Book Description
The winner of one of France’s most prestigious literary prizes, The Blue Wolf is the epic historical novel of Genghis Khan
At the height of his power, Genghis Khan unified four hundred tribes and was feared by men from Baghdad to Peking. Like Napoleon, he imposed a pitiless regime on the people he subjugated; like Caesar, he led his troops with a merciless code of conduct. But even the greatest of rulers have a beginning.
In Frederic Dion’s The Blue Wolf, the father of Temudjin, the future Genghis Khan, has been murdered by the Tartars, the most feared enemy of his clan. The young Temudjin burns to regain his rightful inheritance, and as a young warrior he leads a series of bloodthirsty battles where he suppresses and integrates the many tribes of his land, until at last he is crowned King of the Oceans, the Blue Wolf—Genghis Khan. But soon, his hunger for power becomes increasingly violent and leads him to experience overwhelming paranoia and a growing mistrust of old friends and allies.
In The Blue Wolf, Frederic Dion writes of battles, horses, and of a great civilization. This is the searingly powerful novel of a ferocious ruler’s roots and his life in the endless and rugged lands of the steppes.
Customer Reviews:
It Was Great!.......2006-01-03
This book was bery interesting, and it taught me alot about Genghis Khan. It captivated me and kept me reading it all the way through! I would recommend this book to anyone!
Great Book for Younger Readers.......2004-12-27
This book is a novel but not one for the serious readers of history and historical novels. This is a great book for an adolescent but not for the developed critical thinker and or reader. Thank you.
Great novel displaying interesting historical information!.......2004-06-09
Blue Wolf was a highly captivating book, and it successfully portrays in novel fashion the life of Genghis Khan. It was definitely a book I could not stop reading, and it sent me on a quest to look for more information on the great Mongol leader.
Book Description
Vivid, hilarious, and compelling, this eagerly awaited book takes its place among the travel classics. It is a thrilling tale of adventure, a comic masterpiece, and an evocative portrait of a medieval land marooned in the modern world. Eight and a half centuries ago, under Genghis Khan, the Mongols burst forth from Central Asia in a series of spectacular conquests that took them from the Danube to the Yellow Sea. Their empire was seen as the final triumph of the nomadic "barbarians."In this remarkable book Stanley Stewart sets off on a pilgrimage across the old empire, from Istanbul to the distant homeland of the Mongol hordes. The heart of his odyssey is a thousand-mile ride, traveling by horse, through trackless land. On a journey full of bizarre characters and unexpected encounters, he crosses the desert and mountains of Central Asia to arrive at the windswept grasslands of the steppes, the birthplace of Genghis Khan. (6 x 9, 288 pages)
Customer Reviews:
An Excellent Read.......2007-02-24
I've always been intrigued by the Mongols, as they are at the edge between settled and nomadic people. And I've also always like travel writing. Stanely Stewart's book therefore made me very happy. It is beautifully written and the research is thorough. I learned about the Secret History of the Mongols in one section and in another found one of my favorite senteces in any book. I do not have my copy with me, but the sentece included truck repair, camels, and Uzbeks.
Mr. Stewarts book is too good to be called a travel memoir and to lively to be called a history book. It is one of the most entertaining and informative books I have read.
a great vicarious voyage.......2006-04-05
I picked this book up browsing in my hospital bookshop while on call on a lazy saturday. On the back cover I discovered it had been recently translated into Italian (2004)from English and decided to buy it. From the moment I opened it, I couldn't put it down, I read it on work, at home, and also while driving the car (!). I laughed by myself on more than one occasion and looked around for someone to laugh with me. Naturally, I will probably never go to Mongolia, or have the guts to take the trip the author went through, but, somehow I felt that I was there. That I met the people he describes.
One interesting point of the book is its inspiration from the trip of William of Rubruc eight centuries ago. This short miliary description of the mongol world of those times has the same off hand descriptions of the mongol people and customs we find in Mr. Stewart's book. However, no one accused William of beeing "politically not correct" or "sarcastic". Often it is not necessary to have an empathic vision of a different culture to describe it to people that share our cultural standards.
Mr. Stewart's book is instructive and definitely fun to read, but above all it "takes you along" the whole time, which is really what readers that don't have the opportunities to travel as much as they would like, really want.
Good travel story.......2005-06-03
I am amazed by Mr. Stewarts ability to write. He can convey the emotions and feeling of a place with amazing clarity and I found myself really feeling like I was there.
The trip itself is quite an epic, a thousand miles by mostly horseback through a culture completely different than anything we are used to. it also comes at a really interesting time in the countries history when they have thrown off Communism and are deep in the throws of trying to make something else work.
At its best the book is full of delightful descriptions of faraway places and unique locations, the people are described so well that you can picture them sitting next to you and their conversations relate items of real significance. Learning from the people what the fall of Communism has done to their economy makes for fascinating reading. Also learning about the history of the Monks and the world of Genghis Khan was fascinating.
At its worst, the book doesn't cut the Mongolian people very much slack. They have decided not to live in cities but rather to live in tents (gers), rather than celebrate a thousand-year-old tradition and show what good it brings and how it enriches the lives of the people who live it, mostly you get the feeling that it is inferior and the people who live it ought to switch to something better.
It also portrays Communism and the Russian government in a completely evil light, no effort is made to record areas where the life of the Mongolian has gotten better thanks to Communism, although brief mention of government bldgs, schools and acting troups is mentioned. Yet how poorly the people fared and when the system didn't work is vividly brought out into the open.
This is also about travelling over some of the most lonely isolated terrain in the world, yet little time is spent discussing the travel itself. How did they get food when they were not in a Ger, what did it feel like to spend weeks in the saddle from morning to night, How did the clothing feel, etc. Very little was spent on the actual travel itself, the book focuses primarily on the people that were met.
But these are minor points, its is a good book to learn about the culture of Mongolia and what has been happening to the common man since the fall of Communism and I found myself reading all the way through without being bored.
condescending.......2005-05-15
I couldn't put this book down, i'll give it that much.
But I didn't always like it.
While the narration was interesting and fairly well written, I felt a rather pretentious, and quite condescending air as he described the mongolians he met and the way in which they lived.
The descriptions of the landscape were beautiful, but it didn't hide the fact that I felt Stewart was narrating a 4 star resort tour of the country instead of what was supposed to be a wilderness trek.
None the less, I found it hard to put it down, maybe because the historial bits were so intruiging.
a KEEPER.....just fabulous.............2005-03-29
a joy to read... a man who captivates language .... GREAT and fun book.....
Average customer rating:
|
Lost Civilizations - Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire (Lost Civilizations)
Thomas Streissguth
Manufacturer: Lucent Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book
Teens
| Subjects
| Books
| Audiobooks
| Authors, A-Z
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Health, Mind & Body
| History & Historical Fiction
| Horror
| Literature & Fiction
| Manga
| Mysteries
| Reference
| Religion & Spirituality
| School & Sports
| Science & Technology
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Series
| Social Issues
Asia
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Medieval
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 159018436X |
Book Description
At the start of the 13th century, the Mongols were a poor, scattered, and politically weak people of the eastern Asian steppes. Under Genghis Khan, their "Universal Ruler," they were soon transformed into the world's most fearsome army. In just a few years, Genghis Khan and his followers conquered the largest empire in history, covering a vast territory in China, central Asia, the Middle East, and eastern Europe.
Customer Reviews:
A Story Not Known Well Enough in the West.......2005-07-07
It was said that at the height of the Mongol empire a virgin with a hundred pounds of gold could travel from one end of the empire to the other with no fear of losing anything. That was, however, after the conquering phase.
While a country was being conquered it was pretty rough. The standard rule was to approach a city, if the city surrendered all was fine. Any resistance at all and everyone in the city was killed. This tended to make the next city surrender.
By any measure, Genghis Kahn was one of the great military leaders of all time. The empire he conquered stretched from the shores of the pacific to the very gates of Europe. His exploits are less well known than others because of his Eastern origin, yet his empire was twice (or more) the size of that conquered by Alexander.
This is a small book, intended for younger readers, but gives an accurate telling of this rather unknown story.
Average customer rating:
|
The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy
Michael Prawdin
Manufacturer: Transaction Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Early Civilization
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Medieval
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Nomadic Empires: From Mongolia to the Danube
ASIN: 1412805198 |
Average customer rating:
|
Beyond the Legacy of Genghis Khan (Islamic History and Civilization)
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Byzantine
| Schools, Periods & Styles
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Middle Eastern
| Regional
| History & Criticism
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Middle East
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Iran
| Middle East
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Islamic
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 9004150838 |
Book Description
This publication offers a wide-ranging account of the Mongols in western and eastern Asia in the aftermath of Genghis Khan's disruptive invasions of the early thirteenth century, focusing on the significant cultural, social, religious and political changes that followed in their wake. The issues considered concern art, governance, diplomacy, commerce, court life, and urban culture in the Mongol world empire as originally presented at a 2003 symposium at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and now distilled in this volume. This collection of 23 papers by many of the main authorities in the field demonstrates both the scope and the depth of the current state of Mongol-related studies and will undoubtedly inspire and provoke further research. The text is profusely illustrated by 27 color and 110 black-and-white illustrations.
Average customer rating:
|
Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire (Discoveries)
Jean-Paul Roux
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Historical
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Military & Spies
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Far East
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Chinese
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Chinese
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Chinese
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Chinese Books
| Chinese
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Discoveries: Khmer (Discoveries (Abrams))
-
The Aztecs: Rise and Fall of an Empire (Abrams Discoveries)
ASIN: 0810991039 |
Book Description
The legendary Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan (1155-1227) built one of the largest and most powerful empires in all history, striking fear and leaving devastation in his wake. Through their military brilliance, extreme discipline, and innovative weaponry, by 1224 the Mongols had expanded their empire--in which justice ruled, commerce flouished, all religions and races were accepted, and great scientific and artistic strides were made--into modern-day Korea, China, Russia, the Middle East, India, and eastern Europe. This in-depth survey by historian Jean-Paul Roux gives the reader a clear vision of this incomparable leader and the achievements of his mighty empire.
Customer Reviews:
Nice pictures, but.... .......2005-03-22
... that's about all that this little book has to recommend it. (I'd actually give it more like 1&1/2 stars.) The other thing is the excerpts of source material at the end. It's basically a coffee table book, complete with glossy paper, in a paperback size. The text itself can't really be recommended. "Barbaric and uncultivated race"?! (pg. 17). It obviously wasn't edited by someone who knows Mongolia -- non-standard terms and spellings for names are used throughought. Some dates are wrong (the celebration of the 800th anniversary of Chinggis Khaan's birth was in 1962, not 1955). A few passages just don't make sense. "What may have played the biggest role in favor of the Mongols despite internal or foreign wars, conclusively marginal, was the establishment of peace and order" (pg. 66). Many assertions are wrong, or at best very misleading. You get the idea. And what history is okay is really too abbreviated to be of much use to anyone who knows anything about Mongolia, and for those that don't, there are much better sources to start with, such as David Morgan's The Mongols, or Ratchnevsky's biography of Chinggis .
Average customer rating:
|
Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire (Rulers and Their Times)
Miriam Greenblatt
Manufacturer: Benchmark Books (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Historical
| Biographies
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0761410279 |
Book Description
Young's thesis concludes that the "higher activities" of humans can be illuminated through an examination of the actual brain functions that produce them, and that these processes can be closely compared to those of a calculating machine.
Average customer rating:
|
A to Z of Biologists (Notable Scientists)
Lisa Yount
Manufacturer: Facts on File
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Reference
| Subjects
| Books
| Almanacs & Yearbooks
| Atlases & Maps
| Audiobooks
| Business Skills
| Careers
| Catalogs & Directories
| Consumer Guides
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Education
| Encyclopedias
| Etiquette
| Foreign Languages
| Fun Facts
| Genealogy
| General
| Job Hunting
| Large Print
| Law
| Publishing & Books
| Quotations
| Spanish-Language Reference
| Study Guides
| Test Prep Central
| Words & Language
| Writing
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Scientists
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Reference & Collections
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Reference & Nonfiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
| Almanacs
| Antiques & Collectibles
| Atlases
| Business & Money
| Dictionaries
| Encyclopedias
| General
| Language Arts
| Law & Crime
| Philosophy
| Politics & Government
| School & Education
| Study Aids
| Thesauri
Biology
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Natural History
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science & Technology
| Teens
| Subjects
| Books
Mathematics
| Science & Technology
| Teens
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0816045410 |
Customer Reviews:
Written by a Committee.......2005-08-09
This is the report of a government appointed committee. The honest truth is that there's no way to prevent childhood obesity and it's none of the government's business anyway, but that's not what government committees are paid to say.
It is fairly obvious that they were further restricted because there some other things they were not supposed to say. One obvious factor is the change in the ethnic makeup of the United States. The magnitude of this factor can be assessed from the tables and graphs. They point out that childhood obesity is largely associated these days in the United States with poverty. They then provide a table showing that over 35 billion dollars a year are spent by the Federal Government giving food to the poor.
There are some suggestions they were not allowed to make, such as the use of medications, although enormous numbers of kids are on Ritalin type drugs, which keep them short and skinny as well as better behaved.
The question of height is shortchanged. Changes in stature of the average American over years are simply not mentioned. For many years Americans grew taller and taller and no action was called for to thwart the tallness epidemic. We do not know why the same food intake and energy output that makes one child grow vertically makes another grow horizontally.
The decline in smoking over the years is not considered as a causative factor. Birth weight issues are barely mentioned. (They were not supposed to recommend people smoking or having low birth weight babies).
They pay lip-service to evidence-based medicine (a fashionable mantra) but evidence based medicine demands that we consider the adverse effects of any measure.Exercise is regarded as an unalloyed benefit, with no mention that any child may find it uncomfortable, anxiety-producing or embarrassing. They recommend weighing children in school. The experimental studies they mention all show that school physical educations has no effect on childhood obesity but they support increasing it.
Perhaps it is fortunate that the weight-reducing measures proposed are likely to be ineffective. If they really worked they would, presumably, be equally applied to all children and would make some of the thinner ones undesirably thin.
Some of the sentences convey useful information such as "Everyone needs to eat food and consume beverages for daily sustenance." (bet you didn't know that until they told you). There's a very helpful glossary containing definitions of such esoteric words as "disease" "health" "risk" and "prevention" that you might not know the meaning of. The authors themselves are unfamiliar with the word "we." They refer to themselves throughout in the third person as "the committee."
Even with the aid of the glossary it's sometimes difficult to make any sense of sentences written in dense Washingtonian such as "The tension between stigmatization and normalization can be addressed, as it has been for other public health concerns, by focusing on the behaviors that can be changed to promote health rather than on the individual and his or her appearance." I look forward to the English translation.
Examines the modern crisis in children's health issues: childhood obesity.......2005-08-08
Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health In The Balance examines the modern crisis in children's health issues: childhood obesity. Not only are the environmental, social, medical and historic factors influencing children's weight considered over the long term, but a prevention program identifies the best of short- and long-term interventions and how adults can guide kids away from common pitfalls. Recommendations range from mobilizing parents to making national health a priority overall.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Environmental Health Perspectives, published by Thomson Gale on October 1, 2005. The length of the article is 819 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance.
Author: Jeffrey B. Schwimmer
Publication:
Environmental Health Perspectives (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 113
Issue: 10
Page: A706(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Amazon.com
If you think "raw food" means carrots and alfalfa sprouts, Raw will astound you with its elegance and inventiveness. It's a combination no-cook book featuring gourmet recipes using raw and dehydrated vegetables, and a gorgeous, eye-popping, food photography book. The large, glossy book is beautifully designed, with well-arranged recipes, presentation notes, elegant language, and full-page, bigger-than-life photographs of exquisitely arranged food. Each recipe is introduced by an enticing description, e.g., "
the juxtapositions of the crunchy peppercorn pieces and the creamy cheese [made from cashews], the crispy smoked almonds, and the chewy dried apricots, the erotic gooeyness of the honeycomb mounds and the elegant crispiness of the thyme spouts
." This is for special meals, not everyday--the recipes are not quick to prepare, and many include references to other recipes. Authors Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein are master chefs at two internationally acclaimed gourmet vegetarian raw-food restaurants--Charlie Trotter's in Chicago and Roxanne's in California. Photographer Tim Turner turns food photography into contemporary art. Wine notes by Jason Smith give the final touch of elegance. Highly recommended for the adventurous, gourmet cook willing to go the next step in vegetarian fine dining and anyone-- cook or not--who appreciates food photography. --Joan Price
Book Description
Using basic techniques such as juicing, dehydrating, and blending, raw foods exalt the innate wholesomeness and splendor of fruits and vegetables. Once relegated to the sidelines of vegetarianism, raw food has come into its own, introducing a world of textures, flavors, and nutrition to fine dining. Experience the revelation of this dynamic cuisine in RAW, a lush tome that pays a stylish tribute to raw food. Including notes on equipment, basic techniques, and wine pairings, RAW proves that living foods are nothing short of a revolution in the way we cook and eat.
Customer Reviews:
Relais Gormand worthy!.......2007-09-04
After working in Relais Chateaus and fine french, Italian and Fine Eclectic fare restaurants, it was apparent that there were very high expectations to be met when presenting a plated item. Charlie Trotter and Roseann Klein have created a beautifully bound version of "Raw" food, Relais Gormand style. Fabulous photos of the finished plates and really detailed recipes, right down to the appendix of savory and succulent sauces, creams, cheeses and cracker recipes. I have created nearly everything in this book and the recipes are true to the photos, flavors are fabulous. If you want to create show stopping, 5 star cuisine that will keep your guests amazed, satiated with libations to salivate over, this is the book for you. Elegant and sophisticated. I just LOVE this book!.
Brilliant book!.......2007-08-24
When I first saw this book, I was slightly intimidated by some of the recipes - they seemed to have so many ingredients and different stages. I have since however prepared several of the dishes and the tastes are sublime and make the recipes well worth the effort! This is an excellent book and as about 70% of the food I eat is raw anyway, it gave me a huge number of new ideas for preparation and presentation.
complex recipes.......2007-08-16
If your looking for gourmet raw food preperation that takes multiple days and multiple steps to make 1 food dish than this book is for you. I found the recipes to be more work than the food was worth. I imagine the recipes would be fine for a gourmet person who spends a lot of time making raw food look good.
Fancy and pretty, but not practical.......2007-07-31
I like the pictures in this book and the details in the appendix, but the ingredients are either hard to find or expensive and the recipes are so complex. If I was to spend that much time making anything, I would want it to be a 5 course meal. I have had this book over a year and have never made a thing from it.
Sad, wrong, fetishism served up with two scoops of magical thinking.......2007-07-22
Hmm, what's a self-important person who lives in one of the richest countries in the world supposed to do to rise above mere hoi polloi? Insist that even a basic necessity, food, must meet exacting, meaningless standards and be prepared according to pointless rules. If meal preparation also requires expensive ingredients and equipment, so much the better.
All the world over, when someone prepares a meal for you, the proper answer is "thank you" not "was any of this heated to over 118 degrees"?
Cookbooks like this one turn food into a fetish, and an expensive, labor-intensive one at that.
When the last person in Darfur says, "No thanks, I couldn't eat another bite," then I'll think about buying 'celtic' sea salt and 25-year old vinegar.
Amazon.com
There has never been a more sensuous vegetarian cookbook than this one. The food is photographed so as to accentuate its color and texture, and you'll want to dive naked into the Chilled Yellow Taxi Tomato Soup with Avocado-Coriander Sorbet and take a little swim. The wine notes that accompany each recipe are thoughtful and sensible, a valuable addition to this amazingly beautiful book. Charlie Trotter, who owns the eponymous five-star Chicago restaurant, says: "I just happen to be in love with the experience of touching, cooking, and eating the multitude of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains. It is sincerely one of the most sensual joys of my life."
Customer Reviews:
AWESOME!!!.......2006-07-20
Terrific, fantastic, outstanding! I'm deeply impressed by the highest quality and a lot of useful information I found there! And those flavour-combining advices... They are simply great! I'm deeply satisfied.
Beautiful to look at, but puh-leeze!.......2003-07-27
The photos are lovely and the chef obviously loves his subject (hence two stars, not one), but really--4 cups kohlrabi juice? 3 tbsp. chopped primroses? Opal basil--like regular won't work? Several recipes with over 20 ingredients each, some of which say "recipe follows" so they're not really an ingredient but another recipe? And no substitutions suggested so just in case your corner store is out of, say, hedgehog mushrooms or Cape gooseberries, you can still make an approximation?
I am an adventurous cook, and can get a lot of ethnic, organic, and/or exotic ingredients, but this sounds more like hard labor than working with the fruits of the earth--the kind of recipes where you cook to impress rather than to enjoy the process or the product.
Don't try this at home!.......2002-10-16
Have you ever traveled cross-country to Chicago just to dine at Charlie Trotter's? I have, and it was one of the best meals of my life. This book and the others in the series are great at giving you a feel of what the real thing is like. The pictures are outstanding and the combinations just wow you. But if you think for a moment that any cookbook would allow you to duplicate what Charlie does, you are mistaken. Some cookbooks are for those who want to follow a recipe and duplicate it. This is not one of those. This is for people who want to understand the Chef's unique cuisine and appreciate it for the art that it is.
An excellent book.......2002-08-01
I have had this book for past two years and have tried a lot of the recipes. As a vegetarian, I have always had a hard time to find a book that has recipes that very tasty (I am not a big fan of meat substitute), simple, and beautiful. His books provides them all. His soups are pathetically easy...cook, blend, strain, and serve. He does spend sometime in decoration but these are usually not neccessary (I only ocassionally do that, eliminating them will not impact the overall taste). Unlike other readers, I have not had a hard time finding ingredients but then again, I live in Chicago and shop at numerous places for groceries. Although, Whole foods and Treasure Island (chicago area only) carries every single ingredient he calls for (some obviously are seasonal). It is an excellent book for people who love to cook seasonal vegetables (he breaks his recipes by months).
His dishes are laid out for course meals so the portions are small. I eat very small portions so if I cook the soup (the entire recipe, suggested serving is four) with some bread on side, it is enough for my friend and I.
I disagree with anyone who says that the recipes are hard to use. The time consuming part is roasting, baking, or cooling time (which does not require you spend the entire time in the kitchen, I generally spend that time to go do something else). I usually don't have the flavored oils that he calls for but I just substitute with one of the oils I have or just really good olive oil. I think if you have the time than go for the entire recipe but skipping the oils, or very small amount of sauce is not going to hurt the taste of the dish.
If you are intimidated by his book, I suggest your start with his soup recipe (for example, his Tomato soup recipe calls for taxi tomato...if you don't find taxi tomato, use big yellow tomato or even good quality red tomato).
a love for vegetables.......2001-11-29
None of these recipies are easy, but if you are willing to sacrafice time and money, the results are pretty amazing. I find CT's Vegetables to be his most versitile book, where Charlie really shows us his most spectacular innovations.
I've cooked successfully out of this cookbook for 4 years, and have come back to it time and time again, when I'm in need of something truly smashing - and in particular, when I'm feeding vegetarian friends.
A word to the wise, buy this book to cook from only if you know your way around a kitchen and the standard resturant vocubulary (he's not going to tell you how to blanch or julienne). Another word of warning - don't try any of this if you're trying to take care of small children at the same time - the recipies demand all of you attention.
Show stoppers are the glorios carmalized onion and potato tart, the chilled cucumber soup, the blue cheese souffle (the brioche is out of this world), the asparagus terrine, and the grits-filled morelles. ymmmm.
Customer Reviews:
Visually Compelling Gourmet Cookbook.......2003-02-16
When was the last time you ate at a divine restaurant? When was the last time you ordered something that you couldn't pronounce? Have you ever savored that perfect bottle of French Merlot? If you have a taste for the exquisite, an eye for artistic flair in cooking, and a passion for the culinary arts, this book is your nirvana.
Each recipe is thoughtfully organized into sections:
Serving Size, List of Ingredients, Method, Assembly, and Wine Notes. There is also a full-color picture of each completed dish to accompany the recipe.
The book is organized by ingredient. Tomatoes, Potatoes, Mushrooms, Salmon, Scallops, Tuna, Rabbit, Squab, Lamb, Varietal Meats, Grains, and Desserts. Examples of the recipes are: Truffled Exotic Mushrooms and Root Vegetable Tart with Red Wine Butter Sauce, Timbale of Salmon Tartare with Osetra Caviar, Avocado, and Lemon Oil, and Peach and Creme Brulee Napoleon with Green Tea Creme Anglaise and Peach Juice.
This book is a beautiful example of gourmet cooking at it's height of finesse. This book is not for the beginner or the faint of heart. The tools and ingredients required in this book are extensive, and not always readily attainable. If you are an aspiring gourmet chef, or merely an officiando of the fruit of their labors, you will thorougly enjoy this book.
Were these tested?.......2003-02-11
If the recipes don't work, it's the book and not you.
The demented creation of a madman.......2001-12-06
Do you enjoy assembling 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzles blindfolded? Or have you ever built a fully-detailed model of the cathedral at Chartres with toothpicks? Then, my obsessive-compulsive friend, you have found your cookbook.
Are you a food pervert? (You can be honest. It's just the two of us here.) Do your most sordid and lascivious fantasies revolve around duck breasts rather than human ones? Then bring this book home, lock the doors, and go nuts. (Just stay out of my neighborhood.)
Are you a normal human being looking for some tasty recipes to prepare? Run away! Quickly!
Don't try this at home..........2001-07-25
Have you ever traveled cross-country to Chicago just to dine at Charlie Trotter's? I have, and it was one of the best meals of my life. This book and the others in the series are great at giving you a feel of what the real thing is like. The pictures are outstanding and the combinations just wow you. But if you think for a moment that any cookbook would allow you to duplicate what Charlie does, you are mistaken. Some cookbooks are for those who want to follow a recipe and duplicate it. This is not one of those. This is for people who want to understand the Chef's unique cuisine and appreciate it for the art that it is.
Nothing worthy is easy........2000-12-06
This book is clearly not for the amateur cook. But, honestly, did anyone think it would be? I have lived in Chicago 10 years and have been to Charlie's several times. The recipes in the book are good representations of what to expect at the restaurant. So, if you can master several of them, your friends can say they have eaten at Trotter's. My advice (having cooked most of the recipes in the book) is to begin a day earlier than normal, and make all the stocks, reductions, juices etc. You will be shocked how much simpler the recipes become.
Customer Reviews:
Super Spud Book.......2006-12-09
Any spudophile will love this book. A lengthy but fascinating introduction relates the history of the noble potato as well as useful tips for cooking and storing. Numerous types of potatoes are described in detail, each accompanied by illustrations and pertinent recipes.
The odd configuration of the book is unique and the spud photo on the cover looks as real as imaginable.
cool potatoes.......2001-02-17
i never knew there were that much potatos!
Books:
- The Boothill Coffee Club Volume I: Wartime Memories of World War I and World War II (The Boothill Coffee Club, 1)
- The Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers, Diggers, and Wings
- The Last Full Measure (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
- The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family
- The Life of General Francis Marion: A Celebrated Partisan Officer, in the Revolutionary War, Against the British and Tories in South Carolina and Georgia
- The Lost Civil War Diaries, The Diaries of Corporal Timothy J. Regan
- The Nature of Sacrifice: A Biography of Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., 1835-64
- The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz: Volume 1. 1829 - 1852
- The Sea-Hawk
- The Spy Wore Red: My Adventures as as Undercover Agent in World War II
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Baseball America 2007 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive
- The Cross Stitcher's Bible
- Introduccion Al Analisis Economico del Derecho
- Look at This Tree
- Opium War, 1840-1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century
- The Office Space Kit
- River-Walking Songbirds & Singing Coyotes: An Uncommon Field Guide to Northwest Mountains
- Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior
- Ledgers and Prices: Early Mesopotamian Merchant Accounts
- Stones for Ibarra