5 comments about Belles on Their Toes.

1. I can't believe I didn't know this book existed till very recently; I would have bought and read it a whole lot sooner had I known, having read the first book about five or six times. It's in the same funny spirit as the first, though the focus has shifted from the antics of the entire family to the mother's struggle to take care of her eleven children after her husband died. And the funny moments aren't as frequent as in the first book, since the children are older. It also seems like the younger children got the short end of the stick--less time was given to writing about their own humourous childhood anecdotes and stories, since time passes really quickly after Anne gets married. The only other thing in this book I wasn't keen on was how some of it was dated. Some of it, like Mrs. Gilbreth trying to find reasons for the oldest two not to smoke and then instantly retracting each reason, or the youngest boys teaching Jane how to be popular and get dates by not being her true self, is to be expected, given not only the era in which that happened but also when the book was published, but there are a few slang words and references that the modern reader might not understand or find as funny or relevant as someone who was a contemporary of the family might. We all know what a sheik is, but who uses the term "wet smack" anymore, for example? Still, overall it's a sweet fun way to wrap up the story of this funny family.



2. especially for a sequel!



3. This book continues the true story of the Gilbreth children or the sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen.
   The story continues after the father died. The mother is now the soul supporter of her family. There is a graet saying in the book that says,"Mother wasn't afraid anymore because the worst had happend."
   The mother carried on her husbands works. She held conferences and taught the scince of time saving. She became a very strong woman.
   It was a long hard haul but ahe successfully continued her husbands work. The children successfully ran the household.
   This story is humorus and very touching. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.



4. I found this book a couple years after I came across the first one as a teenager. It's a good continuation of the story and lets you know what happened, and how this amazing family all chipped in to make things work after their terrible tragedy.



5. Wonderful book if you like vintage stories, especially of large innovative families.
   
   There are a number of books related to this one, as well as movies connected as remakes of the books.
   
   Belles on Their Toes, Cheaper by the Dozen, etc. are refreshing insights of life in the early 1900's.

No comments about E.C. Stakman, Statesman of Science.

No comments about Herman Mark: From Small Organic Molecules to Large: A Century of Progress (Profiles, Pathways, and Dreams).

No comments about The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin.

5 comments about Wyoming Trucks, True Love, and the Weather Channel: A Woman's Adventure.

1. I loved this book! What a delightful documentation of the transformation of a child into a mature woman! I particularly related to her story because she straddles two worlds--the sophisticated life in the city with art and culture, and the Wyoming West of men, trucks and being tough. My own family comes from both those worlds and I found Jeffe's book a validation of my own feelings.

   Note: I submitted another review on this book about three weeks ago, but have not seen it yet, so am submitting this.




2. I could not put this book down; I literally read it in one sitting. The fresh new voice of Jeffe Kennedy will make readers laugh and cry. I especially enjoyed her descriptions of her family, lover, and tribulations of being a woman in a male-dominated profession. Jeffe is one to watch! This book of essays should only be the first in a line of fantastic books to come. My favorite chapters include "Appliances," "Girfriends," and "Home Ec."



3. Wyoming Trucks, True Love, and the Weather Channel is one of those books that is difficult to categorize. It's memoir, essay, American West, magazine articles, all of that and yet not quite any of it. The title tells you how wide-ranging these pieces are, and it actually refers to only one of the essays in the collection. Even Amazon.com has had trouble pigeon-holing the book, since it appears here on a children's books page.

   The strongest essays are the ones about Kennedy's family. The first piece is about visiting the site of her father's death in a plane crash twenty-five years earlier. She visits with her mother and they recall a time that Kennedy doesn't quite remember, when she was only three years old. By the end of the essay, you have a good idea of who Kennedy is.

   Subsequent essays discuss her childhood, her friends, her relatives, and her long-time boyfriend. A chapter called Thanksgiving is one of the best essays, about her awkward relationships with the children of her boyfriend and with their mother, her boyfriend's ex-wife. The awkwardness comes to a head when one of the children is hospitalized and Kennedy realizes that although she has no formal or recognized relationship with the children, she feels responsibility and love for them.

   For such a slim volume of essays, there's a lot to think about here.




4. Jeffe Kennedy has created a special window on the world. She appears to have the sharp mind of a scientist combined with the beautiful soul of a poet, and this allows her to take us by the hand and lead us to some simple truths about life and death and the world around us - truths which we might otherwise miss. Ms. Kennedy's book is an engaging and revealing journey, and I would recommend it highly.



5. This book came into my life almost accidentally, and I took my time getting it to the top of the stack. But as soon as I finished it, I wrote Jeffe Kennedy to offer my congratulations for a job superbly done. I now plan to purchase at least three more copies: one for my newlywed nephew in Colorado, because the book has such an emotional impact from a uniquely western point of view; one for my sister and brother-in-law, North Carolinians who have fallen in love with the west; one for a sister who just likes to read, and who, like Kennedy, inherited her husband's children. I list these recipients to illustrate that this book is for everyone. Yes, it's a woman's book, but only in that it was written by a woman. There's a wry voice, full of wisdom from life's lessons learned, ripe with humor and the author's ability to laugh at herself, and perhaps most important, laced with valuable information about the ecology of the region. Webster's defines ecology: The totality or pattern of relations between organisms and their environment. That's exactly what Kennedy gives us in this book...she's the organism and the many settings in her book are the environment. Buy this book. Read it and pass it on as a gift to someone you love; you'll be giving a gift of hours of pleasurable reading.

1 comments about Richard Trevithick The Man and his Machine.

1. The opening chapters of this informative book give the history of Cornwall in a nutshell:- the mining, the unforgiving coastline, the wrecks, the climate and the people. Specifically from the mining aspect, we see how the conditions lent themselves to some form of mechanised help with raising tin & copper ore and draing the shafts & tunnels. Newcomen and Watt were the first to provide the engines, but Trevithick saw how these could be improved, much to the dismay of Boulton & Watt, who kept up a litiginous fight against Trevithick for decades.
   Trevithick prevailed and also saw that the static engines could be moved around by their own power to the next site, which set into motion the beginning of the railways and motor cars (little realising what this would become in 200 years!)....
   This is a well-researched book, with plenty of apposite quotes and comments, but at the same time it is never dull - the story flows like well-turned novel, urging one into the next chapter. The great thing about the book is the way you are constantly kept aware of how new the technology was; and how daunting that power was to those used to the limitations of horse-power. And it reveals the impetuous yet single-minded nature of this ebullient giant who would let nothing stop him in his quest to further Cornish development.
   The author opened my eyes to the unsung genius of Trevithick; we all remember Watt as the 'Father of Steam' (he actually hindered progress!) and Stevenson as the 'Inventor of the Railway Engine', but Trevithick made more technical strides - although they were quickly superseded - nontheless, it does not detract from the man's vision and tenacity in the face of opposition from the Patent law and his rivals.
   Recommended reading ****

No comments about Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers, Volume 2 1830-1890.

3 comments about Galileo: His Science and His Significance for the Future of Man.

1. I really thouht the book was wonderful. It gave a great review on his teachings and life.



2. The extensive amount of material, coupled with a concise writing style, led me to read the book a few pages at a time. There is not a word or phrase that is not needed. I found the book exhilarating.

   I have occasionally wondered how trigonometric functions were conceived as infinite series. As an engineer I have been used to using the results, but it is fascinating to be taken through the process of discovery. My field has been mechanical engineering, and I rather assumed (without having investigated the mattter) that Newton framed his "laws" of motion largely on his own. I now appreciate better what towering contributions Galileo made to science.

   Readers with some technical background will find the analytical and mathematical sections significantly enhance the descriptive material.

   The book's treatment of the impact of Galileo on his contemporaries, and in turn of their reactions to him, is absorbing. Anyone involved in scientific research should have no problem understanding what Galileo confronted.

   Dr. Stuart W. Greenwood




3. "Galileo: His Science and His Significance for the Future of Man" by Albert G. DiCanzio should be required reading for each physics student starting at the high school, for some, or college freshman, for the rest, level. After reading several dozen books either translated from Galileo's work(s) or written about him, I find this book the best for the student of 2000. A better lesson for my engineering physics students to understand a sense of basic physics relative to that of the last twenty years does not exist.

No comments about Bibliografia Galileiana, 1568-1895.

No comments about Adventures of a Sumo Chemist.