Book Description
Down the Garden Path has stood the test of time as one of the world's best-loved and most-quoted gardening books. Ostensibly an account of the creation of a garden in Huntingdonshire in the 1930s, it is really about the underlying emotions and obsessions for which gardening is just a cover story. The secret of this book's success---and its timelessness---is that it does not seek to impress the reader with a wealth of expert knowledge or advice. Beverley Nichols proudly declares his status as a newcomer to gardening: "The best gardening books should be written by those who still have to search their brains for the honeysuckle's languid Latin name..." As unforgettable as the plants in the garden is the cast of visitors and neighbors who invariably turn up at inopportune moments. For every angelic Miss Hazlitt there is an insufferable Miss Wilkins waiting in the wings. For every thought-provoking Professor, there is an intrusive Miss M, whose chief offense may be that she is a 'damnably efficient' gardener. From a disaster building a rock garden, to further adventures with greenhouses, woodland gardens, not to mention cats and treacle, Nichols has left us a true gardening classic.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful pre-war English Charm.......2007-02-18
A thoroughly charming book with a lovely pre-war atmosphere. It is about gardening yes, less about the technical than about the wonders. That weird, ratty vine you chopped down to get rid of, which bloomed like the Dickens two months later, the neighbor who knows everything, has a perfect garden, and seems to stop by just when a mystery fungus has claimed your best plants during the night. It's that kind of gardening book, about the joy of success and the deceit of garden catalogues.
Beverly Nichols bought his house for the garden he thought was there. He knew nothing about gardening. He learned through trial and error, and the man was enthusiastic and thought big. He wanted flowers in his garden in winter, and searched until he found them. He wanted to grow mushrooms. He wanted a wood in his field. You get the idea.
The writing is what makes this book. His description of the gardening books he found: "They were mostly in wrappers which showed women in obsolete hats standing with guilty expressions by the side of immense hollyhocks. They had terrible titles too..." Or perhaps about gardeners themselves, "People think that the gardener is a placid man, who chews a perpetual cud... a man whose mind moves slowly... Such ideas are very wide of the mark. A gardener is a wild and higly-strung creature, whose mind trembles like the aspen and is warped by sudden frosts and scarred by strange winds..."
Well worth a winter read!
very pleasant.......2005-09-05
This is a lovely book. It gives a lot of garden advice, just between the lines.
I will read this over and over.
delightful reading.......2000-07-13
A wonderful narrative about this man's first garden in England in 1932 and his various experiences with it and the people around him. A rare combination of eloquent writing and down to earth humor left me chuckling throughout the book. Wonderful language and very entertaining. Besides the charming style, there is real gardening information to satisfy the plant-person. I got it at the library, and am here to buy it for my mother, who will love the tongue in cheek, English humor. Would recommend it as a feel-good book to curl up with, with your cup of tea!
bautifully written,so very english.......2000-03-28
Nothing much happens in Beverly Nichols book.No sex, no crimes, just the miracle of growth,of life in a cottage garden.A witty,charming book that makes you look at your own garden with different eyes.
Book Description
A lively, detailed picture of village life in the Middle Ages by the authors of Life in a Medieval City and Life in a Medieval Castle. "A good general introduction to the history of this period."--Los Angeles Times
Customer Reviews:
Solid introduction.......2003-10-30
Life in a Medieval Village by Frances and Joseph Gies. Recommended.
Life in a Medieval Village is one of a series, including Life in a Medieval City and Life in a Medieval Castle, written by Frances and Joseph Gies. This series rarely touches upon the great people and events romanticized by Hollywood and numerous fiction writers (and perhaps even a few historians), but focuses on the basics of everyday life for the average person or even the average lord or cleric. The Gies use a number of primary and secondary sources, the latter of which reveal how the historian's view of the medieval village has changed in the 20th and 21st centuries and how flexible historians must be in interpreting the evidence.
Researched and written for the layperson, Life in a Medieval Village is more accurately about life in an English medieval village, with most of the detail coming from the records of Aethelintone/Aethelington/Adelintune/Aylington (Elton) in Huntingdon, one of Ramsey Abbey's manors. The Gies provide a history of the village concept and its definition; its role in the manorial system (contrasted to the seigneurial system); a description of its people, physical structure, buildings, administration and administrators, judicial system, family and spiritual life, and work; and the background behind its decline.
The world of Elton and similar villages is not found in movies or novels. Social and economic statuses are not always clear cut, economic upward mobility is possible primarily through acquisition of land, and even the distinction between "free" and "unfree" is not distinct. Life revolves around the manor and the villeins' and cotters' obligations to the mostly absent lord and the manor, which come in the form of work, rents, fees, taxes, and fines. The administrative structure of the manor is somewhat like that of a modern corporation, with the lord as CEO of multiple manors (and primary consumer of goods) who "wanted the certainty of rents and dues from his tenants, the efficient operation of his demesne, and good prices for wool and grain." His steward, or seneschal, serves as senior executive, while the bailiff, reeve, beadle, woodward, and others are the manor's day-to-day managers and supervisors.
As the villagers acquire surnames (from where they live, what they do, the offices they hold, and personal characteristics), patterns emerge from the records. Some families become dominant economically and politically (e.g., holding many offices such as reeve or juror many times); others decline; while yet others show a propensity for violence and petty crimes. Such infractions are punished primarily with fines rather than corporal punishment; the stocks and hanging are resorted to only in the most egregious cases. The judicial system is often compassionate (or at least practical); many fines for minor trespasses are lowered or forgiven by the court because "she is poor." When laws are broken, a jury hears the case, but the entire village decides.
The Gies also provide an excellent overview of the passing of the medieval village, which began with a sustained famine and the Black Death. The labor-intensive manorial system simply could not survive the depletion of workers, the increase in expenses, the onerous taxes brought on by wars, and, perhaps more importantly, the sense of change and discontent that began to pervade the villein class.
The challenge for the Gies as authors is to take the minimal material available (ranging from books about estate management written for lords and stewards to court and ecclesiastical records) and to bring the village to life from these records. What emerges are people who live in fragile houses; are rarely well fed from a nutritional perspective and whose food supply is always in doubt; work hard and are not above trying to wheedle out of work; who drink and fight and are sometimes brutal; fornicate (primarily a woman's crime but not a particularly reviled one); vandalize; commit petty crimes against the lord and their neighbors; and in short live lives of struggle every day without the expectation or vision of change in the future.
The Gies focus on Elton, with supplemental material from other English villages, so the reader who is interested in village life on the continent will need to explore other works to flesh out the picture. Because the mostly illiterate villagers themselves left few personal records, it is up to the thoughtful reader to discern the village's character and personality and to conceive of what day-to-day life must have been, based on the little that is known-to put oneself into the worn shoes of the working villein and to imagine his or her thoughts, feelings, and aspirations. Life in a Medieval Village is a good beginning.
Diane L. Schirf, 30 October 2003.
Lifeless.......2003-06-20
On the positive side, this book contains an enormous quantity of well-documented detail and scholarship. On the negative side, the writing is colorless and, to my eye, devoid of any unifying theme. Even someone seriously interested in the history of the period will find it soporific. Having struggled to the end, I still cannot decide if the juice was worth the squeeze.
Well sourced, but doesn't read well........2003-05-16
Renowned scholars of medieval history, the Gies credentials are impeccable. However, in this book, they seem to relish in providing piece after piece of redundant references, notes, and other bits of trivia to tirelessly pound the reader into submission as they seem determined to impress with their knowledge and research capabilities. If nothing else, the work provides the reader with a comprehensive bilbliography and reference list of places to go if they are that interested in life in a medieval village. The result of this style is a dry work that ofter reads like paragraph after paragraph of a census roll or register. It's dry, it's well researched, but it's dry. Oh, did I say that already?
A bit dry but very informative.......2003-05-03
Gies&Gies discuss the nature of an "open field" village, which was a distinctive feature of the "manorial" or feudalism (more or less). It was not just a small town; the nature of the agricultural and legal systems made it unique.
Lots of material, and well worth reading, but occassionally dry and pedantic.
Good enough for what it does.......2003-04-20
I can see from the other reviews to date that I'm not the only reader that found Life in a Medieval Village a bit dry. Some of the records Gies and Gies dug up are detailed here, but the narrative can turn into paragraphs long description of how John was fined sixpence for letting his sheep graze in the church, and so forth. I'm also not surprised to see that other readers found little depth or analysis. The authors walk the line between scholarly research and popular history, and I'm not sure many people will be satisfied with this.
If you are seriously interested in the subject, and you want details, this would be the book to choose. But I don't think it would be good in isolation. It's really not a fun read, and specialist historians probably wouldn't get much out of it.
I did read one other reviewer who liked it for a very good reason, and that is if you are considering fictional writing, perhaps historical fiction or the fantasy genre. I've also seen the Gies books listed in various Amazon.com lists for running role playing game campaigns. Having played RPGs myself in high school, I can say that all the Gies books (of the two I've read, this one and the Castle book, with Cities coming in a few weeks from now probably) would indeed be a valuable reference, because the reader will find the sort of day to day detail that is well suited to that work. It also contains a lengthy list of references and a short glossary of terms, so as a common reference and mildly enjoyable read, Life in a Medieval Village is an alright book.
Book Description
This reprint of the third book in Nichols's Allways trilogy contains a new foreword by Bryan Connon, Beverley Nichols's biographer. Set in the English countryside, the hilarious memoir is as much about the author's love for plants as it is about the village in which he lived. The depictions of flowers and ornamentals — "A single one of those gloxinias would be an event in Allways ... I should give a party for it" — are both inspiring and unforgettable. This is the voice of one whose chief endowment is an appreciation for plants and the landscape, including a keen understanding of the importance gardens play in an increasingly modern world.
Customer Reviews:
VILLAGE IN A VALLEY.......2007-03-13
I was a bit disappointed in this book - Beverley seems to have not been as interested in his subject as he was in the other 2 books of this trilogy, and he became quite morbid in the last section. Perhaps he was in a hurry to get the book finished, or wasn't well at the time.
Average customer rating:
- Hold the Premarin !!!!
- no more Martha
- A Grave rewrite is needed
- Not her best
- A wonderful, thought provoking book
|
The Grave Maurice
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| African American
| Asian American
| Classics
| Collections & Readers
| Drama
| General
| Hispanic
| History & Criticism
| Humor
| Jewish American
| Letters & Correspondence
| Native American
| Poetry
| Short Stories
| Women Writers
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Grimes, Martha
| ( G )
| Authors, A-Z
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Fiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Blue Last
-
The Winds Of Change: A Richard Jury Mystery
-
The Case Has Altered
-
Rainbow's End
-
Stargazey
ASIN: 0670030457
Release Date: 2002-08-26 |
Amazon.com
In this, the 18th outing in Martha Grimes's popular series featuring Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury and his aristocrat pal Melrose Plant, Jury, recuperating from a near-fatal shooting (The Blue Last) hears about the two-year-old abduction of his doctor's talented young daughter, Nell Ryder, who disappeared from her grandfather's stud farm, along with a champion thoroughbred horse. Pursuing the stalled investigation when he's released from the hospital, Jury stumbles on a complicated scheme involving murder, insurance fraud, and a scheme to replicate a popular menopause drug derived from the urine of pregnant mares. As readers of this popular series know, while there's a mystery at the heart of every Jury novel, the real payoff is in Grimes's lucent prose, wit, and complex characterizations. Fans of British mystery writer Dick Francis, who's made the world of thoroughbreds his own turf, will find this a delightful diversion, particularly since Francis recently announced his retirement from the genre. --Jane Adams
Book Description
"Chew on this," says Melrose Plant to Richard Jury, who's in the hospital being driven crazy by Hannibal, a nurse who likes to speculate on his chances for survival. Jury could use a good story, preferably one not ending with his own demise.
Plant tells Jury of something he overheard in The Grave Maurice, a pub near the hospital. A woman told an intriguing story about a girl named Nell Ryder, granddaughter to the owner of the Ryder Stud Farm in Cambridgeshire, who went missing more than a year before and has never been found. What is especially interesting to Plant is that Nell is also the daughter of Jury's surgeon.
But Nell's disappearance isn't the only mystery at the Ryder farm. A woman has been found dead on the track-a woman who was a stranger even to the Ryders.
But not to Plant. She's the woman he saw in The Grave Maurice. Together with Jury, Nell's family, and the Cambridgeshire police, Plant embarks on a search to find Nell and bring her home. But is there more to their mission than just restoring a fifteen-year-old girl to her family?
The Grave Maurice is the eighteenth entry in the Richard Jury series and, from its pastoral opening to its calamitous end, is full of the same suspense and humor that devoted readers expect from Martha Grimes.
Customer Reviews:
Hold the Premarin !!!!.......2007-07-22
This book, while dull, was eye opening about the abuse that the US's drug companies are allowed to get away with. In the book they were concerned about the horse's quality of life - but actually what are the drug companies doing to damage & destroy people's health in their quest for profit!?! Think about it.
no more Martha.......2007-03-04
I can't remember when I was more angry at the ending of a book. When I finished THE GRAVE MAURICE I swore that I would never read another Martha Grimes book, and so far I haven't. I admit I miss Richard Jury and Melrose Plant as I would any other old friends, but I am tired of endings that feel like a kick in the stomach! So, no more Martha. I will find new friends elsewhere.
A Grave rewrite is needed.......2005-05-27
Well, I'm not sure how to begin. While the back cover synopsis is intriguing, the execution leaves something to be desired. The book was by far one of the least well written that I've read. Grimes is constantly going off on tangents that seem to have no bearing on the story. I found myself lost several times and having to go back and figure out what was supposed to be happening.
The only reason I gave this book 2 stars instead of one was that the author seemed to get back on track for the last 50-75 pages.
Overall, I cannot recommend this book and will only give the author one more try before "writing" her off completely.
Not her best.......2004-09-12
I have read all her books. Obviously, I love her writing. But I have real problems with this one. Two incredible plot contrivances and a horrific ending really spoiled this brew for me.
Still, it's Martha Grimes, one of the best, most erudite mystery writers of our time. I guess everybody has to throw in a stinker from time to time.
A wonderful, thought provoking book.......2004-08-31
This is a book which grabs your attention from the beginning. I had avoided it because I thought the subject matter would bother me. I can't stand to read about animals in pain. But I managed to persevere and really enjoyed it. I have to confess that I hated the ending, but I could see how it fit the book. I have looked up Premarin on the internet. It is as awful as portrayed in the book. Humans are anything but, I'm afraid.
Average customer rating:
|
Cambridge Observed
Manufacturer: R&L Yeatman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
Guidebooks
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Fiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0905899814 |
Book Description
Beverley Nichols fans, armchair gardeners, and literature enthusiasts will delight in this reprint of the second book in his Allways trilogy, with facsimile reproductions of Rex Whistler's original graceful illustrations and a new foreword by Roy C. Dicks. Nichols's humorous ruminations on life in the countryside, as always, are refreshing. The typical Nichols gardening anecdotes and familiar characters are there, as well as the author's beloved dog, Whoops, an inveterate spy with a habit of leaping to conclusions.
Customer Reviews:
A cozy read.......2006-03-18
Cast yourself back to England circa the 1920s-30s, snuggle up in a comfy chair by the fireside, and get ready to be drawn into the life of Beverley Nichols, the village of "Allways," and the story of how a centuries-old thatched cottage was restored. A great vacation from the 21st century, cell phones, and the hurried/harried life.
A Thatched Roof - Book 2 of the Allways Trilogy.......2006-03-07
Delightful reading by a wonderful writer. Although Nichols claim to fame is that of a garden writer, this book spends less time gardening (than the first) and more time repairing, and discovering his cottage at Allways. Nevertheless, whether read by a gardener or not, it is a wonderful and quick read as the author takes us in and out and up and down throughout his cottage as he attempts to make it not only habitable, but civilized. I look foward to the rest of this trilogy and his other 'gardening' books.
Average customer rating:
|
Leadership and Creativity - A History of the Cavendish Laboratory, 1871-1919 (ARCHIMEDES Volume 5) New Studies in the History and Philosophy of (Archimedes)
Dong-Won Kim
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Reference
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Research
| Education
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Methodology & Statistics
| Experiments, Instruments & Measurement
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
History of Science
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Physics
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Professional & Technical
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1402004753 |
Book Description
This book intends to answer the following questions: What made it possible to create the Cavendish Laboratory in the 1870s? What was the Laboratory's principal role within Cambridge University and how did this role change over time? Who performed research at the Cavendish, when did they work there, and what topics did they investigate? In what ways and to what extent did the Laboratory's directors influence the work of Cavendish researchers? How did the Cavendish become the mecca of experimental physics during the first third of the twentieth century? In short, why was the Cavendish Laboratory so successful? In his search for the most plausible answers, the author makes clear that the history of Cavendish Laboratory is not only the story of a successful physics laboratory but also the story of great men.
Book Description
This superbly illustrated book is the culmination of 30 years studying, living and photographing in this beautiful and illustrious university-city and market town. The intro to the book covers the historical development of the city from its earliest days and the arrival of the university in the 13th century, through to the present day and
Book Description
As part of the AHT series, the airfields and interest in this book are concentrated in a particular area - in this case Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.
Constituted as the lst Bombardment Division on 30 August 1943 the unit was activated at Brampton Grange, Huntingdon on 13 September 1943. It was assigned to the Eighth Air Force and redesignated lst Air Division in December 1944. The division served in combat in the European theater of Operations from September 1943 until April 1945.
All squadrons within the division flew the long-distance Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber on raids into occupied Europe and Germany. There were forty-eight squadrons in the division based at Bassingbourn, Ridgewell, Nuthamstead, Podington, Chelveston, Thurleigh, Molesworth, Kimbolten, Grafton Underwood, Polebrook, Deenethorpe and Glatton.
As part of the AHT series, the airfields and interest in this book are concentrated in a particular area - in this case Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.
Constituted as the lst Bombardment Division on 30 August 1943 the unit was activated at Brampton Grange, Huntingdon on 13 September 1943. It was assigned to the Eighth Air Force and redesignated lst Air Division in December 1944. The division served in combat in the European theater of Operations from September 1943 until April 1945.
All squadrons within the division flew the long-distance Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber on raids into occupied Europe and Germany. There were forty-eight squadrons in the division based at Bassingbourn, Ridgewell, Nuthamstead, Podington, Chelveston, Thurleigh, Molesworth, Kimbolten, Grafton Underwood, Polebrook, Deenethorpe and Glatton.
Books:
- Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture
- Essentials of Corporate Finance (Mcgraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate)
- Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide
- FLIP: How to Find, Fix, and Sell Houses for Profit
- FLIP: How to Find, Fix, and Sell Houses for Profit
- FLIP: How to Find, Fix, and Sell Houses for Profit
- Flipping Confidential: The Secrets of Renovating Property for Profit In Any Market
- Floating Cities: Venice, Amsterdam, Leningrad-And Moscow
- Fundamentals of WiMAX: Understanding Broadband Wireless Networking (Prentice Hall Communications Engineering and Emerging Technologies Series)
- Great Planned Communities
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Selling 101: What Every Successful Sales Professional Needs to Know
- Earthly Joys: A Novel
- The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success
- Under the Sea
- America Needs a Buddhist President
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
- Biochemistry
- The Feelings Book: The Care & Keeping of Your Emotions
- Valuation of Corporate Growth Opportunities: A Real Options Approach
- Aaron, Approximately: A Novel
Thatched Roof (Beverley Nichols's Allways Trilogy)
Village in a Valley (Beverley Nichols's Allways Trilogy)
Merry Hall (Beverley Nichols Trilogy Book 1)
Laughter On The Stairs (Beverley Nichols Trilogy Book 2)
Sunlight On The Lawn (Beverley Nichols Trilogy Book 3)
