted, such as the Water Tower, the stockyards and Hull House, and the paragraphs that accompany each picture do convey a lot of interesting information.

If you are interested in Chicago or urban history you will undoubtedly still enjoy this volume, but lower your expectations a bit before the book arrives so you won't be disappointed.

A look at old Chicago.......2002-01-21

An interesting look at Chicago as it appeared in the past, compared to now. More than just a picture book, it also gives some historical perspective for each location. If you're a Chicagoan, this is a must have. There are two problems that keep this from getting a top ranking. First, the focus of a "then and now" book should be to compare and contrast, so we can see how much has changed. There's several locations shown here that haven't really changed, and you wonder why they were included. Also, the "then" and "now" pictures should be shot from roughly the same location, showing the same perspective. That's not always the case here, and you may have to spend some time figuring out how to get things lined up. Still, it's a good way to see how the city used to look, and a rare look at some of the now-missing architectural treasures.

Bird Song Ear Training Guide: Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody? Learn to Recognize the Songs of Birds from the Midwest and Northeast States

Average customer rating:

Great for newbies
Overly Short Songs Presented at Shotgun Speed
excellent for beginning and intermediate birders
By far the best bird song training & review guide
Highly recommended & exactly what I was looking for.

Bird Song Ear Training Guide: Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody? Learn to Recognize the Songs of Birds from the Midwest and Northeast States
John Feith
Manufacturer: Caculo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0975443402

Book Description

This Audio CD is designed for anyone who wants to learn how to recognize bird songs. It features the sounds of 189 different bird species found in the Midwest and Northeast States.

Each bird song recording is followed by a short description of the sound along with a common mnemonic used to remember it. Many well-known song mnemonics such as "Who cooks for you?" for the Barred Owl and "Poor Sam Peabody" for the White-throated Sparrow are included. Following the song and mnemonic, the source of the sound is revealed. By naming the bird at the end of each track, the listener is allowed to wonder and guess at the nature of the sound. Active listening, similar to what one experiences in the field while searching for an unknown bird song, is a key to engaging the memory process.

One way to use this CD is to enable the "Random Play" or "Shuffle" option on a home CD player, portable stereo, or personal computer. Although it may be frustrating at first, repetition of this "quiz" game will quickly improve recognition skills. Gaining familiarity with these songs will greatly increase any bird watcher's enjoyment and awareness of birds in their natural habitat.

Features:

- 189 bird species found in the Midwest and Northeast states
- Digital bird song recordings made in Wisconsin
- Brief narration after each song includes descriptive, memorable and often funny mnemonics
- Can be used as a field guide to learn and identify songs or as a recognition quiz game
- Easy to use alphabetical track listing of all birds and their mnemonics
- It is a great gift for any birdwatcher, beginner or advanced.
- Total running time: 60 minutes

Customer Reviews:

Great for newbies.......2007-06-07

I've lived on a farm or outside the city for most of my life, but never really bothered to figure out the different bird calls. After listening to this CD a couple of times, my wife and I can now pick out some of the different birds. The more calls we learn, the more fun it is to learn more.

Overly Short Songs Presented at Shotgun Speed.......2007-05-25

While the coverage of songs is thorough, the acoustic quality is not nearly as good as four other bird song CDs that I also recently purchased (Stokes - Eastern Region, Peterson Field Guide sets - Eastern, Songbirds Bible by Proctor, Common Bird Songs by Borror). Moreover, the songs are very short, with minimal repetition or variation. It is nice to have narration that follows the songs, so the listener has a chance to guess what type of bird sings each song. However, given that the songs are so short, and the pauses after the songs and before narration are even shorter, there is no time for an advanced beginner birder such as myself to reflect, or even spit out the answer instantaneously. Furthermore, the next song often starts virtually "on top" of the narration (which is little more than just the name of the bird), making it easy to associate the bird name with the wrong song (ie, the song that follows narration rather than the song that precedes).

excellent for beginning and intermediate birders.......2006-08-01

The alphabetical indexing is excellent for those who have not mastered the taxanomic order as found in most lists and books. The presentation of the song before the identification is useful in honing ones ears. Would like it to be longer than the ~110 species presented.

By far the best bird song training & review guide.......2006-07-10

This is an outstanding CD for learning bird songs. Each song starts with the bird song and then the narrator describes the song and provides a short phrase or description that aids you with identifying it, followed again with the essence of the song. This format allows you to quiz yourself. I bought my first copy two years ago and have bought 5 more to give to friends since then. Everyone has commented that its a great guide. I own several other guides including Birding by Ear and More Birding by Ear and this is by far my favorite.

Highly recommended & exactly what I was looking for........2006-07-09

The CD arrived in the mail yesterday, and I've listened to it once all the way through. The bird songs were recorded in Wisconsin and I live in Connecticut, and I recognized most of the songs as ones I had heard near my house, so it seems that birds selected for inclusion on the CD are widespread enough to make the CD useful for most of the eastern US.

The format is excellent. The bird songs are arranged in alphabetical order by bird name. Each entry begins with about 20 seconds of bird song (usually 2 repetitions) followed by a speaker describing the song in words that are easy to remember and giving the bird's name, and ending with another 5 seconds of bird song. It is easy to tell when one entry has ended and another has begun. I expect to do most of my listening in the car, so this format is perfect for me.

Average customer rating:

I love these eyewitness travel guides
Chicago
Chicago
good, but missing some
Museum of Science and Industry

Chicago (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Manufacturer: DK Travel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Turtleback

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Boston (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)

ASIN: 0789495627

Book Description

Includes: the North Side, the Downtown Core, South Loop, Near South Side, South Side, and to parts further outside the city.

Customer Reviews:

I love these eyewitness travel guides.......2007-01-09

I think these are the best travel guides. I wish they had them for every city!!

Chicago.......2003-03-29

I used to live in Chicago, and I can tell you that had I had this book back then, I would have visited lots of places I never knew existed or didn't fully appreciate at the time. As in most DK Travel Guides, there's lots of information, photos, maps and graphs.

Sure, the book is a bit outdated, but then again, IT'S A BOOK! In any case, the good people at DK keep updating their books from time to time.

I do have one complaint, in the fact that this book has less than half the pages that the New York book's got. Because it's less famous it doesn't mean that Chicago is less of a great city as the big apple is...

Chicago.......2002-09-16

Great book, but not as great as other books from that series.

good, but missing some.......2002-08-23

The ethnic neighborhoods, which Chicago is quite famous for, is barely mentioned and offers no instructions on how to visit them. This book is much thinner than the other Eyewitness city Guides.

Museum of Science and Industry.......2002-03-23

After living in Chicago for the first 7 years of my life, I always wondered what it would have been like to continue living there. I've visited the Museum of Science and Industry and thought it was pretty fascinating.

I must admit, something in this book started to stir up some feelings from my childhood. It was something akin to nostalgia. After reading this book, I have the strongest desire to get on a plane and go visit my aunt who still lives there. It would also be fun to go visit the Chateauesque Charles Gates Dawes mansion or wander aimlessly through the Lincoln Park Zoo or enjoy a night out at the restored Chicago Theatre.

More than 100 places are described in the Area by Area and Beyond Chicago sections of this book. The museums alone would be worth the trip! If you want to venture further into Illinois, you will enjoy the rich mix of historical sights, recreational activities and picturesque countryside.

A good basic guide you could easily carry around with you or use to plan quite a fun trip.

~The Rebecca Review

She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana

Average customer rating:

Pretty good but I guess I just don't "get it" like other reviewers
The Best Memoir You'll Ever Read
A wonderfully written sequel for Zippy
darker sequel memoir loses zip, diffuses focus and forfeits energy
A wordsmith's wordsmith

She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana
Haven Kimmel
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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We Are All Welcome Here: A Novel

ASIN: 074328500X

Amazon.com

Haven Kimmel's memoir She Got Up Off the Couch might have been called The Further Adventures of Zippy, since it picks up where her bestselling A Girl Named Zippy left off, and is reeled out in much the same vein. The person who got up off the couch is Zippy's mother, Delonda, who for years sat on the titular sofa, ate, read, and watched TV until she weighed 268 pounds and life was nearly unbearable. You would never know the bad parts from Haven Kimmel, who always concentrates on the bright side, even though she lived in a house without heat, food, indoor plumbing, a dependable water suppy or even a modicum of cleanliness. Kimmel loves her parents inordinately, even at their most unlovable.

Delonda takes a College Entrance exam, passes it and enrolls at Ball State, where she completes a degree in two years, goes on for a Master's and gets a job as a high school teacher. That sounds fairly straightforward but it wasn't easy. Bob Jarvis, Delonda's husband and Zippy's father, gave her no help at all; in fact, he ridiculed her and ignored her progress. Eventually, he found someone else while Delonda was busy reclaiming her life. We could read this as a tale of the times, where a woman takes charge of herself, loses 120 pounds and, against all odds, gains an education and a livelihood. It is all of that, and more.

Life in Mooreland, Indiana, in the 1970s is not very exciting, but Zippy finds wonder everywhere and often laughed until she "tipped right over." There is an unquenchable spirit in the girl, and then in the woman, that keeps popping up despite a very sketchy upbringing. The neighbors fed and bathed her, she wore the same pair of pants to school every day for an entire school year--without benefit of laundry. Her brother and sister lit out at the first chance they had--though Melinda ends up only a few blocks away and becomes another safe port for Zippy. She is a victim of benign neglect, not malice or meanness.

Her tales of church camp, days with her friends, driving with her Dad, going to a play with her Mother, her love for her niece and nephew and her discovery that her Dad is having an affair are all told in typical Zippy-style: they are humorous, poignant, exuberan, and often breathless. Stay tuned: this book ends when Zippy is only thirteen. Hopefully there's more to come. --Valerie Ryan

Book Description

After twenty years of burrowing into the corner of the family couch, eating junk food, and reading science fiction, Indiana mother Delonda Jarvis did something that shocked her family: she went to college. Or, as her younger daughter, Haven Kimmel, writes, she "stood up, brushed away the pork rind crumbs, and escaped by the skin of her teeth."

Despite having no money, no car, and a resentful husband, Delonda managed to obtain a master's degree in English. The former teenage bride also dropped one hundred pounds, learned how to drive, and became a breadwinner. But as she reclaimed herself, her marriage disintegrated.

Download Description

A true pleasure for old fans and new ones alike, She Got Up Off the Couch is a gorgeous encapsulation of an innocent time when a child didn't understand that her mother was depressed or felt stifled, but just noted on her way out the door that Delonda was a fixture in the living room. Kimmel captures the seminal moments of her mother's burgeoning empowerment with the full strength of her distinctive, deft storytelling, and with the overflowing sense of humor that made A Girl Named Zippy a favorite of readers everywhere.

Customer Reviews:

Pretty good but I guess I just don't "get it" like other reviewers.......2007-06-26

I guess this book was a victim of bad timing. If I'd read it BEFORE I read The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (PWDO) I might have been more sympathetic towards Delonda and enjoyed it more. I know that few women can live up to the example set by Evelyn Ryan in PWDO, she is supernaturally energetic, resourceful and capable. But it ruined me for both A Girl Called Zippy and She Got Up Off The Couch. Throughout both books (and I read them back to back, right after I read PWDO) I wanted to smack Zippy's mom and yell, "get up and do something about your crappy house, narcissistic hubby and dirty kids!" I had to keep reminding myself that I would probably react to her circumstances like she did - escape into books and deny that my life was crumbling around me. In Delonda's defense, I would have traded my mom for Delonda and her benign neglect in an instant. As I think about it, I would have traded my dad and step-dad for Bob Jarvis in about a nanosecond. No doubt about it.

I wish I had liked the little girl, Zippy. I really wanted to like her...but I didn't. She seemed like a mean little brat, self-centered and someone I would have avoided like the plague. And for the life of me, I cannot figure out what the other reviewers found so funny. I chuckled a few times but that was it. Another reviewer said that too many things were left unexplained and I agree. People appear and disappear and you don't know if it's because Zippy just didn't think about them all that much or because they were minor players in her life (ex: Olive, Big Fat Bonnie, Bob's Mom). I would have like to know more about these people.

This book was OK, but not one of my favorites. I enjoyed the nostalgic feel of it (I'm Zippy's age and I grew up in Ohio, which is pretty much a clone of Indiana); I certainly identify with the music she liked, the way she talked, the celebrities she had a crush on and even the bike she rode. That part was great fun and the reason I gave this book 3 stars.

The Best Memoir You'll Ever Read.......2007-05-31

This book is simply wonderful. I read "A Girl Named Zippy" first, but you certainly don't have to. I actually liked this book better than the first. The characters are much more developed and this was a much more sentimental view of the people and places in Zippy's life. The book is hilarious, beautiful, and you will see many of your own childhood experiences here. Anyone who grew up in a small town will feel right at home. I don't know how to express my love for Zippy and her books; it's unlike anything I've ever experienced. I am fiercely protective of my copies...you will be, too.

A wonderfully written sequel for Zippy.......2007-04-05

Haven Kimmel knows the secret of life: that it's both sad and funny, often at the same time. For those who want to idealize childhood as a breezy, "best-time-of-your-life," perfectly carefree time, this book may seem dark. But in fact, Zippy's recounting of her family's life is wide-eyed and realistic, while still humorous and always loving. It's the story of all of our childhoods in that way: the things we saw and did, the people we adored and those we merely tolerated, and then the way we came to accept that those we love often are imperfect. Wildly imperfect, even. I found Haven Kimmel's voice to be flawless--never self-pitying, never bitter, and with a willingness to see the best in people without falling into the trap of oversentimentalizing. I want to read everything this woman writes!

darker sequel memoir loses zip, diffuses focus and forfeits energy .......2007-03-27

Bestselling memoirist Haven Kimmel never quite decides whether her sequel to "A Girl Named Zippy" is humorously sad or sadly humorous. Anecdotally told, "She Got Up Off the Couch" lamentably ignores Mark Twain's timeless advice: "The secret source of humor is not joy, but sorrow." Lacking the innocence and irreverence of the first work, this memoir, which focuses on Zippy's coming to grips with her family's dysfunction and her mother's heroic acts of self-reclamation, never gains focus. For every chapter that is pitch-perfect in capturing the depressing disorganization and not-so-benign poverty of Zippy's household, there are chapters that struggle for a punch line or beg for laughter. In her introduction, Kimmel shrugs her shoulders at her success and figures that the same happily disjointed story-telling technique which catapulted "A Girl Named Zippy" to the top of the charts would do the same to her sequel. Both her family and her readers deserve better.

As Zippy recounts the end of her childhood and the onset of adolescence, she gains greater insight into the emotional workings of her dispirited family. Dominated by a distant, disenchanted and cynical father, the Jarvis household holds itself together with scotch tape and spit. Zippy eats more meals at the neighbors house than she does at her own. In reality, it truly does take a community to raise her, because little active parenting occurs in the Jarvis home. Her grossly overweight mother, Delonda, comforts herself by reading science fiction and gorging on snack foods, rarely moving from the couch. It's little surprise that the oldest son, embittered by a remote father and repulsed by the lack of possibilities in Mooreland, Indiana, leaves and doesn't return. Zippy's beautiful, ironic and insightful older sister, focuses her talents on raising her own coherent family. Melinda stands as a painful counterexample to Delonda.

When Kimmel analyzes the painful degradation her mother has experienced, "She Got Up Off the Couch" shines. As Delonda determines to attend college, to learn to drive a car and to take literal control of her own life, she disgorges "the twenty-four years of poverty and terror and ennui." For nearly a generation, Delonda "could not clean a condemned house with no running water,...could not cook meals with food that did not exist." The burdens this now inquisitive, enthusiastic and profoundly dedicated late-in-life student had encountered "were elemental, heavy as a dead planet." This is the type of sorrow that Twain believed was the genesis of humor, and when Kimmel regales us with the nearly incredible misadventures of Delonda at Ball State University, her memoir soars.

Unfortunately, "She Got Up Off the Couch" does not sustain that emotional intensity, and, once forfeited, the memoir loses some integrity and much energy. There are too many paeans to childhood friends, too many malapropisms interjected for laughs. There is even a bit of smugness in Kimmel's description of her own perspicacity as a child. The younger Zippy amazed; the older Zippy simply tires you out. By the time she's ten, this kid needs to learn to comb her hair, wear shoes and stop eating dirt. When the memoir focuses on her mother's courageous determination to become autonomous; when the author forces herself to understand that her parents' marriage is terrible, readers wince with empathy. When Kimmel simply gives us more madcap Zippy stories, her previously admirable style falters.

A wordsmith's wordsmith.......2007-03-20

Her words, her imagery, her insights are golden. You will see yourself in her childhood memories and be staggered at how deftly she turns a phrase and how incredibly she brings a thirty year old memory alive. If perfect phrasing makes you want to shout to the heavens and dance like Snoopy, read everything that Haven Kimmel writes.

Rand McNally 2007 Chicago 7-County street guide: Cook - Dupage - Kane - Kendall - Lake - Mchenry - Will

Average customer rating:

Rand McNally 2007 Chicago 7-County street guide: Cook - Dupage - Kane - Kendall - Lake - Mchenry - Will

Manufacturer: Rand McNally & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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ASIN: 0528859722

Average customer rating:

Bryson Scores Again!
Great Fun
Let's Trade Childhoods
Bathroom Humor
Another Bryson masterpiece

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir

Manufacturer: Random House Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
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Shape Shifter, The CD (Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Novels)

ASIN: 0739315234
Release Date: 2006-10-17

Book Description

BONUS FEATURE: Exclusive interview with the author.

From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the middle of the United States in the middle of the last century. A book that delivers on the promise that it is “laugh-out-loud funny.”

Some say that the first hints that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came from his discovery, at the age of six, of a woollen jersey of rare fineness. Across the moth-holed chest was a golden thunderbolt. It may have looked like an old college football sweater, but young Bryson knew better. It was obviously the Sacred Jersey of Zap, and proved that he had been placed with this innocuous family in the middle of America to fly, become invisible, shoot guns out of people’s hands from a distance, and wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman.

Bill Bryson’s first travel book opened with the immortal line, “I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.” In this hilarious new memoir, he travels back to explore the kid he once was and the weird and wonderful world of 1950s America. He modestly claims that this is a book about not very much: about being small and getting much larger slowly. But for the rest of us, it is a laugh-out-loud book that will speak volumes – especially to anyone who has ever been young.

Customer Reviews:

Bryson Scores Again!.......2007-05-12

Bill Bryson's story of growing up in Iowa is a terrific book. I bought it in large print for my mother, who can read only large print, and who has difficulty hearing too, so this is the only way she could enjoy the book. She too adores Bill Bryson. We love his facility with language, and his many ways of making us laugh. He's a marvelous storyteller.

Great Fun.......2007-02-13

This was a wonderful book, which also deviates here and there into politics and general history.

I really came to enjoy Bryson's observations about how "the good old days" were also fraught with some significant downsides, which we've gratefully grown beyond.

One carp: Bryson himself reads the audio edition, and he's not the most gifted reader I've ever heard. He's so laconic that the material really has to carry itself.

H'mmm - maybe that's not such a bad thing after all...anyway, you'll enjoy this book in any form.

PS - if you like this, you'll love the writings of Jean Shepard, too.

Let's Trade Childhoods.......2007-01-11

Bill Bryson is by far the funniest, most insightful, travel writer today.
Here his travels are temporal, instead of spacial as he takes us back to his childhood - and what a childhood it was. His writing is so personal and open that you can't help but feel that this book was written specifically for you.

It is both a very middle class North American tale, set in the fifties and a Calvin archetype (as in Calvin and Hobbes) visioneering a rich and adventurous landscape, that none of the adults could see.

May The Thunderbolt Kid ride again.

David Cale

Bathroom Humor.......2007-01-09

I am a big fan of Bill Bryson but was a little disappointed with the Thunderbolt Kid. Some of the eating habits were outright gross. Many of the stunts and shenanigans were not what I'd expect out of Bryson. Much of his wit was missing in this book. I had few if any laugh out loud moments through this book.

Another Bryson masterpiece.......2007-01-09

Bill Bryson takes you back to another time. His plain stated humor makes you laugh aloud and reminds us how fun childhood was. A must for all Bryson fans.

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