Books about Hard living from Amazon.com

The decline of cheap oil is inspiring increasing numbers of North Americans to achieve some measure of backyard food self-sufficiency. In hard times, the family can be greatly helped by growing a highly productive food garden, requiring little cash outlay or watering.

Currently popular intensive vegetable gardening methods are largely inappropriate to this new circumstance. Crowded raised beds require high inputs of water, fertility and organic matter, and demand large amounts of human time and effort. But, except for labor, these inputs depend on the price of oil. Prior to the 1970s, North American home food growing used more land with less labor, with wider plant spacing, with less or no irrigation, and all done with sharp hand tools. But these sustainable systems have been largely forgotten. Gardening When It Counts helps readers rediscover traditional low-input gardening methods to produce healthy food.

Designed for readers with no experience and applicable to most areas in the English-speaking world except the tropics and hot deserts, this book shows that any family with access to 3-5,000 sq. ft. of garden land can halve their food costs using a growing system requiring just the odd bucketful of household waste water, perhaps two hundred dollars worth of hand tools, and about the same amount spent on supplies - working an average of two hours a day during the growing season.

Steve Solomon is a well-known west coast gardener and author of five previous books, including Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades which has appeared in five editions.

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Why is my voice making such weird sounds? When will I be able to start shaving? Why do I keep getting pimples? What is a wet dream?
 
Your body has been behaving very strangely lately. You hardly know what to expect from one day to the next. Karen Gravelle, with some help from her two young advisors, Nick and Chava Castro, has written a down-to-earth and practical book that will help guide you through this confusing time in your life. What's Going On Down There? answers any questions you might have about puberty, from what it is and what it feels like, to what puberty is like for girls, to how to handle the sexual feelings you may be starting to experience. Robert Leighton's funny and informative cartoons ease the confusion and exasperation you might feel.
 
Part manual, part older brother, What's Going On Down There? will give you the facts you need to feel comfortable and confident about this new phase of your life.

Elvis Cole is back...

With his acclaimed bestsellers, Hostage (a New York Times Notable Book) and Demolition Angel, Robert Crais drew raves for his unstoppable pacing, edgy characterizations, and cinematic prose. Now, in The Last Detective, Crais returns to his signature character, Los Angeles private investigator Elvis Cole, in a masterful page-turner that probes the meaning of family and the burdens of the past.

Elvis Cole's relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier is strained. When she moved from Louisiana to join Elvis in Los Angeles, she never dreamed that violence would so easily touch her life -- but then the unthinkable happens. While Lucy is away on business and her ten-year-old son, Ben, is staying with Elvis, Ben disappears without a trace. Desperate to believe that the boy has run away, evidence soon mounts to suggest a much darker scenario.

Joining forces with his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, Elvis frantically searches for Ben with the help of LAPD Detective Carol Starkey, as Lucy's wealthy, oil-industry ex-husband attempts to wrest control of the investigation. Amid the maelstrom of personal conflicts, Elvis and Joe are forced to consider a more troubling lead -- one indicating that Ben's disappearance is connected to a terrible, long-held secret from Elvis Cole's past.

Venturing deep inside a complex psyche, Crais explores Elvis's need for family - the military that embraced him during a troubled adolescence, his rock-solid partnership with Pike, and his floundering relationship with Lucy - as they race the clock in their search for Ben. The Last Detective is Robert Crais' richest, most intense tale of suspense yet.


From the Hardcover edition..
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TELL THE TRUTH AND SHAME THE DEVIL

Two children who mysteriously disappeared twenty-one years ago are the last thing on Lorna Temple’s mind when she returns to her Pennsylvania hometown to sell the old family property in the wake of her parents’ passing. But instead of memories, the fields where Lorna grew up yield something utterly chilling.

All those years ago, when nine-year-old Melinda Eagan vanished on her birthday, her foulmouthed older brother, Jason, quickly became the lone suspect. Yet when he went missing, too, the case turned cold. But Jason, it seems, never got far: His bones have been moldering on the Temples’ land for two decades. As far as the local police are concerned, the book is closed on Melinda’s murder–and Jason’s death is justice served. But Lorna refuses to let the dead rest uneasily. She turns to private eye T. J. Dawson to dig up the dirt of the past and see what lies beneath. Only there’s someone out there who hasn’t forgotten–and who won’t be the least bit forgiving about being exposed as a killer.

In matters of crime, there are many versions of the truth..
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Bruce and Stan's newest book shows readers where to turn when the going gets rough-to the God who cares about every difficulty they face. Based in the timeless truths of scripture, drawing upon life experiences of people who've navigated the dark valleys, God Is in the Hard Stuff offers inspiration and hope..
Price: $4.47 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Pepe the King Prawn is no ordinary shrimp. He's an entrepreneur, a raconteur, a ladies' prawn, a schemer, and a specialist at looking on the bright side of life! Known for his hilarious, uninhibited honesty and his smooth-talking way with the ladies, Pepe has finally written the book everyone has been begging him to publish. (Well, actually they wanted him to publish his little black book. But some things are priceless, okay.) From family and friendship to romance and roguery--plus everything in between--Pepe's words of wisdom will delight readers of all ages. Served up hot, fresh, and filled with wit, pith, and a dash of salsa--this is Pepe's guide to life, love, and livin' large. Pepe is a prawn for our time, guaranteed to make your life lively, hot, and very, very spicy!.
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Mark Jenkins, premier fitness instructor to the elite of the hip–hop world, presents a fast, effective two–month workout that uses hip–hop drive to attain an unsurpassed level of fitness in record time.

Mark Jenkins, celebrity fitness drillmaster, says 'if you want it, you gotta work it!' He's reshaping the world of hip–hop and film and now wants to give you a body like today's hottest movie and recording stars. With clients such as P. Diddy, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliot, D'Angelo, LL Cool J, Beyonce, and Brandy, Mark has developed an effective, motivating program, that gets results and keeps people coming back for more.

His program consists of intensive sport–specific training, flexibility, high–performance nutrition and supplementation. Exercises that can be performed without gym access keeps training practical and exhilarating. Training sessions are just an hour long, 3 or 4 times a week. Clients who train using this system can achieve an unsurpassed level of physical fitness, visual appeal and energy. This directly translates to improved posture, body awareness, voice quality, physical control, endurance and, ultimately, stage performance. Even if you're not a multi–platinum megastar, you're sure to benefit from looking and feeling like you are.

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