Amazon.com
One of the women in Kathryn Harrison's The Binding Chair has a mind "which had always suffered from morbid imaginings." Harrison could be telling a gentle joke on herself here, for she has stuffed her novel with such imaginings. Here are broken fingers, abortions, Marathon Man-style dentistry, sodomy (not in a good way), and even an abused chicken. One particular morbidity, though, is the spur of the tale.
May, a young Chinese woman, suffers the brutal ritual of foot binding at the turn of the last century. The book follows May from a bad marriage (think Raise the Red Lantern) to Shanghai, "the infamous city of danger and opportunity." May--either despite or because of her foot's deformity--is considered a woman of astonishing beauty. "Each part of May, her cuticles and wristbones and earlobes, the blue-white luminous hollow between her clavicles, inspired the same conclusion: that to assemble her had required more than the usual workaday genius of biology." Her beauty, her fetishistically bound feet, and her quick mastery of a handful of languages earn her a pile of money and finally a Western husband.
May develops a close relationship with her husband's Jewish family, especially with her unruly niece Alice. Harrison's scrupulously researched novel follows the two of them from Shanghai to London and back again, encountering along the way a colorful cast of women who've all suffered a disfigurement, mental or physical, that echoes May's. Finally several of the women come together in Nice, where each works out her destiny. The Binding Chair is far-flung, geographically and emotionally, and never quite coalesces, but perhaps the author was intentionally seeking to make a story about the Chinese and the Jews that has a feeling of diaspora. You've got to hand it to Harrison. Most writers, upon developing a fascination with Shanghai, would write a nice article for Travel & Leisure and have done with it. Kathryn Harrison has forged an ambitious novel. --Claire Dederer
Book Description
In poised and elegant prose, Kathryn Harrison weaves a stunning story of women, travel, and flight; of love, revenge, and fear; of the search for home and the need to escape it. Set in alluring Shanghai at the turn of the century, The Binding Chair intertwines the destinies of a Chinese woman determined to forget her past and a Western girl focused on the promises of the future.
Customer Reviews:
Needed a good editor.......2007-08-31
As the others have written in their reviews, I found the book trying to do too many things and failing to tightly weave all together. Characters come and go, even entering comparatively late in the story, but aren't fully developed. Even May,the protagonist, becomes a confusing mass of artificiality and repressed motives.
However, if you read the novel more as a travelogue it succeeds because of its many sharply drawn vignettes (such as traveling on a train through Russia, living in infected Shanghai during the great pandemic of 1918). And this is a book that sends the reader for more information: I surfed the internet for several hours finding articles on foot binding in China.
Um... well.... .......2006-11-19
I picked up the Binding Chair after reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I was hoping to read another excellent story about China and its customs. What I got with the Binding Chair was a 2nd rate book that couldn't seem to find it groove, let alone stay on track with the story. A disappointing read, I struggled to finish the book... read any of the books by Lisa See instead.
The binding chair.......2006-08-04
A very fascinating story..shocking in some parts...gives an in depth sensation of being in another place and time
Slightly better than reading a ceral box.......2005-09-16
Well, once again I pick up a book with great hope & end up disappointed. Like other reviewers I found the constantly changing narrative difficult to follow and extremely distracting. By the end of the book I hated it. I thought the ending of the book was terrible!!!
Once more I am left convinced that I have already read all the really good books.
Less than the sum of its parts.......2005-08-15
This book is less than the sum of its parts. There are brilliant moments here, and Harrison is clearly an intelligent woman and a capable writer, but I also sense that she doesn't trust herself. And because of it her writing suffers. By that I mean that she opts for a fragmented, disjointed style of storytelling. She gives you a glimpse of characters at a particular moment in their lives, then, invariably, moves the story to an entirely different point and sticks with other characters for a similarly short period of time. Just when any of the stories are starting to involve you she moves away. She comes back to them later, but after a while I was very suspect of the technique.
I don't, in the end, think that it informs the story or is necessary to tell the story. Frankly, this in not that complex a book. The cast of characters is not that large. The plot is not that convoluted. The only thing convoluted is the story telling. There are times when this is called for, but in this book I end up feeling the writer didn't trust that the story was good enough, or that what she had to say about the characters sufficient. If the story was told in a simple chronological order would it hold are interest? I don't think so. And, I think, Kathryn Harrison didn't think so either.
This is still worth a read if you're a fan of Harrison's or if you want an intro into the difficult issues of 19th Century China from a female perspective. But I can only go so far with such a recommendation. There are, invariably, more interesting and poignant tales told by women of Chinese descent. Why not read them instead?
Book Description
J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, said that his writing was inspired and influenced by the books of William Morris. This book contains two of Morris's best loved books: The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointed by format.......2005-04-02
The House of Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains, published together in one volume, by William Morris.
I enjoy Morris's work very much. The style is high, archaic, and, to my taste, very beautiful. So I am grateful that Inkling Books is once again making his works available. If I were rating the story alone, I would have given it 5 stars.
What is extremely disappointing, however, is that this edition (that contains both the House of Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains) is almost torture to read due to the formatting. I have to strain to read the text. The type is a thin 9 pt font, which frequently goes into an even thinner italics. The pages are two columns, and the margins are small. Each page is a large 9.5 in height, and 7.5 in width. The net effect is that the open book looks more like a forbidding text book with tiny type than it does a work of enjoyable literature.
The terrible format has taken away the pleasure I am sure I could have had reading these stories. I recommend people look to purchase these works of Morris in separate editions, both of which Inkling Books does in fact offer (which I am led to hope, from the higher page numbers per story, are more felicitously formatted). I also think Inklings Books should make known the (unfortunate) nature of the formatting of the text in their advertisement of this one volume edition. Personally, I'd take it off the market altogether so that poor fools like myself would not accidentally purchase it over the more standardly formatted, and hence readable, editions.
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The House of the Wolfings
William Morris
Manufacturer: Aegypan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Dark Fantasy | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1598183001 |
Book Description
William Morris's ingenious recreation of a lost age makes The House of the Wolfings a boundry line in the evolution of fantasic literature. A rare treat for those who enjoy fantasy, Victorian literature . . . and lost treasures of all sorts.
Book Description
Tolkien fans who long for more of the same delight that they get from The Lord of the Rings will find it in the writings of William Morris, for he created the literary style that J. R. R. Tolkien brought to such perfection in his tales. As a young man writing to his future wife, Tolkien mentioned the inspiration he was receiving from Morris:
"Amongst other work I am trying to turn one of the short stories [of the Finnish Kalevala] . . . into a short story somewhat on the lines of Morris' romances with chunks of poetry in between."
Forty-six years later, Tolkien still remembered what he had learned from Morris:
"The Lord of the Rings was actually begun, as a separate thing, about 1937, and had reached the inn at Bree, before the shadow of the second war. . . . The Dead Marshes and the approaches to the Morannon owe something to Northern France after the Battle of the Somme. They owe more to William Morris and his Huns and Romans, as in The House of the Wolfings or The Roots of the Mountains."
As The Lord of the Rings was being written, Tolkien's close friend, C. S. Lewis, wrote that Morris provides his readers with a "pleasure so inexhaustible that after twenty or fifty years of reading they find it worked so deeply into all their emotions as to defy analysis." In words that could apply equally well to Tolkien, he said:
"It is indeed, this matter-of-factness . . . which lends to all of Morris's stories their somber air of conviction. Other stories have only scenery; his have geography. He is not concerned with 'painting' landscapes; he tells you the lie of the land, and then you paint the landscapes for yourself. To a reader long fed on the almost botanical and entomological niceties of much modern fiction . . . the effect is at first very pale and cold, but also fresh and spacious. No mountains in literature are as far away as distant mountains in Morris. The world of his imagining is as windy, as tangible, as resonant and three dimensional, as that of Scott and Homer."
If you enjoy what Tolkien wrote about Aragorn, if you admire the bravery of the Riders of Rohan, if you long for more tales of adventure in a vast and unspoiled wilderness, and if you wish that Tolkien had more to say about the courage of women or about romances between men and women, then you will be delighted by these two marvelous tales from the pen of the gifted William Morris.
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- Ian Myles Slater on: Saga-like, but Not A Saga
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The House of the Wolfings
William Morris
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1587156423 |
Book Description
The first of William Morris's great fantastic romances is a translation of the old Norse saga, The House of the Wolfings. Of this tale, The Encyclodedia of Fantasy wrote: "The first step toward the characteristic large-scale fantasies which have had such influence on the genre . . . is The House of the Wolfings. Here the setting is quasi-historical: a European Saxon community is resisting the decadent advances of late Imperial Rome. The romantic-supernatural story contains a large admixture of verse." Indeed, Morris's chief contribution to the book is his beautiful prose and poetry, for his version of the story is actually a collaboration with Norse scholar Eirikr Magnusson, who provided a literal translation of the original text, which Morris then reset as prose and poetry. Morris's version of The House of the Wolfings has influenced generations of writers, including J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and countless hundreds more.
Customer Reviews:
Ian Myles Slater on: Saga-like, but Not A Saga .......2005-01-06
Unfortunately, the description provided for this pioneering fantasy novel opens with the statement that "The House of the Wolfings" is one of the Icelandic sagas translated by William Morris and Eirkr Magnusson. (Note: this is the same William Morris responsible for poetry, tapestries, stained glass, furniture, fine printing of books, wallpaper designs, and preservationist and socialist agitation.) Whoever wrote the description seems to have been thinking of "Three Northern Love-Stories," "The Story of Sigurd the Volsung," and the great "Saga Library."
Would that it were so! A genuine Icelandic saga about the lives of the Goths in Roman times would be a real gem, no matter how little connection it had with antiquity. However, the closest we come to such a work is the variously named "Saga of Hervor" or "Saga of King Heidrek the Wise," one of the "legendary sagas" in which the sword named Tyrfing and a handful of allusions in poems reveal the original setting of parts of the story among the Goths (including the group known as "Tervingi") and Huns, on the European mainland. And some historical Gothic leaders wander into stories, mainly borrowed from German sources, most obviously Thidrek in the "Volsunga Saga" and "Thidrek's Saga" -- the Dietrich von Bern of the "Nibelungenlied" and other Middle High German stories. But these last seem to be literary borrowings; interesting, but as Goths not all that different from the Britons from Arthurian legend and the Russians from the Kiev Cycle who also appear (albeit less prominently) in the eclectic Thidrek collection.
"The House of the Wolfings" is Morris' own attempt to recreate the life of the Gothic tribes, in a style influenced by the sagas, but not imitating them. Originally published in 1888, it was followed the next year by the similar "Roots of the Mountains". Both give a romantic view of the Germanic tribes, filled with images of folk-solidarity and kin-loyalty. Morris' reconstruction, leaving aside the fantasy elements, is an interesting mixture of primitivism, early Marxist sociology, and a real (if not very sophisticated) study of early Germanic languages.
Even as Morris was writing, a similar mixture, but with the linguistic basis replaced by pseudo-biology, was being popularized by, among others, Wagner and his followers. It is important to keep the distinction between them clear. In Morris' fiction, the Goths are simple, honest, and hardworking homebodies, and the Romans are intruding imperialists. No glorification of conquest for conquest's sake here. Whether this is a realistic portrait is, of course, another matter.
It is Morris' imaginative effort at recreating a lost age which makes "The House of the Wolfings" a landmark in the development of fantasy literature, alongside the more purely imaginary realms and times of Morris' other prose romances. Those who enjoy his medievalizing prose and sometimes leisurely story-telling will find this book worth their time, and some readers regard it as a lost treasure. Those who enjoy fantasy, or Victorian literature, should definitely give it a try.
Those who may be doubtful about Morris' archaizing prose -- nothing nearly as elaborate as E.R. Eddison's, but neither typically Victorian nor modern -- may want to check for on-line versions of this, and some of his other romances, before deciding to buy. (I find reading on-line texts extremely wearing; so I am not suggesting relying on them.)
Those interested in the actual *history* of the Goths may want to look at a recent responsible popular account in Heather's "The Goths" in the "Peoples of Europe" series, and then at the nearly contemporary translation of Herwig Wolfram's massively documented and argumentative "History of the Goths" -- I have reviewed both. A full account, in English, of the Goths appearing in medieval literature (Theodoric / Dietrich / Thidrek, his vassal Hildebrand, and others) would be welcome; but "House of the Wolfings" belongs to Victorian England, not medieval Iceland.
(Reposted from my "anonymous" review of September 1, 2003.)
Book Description
The story of how the Wolfings fight, and eventually destroy, the invading Roman legions. Newly designed and typeset in a modern 6-by-9-inch format by Waking Lion Press.
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The House of the Wolfings
William Morris
Manufacturer: Aegypan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Dark Fantasy | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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The Children of Húrin
ASIN: 1598188674 |
Book Description
William Morris's ingenious recreation of a lost age makes The House of the Wolfings a boundary line in the evolution of fantastic literature. A rare treat for those who enjoy fantasy, Victorian literature . . . and lost treasures of all sorts.
Average customer rating:
- Marvelous - esp. for English language lovers
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The House of the Wolfings (The Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library Volume XVI)
William Morris
Manufacturer: Newcastle Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | Classics | Contemporary | General | Historical | Humor | Letters & Correspondence | Middle | Old | Poetry | Renaissance | Shakespeare | Short Stories
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ASIN: 0878771158 |
Customer Reviews:
Marvelous - esp. for English language lovers.......1999-07-02
"Whiles in the early winter eve we pass amid the gathering night some homestead that we had to leave years past; and see its candles bright shine in the room beside the door where we were merry years agone but now must never enter more, as still the dark road drives us on. E'en so the world of men may turn at even of some hurried day and see the ancient glimmer burn across the waste that hath no way; then with that faint light in its eyes a while I bid it linger near and nurse in wavering memories the bitter-sweet of days that were."
The above paragraph is from a marvelous book called The House of Wulfings by William Morris. It tells the story of a Teutonic tribe in their struggle with Roman legions. It is told empathetically from the point of view of the "barbarians." This book is a love affair with the heathen spirituality of the distant ancestors of the Germanic peoples.
The really interesting thing to me is the language. Morris does with language the same as Anthony Burgess did in A Clockwork Orange. He invents a language that was never spoken. It appears to be the language of Shakespeare but in fact he invents an English as it might have been spoken had the Anglo-Saxons won in 1066. He extrapolates a Middle English that evolved from its Anglo-Saxon roots without the influence of French.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Unfortunately it is very difficult to get.
Book Description
With an introduction by May Morris. This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1912 edition by Longmans, Green, and Company, London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta.
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The House Of The Wolfings
William Morris
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1419166816 |
Book Description
Within under the Hall-Sun, amidst the woven stories of time past, sat the elders and chief warriors on the dais, and amidst of all a big strong man of forty winters, his dark beard a little grizzled, his eyes big and grey. Before him on the board lay the great War-horn of the Wolfings carved out of the tusk of a sea-whale of the North and with many devices on it and the Wolf amidst them all.
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The House of the Wolfings
William Morris
Manufacturer: IndyPublish.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
jp-unknown2 | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 1404308830 |
Average customer rating:
- Good basic info
- How I am becomming the person I used to be
- A good introduction to the Zone Diet
- Highly recommend for newly diagnosed Type II Diabetics
- This is really all you need to learn The Zone
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A Week in the Zone: A Quick Course in the Healthiest Diet for You
Barry Sears , and
Deborah Kotz
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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The Zone
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What to Eat in the Zone: The Quick & Easy, Mix & Match Counter for Staying in the Zone
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Zone Meals in Seconds: 150 Fast and Delicious Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner (Zone (Regan))
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The Zone: A Dietary Road Map to Lose Weight Permanently : Reset Your Genetic Code : Prevent Disease : Achieve Maximum Physical Performance
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
ASIN: 0060741902
Release Date: 2004-06-29 |
Book Description
The gateway to the Zone: the fastest, easiest way and a comprehensive, accessible guide to the revolutionary diet sweeping America, with an easy–to–follow plan for losing weight, increasing mental and physical performance, and living a longer, healthier life.
Millions of people worldwide have discovered the power of the Zone. A breakthrough approach to dieting based on Nobel Prize–winning research, the Zone treats food as the most powerful drug available. Used wisely, food will take you into the Zone, a state of exceptional health where you'll not only burn body fat, you'll keep it off. You'll also fight heart disease, diabetes, PMS, chronic fatigue, depression, and cancer. Discover the benefits of this revolutionary program in just 7 days with A Week in the Zone:
㟗hat the Zone is
㟈ow to eat in the Zone
㟈ow to shop in the Zone
㟁 week's worth of healthy, satisfying recipes including quick and easy Zone breakfasts, lunches, and dinners
㟔he Zone for vegetarians
㟈ow to order in and dine out in the Zone
䇯w to achieve maximum success in the Zone.
Customer Reviews:
Good basic info.......2007-09-06
The book does a good job of covering the basics of the Zone diet. I needed to supplement the info with some items off the web, otherwise I would have given it 5 stars.
How I am becomming the person I used to be.......2007-08-27
Reading and applying this book to my life helped me change dramatically my lifestyle. I am a different person after reading Dr. Sear's book. My doctor had highly recommended I read this book and she was not wrong. I have the cure of my hormone unbalance. I have no mood swings and feel younger. If you are overweight and have tried everything you will find the help you need with this book. Try it....it really works!
A good introduction to the Zone Diet.......2007-06-17
I was reading bits and pieces of the Zone Diet on the net, and decided the best way to move ahead was order this book. The book covers everything you need to get started and explains the core concepts of the diet without getting too technical.
Out of all the dieting/health books I've read the Zone Diet makes the most sense to me. The book covers the core concepts, and provides a one week plan to get started. Thereafter there are too many resources on the net to mention that provide support for the diet especially the wide array of recipes.
As long as you do your shopping and have your meals prepared - following this eating 'lifestyle' will be a breeze.
Highly recommend for newly diagnosed Type II Diabetics.......2007-04-22
When I found out I had Type II diabetes, I was completely baffled and lost. Then, an Australian nutritional counselor I met told me to follow this diet. I figured instead of buying the full-blown version of the big book, I would start small and buy this condensed version. It was an easy read - took a few hours - and it made so much sense. In the first six days, I lost 13 lbs. and felt AMAZING. It was the first time in 5 years I had felt this good.
I have continued to refer to it and refine my dietary plan. In the past 90 days, I have lowered my blood sugar - without medication - by 30 points and dropped my A1C number from 6.9 to 6.6. Even my doctor was amazed.
Diabetes can be a confusing and scary illness. So, start small, and change what you can. Consider this book your first step towards successful management of your health!
This is really all you need to learn The Zone.......2006-08-16
Don't bother with the longer books unless you want to get down and into the scientific data behind the Zone. And don't bother with the cookbook because it's absolutely horrible. This book explains the Zone and how to get there, has a few sample menu's (that should be used as guide's only) and a list of food 'blocks' in the back. It's all you need to get going. I highly recommend this book, and the Zone diet in general. I have lost 15 lbs in the past 7 weeks. It has been 7 easy weeks with 100% contentment and 0% hunger & struggles. I could not be happier.
Book Description
Using stories of real people, solid medical research, and strong academic and practical knowledge of heart rates and fitness, expert Sally Edwards creates an eight-week program for readers to help them build fitness-and not worry about fatness. The program takes readers through the five steps of change, and emphasizes specific physical, emotional, and lifestyle activities that can bring enormous benefits-more easily than they ever expected.
Customer Reviews:
Eureka!.......2004-03-17
This book makes sense!!! This is a must read for anyone who is looking to get fit. If you are trying to lose 5 lbs or 50 lbs, the real life stories help you feel that you are not alone in your quest for health. As a personal trainer, the information in this book is valuable. The program designed in this book is a great supplement to the strength training excercises I recommend to my clients.
This is a great book.......2004-03-06
I read Fit and Fat and loved it. It has a lot of useful information. It is well written, and the analogies were especially powerful for me. The book takes shame or embarrassment out of not being fit, and teaches how to get more fit in a friendly, nonjudgemental way. It has made a big difference in my life! My friends have read this and report it was helpful for them, too, as they made lifestyle changes.
empowering.......2004-03-01
this word is still an understatement to describe this book. IT's all about getting people moving towards a more active lifestyle at their own pace. It truly changes the way we think about working out. It's educational and well documented. Simply fabulous.
It's helping all my family and friends!.......2004-02-24
I got the book, Fit and Fat, and read it from cover to cover, stopping several times to conduct certain "tests" (surveys, questionnaires, fit tests) on myself. When I completed the test on myself, I did the tests on my husband, my mom, my best friend and in some of the classes that I teach! I found the tests the funnest part in the book. But what I like to tell others is that you really can be fit AND fat, and I want people to look "inside: at the heart muscle" to determine how fit they are. In fact, just look at the mortality table to make the point that if you are Fit and Not Fat, you will die at the same rate as someone who is Fit and Fat (read the book for the research studies on this one!). Get it and share it with someone you love. It could save their life!
Practical and Well Researched.......2004-02-23
This book dispels several myths about fitness and fatness that I found very refreshing. The authors really did their homework in providing the latest in research and providing the citation for each source. The book is relatively easy to read and is packed full of practical activities designed to increase self awareness, motivation, and physical and emotional fitness. Definitely exceeded my expectations and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to explore and enhance their metabolic, emotional, and physical fitness.
Book Description
As fitness director of Prevention magazine, Michele Stanten routinely hears from people who feel trapped in workouts that are too hard or too easy, that have become boring, or that fail to produce measurable results. In response, she developed the Firm Up Action Plan, an innovative three-tier exercise program that allows readers to choose their workouts based on their individual fitness and commitment levels. Among the Firm Up Action Plans key features are: innovative routines that combine walking and strength training with hot fitness trends such as Pilates and yoga a fresh workout every day to target trouble zonesthe abs, butt, arms, and thighsand prevent boredom 21 days worth of menus that keep the metabolism humming for maximum fat-burning results Readers can expect to lose up to 6 pounds and several inches in just 3 weeks. Theyll firm up their attitude toward getting and staying in shapeso this time the results will last!
Customer Reviews:
Great Intro to Increasing you metabolism.......2006-08-16
I have hit that phase in my life where my metabolism has drastically slowed down, leaving me with 30 pounds of flesh that I don't feel deserving of.
This book really convinced me on the importance of weight training in order to maintain my metabolism. I have perused a number of weight training books and this one, I feel, is one of the best. While most books go through weight training exercises utilizing equipment available only at a gym, this book uses only dumbells and a mat---perfect for an inexpensive home workout!!! I love the fact that the book presents a set workout (complete with pictures) and a diet menu for every day of the 3 weeks that your body is transformed. It also includes a weekly grocery shopping list of foods that are included in the daily menus. I definitely feel more toned and trim after 2 weeks. While I have yet to weigh myself, many people have commented that I look as though I've lost some weight. Yeah me.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointed.......2006-05-17
I should have read the reviews before I bought this book. I feel very ripped off by it.
It does not follow the Zone recommendations, as others mention here. There is a lot of hidden sugar (for instance, one recipe calls for 9 T of ketchup, which is LOADED with sugar). Alcohol is used in a lot of the recipes, there is lots of bread and jam. As someone else mentioned, I couldn't believe the pringles. Also, much of the carbo stuff is not fresh produce. Almost every salad in the dinner selection includes mandarin oranges and the dressing is made with the sugary mandarin orange syrup.
Basically, the book completely disregards a lot of the core Zone principles, and is loaded with insulin spiking sugars, a lot of them hidden.
Andrea
buy a different cookbook.......2004-11-13
If you enjoy "cooking" with pringles, jello and miracle whip, then this "cookbook" is for you! The opening pages have many typos and repetition of sentences, which I at first thought was a mistake. But as I read the recipes I began to realize that inane repetition may just be the author's style. The "over 200 recipes" are basically just slight variations of one recipe, for example the Snack menu is as follows: Recipe 1: cottage cheese, apple, almonds. Recipe 2: cottage cheese, orange, almonds. And so on for one and a half pages! Little creativity exists in the recipes and most are just the previous recipe with one change (instead of writing "try this with pork or chicken", the whole recipe is re-written for a one-ingredient change.) This is a cookbook for the unimaginative.
A great cookbook!.......2004-05-26
This book was very helpful to me! I am not one who enjoys tofu or other 'dieting' type foods. And I don't have a lot of time to figure out the number of Carbs, Protein, and Fat Blocks in my food. I did the Zone diet for about three weeks without this book and I was getting tired of the food, and getting frustrated with the amount of time it was taking me to figure out my meals and go shopping. Faye Hoffoss has written a great cookbook here and she has taken the time to figure out all the Carb, Protein, and Fat Blocks for you. She even has a shopping list written out for each week for you! I have my parents on this diet with me and they are very excited to be getting some of these foods back into their diet. Again, this book may not follow Dr. Sears' model in the sense that it doesn't contain a lot of dieting foods, but it still helps keep you in the zone and the foods are good!
This is an all around good cookbook. I hope you enjoy it!
Zone Cooking Made Easy: 6 Weeks of Delicious Zone Balanced M.......2002-10-20
I just purchased this published cookbook but I have an advantage because of knowing Faye Hoffoss for a long time. I saw that she and her family were losing weight and of course asked her about it. I was 58 years old and was 173 pounds at the time. I have 2 sons and 2 daughters and 9 grandsons and like to keep close to my children and their families. I always prided myself in making good meals that they would enjoy. When I became health concious, I found it difficult to make healthy meals with ingredients we were not accustomed to. When I spoke with Faye, she gave me a copy of her book--that she had printed up before she had it published.
While trying different diets, I found it difficult to change cooking and eating habits. After talking to Faye Hoffoss and using the recipes from her unpublished book, I have gone from 173 pounds to 140 pounds. The book works for me and my family because it is using ingredients we love but balancing them so that we are satisfied. Balancing your foods make it much easier to eat at a restaurant. (It seems that when we get together, at home or in a restaurant, we love to eat. I have since purchased 4 of Barry Sears books and use recipes from his books but use Faye Hoffoss' book more. . I am slowly incorporating healthier eating habits by adding things like whole wheat bread and unprocessed rice. I have to say, not just because she is my friend, that the only way for me to have a permanent weight loss is to make foods that we are familier with--and that are closest to the way we have always eaten. (At home, and in the restaurants.)
I just purchased her published book, one must have a friend's published works!!!!!(However, I will keep the published one for display but will continue to use the copy Faye gave me before having it published.) BOTH BOOKS CONTAIN THE SAME RECIPES WITH ONLY MINOR CHANGES IN THE PUBLISHED VERSION. I recommend the book, because it works for me, a grandmother that likes to have my family come to home to eat.
Why I wrote this book.......2002-09-18
I am truly sorry if my book is a disappointment. At the same time I am grateful for any complaints. It gives me the opportunity to say why I made the cookbook. Three years ago you could have called my family "The Fat Family," 50 pounds or more overweight and heading for some serious health problems. My grown daughter (the only skinny person in my family) introduced me to the "Zone Diet." The rest of my family hated a lot of the foods Barry Sears suggested. They found the food too different, craved food that we could no longer eat, and refused to eat the meals I spent hours preparing. I had to compromise. We may not be strictly in "The Zone," but we have lost close to 200 pounds, our blood pressure and cholesterol are in great shape and we feel much better. Since losing most of the excess weight, we have taken one day off every week or so to treat ourselves to a "normal" dinner. We eat a balanced breakfast, lunch and snack, but for dinner that day we eat anything we want, including dessert, such as cake, ice cream, pie, or whatever decadent food we may be craving. We then eat a zone snack before bed to put us back in "The Zone." We haven't gained any weight and are still losing. This is a lifetime commitment. People fail because they go on strict diets only to find they can't live with it forever.
Let's face it, there are people out there who want to lose weight but don't have the willpower to stick with such a drastic change. There are also some who would make the drastic change, only to go back to their old eating habits when they find it too restricting. They not only gain back the weight they lost, they usually gaining the weight back, or worse, end up weighing more than when they started. "Yo Yo Dieting." My book is for that kind of person. We are happy with this diet. It's one that we can easily live with for the rest of our lives.
Product Description
3 Book Set By Barry Sears, Ph.d.; a Week in the Zone; Mastering the Zone; Enter the Zone.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Westchester County Business Journal, published by Westfair Communications, Inc. on March 31, 2003. The length of the article is 1089 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Empire Zones: a model for job creation. (Feature Section: Yonkers Business Week 2003).(economic development in New York)
Author: Charles A. Gargano
Publication:
Westchester County Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 31, 2003
Publisher: Westfair Communications, Inc.
Volume: 42
Issue: 13
Page: Y4(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Community College Week, published by Thomson Gale on January 30, 2006. The length of the article is 657 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Fla. College to develop mobile courses for soldiers in war zones.(technology today)
Author: Evelyn Heitman
Publication:
Community College Week (Newspaper)
Date: January 30, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 18
Issue: 13
Page: 16(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
Thanksgiving Entertaining
Thanksgiving is perhaps the most American holiday of all, a celebration of beloved foods, and customs that evoke happy memories of good times shared with family and friends. Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving Entertaining is a complete guide to creating those favorite traditions in your own home. Equal parts cookbook and how-to manual, it presents five menus for entertaining over the Thanksgiving weekend, including three distinctive ideas for the holiday feast.
Fot traditionalists, there is a classic New England Thanksgiving dinner featuring roasted turkey with pan gravy and all the trimmings, including an old-fashioned oyster stuffing,, cranberry relish, and buttery mashed potatoes. A contemporary California-style holiday menu showcases a butterflied turkey and light, seasonal Mediterranean-inspired accompaniments, while an elegant southern buffet offers a glorious glazed ham, spooned bread, and collard greens.
Because Thanksgiving entertaining often extends beyond the holiday meal, this book includes menus for a casual Day-After Lunch, with turkey sandwiches and snacks, and a homey weekend breakfast, with French toast, smoothies, and an irresistible Pumpkin Bread.
In addition to the nearly fifty recipes, there are step-by-step instructions for decorating your home, setting an attractive table, and making a variety of festive drinks -- all lavishly illustrated with color photographs. Detailed work plans accompany each menu, and helpful reference sections provide guidelines on tableware and glassware, setting up a buffet, pairing food and wine, and more. You'll find everything you need to know to host a memorable Thanksgiving that both you and your guests will enjoy.
Customer Reviews:
Fabulous recipes, menus and decor tips.......2007-06-09
I made my first T-day dinner and used many recipes from this book. The Sourdough/Apple stuffing was a huge hit!! As will all WS books, it is a beautiful text. This is truly an entertaining cookbook with decor tips, beverages, and after holiday meals.
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