Express Housekeeping by Anna Shepard

Express Housekeeping provides detailed instructions on how to clean your house. Whether it's vacuuming, decluttering, doing the dishes, doing the laundry or cleaning every room in your house, this book shows you how to do it correctly and efficiently.

I really enjoyed this book. Reading it was definitely more fun than to do any housework.  It gave me some good tips on how to keep on top of the never ending list of cleaning jobs around the house. I'll be the first to admit that my house is not the cleanest on the block. I don't specialize in housework. I don't take pride in house where you could eat off the floor. Dust bunnies are my friends. Having said that, we don't live in a pigsty. We pick up after ourselves and don't leave things laying around. It's generally tidy, not antiseptic.

The book is filled with lots of great stuff. I really liked the pages picturing the cleaning kits, which show the items need to perform some of the many household chores. For instance, the Oven Kit pictures paper towels, cream cleaner, oven cleaner, laundry detergent, rubber gloves, baking soda and much more. There are also some explanation about what each item is used for.

The book also has some pretty good tip pages that offer a list of tips for doing a particular chore. Using the same chore above, the Oven Cleaning page features 10 tips including wearing rubber gloves, protecting the floor, cleaning the racks etc. The other type of page in the book has the specific steps to perform that chore. Again, sticking with the oven, the Clean the Oven page lists the steps to a clean oven that doesn't need a deep cleaning. That is, it just needs a touch up. I particularly like that the author included an approximate time for each task. A touch up on the oven should take about 15 minutes.

There are also sections on extra tips, what to do before you begin a particular task, what to do when, and lists of bare essentials that are needed for cleaning.

Like I said above, I'm not the best housekeeper. It's not surprising then that I learned a thing or two while flipping through this book. Did you know that you should air out the bed for 30 minutes (page 80) before making it in the morning? I didn't. I also learned how to properly wash whites so that they come out gleaming white instead of dingy, like mine sometimes do.

The table of contents is sparse and only lists the major section headings. The index is definitely more substantial and should be helpful in finding specific items in the book.

Highly recommended. 

This book would be great for those just starting out on their own or people like me who dislike housework and appreciate tips to make the job easier and less time consuming. Even seasoned cleaners might learn something.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit DK's website.

I'd like to thank those Chris at DK Canada for this review copy.

Express Housekeeping by Anna Shepard, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2011. ISBN 9780756671778(Trade paperback), 224p.

The Cook's Book by Jill Norman, Editor-in-Chief

The Cook's Book features "techniques and tips from the world's master chefs". With over 600 recipes and many, many photographs, this book covers a wide variety of food items as well as many professional techniques adapted for home applications. There are also several chapters on popular ethnic cuisines.

This is such a great book. It's definitely another one of those books that you could get lost in...sometimes for an entire afternoon. I swear time flies by so quickly when I open it. The information in this book is invaluable to those, like me, wishing to improve their culinary skills or for those who are merely curious about the culinary arts.

The introduction includes a section on the chefs who wrote the various chapters. These chefs have different specialities and come from all over the world...from 4 different continents. I love that a variety of chef have contributed to the different chapters. For example, Rick Bayless, an expert on Mexican food, wrote the chapter featuring that ethic cuisine. I love getting advice or tips directly from the experts.

The contents of the book are quite varied. They include chapters on different food categories such as: eggs and diary, fish and shellfish, poultry and game birds, meat, vegetables, grains and beans, fruit and nuts. There are also chapters are different preparations: sauces and dressings, foams, stocks and soups, flavourings, bread and batters. The ethnic cuisines include: Latin American, Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Middle Eastern. I especially love the menus and tips for each of the different cuisines.

As with lots of books published by DK, the photographs in the book are plentiful and gorgeous. These photographs feature various techniques as well as finished dishes. The recipes are nicely formatted, which makes them easily accessible to the reader/cook. Tips and techniques are followed by featured recipes which allow the reader/home cook and put the technique information to good use. Many of the recipes feature step-by-step photographs and explanations as well as additional tips to successfully completing the dish.

Even though I'll probably won't do some of this stuff myself, I like knowing how it's done. The sections on butchering is a really good example of this. While I found it was very interesting, it's just so much easier to get the guy at the grocery store to do it.

With so many recipes to try, it's hard to know where to start. I'll definitely be trying the Yorkshire Pudding on page 482-483. The last time I attempted to make it, it flopped. I can use all of the help I can get. I'm also going to try several of the recipes in the Indian Cooking section, including the Onion Bhajis. Yum.

My one complaint is the arranging of the chapters. It seems to be a bit haphazard with little rhyme or reason to the order. Maybe there's some sort of order that a professionally trained chef would recognize, but probably not the average home cook. If that's the case, an explanation with regards to the chapter arrangement would have been appreciated. Otherwise, I would liked to have seen the ethnic cuisines grouped together in a section rather than scattered throughout the book. The other chapters could have used a little reorganization as well.

The table of contents is extensive. It not only features the titles of the chapters and their authors, there's also a description of each of the chapters. It's awesome. The glossary features many cooking terms from procedures to equipment to ingredients and offers clear concise descriptions of these items. The index is also quite extensive and should aid the cook in finding items in the book.

Highly recommended. If you ever wished you were a better cook, this book is for you. If you ever watch Food Network (or any other cooking channel or show) and wonder how they do that or why they do that or what it is they are doing, this book is for you.

For more information about this book, please visit DK's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at DK Canada for this review copy.

The Cook's Book by Jill Norman (Editor-in-Chief), Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2005. ISBN 0756613027(Hardcover), 648p.

Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle by Ryder Windham, Daniel Wallace and Pablo Hidalgo

As part of DK Canada's May the 4th Be With You promotion and contest, here's a review of a book in their Star Wars collection.

Star Wars Year by Year is a visual chronicle featuring the Star Wars movies, creators, crew and actors against the backdrop of other events happening in the world. The book goes month-by-month showing how the Lucas empire started as an idea and progressed into this mega cultural phenomenon. It's divided up into 5 sections: Life before Star Wars, The Original Trilogy (1973-1983), Between the Trilogies (1984-1996), The Prequel Trilogy (1997-2005), Clone Wars a& Beyond (2006-2010).

This is such an awesome book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan on the planet, but I have seen all of the movies; some of them more than once. I love that the book shows what was happening in the world in relation to everything Star Wars. There were lots of behind the scene details and stills of the movie sets. It's simply amazing how the world affected these movies and how these movies affected the world. The book also showed how technical advances allowed Lucas to carry out his dream with finer details and special effects and how these movies affected other movies in turn.

The book features many two-page spreads with fantastic photos. Because of the size of this book, you can see the finest details on these. Speaking of photos, this book has too many to count. Some are large; some are small; each one is pertinent and interesting. The book also has the ads and movie posters associated with the movies as well as many of the toys and games that came out as a result of the movies.

The book is filled with tons of interesting tidbits about the movies, cast and crew. An avid fan might know this stuff, but a lot of it was new to me. For instance, did you know that episode six started out as "Revenge of the Jedi" not "Return of the Jedi"? Anyway, I learned a lot about George Lucas, the six episodes, ILM and the world in general.

My favourite pages in the book deal with how the movies have become entrenched in our society. Here are but a few:
pages 72-73: Star Wars holiday greeting cards. Hilarious.
pages 230-231: The different lightsabers used in the movies.
pages 242-243: Yoda in his many forms. As a plushy, board game, bubble bath container, mouse pad, candle holder and on and on. Cute, they are.
pages 282-283: The Vader project, in which contemporary artists were given a replica of Darth Vader's helmet to customise. The results are amazing.
pages 274-275: Star Wars 30th anniversary stamps created by the United States Postal Service.
pages 288-289: The Lego Star Wars minifigures.

Included with the book are two ready-to-frame prints that are housed in a protective sleeve attached to the inside cover. I particularly enjoyed these. Who doesn't love swag with books? They are:
Lighting Concept by Matt Gaser of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Duchess of Mandalore from season two of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, 2008
Harrison Ford on set during principal photography of The Empire Strikes Back, summer 1979

The table of contents lists the 5 sections and the years within those sections. It does have lots of entries, but I'm not sure how useful it's going to be. The index is quite long and contains lots of relevant entries, which should aid the reader quite nicely.

Highly recommended for Star Wars fans.

For more information about this book, please visit DK's website.

I'd like to thank Chris at DK Canada for this review copy and for inviting me to participate in the May the 4th Be With You promotion.

Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle by Ryder Windham, Daniel Wallace, Pablo Hidalgo (Lucy Dowling, Editor), Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2010. ISBN 9780756657642(Hardcover), 320p.

Fresh Flower Arranging by Mark Welford and Stephen Wicks

Fresh Flower Arranging offers step-by-step designs for making the perfect fresh flower arrangements for your home, office or special event. It's filled with tips of the trade and valuable information that will have your pieces looking fresh and beautiful for days.

Great book! It's beautiful as well as informative. There are instructions for 70 flower arrangements to either make or get inspired by. The authors, who are ex-ballet dancers who've moved on to their secondary careers, have created some absolutely stunning arrangements. With the help of a fantastic photographer, Carolyn Barber, this book shows off their work exquisitely.

I love that the book starts off with principles. The theory section offers guidelines on design elements for making successful flower arrangements. The care section provides an equipment list and shows you how to care for your arrangement. The skills section details the steps needed to complete some basic arrangements as well as other tips for arranging flowers. The basics are important in any craft.

The rest of the book features step-by-step instructions with large photos and very good explanations on how to complete the projects. Each has a large photograph of the finished project along with a list of flowers used (with photos), other materials needed, substitutions and insider tips to complete the project.

There are a number of coordinating floral arrangements for weddings no matter the season. There are designs for boutonnieres, bouquets, pew ends, and table centrepieces. All are really lovely.

There are so many beautiful arrangements it was hard to choose some favourites. The following are the ones that stood out for me:
• Rose Topiary (pages 108-111) - I'm partial to any topiaries so it's no surprise to me that I loved this one. It left me speechless.
• Floral cupcakes (pages 122-123) - I'm not a huge cupcake fan, but this arrangement using a wire cupcake stand and a variety of pink flowers (hydrangeas, roses, peonies) was just delightful. I think it would be perfect for a bridal shower or better yet a baby (girl) shower.
• Towering liatris - (pages 228-229). When we lived in the city, I had a number of liatris growing in the garden. This arrangement is simple yet stunning.
• Gerbera in Lines (pages 248-249) I love daisy-like flowers. These are presented in a fun, whimsical and beautiful way.

The table of contents is basic and only lists the very high-level sections, although, it does have pages numbers for the individual wedding collections. That'll be handy for those looking for that kind of thing. The index is pretty extensive. I found a lot of the items I was looking for, including individual flower types, vase types, arrangement types and many other items specific to this craft. The authors have included a resource list at the back of the book complete with addresses (web and some snail mail) for the major floral societies, organizations, flower markets, florists, suppliers and home ware stores in the USA and Canada.

Highly recommended for lovers of flesh flowers. If you have a garden and love bringing fresh cut flowers into the house for display, you'll most likely enjoy this book. I can't wait for this snow to melt so I can get out into the garden. When I have some blooms to use, I'll be attempting a few of these projects.

For more information about this book, please visit DK's website.

I'd like to thank Chris at DK Canada for this review copy.

Fresh Flower Arranging by Mark Welford and Stephen Wicks, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2011. ISBN 9780756658595(Hardcover), 256p.

The History Book by DK Publishing

The History Book presents "a trip through history from the stone age to the digital age". In this book, history is split into 6 time periods from 4 million years ago all the way to the present. It uses humour and flashy modern paraphernalia for the presentations that include large illustrations, photographs and other visual aids.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a joy to read and quite hilarious at times. The material isn't new, but the presentation is unique and makes learning history so much fun. As I've said many times on this blog, history is not my thing. If this book was around when I was first learning about history, I probably would have liked it a whole lot more. Besides being fun, the book is also educational and I learned a few things along the way.

I couldn't possible list all of the great items in this book. Every time I open it, I find something new. There are games: board games, arcade games, mazes, jigsaw puzzles...just to name a few. None of these are interactive, but it would be really fun if they were. There are also web pages/sites/blogs for historical figures, newspaper articles, interviews with the famous and infamous of the past, collages, comic strips and numerous maps and so much more. Each page is different from the last. All of the material is presented in a big, bright, eye-catching and informative format.

Some of my favourite pages for content and presentation:
- board game featuring Egyptian after life (page 32-33)
- boxing match between Sargon of Akkad and Nebuchadnezzar II (page 34-35)
- the Irish Rebellion presented on a song sheet with annotated lyrics. (page 232-233).
- curious quotes, mix-ups and misquotes (page 286-287)
- report card on Joseph Stalin (page 230-231)
- Roman Emperors' high school photographs along with interested, goals, voted most likely to... etc. (page 56-57)

The table of contents is fabulous. It's clearly grouped by time period and is nicely laid out. In addition, each of the topics is listed with a short description. The index is a little short, but it's still adequate. Both of these items should aid the reader in finding items in the book.

Highly recommended. While this book will probably never be used as a text book in school, I think it would be ideal for young history buffs or for those whose eyes glaze over when past events are mentioned.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the DK website.

I'd like to thank Chris at DK Canada for this review copy.

The History Book by DK Publishing, Dorling Kindersley Limited(DK), ©2008. ISBN 9781553631347(Paperback), 304p.