May 2008r, Issue #109

Karen O’Connor, humorist and author of Getting Old Ain’t for Wimps, which has sold more than 200,000 copies, shares more comic and meaningful scenes from the senior side of life in The Golden Years Ain't for Wimps. With a twinkle in her eye, O'Connor invites readers to chuckle and laugh out loud at the mishaps, misunderstandings, and missteps we all make in our journey to maturity, including...

Trying to remember the thingamajigs bought at whozywhatsit for the whatchamacallits.
Figuring out how to avoid unwanted work, which sometimes takes more work.
Mixing up and mishearing words ... and the often hilarious results.
Tackling activities of youth, forgetting our bodies are a bit different now.

O'Connor is a public speaker, writing consultant, and award-winning author of 55 books. She has appeared on national radio and television programs such as The 700 Club and Lifestyle Magazine. Listeners enjoy her short stories, tales from others, and glimpses of golden moments as they discover

The significance of life after a certain age.
Joy in new friendships and experiences.
Adventures still ahead.
Purpose and meaning on deeper levels.

These humorous stories highlight the joy of being alive and the funny situations we get ourselves into. By celebrating the little things in life, such as the ability to recall any anecdote with clarity, O’Connor in The Golden Years Ain't for Wimps leads readers to rest in the bigger wonders of faith and purpose.

Audio / Health, Mind & Body / Self-Help / Motivation

Mastering the Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success: An Owner’s Manual to the New York Times Bestseller The Traveler’s Gift (5 Audio CDs) by Andy Andrews (Oasis Audio)

Andy Andrews knows first hand that the road to success is paved with seven intentional decisions. He has spent the last twenty five years studying some of history's great success stories and infusing his own life with his findings. Hailed as a ‘modern-day Will Rogers who has quietly become one of the most influential people in America,’ Andrews is a novelist and motivational speaker. The Traveler's Gift, a featured book selection of ABC's Good Morning America, has been translated into nearly twenty languages and was on the New York Times bestseller list for seventeen weeks. Andrews has spoken at the request of four different United States presidents and toured military bases around the world at the request of the Department of Defense.

Mastering the Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success guides readers to an understanding of how to integrate seven life-changing decisions into their daily lives. Andrews shares the tools needed to experience the same success and offers an in-depth explanation of the seven decisions.

The Responsible Decision: The buck stops here. I accept responsibility for my past. I am responsible for my success. I will not let my history control my destiny.
The Guided Decision: I will seek wisdom.
The Active Decision: I am a person of action.
The Certain Decision: I have a decided heart. Criticism, condemnation, and complaint have no power over me.
The Joyful Decision: Today I will choose to be happy.
The Compassionate Decision: I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit.
The Persistent Decision: I will persist without exception.

According to Andrews, these principles impact every area of life – parenting, relationships, career and financial achievement, and they help extinguish limiting behaviors. He urges listeners to embrace these principles, study them, and plug them into their own lives to create the future of their choosing.

Mastering the Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success also contains profiles of successful people and pages of exercises to help readers put these principles to work in their own lives.

Arguable, there is no one on the planet better at weaving subtle, yet life-changing lessons into riveting tales of adventure and intrigue – both on paper and on stage. These are profound lessons and the probing exercises help listeners apply them in their lives. The audio version is read by the author.

Audio / Literature & Fiction / Religious

The Duchess and the Dragon: A Novel (7 Audio CDs: unabridged) by Jamie Carie, read by Peter Sandon (Oasis Audio)

Against the rich backdrop of Regency-era England and a young America, two passionate seekers find in each other the strength to face hard truths – and confront an insidious web of deceit that may destroy all they hold dear. Jamie Carie’s second novel, The Duchess and the Dragon, tells the story of these two unlikely soul mates who live worlds apart but soon meet and turn each other’s world upside down.

Drake Weston, Duke of Northumberland, is accustomed to a life of royalty, wealth, prestige and power. Then his rage pushes him to a tragic mistake, and he must run, leaving everything behind. Not just his home, but England herself. With a pile of money on which to survive, and cloaked in a false identity, Drake steals aboard a ship of indentured servants to America only to be taken ill and robbed during the merciless sea voyage.

In Philadelphia harbor, Serena Winter, a humble, devoted Quaker, is on a mission of mercy, tending the sick aboard ships that arrive from England. Never before has she seen such squalor and misery as she finds on the latest ship. Nor has she ever met such a one as the half-conscious man with the penetrating eyes and arrogant demeanor. Though she saves his life, even taking him into her family home, there is little gratitude or humility in this man.

In The Duchess and the Dragon, Serena is nevertheless taken by Drake’s air of dark mystery as he serves as an apprentice to her silversmith father. She is certain that beneath the brash exterior is a heart in search of peace and falls in love with him. She accepts his marriage proposal only to be excommunicated for marrying non-Quaker. Not knowing Drake’s history, Serena is later shocked to discover her new status as a duchess.

Carie, a rising romance novelist, is the author of SnowAngel and winner of a 2007 National ‘Best Books’ Award. The audio version of the book is read by Peter Sandon, a retired medical doctor, who grew up in England telling stories to his younger brother.

Business & Investing / Biographies

Manischewitz: The Matzo Family – The Making of an American Icon by Laura Manischewitz Alpern (KTAV Publishing House, Inc.)

Thanks to Laura Manischewitz Alpern, the origins of Manischewitz will not be forgotten. She recounts the family's history through the lives of its leading men and women. Her insider's tale of the family that transformed the world of matzo and became a symbol of ‘100% kosher’ reminds us why the name ‘Manischewitz’ remains magical still. Man, oh Manischewitz, what a story! – Jonathan D. Sarna, Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University, from the Introduction

In Manischewitz, readers travel back to the European roots of a remarkable family who crossed the ocean from Lithuania with little baggage but their religious faith and a young man's ambitions.
”I'm going to bake matzos this year...We’ll see how it goes,” said Behr Manischewitz – one bright spring morning in 1888 a young immigrant father named Behr makes this offhand announcement to his modest wife Nesha. Within record time, the ambitious young Talmudic scholar has a burgeoning bakery and is on his way to success.

Great granddaughter Laura Manischewitz Alpern, who worked for three decades as a librarian, recounts in Manischewitz the family's history through the lives of its leading men and women.
Manischewitz is actually much more than a name. It has become, through the years, a familiar symbol as well. For some it denotes Passover, the holiday when more people consume Manischewitz matzo than any other matzo in the world. For others, it represents kosher wine, the world's bestselling kosher wine, and the only one with a slogan ("Man, oh Manischewitz") that an astronaut, Gene Cernan, once actually exclaimed during a moon-walk. For still others, it epitomizes everything that makes food kosher.

The B. Manischewitz Company began 120 years ago when its founder, Dov Behr, born in Salant, Lithuania, immigrated to Cincinnati in 1886 from the port city of Memel, then under Prussian rule. For a time, the newcomer peddled and slaughtered kosher meat in the city. Having slaughtered meat under the supervision of the famed Rabbi Israel Salanter, he was held in high regard. But in 1888, the enterprising immigrant branched out into matzo-baking. This was a common profession for Jewish immigrants, especially those trained in ritual slaughtering, for matzo too was a Jewish food strictly regulated by Jewish law and requiring supervision. Moreover, demand for matzo was rising steadily in the United States, keeping pace with the growth of America's Jewish population.

At the time that Manischewitz entered the matzo business, the industry was in a state of flux. For millennia, matzo had been made totally by hand. Then, in 1838, an Alsatian Jew named Isaac Singer, influenced by the industrial revolution, produced the first known machine for rolling matzo dough. Behr Manischewitz, a born tinkerer, would greatly improve on the technology for baking matzo. He and his gifted son, Jacob Uriah (Jake), who succeeded him upon his untimely death in 1914, created machines that automated the entire process of matzo making. By the 1920s, Manischewitz could boast of being the world's largest manufacturers of matzo, producing some 1.25 million matzos per day. Their factory in 1938 housed ‘the largest and most expensive single piece of machinery in any bakery in the world.’

For all of its outward conservatism, Manischewitz was really a revolutionary force in the long history of matzo. In addition to converting millions of Jews to machine-made matzo, it also transformed the product itself in several major ways which are described in Manischewitz. Remarkably, Manischewitz staged this revolution without calling down upon itself the jackals of heresy. The scrupulous reputation for piety of Behr Manischewitz and also of his son, Hirsch, who spent thirteen years studying in various yeshivot (Talmudic academies) in Jerusalem, helped the company to win significant rabbinic allies.

Like so many ethnic food businesses, Manischewitz was primarily a family business. It passed from fathers to sons, and in some capacity or other employed a wide variety of family members. Laura Manischewitz Alpern, herself a scion of the family, reminds readers in Manischewitz that families, especially large families like Manischewitz, are complicated and colorful. The women of the Manischewitz family – who, as in so many other cases, mostly operated behind the scenes – played an especially critical role. They might have played an even more critical business role, Alpern observes, had they but been given the chance. As for the men, they covered a broad spectrum: some more able than others, some more affable then others, some more religious than others. What united them, men and women alike, were bonds of kinship, as well as a firm allegiance to the Jewish people.

Through the years the Manischewitz family built what would today be called a ‘niche market’ – Jewish food – and it was a market that family members understood intuitively. Seeking, like all successful ethnic merchants, to broaden their base, the Manischewitzes eventually expanded both horizontally and vertically. They moved from Cincinnati to the center of Jewish life in New York. They exported matzo to Jewish communities around the world, including Russia and the Land of Israel. And they branched out from matzo, a food mostly consumed during Passover, to year-round products like Tam Tam crackers, gefilte fish, and especially kosher wine (which was actually produced by an outside company under license.) As the twentieth century wound down, Manischewitz was, by far, America's best known and largest producer of kosher foods. It had become the quintessential kosher food brand.

By then, perhaps inevitably, the business had outgrown the family that created it. Bernard Manischewitz, in 1990, found no obvious successor among family members, and put the company up for sale. Many other ethnic food companies had shifted from family control to corporate control through the years: Ronzoni, Franco-American, La Choy, Lender's and innumerable others. Ethnic foods were becoming American foods, their distinctive origins forgotten.

Manischewitz relates in a highly readable and fascinating volume the story of the Manischewitz family and their successful business. It is a very personal story, but it is also the story of America.

Business & Investing / Personal Finance

Boomers! Funding Your Future in an Age of Uncertainty by Mark Mills & Nancy Fernandez Mills (Thorndike Large Print Health, Home and Learning: Thorndike Press, Thomson Gale)

For the over 12,000 Baby Boomers who are turning 60 every day, the promise of longevity is a double-edged sword – they hope to live well into their nineties, but they are terrified of outliving their savings. With advances in medicine and greater awareness about diet, exercise, and the risks of smoking, many Boomers will make it to age 100.

In Boomers!, Mark Mills and Nancy Fernandez Mills, known for their public television series Boomers! Redefining Life after Fifty, alleviate Boomers’ fears by providing solutions for improving and maximizing their financial situations. Using stories of real people, including themselves, the Mills illustrate what to do, what not to do, and what to consider when planning for retirement. They explain a new Boomer mindset that embraces retirement as an enjoyable journey and introduce readers to other Boomers who are living meaningfully in this new stage of life.
According to Mark Mills, a seasoned broadcast financial journalist and Certified Financial Planner and Nancy Fernandez Mills, national Emmy Award-winning NBC correspondent who co-founded Lifecycle Productions, as the oldest Boomers enter their early sixties, they are poised to launch a new revolution, reinventing ‘retirement’ and redefining aging in America. Boomers are all about seeking new adventures, experiences, accomplishments, and relationships. Today's Boomers may be around to benefit from remarkable breakthroughs in fields such as stem cell research and nanomedicine, which promise dramatic advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other life-threatening illnesses. Many will use that ‘longevity bonus’ to change careers, start a business, pursue hobbies, get an advanced degree, spend time with family, and give back through civic engagement. Whatever they do, they will not withdraw to the sidelines; they will not slip quietly into later life.

Still, these wonderful prospects are not without risks and worries. Millions of Boomers are becoming empty nesters while others are coping with divorce and being single again. Many are still raising children while also caring for elderly parents. The setbacks and the opportunities at this time of life make for a mixed blessing, a yin and yang of regret and relief, sadness and joy, optimism and uncertainty. The aim of Boomers! is to inspire Boomers to grab the possibilities, and to offer guidance on navigating the challenges.

For Boomers, ‘retirement’ will not be an event but a process, an evolving life chapter that lasts for years and includes a mix of paid work, education, volunteering, family activity, travel, and recreation. Eventually, Boomers will adopt a more traditional retirement lifestyle, but at a much later age than did their parents' generation. This will happen for two main reasons. First, Boomers want to stay in the game, to enjoy the satisfaction, sense of accomplishment, and meaningful relationships that are part of the work experience. Second, they can't afford to quit. This is not a generation of dedicated savers. Growing up during the Great Depression, their parents may have learned to be thrifty. But those lessons didn't transfer to the Boomers, who came of age in affluent postwar America. For both the psychic benefits and financial rewards, Boomers will remain in the workforce in some capacity. They will make it fashionable to keep on truckin', and uncool to drop out for a life of bingo and early bird specials.

According to Boomers!, studies indicate that 75 to 80 percent of Boomers plan to do some kind of work after age 65. But will the economy have room for all these aging Boomers to keep working? Age discrimination has been a serious problem in the American workplace for years. It could become an epidemic with so many older workers in need of a paycheck. But the generation coming up after the Boomers is smaller. It has fewer workers to feed a growing economy. Many employers will need to retain the skills, experience, and solid work habits of the Boomer generation. We may see a happy coinciding of Boomers who want to keep working, and employers who need all the skilled hands they can find.

Work has become less physically demanding, which enables people to stay on the job longer. Most working Boomers are computer literate so they can handle many of today's workplace tasks. They may even be able to telecommute from home, saving employers the cost of office space. The U.S. economy has seen an increase in the use of part-time and temporary workers, which fits neatly into the Boomer desire for part-time employment in ‘retirement.’

More and more, we will find Boomers who consider themselves to be both ‘retired’ and working. Both will be true, but the work will be in a post-career job, probably part-time and hopefully in a field that is personally satisfying.

While the Mills believe many Boomers will have tremendous opportunities to live exciting and fulfilling lives as they age, they also recognize that we live in uncertain times. Americans face an array of challenges, as a nation and as individuals. From the war on terror to our bulging fiscal deficits, from global competition to global warming, we live in an era fraught with risks and uncertainties. We all get annual statements from the federal government detailing our projected Social Security benefits, but Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke calls Medicare and Social Security ‘unsustainable entitlement programs.’ To keep them going we have to either cut benefits or raise taxes. Traditional social safety nets are less reliable. The reality is that everyone is much more on their own.

Longer life spans mean we are increasingly a society of four-generation families consisting of Boomers, their children, their grand-children, and their elderly parents. Young adults and middle-aged workers cannot afford to pay Social Security and Medicare for a leisure class of Boomers, while also footing the bill for educating the young and caring for the truly old and frail. Yet that picture of the greedy Boomer geezer, and its potential for causing intergenerational strife, is a widely held concern. Well, what about a notion where two generations in the middle band together to support the truly elderly and dependent young people? In that scenario, Boomers and their adult children will carry the burden of providing care and services to the youngest, oldest, and most vulnerable members of society.

Unfortunately, many Boomers do a much better job of planning vacations than they do their own retirements. Boomers! says that crunching numbers to know how much one will need in retirement can be daunting. But more daunting is the prospect of being flat broke over the last 30 years. It appears many Boomers will be struggling as they age. The Boston College Center for Retirement Research estimates that 35 percent of older Boomers (born 1946 to 1954) are at risk of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living in retirement. For younger Boomers (born 1955 to 1964), the at-risk figure jumps to 44 percent. The reason for this gloomy outlook is a changing retirement landscape, including an increase in the Social Security retirement age, a sharp decline in traditional pensions, modest 401(k) balances, low savings rates, and longer life spans.

Financial author and public television money expert Jonathan Pond says Boomer prospects are better than most people think. "There is a lot of university and government research which suggests that Boomers are actually in better financial condition than much of the media portray," says Pond. "It doesn't mean they are not challenged, many are. But even the more pessimistic outlooks suggest that 60 to 65 percent are in pretty good shape."

Boomers! is a guide to shaping the future Boomers want. The Mills offer Boomers the tools to capitalize on what they call ‘life assets.’ They try to alleviate Boomers' fears by providing solutions. Using stories of real people, they explain a new Boomer mindset that redefines ‘retirement’ and embrace the second half of midlife as a journey full of promise. Boomers! can help the Sixties generation live and (eventually) retire in style.

They present new models for a new stage of life. From changing careers to starting a business, from saving and investing to smart moves in housing, from health care to community service, they offer advice, provide resources, and profile pioneers who are already on the road to a 21st century retirement. These are uncertain times, but Boomers have the power to create a more positive future for their families and themselves.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Cooking with the Uglesiches by John Uglesich (Pelican)

The small lunch counter in New Orleans developed a cult following after its opening in 1924 by Yugoslavian immigrant Sam Mate Uglesich. When Sam's son, Anthony, took over, the restaurant was just the kind of out-of-the-way spot where locals and regular tourists could taste the real New Orleans.

Cooking with the Uglesiches is the second cookbook from Uglesich's Restaurant, and it includes Anthony and Gail's recipes from home, as well as some of their recipes from the restaurant. This tribute to a New Orleans institution provides recipes not included in the earlier Uglesich's Restaurant Cookbook as well as pictures of the restaurant's last full day of service in May 2005.

A New Orleans institution since 1924, at one time the restaurant served primarily seafood and sandwich plates for both lunch and dinner. Later, service only included lunch. After Anthony and Gail purchased the restaurant from Sam, they expanded the menu to include more sautéed and grilled items while keeping the popular seafood dishes. Despite shortened hours and limited space, the restaurant attracted locals and visitors from around the country. People lined up around the block regularly to order one of Gail's famous Bloody Marys or a plate of Shrimp Uggie.

In Cooking with the Uglesiches, John showcases traditional Italian and American dishes, as well as new seafood creations. The recipes, divided into appetizers, side dishes, and main courses, provide numerous possibilities for any occasion. Explanations of how they were named or developed accompany each recipe.

Since he was a teenager at Fortier High School, Anthony Uglesich worked in the family restaurant, learning from his father, Sam, and uncle, Tony. Upon Uncle Tony's death, Anthony left Louisiana State University to work full time at Uglesich's. Known for his sense of humor, Anthony helped customers choose dishes and was honest when particular seafood was not up to its usual standard. Anthony was at his best when the customer allowed him to choose their meal.

While the restaurant offered Creole seafood dishes, Anthony and Gail like to prepare Italian and traditional American meals in their home. The restaurant never offered desserts, yet this cookbook provides some simple and popular desserts prepared by different family members. Finally, many people have seen the destruction that Hurricane Katrina brought to this region, yet Cooking with the Uglesiches provides a different glimpse of the storm's aftermath – the outreach, love, and support offered by the Uglesich's customers.

Anyone who ever met, came near, or ate with the Uglesich family can only be extremely excited by this new collection of their extended restaurant recipes, cool history, and cultural documents as well as their own personal home classics ... this is kind of a behind-the-scenes list of their true desires, and even though the place has been closed for some time now, just thinking of the old digs and the whole Uglesich family makes me hungry and ready to raid their kitchen! – Mario Batali, chef, author, and entrepreneur

Anthony and Gail Uglesich are two of the finest people I know. What a sad day it was when they decided to close the restaurant, a uniquely New Orleans institution! This book is a wonderful resource that offers insight into the heart and soul of New Orleans cuisine and its cooks. – John Besh, Restaurant August

Cooking with the Uglesiches will be treasured by anyone who has dined at the restaurant, as well as those who have heard about the restaurant but were never fortunate enough to have dined with Mr. Tony and Ms. Gail.

Cooking, Food & Wine

The Orvis Guide to Great Sporting Lodge Cuisine by Jim Lepage & Paul Fersen, with photography by Bruce Curtis & F-Stop Fitzgerald (Thomas Nelson)

Whether fishing the storied streams of the Rockies or hunting quail in the Deep South, the great sporting lodge is where the day's hunt is relived with friends over tables laden with game dishes, regional delicacies, and fine wine. The Orvis Guide to Great Sporting Lodge Cuisine contains favorite recipes provided by chefs from the great sporting lodges of the U.S. and Canada. Authors are Jim Lepage, vice president of the Rod and Tackle Division for the Orvis Company, a lifelong outdoorsman, and Paul Fersen, at one time the editor of the Orvis News, who has worked for Orvis for 15 years in the outdoor division, aided by experienced photographers F-Stop Fitzgerald and Bruce Curtis.

Readers journey to legendary sporting grounds from Alaska to Florida, where fish and wildlife are bountiful and the days are filled with the pursuit of sporting traditions. They visit forty of North America's premier sporting lodges, share the sporting experience, and enjoy the superior and traditional cuisine from these lodge tables. The Orvis Guide to Great Sporting Lodge Cuisine is organized by lodge and region, with a description of the experience at each lodge, recipes, and photos. For each lodge, the opening spread features a picture of the lodge and the surrounding landscape or outdoor activities – from lodges deep in America's most majestic and pristine countryside, from Alaska's Boardwalk Lodge on the shore of Prince of Wales Island to Key West's famed Marquesa Hotel where Earnest Hemingway discovered his passion for big game fishing and Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire.

An exclusive collection of more than 140 recipes for game and regional favorites, The Orvis Guide to Great Sporting Lodge Cuisine celebrates the rich traditions and regional cuisine of the sporting life. This is an incomparable guide enriched with vivid photographs and descriptions that capture the charm of each lodge and the sporting activities that abound in the surrounding countryside.

From the deepest traditions of Southern cooking to the robust flavors of the American West, readers immerse their senses in the savory feasts. These are the sumptuous meals shared by sportsmen at the private dinner tables of North America's finest hunting and fishing lodges where master chefs prepare the finest cuisine fit for a royal palette.

The book is a celebration of a legendary company's love of the sporting life.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Y'all Come Eat by Jamie Deen & Bobby Deen, with Melissa Clark & a foreword by Paula Deen (Meredith Books)

…not only are my boys beautiful people inside and out they also happen to be fabulous cooks. Even though Bobby, a bachelor, doesn't cook as much as the rest of us, when he does threw something on the grill it's always a feast and usually pretty healthy too. Being a family man, Jamie cooks on a more regular basis, and I often get to sample his cooking – it makes me bust out in a big grin every time! I think: That's my boy! He even knows how to make it look pretty.… I love their latest book. It really captures that energy of how they are together. When you go to someone's house, it's not all about the food or all about the company; it's a combination of the two. And this book is a real portrait of that – great food and great folks coming together for a great time. – from the preface by Paula Deen

Jamie and Bobby Dean grew up in Georgia – first in Albany and then in Savannah – and like many Southerners, cooking and food have always been part of their lives. When their mother, Paula Deen started a sandwich delivery business in 1989, the boys took charge of deliveries. As the business grew into The Lady Restaurant, they continued to help.

In 1996 the trio opened The Lady & Sons restaurant to resounding success. The boys' first cookbook, The Deen Bros. Cookbook: Recipes from the Road, features recipes inspired by their travels to small-town, family-run businesses featured on their Food Network series, Road Tasted.

The Deen brothers’ newest cookbook, Y'all Come Eat, is filled with easy recipes for dinner. Otherwise known as Paula’s Boys, they invite readers to share their home-style cooking, whether gathering their families for a weeknight dinner, kicking back with friends on the porch, or hosting something big like a holiday bash. For a weeknight dinner, Jamie's family digs into Brooke's Homemade Meatloaf. On a Saturday night, Bobby offers party guests Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms and Creamy Artichoke and Spinach Dip. Come football season, North Carolina-Style Spicy Pulled Pork Sandwiches are a hit with tailgating friends. And no matter what the occasion, the Deen brothers tempt everyone with desserts, from Double Fudge Bread Pudding to Fresh Georgia Peach and Brown Sugar Ice Cream.

According to Y'all Come Eat, growing up with Paula as your mother means that making food is a more than a hobby or just a way to feed the family. Jamie and Bobby were both cooking by age 7 and had already learned a lot just from being around their mother in the kitchen. Every day they would come home from school, poke their heads into the pots, and ask, "When's dinner?" And every night they would sit down to a traditional, homey meal such as Bobby's Goulash or Mama's Spaghetti Casserole.

According to the book, these days the country seems to be heading away from a lifestyle that allows people to cook like that. In the culture of convenience, we want to be able to reach a hand out the car window and get a hot, fresh meal that tastes great. But if the boys learned one thing from Paula, it is that there is nothing as satisfying as the process of deciding what to cook, picking out fresh ingredients, and making something from scratch.

Of course they are not exactly home with bread rising and beans simmering all day every day either. When they are not on the road taping the TV show, they are at the restaurant, and Jamie has a baby at home so he doesn't get much downtime. That's why they know the value of a quick-cooking meal that is still fresh and delicious. And they appreciate that a can of tomato sauce, tuna, or even biscuit dough can be a terrific base for homemade meals on a fast-paced timeline.

Some of the recipes the Deen brothers share in Y'all Come Eat come from those casual weeknights when Jamie and Brooke make recipes like Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Breasts and English Pea Salad for a homey meal they can sit down together to after the baby is fed. And when Bobby has a date, dinner at home is Plan A – his date-night recipes are more elegant, such as his Bite-Size Tomato and Mozzarella Tarts or the easy but delicious Grilled Tuna Steaks with Lemon-Pepper Butter.

The best part about Y'all Come Eat is that it is simple – if readers are just starting out, the recipes are easy to make. If readers have been cooking forever, they can still appreciate the simplicity of the flavors. So Y'all Come Eat brings some great recipes that will entice everyone to clear off the kitchen table and have a few people over. In addition to the recipes and mouthwatering food photos, readers will find behind-the-scenes glimpses of the Deen Brothers.

Cooking, Food & Wine / Reference

Things Cooks Love: Implements, Ingredients, Recipes by Sur La Table with Marie Simmons, with photography by Ben Fink (Andrews McMeel Publishing)

How many knives do I need?

Does a food mill do more than puree tomatoes?

Should I buy stainless steel or copper?

What else can I do with a rasp grater?

Things Cooks Love speaks to the love that cooks of all levels feel for their tools. Whether readers are passionate about the gorgeous copper pot they just received as a gift, a rice cooker they have always wanted to try, or their grandmother's well-aged cast-iron skillet, Marie Simmons, award-winning author of eighteen cookbooks, popular cooking teacher, and established food writer, sponsored by cooking authority Sur La Table, provides inspiration to make the best use of cookware along with recipes to enhance the experience.

Simmons in Things Cooks Love teaches readers how to choose the basics, as well as demonstrates some of the more sophisticated cookware. And as food becomes more international in flavor, so does the equipment cooks must have to make it. From the commonly used to the more unusual kitchen implements, Simmons offers techniques, tips, suggestions, and recipes built around the cookware and tools already in readers’ kitchens as well as the items soon to be found there.

Things Cooks Love opens with ‘Essential Cookware and Tools,’ which includes The Basic Kitchen, detailed descriptions of everything from baking dishes and braisers to tongs and toasters, and The Well-Stocked Global Kitchen, the ultimate wish list to take the kitchen to a new level of sophistication. It is both a reference for setting up a new kitchen and a checklist for when it's time to add new items.

Once readers have explored the basics, it's time to put them to use in "Cooking with Kitchen Essentials," which offers tips for use and care, and recipes for everything from whisks to stove-top smokers. The more than 100 recipes put readers’ new or refreshed knowledge to work with dishes such as Sea Bass Poached in Orange, Basil and Wine with Citrus and Herb Sauce; Corn on the Cob with Flavored Butters; or Smoked Shrimp Wrapped with Prosciutto. Each recipe includes preparation and cooking times, serving portions, and implements necessary to prepare the dish. Alternative cookware is offered for kitchens that aren't stocked with the exact cookware or tools.

For further inspiration, the final section of Things Cooks Love, ‘Globe-Trotting Kitchen Essentials,’ explores the cookware, ingredients, and recipes of Asia, Mexico, France, India, Italy, Iberia, and Morocco. It spans the globe, visiting the world's favorite pantries and kitchens to experience the luscious tastes and simple techniques for using tools from the versatile Mexican stove-top pepper roaster and the elegant, clam-shaped Portuguese cataplana to the practical and handsome French cocotte and the iconic Spanish paella pan.

This great, visually over-the-top book combines tools, recipes, and food photos in a way that gives me kitchen inspiration and makes me hungry to both eat and cook at the same time. – Mario Batali, chef, author, entrepreneur

The first time I stepped into a Sur La Table store many years ago, it instantly became my favorite kitchenware store, and it still is. Its variety never fails to surprise me. I have always found what I needed or even what I didn't know I needed until I saw it there. – Marcella Hazan, godmother of Italian cooking in America and author of six cookbooks including Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

A book chock-full of mouthwatering recipes and really important equipment information from a cooking store that I really love. If you thought that the store wasn't perfect enough, check out the book. – Jamie Oliver, celebrity chef

Unlike any other tool-focused book on the market, this one celebrates the deep connection between cooks and their treasured tools. And unlike any cookbook, Things Cooks Love offers the most comprehensive advice on kitchenware ever. With two essential checklists for stocking the kitchen – basic pieces and exotic cookware for ethnic cuisines – Things Cooks Love includes the information readers need to confidently select the best and most durable implements.

More than a cookbook; this is a cook's book. It is for everyone who has not only a passion and enthusiasm for all things culinary, but also a sense of adventure. And just as readers’ kitchen equipment can last a lifetime, this book will serve cooks well time and again as they continue to expand their recipe repertoire and cookware collection. Simmons not only shows exactly how to use the equipment, but she also provides recipes inspired by the tools. For example, a quick read on Morocco will embolden home cooks to try a Lamb Tagine with Artichoke Hearts, Dried Apricots, and Preserved Lemon or Classic Chicken Bisteeya.

Crime & Criminology / Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling

Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System by Rosemary L. Gido & Lanette Dalley (Women in Criminal Justice Series: Prentice Hall)

Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System is dedicated to giving the ‘most invisible’ offenders in today’s criminal justice system – mentally ill adolescent girls and women – a face and a voice. Authors are Lanette P. Dalley, associate professor in the Social Work and Criminal Justice Programs at the University of Mary, Bismarck, North Dakota and Rosemary L. Gido, professor in the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Department of Criminology. Twenty-seven authors contributed to the 14 chapters.

According to Roslyn Muaskin in the Foreword to Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System, female offenders have always been a forgotten and neglected population. The disregard and mistreatment of female offenders becomes more glaring when examining the treatment of mentally ill female offenders throughout the criminal justice system. In recent years, professionals in the criminal justice system have begun to focus on the needs of mentally ill female offenders because of the growing number of mentally ill female offenders in the criminal justice system as compared to mentally ill male offenders. Yet, gender-specific treatment policies and program models have not been widely designed and disseminated. In addition, criminal justice professionals, including police officers, probation officers, and correctional officers who acknowledge their lack of knowledge and skills in dealing with these women, point out that there is little if any funding for specialized training programs. Thus, the women continue to be invisible to society, at least until they commit another crime.

As the research presented in Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System illustrates, mentally ill female offenders are difficult to manage – from their first contact within the system usually involving the police – to ultimately being warehoused in prison until their release. They bring with them not only their chronic mental illnesses but also a variety of other complex and often overwhelming problems. These women typically have persistent addictions to drugs and/or alcohol, often the result of attempting to self-medicate their mental illnesses. Addiction for many of them is the driving force in their lives, which results in their committing drug-related crimes. Coupled with these issues of substance abuse, these girls and women have often experienced a variety of traumas, either as adults or children, and socio-economic deprivations related to homelessness, unemployment, and single parenthood. It is also not uncommon for girls and women in the justice system to exhibit suicidal ideations and self-harming behaviors and to be lacking in decision-making and coping skills. The compounding of these problems too often results in repeated arrests and inappropriate ‘placements.’

Few jails and prisons have established gender-appropriate treatment and models of best practice of care. The majority of imprisoned mentally ill women and girls require treatment for their mental illnesses, trauma, and addictions; education on ways to cope with their emotional problems and addictions; vocational and life skills training; and parenting programming. Even more critical, where are the model post-release programs to provide ‘safety nets’ for them when they attempt to reenter and reintegrate into their communities?

Gido in the introduction to Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System says that despite a renewed emphasis on addressing the inadequacies of the juvenile justice system for girls and its failure to address their special needs with specific programming, much needs to be done to address the barriers that result in mentally ill adolescent girls being one of the most neglected groups in the U.S. criminal justice system. Rebecca Boyd in Chapter 1 identifies current and entrenched systemic and interagency barriers to the availability and delivery of quality gender-responsive mental health services for female juvenile offenders. She offers recommendations for policy and programming change.

Focusing on one of Boyd's policy recommendations, better mental health screening and assessment for girls, Phil Stinson's research study in Chapter 2 compares results using the Massachusetts Youth Survey Instrument with two groups, detained and nondetained boys and girls. The study finds girls at age 15 present with the highest percentage of suicide ideation at intake and higher scores on the traumatic experiences scale than boys.

In Chapter 3, Judith Ryder, Sandra Langley, and Henry Brownstein offer a comprehensive review of the definition and measurement of trauma.

In Chapter 4, Mary Dodge and Terri Schreiber discuss the dramatic changes that have occurred in ‘policing the mentally ill.’ Law enforcement departments at local, state, and national levels were unprepared as the 1960s deinstitutionalization movement created a climate of ‘criminalization of the mentally ill’. Dodge and Schreiber offer insights with exploratory research examining differences in gendered interactions between police officers and the mentally ill. Laura Ketteler and Mary Dodge provide a ‘case’ from Colorado in the emergence of Crisis Intervention Training (CTI) in Chapter 5, intended to prevent the use of deadly force in police encounters with the mentally ill.

Specialty diversion courts for the mentally ill, termed mental health courts, have grown rapidly since their introduction in 1997. The Brooklyn Mental Health Court, had a high one-year retention rate (84%) and a successful outcome evaluation, based on meeting its goals of linking mentally ill offenders with mental health treatment and services, after 28 months of operation. Janice Joseph, in Chapter 6, summarizes the purpose, characteristics, and processes of these courts. Finding the system lacking in its dealings with female offenders, she offers a femicentric approach as an analytic tool to examine the heterogeneous and diverse populations of women served by these courts.

Emphasizing the high jail incarceration rates of poor and minority women, Phyllis Harrison-Ross and James Lawrence address the disproportionate representation of women with mental disorders in U.S. jails in Chapter 7. With anxiety and depression the most prevalent health problem, the authors illustrate the catastrophic results of breakdowns in jailed women's mental health care with three actual case studies.

Echoing Harrison-Ross's and Lawrence's discussion of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in jailed women, Nahama Broner, Sarah Kopelovich, Damon Mayrl, and David Bernstein report in Chapter 8 on research they conducted on the impact of childhood trauma on jailed adults with co-occurring mental and addictive disorders. They find that women were twice as likely as men to experience more severe degrees of sexual and emotional abuse and neglect in conjunction with physical neglect. Barbara Bloom and Stephanie Covington in Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System, Chapter 9, stress the connection between trauma and mental illness in the lives of these women.

Chapter 10 summarizes research by Lanette Dailey and Vicky Michels in a North Dakota correctional facility for women. Sixty-two percent of the female offenders scored in the ‘at risk’ range in terms of the numbers of symptoms, their intensity, and depth of their psychological distress. More than half had chronic medical problems, and 55% needed treatment for drug addiction. Chapter 11 recognizes the challenges to the criminal justice system to meet the needs of Persons with Serious Mental Illness (PSMIs) in prisons. Arthur Lurigio and Andrew Harris delineate the role of courts, accrediting bodies, and professional associations in defining the parameters of minimally adequate mental health services in prison.

As the tides of the incarcerated flood back into U.S. communities, the reentry needs of female mentally ill offenders and girls are not being met. In Chapter 12, Stephanie Hartwell and Karin Orr present data updating their previous research in gender differences of 1,245 mentally ill offenders post-prison release by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Forensic Transition Team. Although female offenders with mental illness were more likely than males to be engaged in services post-release, they were also more likely to be ‘lost in follow up’ and recidivate to prison. Similarly, in Chapter 13, Nancy Wolff outlines the overall gendered pathway difficulties of mentally ill women offenders returning to their home communities post-release. Based on two of her research studies of reentering mentally ill women offenders and interviews with women about to leave prison, she recommends a reentry strategy based on empowerment, reintegration, and recovery, each with elements of information, skill-building, resources, and support.

Finally, in Chapter 14, Kristie Blevins and Bruce Arrigo strongly challenge the justice and mental health systems for their failure to deliver programming based on the gendered interests of women. With illustrations from the ‘case’ of Eileen Wuornos, the authors demonstrate how both systems missed the opportunity to treat her during her frequent contacts with the criminal justice system.

Given that there are few studies of mentally ill female offenders, Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System provides a significant contribution to our knowledge and understanding of their needs across the major criminal justice system components – law enforcement, courts, and corrections. Clearly, as the studies document, there are serious repercussions for the lack of interest, care, and treatment of mentally ill female juvenile and adult offenders. Therefore, a special focus throughout the book is the examination of the elements of effective gender-responsive treatment and recommendations in terms of best practices for women and girls. The public and government policy makers at all levels need to be educated, as do professionals within the system and this unique and clear volume will go a long way toward educating them.

Education / Preschool & Kindergarten / Science

Science Adventures: Nature Activities for Young Children by Elizabeth A. Sherwood, Robert A. Williams & Robert E. Rochwell (Gryphon House)

There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrain of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. – Rachel Carson, 1965

With more than 125 activities, Science Adventures opens up an amazing world of exploration and discovery through nature activities in urban, suburban, or rural settings. Each chapter focuses on one of the standards set by the National Academy of Sciences as adapted by the authors to address the developmental and educational needs of preschoolers. Each chapter begins with the simplest activities and ends with the most challenging ones. Authors are Elizabeth A. Sherwood, assistant professor of early childhood education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Robert A. Williams, recently retired professor; and Robert E. Rockwell, professor emeritus and former program director of the early childhood education program at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.

Each activity has information on how it relates to other curriculum areas, plus an assessment component and related science standards. Many of the activities feature suggestions for including families, adaptations for ESL students, modifications for children with special needs, or appropriate ways to use technology with young children.

Chapters in Science Adventures include:

Looking, Listening, and Learning: The Beginning of Science (Science as Inquiry)
Ramps, Wheels, and Wings: Learning About the Physical World (Physical Science)
Bugs, Birds, and Blossoms: Learning About Living Things (Life Science)
Soils, Shadows, and Sunshine: Learning About Earth and Weather (Earth and Space Science)
Weighing, Working, and Watching: The Tools of Science (Science and Technology)

By using materials from nature to introduce children to the basic concepts of scientific inquiry, the authors provide children with the opportunity to develop a bond with nature and the outdoors. It is important to provide children with opportunities to learn about and interact with nature because, for many reasons, children are not always able to spend time outdoors when they are at home. Every teacher can find ways for children to observe growing plants, whether they are dandelions in a crack in the blacktop, grass growing in a paper cup on the windowsill, tomato plants in a community garden, or the sycamore tree on the corner up the street. These encounters can have an impact that lasts a lifetime, and each time teachers take children outside and share an appreciation of the natural world, they will help to reinforce that impact.

The activities in Science Adventures encourage children to learn in all settings, but stress the importance of their being able to experience science and nature outdoors. Spending time outdoors

Creates a more optimistic outlook in both children and adults and may reduce symptoms of hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder.
Enables children to practice and develop physical skills and improves motor development.
Supports creativity and resourcefulness as children create their own materials for play and learning.
Stimulates children's brain development and learning.
Develops children's social skills in an environment that differs from a classroom and seems to give some children more confidence.
Provides opportunities for children to explore, question, and develop theories about how things work.
Enhances children's understanding of the environment.

The authors designed the sections of Science Adventures to give teachers, briefly and simply, all the information needed to carry out the activities successfully. The short introduction to each activity provides enough information to help them decide if it will be appropriate for the children they teach. The 3+, 4+, and 5+ boxes appearing at the beginning of each activity indicate the age appropriateness for each activity.

Standards are increasingly crucial in current education practices; therefore, the authors identify the Science Content Standards and Science Process Skills addressed in each of the activities; they are a combination of national standards and various state early learning standards.

Words You Can Use contains vocabulary appropriate for each activity. Some words may sound too advanced for young children, but the authors urge teachers to keep in mind that the words are not to be memorized by the children – exposure to the vocabulary words is what is important. Children, and all of us, learn new words by hearing them used frequently in a meaningful context, and young children are no exception.

Want to Do More? provides suggestions for building on and expanding the initial activities. Most of these ideas are at the same skill level as the original activity, although a few are more complex. Learning in Other Curricular Areas shows how the activity meets standards for other curricular areas, such as mathematics and literacy.

Observing and Assessing Children includes an assessment component, which is essential to each activity. While the children are involved in the activity, teachers make and record observations to document their learning. Can the child talk about the activity and use some or all of the related vocabulary words? Some children have better language skills and are able to share their knowledge verbally, while other children may be better at showing the teacher what they have learned. For assessment purposes, teachers base their observations on the behavior of each child and not on the children as a group.

Children need to explore their environments, and Science Adventures makes it an adventure. From Big Step Measuring and Rocks That Write to The Ant Restaurant and How Far Can You Squeeze a Squirt?, the engaging activities in Science Adventures makes exploring the environment fun and easy. The book is for anyone who wants to help children develop a relationship with the environment. The activities are simple to do and introduce children to the outdoors and to how scientists work.

Entertainment / Humor / Health, Mind & Body / Relationships

Sex and Sensibility: Ten Women Examine the Lunacy of Modern Love...in 200 Cartoons edited by Liza Donnelly (Twelve)

Internet dating, adultery, and women's lib; S&M, sex toys, and threesomes – Sex and Sensibility covers it all. And then some...

In the warped and fertile minds of cartoonists, desire is digital, porn is the norm, and nothing is taboo. Edited by Liza Donnelly, Sex and Sensibility is a book of 200 cartoons, all by female cartoonists, that captures the zeitgeist of sex and love today. Ten women examine the ups and downs of love and lust in the twenty-first century. Donnelly, a contract cartoonist with the New Yorker, has been a cartoonist for over twenty years. She also teaches courses on Women and Humor, Composition, and The History of American Cartooning at Vassar College.

These 200 cartoons forge new ground in the proverbial battle of the sexes. Most of the selections could never have been published before, either for being too risqué, or for tackling an aspect of love that simply didn't exist until now, such as texting. Sex and Sensibility captures the nuances of 21st century romance – or lack there of. The book features works by Donnelly, Roz Chast, Signe Wilkinson, and many others. Eight of the ten artists are regular contributors to The New Yorker, and two are Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonists. Together they not only nail what it means to be modern and in love, they also offer insights into the ways that women's thoughts on the subject have changed, and how the cartooning and humor industries have reflected that, from it's earliest peaks in the ‘20s with Dorothy Parker, Mae West and their ilk, to its low points in the ‘50s and the subsequent feminist resurgence in the ‘60s and ‘70s, to its varied and brilliant incarnations today. Alongside the cartoons are bios and personal essays from each humorist.

Sex and Sensibility flaunts the sass and wit of 10 eminent artists – many of whom are regular contributors to the New Yorker – who've mastered the satisfying one-two punch of image and caption. – San Francisco Bay Guardian

With keen eyes and sharp minds, the cartoonists in Sex and Sensibility show us ourselves – in love and in bed. Like Jane Austen before them, these ladies of laugh are forging new ground on the subject of love. The cartoons brilliantly, hilariously and incisively capture the topic, offering a panoramic view of love and sex today, as well as insight into how women's thoughts on the subject have changed – and are being accepted – in recent years.

Entertainment / Sports

An American Journey: My Life on the Field, in the Air, and on the Air by Jerry Coleman & Richard Goldstein, with a foreword by George Will (Triumph Books)

No broadcaster has earned a more affectionate following than Jerry Coleman. When you read this memoir, you will not only know why, you will join his legions of followers. – from the foreword by George Will

"There are only two important things in life: the people who you love and who love you, and your country." These words have shaped every moment of Jerry Coleman's life.

Coleman is the second baseman on some of the greatest teams in baseball history, a six-time World Series champion, a highly decorated Marine Corps dive-bomber and fighter pilot who served during both World War II and the Korean War, a major league manager, and a Hall of Fame broadcaster with more than four decades of experience. Had Jerry Coleman been just one of these things, his life would still be remarkable. The fact that he is all of them has made him a legend to millions of baseball fans across the country.

In An American Journey, Coleman, along with The New York Times' Richard Goldstein, writes for the first time about the family violence and hardship he endured as a child, his memories of serving in two armed conflicts, and what it was like playing with Yogi, Mickey, and DiMaggio. Coleman also talks honestly about his short managing career and provides a behind-the-scenes look at his many years in the broadcast booth.
This is a man who is beloved by his family, friends, former teammates, fellow veterans, and millions of baseball fans around the world. Born in San Jose, California, and raised in San Francisco, Coleman endured a childhood marred by family turmoil, but that environment failed to dampen an optimistic spirit that would later endear him to fans across the nation. Traveling across the country to play for the legendary New York Yankees, Coleman twice put a halt to his promising career and traveled across the globe to serve his country during World War II and the Korean War, the only Major League Baseball player to ever do so. After retiring as one of the most decorated players in team history, Coleman began his second career as a baseball broadcaster for CBS, the Yankees, and eventually the San Diego Padres, where he has become the voice of the team to an entire generation of fans. Even a detour to the dugout, where he managed the 1980 Padres to a losing record, did little to shake Coleman's love for the game, or the fans' love for him. In An American Journey, Coleman's own words paint a portrait of a man too humble to acknowledge a fact those around him have always accepted: Coleman is one of the most admirable and popular men in the history of baseball.

An American Journey is a heart-warming story of a Marine, a ballplayer, a broadcaster and a revered American figure. It is an inspiring, enlightening, and often humorous look back at the life of one of the game's greatest treasures. As Coleman himself might say, "You can hang a star on that!"

Foreign Language / Arabic

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic by K.F. Habel (Complete Idiot's Guide Series: Alpha)

Arabic is among the world's most difficult languages for English speakers to learn, and condensing lessons into an Idiot's Guide proved to be quite a task. I think you will be happy with the results. – from the Introduction

Based on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) – the most common and accepted version of this splintered language – The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic teaches beginners and those needing a refresher the essentials of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and conversation. The book includes English-to-Arabic and Arabic-to-English appendices and a 60-minute CD. The book was written by Kirk Habel, who, as an adult, studied Modern Standard Arabic at the Defense Language Institute, graduating with honors, and then completed his training at the Military Intelligence School before joining the U.S. Army as an Arabic linguist. Habel has also served as a translator and interpreter for U.S. military and civilian officials and interpreted Arabic for members of the British, Polish, Japanese, and Ukrainian Armies.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic starts out like the other guides in this series: “You're no idiot, of course.” According to Habel, mastering Arabic is a useful goal in this day and age, but all those new sounds are enough to tie a person’s tongue up in knots. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic gives readers commonsense ways to build their knowledge of the language. In this Complete Idiot's Guide, readers get:

Hundreds of helpful phrases for everyday conversation.
Important grammar points every Arabic speaker should know.
An English-Arabic word list to help build vocabulary.
Tips and cautions to help readers avoid embarrassing mistakes.

Readers also get the information they need to

Pronounce words correctly.
Conjugate verbs and form coherent sentences.
Order in a restaurant and complete common business transactions in Arabic.
Converse with the locals when traveling in an Arabic-speaking country.
Put their Arabic skills to use in an emergency situation.
Get started writing Arabic script.
Understand Arabic history and culture.

Habel starts by telling readers what The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic is not – it is not a complete Arabic course. A truly complete course would require several volumes, and because readers are looking for an Idiot's Guide, they probably don't have enough time to go through several volumes to learn the language. In fact, there is no single book in existence that answers all of the challenges presented by teaching Arabic to English speakers.

If readers have no experience with Arabic, then The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic is a perfect introduction to the language – they will find a wealth of common phrases from which to build their Arabic vocabulary. If readers are concerned with learning a dialect and think that it might be better to study a particular dialect first, Habel reminds them that many words used in dialect are shortened versions of words from standard Arabic. If they learn the proper words first, they will have no problem learning the dialect when their language skills improve.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic does not contain many long sentences or paragraphs that readers rehearse and memorize. Lessons are generally short, with the expectation that readers will return to them several times. Habel says his experience in learning Arabic and working with other linguists over the years has shown that if readers want to learn to speak, they are going to have to learn to put sentences together for themselves. By filling the pages with his sentences, readers might quickly grow bored and put the book on a shelf.

According to Habel, Arabic presents several problems for new students. The language is written from right to left, top to bottom. The sounds of the language are created in different parts of the mouth and throat than English speakers are used to. Until recently, very few resources were available to Arabic students. Only those people who have spent years studying the language can understand many of the guides and texts written so far about Arabic. Few English speakers have had access to Arabic media or people who speak Arabic on a day-to-day basis. Now, more than 100 years since the first attempts were made to bring Arabic to the English-speaking world, there is still no standardized, accepted method of writing Arabic letters in ways that a normal English speaker can readily understand!

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic is divided into six primary parts. Each part focuses on a particular aspect of speaking Arabic in everyday situations. Part 1, "Just Your Basic Language," gives readers an introduction to where in the world they can expect to hear Arabic spoken. Readers learn how to make the sounds of the Arabic language, which in some cases may mean ‘teaching’ the voice box some new tricks. After learning how to make all of the sounds in Arabic and learning what sounds they won't find in Arabic, they will move on to putting some sounds together to make their first Arabic words.

Part 2, "Excavating Grammar," starts out with verbs, which are the foundation and most important of all Arabic words. After learning how to use verbs in different situations, the book adds other pieces of sentences, one-by-one around the verbs, until readers are able to express complete ideas. Before this part is over, they know how to speak simple phrases and ask questions – which is very important to learning how to speak Arabic correctly.

Part 3, "Express Yourself," covers readers’ first interactions with Arabic speakers. Readers start by learning how to politely greet and address new friends and acquaintances. Then, they learn how to introduce those friends to other friends. They learn how to tell others about themselves while asking them questions about themselves. After readers are familiar with talking about themselves, they see how to engage in everyday conversation about the weather, various entertainment, and hobbies.

Part 4, "Transportation," talks about getting around in Arab lands. This part starts by helping them plan the trip. They learn when and where they might travel and what the best times to go are. Part 5, "Touring in Arabic," gives readers all they need to know about what they may find when they start to explore Arab lands. If readers are the shopping type, they will love Chapter 20, which tells how to enjoy dinner in a local restaurant before moving on to Chapter 22, where they see how to replace or find the items they may have used up or left at home.

Part 6, "Getting Things Done," focuses on teaching readers how to speak effectively – how to say what they need to say in order to get things done. They learn how to take charge of situations and put Arabic to their own uses. Chapter 24 then shows them how to ‘get the word out’ through the telephone lines or by telling others their opinions. In Chapter 25, they learn how to speak in business situations and also how to speak about all of the household items they might need if they decide to stay longer. Then Chapter 26, the last chapter, shows them how to handle emergencies.

Finally someone has put out a truly beginning level Arabic text. Teaching Arabic is becoming more popular in schools around the world. It is hard to find a beginning level text for English speakers, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic provides a solid foundation for learning the language, a perfect introduction. Between the speaking lessons throughout the book and the writing introduction that can be applied to any vocabulary, readers have enough information in this volume to stay busy for a long time.

Health, Mind & Body / Alternative Medicine

The Detox Strategy: Vibrant Health in 5 Easy Steps by Brenda Watson, with Leonard Smith (Free Press)

In June 2006 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that nearly one-quarter of global disease is caused by environmental exposures, but perhaps most striking is what it said next: "Well-targeted interventions can prevent much of this environmental risk," saving what could amount to millions of lives every year. This simple truth is the main reason I bring you The Detox Strategy. – from the Introduction

Low on energy? Dealing with chronic illness? Having trouble losing weight? According to naturopath Brenda Watson, toxins might be to blame. From the mattress to the toothpaste to the nonstick pans to the food we eat and the (bottled) water we drink – regardless of where and how readers live, every day their bodies are bombarded with chemicals that can alter the way the body works, affecting its natural processes and capacity to heal and maintain vibrancy.

In The Detox Strategy, Watson, the bestselling author of The Fiber35 Diet: Nature's Weight Loss Secret, and an expert on internal cleansing and detoxification, introduces readers to the RENEW program, to help reverse the effects of aging and rejuvenate the body and mind. The program offers a holistic approach to protecting and nurturing the body's innate purification physiology.

The book, written with medical doctor Leonard Smith, includes a detailed herbal supplement plan for flushing out harmful toxins – including heavy metals like lead and mercury – plus original recipes for nourishing meals that further promote detoxification. The Detox Strategy teaches cleansing concepts that are clinically proven, and it provides readers with the necessary tools to live in an energized body.

Watson says that when she first began cleansing it was considered ‘odd’ or ‘strange’ by many people. Yet, this healing philosophy has become more accepted over the last ten years. A cultural shift has brought the topic of toxins to the forefront of the public's attention, alongside the issue of global warming. Watson says it is her mission to teach people how to live in a toxic world is a personal one. More than twenty years ago she was battling poor health, weight gain, and fatigue, and it was then that she discovered the natural healing principles that would ultimately change her life. Since then it has become her passion to educate others and share with them the natural remedies that helped her achieve the health that she enjoys today. Through her work as a naturopathic doctor and founder of five natural health clinics in Florida that specialize in colon hydrotherapy and detoxification, she has watched people transform their lives in ways unimaginable to most who rely solely on traditional medicine or who think they must live with persistent illness, pain, and exhaustion.

The purpose of The Detox Strategy is to provide information about the connection between environmental toxins and the health of the human body. And the book is also a call to action to readers to protect not only their health but also the future of the planet.

Readers will find many tried and true ideas on how to nourish and take care of oneself and the environment. They will also find that many techniques and strategies require only a slight shift from what they have already been doing. It's an easy-to-follow plan they can personalize for their life.

Watson's strategy jumpstarts the body's natural cleansing physiology and protects the complex system of organs involved in detoxification. The RENEW process is designed to Reduce (exposure to toxins in the environment), Eliminate (current toxins in the body), Nourish (the body's cells to support their natural structure, function, and capacity to detoxify), Energize (through exercise, physical activity, and relaxation). The final step is Wellness – a process the author has used herself for 20 years with success.

Outlining six essential steps to reducing toxins in the environment, Step 1 – Reduce – encourages readers to install air filters or commit to proper ventilation, buy water filters, ditch the toxic household goods and products with all-natural alternatives, make their own cleaning products or purchase environmentally friendly ones, eat organic whenever possible, and enhance digestion with enzyme or probiotic supplements.

In Step 2 – Eliminate – Watson takes readers through the body's natural detoxification methods, and helps readers understand the ways in which they can support its functions. The Detox Strategy recommends a four-step herbal cleansing program, each outlined with easy-to-follow instructions, as well as additional strategies to encourage toxin elimination – from colon hydrotherapy to fiber intake to dry skin brushing.

With simple steps to nourish the body properly to encourage optimal self-detoxification, Step 3 – Nourish – outlines a regimen of supplements and sources of high-quality nutrients to incorporate into the detox program. It includes Watson's personal Detox Diet, with recipes and suggestions focusing on organic foods, lean proteins, and fiber-rich produce, as well as recommendations to severely cut down or forgo sugar, sugary beverages, caffeine, and alcohol.

With Step 4 – Energize – Watson outlines specific exercises and relaxation techniques designed to stimulate the lymphatic system, taking readers to Step 5 – Wellness – putting it all together – with daily schedules to stay on the path to optimum wellness.

Commonly used in ancient and traditional societies, herbal cleansing remains central to health care in Asian, Indian and Native American cultures. In her five-part RENEW program, written with physician Smith, nutritional consultant Watson (The Fiber35 Diet) applies her winning style, demonstrated in her PBS specials, to educate readers about pervasive toxins that cause alarming rates of illness and death. With facts, studies and statistics, Watson contends that consumers cannot rely on regulating agencies to protect them (for example, in 1972 the U.S. banned the carcinogen DDT, but it is still produced here, exported to other countries and then imported back in DDT-treated foods grown there). …The weight of toxic exposure from unavoidable sources (pesticides, dental work, processed foods, home furnishings, clothing, playground equipment and fluorescent lighting, among many others) can seem overwhelming, but Watson's balanced approach provides readers with effective ways to gradually lessen the load. – Publishers Weekly

While other detoxification books offer suggestions, The Detox Strategy provides a specific plan of action for readers who want to begin the process of clearing toxins immediately. It corrects false notions, such as the belief that the body can detoxify itself on its own, teaches cleansing concepts that are researched and clinically proven, and provides readers with the necessary tools to live in a purer and more energized body.

Health, Mind & Body / Medicine

The Stem Cell Dilemma: Beacons of Hope or Harbingers of Doom? by Leo Furcht & William Hoffman, with a foreword by Brock Reeve (Arcade)

From the beginning of the human experience, dreams of regeneration and immortality run like river currents through all cultures. What is different today is our capacity to understand and our growing ability to control the basic unit of life – the cell. Because stem cells in the early embryo direct the development of the organism, understanding that process has enormous implications for medicine and health care. To capture the unparalleled versatility of stem cells, to make ‘regenerative medicine’ a reality, will take a lot of work. It will be necessary to figure out how to direct these cells down the development pathway so that they can be used to repair diseased or damaged tissues. That would mean for medicine what the moon shot meant for space exploration and what the invention of the transistor meant for electronics. That is why the stakes are so high and why countries, states, provinces, and institutions around the world are funneling funds into the new research field.... The race is on to find more effective treatments and possible cures. – from the preface by Brock Reeve, executive director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and half-brother of the late Christopher Reeve

In the world of medicine, nothing arouses such passion and controversy as stem cells – the architects of our bodies and repair masters of our tissues and organs.

We are standing at a scientific crossroads, the likes of which the world has never seen. It is a moment that will change forever the practice of medicine and the future of life as we know it. Today's scientists are showing us how stem cells create and repair the human body. Unlocking these secrets has become the new Holy Grail of biomedical research. But behind that search lies a sharp divide. Stem cells offer the hope of creating or repairing tissues lost to age, disease, and injury. And because of this ability, stem cells hold the potential to incite an international biological arms race.

The Stem Cell Dilemma tells readers everything they ever wanted to know about stem cells: what they are, how they work, and why their use has become so controversial.

Proponents see in stem cells the promise of dramatically improving our ability to treat, if not cure, a whole host of debilitating and deadly diseases. On the other side of the divide, opponents believe that using stem cells from human embryos is the equivalent of committing homicide, which raises the thorny question of when human life begins.

The Stem Cell Dilemma was written by Leo Furcht, Allan-Pardee professor and chairman of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and William Hoffman, medical writer and editor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. The book

Tells the complete story of stem cell science, starting with Renaissance artist, engineer, and anatomist Leonardo da Vinci.

Explains the latest scientific developments and how they are revolutionizing the world of medicine with new treatments and cures for devastating injuries and diseases.
Details how stem cell research is rapidly becoming a tool of economic competition in our age of globalization and American exceptionalism.
Describes how stem cell research will give new meaning to human sexuality and reproduction.
Reveals that the U.S. Department of Defense is funding stem cell research to build an artificial immune system that can be used to test vaccines in case of a bioterrorism attack.
Tells how we, in the 21st century, are entering a bio-renaissance and what it means to be human in a technological age.

Stem cells possess the power to regenerate and repair body tissue, Furcht and Hoffman remind readers. Some of that power has been tapped, for instance, in countering bone-marrow failure. But stem cells' theoretical potential to regenerate and restore all of the body's tissues, particularly via embryonic stem cells, will be fully realized, if ever, only after extensive research. Although researchers are unveiling the mystery of stem cells everyday, and much lies in the province of possibility, Furcht and Hoffman verify that those possibilities are based on good science. Their treatment of the stem-cell issue acknowledges that embryonic stem-cell research raises bioethical as well as biological questions, and that economic considerations play a role in its development.

They treat the ethical issue with respect, applying a cross-cultural perspective to everything from designer babies to the commodification of life. They make a case for continued research with some intelligent form of governance. The denial of federal funds, they fear, will contribute to the brain drain of researchers from the United States, despite infusions of state, philanthropic and venture capital.

Noting that the biorevolution gives humankind a potentially, vast power to expand the boundaries of life, the authors ask, Are we prepared to understand that power, seize it, and use it wisely? The Stem Cell Dilemma is a cogent survey giving readers the tools to address that daunting question. Nothing is starry-eyed in this plainspoken, well-tuned text; it is a lucid, candid, timely, and levelheaded investigation of stem-cell medicine.

Health, Mind & Body / Reference

The Official Anti-Aging Revolution: Stop the Clock, Time is on Your Side for a Younger, Stronger, Happier You, 3rd Edition by Ronald Klatz & Robert Goldman (Basic Health Publications, Inc.)

Anti-aging medicine is a new medical specialty that extends the concept of preventive health care to include the early detection, prevention, and reversal of aging-related diseases, coupled with aggressive yet gentle disease treatment. It is no surprise that this is a rapidly growing field – a baby boomer turns fifty every thirty seconds, and, with the help of specific nutritional supplements, exercise, and diet, boomers are transforming the definition of aging.

Physicians Ronald Klatz and Robert Goldman are pioneers in anti-aging medicine and the founders of The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), the world's leading medical and scientific society of clinical anti-aging medicine. Their 1996 ground-breaking book on living a longer, healthier life has been revised and updated for the third time to include the latest cutting-edge information for consumers who want to learn how their bodies work, how they age, and what they can do about it.

With medical information doubling every three and a half years, life spans of 110 to 125 years may soon be a reality. Klatz and Goldman in The Official Anti-Aging Revolution combine cutting-edge research and the latest medical breakthroughs on longevity, with practical ways for integrating this information into readers' daily lives.

The Official Anti-Aging Revolution is a comprehensive resource on the biological processes involved in aging, including the culprits largely responsible for tipping the clock. It includes information on the nutrients that can increase the length and quality of life and the exercises that increase strength, flexibility, and mental acuity. Additionally, the authors explain how lifestyle impacts longevity.

This new edition of the book features a complete look at the human endocrine system and the hormones it produces – hormones that affect the development and decline of the human system. It explains how to weigh the pros and cons of hormone therapy, naturally stimulate hormone production, replenish nutrient stores, strengthen the immune system, nourish the body, burn fat and build lean muscle, revitalize during sleep, and maintain a youthful mind and spirit.

In The Official Anti-Aging Revolution readers learn how to reduce body fat, stimulate metabolism, promote muscle mass, enhance immunity, boost vitality, reduce stress, increase sexual drive and performance, combat wrinkles and fine lines, detoxify from environmental hazards, reverse cellular aging, and improve mood, memory and sleep. These guidelines for longevity are incorporated into the health and lifestyle regimes practiced by those who work in the field. Anti-aging specialists share their personal life-extension programs, describing the specific exercises, daily supplements, pharmaceuticals, dietary protocol, sleep habits, relaxation and stress relief techniques, and even their secrets. To help readers design their own plan, a longevity test is provided as an evaluation tool.

Klatz and Goldman predict that by the year 2029, advancements in stem cell research, therapeutic cloning, and nanotechnology will be harnessed into applications that improve and extend the human life span. It is their belief that the proper use of biotechnology in combination with appropriate changes in nutrition and exercise offer a vital life span nearly double that now enjoyed by the average American.

With The Official Anti-Aging Revolution those who are now in middle age, experiencing an expanding waistline, receding hairline, waning sex life, and/or trouble in recalling names and events, have a practical resource for ‘stopping the clock.’ The book teaches them how to live longer, healthier, and happier. Written by cutting-edge experts in the newly evolving field, this clear and comprehensive reference is an essential resource for anyone who wants to learn how their bodies work, how they age, and what they can do about it.

Health, Mind & Body / Relationships / Social Sciences

He's Just Not Up for It Anymore: Why Men Stop Having Sex, and What You Can Do About It by Bob Berkowitz & Susan Yager-Berkowitz (William Morrow)

Men not interested in sex? You’re kidding, right? Can this really be true?

It is, for the estimated 20 million American men and women who are in relationships in which the man has stopped being sexually intimate. He's Just Not Up for It Anymore reveals the counterintuitive truth: Many men are just not up for it anymore. To find out why, bestselling author and relationship expert Bob Berkowitz and his wife, Susan Yager-Berkowitz, the "Marriage Experts" on ThirdAge.com, began an unprecedented survey of more than 4,000 men and women in this situation, gathering data and following up with hundreds of interviews with respondents.

Why don't these men want to have sex? Is the problem physical, emotional, or psychological – or are these guys simply bored with their partners? Is it unexpressed anger about other aspects of their relationships? Are they depressed? Now that there is limitless access to pornography, are some men no longer able to be turned on without it? Are they becoming satiated? Do they have a fully functioning libido, just not for their wives? Or is decreased interest in sex just an unacknowledged but natural fact of life for a lot of men? And do they want their libidos back?

Further, how do their partners feel about this? Are they dejected or relieved? Do they suspect infidelity, asexuality or homosexuality, or just blame themselves? What are they doing about it? What could they do?

In He's Just Not Up for It Anymore, Bob, who hosted the highest rated show in the history of CNBC, the groundbreaking Real Personal, a nightly look at relationships and sexuality, and Susan, a long-time magazine writer, reveal a reality that affects far more American marriages than anyone may realize.

According to the book, wives can make things better by:

Checking any medication their husbands have been prescribed to see if a possible side effect is diminished sex drive.
If they want to go into marriage counseling and their partners don't, go alone. (They might be pleasantly surprised at his reaction.)
Have realistic expectations about sex. It's never going to be what it was in the first couple of years.
Broaden their definition of sex. There is lovemaking beyond intercourse.
There is evidence that male obesity and erectile dysfunction are linked. If either or both of them think they are overweight, diet and exercise together.

He's Just Not Up for It Anymore also exposes these myths:

He's gay. (Only one percent of the men and two percent of the women agreed with this, and, after all, only about four percent of the general male population is gay.)
He's having sex with someone else. (Eighty percent of the male respondents said they were faithful.)
He's asexual. (Only about one percent of the general population is asexual.)
He doesn't have the time. (Just six percent of the men agreed with that.)
He's too tired. (Although forty-four percent of the women thought this was the reason, only fourteen percent of the men agreed.)
He wasn't interested in sex to begin with. (Only three percent of the men agreed with this.)
When couples stop having sex, divorce is inevitable. (The divorce rate is well below the national average for these marriages.)

He's Just Not Up for It Anymore reveals the facts behind this phenomenon and offers solutions that can get couples back on the road to sexual intimacy.

A book that millions of men could benefit from . . . this really could be the Last Taboo. . . the real point here, the Berkowitzes say, isn’t casting blame on anyone. It’s understanding the issues and jump-starting all these stalled libidos. – New York Newsday

He's Just Not Up for It Anymore provides a unique window into the sexless man's mind. The book helps couples identify and understand the many and varied reasons men lose their desire – so that men and women can understand this issue and begin to address the problems that inhibit intimacy.

Health, Mind & Body / Relationships / Self-Help / Psychology & Counseling

Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Sue Johnson (Little, Brown and Company)

Are you looking to enrich a healthy relationship, revitalize a tired one, or rescue one gone awry?

Whereas other forms of couple therapy have been shown in studies to be only about 35 percent effective in healing relationships, Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (ETF), developed by Sue Johnson, has achieved an astounding 75 percent success rate. And 86 percent of couples report feeling happier in their relationships. Endorsed by the American Psychological Association as scientifically proven, the results appear to be long-lasting. ETF works because it views the love relationship as an attachment bond. This idea, once controversial, is now supported by science, and has become widely popular among therapists around the world. In Hold Me Tight, Johnson, clinical psychologist and a recognized leader in the new science of close relationships, teaches that the way to save and enrich a relationship is to reestablish safe emotional connection and preserve the attachment bond. With this in mind, she focuses on key moments in a relationship – from Recognizing the Demon Dialogue to Revisiting a Rocky Moment – and uses them as touch points for seven healing conversations.

The message of Hold Me Tight is simple: Forget about learning how to argue better, analyzing the early childhood, making grand romantic gestures, or experimenting with new sexual positions. Instead, get to the emotional underpinnings of the relationship by recognizing that couples are dependent on their partners in much the same way that children are on parents for nurturing, soothing, and protection. Through stories from her practice, advice, and exercises, readers learn how to nurture, protect, and grow their relationship, ensuring a lifetime of love.

Wonderful! ... Hold Me Tight blends the best in research findings with practical suggestions from a caring and compassionate clinician. This fabulous book will be of great benefit...to couples trying to find their way to better communication and deeper, more fulfilling ways of being with each other. Bravo! – Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., author of Parenting from the Inside Out
Sue Johnson [is] the most original contributor to couples therapy to come along in the last 30 years. This book will touch your heart, stimulate your mind, and give you practical strategies for improving your marriage. It will be an instant classic. – William J. Doherty, Ph.D., author of Take Back Your Marriage
A truly revolutionary, breakthrough book... the most important, valuable book for couples published in the 21st century. – Barry McCarthy, Ph.D., author of Getting It Right the First Time

At last, a road map through Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with its creator. Dr. Johnson's superb science, humor, and clinical wisdom are finally accessible to all of us. I couldn't pick a smarter, warmer, and more real guide for this journey. – John Gottman, Ph.D., bestselling author of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work and coauthor of And Baby Makes Three
A much needed message to all couples and therapists and I recommend it to all. – Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., author of Getting the Love You Want and Receiving Love

The most successful approach to creating loving relationships is now, for the first time, available to the general public. Hold Me Tight paves the way for couples to a deeply fulfilling and enduring bond as Johnson shares her groundbreaking and remarkably successful program for creating stronger more secure relationships. The book offers hope to relationships in crisis.

History / Americas / Political Science / Biographies & Memoirs

The Liberal Republicanism of John Taylor of Caroline by Garrett Ward Sheldon & C. William Hill, Jr. (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press)

The Liberal Republicanism of John Taylor of Caroline is the first comprehensive chronological study of the works of a significant but little-known figure in early American history. A confidant of Thomas Jefferson, John Taylor of Caroline County, Virginia (1753–1824) represented the anti-Federalist position during the Constitutional debates and wrote extensively on government, economics, slavery, and liberty in the early republic.

Written by Garrett Ward Sheldon, John Morton Beaty Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Virginias College at Wise, and Charles William Hill, Jr., Henry H. and Trudye Fowler Professor of Public Affairs at Roanoke College, The Liberal Republicanism of John Taylor of Caroline results in a discovery that redefines the current scholarly debate on early American political thought. It finds that John Taylor reconciles Lockean liberalism and Classical Republicanism in ways that challenge the belief that liberalism's basis in natural rights, individualism, limited, impartial government, and laissez-faire economics is incompatible with republican concern for civic virtue, corruption, patronage, public credit, stock companies, centralized government, and standing armies. Taylor's writings provide a revealing perspective on American government that clears away much of the confusion of recent scholarship and offers a view of the Constitution that will be startling to many twentieth-century

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We Review the Best of the Latest Books

May 2008, Issue 109