A History of Costume (Dover Fashion and Costumes)

Amazing that the original author's name is listed without the names of the editor and translator.

Author Carl Kohler died in 1876 near Nurnberg, Germany. His paintings and writings, upon which this particular reprint of a compilation are based, were previously published, intact, in German under the names "Die Trachten der Volker in Bild und Schnitt" and "Die Entwicklung der Tracht in Deutschland wahrend des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit", both in the late 1870s.

Emma Von Sichart, the editor of this publication, took it upon herself in the early 1920s to gather up Kohler's sketches, drawings, paintings, and writings, and put them together in a new book. During the process, she deleted almost all of Kohler's introductory or period descriptive writings, and replaced those words with either her own, or Max von Boehn's, another historian.

In addition, Emma Von Sichart added new, contemporary photographs and sketches to bring Kohler's work "up to date", at least as far as the very late 1920s. In many places she eliminated or changed Kohler's measurements, or interpretations of the cut of clothing, simply to make the work more "accessible" to the seamstress, costumer, or interested reader of the early 20th century.

Further, in order to bring the publication to English speaking markets, Emma Von Sichart's writing was translated by Alexander K. Dallas, M.A., which might have further changed the original content.

So, before we blame Kohler, who, in his time, was very highly regarded as a serious historian and quite the expert in period clothing, styles, customs, etc., we must first look to the likelihood of errors created by the editor Emma Von Sichart, and the translation errors of Alexander K. Dallas.

If by any chance you have the original German publications of the late 1870s, you do indeed have a spectacular rare treat of period costume history.

Just keep in mind that this particular book is a facsimile reprint of a translation of a heavily edited and recompiled selection of at least two originals.

The text of this book is dry, but very informative. There are many sketched and black and white illustrations, but not enough to fully support the text. (I recommend Boucher's 20,000 Years of Fashion as a companion). The patterns give a better idea of the construction of the clothes, but they are approximations and no tips are given for making your own. Make sure you refer to other sources before using his patterns. This book is most useful for its detailed descriptions of specific periods, including not just the cut and style of the period, but also material, shoes, hairstyles, accessories, and who wore what and how and on what occasions.

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This is a decent overview of costume history from the Ancients to the mid 19th century with authentic resources (statues, portraits, extant costumes, pictures) as well as some original illustrations (be cautious with those and cross-reference, especially with women's garments and periods where the shapes are linear and the sides and bust are flattened--Kohler tends to round things out and represent the bust in a more rounded, typically 1860's style). It also contains a few patterns that are minimally useful (lack or proportion or instruction, etc.) except to understand the anatomy of the garments and how the pieces might fit together. No color pictures, but enough illustrations and primary resources to contribute to an overall sense of a period in costume history.

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This is one of the first costume references I got when I began to study the subject in college. It remains one of the first references I pull out when I need costume historical information. If you have any interest in the subject you should have this book.

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This was somewhat helpful in my study of vintage clothing. It is not as helpful for my needs as The Dictionary of Costume and Fashion.

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Dumbbell Training for Strength And Fitness

In addition to listing an effective series of dumbbell exercises that work every muscle group, the authors provide important exercise guidelines. They discuss training frequency, how to perform a repetition properly, rest between sets, duration of training sessions and proper order of exercises. This not a generic, bland bookthe authors are willing to give their viewpoints on controversies in exercise.

The book includes exercise routines from strength coaches such as Dr. Ken Leistner, Jeff Friday (strength coach for the Baltimore Ravens) and several strength coaches for NCAA division 1 schools.

The book is totally essential for anyone training at home, but will be of a great help to those training in gyms. In fact, some who train at gyms will be tempted to purchase a set of Power block dummbbells (dumbbells that go from 10-130 lbs and take up about 4 square feet) and skip their gym fees. After reading this book, you will gain a greater appreciation of the usefulness and versatility of training with dumbbells.

Get this book! You will not be disappointed.

If your workout employs dumbbells (Powerblocks in my case), this book is a great resource.

Though Brzycki doesn't go into the depth of why HIT works as much as his other books (Maximize Your Training; A Practical Approach To Strength Training), the book does provide a reasonable background on training philosophy as well as rep, set and tempo recommendations.

The gem that sets this book aside from others are the thirty plus workouts from outstanding trainers at the high school, collegiate and professional level from all around the United States. Excellent stuff that will keep any training enthusiast happy for a long time to come.

Bottom line? Buy this book. It's well worth the investment in time, money and your health.

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There are a couple of "cons" to this book: I agree with previous comments that the photos are too small and not always at the best angle for showing the proper positions. Also, some of the models are wearing oversized T-shirts and sweatshirts that make it hard to see how they are holding their arms, positioning the back, etc. I also agree with the previous reviewer who said the squat in this book is a Bulgarian Squat, not what people would normally do for a regular squat. And the lunge does look like a split squat, not a regular lunge. When a routine in the book calls for a squat, I do a regular squat, not the Bulgarian Squat from the book.

But overall this is a great book, with many great upper body routines, split routines, and specialization routines to choose from. Each routine was sumbitted by a different professional, and I'm enjoying sampling all the different training styles! The routines are short too, which makes it easy to stick with and find time to fit in a workout.

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This book is valuable to anyone who wants to get the best results from his/her strength routine, whether training at home or training in a gym. Not only does this book describe how to train correctly (good form, proper intensity, recommended volume, etc.), it also provides many sample strength training routines that cover the whole body. This book can also teach one how to train with barbells and machines. It is not just limited to dumbells.

I keep a copy of this book on the shelf above my desk and use it as a quick reference when training my clients and/or athletes. I highly recommend this book to any trainee or strength coach/fitness trainer.

Jeff Holt, M.Ed.

Professional Sports and Fitness Trainer

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Dumbbell Training for Strength And Fitness is a well-written and illustrated guide to safe and effective dumbbell training. If, like me, you've been training with dumbbells for years and prefer it to other training methods, this book will expand your knowledge base on dumbbell training and provide a ton of tips on technique you would typically get only from a very knowledgeable personal trainer. If you are just getting started, most importantly, this book will walk you through the proper technique for dumbbell training. I cannot stress enough, especially with dumbbells, the need for "safe" training for longevity and "effective" training to achieve the results that motivate you to keep training. Great book worth the read if you train or want to start training on your own with dumbbells!

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Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide

I love this volume but would still place The Victory Garden as the first essential vegetable cookbook; then I'd place this as the second vegetable cookbook for a well-stocked kitchen.

The book is arranged alphabetically by plant. An index in the back allows you to find produce by an alternative name. An index in the front sorts the recipes by type.

To give an indication of its range the first few entries are: arugula, asian pear, atemoya, blood orange, bok choy, bolete, boniato, breadfruit ... The books gives a basic introduction to the history and geography of the plant, guides for selection and storage, basic preparation, nutritional value and recipes. For breadfuit, for a green breadfruit there is a salad recipe, for a medium ripe on there are soup and pudding recipes.

The recipes are all practical, everyday meal recipes. This book is an excellent guide for using the produce items that are more recently added to your supermarket produce bins.

I have an earlier edition of this book, and have really enjoyed using it. It includes background and the author's commentary on each fruit or vegetable (and, as one of the authors notes, not your "garden variety" fruit and vegetables, but unusual things like kumquats and quince that those of us who grew up on iceberg lettuce may not have encountered.) She also includes a sampling of recipes for each item. The recipes have the author's usual creative flair, and all the ones I have tried have been really great. But, unless I was really more interested in the fruit part of the equation, I would look into buying her new vegetable book first. It was just published in December 2001, and would therefore be more current. There has been so much change in bringing some of the more unusual foods to market that it may make most sense to have Schneider's most recent book.

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Is there a special section in the produce department of your favorite up-scale supermarket that has mysterious new plants with unfamliar names such as atemoya, boniato, burdock or calabaza? Have you tried carambola, cassava, chayote or cherimoya? No?

If you had a book filled with descriptions of exotic fruits and vegetables would you try them, especially if the book has delicious recipes? Yes?

Then this is a book you should own. It will help you explore 80 different fruits and vegetables, some of them strange and delicious, others just strange. The book has about 420 recipes for you to try. Enough for you to find some new favorites.

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I have the original of this book and find myself constantly reviewing it every time I come back from the tropical food markets. This book is very helpful even if one is familiar with and have grown up eating these kinds of fruits and vegetables. This book provides americanized recipes which is good because aside from being nutritious, most of these fruits and vegetables are beautiful and aesthetically presentable. You can serve fruits and vegetables that do not need to be masked by some gumbo-colored sauce. If you are the kind of cook who likes to serve beautiful dishes this book comes handy. You don't even have to follow the recipes just to use the vegetables. Once you become familiar with the vegetables you will discover how compatible they are with the common vegetables found in your regular supermaket on a dish of your own recipe. For example you could prepare a chicken dish with sliced tomatoes, potatoes, red and green bell peppers,carrots and bok choy with thickened chicken broth with your own choice of spices. The book details the following for each fruit and vegetable: Scientific name, description, beautiful illustrations, selection and storage, preparation and nutritional highlights.

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I began to browse through Ms. Schneider's book because I had some unusual fruit on my hands that needed to be cooked. I became ENTHRAWLED by the fascinating information about vegetables and fruit from A to Z, but not our usual apples and oranges varieties. I couldn't put it down. I will be giving this book to everyone I know!

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