Consumer Reports Best Travel Deals 2001: Tips and Strategies for Smart Travel

Book Description

Consumer Reports Best Travel Deals 2001 provides the most up-to-the-minute tools, tips and strategies for finding the best bargains in accommodations, airfares, car rentals, tours and more.

Customer Reviews:

Great for travel planning beginners.......2001-07-20

If you are new to travel planning, this book is a great source of general information. Each chapter discusses a different aspect of travel: travel insurance, choosing a travel agent, using the internet, booking cruises, airfare and car rentals, and obtaining hotel discounts. Because of the title, I expected to find treasures of hotel chains that offered great prices, or special airfare finds, or wonderful low-cost tour operators. However, no specific travel deals are given. The book discusses how to go about finding hotel discounts, but does not list hotels that offer the best deals. Perhaps they should add "How to find the. . ." to the title. Buy the book if you are just learning - it will be very helpful. If you are an experienced traveler, you will know much of what is discussed. The internet information and pros/cons of different guidebook series were the most helpful to me.

Book Description

Out of his experience of growing up in a typical Scottish family of the upper Cape Fear Valley in Eastern North Carolina in the 1940s and '50s, and of several years of study in Scotland in the '60s and '70s, Douglas Kelly has woven together the story of two cultures: Scottish Highland and Eastern Carolina. He combines colorful strands of cultural, linguistic, educational, political and religious history, with a careful genealogy of the first four or five generations of some sixty-five different family groups, who emigrated from the Scottish Highlands and Islands to the Cape Fear Valley of North Carolina and the neighboring Pee Dee Valley of South Carolina, from 1739 to the early 1840s. North Carolina is believed to have been the largest Scottish settlement anywhere in the world outside Scotland, and its emigrants have formed the backbone of large sections of both Carolinas for some 250 years. It may become a classic study of one of the original headwaters of Southern culture: Carolina Gaeldom, which sent an overflowing stream of hundreds of thousands of settlers into the Deep South and Southwest throughout the 19th century, thus profoundly shaping this huge region, and playing its part in making America what it is today. It has been hailed as the only major study so far of the early emigrations prior to the Clearances.

The story is made more real through over 100 photographs, maps and engravings from the period, chronicling the history of housing among these Scots from castles and huts in 18th century Scotland to still extant log cabins, upcountry mansions, slave quarters and old Presbyterian Churches in both N. and S. Carolina. There is also a unique appendix to Chapter III of Part I on the historic and current status of the Gaelic language in Carolina. (At one time it was the second language of the Cape Fear region). Help is provided throughout the genealogies on how to find more information, including rare and unpublished sources. The complete index lists more than 7,000 different names, in addition to place names and subject matter.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic source of information for genealogical work!.......1999-11-18

Doug Kelly has provided a much needed addition to the geneological arena with this 500 page work. If your family is from Carolina and of Scottish derivation, it is probably in here. The general history section is worth twice the price alone. A must have for even the part-time family history buff.

Fantastic geneaologic help!.......1999-04-30

Helped me trace my wife's heritage back to Scotland. Since we live in the heart of Scots Carolina it all hits home. All Scottish genealogists will use this book. Very well written.

An excellent genealogical and Scottish historical work.......1999-01-27

When I first ordered this book, it was for purely personal reasons. I was tracing hard to find ancestors; however, once the book arrived, I found myself engrossed in compelling reading. In fact, CAROLINA SCOTS is addictive, and I could not put it down until I had finished it.

For the Highland genealogist, this is a must-read. For anyone interested in Scottish history or early-American history, this is a must-read. And, finally, for anyone who enjoys a story well-told and well-written, this is a must read.

I'm waiting on Part II.

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Washington's Best Fishing Waters: Over 200 Detailed Full Color Maps of 38 Rivers and Streams

Manufacturer: Wilderness Adventures Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Fishing | Hunting & Fishing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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Oregon's Best Fishing Waters

Spinner Fishing for Steelhead, Salmon and Trout

ASIN: 1932098283

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Through the Valley of the Kwai

Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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To End All Wars

To End All Wars

ASIN: B000CBB7ZE

Product Description

Memoir of a WWII POW under Japanese control who worked through the "Railroad of Death" and built the "Bridge over the River Kwai". Complete descriptions of hardships, privation and torture followed by his personal spirtial triumph over circumstances.

Herbal Secrets of the Rainforest : Over 50 Powerful Herbs and Their Medicinal Uses

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The Amazon Herbalist Bible

Herbal Secrets of the Rainforest : Over 50 Powerful Herbs and Their Medicinal Uses
Leslie Taylor
Manufacturer: Prima Lifestyles
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0761517340
Release Date: 1998-09-16

Book Description

Rainforests are home to an amazing abundance of plant life—just two and a half acres of Amazon rainforest are estimated to contain 900 tons of plants! And researchers have barely begun to tap the medicinal properties of rainforest herbs, trees, and flowers.

Gathering information from indigenous peoples, natural health practitioners, and scientists from around the world, Herbal Secrets of the Rainforest profiles more than fifty rainforest plants, and includes details on:

• Medicinal properties
• History of use by rainforest inhabitants
• Current uses around the world and in herbal medicine today
• Methods of preparation
• Natural chemicals
• Summaries of scientific research
• And more, such as helpful tables, illustrations, and recipes for herbal remedies

From the age-old healing practices of shamans to current scientific research, this wealth of ancient and modern knowledge is now available in one source for health-conscious consumers. This unique book is the one health guide you will reach for again and again.

About the Author

//Leslie Taylor is the founder of /Raintree Nutrition, specializing in the marketing and development of over 100 rainforest botanicals and other products using sustainable rainforest resources. She has been researching and documenting medicinal rainforest plants for over 15 years.

Customer Reviews:

The Amazon Herbalist Bible.......2002-02-21

This is the definitive book about common use of Amazonian herbs for healing.

The book describes appx. 50 easy-to-find-over-the-internet herbs that have long traditional histories of healing.

Each herb is described carefully and carries a chart showing what ailments it is used for in different cultures worldwide.

There are useful chapters of herbs to use by ailment, descriptions of the ailments, traditional herb MIXTURES for different common problems.

The research cited in the book is well documented and there is a nice amount of human interest background as well.

If you are curious or interested in the ancient wisdom of plant healing from the Amazon this is definitely a book to have.

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A Great Classic Adventure

Bridge In A (Slightly) Different Direction

A Bridge Over Troubled Decisions

A Great Book

The Bridge. The Movie

The Bridge Over the River Kwai (Cinema Classics)
Pierre Boulle
Manufacturer: Wings
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Planet of the Apes

The Caine Mutiny: A Novel

The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Young Lions

From Here to Eternity

ASIN: 0517207419
Release Date: 2000-08-01

Customer Reviews:

A Great Classic Adventure.......2007-06-10

Pierre Boulle, author of "Planet of the Apes," tells an impossible-to-put-down tale of a British officer and his men who are forced to build a bridge by the Japanese. Not to be missed!

Bridge In A (Slightly) Different Direction.......2005-10-05

The charges are set against the pilings. The British commandoes lay hidden in the bush. The train is coming 'round the bend. Just then, a British colonel, a POW, takes a final walk over the bridge he helped build for his enemy and looks over the parapet. His blue eyes narrow. Something is wrong...

Those of you who think you know what will happen next, from seeing the Oscar-winning film adaptation of this novel, may be in for a surprise or two. Author Pierre Boulle's point seems less about the folly of war and of racialism (as was the case in the movie) and more about how a blind work ethic can make one betray the very things one holds dear, without knowing it.

It's tempting to look at this book and think of it as a literary dig at the proper, orderly Brits by a typically relativistic French author. But Boulle, a World War II French resistance fighter who was captured by the Vichy in the Far East, apparently wanted to use the real-life building of the bridge (in reality, there were two) by British POWs as an examination of how warfare tilts moral scales and turns lawfully-minded leaders into traitors.

It's an interesting position, presented here more in the form of a quasi-fable, or more to the point, two short stories joined together. In the first, we see British Col. Nicholson face off against Japanese Col. Saito, who expects the British to resign themselves to servitude, officers included. In the second, we watch a trio of British green berets prepare their attack on the bridge.

One of the movie's main characters, the one played by William Holden, is not in the novel, which is fine with me. I found the guy annoying. But the other characters don't come into greater focus for his absence.

Instead, they are rather colorless, especially Saito, presented here as a brutal drunkard with none of the panache that director David Lean and actor Sessue Hayakawa bestow on the character in the movie. It's especially hard to like Nicholson when Alec Guinness isn't giving us a spoonful of sugar with all that thematic medicine. He's more of a martinet here, dense to the point of ridiculousness, like when a subordinate suggests they paint the bridge after building it.

"The most we could do would be to give it a coating of lime - and a fine target that would make for the planes, wouldn't it," Nicholson counters. "You seem to forget there's a war on!"

That's about as close as the book comes to humor. It is tense at times, but slow-moving, and like other reviewers here I found the book lacking in narrative detail that would have made it feel more alive. It's a quick read, worth reading especially if you enjoyed the movie. But I missed the Nicholson Guinness played in the movie, and if you were a fan of the film, so will you.

A Bridge Over Troubled Decisions.......2004-05-06

This is not one of those cover-all-the-details-of-a-battle or expose-the-brutality-of-war books. Instead of focusing on battles between men, this book focuses on battles within men. My brain joined the characters as they grappled with believable and conflicting issues like:
- honor vs. survival
- useful work that preserves dignity but helps the enemy vs. sabotage that undermines the enemy's plans and as well as personal dignity
- pride of workmanship vs. the best interests of one's country

- mission/orders vs. the value of human life

These and other issues get attention at varied intensity levels. They're all seen from the eyes of soldiers in a war zone, and it's not easy to determine the right thing to do. I got a window into the minds of the soldiers and enough detail to enable me to fully understand their dilemmas.

This book is well-written, and the action is spread out such that I wanted to keep turning the pages. I'm glad read it, but I'm also glad I didn't have to live it.

A Great Book.......2004-04-01

This was a very well written and well told story. It was a little slow at the start but once the Team 316 is introduced it became much better. I never wanted to put the book down.

The Bridge. The Movie.......2003-11-14

OK. I don't normally (actually I never have) review a movie. I feel more comfortable with books. However, I reviewed Pierre Boulle's book last May and still see it as a Top 10 novel with great juxtapositioning of truly dicey moral issues.

But a couple of weeks ago, I was at my local library and someone was returning the "The Bridge over the River Kwai" DVD. I had seen the movie as a youngster and recalled that it deviated from the book to some extent, but nevertheless I wanted to see it again.

Well, barring the fact that it was made in 1957 and it had some of those odd exchanges of dialogue that marked scripts of 50 years ago, it was a magnificent movie.

Alec Guiness as Colonel Nicholsen was credible, understated, courageous, and faced with decisions alien to the world of a British Army Officer. All of which he played to Academy Award standards. Jack Hawkins as the head of Force 316, the demolitions group sent to blow up the bridge . . . 'bloody good idea, take a walk in the woods, lay some plastic explosive, and blow it up. Good show!' . . . . is excellent.

But the biggest surprise was William Holden, absolutely brilliant as the American Officer in a role written for him which did not exist in the book, a man who escapes from the prison camp and is then hospitalized in Med Cruise splendor, who is then asked to go back and assist Force 316 in the destruction of the bridge. Holden, clearly an excellent "big" actor in the 50's and the 60's, only wants to stay in the hospital where he is recuperating and drink fine scotch and play with the nurses (it's 1957 so it's all very up and up). How he is lured into the mission and to see his physical demeanor and style change is very well done.

Customer Reviews:

Just curious.......2003-12-21

I ordered a copy of this play because I was interested in seeing if I could find a part in it for myself in a local community theatre presentation this Spring. While I could not find such a role, I was very much pleased with the play itself. I was totally unfamiliar with it--but found the writing crisp, witty and very touching indeed. The play reads well and it is quite easy to visualize how it would play on a stage. Now that I have read it, I am more than eager to see the planned production this Spring. I would encourage anyone interested in good theatre to give this play a chance.

A Surprising Hit with All Ages.......2002-07-04

I saw this play in Lexington, Ky. The Actor's Guild there did a fine job with the production, and the play itself is so funny and touching that I just knew I could use it in my classroom. I could identify with the main character, Nicolas, who is lucky enough to still have all 4 of his grandparents around him, even though he is nearly 30. The rest of the family has moved away, but Nicky stays behind, coming to dinner every Sunday with his wacky grandparents. Eventually Nicky tells them that he is taking a job on the other side of the country, and they all try to make him stay in their own way. It's a play about family, TENGO FAMILIGIA! It's also a play about losing the ones you love. I teach at an inner city high school. Everyone thought I was nuts, that the kids would never relate to a white advertising exec in his 30's. But the play isn't really about him. The play is about the sacrifices the previous generations have made for us, and whether or not those sacrifices were worth it. It's about how much you expect out of life, and about discovering what makes you happy. And all of us, Bosnian immigrants and troubled black teens, can relate to that.

Average customer rating:

Disturbed my son...
Catrow takes a Thanksgiving classic for a wild ride!
Nice pictures, fun to have a book you can sing
I love David Catrow's illustrations.

Over the River and Through the Woods
Lydia Marie Child
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805063110

Book Description

In this hilarious modern spoof of a favorite holiday song, the trip to Grandfather's house is no peaceful sleigh ride!

Customer Reviews:

Disturbed my son..........2003-07-22

My 3 year-old son pointed out that the kids are not wearing seatbelts. Catrow draws the seatbelts, he just doesn't put them on the children. The baby is buckled in the carseat, but on the very next page is somehow climbing out the window. That upset my son, because he knows the importance of always staying buckled in. This may be nitpicking to some people, but it really concerned us. Other than that, the story is cute and well illustrated.

Catrow takes a Thanksgiving classic for a wild ride!.......2000-05-24

David Catrow takes a Thanksgiving classic for a wild ride! The long and stressful holiday road trip to a distant relative's home, with the car stuffed full of siblings, pets, and food, is a universal experience. In this whimsical picture book, the baby of the family escapes into a joyful, snowy Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where characters, floats and balloons take on a life of their own. The lively and imaginative scenes keep the pace of rhythm of the text, and Catrow's cool midseason tones achieve the not-quite- fall-but-not-quite-winter effect. An ideal purchase for the car trip to Grandma's - or for the sibling whom you used to draw seat boundries with.

Nice pictures, fun to have a book you can sing.......1999-11-06

My three-year old lovrd this. Nice pictures of an old-fashioned Thanksgiving, but he particularly liked the idea of a ook you could sing along to.

I love David Catrow's illustrations........1998-11-21

David Catrow is one of my favorite illustrators, and he definately puts a new spin on a classic Thanksgiving Day rhyme in this book. . .I especially love the cat!

Jump at the Sun: Over the River & Through the Woods - Holiday Classics (Jats 8x8)

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Jump at the Sun: Over the River & Through the Woods - Holiday Classics (Jats 8x8)

Manufacturer: Jump At The Sun
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 078680923X
Release Date: 2004-08-09

Book Description

From Thanksgiving to Kwanzaa with a little Christmas in between, these fun-to-read books are just in time for the holiday season! Illustrated with bright, vivid colors that capture the spirit of the season, they are sure to spread joy and cheer to family storytimes at any time of year! Jump at the Sun Holiday Classics include: - Over the River and Through the Woods - The Night Before Christmas - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Kwanzaa! - All Things Bright and Beautiful

A Guide to the Whitewater Rivers of Washington: A Comprehensive Handbook to over 150 Runs in the Cascades and Beyond

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A Guide to the Whitewater Rivers of Washington: A Comprehensive Handbook to over 150 Runs in the Cascades and Beyond
Jeff Bennett
Manufacturer: Swiftwater Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Water Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0962984329

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The Bridge Over The River Kwai
Pierre Boulle
Manufacturer: Vanguard Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GQUSZK

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