Cheaper and Better

Cheaper and Better
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Author Nancy Birnes will soon launch a 13-part PBS series based on the recipes and formulas of Cheaper and Better. Reissued to tie in to the show, this guide shows consumers how to save thousands of dollars with products made at home.Cheaper and Better is a book detailing things you can make at home, usually cheaper and often better, goods that you buy everyday.

If you have allergies or sensitivities to chemicals used in commercially produced products this could be a life saver.

If you are trying to live frugally it’s a real budget saver. This book is well organized, easy to use.

You won’t use every recipe but it’s amazing how many things you really can make at home “cheaper and better”.

I love books like this as they are a constant source of ideas and reference material as I try to solve my problems without endless trips to the store.

Books like Cheaper and Better are a source of entertainment for me, but a source of consternation for my wife.  It seems everytime I get a book like this we end up going to the store for ingredients.

In any book like this I will find multiple ideas that are Must-Try….

Rustic Carpentry

Book Review: Rustic Carpentry
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With an introduction by master craftsman Ralph Kylloe, this manual on rustic carpentry is a superb resource for woodworkers, furniture makers, and carpenters of all skill levels.

Here are clear and concise instructions for creating beautiful pieces with unfinished timber, utilizing the unique texture and shape of tree branches, trunks, and shrubs. In addition, rustic woodworking requires few tools and relatively little skill to make decorative and practical flower stands, tables, chairs, gates, porches, aviaries, footbridges, verandas, tool sheds, and more.

All these projects are included here with detailed advice on collecting and drying sticks; what kind of wood works best for various items; how to varnish both indoor and outdoor pieces; using battens and mortises to secure furniture; and successfully employing a range of other techniques.

Mask of Command

Book Review: Mask of Command
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In The Mask of Command, John Keegan asks us to consider questions that are seldom asked:

What is the definition of leadership? What makes a great military leader?

Why is it that men, indeed sometimes entire nations, follow a single leader, often to victory, but with equal dedication also to defeat?

Dozens of names come to mind…Napoleon, Lee, Charlemagne, Hannibal, Castro, Hussein. From a wide array, Keegan chooses four commanders who profoundly influenced the course of history: Alexander the Great, the Duke of Wellington, Ulysses S. Grant and Adolph Hitler. All powerful leaders, each cast in a different mold, each with diverse results.

“The best military historian of our generation.” –Tom Clancy

“A brilliant treatise on the essence of military leadership.” –The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Fascinating and enlightening… marked by great intellectual liveliness… Mr. Keegan knows how to bring fighting alive on the page.” –The New York Times

The Mask of Command is a book for preppers, leaders, instructors, and managers.  If you deal with people – especially if you deal with people in crisis, then you will benefit from the lessons in this book.

I enjoyed this book and have used its lessons in training officers to work in dangerous environments.

Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers
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Starship Troopers
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In one of Robert Heinlein’s most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the Universe–and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankind’s most frightening enemy.

This book was made into a decent movie that was spun off into a terrible sequel.

I am not a fan of the movies, but I do love this book.

I like most of Heinlein’s books, but this is probably my favorite.  I like the idea that you have to serve to vote, but I am not so hard that I think that the service must be in the military.

Not everyone is cut out for Starship Troopers Mobile Infantry.

I disagree with the Amazon quote that this is Heinlein’s most controversial work – I think Farnham’s Freehold easily wins that title.  I also think that Freehold may be my favorite Heinlein book if Starship Troopers ever dropped in Status.

Interrogation

Interrogation
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The book Interrogation is used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to train interrogators, this manual details the insidious methods by which the “mounties” elicit confessions after all fair and legal tactics have been exhausted.

Must reading for every police officer, as well as for every citizen who might one day, innocent or guilty, sit across the table from an interrogator.This isn’t the best book on the subject, and the author is anonymous.  I can’t tell if this is an attempt by an outside to make a interrogation version of “The Anarchist Cookbook” or a tired cop fed up with games but too scared to sign their name.  It is useful, but not a standalone book.

Most of what is in this book is common sense.