Books To Read » Other Books

Heartbroken Open A Memoir Through Loss to Self-Discovery By Kristine Carlson

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:29:39 +0000

I haven’t read this yet but I have requested that my local library get it. I’ll add more once I have read it. But a friend heard the author on National Radio and sent me the link

http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20100722-1011-Feature_guest_-_Kristine_Carlson-048.mp3

It sounds like an excellent book.

The Urban Homestead (Expanded & Revised Edition) Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City By Kelly Coyne, Erik Knutzen

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:26:08 +0000

The book is full of realistic ideas to increase your self-sufficiency in the city. I have always wanted a life-style block but there are lots of great things to enjoy about city life. I have teenagers too. So that might mean a great deal of driving if I was to move out of the city. This book will help combine the two; having an urban homestead. In the introductory chapter we read how
“Even today, there are places that hold to this tradition. The citizens of Shanghai produce 85% of their vegetables within the city, and that’s just one example of a long Asian tradition of intense urban gardening. Or consider Cuba. Cubans practiced centralized, industrial agriculture, just as we do, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. Overnight, Cubans were forced to shift from a large, petroleum-based system to small-scale farming, much of it in cities. Today, urban organic gardens produce half of the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed by Cubans.”
Given the current economic climate a little self-sufficiency is a great thing. I appreciated the numerous links throughout so I could explore some of the ideas further.

There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake By Deborah Niland and Hazel Edwards

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:13:13 +0000

Another fun picture book.

Talent Is Overrated What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else By Geoff Colvin

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:17:49 +0000

From the front cover :

“What if everything you know about raw talent, hard work and great performance is wrong?”

I think every home educator should read this book. What makes the difference is deliberate practice. Read the book to see what that means

Read the author’s page here

The Fourfold Path to Healing Working with the Laws of Nutrition, Therapeutics, Movement and Meditation in the Art of Medicine By Thomas S. Cowan

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:15:08 +0000

This book is an excellent introduction to alternative medicine. While I would not agree with everything contained in the book, I think this book has information which will be helpful to most. You can combine many alternative therapies with conventional medicine to aid healing. The majority of the book covers alternative medicine approach for the most common ailments. I found the chapter on weight loss helpful.

I suggest you read Tom Cowan’s website to see if this is what you are looking for. Start with Nourishing Traditions first.

Nate the Great By Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

admin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:52:12 +0000

Nate the Great, child detective is a fabulous easy reader, especially (I think)for boys. Marjorie Sharmat has written a whole series of them. Once a child learns the reading vocabulary of one, they will enjoy the others more so. Finding good easy readers that will hold a boys interest is not easy. The other characters involved in the stories are fun; we especially liked Rosamond who has lots of cats. We met her in Nate the Great Goes Undercover. Recommended for 4-8 years but still enjoyable for the later reader at even age 10-11 years old

Copies at the Auckland Libraries

We have also enjoyed Nate the Great and the Monster Mess
Nate the Great Stalks Stupidweed among others

Harry Potter -Magical Music

tarnya — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:40:15 +0000

Harry Potter Magical Music from the First Five Years at Hogwarts by John Williams (Composer), Patrick Doyle (Composer), Nicholas Hooper (Composer)

Sometime to inspire your up and coming pianist. 95 pages full of musical score. Unlike other books of this type, it isn’t half full of photos from the movie(that’s a good thing in my opinion. It does contain a few full colour glossy pages at the front. Suitable for Grade 3 piano student and up.

I like to get books of popular music to encourage my children as they work through the grades: something for them to especially enjoy without directly working on technique. It also impresses their friends and family. The most popular music is selected from the first 4 movies. In bracekets in the table of contents, the movie to which the music is from is listed.

Sometime to inspire your up and coming pianist. 95 pages full of musical score. Unlike other books of this type, it isn’t half full of photos from the movie (that’s a good thing in my opinion. It does contain a few full colour glossy pages at the front. Suitable for Grade 3 piano student and up.

I like to get books of popular music to encourage my children as they work through the grades: something for them to especially enjoy without directly working on technique. It also impresses their friends and family. The most popular music is selected from the first 4 movies. In brackets in the table of contents, the movie to which the music is from, is listed.

French Women Don’t Get Fat The Secret of Eating for Pleasure By Mireille Guiliano

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:18:12 +0000

You might like to have a look at the author’s website. The book’s website is here.

I found it a helpful book. The advice is not new in one way: building good eating habits. But was unique is her strategies to make those good habits your own, one little step at a time. She has a kick start weekend which if you don’t like leeks would be pretty hard to do. It is written in a narrative where the author tells her personal journey with food.

One reviewer wrote “ French Women Don’t Get Fat is like sharing a tisane (herbal tea) with a friend who loves food, but stays slim. Unlike hard-hitting diet books, the message that author, Mireille Giuliano, imparts is to savor, enjoy, take pleasure in food. And if you are like us, when you are finished reading, you’ll even have a sexy French swing in your walk. Enjoy food, enjoy the body. ”

I think the book is well worth a read.

4 Ingredients Gluten Free By Kim McCosker, Rachael Bermingham

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 01:51:36 +0000

4 Ingredients Gluten Free is not a make from scratch, blend your own flour book. The baking recipes use a commercial flour blend. My teens regularly make the pineapple cake. The beef stir fry includes a commercial GF BBQ sauce as one of the ingredients. The authors Rachael and Kim are not from a culinary background, but neither are most people that for cook for their families every day. That is their secret and why their books have sold millions: They love their families and love to make quick, easy and not too expensive food that tastes good. And that is why it is one of my families favourite recipe books.

You can see more of them on their website .

You can borrow a copy from the the Auckland Libraries or check out their other cookbooks.

Economics in One Lesson by H Hazlitt and Jeff Riggenbach

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:54:03 +0000

Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics

This is the audio version for listening on your ipod or in the car. If you find it hard to find the time to read then audio books are great, it makes time in the car so much more productive and enjoyable.

If not the best one volume introduction to economics it certainly is the most enduring. Not just for Mums and Dads. Get your teenagers to listen to this as well. It is well written with everyday examples making it easy to understand. This book is not written like a textbook, ( thank goodness for that!).

You will find some discussion of the book on Mises (they are reprinting the book). You can read the whole book online. You can hear a sample to see if you are happy with the reader here