A decent book and attractive book
589414
I own quite a few BBQ books. That's because I'm what's referred to as a "Pellet Head". I've been trying to learn BBQ techniques for a couple of years. That is what attracted me to this book.

This book is a bit unique for a BBQ book. It's so pretty that it's almost a coffee table book. That surprised me, since most BBQ books are no nonsense, functional endeavors.

"America's Best BBQ" offers up "selected" recipes from famous, semi-famous and even some obscure BBQ restaurants. But don't expect your favorite BBQ joint to give up their signature dishes.  However, the recipes that are included are interesting. And since there are many restaurants in here, the whole adds up to a lot of decent looking recipes.

Frankly I was a little disappointed at first. I had hoped to find some "signature" dish recipes. But once I got over that, it was clear that the book covers a lot of ground and offered up some pretty unique perspectives and interesting ideas.

Pros:
* It's really pretty
* There are a lot of varied and even surprising ideas
* It gives me ideas of new place to try when I travel.

Cons:
* Don't expect your favorite restaurant to give up their signature dishes.
* Some of the recipes are vague and assume you know a lot about BBQ.

All in all, a good, interesting book for anyone wanting to BBQ or looking for a new BBQ joint to try out.
3842841
This new edition makes an attractive addition to any library. This is a smaller sized hardcover with golden gilt edges, a silk bookmark sewn in, and cloth covered boards. All in all, a lovely book of surprisingly high quality.
4067151
I bought this book with the express purpose of cutting it up and using the artwork for a bulletin board, so for that use, it was okay. The pictures are vibrant and interesting and bring a real humanity to the characters. There weren't quite as many characters pictured as I would have liked, many of the mains are missing (Prince Escalus? Lady Montague?)but it has a wonderful pull out of the balcony scene that made the board awesome, so it was a worthwhile purchase in that sense. I didn't use it as a book to read, but as I cut out the pictures, I read the story and was a little disappointed in the version. It was a little too dense for very young readers, and a little too dumbed down for older readers. It might be perfect for a 9-11 year old in the average grade reading levels, but not many 9 year olds are interested in reading romeo and juliet, so I'm not sure who this book is targeted for.

Overall, nice art, not the best children's version of the story I've come across.
4718209
I'm happy with my purchase. While I can't say that I hold this to read, because it's rather heavy, it's visually attractive. I think a softcover copy with the trilogy separated into 3 books is more practical. This has the entire trilogy as one large book. The book is well made, and I like how the paper feels. My only gripe is that the inner fold out map was a bit wrinkled in the middle because of the way it was folded into the book.
4392084
This book is good because it combines concepts - texture, color, shape. It has flaps that are fun to open, and you can also count the animals. On the negative side, the sticky part of the book does not stay sticky forever, so it detracts from the long-term value of the book.
4426053
Good informative book--beautiful pictures and good ideas
3879532
Lovely book with a positive, uplifting theme. The illustrations are muted and the book is simple to read. A nice first book.
633613
This is a good book and a pleaseure to look at. Of course it is not exhaustive in the sense of having all the knives in the world and being the sum of all catalogs, there is no such a book. It does not have an approximation to the values, which is a pity. Now, you look at it as you would to a nice museum catalog or even a top grade shopping guide. It is very well bound and printed, photographs are sharp and paper is first class. It is an "object book", and the short chapters on knifemaking, steels, locking systems, etc. are about as much as 95% of the customers would like or need. For more on technicalities, go to an engineering book.
Besides, it is of a manageable size, not the mammoth 11.9" x 8.5" of its bigger brother.
2499383
This is a child's book.  As such it is quite nice.  The cover is handsome and encourages examination of the contents.  The book has only 32 pages so as not to be too taxing to young readers, or to be too hastily put aside.

The drawings are excellent and are just the thing to make the book attractive to youngsters.  It contains just enough prose to be informational but at the same time not off-putting.  There exist several fine, "grown-up" books on the subject of the bird family corvidae, one such member being the crow.  This book <Crows, Strange and Wonderful> seems to be to be just the thing that might cause a young person to want to read the more authoritative books eventually.

I had hoped that it would be such a book that I could give as a gift to a child.  It turned out to be just that and I am pleased.  The author and illustrator turned out a fine product that I am happy to recommend.
2979891
This is an attractive book in your hands, hardbound and filled with colourful illustrations and garden photography. The text by Katie Campbell, especially the exceptional introduction covering the political and design trends of history leading up to the first distinctly English gardens, is generally a pleasure to read even though it wanders a bit.

The chapter on the Victorian gardens of gentleman orchidologist James Bateman in Staffordshire, for example, examines the many and varied areas of Biddulph Grange with reference to the passions of the day, from evolution (Bateman was not a fan), to a fashionable interest in the Orient (he had Himalayan slopes and Chinese temples built). Other chapters wander off at times: the chapter on the Nymans estate devotes several pages to the changing fortunes and descendants of the Messel family who developed it, to the point where the reader is presented with potted biographies of offspring whose influence on either garden history or the design of Nymans is never established.

Overall, though, the high quality of the photographs, including full-bleed prints over two pages, and the eclectic scholarship of the author is a rewarding and wonderfully detailed tour through its varied people, places and times.

Would make an excellent gift for those with an interest in English history or garden design. The marriage of the two here is a fruitful one.
1225024
I like this book, but I'm not totally wild about it. Something about the illustration style doesn't really do it for me. Still, I'm glad I have it. The images are large and captivating, and there's a nice variety of subject matter on display. The print quality is good, and the construction of the book itself feels good as well. I'd encourage aesthetically picky buyers to take a look at a few of the images before buying. I do wish it had a dust jacket, though, since the cover has a linen-like texture that seems like it will collect dust and get dingy over time.
2466667
It is a beautiful book. I got the one with a soft blue leather cover
and it gives you extra explanations that you might not discern
without the side panel. One thing they could improve is, even
though it was considered large print, it's still small type. I'd still
recommend it.
2918879
The Photographic Moon Atlas is a big nice looking hardbound book that looks good on any coffee table, or in a library. The book features a lot of nice photographs of the near side (facing Earth) of the moon. The near side of the moon is divided into 68 regions which are described in order. Each section (region) feature photographs and relevant information. The inside of the covers feature an overall map and a key to the regions/maps so that you can easily identify what you are looking at when gazing at the moon. Almost all photographs are taken from Earth. There is a small section on the far side of moon with a fuzzy overall photograph composed from a lunar orbiter.

The book starts out with an introduction with information about the moon. The introduction also describes the topography, geology, and geography of the moon as well as how the various formations such as craters and the so called Maria were formed as well as how the moon itself was formed. Observation techniques are also discussed. The book also has a glossary and an index.

We've gained a lot of knowledge about the moon surface and its composition via telescopes, spectroscopy and lunar samples from the Apollo missions. It is truly amazing that we also know something about the crust and the inside of the moon and that is partially thanks to seismographs that were placed on the Moon by the Apollo missions. However, the book also presents us with a scientific mystery. The near side and the far side of the moon look quite different because the crust is on average double as thick on the far side. Why is the crust much thicker on the far side? The book presents theories but nothing is certain.

The information included with the photographs is interesting, well written and concisely presented, and the photographs are nice and detailed. However, there are no photographs taken from the surface of the moon (NASA photos), and except for one picture nothing from lunar orbiters. The photographs are taken by amateur astronomers and so called astrophotographers, so the book is not as cool as it could have been. I liked it and I recommend the book, but I give a rating of four stars.
4559439
I bought this book because it has numerous color photos that some books don't bother to incorporate.  In many cases an entire set is assembled to give you the knowledge of what pieces are in that specific manufacturers collection.  This is the key feature of the book.  Various patterns such Starlight, Sunflower, Moonstone, Queen Mary, Adam, Miss America, and many others are shown in the various colors (if more than one was produced), the dates of manufacturer and the manufacturing company.

I liked it because you can flip through it easily and locate what item or style you are looking for.  However, it certainly could be more thorough as to patterns and inclusive of more styles (it did not include any carnival glass, a major oversight in my opinion).  Another glaring flaw is that in actually showing the company marks typically on the bottom, some companies products are much more coveted than a similar style but a leser known company.  The items featured are always shown in the upright position, which if you have any other books will almost always show you at least one example.

There are better book options out there and you certainly can't go wrong reading a book for by Florence and Florence or a Warman's Guide.
1610504
This book has vibrant, clear photos. I agree with the other readers that it is nice to see that the models in this book are normal people (not airbrushed or edited photos). However, it would've been better if there were more pictures with closed eyelids (so people would be able to replicate or try out some of the 'look'). After all, some of us are still new to the makeup techniques. Other than that, this book is a fairly good read.
3014489
A good book providing lots of information and some lovely pictures.
317325
This is a beautiful book,with clear and concise wording, easy to understand. As the other customer established, this is not a coffee table book. There are a handful of pictures in it. I would have loved more pictures of the authors home,maybe a few step by step photos to show how you can achieve what she is talking about. She does now have several videos on YouTube that illustrate this, but it would have been nice to have it in the book. She also includes recipes, which I would have liked photos of as well. I am a visual learner, and for that reason I like lots of pictures accompanying the texts in books.