Spotted Dick, S'Il Vous Plait: An English Restaurant in France

Book Description

"I never would have believed that anything could make me want to go eat English food in Lyon, but Higgins's delightful book has done so."
--Mimi Sheraton
When Tom Higgins, a translator, and his wife, Sue, a physician, decided to set up an English restaurant in Lyon, France (the country's capital of fine dining), they had no idea what they were getting into. In this delightful memoir of their first eight years in business, Higgins recounts all--from the amused disbelief of their neighbors who regard English food as a joke, to the frustrating impenetrability of the French licensing bureaucracy, from the positive delight in choosing wines and creating menus, to, ultimately, the extraordinary feeling of running a good restaurant that pleases the most fussy diners in the world.
Included in this charming tale are twelve typically English recipes
that anyone can make!

"After Peter Mayle comes Tom Higgins in Lyon. . . . Delightful reading."
--BBC Good Food
"Tom Higgins provides a wonderful insight into the French people and their way of life. . . . He is a natural raconteur."
--En Route

Customer Reviews:

"Amazingly Light" is right!.......2002-06-25

I found this book an absolute bore. What could have been completely captivating and interesting actually became completely predictable turning into stale blatherings on.

If you read this book to get a "sense" of an Englishman in French culture, you won't find it here or in Mr. Higgins' restaurant.

As for "amazingly light"...this book is amazingly light in content and interest. One could read the first and the last chapters and feel as though one had read the entire book. That might save time and therefore, be an amazingly quick read.

I can't believe no-one has reviewed this book.......2000-04-26

I love the book. It's like you're actually there in that little restaurant, helping Mr. Higgins make some of his pies. I just thought it will be like one of those "French or Foe book" with a lot of generalizations, but this book is amazingly light, and very informative--talking about the restaurant business,describing the beautiful scenery, it even contains some of his recipes! It's like a journal, but it's not--anyone can understand what he's talking about. Great narrative and refreshing characters. Higgins has a great sense of humor.

Spotted Dick, S'il Vous Plait - An English Restaurant In France

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Spotted Dick, S'il Vous Plait - An English Restaurant In France
Tom Higgins
Manufacturer: Fawcett Columbine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000P6L5YY

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Spotted Dick, s'il vous plait: An English Restaurant in France
Tom Higgins
Manufacturer: Soho Press c1995
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ONK9Z4

Book Description

Over the past decade or so, Irishness has emerged as an idealized ethnicity, one with which large numbers of people around the world, and particularly in the United States, choose to identify. Seeking to explain the widespread appeal of all things Irish, the contributors to this collection show that for Americans, Irishness is rapidly becoming the white ethnicity of choice, a means of claiming an ethnic identity while maintaining the benefits of whiteness. At the same time, the essayists challenge essentialized representations of Irishness, bringing attention to the complexities of Irish history and culture that are glossed over in Irish-themed weddings and shamrock tattoos.

Examining how Irishness is performed and commodified in the contemporary transnational environment, the contributors explore topics including Van Morrison’s music, Frank McCourt’s writing, the explosion of Irish-themed merchandising, the practices of heritage seekers, the movie The Crying Game, and the significance of red hair. Whether considering the implications of Garth Brooks’s claim of Irishness and his enormous popularity in Ireland, representations of Irish masculinity in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, or Americans’ recourse to a consoling Irishness amid the racial and nationalist tensions triggered by the events of September 11, the contributors delve into complex questions of ethnicity, consumerism, and globalization. Ultimately, they call for an increased awareness of the exclusionary effects of claims of Irishness and for the cultivation of flexible, inclusive ways of affiliating with Ireland and the Irish.

Contributors. Natasha Casey, Maeve Connolly, Catherine M. Eagan, Sean Griffin, Michael Malouf, Mary McGlynn, Gerardine Meaney, Diane Negra, Lauren Onkey, Maria Pramaggiore, Stephanie Rains, Amanda Third

Book Description

"This break-through volume opens a long overdue discussion of dance and sexuality." --Joan L. Erdman, Columbia College

What happens to the writing of dance history when issues of sexuality and sexual identity are made central? What happens to queer theory, and to other theoretical constructs of gender and sexuality, when a dancing body takes center stage? Dancing Desires asks these questions, exploring the relationship between dancing bodies and sexual identity on the concert stage, in nightclubs, in film, in the courts, and on the streets. From Nijinsky's balletic prowess to Charlie Chaplin's lightfooted "Little Tramp," from lesbian go-go dancers to the swans of Swan Lake, from the postmodern works of Bill T. Jones to the dangers of same-sex social dancing at Disneyland and the ecstatic Mardi Gras dance parties of Sydney, Australia, this book tracks the intersections of dance and human sexuality in the twentieth century as the definition of each has shifted and expanded.

The contributors come from a number of fields (literature, history, theater, dance, film studies, legal studies, critical race studies) and employ methodologies ranging from textual analysis and film theory to ethnography. By embracing dance, and bodily movement more generally, as a crucial focus for investigation, together they initiate a new agenda for tracking the historical kinesthetics of sexuality.

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Calico Rounds: The Round and Folk Dance Teacher
Paul and Underwood, Charlotte Hunt
Manufacturer: Harper & Brothers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NZ8QEO

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Calico rounds;: The round and folk dance teacher,
Paul Hunt
Manufacturer: Harper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006AU52C

Customer Reviews:

Very inspiring.......2007-07-31

This is the most inpiring and thought-provocing book on programming that I have read for many years. Very well-written, short, fun. Whatever language you are programming in, you will find it useful.
Niels Holst, Aarhus University.

Almost perfect!.......2007-06-10

I really like this book and it helps me a lot when I was developing a prototype of a complex application.

The idea of using tests to force you to think about the APIs is powerfull and the use of Python to implement a xUnit framework is very interesting.

But if you are a experienced developer you will find the first part of the book very boring because Kent uses extremely small steps to develop their example.

Finesse and humor.......2007-05-15

While I have only read half of this book, what I have read has been extraordinarily useful.

Years ago I attempted TDD with mixed success. It was very interesting and I liked having the enforcement of quality control but found it cumbersome. This book, however, has removed my reservations about TDD. Regardless of how simple the concept of TDD, its practice takes some finesse, which this book helps to provide.

The examples are quite effective at demonstrating where the traps are and how to avoid them. His appendix also includes a very simple example that is a simple explanation to give a taste to someone who is considering the technique.

The examples show not only how to do things correctly but also how to recover when you make a mistake. This practice provides both information about recovery and why certain practices are good, such as only writing new code when there is a single red light and only improving code when all the lights are green.

Finally, the book was very enjoyable. Kent uses a humorous, self-effacing style that illustrates thought processes, both "good" and "bad". It kept me completely engaged for the first eight chapters or so (before life interrupted my enjoyment of the book). It does tend to get more technical after that but I just see that as speaking to all levels of TDD practitioners - beginners to experts.

If you are thinking about using TDD, this book will convince you.

Must read, but with a serious flaw........2006-11-06

This is a short, detailed, easy-to-follow introduction to TDD. Nothing on the market is a better first book on the subject. This book will be only your first step on a long journey; you'll probably have to read more, or take some course(s), or work with an experienced TDD practitioner, to apply TDD to read world projects.

But there's a zeroth step Kent Beck could have given a lot more help with. You can't use TDD on a medium-to-large sized project without getting approval from the project's leaders. They might well ask, "Exactly what is the primary benefit from using TDD?" Does it directly increase project velocity (i.e., get the software out the door faster)? Does it improve the quality of software developed with it? This book doesn't answer that question. (It tells you how much TDD supports refactoring, but that leads back to the same question.)

Don't get me wrong. I think TDD is very helpful. I just couldn't convince management of that, based on this book.

Read this, but look elsewhere for justification on using TDD.

Intentionally slow-paced; this is a book on fundamentals.......2006-03-28

Many other reviewers have, with some justification, bemoaned the crunchingly slow pace of this book. Yes, the book moves through its examples slowly. Yes, sometimes Beck's mock humility comes off more than a little snide. It's not perfect on those counts, but please keep in mind that this is a book about a _process_, not a _result_.

The first example takes up almost half the book just to go through a pretty minimal implementation of a multi-currency representation for money. If this were a book about how to implement money representations, it would be a dismal failure. But of course, that's not the point at all -- the point is to use an example that's simple (so as not to be distracting), but just complex enough to produce adequate talking points to drive a discussion about test-driven development (TDD).

TDD is incredibly important, surprisingly late in arriving as a TLA unto itself, and Beck certainly gets points (cf. the review about "90% is just showing up") for producing a good straightforward introduction that's sorely needed. Nobody's going to come away from this book feeling filled to the brim with facts and sophisticated techniques. It's a short book (around 200 pages), and its pace is unhurried. What it does is focus on _fundamentals_.

TDD is all about buyin -- once you "get religion" and become "test-infected" (per Gamma), you've got a solid basis to grow from. It's about habits, and habits can be hard to teach. What's obvious to one person is mysterious to the next. Beck's approach of "sit here with me and listen to my thoughts on a simple, representative problem" is perfectly adequate. It concedes (repeatedly) that some of the steps are obvious, but the pages quickly and one never feels truly bogged down. He's really just teaching a handful of concepts throughout the whole book. You could write the concepts in a single paragraph; that's how much real, critical information is here. But it's _really good information_, and sometimes the key to grasping a fundamentally new (to you) viewpoint or idea is just hearing it rephrased for the 101st time, this time in words your brain is prepared to listen to.

So... it's a quick read, maybe a little pricey on that count. I'd say buy it anyway, and recoup the investment by loaning it to others on your team.

TDD is an incredibly beneficial infection; it's worth exposing yourself to a plainspoken explanation like this. You'll probably know within 50 pages whether you agree.

Test-Driven Development: A J2EE Example (Expert's Voice)

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Great testing book
Great mixture of tutorial and future reference book
Interesting case study in TDD
Extensive problems and answers
Decent book with good examples. Worth buying

Test-Driven Development: A J2EE Example (Expert's Voice)
Russell Gold , Thomas Hammell , and Tom Snyder
Manufacturer: Apress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1590593278

Book Description

Test-driven development was first introduced as part of the extreme programming (XP) paradigm. While not everyone agrees with all aspects of XP, most developers believe in the benefits of test-driven development. Although the basic techniques of test-driven development are simple to understand, its application in the real world requires knowledge of certain tools and techniques needed to effectively create, run and organize tests.

This book is targeted at Java developers who want to learn how to use test-driven development to improve the development process for constructing J2EE applications.

Customer Reviews:

Great testing book.......2005-05-05

This book is well written and organized. Hammell provides many insights into testing and development. Examples are written in Java, but the concepts and techniques apply to the .Net world equally well. A MUST READ!

Great mixture of tutorial and future reference book.......2005-03-14

If you are involved with combined development and functional testing using J2EE technology, this is the book for you!

I am a great fan of tutorials that start with a simple example and add complexity levels to the example in a logical development sequence. This book tackles simple servlet TDD and moves through Complex EJB and Swing GUI testing.

A thorough treatment of test and rationalization is presented. Probably the most important aspect of this publication is that once a developer becomes familiar with the example application, the text serves as a great application reference for future development needs!

Interesting case study in TDD.......2005-01-01

This is an interesting book. It takes a case study approach to teaching test driven development on an application to track sports results. It's pretty code heavy, which is something that I don't like about it. But given the topic that is to be expected.

Test Driven Development is a tough topic to teach. I respect APress for publishing a book with a unique design to try address this problem. It's well worth the time because this unique development approach can be very powerful when it's employed properly.

I recommend looking into Test Driven Development if you haven't already. And this is a reasonable place to start if you like to learn by example more than by reading process documentation like the Agile books.

Extensive problems and answers.......2004-12-19

Hammell puts forth to us that testing code is a rigorous discipline. He explains how to do this in the context of writing Java and using J2EE. The bedrock of his exposition is unit testing. This being Java, he shows how JUnit can be used to configure and run such tests, in a highly automated fashion. Hopefully, you will agree with his contention that indeed integrating JUnit and unit testing into the overall fabric of your development process is easy.

Building on this, he treats the important cases of testing a Java GUI and servlets and JSPs. The basic ideas are easy to grasp. There is a mass of example code that might obscure it, on first glance. But part of your skill set, which you need to develop, is that you should be able to hone down through the source code for the essential implementation of the ideas.

A nice trait of the book is the problem sets. And the lengthy answers to them. Rather unusual in books of these type. Typically, there aren't even any problems furnished. Let alone answers. If you end up using this book, you should avail yourself of the problems, for better learning.

Decent book with good examples. Worth buying.......2004-11-25

Overall I really liked this book. It has a lot good examples and practical advice on how to use TDD to build a J2EE application. The code I downloaded from the book's web site is nice also because besides the source code for the book you get a full build environment including a set of Ant build files that can be used to easily build and the run the examples. I really liked the chapter on servlet development using TDD since it showed me some tools and techniques that I hadn't seen before.

Book Description

In this engaging sequel to Rethinking History, Keith Jenkins argues for a re-figuration of historical study. At the core of his survey lies the realization that objective and disinterested histories as well as historical 'truth' are unachievable. The past and questions about the nature of history remain interminably open to new and disobedient approaches.
Jenkins reassesses conventional history in a bold fashion. His committed and radical study presents new ways of 'thinking history', a new methodology and philosophy and their impact on historical practice. This volume is written for students and teachers of history, illuminating and changing the core of their discipline.

Refiguring History: New Thoughts on an Old Discipline.(Book Review) : An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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Refiguring History: New Thoughts on an Old Discipline.(Book Review) : An article from: Canadian Journal of History
Ryan Dunch
Manufacturer: University of Saskatchewan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by University of Saskatchewan on April 1, 2005. The length of the article is 783 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: Refiguring History: New Thoughts on an Old Discipline.(Book Review)
Author: Ryan Dunch
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2005
Publisher: University of Saskatchewan
Volume: 40 Issue: 1 Page: 190(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description

With this sweeping reinterpretation of early cultural encounters between the English and American natives, Joyce E. Chaplin thoroughly alters our historical view of the origins of English presumptions of racial superiority, and of the role science and technology played in shaping these notions. By placing the history of science and medicine at the very center of the story of early English colonization, Chaplin shows how contemporary European theories of nature and science dramatically influenced relations between the English and Indians within the formation of the British Empire.

In Chaplin's account of the earliest contacts, we find the English--impressed by the Indians' way with food, tools, and iron--inclined to consider Indians as partners in the conquest and control of nature. Only when it came to the Indians' bodies, so susceptible to disease, were the English confident in their superiority. Chaplin traces the way in which this tentative notion of racial inferiority hardened and expanded to include the Indians' once admirable mental and technical capacities. Here we see how the English, beginning from a sense of bodily superiority, moved little by little toward the idea of their mastery over nature, America, and the Indians--and how this progression is inextricably linked to the impetus and rationale for empire.

Subject Matter: Technology the Body, and Science on the Anglo-American Frontier, 1500-1676. .(Book Review): An article from: Albion

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Subject Matter: Technology the Body, and Science on the Anglo-American Frontier, 1500-1676. .(Book Review): An article from: Albion
John (Supreme Court justice) Marshall
Manufacturer: North American Conference on British Studies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from Albion, published by North American Conference on British Studies on September 22, 2002. The length of the article is 814 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: Subject Matter: Technology the Body, and Science on the Anglo-American Frontier, 1500-1676. .(Book Review)
Author: John (Supreme Court justice) Marshall
Publication: Albion (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2002
Publisher: North American Conference on British Studies
Volume: 34 Issue: 3 Page: 473(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Subject Matter: Technology, the Body, and Science on the Anglo-American Frontier, 1500-1676.(Book Review) (book review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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Subject Matter: Technology, the Body, and Science on the Anglo-American Frontier, 1500-1676.(Book Review) (book review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History
Dianne Newell
Manufacturer: University of Saskatchewan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by University of Saskatchewan on December 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1062 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: Subject Matter: Technology, the Body, and Science on the Anglo-American Frontier, 1500-1676.(Book Review) (book review)
Author: Dianne Newell
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Saskatchewan
Volume: 37 Issue: 3 Page: 612(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Subject Matter: Technology, the Body, and Science on the Anglo-American Frontier, 1500-1676.(Book Review): An article from: Journal of Southern History

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Subject Matter: Technology, the Body, and Science on the Anglo-American Frontier, 1500-1676.(Book Review): An article from: Journal of Southern History
James Sidbury
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on August 1, 2003. The length of the article is 868 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: Subject Matter: Technology, the Body, and Science on the Anglo-American Frontier, 1500-1676.(Book Review)
Author: James Sidbury
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 2003
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 69 Issue: 3 Page: 664(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Amazon.com

If you know the difference between lies, damned lies, and statistics, give a copy of A.K. Dewdney's 200% of Nothing to your friends to get them up to speed. If you don't know the difference, consider this funny, engaging little book a crash course in numeracy, the mathematical equivalent of literacy. Opening with two chapters on the importance of this dying talent, Dewdney (formerly Scientific American's "Mathematical Recreations" writer) spooks the reader with real examples of government agencies, media outlets, and--of course--car salesmen deceiving their audiences with beguiling mathematical sleights of hand. It's all too easy for us to think we're immune to such tactics until we actually see them laid out for us in prose as clear and disarming as Dewdney's. From these tactics he delves more deeply into practical examples of particular problems that often catch us unaware. Gambling, advertisements using bizarre-but-normal-looking charts, and bad science all come in for thorough examinations, and the reader is amazed and occasionally angered at the shamelessness of the purveyors of misleading statistics. The book closes with two chapters designed to make readers "mathematically streetwise," with exercises to help you grasp ratios, very large and small numbers, and probabilities more intuitively. 200% of Nothing inspires learning and makes it interesting--if you want to see through the fog of numbers surrounding politicians and advertisements, there's no better place to start. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

Acclaim for "In today's world, 'innumeracy' is an even greater danger than illiteracy, and is perhaps even more common. Advertisers and politicians exploit it; intellectuals (self-styled) even flaunt it. I hope that this wise and witty book will provide cures where they are possible, and warnings where they are necessary.

"It's also a lot of fun. I can guarantee that 100%."—Arthur C. Clarke

"Dewdney retells with charm and wit magnificent morsels of mathematical mayhem discovered by his army of volunteer 'abuse detectives.' From 'sample trashing' to 'numerical terrorism,' from 'percentage pumping' to 'dimensional dementia,' 2000f Nothing plumbs the depths of innumeracy in daily life and reveals what ordinary people can do about it.

A rich, readable, instructive, and persuasive book."—Lynn Arthur Steen, Professor of Mathematics, St. Olaf College

Customer Reviews:

A pale imitation of Paulos.......2007-08-12

I read this book a few years ago. The book is little more than a pale imitation of John Allen Paulos' highly successful "Innumeracy" series. I decided to review this book now because I recently read another book, "Debunking 9/11 Myths," in which Dewdney's name came up. Apparently Dewdney has spent most of his spare time over the last few years peddling ridiculous 9/11 "Reichstag Fire" type conspiracy theories. I strongly recommend that you read John Allen Paulos' "Innumeracy" or anything by Martin Gardner instead of Dewdney, who has degenerated into a crank of the highest magnitude.

200% of Nothing.......2002-01-01

Didnt like this book at all. The Author attempted to use "witty and clever" diction that only confused the reader. He isnt even certified to write this book under the category of math .... hes a CS professor! It has some good examples but over all it was very hard to follow

Stick to the subject, leave the soapbox alone.......2001-04-24

A very amusing fast read. Having worked with the media and the general public regarding statistics, I found myself nodding and smiling often at the examples presented. However, the last chapter really detracted from the overall flow of the book. The tone changes. Dewdney gets on a soapbox, telling everyone how the world can't live without more mathmaticians. Puh-lease!

200% of Nothing....by A.K. Dewdney.......2000-04-27

Truly an eye-opening book, pointing out many often overlooked flaws and abuses in the use of mathematics to sell a product or advance a political agenda. Should be required reading in any consumer education course.

Can You Get An Edge On Winning The Lottery.......1999-01-22

Certainly this country of ours needs to be concerned about its illiteracy problem. It perhaps should be even more concerned about innumeracy, the mathematical equivalent of illiteracy. While many of us would be insulted if someone questioned our ability to comprehend the written word, we quite easily laugh at being idiots when mathematics is involved.

As a result we think nothing of an ad promising that a new light bulb will save 200% on energy. If that statement sounds OK to you, then you better read this book or one like it.

Here's a slim tome that addresses some of the more egregious insults to the field of mathematics and statistics. If you are totally innumerate it will raise your numbers IQ a few points. It's an easy book to read; too easy, as a matter of fact, and that's a shame. The author provides very little theory, many, sometimes useless, anecdotes, and some soap box preaching about mathematics being the premiere science.

He does touch on the mathematics of probablity, a subject that most people should know more about. Anyone with a basic knowledge of probability quickly realizes that coincidences don't just happen, they MUST happen. That fact throws a wrench into a lot of "sciences of the paranormal." And remember, from a statistical standpoint your chance of winning the big lottery is no different whether you buy a ticket or don't buy it. Is there a way to improve your chances for winning big? Yes. Pick numbers that no one else picks like, 1,2,3,4,5,6. That way you run less of a chance of getting tied with someone.

There are other books out there that give you better information, but this one is OK if you want to learn a little applied math without having to turn your brain on at all.

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200% of Nothing : An Eye-Opening Tour through the Twists and Turns of Math Abuse and Innumeracy
A. K. Dewdney
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MC6CJ4

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