Nonfiction Book Reviews

I picked up The Complete Guide to Attics and Basements by Black and Decker because we were looking at finishing off the attic in our home.  We own a Craftsman-style home built in the 1920’s, and we thought that it would be an easy way to add on square footage.

Well, I’m so glad I picked this book up because it’s saved us a whole lot of time and money.  We found out from reading it that converting our attic isn’t possible.  After reading the requirements for the ceiling height in bedrooms, we crawled up into our attic and measured.  We barely hit 7 feet at the ridgeline, and according to this book, your ceiling has to be at least 7′6″ over 50% of the floor. We don’t hit 7′6″ anywhere, let alone over 50% of the floor, darn it.

We were going to hire someone to come in and look at our attic to give us some ideas on how to best finish it off, and I’m sure such a trip would’ve cost us several hundred dollars.  That’s obviously not going to happen now.  Apparently, reading books really can pay off, literally!

Even though this book spelled the end of one of our plans, I still enjoyed it.  I was very grateful that it was clear, easy to understand, well laid out, with lots of illustrations and examples.  I enjoyed the first section, where there were lots of pictures to give me fun ideas, and then the second section, where there were step-by-step instructions on how to do a wide variety of projects, from adding drywall to your basement walls to installing baseboard heaters.It is focused more on giving you a broad overview of the process and ideas rather than a manual with intricate instructions.

 I would suggest checking it out of the library before buying it, just to make sure it’s got what you need, and it aimed at your level of expertise and expectations.  But if what you’re looking for is ideas and some concrete tips on how to convert your attic or basement, you couldn’t go wrong with The Complete Guide to Attics and Basements.

I give it 4.25 out of 5 stars.Havs

PS If you’re on the hunt for books about remodeling, make sure to check out my review of Affordable Remodel by Fernando Pages Ruiz.  That was another great remodeling book. (You can probably tell I’ve been focusing on remodeling a lot lately!  That’s part of the joy of buying an older home…)

Affordable Remodel: How to Get Custom Results on any Budget by Fernando Pages Ruiz was a great book on remodeling.  It had enough in-depth information so that the reader wasn’t left saying, “But now what?” but it wasn’t so technical that it would lose the clueless (the clueless, of course, being me).

I had finished reading another book on remodeling a couple of weeks before starting this one, and the differences between them were astounding.  This one had lots of gorgeous pictures, clean illustrations, and step-by-step instructions that were never condescending or patronizing.

The other remodel book was written by a guy who spent the majority of his time saying that you needed to hire someone to do the work for you.  And he did it in a very patronizing tone, as if the reader was simply too dumb to know how to do anything.  The only project in the whole book that he said the home owner could “easily” do was painting.  I should hope so!

But Affordable Remodel was written with the goal of educating the homeowner enough that he or she would be able to do most of the work themselves, or at least have a good idea of how the work should go so that they could oversee the contractors intelligently and not get taken for a ride.  There’s also a lot of advice on how to get something done cheaper, although that’s not as big of a focus as you might expect, considering the name of the book.

I was surprised at how fun it was to read this book - I would get started while eating breakfast, and would keep reading even after I’d finished eating.  I almost ended up late to work a couple of times because I lost track of time!  This, while reading a remodel book! Not what I was expecting…

If you’re wanting an idea-generating book, plus loads of helpful information, make sure to pick this book up.  I give Affordable Remodel 4.75 out of 5 stars.

Havs

PS If you’re on the hunt for ways to save money, make sure to check out the Thrifty blog here at Today - Beth is one of my good friends, and her blog is just awesome! Lots of great ideas on there.

In the cheapskate community, Amy Dacyczyn reigns supreme. And it’s not hard to see why, when you flip through her books.

Amy originally started out by producing a newsletter with tips she thought were helpful. She eventually put those tips into books, and produced three amazing books that every tightwad in the country owns (bought off eBay at a discounted price, of course). They are (originality in naming not being her strong suit) The Tightwad Gazette I, The Tightwad Gazette II, and (drumroll please!) The Tightwad Gazette III. I know, you didn’t see it coming, did you? Neither did I.

Lack of originality aside, there is little here to criticize. Seriously. This is the frugal person’s Bible. Too often, a “how-to-be-frugal” book will simply regurgitate the same tips over and over again. (Great example here. Or here’s another one that did it too, although not to the same extent.) How many times can people say, “Save up money and pay cash for big items” before publishers start to say, “Wait a minute, I think this has been covered before”?

Apparently a lot.

Amy stands at the pinnacle of frugalness for a very good reason: None of her “tips” are recycled stuff that someone slapped together from an hour of Googling. Amy never takes the easy way out by saying, “I’ve heard that it’s cheaper to…”

Instead, she sits down with a calculator and figures out, down to the penny, how much something will cost. And then she does it again the other way. Math is not my strong suit, so she completely lost me when it came to some of her calculations, but I was mightily impressed by her conclusions.

Here’s an excerpt on freezing food in bulk that illustrates that point nicely:

The first step was purchasing a humongous, $7.99, 2,000 foot-roll of 12-inch-wide clear plastic wrap from a warehouse store. One could make the argument that free bread bags are cheaper, but this wrap costs just 4/10ths of a cent per foot and allows a stretched-tight wrap that gives good protections from freezer burn. If this quantity is too much for you, we found that store-brand plastic wraps are 6/10ths of a cent. (But be aware that name-brand wrap costs as much as 2 and 3/10ths of a cent per foot.)

Am I just the laziest person alive? I never, no never, would have thought to calculate something like that down to the tenth of a penny.  She does this constantly.  Reading her books is like peering into the mind of a frugal genius, truly.

If you’re really observant (as are all of my readers, naturally) you might have noticed that I reviewed book #3 first.  I did that to make the point that you don’t have to read these books in order.  She does refer back to stories in previous books occasionally, but she always makes sure to give enough of the backstory that you’re not lost.

My only gripe (boring name aside) is that there isn’t anything more to read.  Amy Dacyczyn has retired, and is no longer producing newsletters, books, or even a simple blog. Others have tried to fill the gap by producing their own books and blogs, but none of them are as good as The Frugal Zealot.

Amy, we miss ya.

5 out of 5 stars

Hava

Climbers and Wall Plants by Philippa Bensley was a well-written book on climbing plants - exactly what I was needing when I checked the book out of the library.  I am just starting to get into planting and gardening, and I really don’t know a whole lot about different types of plants.  I know what I want to do (I have a large wooden fence that I want to have plants climb up,) but not how to do it.

Climbers and Wall Plants helped me figure out the differences between climbers, and what I actually needed for my own garden.  I learned from the book that there are two different kinds of climbers: Self-supporting climbers and social climbers.

*Self-supporting climbers don’t need to be tied or staked to anything - they can climb up a brick wall or fence and send out “suckers” that will cling to the fence to support it.  They need no outside help.

*The social climbers have to have a trellis or netting that it can climb up and through, and will often need help along the way in terms of ties and stakes.  They use twining leafstalks, tendrils, stems, or thorns to cling to the structure.

Who knew?  I certainly didn’t.  This was a great book for a gardening novice like me.

The book was well laid out, it explained terms and ideas simply, and had lots of pretty pictures. More than just a picture book to drool over though, it actually provided helpful information - it should have been called Climbers and Wall Plants for Dummies.

I give Climbers and Wall Plants 4.75 out of 5 stars.

Hava

Desperation Dinners: Home-Cooked Meals for Frantic Families in 20 Minutes Flat by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross is a good resource for quick recipes. I saw it at the library while doing check-in, and thought, “Hey, that would be helpful!” I am always leaving dinner to the last minute (although of course my goal is to have it figured out and in the crockpot in the morning, but somehow that never happens. Hmm…) Anyway, there is a dearth of recipes that I can make in a jiffy - most of my recipes take an hour or longer to make, and that’s just way too long some days.

So I checked the cookbook out, took it home, and read it through. As I said in my last cookbook review, I tend to eat “normal” stuff, so I skipped over recipes like “Curried Lamb in Pita Bowls” and “Tortellini with Raisin Butter” - if you like very different recipes outside of the normal realm of things, then you’ll adore this cookbook. In fact, that was one of my bigger complaints about it - there were a lot of “exotic” recipes, and not nearly enough “normal” recipes, LOL! Take into consideration that I’m a country girl in Idaho who does meat and potatoes for dinner when you read that complaint - I’m sure that to others, my taste in food is the “weird” one!

Putting that aside, one of the things that I really enjoyed about this cookbook was the side notes, where the authors gave helpful tips and explained how they came up with the various time savers they employ. Some of the hints were a revelation to me, like from page 131:

We always used to cook too much pasta, and the leftovers got pushed to the back of the fridge. Forgotten, they turned green - or even purple. So how much was enough to cook, but not too much? After months of guessing…we decided to nail down this mystery once and for all…Here’s what we found:

In practically every case, 2 ounces of dried pasta - regardless of shape - is a reasonable portion for most adults, provided it’s served with a typical sauce of vegetables and meat…

[They then provide specific information to different types of pasta]

Spaghetti - Two ounces dried yields 1 cup cooked spaghetti. To feed four, cook an 8-ounce box of dried spaghetti. Since you can’t fit long pasta into a measuring cup, you’ll need to go by dry weight or learn what 2 ounces looks like. To help you visualize, go get a US penny. Place it on the counter. Grab enough long pasta tightly in your fist so that the tips exactly cover that penny. That’s 2 ounces. ~Desperation Dinners, page 131

Who knew? I certainly didn’t! My husband and I are always messing that up. Making spaghetti is always an adventure at our house - are we going to have too much pasta, too much sauce, or too much meat? At least with this tip, we’ll be sure about the first one, although the second two are going to remain a mystery.

My only other complaint about the book was that a lot of the recipes depended on convenience ingredients that my husband and I don’t normally buy, like bottled, minced garlic, or frozen green, red, and yellow bell pepper stir-fry mix, etc. I know that’s because they’re trying to cram a recipe into 20 minutes, so they have to depend on those convenience items, but that makes for a more expensive grocery bill when our grocery bill is already high enough, thank you very much. So then I’d chop the garlic by hand, or clean and slice the bell peppers by hand, and of course this would add more time to the recipe. I know that’s not the authors’ fault that I’m cheap, but in case any of my readers out there are cheap too that’s something to keep in mind. Adding in that extra time, most of these recipes are going to actually clock in at 30 - 45 minutes, if not more (depending on the recipe, of course).

Overall, I think it was good enough that if I see it at the store, I’ll probably buy it (especially if it’s on sale). I also saw them advertising a new book called Cheap, Fast, Good! so I’m going to borrow that from the library and check it out. Watch for my review on that!

I give Desperation Dinners 3.75 out of 5 stars.

Havs

PS If you’re on the hunt for good quick recipes, make sure to check out a blog here at Today - Quick and Easy Cooking!

Nothing to Wear? A 5-Step Cure for the Common Closet by Jesse Garza and Joe Lupo was an interesting book to me.  I tend to wear the same color over and over again: Black.  It’s not because I’m obsessed with the color, but more because it’s safe, it looks good on me, and it’s a “professional” color that you can wear to work.  It’s hard to be taken seriously when you’re wearing neon pink.

But my tendency to wear a lot of black clothes has earned me the nickname of “Goth” by my husband, and truly, I do deserve it, I’ll admit it.  I pulled out my summer clothes a couple of weeks ago, and out of all of the shirts that I owned, exactly two were not black.

I only wish I were kidding.

So I picked this book up with a real sense of urgency - I needed help, and I knew it.  After the introduction, the first step was to take an 8-question quiz to help me figure out my sense of style, something I had never thought about before.  I tend to be one of those people that if it looks cute at the store, then I’ll just “find a place for it” in my closet.  Never mind that I didn’t have anything else to go with it.  And then, the inevitable: Eventually I’d get rid of it because I never wore it.  Wow, there’s a shocker.

But now that I know my sense of style (chic/classic, the most common combination there is, according to the book) I can look at a shirt and realize that it’s entirely too “whimsical” or “bohemian” to really fit into my wardrobe.  I never, ever would have looked at it that way before.

The book takes you all the way through from figuring out your style to cleaning out your closet to buying new items to fill your closet.  It’s fun to read, even for someone like me who isn’t a big shopper (I last about an hour before begging for escape).  If your wardrobe needs spicing up, you might want to pick this book up at Amazon before heading to the mall.

I give it 4.75 out of 5 stars.

Hava

WordPress for Dummies: A Reference for the Rest of Us by Lisa Sabin-Wilson was one of the best reference books I’ve ever read on computers/blogging/website building, and believe me, I’ve read a lot of books on that subject!  I have three brainy brothers who are computer geniuses and although I’m not stupid when it comes to computers, I know that I still have a lot to learn.  I am in awe of their level of knowledge, and have read book after book on HTML, PhotoShop, and website building in general, hoping to catch up to them someday. Well, today is not that day, but I am a little closer, thanks to this book.

First off, as in all great reference books, the author injects a lot of humor into the book, which is fantastic.  Example: In the introduction, there are a string of headers with paragraphs underneath each one, “About This Book,” “Conventions Used in This Book,” etc.  Then comes the next header and paragraph:

What You Are Not to Read

Don’t read supermarket tabloids.  They’re certain to rot your brain.

As I explained previously, this books covers the details of how to set up, use, and maintain the software for the three free versions of WordPress.  I don’t intend for you to read this book from cover to cover. (Unless you’re my mother - then I won’t forgive you if you don’t.) Page 3, WordPress for Dummies

It’s the blasé transition there that I just loved.  If you didn’t think that was funny, you need to go have your pulse taken at the doctor’s office - it could be that you’re not actually alive and breathing any longer.  In that case, see the bright light?  Walk into it.

For the alive people out there, you’ll want to make sure to pick this book up if you have any interest in starting your own blog, or if you are blogging for a company and want to have a better idea of how the whole process works.  Why? you say.  Glad you asked! If you’re a blogger for a company, you probably don’t have to worry about things like picking your own theme and plugins, or how to set up a blog, just like you don’t have know how to change the oil or fix the engine in your car in order to drive it.  But you should know how to do these things (or at least the basics) because it makes you a better driver, and in our case, a better blogger.  (BTW, this is a case of do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do, because as I mentioned before, on a good day, I might be able to tell you where the engine is at in my truck.  Maybe.)  Luckily, my interest level is much higher when it comes to blogging than it is automobiles.

So back to WordPress for Dummies.  Lisa is not only funny, but she also knows what the heck she’s talking about.  She’s got the “street creds” as they say - she’s got tons of experience doing what she’s talking about, she isn’t just spouting what she’s heard from others.  She is also uber-patient and takes you through every tiny step of the process for setting up all three types of WordPress blogs: WordPress.com, WordPress.org, and WordPress Multi-User.  She explains the positive and negative aspects to each of these choices, and in general makes you a lot more comfortable with the whole thing.

The book does live up to its name: WordPress for Dummies.  If you’re an administrator of a large and popular WordPress blog or group of blogs, there’s probably little in here that you didn’t know already.  It isn’t for veterans of the field to learn from.  But if you’re just starting out into the big, bad blogging world, then this book will be right up your alley.  I started a blog back in March of 2007 with WordPress.com (I transferred the blog over from Blogspot, actually) and I was SOOO lost when I first did that.  I wish I had this book back then - it would have made my life much easier.  Then I transitioned that same blog over to WordPress.org onto its own domain, and was SOOO lost all over again, LOL!  I had to learn the hard way, and by bothering nice people (like, say, my brothers!) to help me.  I would have been 1000% better off reading this book.

Even now that I’m running two personal blogs, managing a group of 50 blogs, and writing on this blog, I still learned from the book.  It also clarified some things that I hadn’t quite understood before.  Now that I understand the basics, I’m going to delve into more complicated matters: Search Engine Optimization for Dummies, anyone?

I can tell what I’m going to be reading next…

4.5 out of 5 stars (marked down slightly because it was published right before WordPress released a huge new advancement in the admin panel of WordPress [think the change from XP to Vista - it was that kind of big], rendering most of the screenshots worthless and/or very dated.  The publishing company did not time that well.  Sorry, Lisa!!)  Other than that, not many complaints!

Havs