Napa Valley: The Ultimate Winery Guide--Revised and Updated, Fourth Edition

Book Description

Brimming with both magnificent vistas and practical information, Napa Valley is the ultimate guide to a rich region. This new edition is not only fully updated, it includes three marvelous new winery profiles and boasts a fresh interior design -- and a fetching new cover. Whether it's a garden to die for, a tour that tops all the others, spectacular views, or a combination of virtues, these are the places worth seeing, and going back to again and again. Along the way, author Antonia Allegra delivers a lively survey of winemaking and local history and suggests great places to visit. Sidebars give directions, visiting hours, and highlights, and an appendix lists nearly every winery in the area. Illustrated with spectacular full-color photographs on practically every page, Napa Valley is as beautiful as it is informative -- a treasure for those who know Napa Valley as much as for those planning to visit.

Customer Reviews:

Essential.......2007-05-12

This book is all you need to visit Napa. The explanations are great, and the pictures are excellent. If you do not know where to go or which ones to visit in a short stay (needless to say that you can't visit ALL of them unless you are planning to move in), after reading the book you have all the information to make a plan. I loved the detail explanations about the wine tours. Did I mention that the pictures are excellent?

Glossy, beautiful, informative.......2007-04-24

First, let's ignore the oxymoron of the "ultimate" guide's fourth edition - if that first edition was so "ultimate," how come three (so far) came after?

The format is straightforward: two or four pages per winery, with glorious photos of the vineyards, buildings, or other distinguishing features of each winery. The tourist's basics are spelled out on the first of that winery's pages: address and contact information hours of operation, tour arrangements, typical offerings in the tasting room, and tasting fees. A brief, enthusiastic description follows, often with a sound bite or two from the owners.

It's a great help in planning your wine country vacation, or reminder of the good times you had in the Napa valley. Don't expect serious criticism or comparison of the wines - that's for a different book. Do check the information presented, since it's been at least three years (as of this writing) since the most recent edition came out. But dig in and enjoy, since that's what wine and travel are all about.

//wiredweird

I want more.......2002-05-24

I have been researching my vacation to wine country for about a month now and have been unable to find a book that gives an objective viewpoint. I want a book to actually recommend a winery in addition to explaining what the winery has to offer. This book goes over the tours available at most wineries in the area which is helpful, but not exhaustive.

Winery Guide for Wine Country Residents.......2001-05-30

As a California native, and a person who has lived in the Napa Valley and Sonoma County wine country for years, I keep my copy of "Napa Valley The Ultimate Winery Guide" in the trunk of my car. It is not only my guide to wineries in each particular geographic section of Napa Valley, but also my resource for tracking down a certain vintage or type of wine.

It also assists me in planning short excursions during which I may want to visit an art gallery along with a winery, and long weekend tours with friends when I want to give an overview with a bit of everything Napa Valley has to offer: a small town not well-known by tourists, a French-Chateau, the best view in the Valley, wonderful walks and, always, pointers on events--both fixed offerings at each winery and seasonal goings-on. The detailed information and directions make this guide a user-friendly pleasure.

In short, this is a convenient reference book on how to get the most out of Napa Valley...whether you are a resident who hasn't yet had the opportunity to discover all of Ms. Allegra's wonderful finds, or a visitor wanting to pack a variety of the Valley's best into a day or two.

This is a must for anyone visiting Napa Valley, or vicariously enjoying an armchair tour through the beautiful photographs.

Don't go without it.......2001-05-23

If you travel to the Napa Valley without this book, you will commit the unpardonable vacation crime of being uninformed about the must-see, must-taste nooks and crannies of your destination. You can purchase other Napa Valley books, but they won't be this well-written, this beautifully rendered, and this chock-full of mouth-watering recommendations and tips. The authors are true food and wine insiders, and they're not impressed by trendiness for its own sake. If you want the most interesting winery experience possible in the Napa Valley, check out this book.

California Wine Country: Interior Design, Architecture, and Style

Average customer rating:

Nice start - but barely a beginning
Beautiful
An architect's opinion of this book
IMAGINE LIVING IN THE WINE COUNTRY

California Wine Country: Interior Design, Architecture, and Style
Diane Dorrans Saeks
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Decorating | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Style | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0811815013

Amazon.com

True to the sense of bounty and calm that the California wine regions convey, Diane Dorrans Saeks writes, "Wine Country life is private, peaceful, undisturbed. Rural bliss soothes the mind. The Wine Country encourages simple wonder and gratitude." The inhabitants of the idyllic properties presented in California Wine Country must feel grateful indeed. This unbelievably seductive book of heavenly hideaways is divided into five sections: "Classic," "Poetic," "Rustic," "Collectors," and "Weekends." The Santa Ynez, Russian River, and Alexander Valley regions are explored, as well as the more well-known Napa and Sonoma areas.

Saeks sought out creative people--artists and art dealers, designers, restaurateurs--whose houses range from a splendid Venetian villa near Calistoga to a 12-by-16-foot tent (furnished with antiques) on the edge of a peaceful Sonoma lake. The interiors are magazine-perfect (not a cell phone or fax machine in sight) and true to the prevailing architecture, whether angular and austere or funky adobe. There is a Mediterranean-inspired lusciousness in every photograph: grapes spill from the vines covering a patio, rambler roses cover a wooden gate, and doorways invariably open onto hillside vistas complete with blue sky. The directory at the book's end includes design and furnishings stores, as well as bookstores with good design sections, kitchen equipment stores, and restaurant, hotel, and winery recommendations.

Book Description

The first book to celebrate Wine Country lifestyle and interiors, California Wine Country offers an intimate tour of the ease and elegance that prospers amidst the vineyards and lush hillsides of the California wine-growing regions. Best-selling style writer Diane Dorrans Saeks walks the personal, memorable, and inspiring homes and hideaways of more than twenty-five Wine Country homeowners -- including an apple orchardist, a painter, a chef, an architect, and a gardener -- as they enjoy the seasonal splendor of outdoor dining, vine-covered vistas, sun-dappled interiors, and the spectacular surroundings of a region where lifestyle marries landscape. One of the most popular travel destinations on the West Coast, the Sonoma-Napa countryside is esteemed for its natural beauty and casually luxurious way of life. Throughout the region, and from the Anderson Valley to the vineyards of Santa Barbara, uniquely decorated homes are treasured for their architecture, seclusion, and unparalleled setting. Saeks visits nearly thirty such houses, including a renovated farmhouse and barn; a rustic family home amidst a walnut orchard; and a dreamy lakeside "tent" home in Sonoma. With more than two hundred beautiful color photographs, California Wine Country brilliantly captures the spirit and flavor of the Wine Country way of life.

Customer Reviews:

Nice start - but barely a beginning.......2003-09-06

Ms. Saeks did a reasonable job, but the book is close to worthless if you want to design your house in a recognizable California Wine Country style. Katya and I suggest developing a color palette from the book, but after tens of hours of studying it we can not determine a quantifiable style. Consider this book as a raw first start; a survey of modest importance. The interiors are all over the map. The only commonality is their location in California. Worth buying - yes, but only to understand the diversity possible. Is a more serious study necessary - yes. California wine country is a combination of Tuscan, Provencal, and Spanish Colonial/Early California, with Asian influences. Themes and moods vary. Pretty much freestyle designing. However, certain rules will give you a recognizable style. We're working on it.

- Jim and Katya Preston

Beautiful.......2001-07-29

I collect decorating books (I'm obsessed with them!) and this is my absolute favorite! It's sitting on my coffee table and I look at it again and again; I wish I could find more like it. We have recently purchased/remodled another house and this book was the inspiration for many of the things I incorporated into this house.

An architect's opinion of this book.......2000-05-05

This book is a beautiful presentation of Interior (and outdoor) Design, but little true architecture. Most of the profiled homes appear as sets in a film and seem unrealistic as full time residences. As an architect, I will admit that most are wonderful, humanly scaled spaces. I'm not sure why the wine country is profiled-- other than the budgets are fat there. Overall, the book is worth the price.

IMAGINE LIVING IN THE WINE COUNTRY.......1999-08-03

Hi, I am the author. The Napa Valley, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez...they are hot now. Everyone dreams of living in the Wine Country. The pages of this book will set you dreaming more...and imagining a trip to relax, go wine tasting, perhaps look at real estate...and certainly to dine at The French Laundry. (See Chef Thomas Keller's kitchen in this book.)

Napa Wine: A History from Mission Days to Present

Average customer rating:

An Excellent Book

Napa Wine: A History from Mission Days to Present
Charles L. Sullivan
Manufacturer: Wine Appreciation Guild
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Spirits | Drinks & Beverages | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1891267078

Product Description

Charles Sullivan s 1994 Napa Wine: A History, is the engaging story of the rise to prominence of what many believe to be the greatest winegrowing area in the Western Hemisphere. This new edition completes that picture, bringing to light more than a decade of dramatic changes and shifted norms visited upon the valley, from pholoxera-wasted vineyards to High Court-officiated territorial battles, told in a rousing, transportive narrative.

Picking up at 1817 with the movement of Spanish Missions into the San Francisco Bay Area, Sullivan wends his way through the Great Wine Boom of the late 19th century, the crippling effect of Prohibition, and Napa s rise out of its havoc to its eventual rivaling of Bordeaux in the Judgments of 1976 and 2006 as the great wine growing region in the world.

Published in cooperation with the Napa Valley Wine Library, scholarly attention is given to every detail. The author, called wine s head sleuth and the modern historian of wine in California, visited every historic sight in Napa, compiled hundreds of first-hand accounts from pivotal figures, and dug into original documents and periodicals. Included are historic maps, charts of vineyard ownership, and vintages from the 1880s to present.

This is a book for all wine lovers.

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Book.......2000-01-17

This book offers a very detailed account of the history of the Napa Valley. Thoroughly researched and well presented.

Seasons of the Vineyard: A Year of Celebrations and Recipes from the Robert Mondavi Winery

Average customer rating:

Seasons of the Vineyard: A Year of Celebrations and Recipes from the Robert Mondavi Winery
Robert Mondavi , Carolyn Dille , and Margrit Biever Mondavi
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Spirits | Drinks & Beverages | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Harvests of Joy: How the Good Life Became Great Business

ASIN: 0684807580

Book Description

Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world visit the Robert Mondavi Winery in California's Napa Valley for tours, tastings, concerts, festivals, and other culinary and cultural events. In Seasons of the Vineyard. Robert and Margrit Biever Mondavi invite you to share the bounty of their table with more than 100 glorious dishes from the Mondavi family, the Vineyard Room chefs, and the great culinary talents who have cooked at the winery.

The Mondavis live the time-honored traditions that value family and community, with food and wine as partners that contribute to well-being and happiness. Their pleasure and their mission have been to deepen their own understanding of the food arts and to share their knowledge with as many people as possible.

The menus and more than 100 recipes in this book, beautifully illustrated by more than 75 photographs, are arranged according to season and use ingredients at the peak of their flavor. Any of the recipes in the book can be combined to create meals that suit you best, with the best ingredients that are available to you.

Whether you enjoy the lively Seared Sea Scallops with Citrus-Ginger Vinaigrette or homey Apple Tart with Almond Custard in the autumn, deeply flavorful Lamb Shanks with Red Wine and White Beans in the winter, spicy Hot Pineapple Curry and Yellow Rice in the spring, or the elegantly simple Fusilli with Vinegar-Marinated Zucchini in the summer, the food is sophisticated and utterly delicious.

Average customer rating:
Annie and Margrit: Recipes and Stories from the Mondavi Kitchen
Annie Roberts , Margrit Mondavi , Victoria Wise , Margrit Biever , and Laurie Smith
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Wine & Winemaking | Wine | Drinks & Beverages | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
California | U.S. Regional | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty

Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate

ASIN: 1580084370

Book Description

The wines of the Robert Mondavi Winery are acclaimed the world over. Less well known is the fact that the winery features a private dining room to rival the best restaurants in the Napa Valley. Here in the Vineyard Room, innovative chef Annie Roberts brings a refined sense of taste and balance to her creations, always designed with the perfect wine in mind. The winery is also home to elegant music and art events, all planned to perfection by Annie's mother, Margrit. And so a mother and daughter come together to deliver a wine country experience like no other. In ANNIE AND MARGRIT, renowned cookbook author Victoria Wise shares behind-the-scenes stories of Annie and Margrit's collaboration over time, along with Annie's fabulous recipes, reflecting treasures and traditions from her mother's cooking and influences from life in the Napa Valley. From the start, Margrit and Annie cooked with one another, Annie learning at Margrit's stove. Years later, Annie became the first executive chef of a winery in the Napa Valley, and developed a repertoire including Squab with Cabernet Sauvignon-Onion Marmalade and Spatzli; Salmon Fillets with Whole Grain Mustard Beurre Blanc; Poussins with Swiss Chard Gratin; and Fresh Plum Galette. ANNIE AND MARGRIT takes you inside the Mondavi experience, evoking the tastes, sights, and sounds of a day's visit to the winery.

America's Rising Star Chefs: At the Robert Mondavi Great Chefs Cooking School in Napa Valley

Average customer rating:

America's Rising Star Chefs: At the Robert Mondavi Great Chefs Cooking School in Napa Valley

Manufacturer: Santa Fe Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Special Occasions | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Tablesetting | Special Occasions | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0964140306

Average customer rating:

Robert Mondavi Of The Napa Valley
Cyril Ray
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Business | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

10-Pk Napa Valley Winery Guid
Antonia Allegra
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Spirits | Drinks & Beverages | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

Robert Mondavi of the Napa Valley
Cyril Ray
Manufacturer: Presidio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NQLRC6

Robert Mondavi of the Napa Valley(Signed by author)

Average customer rating:

Robert Mondavi of the Napa Valley(Signed by author)

Manufacturer: Peter Davis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ER0V62

Book Description

"The whole world is watching!" chanted the demonstrators in the Chicago streets in 1968, as the TV cameras beamed images of police cracking heads into homes everywhere. In this classic book, originally published in 1980, acclaimed media critic Todd Gitlin first scrutinizes major news coverage in the early days of the antiwar movement. Drawing on his own experiences (he was president of the Students for a Democratic Society in 1963-64) and on interviews with key activists and news reporters, he shows in detail how the media first ignore new political developments, then select and emphasize aspects of the story that treat movements as oddities. He then demonstrates how the media glare made leaders into celebrities and estranged them from their movement base; how it inflated the importance of revolutionary rhetoric, destabilizing the movement, then promoted "moderate" alternatives--all the while spreading the antiwar message. Finally, Gitlin draws together a theory of news coverage as a form of anti-democratic social management--which he sees at work also in media treatment of the anti-nuclear and other later movements.
Updated for 2003 with a new preface, The Whole World Is Watching is a subtle and sensitive book, true to the passions and ironic reversals of its subject, and filled with provocative insights that apply to the media's relationship with all activist movements.

Customer Reviews:

political views don't change reality.......2006-08-06

Yes. Establishment supporters would like you to push this book aside. The media in those days was neither conservative or liberal. It was both and neither. I remember when local TV news (I lived in the Phili area) had editorials from their staff. One night would be a conservative view, another night would be a leftist or a radical view. The media outlets, in general were a lot more independent. Sure they were owned by rich guys and rich stockholders, but not all of those people were controlled, bought and paid for by the establishment. The media reported much more fairly then. The reason why hippies were seen and heard more and more on TV is because they WERE a cultural phenonmenae and people wanted to know and see and hear what they were about in order to form an opinion. The music people were listening to reflected that cultural change and difference and was therefore "news" as well. People spent a lot of money making a choice to purchase that counterculture music thru concerts and records and others wanted to know why and get a grip on what was happening in their world. That IS news. But the establishment at that time didn't fully understand the importance of TV to influence the masses UNTIL the hippies and their ideas spread like wildfire and gained general acceptance which eventually changed law. When Nixon debated Kennedy in 1960, they both failed to understand how even their physical appearance influenced how people viewed them. They both made mistakes. But by 1972, Nixon had learned and often came off looking and sounding pretty good. I even liked him although I lean liberal. Most establishment types, and even my parents, held that TV was primarily for entertainment and not to be taken too seriously. But as the public turned against segregation, Viet Nam, beating hippies (who were after all thier CHILDREN or their neighbors children) and occaisionally saw some stuffed-shirt politician behave like an ogre or say something insane and vote the idiot out of office ONLY THEN did the ruling elite realize that TV was a factor in influencing thought and action. Only then did they take it seriously. The young people of the time already "got" this and used it to their advantage. While their moms and dads were busy working or being tired from working, the kids were watching Elvis shake his hips, the Beatles long hair, Bob Dylan on the Mike Douglas show, The Temptations and Bill Cosby on The Hoolywood Palace thinking why do we want to segregate and oppress people like the Temptations and Bill Cosby and how unfair and evil that is.

As far as David Crosby and drugs...It's a well known fact that pot and LSD were used for years without problems. The CIA experimented with them to use them for truth-getting and mind control but failed. At the time, they were not illegal. The hippies used and abused them for creativity enhancement and mind expansion which the establishment hated. They didn't want free-thinkers to challange them or change the status quo. SO they funded the importation of heroin and cocaine, which eventually many counter-culture movement leaders began to use and OF COURSE it destroyed them. That was the plan. The whole movement fell apart. The leaders were so messed up that they became ineffective and irrelevant and some of them went to jail. How many FBI and CIA went to jail for bringing those drugs in though?? Exactly none. Mad yet? The media today is mostly if not entirely controlled by the neocon establishment and their supporters and benefactors. There is no such thing as a liberal media---then or now. Back then, they just reported BOTH sides and were fair and the establishment decided that was not good so they have since established control over the news and to some extent even what we see as entertainment.

Author Todd Gitlin Ignored May 1968 Issue Of Vogue.......2005-10-12

The last reviewer is right. This book is indeed used in college courses. The courses are taught by professors who defend that minority of young people who blamed U.S. involvement in Vietnam on their local police department.

It's hard for some baby boomers to believe, but many colleges employ professors who beg to differ with the Oliver Stone take on the counterculture. I know one professor at a small Midwestern school who often cites the May 1968 issue of Vogue magazine. It contains astute comments on the Vietnam issue by Marietta Tree, who had lost her boyfriend Adlai Stevenson three years earlier. Others in her family comment, too. Even the anorexic fashion model Penelope Tree is more eloquent than Mario Savio or Abbie Hoffman. The Trees specify that the Rolling Thunder bombing campaign always fails, but maybe a few civilian advisers will work? It's at any library with old Vogues.

Author Todd Gitlin ignores the Vogue article in this book, complaining instead that the mainstream media (desperate to foster "social organization" ?!?) censored most public outcries against the war. Maybe he considers Vogue editor Diana Vreeland and the Tree family to be phony capitalist pigs? Their testimony is there for all to see 37 years later, but you don't hear them in college classrooms. You never hear about Eartha Kitt on campus, either. Did her immortalization as Catwoman ruin her credibility in Berkeley?

Should I pay more attention to the unkempt people in the deliberately ugly clothes? They aren't phony, and they always know what they're talking about. Right?

Important contribution to media studies.......2005-07-17

This book is widely used in college courses because it provides an important example of how the media works as a part of social organization.

Garbage.......2005-02-01

This isn't the only book Todd Gitlin has published about the late 1960s anti - war / counterculture movement.

He is dead wrong here about CBS, the New York Times and other "establishment" media deciding from the get - go to portray the flower children as an "oddity." On the contrary, the major media gave the scruffy baby boomers their own voice. Abbie Hoffman regularly gave press conferences at which he railed about the non - existent "children for breakfast program" while he was surrounded by microphones clearly labeled "CBS," "ABC," etc.

At your local public library you can find oversized index books for the New York Times from 1968, 1969 and 1970 that list numerous citations for Abbie Hoffman.

Mr. Hoffman ended up like the character of Alex in "The Big Chill." Jerry Rubin eventually forgot what his mother told him about looking both ways before you cross a busy highway. Musician David Crosby, who warned his fans that President Nixon was coming to get them (reaching more people than any journalist), eventually served six months in solitary confinement for narcotics. Then almost 20 years later (with Bush in the White House) he got busted for narcotics again.

Mr. Gitlin treats those guys as heroes in this book. He needs to accept the inevitable. The only person in the 1960s who was free, white and over 21 to whom we owe thanks is Lyndon Johnson. He almost singlehandedly criminalized racial segregation in all stores, restrooms (1964) and real estate offices (1968). He pressured the U.S. Supreme Court to desegregate public schools "at once." It did. Yes, Johnson allowed 56,000 Americans to die in Vietnam, but then he retired from politics, suffered from depression, died prematurely and left us to pick up the pieces.

Time to move on. Mr. Gitlin, you are wrong about the Establishment stilling the voices of the baby boomers at their peak of anger. It never did. They screamed and complained on network television and in widely read newspapers. The sane ones waited 20 years until they came to power. Bill and Hillary studied hard, treated their many professors with respect, and eventually confronted their dirty linen about inhaling, draft dodging and fraudulent savings and loans. The dream is over, Mr. Gitlin. Find out what it's about.

Average customer rating:

Lots of good examples and problems for the reader

Card Play Made Easy: Know Your Suit Combinations (Master Bridge Series)
Ron Klinger , and Andrew Kambites
Manufacturer: Victor Gollancz Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Bridge | Card Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0575065370

Book Description

This is the second title in a series which is aimed at helping players improve their understanding of suit combinations and develop their card-play technique.

Customer Reviews:

Lots of good examples and problems for the reader.......2006-03-01

I very much like Klingers 4 volume set Card Play Made Easy.
The books are concise, with good illustrative problems, and have lots of well designed quizzes. At the end of the book is a long quiz testing all the material.

Not only do the problems test the subject matter they also test overall card play technique. For example:
Lets say the problem is one of entries, with the reader focusing on one or two suits. Lets say a third suit contains AKxxx opposite Jx. The book solution reminds the reader to first play the Ace to see if the Queen drops. Its very unlikely, but if you get into good habits all these extra 1%, 2%, 3% chances add up. Sometimes two or more of these extra chances occur in a hand. Using correct technique costs nothing and may help you make an extra contract one in 20 - 30 times, without having to know advanced techniques, such as double squeezes.

Unlike the Bridge Technique series by David Bird, these small books pack a huge number of well designed problems into a small space. (perhaps 150 problems vs. Birds 36) They are far better value for the money than the Bird books.

Average customer rating:

Poor explanations, critical errors

Suit Combinations in Bridge
Sally Brock
Manufacturer: B.T. Batsford
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0713481641

Customer Reviews:

Poor explanations, critical errors.......1999-06-24

This is a badly conceived, badly executed book. The author starts off with no introduction, no explanation of how to solve card combos, no discussion of the distribution of cards, no theory as to the differences between winning the maximum number of tricks vs winning a predetermined number.

She just jumps right into combinations with no explanation as to how to learn them except by dint of memorization.

On the *second* page she launches into restricted choice. For readers who have yearned for a cogent explanation of this principle, you won't find it here. Brock cops out by simply copying from the Encyclopedia of Bridge. Worse yet, she copies so small a piece that unless you have the Encyclopedia to examine, it's hard to figure out what she's saying.

Finally, the fundamental table of probabilities appears in an Appendix. This familiar table shows what the odds are that 5 outstanding cards will break 3-2, 4-1, 5-0, etc. This table has appeared so often and is so important to understanding card play, that most good players have it memorized.

Except Brock. Her table is uniquely different: it's wrong. She contends that 4 cards will break 2-2 50% of the time and 3-1 40% of the time. (The correct odds are reversed: 3-1 is 50%, 2-2 is 40%, and 4-0 is 10%). This is a terrible typo as it will mean many readers will learn the card combos incorrectly.

But it gets worse! Brock then specifically points out and discusses how unusual it is that even cards would break evenly in the case of 2-2, never aware that she is babbling about nonsense. Impossible to believe this lady could have won the Venice Cup without knowing the correct split on four cards.

The bottom line is, I believe, she did not write this or review it. It's a careless hack supposedly authored by someone who couldn't have cared less.

Book Description

If you like to tweak, disassemble, re-create, and invent cool new uses for technology, you'll love MAKE our quarterly publication for the inquisitive do-it-yourselfer.

Every issue is packed with projects to help you make the most of all the technology in your life. Everything from home entertainment systems, to laptops, to a host of PDAs is fair game. If there's a way to hack it, tweak it, bend it, or remix it, you will find out about it in MAKE.

This isn't another gadget magazine. MAKE focuses on cool things you can do to make technology work the way you want it to. The publication is inspired by our bestselling Hacks series books but with a twist. MAKE is a mook (rhymes with book). We've combined the excitement, unexpectedness, and visual appeal of a magazine with the permanence and in-depth instructiveness of a how-to book.

Whether you're a geek or hacker who delights in creating new uses for technology, or a Saturday afternoon tinkerer who loves to get his hands dirty, you'll keep every issue of MAKE on your bookshelf for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Nicely laid out magazine with many challenging projects.......2007-02-23

I purchased this magazine specifically to make the cigar box guitar. One material in particular (#15 mason twine) was impossible to find. I went to no less than a dozen mom and pop and chain hardware stores, with no luck. I ended up having to improvise and use mason twine of lower gauge. But that's the fun and challenge of making something on your own out of cheap, random parts. If you aren't adept at crafts (like me), I suggest doubling up on parts and essentially make two guitars. The second one will likely be crafted better.

The magazine is constructed out of heavy-duty paper and every page (not just the covers) has a matte finish. It's colorful, has many helpful photographs, and is fairly well written. There's also a website tie-on that's of decent quality.

There are a variety of articles and editorials. The main projects are the cigar box guitar, homemade synthesizer, strobe photography, programming computer chips, LP-to-MP3 converter cabinet, and a webcam music machine. All of these projects (and other smaller ones scattered throughout the magazine) are exciting, but you will need to have some familiarity with electronic circuitry to build some of them. None of them are impossible to do, but bear in made that Make isn't devoted to the easiest and least frustrating kinds of hobbies.

Making something on your own is a humbling experience. You realize what ingenuity must go into professionally made products. In the end, my cigar box guitar was nothing special, but I had fun, challenged myself, and got away from the television. It was definitely worth my time and money. I think you'll agree.

I'll never know.......2006-02-22

... I'll never know how to rate this magazine; it may be great, but don't expect it to ship "within 24 hours"; I've been wating two weeks. Thanks, Amazon.

Wow! This magazine feels like home for creative minds who like technology!.......2006-02-20

Have you ever taken something apart because... you were interested in how it works? ... you wanted to try and fix it? ... you thought you could improve it through modification? Do you enjoy the satisfaction of doing something yourself? Keep reading, because I think have found something you will enjoy.

When browsing in a bookstore a week ago, I discovered Make. I grabbed a copy and a coffee drink and sat down to see what it is all about. Make is a technical geek's dream come true. After skimming the steps for building your own cigar-box electric guitar, I read an article on how to modify your old battery-powerd electronic keyboard to allow for bending notes and other cool effects. I was also fascinated by an article on how to build a rig to take a picture of a balloon popping. At this point my neurons were in a state of nirvana! I exclaimed "Wow, this is the coolest thing ever!" to no one in particular.

Make is a cross between a magazine and a book published four times a year by O'Reilly. It's full of articles on how to modify existing commercial products and how to build new things from scratch. The magazine also features reviews of do-it-yourself books, kits, and a few geek-friendly tech toys. I hesitated for a moment when I discovered the price was $14.99, but realized... Make has almost no ads so the nearly 200 pages are packed full of original ideas - it really is 3 months worth of material (or more) jammed under a single cover. Every article features high quality color photos and/or diagrams, and the printing and binding are book-quality. I realized I had made up my mind when the next thing that crossed my mind was "this is volume 4, it hasn't been out long, I wonder if I could still find volumes 1 through 3 anywhere?" (Yes, I did find them! As of this writing, Amazon has them in stock.)

Parents and guardians, I caution you that many of the things described in Make have an element of danger. The children under your care need your supervision, but this is a great opportunity to nuture their curious and creative minds. Don't miss out! I'm in no position to gauge the age-appropriateness of Make, but I suspect that many creative-minded 13 year-olds would find it hard to close the covers on an issue of Make. So either hide your magazine well, or be prepared to supervise. :-)

Just DO Something!.......2005-11-13

Ever wonder how to upgrade that old music keyboard that's been sitting at the back of the closet for years? Want to improve that "almost good enough" coffeemaker? How about building a mobile WiFi hotspot, cooking up a batch of biodiesel fuel, or turning an old computer mouse into a robot?

MAKE magazine offers a tremendous variety of articles for those who want not only to know how things work, but how to make them work better and perhaps how to build something that does more than "off-the-shelf" technology. Building on traditions ranging from "Mechanics Illustrated" to the old "Mother Earth News," MAKE combines a huge range of hands-on articles with in-depth interviews, opinion pieces and technology news. MAKE addresses a wide spectrum of interests and abilities, offering simple projects for kids as well as some which might present a refreshing challenge for even the skilled hobbyist.

O'Reilly publishing has a well-deserved reputation for excellence; with MAKE magazine they have simply confirmed and expanded that reputation. Subscribe to MAKE; you'll enjoy it.

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