456 pages
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Did you know you can polish brass with ketchup? This new book is chock full of similar information on using ordinary, and some exotic, supplies to help you with everyday household tasks and activities. Written in a cookbook format, it offers do-it-yourselfers hints to save money and/or trips to the store. Each chapter has a brief introduction followed by formulas or recipes to take care of gardens, pots, houses, cars, etc. An appendix lists supply sources. With its earlier book, Natural Formula Book for Home and Yard ( LJ 10/1/82), Rodale enables readers to use safe ingredients to do more jobs. Highly recommended for public libraries.
- Susan Awe, Natrona Cty. P.L., Casper, Wyo.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Susan Awe, Natrona Cty. P.L., Casper, Wyo.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Michael Castleman is a journalist and novelist, author of more than 2,000 newspaper, magazine, and Web articles, 12 consumer health books, and three mystery novels.
He is "one of the nation's leading health writers" (Library Journal). For 35 years, he has been a prolific freelance medical journalist focused on optimal health, mainstream medicine, alternative therapies, nutrition, fitness, and sexuality. His nonfiction books have a combined total of more than 2.25 million copies in print. His comprehensive guide to herbal medicine, The Healing Herbs, recently expanded and updated as The New Healing Herbs, 3rd Edition (Rodale, 2009), has sold more than 1 million copies.
Three of Castleman's books have been Book of the Month Club Selections: The Healing Herbs; Blended Medicine (Rodale, 2000), a home medical guide that combines mainstream and alternative therapies; and Nature's Cures (Rodale, 1996), a scientific investigation of 33 alternative healing arts, everything from acupuncture to yoga. Two have won "Health Book of the Year" awards from the American Library Association: Blended Medicine and Nature's Cures. One was in print for 28 years, Sexual Solutions. Foreign-rights sales have included: the British Commonwealth, Germany, France, Latin America, Spain, Finland, and China.
Castleman has also written widely for magazines, among them: Smithsonian, Reader's Digest, Prevention, Family Circle, Redbook, Self, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, New Woman, Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Men's Journal, Psychology Today, Playboy, Parenting, Child, Natural Health, Natural Solutions, Mother Jones, and Salon.com, among others. Twice he has been nominated for National Magazine Awards--in 1997, for "Harm With Every Puff: How Smoking Hurts," in Mother Jones, and in 1996, for "The Real Truth About Breast Cancer," in San Francisco Focus.
His newspaper articles have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, San Francisco Examiner, and San Jose Mercury-News, among others.
Castleman's R-rated mystery series is set in San Francisco, and features newspaperman-sleuth Ed Rosenberg. Titles include: The Lost Gold of San Francisco (2003, movie option) Death Caps (2007) and A Killing in Real Estate (2010).
Castleman earned an M.A. in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism (1979), and returned to teach medical journalism there (1995, 1996). He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A., 1972).
Castleman grew up in Lynbrook, New York, a Long Island suburb of New York City. Since 1975 he has lived in San Francisco with his wife, a family physician. They have two adult children. In his free time, he enjoys jazz, blues, yoga, downhill skiing, and scuba diving.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How to for everything under the sun!,
By Laura Brown McKenzie (On a mountain in AL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rodale's Book of Practical Formulas: Easy-To-Make, Easy-To-Use, Recipes for Hundreds of Everyday Activities and Tasks (Hardcover)
After checking this book out of the library numerous times and trying to take notes on all the formulas that I knew I could use, I realized that either I would have to hand copy the book or go buy one at Amazon. I chose the latter and since buying it a few months ago, I've returned to the formulas again and again. Using this book you WILL: save money, save natural resources, find ready answers, and find practical information to help you in the home or garden. Using this book you'll be able to make plant fertilizer (that really works!), household cleaning solutions, soaps, herbal remedies, and much more. Even my pets have benefitted from this book. Enjoy!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A mixture of useful and pontless information - depends on the audience,
By
This review is from: Rodale's Book of Practical Formulas: Easy-To-Make, Easy-To-Use, Recipes for Hundreds of Everyday Activities and Tasks (Hardcover)
The book is separated into ten chapters -Car Care, Cooking, Gardening, Beauty, health, Home Repair and Remodeling, Housekeeping, Crafts, Pet Care, and Outdoor Life. There is also a short section on "supply sources".
All in all this book is about 50% useful, maybe a tad more. I guess it depends on what you're looking for. If your looking for natural substitutes there ARE some here but the book does not focus on natural vs chemical choices. It seems to use a mixture of both. If you're looking for ways to get by without running to the store then this book probably won't be much help. If you just enjoy a good tip book then you might appreciate this one. I'll be keeping mine but probably in an out of the way place because I don't expect it to get used too much. DETAILS: I found very little of use in the bulk of this book. Some 'formulas' were nothing more than basic instructions. For example - the 'formula' for cleaning Aluminum Alloy Wheels was nothing more than a list of stuff like gloves, hose, rags, steel wool, and aluminum pan cleaner with two paragraphs on how to use it. Pointless. There are 40 pages of recipes in the cooking section - you would think in this sort of book the recipes would be for substitutions or replacements for store bought goods but these aren't - they're basic recipes like Irish Soda Bread and Apple Crisp. There is a short list of substitutions in the chapter, and a couple of recipes for spice blends which could be useful. The gardening section seems to have been one of the shining stars of this book for me (a fairly new gardener). There are nearly 100 pages of mostly organic or at least fairly chemical free garden tips like a egg based deer repellent and a wireworm trap made out of a potato. There's also information on making your own soil mixtures. The 'beauty' section is very short, only about 10 pages including such information is apple cider astringent and egg& oil hair conditioner. Nothing stunningly new here. I was also somewhat pleased with the "Health" section, it contains nearly 40 pages of mostly natural remedies and mixtures. Included are a stinging nettle itch relief formula, a canker sore formula, several formulas for PMS, UTI and other feminine issues, even a swimmer's ear remedy. This chapter is one of the few shining stars of this book. The next two chapters on home repair and cleaning yielded a few gems but relied a bit too much on strong chemicals such as bleach and ammonia, and some that are so strong that they must be purchased at hardware stores or even ordered through pharmacies. I suspect that many of these items are not available over the counter; though they are used in tiny quantities. The craft section has a great selection of basic recipes like homemade paste, bread-glue dough, fingerpaint and some good information of flower drying and natural dyes. If you enjoy crafts it will be quite useful. The pet section also seems to offer some useful information and recipes for everything from ringworm to a weight loss food for cats and homemade pet treats. The final section on outdoor life has a good mixture of the familiar (Gorp, granola, etc) and some new ideas (Hiker's potato-cheese soup, Hiker's ground beef mix). The substitutions list is a bit of a stretch (use a shower curtain instead of a ground cloth - ok if your still at home packing, not so useful if your already out in the woods).
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Saved me money,
This review is from: Rodale's Book of Practical Formulas: Easy-To-Make, Easy-To-Use, Recipes for Hundreds of Everyday Activities and Tasks (Hardcover)
Good product, has handy "recipes" for bug sprays and whatnot. Beats paying for over-the-counter chemicals.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
