The Super Mom » adult book review

Adult Book Review:Perfect Plant, Perfect Place

Karlynn Johnston — Thu, 06 May 2010 02:06:59 +0000

Spring has sprung and it’s time to get out your gardening books! And if you have a sad lack of said helpful tomes, Perfect Plant, Perfect Place is an excellent starter’s guide.

Over 18,000 amazing color photographs detail the author’s plant recommendations, for an amazing range of site and conditions. If you can’t find the kind of area you need advice on, then it simply doesn’t exist. There is a plant for every condition known, warm to cool, shade to sun, sandy to acidic soil.

This book is such an invaluable tool that I would list it in my top 10 for my gardening needs and for someone who owns a multitude of gardening books that’s saying a lot.The sections are so helpful, with all the information provided for each plant, light,zone, height, and grouped in unique categories. I had no idea that my Giant Allium were slug proof!

And how can you not adore a book that has a listing for “Perennials with Hot, Fiery-Colored Flowers.”

Reading level: teen to adult

Page Count: 448 pages

Publisher: DK Publishing

Publisher’s synopsis: Featuring plants for all indoor and outdoor situations, from sunny rooms to shady corners to exposed coastal gardens, Perfect Plant, Perfect Place gives practical suggestions for problem situations and expert advice on caring for your plants all year round.

About the Author:Roy Lancaster worked at the University of Cambridge Botanic Gardens and the Hillier Nurseries in Hampshire before becoming the first curator of the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum in 1970. Since 1980 he has been a freelance writer, plant explorer, and broadcaster. He has written many books, including What Houseplant Where and What Perennial Where (also published by DK), and regularly contributes to various magazines, including the Royal Horticultural Society’s journal The Garden.

For more information on this book and others, you can visit DK Books at http://www.dk.com, and click the flag to choose your country.

Adult Book Review: Brain Training

Karlynn Johnston — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:00:01 +0000

If you are not only a lover of brain teasers and puzzles, but have a keen interest in learning how your gray matter actually works, this is the book for you.

While full of the requisite teasers that I swear, really do actually make your brain hurt with the effort to solve them, the book does what very few others do; it teaches you how to solve them. You are shown the skills you need to tackle most of the puzzles within, with explanations on how your brain processes certain types of information and gives you tricks to help you train your brain.

I couldn’t get over how fun this book was, while reviewing it I had to literally stop myself from agonizing over the puzzles, pry my eyes off the pages and write this review. Instead, I kept getting distracted over how to cut a round birthday cake into 8 equal pieces using only three slices.

See? Now you are going to draw that cake and think on how to slice it into 8 pieces with only three cuts.

My advice: buy it, try it and have an absolute blast training your brain!

Reading level: adult

Page Count: 192 pages

Publisher: DK Publishing

Publisher’s synopsis: For people of all ages who want to improve their memory, hone learning skills, and boost mental performance in their daily lives, Brain Training is a vibrant collection of visual puzzles and tips to help exercise the brain and keep the cognitive faculties razor-sharp. Covering the key areas of brain function, including memory, perception, problem-solving, verbal reasoning, and the body (such as diet, exercise, and meditation), Brain Training is a dynamic resource that will boost everyone’s brain power.

For more information on this book and others, you can visit DK Books at http://www.dk.com, and click the flag to choose your country.

Available on Amazon:

Adult Book Review: Houseworks

Karlynn Johnston — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:01:43 +0000

With spring rapidly approaching, our thoughts turn to the clutter that has accumulated in our houses over the winter. And anyone who claims they are clutter free hasn’t spent the winter cooped up in a house with two kids!

This book is an excellent guide to help us start our spring cleaning and beyond. Presented in small, manageable sections, even the messiest of us can get some useful tidbits out of it.

By no means do I claim that everyone will have a perfectly run household with no clutter or mess thanks to this book. But there are definitely some great ideas in here that you can put to good use.

Merciless tossing or donating of items is strongly encouraged and the dividing of household objects into three categories can strengthen our resolve to toss. One to keep, ones that are seldom used but still are once in a while, and ones that are not used and are gathering dust. Of course we can guess which ones we are supposed to toss or donate!

Money saving tips and tricks are also the name of the game, from cleaning products to clothes to grocery shopping, with an emphasis on re-purposing items and using what is already in our refrigerators and freezers instead of buying more. Living green is also a theme that runs throughout the book as well.

This book may not clean your house for you but it will definitely help you identify and deal with problem areas in your house and perhaps give you the motivation to finally start mercilessly tossing the clutter and help you find the level of cleanliness that you are satisfied with.

Reading level: Adult

Page Count: 256 pages

Publisher: DK Publishing

Publisher’s synopsis: America’s leading housekeeping expert shows you how to de-clutter, organize, and clean your home, with easy-to-remember tips for every job, from keeping your bathroom clean and doing the laundry to sorting out paperwork and organizing the family photo album.

About the Author: Cynthia Townley Ewer is creator and editor of the top-ranked website OrganizedHome.com. Cynthia’s website OrganizedHome.com currently has 24,000 members and has received numerous web awards. Quoted widely in print and online media, Cynthia has also made several television apprearances. The household bible Houseworks gives top tips and advice for calming the chaos of disorganised homes, and is Cynthia’s first book for DK. Cynthia currently lives in Richland, Washington in the US.

For more information on this book and others, you can visit DK Books at http://www.dk.com, and click the flag to choose your country.

Adult Book Review: A Slice of Organic Life

Karlynn Johnston — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:00:36 +0000

A Slice of Organic Life is literally a treasure trove of amazing pictures, sage advice and useful projects for anyone who is interested in leading a greener, more in tune with the earth life. With color photos bursting with color and life from the pages, you are drawn into reading about topics ranging from becoming more aware and energy efficient to growing your own herbs at home. The entire first section is titled “No Need For a Yard”, and is full of small projects easily achieved without a yard, as well as limiting our chemical use, shopping locally as well as ethically, and so many other green ideas they can’t possibly all be listed here.

The second section is for “Roof, Terrace, Patio or Tiny Yard” and moves on to larger projects that one can undertake with slightly more room to work with. Composting in a small space, how to collect your rainwater and gardening without pesticides are all covered, as well as moving into learning about planting certain trees and shrubs outside.

Third and the most in depth, comes the largest section is “Yard, Community, Garden or Field” and now details the undertaking of quite large tasks, such as keeping some chickens (my personal favorite), a milk cow for those lucky enough to have a field, and using up some of the produce that you have grown in jams or preserves.

This book provides a succinct and simple overview for those of us who are interested in leading a greener, more earth-connected life. It is written in an informative and fun way, without coming across too heavy-handed or preachy, which some books on organic/green living tend to be, and instead instills a confidence that you too, can do it with this helpful book as your guide.

Reading level: teen to adult readers

Page Count: 352 pages

Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Publishing

What to expect: a bounty of information, beautiful photographs and how-to’s on leading a greener, more eco-friendly life.

Publisher’s synopsis: Bake bread. Start a wormery. Shop locally. Plant a tree. Find out how to get closer to the soil, without going the whole hog.

Discover 80 simple, eco projects you can dip in and out of, from growing salad on your window-sill, to collecting rainwater. Pick up what you need using the directory of useful organic stockists and websites, then choose a project to suit your pocket and lifestyle. You don’t need a garden, special equipment, or even much time.

Includes an introductory comment by Sheherazade Goldsmith, wife of organic spokesman and Ecologist editor, Zac Goldsmith.

For more information on this book and others, you can visit DK Books at http://www.dk.com, and click the flag to choose your country.

Adult Book Review: Talking To Your Kids About Sex

Karlynn Johnston — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:00:48 +0000

“Turning “the talk” into a conversation for life”

The whole of the book is summed up by the above quote; this is not a book about having one awkward talk with your teenager about sex and then dropping the subject forever. Dr Laura Berman has written what I deem an absolute must-have for any forward thinking parent who is determined to be open and available to their children about sexual matters, but isn’t quite sure where to start. Because let’s face it, not all parents have an interest in an ongoing, lifetime conversation with their children about sex.

Luckily, she helps us parents who do want this conversation. I include myself in that category, and this book will be sitting on my shelf as a reference guide. Starting from ages 0-2, she explains how to help our children learn the proper words for body parts and teaching about their bodies, and how to keep information age-appropriate. There are sections throughout the book called “Learning Together”, which helps parents teach their child what they need to know at certain points in their development. For example, early on there are two diagrams of the male and female anatomy, with cues and questions for parents to use and ask to facilitate this learning with their children.

I was extremely impressed that the format she wrote this book in allows us as parents to insert our own personal values in. For example, when she writes about teaching a child where babies come from, that you can tell your child that mommies and daddies create a baby when {insert family value here} . You could use the term “married” or “in love” or “are partners together” or whatever your family value is. This continues throughout the book as she encourages us to talk openly and discover not only what our values are, but also how to pass these values on to our children.

She touches on the area of sexual orientation in a respectful and straightforward manner, and how to talk to your children about alternate families and supporting a gay child if you have one, which I consider a must have in any parenting book. She also has a couple conversation starters on the subject which I thought were helpful as well.

And those conversation starters she has scattered throughout the book are a godsend, I read some and thought, “yes, perfect, I like that approach”. Because to be honest, in this era where our children are being bombarded with information from not only the infamous media, but their peers and others around them, we as parents need all the guiding help we can get.

The book is divided into 7 areas as follows: The Body, The Mind, The Media, Friends and Influences, Romantic Relationships, Sexual Relationships, and Talking About Safer Sex, each section a wealth of information and help for parents.

I can only sum up with saying buy it, read it, and use it over and over until it sits dogeared and battered on your bookshelf.

Reading level: Adult

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Dorling Kindersley

What to expect: straightforward, sometimes cringe inducing (but ultimately necessary) text about teaching our children about sex.

Publisher’s synopsis: Teaching your child about sex can be a rewarding, relationship-strengthening experience. You just need to be equipped with the right tools: clear, easy-to-explain information; critical questions to ask; good timing; and a sense of humor.

Often touched on only lightly in schools, sexual knowledge is one of the most important parts of your child’s education. Help encourage positive thought, relationships, and decision-making with Dr Berman’s resourceful, reassuring, and comprehensive new book.

About the Author: Laura Berman, LCSW, Ph.D., an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and obstetrics/gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, has been working as a sex educator and therapist for 20 years and is considered a thought leader in her field. She has appeared in the pages of nearly every major publication and on radio and television, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today show, Fox News, CNN, the New York Times, USA Today, Glamour, Elle, and Ladies’ Home Journal. Dr. Berman is a regular contributor on the Today Show, giving viewers advice about sex and relationships on TV and in an online column, “In the Bedroom with Dr. Laura Berman.” She is also the host of Oprah Radio’s ”Better in Bed,” a live and lively call-in program that airs on SIRIUS XM Radio. She also starred in Showtime’s hit reality TV series, Sexual Healing, which followed real-life couples through a week in therapy with her at the Berman Center.

Our Rating: 5 out of 5

For more information on this book and others, you can visit DK Books at http://www.dk.com, and click the flag to choose your country.