5 comments about Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, Fourth Edition.

1. When I took this book for the first time I thought - wow they probably made the well-known Leninger book more illustrated, maybe added something new - let's read it. But from the first chapters I realized - there is nothing left from the original book. There is too much water in this book. You can for example read like 30 pages and then stop and ask yourself - Ok what have I've learned. And the answer is "not too much", because what was written in 30 pages in fact can be written in 5. I recommend the editors to change the name "Leninger - Principles of biochemistry" for something like - "Very general principles of biochemistry". Though I can not tell that the entire book is bad - starting with metabolic pathways I found some new details and information I didn't know about, but in general it was a waste of time and money to buy and read this book.



2. Usually required reading for college students, this book was used for undergrad biochem and my pharmacy biochem. Pretty good tome.



3. Excellent book! I would recommend this book for any person taking a beginners biochemistry class or just wanting to know more about the subject.



4. What I like the most about this book is that it contains almost all the information that you need to understand biochemistry, information that is not traditionally covered in biochemistry books, but that is needed as background to a complete understanding of the subject. For instance, the first chapter of this book gives background information on the biological, chemical, genetics, evolution basis of biochemistry. It explains the cell in enough detail to understand references made to the cell components later on in the textbook. Another thing I found is a detailed explanation of D and L configuration, as opposed as just saying all amino acids found in proteins are L isomers. No other book I've read explains where the L, D configuration convention came from and students usually confuse it with levorotatory and dextrorotatory, when they are different things altogether. It also has an entire chapter dedicated to water chemistry, which serves as both a review and a basis for understanding the importance of hydrogen bonding in biochemistry in later chapters.
   
   In essence, this is a very COMPLETE book, in the sense that it covers material not found in traditional biochemistry books (ex. Berg, Stryer), but that is necessary to understand other aspects of biochemistry. If you are planning to specialize in the study of biochemistry, you definitely want this book as part of your reference collection.



5. The book itself was very interesting and a great introduction to biochemistry, however, the shippers are losers. They sent a hardcover, ~20 pound book in a simple envelope even though I spent the extra money for fast, safe delivery. Not only was the book not even sent until 5-6 days after the expected delivery date, the outside of the book was severely damaged when I finally got it. I am wholly dissatisfied with the way they treated me.

5 comments about Perfumes: The Guide.

1. This book is a delight to read. Both writers know thier stuff and make a convincing case for taking perfumes seriously, and when not to take them so seriously! They are lyrical when reviewing masterpieces, and deliciously catty when confronted with a dud.
   
   I will certainly take this book with me next time I go to the perfume counter.
   
   I would have liked some more comprehensive indexing, and it would have been handy to group perfumes by type, rather than strict alphabetical order.
   
   Apart from that this is both an essential reference guide for getting exactly what you want in a perfume purchase, and a pleasure to read in and of itself.



2. This is a delightful and truly fascinating book. My husband and I took turns reading it aloud (he said, "It's like wine, isn't it?") and it even got him interested in one of the five-star Masterpiece feminines-to-be-worn-as-masculines. The idea of smelling like a Vietnamese beef-mint salad ("Diorella") is just too appealing for him... Myself, I'm tickled by the fact that "Stetson" is a heady feminine floral oriental (in a box bearing a photo of a rumpled Tom Brady in shearling) and "Anais Anais" (pitched to lissome teenage girls in the late '70's) is dry enough to be a suitable masculine. Turin and Sanchez's enthusiasm for this little-explored subject is contagious and they are not total snobs -- they like "Vanilla Fields" better than "Lalique", "Lady Stetson" better than "Chanel No. 22," "Old Spice" better than "Polo Black." Their writing is witty, erudite, and downright Nabokovian when they are sufficiently moved to wax eloquent about a Masterpiece. Be prepared to take an immediate trip to the mall (as I did, bearing a little notepad with all the interesting scents with pithy tags like "hot rubber" and "cilantro floral") and get a headache from sniffin' all the stuff. This book made me seek out scents from the past that I would have otherwise avoided, like Estee Lauder's "Knowing", Dior's "Dune", and Clinique's "Aromatic Elixer" (all 80's Masterpieces which deserve a second chance), and venture into the new world of artisanal fragrance. I ended up exchanging phone numbers with the perfume lady at Barney's after an intense 20 minute powwow with Le Labo and Lutens. And at Neiman's, I experienced the divine confluence of Chanel's "Cuir De Russie" on my right arm and Serge Luten's "Five O'Clock Au Gingembre" on my left, both of which lingered deliciously all night long. What fun! And I'm someone who formerly was fine with a drop or two of lavender oil here and there... My only complaints are for the lack of a proper index and I'd like to know what these guys think of the popular thing of mixing and layering different scents (such as a client of mine who smelled like a luxurious Lutens-something which was the result of "CK One" and patchouli oil *yikes!*). Does it ever work and if so, how and with what? And okay, yeah, I can see how someone could be a little miffed if these guys dismissed their personal favorite as "total crap." I am by no means in agreement with all of their recommendations (you couldn't pay me enough to wear a Masterpiece like "Opium") but still they seem to know what they're talking about... so I'm looking forward to Volume 2 for all the rest (like Roget and Gallet's "Lotus Bleu", Aveda "Love", "Kai", Caudelie's "Eau du Vigne",etc).



3. Tentoone's excellent review says it all about this book. I bought it. I read it. I should not have bothered. Go to an online perfume sales company and read the buyer reviews. It's free and more useful in judging the perfumes. This book is a collection of this married couple's personal opinions. Ho Hum.



4. This book was a secret vice to me, almost like sneaking exotic candy behind doors, so you will have to share with no one else. I don't know any of the scientific babble; I only know I love beautiful smells. The mechanics of them leave me cold, frankly. But...this book was so compelling, and pure fun to read--of course I hurriedly looked up all my favorite scents first, to see how they were rated. I was thrilled to see some of my favorites with 4 or 5 stars, but nearly reduced to tears (!) to see one of my all-time favorites garner not only a 1, but jeering derision as well. I felt personally stung...but no matter, the reading of the whole thing was still a garden of delight. I actually wrote Luca and Tania a 'fan letter', and I will include some of it here: "...due to life-long financial difficulties, I've never been able to access much in the way of expensive perfumes...but your book was the 'unbreak my heart' key to my unrequited love of perfume. I could not embrace my own affair, but I got to look through a peephole at the avid lovers. What a feast! Your lyrical, outrageous, hysterical, insane descriptions spoke to my soul like David's harp--I could almost smell them vicariously...." I did find a website that sells "minis" and I picked out the ten most delectable scents in the book (to me, by description) and ordered them. What a banquet of riches. I am still caught up in smelling them all and deciding daily what I shall wear...oh, heaven! And I also discovered what will always be my 'signature scent' from this day forward--Tocade. Sweet dreams, perfume lovers.



5. Isn't the first movement of Brahm's 2nd Symphony in D Major the most melodic symphony ever written? Or would it be the Friar Lorenzo movement of Prokofieff's Romeo and Juliet? Or Tschaikowsky's 1st Piano Concerto?
   
   To the naive listener, a music critic's judgement and description would be helpful. To the urbane listener, such critique is interesting. Often critics will discern something that the casual listener has missed. It is why we need thoughtful, experienced, educated critics. Not because we always agree with them, but because they inform the debate.
   
   And so it is with "Perfumes - The Guide". The authors perform a stupendous service in reviewing hundreds of scents in lively detail. For the reader who is new to perfume (or has simply used what his parents used), this book is a must for the reference shelf. Eventually, the reader will have a significant other and run out of gift ideas: have this book at hand. There is no other similar compendium available. And while the authors have strong biases (good for them!), they are, at least. their own norm. The book is called a "guide"; it is not called "the RULES". All such compendia have biases, if only what is included and what is left out.
   
   The brief descriptions and ratings of perfumes are extremely helpful, but only perhaps if you have some experience with some of the scents. Fortunately, expense is not one of the authors' biases. I have used Tabac for years and it is very cheap. Dr. Turin rates is highly (4 out of 5). And I must confess, that I agreed with most of his choices for men's colognes (Eau Savage, Guerlain's Imperiale, Homme Dior), so perhaps I am favorably inclined toward this book. But, like the authors, I have been sampling scents for over 40 years, so I was able to conjure up the smells as they described them. This would be a distinct advantage in reading this book.
   
   
   If you have never been to a symphony hall, you will not recognize the description of the music when reading the review in the morning paper. Similarly, if you are new to perfumes, it will be difficult to understand some of the terminology. That noted, the rating guide serves as a good filter to avoid expensive mistakes. If you just noted the 4 and 5 star perfumes and made a point to experiment with them, you will connect the terms to the scents pretty quickly. A middle C on a timpani and a piano are the same note, but reading about them does not demonstrate the difference in sounds. And so it is with scents. This book will help guide you through the amazing variety of them.

5 comments about Chemistry: Text.

1. I feel bad giving this a book a two, simply because of the quality of the information in it. It goes over everything you would ever need to know about chemistry, and in great detail... However, This textbook is exactly what the name implies, a textbook. The authors make no effort to simplify the info, they divulge all of their chemistry knowledge in a dry, monotonous format.
   
   This is our high-schools text book for AP Chemistry. (College level chemistry offered to high-schoolers.) I'm sure this is a fantastic textbook for those simply looking for cold, hard information, but if you want something digestible, this is not it. Again, I apologize to you college students and professors who think this is a fantastic source of information. (Because it most certainly is.)
   
   However, if you want a digestible, easy to read textbook, look into Raymond Chang's "Chemistry." This was my sister's college chemistry textbook, and I now use it in the place of our Zumdahl text... I don't feel I am doing Chang's text justice by "babying" it. It provides just as much info as the Zumdahl textbook, but in a more comfortable, and logical, format. I would choose Chang's textbook over Zumdahl any day.



2. I used this book for General College Chemistry and I would like to say that this is possibly the worst Textbook I have ever used. It is poorly written and is quite simply hard to follow. I would recommend that you purchase an adjunct Chemistry textbook if you are going to use this one.



3. It was exactly what I needed. And it was a way good price. 1/2 the price they sold it for at my school bookstore.



4. I had to buy this book for my chemistry class and it would have been almost $180, but I found it at a great price in good condition from koug58.



5. The author is way too long winded and the book is hard to follow. I spent lots of time looking online for other explanations to what I was supposed to get from this book. Whoever wrote that it is more of a collection of chemistry stuff than an explanation of the concepts is completely on target. I found "Chemistry: Concepts and Problems: A Self-Teaching Guide (Wiley Self-Teaching Guides)" a wonderful walk through guide that is very understandable and teaches what this Chemistry book of over 1000 pages, just can't get across. I should mention that the online tutorials were too general to be useful and the site was down for 2 weeks when I started class and now has been moved and it will not allow me to access using the same code as before the transfer to a new site. Tech support was not very helpful and just kept telling me to be patient...for two weeks while they fixed the website....horrible experience.

5 comments about Chemistry: The Central Science.

1. The book came quickly with express delivery and it was brand new.



2. The book was in mint condition, and shipping was extremely fast, the problem I had was it came with a media pak, I paid alot for this not realizing that there were different media paks, my daughter spent a week trying to get into her college class with this, numerous e-mails waiting 24 hrs for an answer, numerous phone calls, only to find out it was wrong and we had to pay another $50.00 on line to get the right codes to get into the class. It should be listed somewhere what the different classes are we could have bought a used book & the code on line and saved alot of money.



3. My AP chemistry class used this book as well as my college General Chemistry class. Ive compared it with other popular chemistry books and none of them explain as thoroughly and cover as wide a breadth of topics as this book does. If your having problems with your current General Chemistry textbook you should definitely buy this one as an adjunct to it.



4. This was an outstanding product, came bundled and I got more than I expected in terms of quality and quantity! One of the best purchases I've ever had online. Thank you!



5. I bought this book on March 22, 2008 and received it April 12, 08. This is unexpected. I bought another book at the same day and got it within 4 days.

5 comments about The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time.

1. I agree 100% with all the 1-2 star reviews. This book is bogus. There is more
   clear, practical advice in these reviews than contained in this book.
   
   One of my complaints about this book that wasn't covered yet is the erroneous
   and misleading attempts to use crude oil to help the reader visualize the impact
   of his or her efforts.
   
   For example, the authors suggest that you purchase retreaded tires for your
   car. They claim that if the demand for retreads increased by 10%, "the total oil
   savings per year would be about 290 million gallons." The authors take a lot of
   liberties with using oil as an analogy to represent energy consumption. In
   this case though, they seem clear that its the conservation of "1/3 the petroleum
   resources" that the retreads yield over new tires which they are contributing to
   the 290 mil. gal.
   
   I don't disagree with these statements. It very well may be the case that it
   takes 290 million gallons of oil to produce enough petrochemicals to manufacture
   that synthetic rubber. What the reader should really understand is that along
   with some new tires , those barrels of oil also would have produced:
   
   149 million gal. of gas
   44 million gal. of diesel fuel
   35 million gal. of jet fuel
   
   ...as well as 55 million gallons of dozens of other products like, candle wax,
   lubricating oils, propane, kerosene, asphalt, etc. In fact, only about 4
   million gallons, by volume, of that 290 million gal. of oil directly contributed
   to the raw material of the tires.
   
   If we depended on oil simply for the rubber, it would be trivial
   to find ways to use less rubber. We use the rubber because its
   basically a free byproduct of our unquenchable thirst for the gas, diesel, and
   jet fuels.
   
   Oil is first and foremost a fuel source. The rubber and plastic that this book
   advises you to conserve should really be measured only on the real benefits of
   conservation, which are the reduction of landfilled waste and litter.
   
   The authors recommend that you not buy books, or borrow books from the library.
   I think you should take their advice for this one.



2. The green book has been featured on TV shows and is a New York Times bestseller. Written by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen, I wondered whether it has anything to do with the celebrity quotes and endorsements from people such as Cameron Diaz, Robert Redford, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Timberlake?
   
   Firstly the book is green, not just in colour but also it's printed on 100% recycled paper. Subtitled as `the everyday guide to saving the planet one simple step at a time' the book is more about being "more good" than "less bad" with a series of nicely structured tips.
   
   Each chapter begins with The Big Picture on the topic, whether it be travel, school or shopping for example. Followed by Simple Steps which provides three practical steps to take in that particular area. Then finally The Little Things provides more details and small steps that can be taken.
   
   Chapters are broken up by the aforementioned celebrity quotes, which frankly don't add much to the besides to show how big and clever these people are. Some of the tips can be a little confusing or contradictory, such as suggesting you take your own toiletries on vacation, but then not to check any luggage on the plane. Then also to use the library for books and then saying not to use libraries but go online. OK so these are minor points, but some tips are a little picky, I enjoyd the book more when it concentrated on practical measures rather than small, inconvenient suggestions that don't make much of an impact when done.
   
   What is kind of nice is the comparison it makes for each tip. For example when suggesting if everyone used one less paper napkin a day, the amount saved could be used to provide one to every person who eats a hotdog on July 4th (150m). Or the amount of trash saved is equivalent to the weight of the Great Pyramid. I've never seen a plastic frisbee 2.5 miles in diameter but thanks for the image.
   
   The Simple Steps sections are useful, but not full of that much you can't get for free online anyway, including our very own 100 Ways To Save The Planet. There were some useful facts that you can bring up at parties, like Blu-Ray discs can be recycled as they're 50% paper, natural make-up only needs to contain 1% natural ingredients to be labeled as natural, and the world's largest consumer of aluminum is the anti-perspirant industry.



3. This is a great book for the everyday person trying to do their part is saving the planet. The small things seem so easy, I wondered why I hadn't been doing it all along. Also some unique ideas for around your home.



4. Great premise. Easy to read. Divided into chapters such as health and beauty, home, etc. Great practical tips on how to help the environment. However, some of the tips won't help your wallet. ie. get voicemail instead of an answering machine. Voicemail is about $20 a month so $240/year while an answering machine is $60 one time purchase.



5. Great book for understanding environmental issues and how to address them in a daily perspective. This is a mighty fine way to interpret the kind of footprint we all leave and how to minimize such. Very informative on issues we hardly think about, and yet pose a threat to the environment if not carefully managed. The book is worth every single dollar!

5 comments about Chemistry for Dummies.

1. It was a bit too detailed for my liking. I felt it could have been broken down into more laymans terms with more examples. I found it difficult to stay interested. it was more for a person going to be a chemist rather than a person trying to get a step ahead for a college chemistry course



2. An excellent introduction/refresher book. The only issue I had was the habitual America-centric writing I have to endure with most U.S books. When talking about pollution for example we only got figures for the United States as if no where else is relevant. These books are sold and read outside of the U.S.



3. As a High Schooler who is taking Honors Chemistry, I bought this book in case I needed help understanding its abstract ideas. And boy am I glad I did! I don't know how many times I have referred to this book when struggling with the material covered in class. With its simple English for "Dummies", this book is very well written and really helps me grasp the concepts of Chemistry. If you are taking this class in the future and a little apprehensive about how well you will do in the world of atoms, isotopes, the periodic table, and more, then do yourself a favor a BUY this book, you won't be sorry!



4. Sorry, but I couldn't get pass the cover of this supposedly helpful book. Unlike the "Physics for Dummies" or the "Biology for Dummies" books, J Wiley chose to use the picture of a Black kid to illustrate their chemistry text. There is an obvious biased message in that choice. I suggest you try another publisher if you need help in your chemistry class.



5. I needed this book for my nursing entrance exam, it was for sure worth every penny!

5 comments about Examkrackers: 1001 Questions in MCAT, Organic Chemistry.

1. This book is a hasty review of Orgo, but it covers most of the MCAT material in relatively small number of pages. Although some diagrams are not very helpful, it tells you most of what you need. It is basically a good book if you are a time-pressed pre-med trying to take the MCAT in 2 months. If you have more time, I recommend reading over your orgo textbook once more and doing problem sets in various other MCAT preparation materials (the ones with only MCAT style problems). Hope this helps.



2. It does not deal sufficiently with reactions. The questions are too easy. I don't have a problem with the questions being in discrete forms since one needs solid understanding of the materials (through discrete questions) before being able to tackle passage based questions. But, after having gone through about 50% of the book so far, I don't feel like I've improved in my knowledge base in Ochem. If you need very very basic questions, this book is for you. I get the feeling this book was put together in a hasty manner with little thought invested in the quality of the questions. I would not recommend this book.



3. The last comment from James Min is on the ball, however, although many of the questions ARE too easy..there are too easy for sum1 who has a solid foundation in OCHEM, like myself. However, with sum of teh questions that i got wrong, the explaniations were perfect in allowing me to understand and review sum of the things that I 4got. Example: What is the hydrogen defeciency of C1204h3Br1-
   
   The formula for this problem is (2n+2) - x/2 where is the number of carbons and x is the number of hydrogen OR Halogen...My OCHEM prof never mentioned that we added the halogens to this equation! So overall I will give the book 4 stars



4. The Exam Kracker series are great for testing your knowledge and reviewing for MCAT. I found these books to be indispensable. If you can not afford to buy it new, try craigslist to find a used copy. It will definitely improve your MCAT score.



5. book is pretty helpful...the questions seem fairly easy, though. this is probably because my o-chem professors ROCK and my class has been quite rigorous...the mcat o-chem questions seem easy because I've had such a good o-chem education. the 1001 questions book is a decent review, though

5 comments about Molecular Biology of the Cell.

1. The book was exactely what I was supposed to be, including original CD-ROM.
   It arrived in perfect conditions and perfectly on time.
   Perfect purchase!



2. The publishers have made the 5th edition more "portable" by not printing the final 5 chapters of the book, but including them as electronic files on the DVD.
   
   The unprinted chapters are:
   21-Sexual Reproduction: Meiosis, Germ Cells, and Fertilization
   22-Development of Multicellular Organisms
   23-Specialized Tissues, Stem Cells, and Tissue Renewal
   24-Pathogens, Infection, and Innate Immunity
   25-The Adaptive Immune System
   
   With the 4th edition there were 25 printed chapters and 1616 pages: $5.68/printed chapter, or ~8.8 cents/page based on my calculations using list price info. With the regular 5th edition, 20 printed chapters, 1268 pages: $7.10/printed chapter, or ~11.2 cents/page. So the cost per page for this edition has increased by over 1/4 as compared to the last edition. Admittedly, I am a geek for actually doing these calculations.
   
   The chapters listed above are printed in the 5th reference edition (just not in this regular 5th edition), but as you might expect, the reference edition is a good bit pricier. I am giving the book 2 stars for content, because it really is a solid resource for learning molecular biology. However, with so many students carrying a heavy burden of debt by the time they graduate, it's a shame to see the continuing trend of rising prices for the best texts, making them just another contributor to the problems with education today. In this case the list price did not change between 4th and regular 5th editions, however I would argue that the "addition of portability" has decreased the value of this text.



3. In my opinion, this book is the "bible" of molecular and cell biology. The two main advantages I found were the easy way of reading and a good design and pictures.



4. The book is great, the media DVD not so much. appartently quicktime does not support flash anymore so some of the videos can't be seen. Garland science offers a web page where these videos can be found. nevertheless such things should be forseen when one is selling a $140 item.



5. I have bought all previous editions and I have to recognize that each edition is better than the old one. This is a fascinating textbook that is clearly written and the authors do an excellent job explaining things, including superb illustrations. The DVD media is not so good. Highly recommended, especially for undergraduate students. However, at later stages of your career, these textbooks are largely irrelevant, as you will search for up-to-date articles and reviews.

5 comments about Examkrackers 1001 Questions in MCAT Chemistry (Examkrackers).

1. This book really focuses on the topics that are tested on the MCAT. I'm pretty good in chemistry but this book made me extremely comfortable with all the topics. It's an excellent complement to any review book and I highly recommend it.



2. First of all, if you consider yourself a 'pre-med' and serious about the MCAT, then as such you probably would've done some research about your products you are using... judging from the other reviews, they have not.
   
   These texts are for reviewing the SUBJECTS specifically... NOT for the MCAT!!! There designed to fill in the gaps you may have missed that some teachers 'leave out' during your education.
   
   If you want reviews specifically for the MCAT, and you are already a master of all the subjects covered, then get the Examkrackers Complete Study Package here on Amazon.
   
   The 1001 and 101 question series by Examkrackers is a great SUBJECT review for any student, premed or not. They explain difficult concepts in simple terms. Thanks EK!



3. To get into Med school after 15yrs in business I took my Organic Chem series over again, studied Exam Kracker's 101 series until I knew the books cold, listened to EK's Audio Osmosis about 10 times while communiting then took several full length practice tests.
   
   Going in I thought I'd be taking it a 2nd time so I wasn't too stressed. Afterwards, I was even more sure I would be re-taking it. However, I managed a 30 (straight 10's) so I know anyone can.
   
   Bottom line, MCAT is not about knowing a ton of details (unlike Step 1). Know the basics like EK teaches so you can apply the concepts anyway they ask the question. Then practice, practice and pracitce some more (yes, especially the essays). It will help cement the concepts in, but more importantly give you confidence.
   
   My personal belief is reduced stress and being on top of your game test day are more important than which study aid you use. That said, EK's focused and yet whimsical style was perfect for me to go through it over and over until I knew it cold.



4. This is a very good book. Amazon shipped it right away, in excellent condition. This book will help you get ready for the MCATs by acting as your very own tutor. I recommend getting all of the Examkracker series.



5. This book is decent. Some good questions, but many a bit too trivial for MCAT. If you're pressed for time, this book may not benefit you too much.

5 comments about Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century.

1. I am one person that is truly going to make ethanol for gas, whether or not I continue this adventure is another question. But where we live in Europe we pay about $8 per gal for diesel- just so you know what is coming your way USA. I also happen to live in the corn belt of Europe- so it's dumb not to try and we have a small farm. Therefore I am so thankful that I bought this book. I would also recommend for further study [...]



2. This book is Huge! Full of really great information, everything from the history of alcohol fuels to how to convert any gas engine to alcohol. This is a must read for those that want to get off foriegn oil.



3. I purchased this book with the primary intention of learning how I could convert all the waste fruit I generate in my grove into alcohol. The author is well educated and does know his stuff and shares his experience in creating alcohol to be used as fuel. However, the book includes chapter after chapter of political information (and mis-information) which really hurts the books ability to inform. When will people realize and understand that mixing in your political beliefs into a "how-to" type book just doesn't work. Like most people that would but this book, my primary goal is to learn how to make alcohol to use for fuel. I could care less about how evil the Bush administration is or how big oil is ruining our lives or how almost every topic he covers seems to always come around to blame someone for something ie. global warming.
   
   It is unfortunate that Mr. Blume could not control himself enough to hold back his bias and simply write a cookbook style how-to book. He would have saved a ton of paper if he would heed my advice and drop the political stuff. The book would be about a third of the size it is now.
   I wish that Mr. Blume would have taken his publisher's advice and wrote two books; one for his political agenda and the other that teaches how to make and use alcohol as a fuel. Then he would have a winner.
   
   In conclusion, please strip out the political stuff which does nothing to advance your ideas and only causes more divisiveness. Think of it this way: if you limit your audience to only those that agree with you politically, the only people that will read your book are you and your mother. Make it universal by making it neutral.



4. I am an environmental educator at the Ecovillage Training Center at The Farm community in Summertown,Tennessee and author of Shutdown: Nuclear Power on Trial (1979); Climate in Crisis: The Greenhouse Effect and What We Can Do (1990), and most recently, The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook: Recipes for Changing Times, from New Society Publishers and Amazon.
   
   Arriving in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the International Permaculture Conference in 2007, I checked the online schedule and saw that the organizers had set me down for a morning session on "making money from tree planting." Caught by surprise, I had to scramble to prepare a powerpoint and one of the ideas I thought to explore was biofuels. Conventional wisdom has it that "agrifuels" are in competition with food production and climate remediation. I dashed off an email to David Blume asking for an example of "permaculture fuels."
   
   He replied, "Well to take a page from the book. In semiarid areas where the temperature goes no lower than 0 degrees F you can plant an overstory of mesquite to provide both 340 gallons of alcohol per acre from the pods and fuel the plant with coppiced branches from the tree. In the understory you plant perennial Opuntia (nopales) thornless cactus, and between there and the dripline and beyond you plant the starchy root crop, Buffalo Gourd, for a total yield of far over 1000 gallons per acre without irrigation."
   
   There you have it, a polyculture for food and fuel. But what about climate change? I wrote him back, "Would you say the guild above is a net carbon sink?"
   
   He responded, "It is absolutely a massive carbon sink. Pretty much all arid country crops put the majority of their growth underground and have a robust mycorhyzzal feeding regime. Perhaps 80+% of carbon produced in the top growth is exuded for rhizosphere associates. Mesquite is unique in that a large portion of its root burrows deep to support it with water extracted from far below. There have been recorded instances of mesquite going down 160 feet for water."
   
   And that, in a nutshell, is Farmer Dave's permafuel thesis. That he takes several hundred pages to flesh it out, in Alcohol Can Be a Gas! Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century, is an enduring blessing for permaculturists everywhere. This six-volume set, bound into one thick paperback, is both required reading and a standard reference on a par with A Pattern Language and David Jacke's Edible Forest Gardens.
   
   The six books contained in one are, in order, Understanding Alcohol: Visions and Solutions (including "busting the myths," polyculture and photosaturation, and Brazil's national program dissected), Making Alcohol: How to Do It (including 30 odd feedstocks from algae to whey, the sugar method, the starch method, fungal and bacterial enzymes, fuels, and distiller construction), Co-Products from Making Alcohol (animals, aquaculture, mariculture, mushrooms, methane, etc.), Using Alcohol as Fuel (carburetion, injection, small engines, flex-fuel conversions and cogeneration of heating, lighting and cooling, and typical conversions), The Business of Alcohol: Hands-On Advice (legal and economic considerations and case studies); and A Vision for the Nation (state and federal incentives, Community Supported Energy and permaculture).
   
   Just exactly what is the appropriate role for alcohol fuels is an old, but ongoing discussion, and it has been known to get heated at times. The Tortilla Rebellion in Mexico, catastrophic overplanting of maize and soya, gene splicing by multinationals for cellulosic substrate alchemy, forest clearing worldwide -- these are serious concerns.
   
   Recently, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to increase ethanol production by giving generous subsidies to the U.S. farm belt. The Act mandates the use of 15 billion gallons of biofuels annually by 2015 and 36 billion gallons by 2022 (up from 8.5 billion subsidized gallons now). Nearly all of this would be corn ethanol, taken from grain stocks, with the stover burned or plowed in. Beginning in 2016, the government would ask farmers to add the corn stover, along with switch grass or wood chips, to make annual increases of 3 billion gallons in "cellulosic" ethanol. This legislation passed over the opposition from Big Oil and food manufacturers, but is just the kind of massively soil-destroying, economically bankrupting, petro-addicted type of legislation that was ideal for harvesting votes in the Iowa caucuses.
   
   By showing how ethanol can be ethically produced in combination with food, soil, carbon sequestration and other objectives for healthy system design, Blume provides a rescue remedy for our planet at a time when it could scarcely be needed more.
   
   Loek Boonkamp, who studies agricultural trade and markets for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, estimates replacing just 10 percent of the world's current petroleum use with biofuels would consume about 30 percent of all the grain, oilseed and sugar produced in the U.S., Canada, the European Union and Brazil, not to mention a huge volume of water. Blume takes Boonkamp's argument head-on.
   
   The US has 1500 million acres of agricultural land and uses 70 million -- about 5 percent -- for corn. Mesquite covers 70 million acres of desert land. Harvesting mesquite pods would yield more alcohol than corn without any inputs of soil, fertilizer or water. The US could achieve similar yields from the lawn clippings coming off suburbia on any given Saturday (30 million acres at last count). There are dozens of these examples in the book. Moreover, one has to consider how much of that corn produced in the US is actually used as a food, and how much is used in floor wax, plywood, crayons and other products.
   
   But then, why use farmland at all? Why not harvest ethanol from cattails or dried seaweed? Willows and bamboo planted on berms separating long canals of cattails, with greywater, spent mash and fermentation carbon dioxide returned to the roots could yield 10,000 gallons of ethanol per acre.
   
   The Chinese are getting 4.8 dry tons per acre off seaweed from coastal waters, and the Vietnamese, who farm shrimp from April to September, harvest algae from the same shallow lagoons and estuaries the rest of the year. Kelp grown on nets can cover hundreds of acres of ocean and provide bread flours, carrageenan, agar and other ethanol co-products while also restoring health to over-nitrified "dead zones." Blume estimates the energy return on marine ethanol is on the order of 15 to 1, significantly better than current returns on petroleum exploration and production.
   
   Alcohol Can Be A Gas! goes beyond helping the mechanically adept convert their internal combustion engines to ethical fuels. It provides clear operating manuals for the farmers who will grow those fuels, the fermenters who will build and operate the stills, and the artisans who will create and trade myriad co-products.



5. This book delves into the kind of information that could help us avoid making the same mistakes over and over. If it can help create awareness of how susceptible the public is to being flim-flammed by the Oil Industry experts and its sycophants imbedded throughout the government and media we could clean this mess up. The book shows that it was the oil interests who politicized energy not the author of this book.
   
   Contrary to the specious complaints of some, this book doesn't pretend to be a "How To" book on making alcohol out of fruit... which is plain from a quick look at the table of contents. Try a brewers store. Besides it is illegal to make alcohol in any useful quantities without an expensive license...ever heard of the ATF? ...good grief