Average customer rating:
- I'm not a Tiptree fan and this book didn't change my mind.
- Hugo and Nebula Award-winning feminist science fiction
- Stories that intrigue, challenge and interest
|
Houston, Houston, do you read? (The Science Fiction Book Club collection)
James Tiptree
Manufacturer: Doubleday Book & Music Clubs]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
 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
ASIN: 1568652518 |
Customer Reviews:
I'm not a Tiptree fan and this book didn't change my mind........2005-09-18
Like most of Tiptree's work, this is well-written and interesting, but also rather sordid. The story opens with a nauseating account of a humiliating incident from the male narrator's adolescence, which I suppose is supposed to remind us that men can harbor hostility towards women, or something. The story is full of gratuitous profanities which quickly become tiresome. The three men who visit the all-female future display a couple of standard attitudes; one views the entire world as his harem, while another sees himself as a sort of Messiah come to rescue these poor lost women from celibacy and stagnation. Incidentally, stagnation is another theme of many gynotopian novels, including Herland and perhaps When It Changed and Consider Her Ways; the women in these don't put a very high value on technological prowess or on building or inventing things "because they are there". Arguably, without the strife inherent in having two fundamentally different types of people in the world, there might be less inspiration and drive to create new things. Anyway, eventually the women realize that males are evil and must be killed. The battle of the sexes continues.
Hugo and Nebula Award-winning feminist science fiction .......2004-11-27
When I recently came across a copy of Houston, Houston Do You Read? I had never heard of James Tiptree, Jr. This story, which resides somewhere between long short story and novella, won both Nebula and Hugo Awards, though, and that certainly snared my interest. In the end, though, I find myself much more interested in the author than the story - frankly, the story never really captured my imagination at all, and I'm having trouble understanding why it was such a big deal. It is a feminist story, and that is its primary claim to fame. As for myself, I saw some men behaving badly (what else is new?), but obviously I'm not close enough to the feminist wavelength to get a real charge out of what I read here.
In the story, three astronauts returning to Earth are stymied in their attempts to contact Mission Control in Houston; some women keep popping up on the frequency, and it takes a while for the startling truth to sink in: somehow, the three male astronauts have experienced a time slip and now find themselves a few hundred years in the future. They aren't that keen on being saved by a bunch of women (you know how men hate to ask a woman for directions), but it eventually becomes clear that they have no choice (unless they would prefer a slow, agonizing death in space). These women are a little different, though, and it soon becomes clear that they are hiding something. The truth is rather obvious, but it takes a while for the protagonist to figure things out - in the midst of a drug-induced haze, we flash back with him to earlier parts of the story and slowly put together the clues that make his situation, without question, unique.
James Tiptree, Jr., was famous for writing incredibly insightful gender-bending and feminist stories. A generally unsuspected truth about the author finally became public about the time this story was published, however. To the shock of basically everyone (including Robert Silverberg, who had recently gone out of his way to characterize the masculinity of Tiptree's writing), Tiptree (a former Army Air Corps major and retired CIA employee) turned out to be a woman named Alice Sheldon. Actually, Houston, Houston Do You Read? was published under the name Raccoona Sheldon (the use of two pen names was a handy means of getting two stories published in one collection). A general brouhaha ensued, robbing the author of much of her creative utility in the years to follow. In 1987, she was found dead alongside her husband; he had no desire to live since he became infirm, and she had no desire to live without him, so she killed him and then herself.
A sense of darkness and mystery seems to characterize Sheldon's fiction, and her writing was reportedly rather shocking for reading audiences in the early 1970s. Today, the James Tiptree, Jr. Award is given annually for the science fiction work that best explores the issue of gender, proving that the trail-blazing legacy of Alice Sheldon lives on. I wish I could say I really enjoyed this award-winning story, but it never really drew me in to its strange future world. Those with an interest in feminism, though, especially feminism in science fiction, should definitely check out the work of James Tiptree, Jr., and this famous story would certainly seem to be a good place to start.
Stories that intrigue, challenge and interest.......2001-12-13
James Tiptree, an alias of Alice Sheldon, was one of the most intriguing authors of the Seventies and Eighties. Her stories were frequently bleak in appearance but not always in tone. For instance the title story concerns a space crew suddenly transported to a rather different future. And while we wouldn't wish to share their ultimate fate, it says much about our modern assumptions about gender roles, self-deception, and an ability to see humor in the workings of fate. Tiptree/Sheldon's writing is powerful enough that this story has stuck in my mind for more than twenty years and a few thousand other books. Even if I don't immediately recall the other stories in the book, each offered something different and unique. Even the weakest written of them was the equal of most other short fiction.
What I've always valued in this collection in particular is its ability to make me think. I originally read it in my mid-teens, a period when most of us are forming our initial view of the world and personal philosophy. "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" introduced a different viewpoint to me, which influenced some of my later reading interests. You may not find all the stories comfortable to read but don't avoid them simply for that reason or because you don't agree with the central ideas.
Average customer rating:
|
Houston, Houston, Do You Read?
Manufacturer: Science Fiction Book Club Collection
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HK49FU |
Amazon.com
When it was first published in 1980, Maida Heatter's Book of Chocolate Desserts became a New York Times bestseller and then won a James Beard award. The book is Heatter's third, a mouthwatering compendium of superb but easily achieved chocolate cakes, cookies, pies, puddings, confections, sauces, and more. Like all of Heater's books, Chocolate Desserts balances good taste with warm, meticulous instruction that anticipates and addresses every question and concern a dessert-maker might have. Cooks at every skill level, from amateur to professional, will find Heater's recipes, and their results, a joy.
Arranged by categories like cakes, pastries, and cold and hot desserts, the hundreds of recipes are a chocolate-lover's dream come true. There are classic Heatter offerings, like her Palm Beach Brownies, the ultimate in dark, chewy fudginess, and her Positively-the-Absolute-Best Chocolate Chip Cookies (they are). Other must-make treats include Amaretto-Amaretti Chocolate Cheesecake with Chocolate Cigarettes, Chocolate Merry-Go-Round Cake, Chocolate Pecan Angel Pie, and 4-Star French Chocolate Ice Cream. The book begins with a comprehensive introduction to ingredients, equipment, and techniques and is filled throughout with Heatter's invaluable advice. Drawings by Toni Evans illuminate the exemplary text. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
Chocoholics rejoice! Heatter's perennial favorite has everything for the chocolate-loving cook--cakes, cookies, pies, puddings and more. Each recipe is precisely detailed, and Heatter provides valuable advice on cooking techniques, ingredients and equipment.
Customer Reviews:
This one is a gem!.......2007-02-24
I received this book many years ago at my Sweet Sixteen birthday party. I was already a pretty good cook, but I credit this book with taking me to the next level.
What is truly special about this book is that the author takes her time to tell us things other cookbook writers don't. First, she gives us a lovely introduction to each recipe, including where it comes from, and what to expect from it. That certainly saves the home cook much time and effort trying recipes that might not be a good match. She tells us at beginning of each one which desserts are moist, dense, light, easy, challenging, sweet, less-sweet, etc. Which means that I was able to zero in on the recipes which were most likely to match what I or my guests like.
Second, she discusses choices of equipment and ingredients, both in an introductory chapter and then again throughout. And unlike other gourmet cookbooks which are sometimes inflexible, she is frank about choices and substitutions, and when it's o.k. to use less costly or more readily available ingredients.
And third, she doesn't assume that the home cook has training as a pastry chef, which means she includes details like how & why to temper your eggs, how to arrange the oven racks for a particular recipe, and which way of preparing your spring-form pan will work best with this particular recipe.
And lastly, she ends most recipes with ideas for alternate forms of the same recipe, either in suggested ingredient substitutions, or alternative prep methods, or variant presentation.
As a result, this is a hefty book, and many recipes take up several pages. The first chocolate chip cookie recipe itself is 3 full pages long. (There are eleven chocolate chip cookie recipes to choose from!)
Many (!) years later, when I see friends from high school, they still talk about the chocolate desserts I made from recipes in this fabulous cookbook.
Best ever.......2007-01-15
I bought it when it was first available back in the early 80s and all the recipes are really great. But first among equals is the Toblerone Milk Chocolate Mousse - I regularly double the recipe and it never fails to please.
At Last, Thank You Mr. Publisher.......2006-08-13
This book has been unavailable for many years. The copies that people had (I wasn't lucky enough to have one of my own and had to Xerox pages here and there from friends that did.) they held on to very tightly. Now it's available again, (Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing) and we can all have our very own copies.
As you can tell from the title, this is a book on CHOCOLATE. Why waste time on Apple Pie or Strawberry Shortcake when you can have CHOCOLATE! Why have Pecan Pie when you can have CHOCOLATE Pecan Pie (Recipie on Page 179). Hundreds of CHOCOLATE recipies. Why you can mix CHOCOLATE with nearly everything and it will turn out better. What more can I say in a review?
Well there is one thing, in the Introduction she says 'Don't Mess With the Recipies, follow the directions carefully.' Nah! Experiment! Just don't blame her when things don't turn out right. For instance she often recommends walnuts. I don't like walnuts, I simply use pecans instead (MAMMOTH PECAN HALVES from Navarro Pecan Co. - Don't even think about any other, yes they are on the web.) And her otherwise excellent 86-Proof Chocolate Cake (Page 83) calls for the addition of instant coffee. I can't stand coffee, I left it out and added more bourbon. Sorry Maida!
Must disagree with jerry i h , Aug 2004.......2006-08-02
I must disagree with the review posted by jerry i.h.in Aug 2004. All of the sins of omission that he mentions are covered in great detail in the ingredients chapter. For example, there is one page on sifting and measuring flour, a paragraph on egg size as it applies to the way Heatter writes recipes, and a page on beating egg whites. Ms Heatter is known as one of the "Three Fussbudgets" at my house (Rose Levy Berenbaum & Lynn Rosetto Kasper being the other two) because her instructions are sometimes detailed to the point of being fussy. Her directions yield beautiful results however, and provide techniques that can be used in other recipes to good effect. (Her pan-lining trick for bar cookies comes to mind.) The Palm Beach Brownies have become the only brownie I bake now as they are so wonderful. Her detailed instructions yield a reliably, decadently fudgy brownie, with a marvelous espresso kick. I would buy this book if only for this recipe. (Incidentally, versions of this recipe are available on the internet, but they modify the ingredients and skip significant portions of the instructions such that I cannot believe a comparable brownie would result.)
A Good But Not Great Chocolate Book.......2004-08-16
This book has a legendary reputation. It was one of the earliest (1978) bestselling cookbooks about just chocolate. Most cookbook authors and culinary professionals either have it or know about it. I find this chocolate book rather over-rated, but it is nevertheless a good resource for chocolate recipes to have on your bookshelf.
The recipes are an impressive collection from far and wide, and this is reflected in the vastly different recipe instructions. The author seems to have left the procedures largely intact from the original source, other than to supply the details you might have trouble with. I suspect that some of the recipes did not work originally, and the author then had to "fix" them. In the end, I had no trouble with any of the recipes I tried, even the wacky ones I thought would not work (such as a cake that uses whipped cream instead of whipped egg whites). The author has a good feel for what the average home cook is capable of, and most people should not have much trouble with any of the recipes.
The tremendous variety of recipes is this book's strongest suit. It is a scrap book full of truly good recipes from many people and places, many of them professionals and/or famous cooks. It has sections on cakes, cookies, pastry, desserts, and other (confections, sauces, decorations, drinks, reprints).
The author commits the ultimate baking cookbook sin: not specifying how the flour is measured, nor supplying the equivalent weights. The author merely says "fill" a measuring cup with flour and level, but it is not clear if this is "scoop and sweep" or "spoon as sweep". I used spoon and sweep (a la Julia Child), and this seemed to give the correct results. The ingredient lists specify sifted flour, and instructions also specify sifting; it is not clear if the author wants the flour sifted twice (once for measurement and another for mixing the flour with other dry ingredients) or just the once listed in the recipe. If the sifting is during measurement, it is also not clear if this suppose to occur before or after measuring.
Besides flour measurement, it is also lax in other aspects. Varying egg sizes are treated as more or less interchangeable (they are not). Reliable and detailed instructions on how to tell when things are done baking are notably absent. There are no detailed instructions on how to do the 2 things used in virtually every recipe: creaming butter and sugar, or beating egg yolk and sugar to a ribbon stage. The temperature of eggs or butter is usually not specified. A majority of the recipes specify decoration or frosting, but the instructions for them are not supplied. There is a chatty essay about the varieties of chocolate, but the author does not give firm recommendations as to specific brands; she merely lists the commercial brands available at the time, although some recipes do list brands. There is no advice on the proper method of cutting flourless cakes that are notably sticky or moist. In the introductory chapter, there are detailed procedures for folding batters and melting chocolate, subjects that are usually absent from baking books. However, there is not a similar dissertation for whipping egg whites; the brief instructions contained within the recipes are not sufficient. On the bright side, this book has instructions for making pie dough that are complete, detailed, and reliable, quite a rarity these days.
Book Description
Here are nearly 300 recipes, each of them worked out to fool-proof protection: Raspberry-Strawberry Bavarian, creamy Black-and-White Cheesecake, Walnut Fudge Pie a la Mode and many more. 35 line drawings.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful, practical - the best dessert cookbook author.......2007-01-19
I've been cooking from various Maida Heatter books for 25 years now, and though I have quite a few other cookbooks, none come close to the level of her 5 cookbooks (plus 3 compilation books of the same recipes).
There's no point in my picking out a few great recipes in this book - you will like them all.
I have made perhaps 50% of the recipes in all her books, some a few times, some very many times. In those thousands of desserts, all but a couple were wonderful. Some dessert recipes are designed to just look good - but Maida's desserts ALWAYS taste great. Some are fancier than the others, and (particularly in her later dessert books) some take quite a bit of time to create - choose the recipe for the occasion.
This is her first cookbook and if you read it carefully she will teach you how to do everything you need. Read the introduction, get the right equipment/pans and get the right ingredients. Follow the instructions too! She is the first to point out that if you use margine instead of butter, or this instead of that, then the recipe may not work. Just do everything exactly as she says and you will be rewarded with a success EVERY time.
With very few exceptions, the ingredients needed to make her recipes are widely available. You may choose to buy the best chocolate if you like (and I try to do so), but the desserts are great regardless. She has a few flourless recipes using ground almonds, but I've not been successful in grinding my own and can't seem to buy it locally.
Without a doubt the best dessert cookbook author ever!
THE Classic Dessert Cookbook.......2006-11-26
I dream about two of the recipes from this book they are so good: Palm Beach Brownies and Raspberry-Strawberry Bavarian. I've made them over and over again, always with great success; it is amazing how people swoon over them. When I'm looking for a dessert recipe (as opposed to, say, wanting to bake a cake) this is the first (and usually only) book that I turn to. Ms. Heatter writes with such joy throughout this work that her pleasure is quite contagious. Highly recommended!
A little overrated.......2006-08-29
Comparing to James McNair's recipes this book just does not cut the mustard, so to speak. It was not as userfriendly as other recipe books that I have found, such as the Neiman Marcus cookbook. But then again, for those who have followed Ms. Heatter for years may indeed like this book.
Please Review the Right Book!.......2006-04-26
RE: I recommend that readers disregard Very Disappointed's negative review of _Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts_. "Very" claims that the "Palm Beach Brownies" recipe failed. There is no such recipe in the book! In fact, there is no brownie recipe with macadamia nuts in this book! Moreover, there is no such recipe in _Maida Heatter's Book of Great American Desserts_, nor in _Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever_.
I am not a dessert cook--just a dessert eater--but my wife has cooked from the book under review for nearly 30 years and she raves about it. I can attest to the reliability and very quality of the results, due in no small part to my wife's religious devotion to the precise details of Heatter's instructions.
Here is what Maida Heatter writes in her Introduction:
"I have cooked and tested every one of the recipes in this book over and over so that they are worked out perfectly. But in order for these recipes to work for you as they do for me, it is of utmost importance that you follow every direction exactly" (xi).
These desserts are beyond good--they are perfect. Your family and your guests will be knocked over. Many recipes have become family classics that get passed around again and again.
Recommended most highly and without reservation.
Wonderful book!.......2006-04-12
I use this book all the time and have never had a recipe fail (including the Palm Beach Brownies). I will agree with another reviewer that this is not for a new baker, but for someone with some experience and a feel for the process.
Customer Reviews:
Out-Of-This-World Recipes!.......2004-01-27
As always, Maida Heatter continues to amaze with her fantastic recipes. Apparently she has travelled this country far and wide to collect the very best of dessert recipes once again. There are certainly other fine authors of dessert cookbooks out there, but no one surpasses this lady. She has information on ingredients, equipment and techniques. (I now know how to make my own brown sugar, should I ever want to.) She has chapters on cakes; pies and tarts; yeast cakes; sweet breads, gingerbreads, and muffins; cookies and crackers; custards, mousses, souffles, etc.; fruit desserts and finally ice cream and other frozen desserts.
Ms. Heatter seldom spends less than two pages on the simplest of recipes so there is practically no way you can make a mistake when making any of these desserts. Who else, for example, would spend over three pages describing how to bake a pie shell? A cake she has labelled "The Best Damn Lemon Cake", a simple loaf cake, takes up two pages. Fine as this cake is-- I have baked it--the East 62nd Street Lemon Cake in another of Ms. Heatter's books is even better and clearly the best lemon cake I've ever baked or tasted.
There are two other recipes in this cookbook I swear by. One is the Chocolate Souffle Cake on pages 36-38. This darkly rich flourless cake with the texture inside of a chocolate mousse bakes at 300 degrees for 2 1/4 hours. You can put this cake together in no time at all, and you will be rewarded four-fold for your efforts. It's as good a flourless chocolate cake as you will find. The second recipe is the Old-Fashioned Butterscotch Pie. Once again this recipe covers over three pages, 178-181. Heatter describes this pie as an "old Southern recipe." My own mother has been making a similar pie for over 60 years and has helped clog the arteries of many a partaker at church socials in her neighborhood with these desserts. This pie has a rich butterscotch taste, not too sweet, and has the consistency of poured silk. Although I have watched my mother make this pie dozens of times-- she swears it must be made in an iron skillet-- I am intimidated by what looks like an effortless endeavor on her part and was glad to find this recipe on my own.
Amazing cakes.......2002-12-15
I know, you're thinking "Of _course_ it has amazing cakes" and it does - there's the fruitcake recipe (don't groan - you've never had fruitcake like this one - it's not a store bought dry one, this is the _real_ thing) and the "Best Damn Lemon Cake" but also "Mom's Apple pie" and key lime pie as well. This woman is a wizard when it comes to food.
And you can be, too - she gives explict easy to follow instructions for all the recipes, as well as stories behind certain recipes and suggestions as to ingredients. It couldn't be easier unless she baked it for you and yours - but I'm sure she's busy, so empower _yorself_ and learn how to bake this stuff - your family will think you are a deity (god or goddess, doesn't really matter, does it?).
So buy the book, pick a recipe and make it your signature dessert - you know, the one they always ask you to bring to the pot lucks and such. You;ll be glad you did.
She has many recipes for you to choose from.......2002-11-14
My first comment about this book is that it is simply filled with recipes. These aren't the recipes that are so-so, they are all wonderful. This book covers many different types of desserts. She focuses primarly upon; cakes, pies and tarts, yeast cakes, sweet breads, gingerbreads, muffins, cookies, crackers, custards, mousses, souffles, fruit desserts, ice cream, and other frozen desserts. The first 25 page of this book will help you with ideas and suggestions on ingredients, equipment, and techniques. Recipes are clearly written, with either where the recipe comes from, or an important tip that you might need to aide you in making the particular recipe. To me, this book reminds me of Julia Child's French Mastering the Art of French Cooking books. If you are looking to make something beyond the local bake sale, this book is perfect for you.
Customer Reviews:
My favorite desert cookbook.......2000-12-03
I have baked almost every cake in this book and they are all wonderful. Ms. Heatter offers a wide variety of flavors. Caramel Fudge Pecan brownies have become a standard in my kitchen -- frequently requested by my friends. The recipe instructions are meticulously explicit and easy to follow. This book has been used so often that the binding has cracked and flour wafts out when it is opened. I highly recommend it.
Books:
- Humanity (Isaac Asimov's Robot City : Robots and Aliens)
- Hypatia of Alexandria (Revealing Antiquity , No 8)
- I'll Quit Tomorrow: A Practical Guide to Alcoholism Treatment
- In My Mind's Eye: Seeing in Black and White
- Internet Profits in Your Pjs: 36 Secrets to Creating Multiple Income Streams.on Autopilot
- Iron Dream,the
- It's Only Temporary
- Japan Sinks: A Novel
- Kull: Exile of Atlantis
- Legacy/Silent Abduction/Blizzard/Tears of the Sun (Journeys of the Stranger 1-4)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance
- Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
- The Wicked Pavilion
- The Well-Designed Mixed Garden: Building Beds and Borders with Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, a
- When Bad Things Happen to Good People
- Basic Business Statistics: Concepts and Applications and CD package
- An Historical Geography of Modern Australia: The Restive Fringe
- Dr. Beach's Survival Guide: What You Need to Know about Sharks, Rip Currents, and More Before Going
- The Intellectual Venture Capitalist: John H. McArthur and the Work of the Harvard Business School, 1
- The World Economy: Global Trade Policy 1999
