Margot Vigeant

Written by the love child of Bill Bryson and Alton Brown, Jan 13 2004

This is a wonderful book, as was the first. Encompassing, more or less at random: travel and food, history and food, science and food, technology and food and a healthy helping of the sociology of eating, it was a fast and funny read. There are books devoted to each of these topics which does a more rigorous job at it, but no one else rolls them all into so fun and informative a package. And, as opposed to a book which deals strictly with, say, the science of food and cooking, you can use this one to learn the names of the best French cooks and the names of their and countless other worthy restaurants.
I haven't previously found anyone willing to discuss the merits of caviar AND… Read more

Useful in more ways than one....., Mar 23 2002

I recieved this kit as a present when my son was two months old, and started using a core set of signs pretty soon afterwards. The video is very useful for picking up a few quick signs to memorize. Gabriel showed that he recognized the signs starting around 4 months - before he recognized most of the associated words. For example, if you showed him "milk" when he was hungry, he would get all excited! It was very cute. Signing "more" would calm him a bit when he was clamoring for more food, etc.
He is now 9 months old, and has just started using some of the signs himself, most notably "up", "more", and "hop" (it's how he asks to get… Read more