January 2008 Non-Fiction and Biography Book Reviews
Welcome to our January 2008 non-fiction book and biography
reviews archive. Non-Fiction stimulates, entertains, and enlightens. We work hard to find
non-fiction books - biographies, science books, art books, etc. to review each month that we feel are
worth your time and your hard-earned dollars. We hope you'll enjoy this backissue of our January 2008
non-fiction book reviews.
Okay, so nobody's buying a new home these days. But that means making your current
digs more easily inhabitable for yourself, if not for others. Adrienne Chinn gives you
a lavishly-illustrated guide to using color and texture in home decorating. You look up
the primary color for the room you're working on and she gives you several examples of
complimentary colors and textures to consider for the floors, carpeting, and furniture.
From crowd-pleasing neutrals to eye-popping purples, you'll find a lot of help in this
totable spiral-bound book that's easy to lay on a table or take along to the Home Depot.
My wife introduced me to figure skating back the in early 1980s when Torvill and Dean
grabbed the spotlight with their amazing performance in the 1984 Olympics (check it out
on YouTube). I was actually repaying her for her patience with my football obsession, but nevertheless, I did come to appreciate the sport more than I ever expected. But with the stars I knew from those days like Michelle Kwan and Scott Hamilton fading into memory, its time to learn about the new up and comers. Steve Milton shows you the best new figure skaters from around the world with stunning color photographs on each page, along with a brief biography. If you're a fan, you'll want to page through this book all season long to check on the backgrounds of these amazing atheletes.
With detailed photographs and solid advice, Steve Newell shows you how to cure many of
the toughest problems faced by amateur golfers. The book is organized first by club,
showing the problems for each group and the best way to cure it. With each swing broken
down into its component parts, the book helps you to quickly locate the critical areas
of your game that are keeping you from being consistent in your game.
The WOW factor of this book is gigantic. Its a stunning collection of photographs taken
from space presented by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. In addition to
the obligatory images of large weather systems, the book has chapters dedicated to several
common and practical uses of the complex and detailed imagery we've accumulated from
satellites and other spacecraft. Internet users have a sense of the level of detail
that can be gleaned from satellite photography through services like Google Earth.
Author Andrew K. Johnson brings the enthusiasm of a scientist to explain how each
kind of image is taken (the differences between photographs taken with visible light
and infrared photography) and how they are being used by real people every day.
For Baby Boomers like me who grew up admiring those first Mercury astronauts, books
like this one simply reinforce our admiration for the people who make these remarkable
achievements in technology useful to our everyday lives. But there's also no escaping
the awe-inspiring splendor of the pictures in this book.
If you've always been in awe of those daring pilots of the 20th Century who brought
us from the earliest forms of flying to today's space program, you'll love this book.
The authors wisely begin with legends of flight from Icarus on to the first successful
attempts at flying with hot air balloon. With each new era, there were new frontiers
of flight to conquer. You'll see pictures from the Wright Brothers' first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, through the barnstorming days of the early 1900's, the first planes used in combat in World War I and World War II, all the way up to the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, the history of flight is presented with tributes to both the men and the machines in this fantastic picture book. Its the kind of book you can read over and over again, just to learn more about how those brave men and women (we can't forget Amelia, can we?) gave us this amazing legacy and inspiring technology.
I call it "The Telescope NASA Couldn't Kill". Each page in this book is filled with
gorgeous pictures of galaxies and nebulae that span our universe. Trust me, the
pictures you've seen on the Internet and in your local newspaper don't begin to
show what the Hubble Space Telescope is capabable of doing. Beyond the wonderous
images, Robin Kerrod and Carole Stott explain what those images are telling
scientists about the nature of the universe.
'Tis the season to be shushing, and Mark Hines shows you how to best prepare
yourself for the slopes with this illustrated guide to exercises that are
tailored for the skier or snowboarder. You get a selection of several complete
exercise programs, with experienced advice on how to customize them to your
needs.
Novice equestrians will certainly appreciate this simple book that teaches the basics
of horseback riding from choosing the right equipment to the proper care and
feeding of your mount. Over 350 photographs tell the story in vivid detail.
Middle and high schoolers are sure to enjoy this tutorial on the sport of soccer.
After a brief discussion of basic exercises and warm-up drills, author Ted
Buxton presents over 70 separate drills, complete with photographs of each one,
that will help you develop the basic skills of the sport.
Middle and high schoolers are sure to enjoy this tutorial on the sport of soccer.
After a brief discussion of basic exercises and warm-up drills, author Ted
Buxton presents over 70 separate drills, complete with photographs of each one,
that will help you develop the basic skills of the sport.
Many families are concerned about food alergies these days. Of course, there have long
been issues with pesticides and other contaminants, but those are long-term issues whereas
alergic reactions are immediate and potentially lethal. In "The Nature of Food Alergy",
author Paul Hannaway gives parents a detailed guide to detecting food alergies in children,
and determining the particular foods that the child is reacting to. You'll not only get
information on particular foods that are known to cause allergic reactions, but the
ingredients within many food products that can be hidden triggers. The book has a modest
level of scientific and medical jargon, but nothing that should be beyond the level of
any parent. Indeed, its refreshing to find a general audience book that doesn't talk
down to it's readers. There's nothing like having good information to help reduce the
stress of being a parent, so books like this one are a great investment.
Be sure to visit us again next month when we'll
review more entertaining and enlightening non-fiction books. Our
non-fiction book reviews are written by our Editor, Richard L. Trethewey.
Rainbo Electronic Reviews' non-fiction book reviews are published monthly. Back issues of our
reviews are available from the Rainbo Reviews Backissues Archive.
We're proud to announce that the reviews archive is now searchable by category so you can find great non-fiction books we've reviewed in the past.
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