Book Description
Caterer Faith Fairchild and family are living in one of historic Cambridge, Massachusetts', venerable Brattle Street houses while the Reverend Tom teaches a course at the Harvard Divinity School and does some soul searching -- is his Aleford parish his true calling? One night in downtown Boston, Faith is startled by a face from her past. It's Richard Morgan, a former boyfriend from her life as a single woman in Manhattan. Their heady, whirlwind affair in the waning days of the self-indulgent 1980s ended abruptly. Now he's back, as exciting as ever.
Then something occurs that turns a pleasant sabbatical into a nightmare -- Faith discovers a diary, written in 1946 and hidden in the attic, that reveals an unspeakable horror. Suddenly dark secrets seem to permeate every room. And with Richard guarding strange secrets of his own, Faith is soon caught up in solving more than one troubling mystery ... with a murderer lurking a little too close to home.
Customer Reviews:
Not Her Best.......2005-06-10
While I enjoyed this installment of the series more than the last few, I did find it be somewhat confusing, with too much going on.
Faith has never been a likeable character to me, but she seems to get worse with every book. She's always come across as pompous and superior, but with Ms. Page throwing in tons of French words and phrases, the books on a whole are starting to come across as arrogant as well.
Still, not a bad way to spend a couple of evenings.
past meets present in more ways than one.......2004-10-05
Faith Fairchild uproots her family to join her husband on a short stay in Cambridge. She misses her home and familiar surroundings but is soon fascinated by the town, its people and the history hidden in the walls (and the attic!) of the house they are staying.
Not one of Page's best but certainly worth reading.
WELL WRITTEN AND ENJOYABLE.......2004-09-10
I enjoyed this one. Very nice character development, as in the past, and good story line. A nice mellow read. A series is difficult to sustain, but the author has done well by this one. I certainly recommend it. I do hope there are more coming.
Reading pleasure.......2004-07-16
I became an avid reader of Katherine Hall Page's wonderful mysteries after reading an article about her in The Tufts Criterion, the alumni publication of Tufts University. In my estimation, The Body in the Attic is her best work yet. The protagonist, Faith Fairchild, is maturing as a mother and as a caterer. In some ways, perhaps she is an alter-ego of the author herself. While the two concurrent plots of the mystery provide a really good read, other themes such as balancing family with career, gourmet cuisine with urban homelessness and hunger, and ministry with personal fulfillment, are also of central concern. To be sure, there are feminine frills, presented with a delightful touch of humour, i.e. comments on accessories and designer clothes, but at its heart the novel delves in a lighthanded way into some rather serious issues of modern life.
Because Faith Fairchild's husband, Tom, is a minister, there is a spiritual overtone as well. But the religious theme does not usually enter through his character, not in previous works in which he is pastoring, nor in this one where he teaches at Harvard Divinity. Rather, it is Faith the minister's daughter and pastor's wife who usually interjects the element of living with meaning and integrity. In this volume, it is intriguing that the victim's diary is also the vehicle which speaks of God's love, as well as of the moral issues and dilemmas that spring from a commitment to live with some sort of integrity during the intolerably evil imprisonment within her home.
Then, too, the pleasures of food are presented throughout the book in a number of interesting ways. While this is true in all Katherine Hall Page's mysteries, the catalog of luscious-sounding restaurants that actually exist in Cambridge and Boston are worth researching on-line and exploring in person. Readers who live in the greater Boston area are doubly blessed.
Finally, it is worth obtaining a copy of this book for the narrative pages which follow as a sort-of postscript. Of special note in all Katherine Hall Page's works are the recipes, but as more a reader than a cook I really enjoyed this particular volume's notes on both comfort food and comfort reading. The author provides a lengthy list of authors one could curl up with for a long time to come.
In addition to our author's reading suggestions, I also look forward to curling up with a long list of future novels by this author. I wonder if she is as delightful a person as Faith Fairchild and her fictional friends. May Katherine Hall Page continue to bless us with years of new reading pleasure!
Nice entry in a favorite series.......2004-06-22
I have enjoyed all of the Faith Fairchild series, not least because their milieu is familiar to me. Caterer Faith Fairchild reluctantly follows her husband. The Reverend Tom is taking a sabbatical leave to spend teaching at Harvard. Faith doesn't like being uprooted, especially because Tom didn't discuss it with her in advance. The family relocates to a historic house in the Brattle Street area of Cambridge. Two major plot lines run through the book; Faith runs into an old flame at a soup kitchen and her children find a post-World War II diary in the attic. Sometimes series' heroes seem too perfect to be true, but here Faith and Tom have their occasional warts on view.
The Body in the Bonfire is still my favorite of the series, but this comes close.
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CCEL Classics CD: works by Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Donne, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, Martin Luther, Saint Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, John Wesley, and more!
Dr. W. Harry Plantinga
Manufacturer: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
 Mariology | Catholicism | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Luther, Martin | ( L ) | People, A-Z | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Augustine, Saint | ( A ) | People, A-Z | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1931848076
Release Date: 2006-12-15 |
Product Description
The most important spiritual writings of Christian history are available on this Classics CD by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) at Calvin College. It contains 118 Christian classics, including three versions of the Bible, several commentaries, Bible dictionaries, readings, spiritual guides, sermons, poems and journals -- all in a convenient, searchable form. Books are available in HTML and PDF formats. The easy-to-use CCEL Desktop software powering the CD enables users to browse and print books and install additional books from the Web. The top-of-class search engine can search for words or phrases in books, in authors works or in the whole library. In addition, it can search for dictionary definitions of words and commentary or references to scripture passages. The interface is a Web browser. The CD is compatible with Windows 2000+, Macintosh 10.3+, and most Linux versions.
Book Description
Widely adopted for classroom use, this book offers translations of four major works of ancient Greek literature which treat the life and thought of Socrates, focusing particularly on his trial and defense (the platonic dialogues Euthyphro, Apology of Socrates, and Crito) and on the charges against Socrates (Aristophanes' comedy Clouds). This is the only collection of the three Platonic dialogues that also includes Clouds, a work that is fundamental for understanding the thought of Socrates in relation to the Athenian political community and to Greek poetry.
Thomas G. West's introduction provides an overview of the principal themes and arguments of the four works. There are extensive explanatory notes to the translations. For this new edition, Thomas West has revised the introduction and updated the annotated bibliography, which includes the best of the secondary literature on Socrates and on the texts included in this book.
In their translations, the Wests capture successfully the simplicity and vigor of straightforward Greek diction. They strive for as high a degree of accuracy as possible, subordinating concerns for elegance and smoothness to the goal of producing the most faithful and most reliable English versions of these texts.
Customer Reviews:
Disasterous, nauseating, incompetent translations. How does work this bad get published?.......2007-03-06
Never in my life have I been so outraged by what I have read as by the drivel spouted by Dr. West in this book (in his Translator's Note), and by the use of `unponderingly' and "the Thinkery" (among other things) in his translation of The Clouds. I also read his translation of Plato's Apology of Socrates, and found it grossly inferior to Jowett.
Four Texts on Socrates is not a book to be tossed aside lightly: it should be hurled with great force. (Apologies to Dorothy Parker.)
Not only are the translations themselves inexcusably inept, almost everything that he writes in his Translator's Note is wrong.
"The Clouds" is a play, not a scientific or mathematical treatise. As such, it has characters and dialogue. A 'modern' translation of a play must be something that could be presented on a stage and make sense to a 'modern' audience. If a character is supposed to be bizarre or out of the ordinary, one does not make him spout drivel such as 'unponderingly'; one gives him a 'shtick', which is a theatrical term. It's more or less a running gag associated with a particular character. You create, through clever ways of speaking or odd ways of stringing his words together, a characterization. He could be made to speak like a parody of William F. Buckley or the Star Wars character Yoda. As it stands, West's text cannot be presented as a play.
It is neither necessary nor useful to coin such nonsense as 'unponderingly'; indeed, it is inexcusable. It conveys neither humor nor cleverness. It comes off simply as stupid. The translator of a play must know something about theatre and drawing characters, which Dr. West obviously does not. To state it bluntly: The translation of plays should be left to people who understand theatre and characterization, and who are creative. Dr. West doesn't have a creative bone in his body.
In regard to his translation of Plato's The Apology of Socrates, the translation by Dr. West is both original and good, but the parts that are good are not original, and the parts that are original are not good. After all, when one has the work of such a brilliant predecessor as Benjamin Jowett to follow, the temptation to do something entirely different is strong. But it must be resisted. If Dr. West had merely lightly revised Jowett's great work, he would have made a contribution to learning. Alas, he did neither.
The version by Jowett is clearly superior. Here is a short excerpt:
"And I must beg of you to grant me a favor: If I defend myself in my accustomed manner, and you hear me using the words which I have been in the habit of using in the agora, at the tables of the money-changers, or anywhere else, I would ask you not to be surprised, and not to interrupt me on this account. For I am more than seventy years of age, and appearing now for the first time in a court of law, I am quite a stranger to the language of the place; and therefore I would have you regard me as if I were really a stranger, whom you would accuse if he spoke in his native tongue, and after the fashion of his country: Am I making an unfair request of you? Never mind the manner, which may or may not be good; but think only of the truth of my words, and give heed to that: let the speaker speak truly and the judge decide justly."
Compare West's inept version:
"...I do very much beg and beseech this of you: if you hear me speaking in my defense with the same speeches I am accustomed to speak both in the marketplace at the money-tables, where many of you have heard me, and elsewhere, do not wonder or make a disturbance because of this. For this is how it is: now is the first time I have come before a law court, at the age of seventy; hence I am simply foreign to the manner of speech here. So just as, if I really did happen to be a foreigner, you would surely sympathize with me if I spoke in the dialect and way in which I was raised, so also I do beg of you now (and it is just, at least, as it seems to me): leave aside the manner of my speech--for perhaps it may be worse, but perhaps better--and instead consider this very thing and apply your mind to this: whether the things I say are just or not. For this is the virtue of a judge, while that of an orator is to speak the truth."
"Speaking...with the same speeches I am accustomed to speak"? How utterly inept and repetitive! Didn't he even proof-read? One doesn't speak with 'speeches', one speaks with words!
It is obvious that Dr. West never read his version aloud as a test of its appropriateness, which is surprising, because this work is supposed to be a speech. Dr. West's version is clearly not suited to speaking aloud, whereas Jowett's is. In West's translation, Socrates is a clumsy, repetitive, and inept speaker. Needlessly so. If you want to read a good translation, see Jowett's 3rd edition (1892).
Why does Dr. West believe himself qualified to make translations? Nothing in his work suggests that he is competent in any way to do so. This is not the work of a scholar, but that of a bungling hack. These translations are travesties. How does work this nauseatingly bad get published?
NOT RECOMMENDED
the best English translations available.......2004-01-04
To date, this remains by far the best available English translation of Plato's _Euthyphro_, _Apology_, and _Crito_, and certainly the best English translation of Aristophanes' _Clouds_.
The major flaw in West & West's translation is their rendering of "phronimos" at _Apology_ 22a, 29e, and 36c as "prudent" (see their note 33 on p. 70). Insignificant though it may seem, West & West are really forcing upon the reader an interpretation that is not required by Plato's Greek; their translation of these passages has the practical effect of entirely begging the question of what it is that Socrates has in mind when he speaks of virtue in the _Apology_. Presumably, they assume that it is sufficiently clear that Socrates has in mind specifically *practical* wisdom in these passages. The Greek word, however, does not particularly connote prudence except in Aristotle, who obviously uses it as a technical term. It is worth noting that at Apology 25c, 28d, and 29e "to give thought to" is the rendering West & West give to "phrontizein". What would otherwise be an obvious connection is obscured by their translation of these two crucial words in Plato's text. To maintain consistency and to avoid begging important questions, West & West could perhaps have translated "phronimos" as "thoughtful" instead of "prudent". At least "thoughtful" in English has enough ambiguity to leave open the question of what Socrates is exhorting when he exhorts everyone to be as "phronimos" as possible (29e and 36c; compare 30b, 31b, 39d, 41e). This, I take it, is the paramount interpretative problem facing readers of Plato's _Apology_, whatever translation they use.
This flaw in West & West's translation shouldn't keep English readers from using their translation, since the alternatives offer even greater impediments to interpreting Plato.
A Great Help for Teachers.......2001-04-19
This is an outstanding translation of these Greek texts. These are texts that many of us regularly teach in introductory classes, and it is a great help to have such a reliable translation: the translation is clear and accessible, but maintains an unusually strict adherence to the form of the original Greek. This makes it useful for advanced study as well. The running footnotes to the text are especially helpful for giving students the relevant points of historical and legal context for understanding Socrates's position, but they are sparse enough that they do not intrude in the interpretation of the text. This is the only translation of these texts that I will use in my courses.
Model translation.......2000-02-27
This is a real rarity in Platonic scholarship--a synoptic translation of four important works on the life of Socrates; in other words, the translators use the same English words to convey the same important Greek terms in each of their translations in order to aid the reader in recognizing how those terms evolve in meaning and shape the drama of each of the works, or in short, in recognizing the dialogue which exists between the works rather than merely within them. A former reviewer seems to have missed the point of this work: if you want someone to TELL YOU WHAT PLATO MEANS, you can read a two line summary in an encyclopedia, but if you want to find out why Plato went and wrote an entire dialogue rather than a two line summary, you have to pay close attention to what he actually says. These translations are about as close as you can get without having advanced knowledge of Greek, and even then, the Wests note specific usages of key terms which even a native speaker of ancient Greek might not have noticed on a first reading, and which are largely ignored by the scholarly community. This is an ideal translation for students of politics, history, philosophy, and classical literature who want to know why the most profound and poetic civilization of antiquity put the first philosopher to death, and why he let them.
An Excellent Collection of Important Texts on Socrates.......1998-12-10
Thomas and Grace West translate Plato's Euthyphro, Apology and Crito and Aristophanes' Clouds in a clear and modern fashion. The useful background information and clear footnotes help make this an important book to have if you want to read about Socrates. This book is a "must have" for any Socrates fan indeed!
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The Bozeman Trail: Volume 2 (Bozeman Trail)
Grace Raymond Hebard , and
E. A. Brininstool
Manufacturer: Univ of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | 19th Century | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Old West | 19th Century | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
West | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0803272502 |
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- Review of The Gentle Counsel of White Cloud
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The Gentle Counsel of White Cloud
Larry G. Wayne , and
Grace P. Johnston
Manufacturer: Detselig Enterprises
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1550590057 |
Book Description
The Gentle Counsel of White Cloud is not another sad tale of the utter wretchedness of humanity or the hopelessness of the human condition. Herein lies more honest, accessible hope than in a mountain of murky manuscripts on philosophy and psychology. There is nothing to fear, nothing insurmountable, nothing unattainable, says White Cloud. And his soothing counsel is for everyone. White Cloud's simple suggestions are like the loaves of bread and the fishes at Galilee with their strange multiplying ability. They are pearls of wisdom which when beheld, mediated on, and prayed about, build on themselves, yielding more understanding. In these assuring and up-bearing pages are many messages of light and love emanating a warmth, inspired, insistent and unmistakable.
Customer Reviews:
Review of The Gentle Counsel of White Cloud.......2002-08-16
This book is a most inspiring book, comparing only to that of Silver Birch. Larry and Grace are two very gifted Mediums and channels for Spirit Awareness and guidance, centering only in truth in it's purest form. A must for anyone who desires to enjoy gentle, compassionate and understanding awareness from truth, leading to further spiritual self-growth.
Average customer rating:
- An extraordinary gem
- A Magical Mystery Tale
- A Magical Tale
- A Story for Everyone
- Slip into the heavens.
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Grace of the Clouds
Michelina Pagano
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1591297648 |
Book Description
Set in the red canyons of the old Southwest, Grace of The Clouds is an epic tale wrapped in Mexican folklore and Navajo legend. It is the story of Grace, a child born of earth and heaven, who lives on a doomed ranch run by Matilda, a bitter Mexican born without a guardian angel, who believes Grace is a witch. Not far is Finger's Edge, an ominous butte the Navajos call home to the "Great One," the locals believe is cursed by witches, and where Grace was born. Grace talks to the earth and sky and magically transforms the ranch into an oasis for enormous vegetables and hearty cattle. As Grace grows, her beauty and mysterious powers draw awe and fear. She finds a lover in a cloud named "OV" who introduces her to a mystical new world. The Navajos believe Grace is the Great One until a man manifests from the clouds. There is conflict, scandal, and murder as clouds come alive in this enchanting romance about superstition and the power of love.
Customer Reviews:
An extraordinary gem.......2006-01-25
Michelina Pagano is a mystical story teller. GRACE OF THE CLOUDS weaves spiritual awareness over a cast of characters all too real with human frailties. Sometimes good things come in small packages, as does this enchanting tale of a girl who talks to the clouds.
A Magical Mystery Tale.......2003-03-26
Vivid characters and a compelling story keep the pages turning in this fascinating trip to the Old West, where the mysteries of ancient folklore still shape people's destinies, and where love is still the greatest mystery of all.
A Magical Tale.......2003-03-26
Takes you on a magical trip to the legendary Old West, as the mystery maiden of the mesas confronts her destiny.
A Story for Everyone.......2003-03-12
Beautifully written tale that combines ancient fokelore with love, murder, mystery. There are characters you will fall in love with, and so many twists and turns - I could not put this book down. It's a marriage of the elements of nature co-mingling with human nature.It is a vivid depiction of this time in history plus added mythology. Gorgeous. Spiritual. Straight to the heart.
Slip into the heavens........2003-01-24
Thank you, Pagano, for the pleasant reminder of how it is to be lost in folklore. The artful blend of character and scene charmed me into a story that I couldn't put down.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from U.S. Catholic, published by Claretian Publications on May 1, 1997. The length of the article is 2148 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.
From the supplier: 'Cloud Chamber' by Michael Dorris; 'Alias Grace' by Margaret Atwood and 'The Book of Ruth' by Jane Hamilton all involve murder and punishment, as well as family issues. The books revolve around women, whose lives are similar to those of Matthew, Mark and Luke in that all are storytellers.
Citation Details
Title: Thrice-told tales. (books about women who are storytellers)
Author: Patrick McCormick
Publication:
U.S. Catholic (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 1997
Publisher: Claretian Publications
Volume: v62
Issue: n5
Page: p46(4)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Out of the clouds
Grace Le Point
Manufacturer: Samuel Bowles & Company, printer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Poetry | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00089CZSS |
Book Description
Cycling Past 50 will show you that with proper training and the right attitude, your biking years after 50 can be your best ever. Inside you'll find:
• key training principles;
• advanced workouts for endurance, climbing, and sprinting;
• training advice for 100-mile events and multi-day tours;
• strategies for getting into racing form;
• tips and exercises for preventing injuries;
• advice on proper body fueling; and
• ideas on how to get mentally psyched to ride.
This book is part of the Ageless Athlete Series published by Human Kinetics, designed to help readers stay active and feel younger every day.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Book.......2007-08-02
Despite the title, cyclists of all ages will find this book useful. There is a great deal of both general discussion as well as specific recommendations for effective training. The sections which are age specific generally are of the form "If you were 20 you would train like this, since you are 50 you need to modify the training like this... (usually allow more recovery)". Thus the discussion becomes relevant for everyone.
Some will probably find the specifics more detail than they are interested in. Fine, take the bigger message (intensity + adequate recovery = ageless perfomance) and you will be way ahead of the game. The discussion of heart rate training is the best I have seen.
Again highly recommended for everyone.
Cycling past 51 and counting..........2007-05-14
Having recently just got back on the bike after a prolonged illness, I was pleased to find this book on Amazon. The excellent training strategies were very helpful. The chapter on psyche was very inspirational. I refer back to it constantly. Over the hill takes on an entirely new meaning.
Valuable Book.......2007-04-30
Joe Friel is an experienced cyclist who is over 50. That combination makes this book particularly valuable. Couple that with the knowledge he's acquired as a cycling coach, and author of The Cyclist's Training Bible, The Triathlete's Training Bible, and The Mountain Biker's Training Bible and you can't ask for a better person to write Cycling Past 50. If you've read his Bible training books this probably won't add much, but if you haven't and want to learn about aging and training this is a great book to learn from.
Very usefull training book.......2007-04-24
I have several books on cycling but this is one you can read completely. I mean read not just brouse. I've being carrying it everywhere for two weeks.
It helps you understand how your body works, and how to acheive fitness even over 50.
If you are starting again in cycling this is a must. you will enjoy it.
The only extra book you'll need is one about fixing you bike.
GO 50!!!!.......2007-03-16
All data in this book is relevent for those riders who "keep on bikin'"!
Very useable material!!
Book Description
These simple explanations serve as a guide to the brewing process and demystify the biochemistry of beer, yeast and fermentation, mashing and sparging, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Good for the Beginner, okay for everybody else.......2007-06-29
I read Brew Chem 101 in one day. It's an easy read and not too technical. Chapter 3, "Yeast and Fermentation" is a good explanation of how different strains of yeast work and the general environment needed for good yeast growth. Chapter 5, "Understanding and Avoiding Off Flavors" is the goldmine of the book. Not only does Lee W. Jason, Ph.D. explain the taste or smell, he explains the technical cause and methods for avoiding each flavor. The beginner should check this book out before brewing his next batch. The brewer that's been around the block for a while might find parts of the book interesting too.
A good "basics" book.......2005-12-08
If you have a degree in chemistry, microbiology, or biology, this book is not for you. Buy George Fix's book or one of the texts by the Siebel Institute. This book is also not for the all-grain veteran looking for insight on the mysteries of recipe formulation and yeast interaction. Finally, Brew Chem 101 is certainly not for the professional brewer. This book is best for beginning - intermediate homebrewers looking to move from extract brewing to partial mash or all grain brewing.
I found this book to be an excellent introduction to brewing science for people long out of high school and/or not really science-types. It is fairly light on technology and terminology, while providing sound fundamentals on good brewing. As others have pointed out, the science in the book is not 100% accurate, but it is accurate enough for homebrewing and it seems the author intentionally simplified the science to save overly long explainations on obscure (read, boring) topics. I have some issues with the techniques used in the book, especially regarding boiling grains, but ask 50 award-winning brewers to define the perfect brewing technique and you'll get 50 different answers.
I do wish Janson had provided much more information on water chemistry and the effects of temperature at different stages of mashing, but I understand this book is meant as a springboard to further reading.
I appreciated Janson's chapter on off flavors. He provided easy to understand descriptions, possible sources, and ways to avoid them. While his solutions may seem obvious to advanced brewers, they are accurate the provide a fix to 90% of the problems encountered by novice brewers.
Everything in this book can be found on the Internet or through your local homebrew club, and there is no published "perfect" book on homebrewing. However, it is nice to have a reference book on the shelf and, for what it is, Beer Chem 101 is very good. In conjunction with Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide or Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, Janson's book provides an easy progression from extract brewing to all-grain brewing. I would have liked an advanced section on water, yeast, and mashing to ease the transition to Priciples of Brewing Science by George Fix, and I had a few issues with technique, so I have given it 4 stars.
101 out of 100!.......2005-10-03
Easy to read. Content well suited to "101" level knowledge. Content was well ordered and liked the methodology for debugging brewing problems.
Almost worthless.............2005-07-12
I picked up this book from a local store for $2. I want my money back!!!
First of all, a disclaimer. I have a degrees in both chemistry and chemical engineering. I also happen to be an all grain homebrewer. So I've seen this type of material before, and I can comprehend it.
The review:
This book is quite frankly, awful. The author tries to teach chemistry to non-technical beginner homebrewers. He attempts to do this in less than 4 pages!! All of organic & inorganic chemistry and biochemistry! It doesn't work. Sorry, but you can't learn inorganic chemisty in one paragraph!
On top of that, this book is written as if the reader knows absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing, about brewing. Jansen goes as far as to define what an 'off-flavor' is!
Or one of my favorite lines: 'Yeast refers to multiple cells and not just one yeast.'
And he does this with very dumbed down, nondescriptive language. Things like: 'Many of these same off flavors can also result when an extract/grain brewer improperly adds their specialty grains.' It's as if this author wrote this book thinking that some non-brewer was going to buy it and read it. This is a nuisance to anyone who has brewed before! Who else is going to buy this besides seasoned brewers?!
***Worst of all, the book is full of very basic chemistry errors that even a high school chemistry student could point out.
********** Chemistry errors in a book about brewing chemistry!!!!!!!!! *************
Several other reviewers have also pointed out that the book contains brewing errors.
~~~~~~~~ Bottom Line: I wouldn't trust anything in this book. ~~~~~~~~~
A word on the 'solutions' that this author recommends to off flavors - they're common sense! Solutions include - 'Use properly malted barley.' and 'Maintain sanitary procedures.' Well duh!
One final nuisance: the author repeatedly refers the reader to Papazian's 'The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing'. First of all, that book is not technical. Second of all, it too is rife with errors! I love Charlie, but he made a few mistakes!
The best use for this book is as a coaster or if you run out of toilet paper. Seriously, avoid this book like the plague.
Excellent introduction.......2003-07-26
This is a clear, concise and not too nerdy intro to brewing chemistry. For advanced home-brewers or chem buffs it might be too basic, but for us non-nerdy types this book will be very helpful. The book is only about 100 pages, so it isn't a major undertaking to get through. The author deliberately avoids getting too technical and keeps things simple. So rather than discussing exhaustively the many chemical reactions in the brewing process he tends to highlight the most important molecules and chemicals, discussing their properties and what qualities they contribute to the final beer (such as fruity, spicy, dry, bitter, pleasant, unpleasant, etc.) This book would make a good stepping stone to George Fix's book on brewing chemistry, which is more techical and requires some knowledge of biochemistry and some math too (not too surprising, since George was a Harvard mathematician). If you've read books on home-brewing and want more information, this book will be very helpful.
Although brewing chemistry is quite complex if one considers all the details, the basic idea is quite simple. Yeast ferment a sugar-rich combination of malted barley (or other grains, such as rye or wheat) and hops to produce alcohol and a variety of other metabolites that give the different flavors and qualities to beer. For example, I learned that one difference between lager and ale yeasts, besides the well-known distinction that ale yeasts are warm temperature, bottom-fermenting and lager yeasts are cold temperature, top-fermenting, is their ability to digest the sugar raffinose. Unlike sucrose or glucose, which are disaccharides and monosaccharides, respectively, raffinose is a heavier trisaccharide and ale yeasts are unable to metabolize it. Thus, heavier sugars, such as amylose, amylopectin, and so on, get into the final brew, which is why ales are typically heavier, fruitier, and sweeter than the cleaner and dryer-tasting lagers. The yeast primarily digests glucose, fructose, and sucrose, and maltose. Melibiose, a disaccharide like sucrose or maltose, is also present but can't be used. This is because the bond between the two glucose molecules is the same as raffinose.
The other important ingredient is hops. Hops are just the leaves of the hop plant, and the important thing is that the leaves contain glands that house essential oils and acids that provide bittering and flavoring to the finished brew. Although these glands contain 250 essential oils, the most important ones are the alpha acids such as humulone, cohumulone, and adhumulone, which are derived from the soft resins in the glands. The beta acids derived from the hard resins are less desirable. It is the isomerization of the desirable alpha acids, the changing of the molecule to a slightly different structural configuration with the same chemical constitution, that produces the pleasant bitterness in beer. The beta acids produce a less pleasant and desirable bitter quality.
Terpene molecules such as myrcene and humulene are also important. The oxygenation of humulene gives an elegant and refined flavor and aroma to beer. The same thing happens with myrcene, which produces a floral and herbal character from the production of two molecules, geraniol and linolool, and two other related molecules, geranyl acetate and geranyl isobutrate. However, this is also accompanied by a bitter quality that can be unpleasant if these myrcene by-products are present in too great a quantity, which is usually only a problem with certain species of hops, such as the Cascade strain, which contain high percentages of myrcene. But the widely used Cascade strain is prized for the floral and spicey ales they can produce.
There is also a discussion of ions and their contribution to flavor. For example, the English Burton ales are famous and use water from Burton on Trent which is high in calcium, sulfates, magnesium, sodium, and chloride. Janson notes that the presence of these molecules (and in the hands of competent brew-masters) results in a very complex and delicious brew, which is why one must pay attention to the quality of the water for certain styles of beer.
Well, I've gotten more nerdy in this review myself than I intended. But Janson's book will provide you with much more information if you're interested. Overall, a very readable and informative introduction to the area of brewing chemistry. After reading this, if you're game, pick up Dr. George Fix's Principles of Brewing Science, which is more technical, but which bridges the gap between the even more technical journals and big professional manuals of brewing chemistry. If you can get through that you're definitely eligible for your brewing chemistry nerd badge.
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