No comments about Growing Trees from Seed: A Practical Guide to Growing Native Trees, Vines and Shrubs.

2 comments about Landscape Architecture, Fourth Edition.

1. This is really THE seminal instroductory book to landscape architecture. It's not really specific enough to be a true reference book, but it covers such a vast range of topics that it would be unrealistic to expect it to be. Instead, Simonds did a fantastic job of summarizing an amazingly broad field one subject at a time. Still, it is not so broad that the reader will fail to see the trees through the forest. It does include a lot of very helpful illustrations and explanations about such topics as spatial relationships and how they create different environments (and subsequently a particular design might be appropriate or inappropriate depending on the circumstances). But that is just one small sample of the kind of valuable lessons this book is filled with. I often start with this book when I approach a subject that is new to me because it gets me on the right track. In that sense, it's not just for beginners. And the 4th edition contains much-needed updates of the outdated photographs that are in the 3rd edition.



2. Simons is certainly an environmentalist, and I love that about him. This is the first text book I have enjoyed reading. He makes excellent points, though it isn't all totally workable. Generally a great book.

5 comments about Planting Design Illustrated.

1. This book was enriching. What I liked most about this book was it made me feel like I was being advised by a professional with an open point of view. This is not a paint-by-the-numbers book, but a work that will stir your imagination. It is an excellent resource for both professional and novice.
   
   Planting Design Illustrated is full of useful information. It provided me a practical and philosophical edge on planting my next garden. I am not a professional landscaper, but I do love to design with plants. I was challenged at first by the writing style but once I became used to it, I discovered information that will help me when expanding my 2 acre meditation garden in Costa Rica.
   
   Chen brings concepts and places them along side practice. It proves to stir the imagination for those putting the shovel to the soil. If you want to design your home landscape or like me, bite off more than you can chew with a large project, then this book should be read first.
   
   Planting design will help you create a strong foundation for your landscape and gardens to grow on. If this book had had some professional editing I would have given it 5 stars. It's a great resource for those serious about doing things with both awareness and good technique. However the content is a serious 5 stars.



2. This book on Planting Design is extremely descriptive and very informative having been written by a capable Architect. As a previous City Planner, I wish, I had such a thorough text as this when doing site plan reviews and landscaping requirements.
   
   It would be my suggestion to a reader who is interested in the Planting Design approach on a personal scale, to dedicate some general review time of this text, gaining orientation to some of the technical terminology as found in this fine text on Planting Design. Specifically, the study presented on the early historical Oriental contributions to formal or informal gardens certainly would serve as a useful guideline for future construction of any gardens.
   
   I found Chapter 6 especially informative in a complete and easy story manner. It dealt with Planting Design principles, concepts, and methods coupled with Oriental case studies. This is a perfect study tool for landscape design and planting; readily applicable to the home landscape.
   
   The early Oriental uses of planting designs as described provide an informative insight into the cultural aspects of plant material evolution into today's usage. The historical correlation of bamboo to the various reflection of human nature aspects is very enlightening.
   
   My recommendation suggests one take the time to gain an oversight by reviewing the index and gently viewing each chapter's heading with descriptions. Then delve more intently to possibly uncommon plant design terminology such as "scale", "heavenly creations", "mass planting" or much more.
   
   While this is not a "picture" book on design, it is packed with information and data that can be applied to any scale or size project. It does not require a "castle" to enjoy the same feelings found in the early, large gardens in France or the Orient based on these elements of Planting Design as narrated in this text. For individuals wishing to spend time creating wonderful gardens, keep in mind what you learn regarding the "basic spatial relationships" to plants, structures, and man.
   
   Although I had a some prior knowledge of landscape design and requirements when I was approving plans for commercial projects, I personally feel this text is an excellent study and informational tool for anyone interested in Planting Design.



3. I am both a recreational gardener and am in the horticulture profession. This book is helpful to anyone planning a new garden or renovating an older garden. Chen explains spatial layering, planning for five senses and four seasons in a way that assists both the layman and the professional. The list of plants is organized to plan for scale and is easy to adapt to your gardening zone. Drawings are easy to understand and pictures are representative of what the author is trying to convey.



4. Planting Design Illustrated by Gang Chen seems to me to be possibly the only book one would need to read to understand all the basics involved in good design.
   
   I read this book as a complete novice concerning plants and planting design and found that it was easy to read and understand. Showed it to some of my gardening friends and they found it equally fascinating.
   
   This book seems to me to be the Feng Shui of planting design too. I loved everything about it.
   
   The illustrations were perfect also...not too complex, but full of every detail needed to understand what the author was talking about. The only thing that would make this book better would be a CD/DVD of the illustrations!
   
   This book will become my planting design bible!
   
   Planting Design Illustrated



5. "As a newcomer to the real estate development market, this book opened my eyes to the world of plant design. The author's guidance instilled a sense of confidence in me to be able to speak intelligently to my designers." - Donald A. Wilhelm, Author of This Time's a Charm; Lessons of a Four-Time Cancer Survivor

5 comments about Joy of Gardening (Garden Way Book).

1. This is the best resource I have found for small gardeners. I would highly recommend it.



2. I picked up Dick Raymond's Joy Of Gardening at a yard sale a few years ago. I can't imagine why any body who is remotely interested in gardening would sell this book. And for a dollar at that. This book is a must read for gardeners or any body who even is considering starting a garden. I have a very small yard and even smaller garden but thanks to Dick Raymond's method of close plant gardening I have been able to increase my yield ten fold. So far this year I have picked 30 pounds of tomatoes and it's only the first week of August. I grow pumpkins, onions, eggplant, cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini, and bell peppers. All of this on a triangular shaped garden with a 15 foot base and 22 foot sides. Not bad for a city boy and it's because of what I have learned from Joy Of Gardening. I highly recommend this book to any one considering starting a garden.



3. Product came in very good condition. Worth the money. Great book in terms of gardening - you will learn a lot. My husband and I have to share it as we both enjoy the many things that can be done to harvest a good garden.



4. Still the very best book to starting and maintaining an organic garden
   that ever was published.



5. I was lucky enough to have stumbled onto this book years ago.It must have been devine intervention because from I went from an interest in growing a vegetable garden to finding this book to growing a killer garden in just a few weeks.This book spells it all out in an easy to understand plan to growing your own food.Lots of pictures(my favorite kind of book),lots of information,not a lot of money.

4 comments about Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden: Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians (Borealis).

1. This is a Minnesota Historical Society reprint of the anthropological study done by Gilbert Wilson in 1917, originally published as "Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: An Indian Interpretation." Wilson was among the first of a new school of American anthropologists that felt Indian cultures should speak for themselves, and not be spoken for by "white man's" interpretations. Consequently, the book really is, as the subtitle says, "an Indian interpretation." Most of the text is translated directly from Buffalo Bird Woman's own words, complete with stories, jokes, and personal anecdotes about village life. By the time you are done reading it, you will feel as if you met her personally.

   I bought it because I am a Minnesota gardener, so I wanted to see what tips I might pick up from the ways of the indigenous people. The book is rich with useful gardening lore, including diagrams of various tools and structures, along with detailed descriptions of the different kinds of beans, corn, and squash that the Indians grew. Plus, there are native recipes you can try.

   I was surprised to learn that, when the Indians dried squash, they didn't use mature fruits with hard skins like we do today, but preferred to cut them when they were 4 days old -- at about 3 1/2 inches diameter. They were more tender that way, easier to slice, and they dried better. The best squashes were marked in the field and allowed to mature for seed.

   I also found it interesting that the Indians kept the different colors of corn separate, not like the multi-colored "Indian corn" we buy today for fall decorations. Although Buffalo Bird Woman did not understand the science behind genetics, she and her fellow Hidatsa gardeners did notice that corn varieties will "travel" (her word) from one patch to another if different colors are planted too closely together. So, women with adjoining fields would agree to plant the same varieties side-by-side, to help prevent this "traveling."

   The Hidatsa women also understood the principles of good seed-saving techniques, and carefully chose seed from the very best squashes and corn ears in the crop, thereby improving their strains from year to year. Composting, however, was apparently unknown. Leaves and brush were burned, not composted, and they regarded manure as a dirty substance to be removed from the garden. But the Hidatsa did know the value of fallowing, and would allow a less-productive field rest a minimum of two years to renew itself.

   Some of the techniques in this book are still quite useful today. I have begun pre-spouting my squash seeds, and planting them in the SIDES of the hills instead of on top, to help prevent the heavy rains from damaging the seedlings. Some of the fencing designs have found their way into my rustic Minnesota garden, too.

   This book is also a priceless resource for "living history" re-enactors or "back to the land" homesteaders who might want to know how to build a traditional corn-drying platform, a food-storage cache, a homemade rake, or any of the other tools used successfully for many centuries before the Europeans came here. Simply a delightful book!




2. Originally published in 1917, reissued in 1987, now released again with a new introduction by Jeffrey R. Hansen, Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden presents an agricultural calendar year's activities as remembered by Buffalo Bird Woman, an accomplished Hidatsa gardener born around 1839. Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden was a doctoral dissertation by a man who believed "It is of no importance that an Indian's war costume struck the Puritan as the Devil's scheme to frighten the heart out of the Lord's annointed. What we want to know is why the Indian donned the costume, and his reasons for doing it (p.xix)." Wilson also went on to write Goodbird the Indian His Story and Waheenee: An Indian Girl's Story (biography of Buffalo Bird Woman, 1839-1921). Using biography to study a culture was effective because it highlighted the variety of traumatic cultural shifts, changes, and transmutations painfully experienced by Buffalo Bird Woman and her family. The use of empathy informs the dated, 'superior' dominant culture outlook. Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden has been called a classic anthropological document. It certainly is that and more. As a model of respectful viewing and learning, as a mirror of the complex lifeway of ;the agricultural Plains Indians, as a chronicle of human adaptation, survival and ingenuity in the face of cultural disenfranchisement, Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden sets the bar for the standard. In addition, it gives eloquent testimony to one of the enduring gifts of the Hidatsa - their varieties of corn, squash, beans, and sunflowers. Even more enduring, perhaps, is the contribution highlighted by Jeffrey Hanson: "buffalo Bird Woman's Garden is not the end, but the beginning. It is a foundation, a viewpoint, and it presents a cultural relationship with nature that we can all appreciate and from which we can all derive benefit. (p.xxiii). Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden describes planting, preparation, cultivating, harvesting and storing practices, as well as traditional songs and prayers sung to honor and encourage the garden's yield. Beautifully detailed drawings by her son Edward Goodbird illustrate Buffalo Bird Woman's descriptions of gardening and storing produce and other activities. It is easy to see that modern ethnologists and authors such as W. Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear drew fairly heavily from the information presented in Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden. This is an enduring testament to a lifeway revalued today perhaps more as it should be.

   Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer




3. A "must have" for anyone who is interested in doing a garden using authentic Native American practices, as used in the tribes in the Missouri Valley area. Details on laying out the garden, maintaining it, food storage, construction of tools, etc. are all included with sufficient clarity for reproduction.



4. This is a unique and irreplaceable book. In the early 20th century, the author interviewed Buffalo Bird, an old Hidasta Indian woman about Indian farming methods in the mid 19th century. The result is a primer on how the Indians grew corn and other crops on the Great Plains. Interspaced with the explanation of agricultural techniques are charming stories, songs, recipes, and ancedotes told by Buffalo Bird. She also describes how the Indians preserved their crop.
   
   The Hidasta lived in North Dakota and this book is a primer on how to garden in the State without recourse to chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or motor powered equipment. The Hidasta grew five crops: corn, beans, squash, sunflower seeds, and tobacco. Their methods of cultivation, storage, and usage of each crop is described, usually with enough detail to be copied by the modern low-impact sustainable agriculturalist. A large number of illustrations and photographs supplement the text and show how the Indians built fences, dug storage pits, dried squash, and laid out their fields.
   
   A good introductory essay introduces the Hidasta, Bird Woman, and the author to the reader. The whole book is only about 150 pages, but there's a wealth of cultural and agricultural information here presented in a charming and easy-to-digest format.
   
   Smallchief

5 comments about Home Gardener's Problem Solver: Symptoms and Solutions for More Than 1,500 Garden Pests and Plant Ailments (Ortho Home Gardener's Problem Solver).

1. This is the paperback version of the hardback you will find at most gardening stores. You will find all answers. You look up the plant you are having troubles with in the index. Then go to the plant page. It gives the typical pests/ailment with photos for clear identification. And an easy fix. Great for someone just getting into gardening.



2. I bought this book and the pictures are outstanding. They are all life like, not sketches. It is very easy to read. This book talks about insects, climate and soil and other topics to numerous to remember.



3. Being a certified nurseryman,I have found this book to be an invaluable tool for customer service and to boost sales. I just wish Ortho would take the professional edition and split it into maybe four books to make it more manageable.



4. It is a wonderful reference book! The pictures are great and it is easy to identify the culprit in the garden. The recomended treatments are easy to understand. It is a must have book for every gardner.
   I also feel that the price for this book is fair for the information that it contains.



5. Fair as a gardening resource, but is basically a very large instruction manual for the line of Ortho gardening chemicals. Its whole purpose is to tell you which of their products to use for which pest or fungus or nutrient difficientcy.

5 comments about Rustic Retreats: A Build-It-Yourself Guide.

1. For anyone with space enough, but without the money to build on it, this book has so many answers. It has line drawings on almost every page and is pure delight to read and dream over.



2. I don't get why you put a beautiful photo on the cover of your book and all 2nd rate hand drawn pictues inside. It's deceptive! Won't help you with Country Home ideas. Maybe good for a kids Fort or a Bowhunting stand...



3. These are true rustic retreats for adults. Just know this is not for children's tree houses or play houses. These are very rustic retreats, such as a lean-to to use as a nature retreat, or for the shack-like building the size of a garden shed for sleeping in as a weekend getaway,(sans electricity or toilets).

   The one I loved the most was a rustic arbor for grapevines that was basically 4 poles with a semi-roof--for the vines to grow up and over the top to form a roof. The idea of sitting under it with a table and relaxing outdoors was quite tempting. However, where I would get the rustic tree trunks to make this is beyond me (but it looked wonderful).

   There are no photographs. This is not a glitzy-beautiful tempting type of book. It is about the nuts and bolts of really building one of these structures. I suggest browsing this book first to see if there is a structure you are interested in.

   The plans are quite detailed and seem more than adequate to use as building plans.




4. I'm glad there are no photos in this book. Get an imagination! The drawings are fun and lively. They also give important aspects of the project that a photo rarely illustrates. Now I know how (in detail) to construct a tipi, or put together a simple door or roof that really would hold up to nature. The primitive shelters section is great. So are the tree houses. Not that all of these projects are practical homes, but now I have ideas for that "fort" in the back acre my kids are bugging me about. Thanks for a great book to just read, or get us outside with a saw and hammer.



5. I liked this book alot. Contains simple and practical ideas. But I would say it is best for someone who is ready to get off their duff and build something, anything. Instead of just looking for pretty pictures and dreaming. If I can do it you can too.

5 comments about Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park.

1. I read this book while I was an employee in the park (called a savage in the book). I know first hand how amazingly bizarre some people will behave in the park. On my most recent return to yellowstone I saw a family of 4 (2 kids under ten) less than 10 ft away from a grizzly and her cubs. I have seen tourists trying to get their children close to Bison to take a picture, people touching the hot springs to "see how hot it is" (you would think steam in the middle of summer would give them a good idea)and I myself have 3rd degree burns on my right foot from breaking through thin ground that was covering a hot pot.
   This book does a wonderful job of describing just how wonderful but dangerous Yellowstone can be. I do not consider this to be morbid book at all, just informative. I think that the narrative is as entertaining as it can possibly be covering this kind of subject matter.
   If you are familiar with the park at all I think that you would find this book will give you a somewhat different view of the park than most uninformed visitors may have.



2. The last decade has seen a slew of books dealing with deaths in the national parks. The authors assure us that they publish these volumes to warn visitors of the dangers they face in the parks. The reality of course is that many in the literate public are fascinated by death, especially in unusual or exotic circumstances, and these books cater to that morbid demand. Nonetheless, they make for interesting reading and serve as a cautious reminder that visits to the wilderness, while safer than certain neighborhoods in major metropolitan areas, still contain very real hazards. This volume by Lee Whittlesey, was one of the first in this genre, and is still one of the best.
   
   From grizzly attacks to death by poisonous gasses and murders, Whittlesey exhaustively covers all known deaths in Yellowstone from before the founding of the park to 1995 when the book was published. For me the descriptions of people falling into the hot springs were by far the most riveting, and the most grusome, portions of the book. Cooked alive, the victims of these accidents rarely died quickly, but often instead lingered on for many hours, a pretty horrific way to go. Whittlesey also catalogs the many mistakes victims and some lucky survivors made to help visitors to the park avoid similar fates.
   
   One thing that sets this book apart from others in this genre is that Whittlesey, in addition to experience as a park tour guide and ranger, is a lawyer. This background shows itself in various ways. The book includes, for example, extensive discussion of court cases that resulted from fatalities in Yellowstone and how they have influenced park management. It also shows in the author's broader philosophy about the deaths in the park. True accidents, he argues, are rare. For the most part, people who have died in the parks were, he argues, actually negligent when it came to their own safety and sometimes the safety of others. This attitude towards the victims shows itself throughout the book, and most of the time Whittlesey makes a pretty convincing case.
   
   But not always. When discussing the 1986 death of William Tesinsky (by mauling from a grizzly bear) Whittlesey notes, "Bear 59 was a semi habituated bear, ... But she had never even approached a human aggressively." This is not entirely true. I should know, because I was chased by Bear 59 on June 20 of that very year while hiking (alone) between the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River and Yellowstone Lake. Indeed, it was my report to the Lake ranger station that led to the temporary closure of that trail, and the bear's eventual relocation by the Park Service. At that time, Bear 59 had two cubs and a large person walking nearby was, as the ranger explained to me, considered a threat. But 59 no longer had the cubs with her when she killed and partially ate the unfortunate Mr. Tesinsky. No doubt, as Whittlesey says, he was too close for 59's liking while trying to get the perfect photograph. But the retelling of this story, that follows the park's official report which I saw a few years later, is interesting in that it does not mention my earlier encounter with 59. Whittlesey the lawyer argues that, much as we don't want to admit it, negligence is more common than accident. He forgot to add that humans, including park rangers, might sometimes unintentionally omit certain bits of information that do not fit their preconceived notions.
   
   (I asked a ranger about what had become of my incident report during a 1998 visit to the park. She said that it had not been included since the bear had not actually come into physical contact with me. I understand that answer, but it certainly does undermine the claim the bear had never before shown aggressive tendencies. In my case, I was unaware of her existence till I saw her charge out of the woods, two cubs at her heals, and easily 50 yards away.)



3. As the title suggests, many stories are recounted in detail. Some of these stories are a bit shocking, and we are reminded that the wildness of nature knows nothing about the sanctity of human life. The book would be especially interesting to prior visitors who are somewhat familiar with Yellowstone National Park.



4. I've lived in Yellowstone Park for about 6 years now, and every summer I'm appalled how easily the tourists leave thier common sense at the gate. This should be required reading before anyone is allowed to enter. This book is as entertaining as the Darwin Awards, with a few sad twists, and some fun wild west shinanigans thrown in. Some of the accounts are far more detailed than others, as there was more research information available. It has personal meaning to me, because I frequent the cemeteries mentioned in the book, and it gives more depth to that experience. (If you're ever in the Gardiner, MT area check out Tinker Cemerery--very cool, very old. There's also one by the horse corrals at Maammoth Hot Springs, you can park there and take a short hike on the trail--it's mostly employees from the days the army was running the place.) Bottom line--this is a terrific, necessary book. If you fall or jump into a pool of boiling geyser water you will die--if you're lucky it'll be quick. The animals are wild, and most of them a hell of alot stronger and faster than you. Yellowstone is definitely worth the trip. Just, please, if you come here don't be stupid. Happy trails!



5. We are going to yellowstone this summer so I thought this would be a good read, as sad and gross as some of it is, it was a real eye opener and I think anyone with kids should read it before they go. I will be taking a child and I will be watching him like a hawk. The book itself starts out well but it does putter out towards the end like other readers reported. Still worth a read.

5 comments about Creating an Herbal Bodycare Business (Making a Living Naturally Series).

1. I found this book to contain general information on starting any type of business, such as licensing information and advice on running a business. If you're looking for information and help specifically for starting an herbal bodycare business, you won't find it in this book.



2. This book didn't stay in my library for long. I'm glad that I read it and I did glean some good ideas but it wasn't at all what I expected based on the title. I appreciate many of Ms. Maine's points but the book is not really about the Herbal Body Care Business. It's about creating a philosophy of business, really your Mission Statement, and the goals that produces. The philosophy is blatantly New Age and so, not for everyone. The best part is the many stories of other soap makers.

   Ms. Maine is one of my favorite soapmaking book authors. She is the owner of one of the largest businesses of it's kind. She has shared her knowledge over the years with others who would like to make soap via her many books on the market. Those books are the how-to's. This one, by the author's own admission is a "how-can".

   It was interesting but not an essential book for either the hobby or professional soap maker's library.




3. This book begins, and ends, on a hopeful note. Its message is a positive one. There is considerable truth in what Ms. Maine says. Many people believe that big is good, but big is often bloated, and not long after, bankrupt. For some people, small can be both beautiful and happy.

   From the start, I do not believe Ms. Maine intended to write a business book based on the standard boiler plate model for such books. She has endeavored to put something of herself, and her outlook on life into the text, and it shows. Granted, on first pass, the New Age references and more than a few statements are a bit off-putting, especially if you, like me, are skeptical by nature, but if the book is read very closely, you will find that all the basic ingredients of a Start Your Own Business Book are there.

   For example, she makes these and other questionable claims throughout the book such as: society and the planet are going to hell in a hand-basket. What is the solution, you ask? Start an herbal bodycare business! Or, my personal favorite: the natural food and bodycare market is experiencing an annual growth rate of 15 percent. With that kind of growth rate, given the anemic 1 to 3 percent growth rates in mature general retail categories like food and cosmetics, it will not be long before those godless multinationals pick up the scent. In fact, it turns out they have picked up the scent, and are closing in these 'alternative' categories.

   However, this is not to say that there is no value or credibility in the text- far from it. The real value of this text resides in the stories of those folks, like Ms. Maine, who set up their own successful herbal bodycare business, and Ms. Maine's insistence that you think and plan about your herbal bodycare business. This last bit is most important, as it seems everyone and her mother is involved in this area nowadays (in fact, that is LITERALLY the case) so it pays to think of how you can be different and unique, yet still offer value.

   Moreover, Ms. Maine did it the right way, that is, the smart way: she got the business right BEFORE she went into business. That means getting a clear idea of the business (what you offer versus what customers really want and will pay for), putting some flesh to the concept, and laying down a well-reasoned plan. It also means examining various scenarios WITHOUT numbers and prepping yourself for mis-haps, as nothing will EVER go exactly as planned. Ms. Maine, as well as the people she profiles, all started small, worked in and around the herbal bodycare business for a few years before going out on their own, and all of them got their businesses off the ground with five thousand dollars or less, thus demonstrating that it can be done on the literal 'shoestring budget'. As Liz Claiborne once said, 'Start with a low overhead and be willing to everything yourself.'

   My somewhat jaded advice to anyone thinking about going into this or any other business is this: Before you go into business, it is all about thinking, reasoning and planning. Once you go into business, it is all about execution. When you go into business with a flawed concept, even the most mundane annoyances can morph into major and insurmountable problems, and will ultimately kill your business. Get the concept right, and execute flawlessly. That ways lies blockbuster success. Money may be an initial barrier, but you creative types should be able to cobble together what you need from the odd bits and pieces here and there and wow the customer with your presentation and artistic flair. Remember this one lesson from the internet company boom: a lot of money behind a flawed concept equals a fantastic and bankrupt failure. Start simple, start small, and work within a limited budget. That will force you to unleash your creativity. More often than not, the more money we have, the less carefully we think, and the dumber the ideas that come to the fore.
   

   The target audience for this book is not highly accomplished over-achievers with a bent for numbers and order. Rather, this is a book for those free-spirited, creative, chaotic, artsy types who often go by the moniker of 'Right-Brain Person'. There is a definite bias in the text towards the burned-out female company employee working for a god-less, soul-less corporation, and as such, the book is open to the charge of pandering to an escapist fantasy- one that more than a few of us, male or female, in the same bind share.

   I can also say with certainty that the book is more of an exercise in building the reader's self-confidence about starting such a business, and less of a guide to the inner workings of an herbal bodycare business. That, however, is most likely the intended objective- giving those who may not have the confidence to start such a venture a few ideas and a little prodding. Ms. Maine is planting a seed, I think, in a certain type of person, preferably young, single and female but a little unsure of herself. Although I did not get much out of the book (thus three stars), this person I believe will derive the most out of the book.




4. I was a bit disappointed at first, as I was looking for more of a 1-2-3 approach. But I picked the book up again a couple of days later, and found lots of useful information in it. It still wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but well written and informative nonetheless.



5. Very informative and very well written. I learned a lot from this book. Great tips and a lot of things that I never thought about that could make or break my company!
   I would highly recommend this book for small business people who want to make money selling personal care products.

5 comments about The Pruning Book.

1. I am still currently reading the book. It's packed full of good things. The best thing about it is, if you have a specific type of plant you can go directly to that section and it gives you a clear and detailed way of pruning the plant. I think its a must have for any gardener.



2. Lee Reich is one of the more underrated garden writers today. His books are not pretty or decorative, but the amount that one can learn from them is much much more than than what you get from Martha Stewart or P. Allen Smith any day. Here's to more great work from him.



3. I first encountered this book at the local library, and liked it so much I wanted to own it myself. I couldn't part with it. The writing style, illustrations, organization, and advice are all clear, straightforward, and sensible. In addition, the author's enthusiasm for the subject makes this more than a reference guide, and during long winters it can serve as an inspiration for the seasons ahead.



4. Best pruning book I've come across. I'm not a "gardener" so it helps that it really explains what you need to do.



5. The day I received this book, I immediately began to use it. I had wanted to make a hedge of some beautiful crape mytrle by our back door. The book gave detailed instructions and pictures. The mytrle has already started to leaf into a bush after only a few weeks. I know they will be perfect and I would not have known exactly how it should be done without the book. I had a general idea, but the book's instructions were much better. I am anxiously awaiting fall for some other pruning projects. Pruning season had ended for a number of bushes and trees before I could get pruning accomplished.