Books about Oysters from Amazon.com

“Part treatise, part miscellany, unfailingly entertaining.”
–The New York Times

“A small pearl of a book . . . a great tale of the growth of a modern city as seen through the rise and fall of the lowly oyster.”
–Rocky Mountain News

Award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants–the oyster.
For centuries New York was famous for this particular shellfish, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city’s life that the abundant bivalves were Gotham’s most celebrated export, a staple food for all classes, and a natural filtration system for the city’s congested waterways.

Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight–along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos–this dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the seventeenth-century founding of New York to the death of its oyster beds and the rise of America’s environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan’s Gilded Age dining chambers. With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.

“Suffused with [Kurlansky’s] pleasure in exploring the city across ground that hasn’t already been covered with other writers’ footprints.”
–Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Fascinating stuff . . . [Kurlansky] has a keen eye for odd facts and natural detail.”
–The Wall Street Journal

“Kurlansky packs his breezy book with terrific anecdotes.”
–Entertainment Weekly

“Magnificent . . . a towering accomplishment.”
–Associated Press
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Price: $6.25 [Notify me when price goes down.]

From a star fishmonger, a unique cookbook and guide to healthful, eco-friendly seafood

Winner of the coveted IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) "Cookbook of the Year" award!

Few people know more about fish than Paul Johnson, whose Monterey Fish Market in San Francisco supplies seafood to some of the nation's most celebrated chefs, from Alice Waters, Thomas Keller, and Michael Mina to Todd English, Daniel Boulud, and Alain Ducasse. Now, Johnson at last shares his peerless seafood expertise. Written for people who love seafood but worry about the overfishing of certain species as well as mercury and other contaminants, Fish Forever pinpoints today's least-endangered, least-contaminated, best-tasting fish and shellfish species. Johnson provides in-depth guidance on 70 different fish along with 96 stylish international recipes that highlight the outstanding culinary qualities of each. In addition to teaching readers about sustainable fishing practices, Johnson will be donating a portion of his royalties to Save Our Wild Salmon, an organization that works to restore wild salmon runs. Complete with over 60 beautiful color photographs, how-to tips, and fascinating sidebars, Fish Forever is a must-have kitchen resource for seafood lovers everywhere. A mutiple award winner, this great book also won the IACP's "Best Single-Subject Cookbook.".
Price: $19.86 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This unassuming hardcover in black buckram with a dark lavender title plate is the door into a world of twisted pleasures. Filmmaker Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas) tells 23 winsomely macabre stories about boys and girls who don't fit in. Their bodies are misshapen, their habits are odd, and their parents are appalled by them. But they do try hard to be human, like poor unwanted Mummy Boy, who's "a bundle of gauze": he goes for a walk in the park with his mummy dog. Some kids are having "a birthday party for a Mexican girl." They think Mummy Boy is a piñata: "They took a baseball bat and whacked open his head. Mummy Boy fell to the ground; he finally was dead. Inside of his head were no candy or prizes, just a few stray beetles of various sizes." For all its simple humor, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories is a peculiarly disturbing book about the violence that children suffer. It is illustrated in pen and ink, watercolor, and crayon. The themes and imagery are at a young-adult to adult level. .
Price: $5.75 [Notify me when price goes down.]

How Jeff D. Opdyke became a successful international investor is an Everyman tale that began thirteen years ago when he discarded conventional wisdom. At the time, Wall Street’s pros insisted that average investors buy domestic mutual funds that invest overseas. But Jeff ignored their tepid advice. Instead, he opted for the intrepid, opening bank and brokerage accounts from New Zealand to Hong Kong in order to buy the local stocks he wanted to own, not those that some fund manager deemed worthy.

Jeff did so with great insight: People are people no matter whether home is in Madrid, Memphis, or Mumbai. They drink beer and buy homes and the furnishings and appliances to put in them. As hundreds of millions of people around the world strive to move into the middle class, the companies that meet these basic needs are becoming the great investment opportunities of today and tomorrow. Only a fraction of them, however, trade on American stock exchanges.

So, armed with simple tools available to you and me (the Internet and an e-mail account), Jeff found companies intimately tied to their local economies but capable of expansion—to America, perhaps, or more important to Asia and other regions of explosive growth. One such company is Fisher & Paykel, a New Zealand–based maker of appliances that over the course of a dozen years has produced a steady stream of dividends and special distributions and has gained more than 17 percent a year for Jeff.

How to find companies like Fisher & Paykel is the heart of this book. You can indeed make the world your oyster by diversifying your portfolio, and Jeff provides indispensable insight and practical guidelines for every aspect of investing directly overseas. He shows how to research and track companies, set up foreign brokerage accounts, handle tax issues, convert currencies, and fund accounts.

Why venture beyond the United States to begin with? Because America is really just one small island. For every American public company, there are four beyond our shores—many of which are small to midsize and have huge potential for growth, which you’ll never find by trading in America alone.

If you’re ready to take the next step in building a truly diversified portfolio, you will gain a wealth of invaluable insight and information from Jeff’s engaging first-person accounts of his trial-and-error—but, ultimately, highly successful—globe-trotting career in search of worthy stocks.

The opportunities for investing overseas are indisputable. The World Is Your Oyster is your travel guide: pinpointing five of the best reasons to go global, detailing various ways for investors of every temperament—from timid to adventurous—to cross financial borders, focusing on how to invest directly in hot spots from China to Turkey to Eastern Europe, and revealing how the Internet and other twenty-first-century technology has opened a world of direct overseas investment opportunities for you..
Price: $15.47 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $5.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Torn by tragedy from his early life on a remote farm in Tasmania, Alex Dove has returned years later to start over. A chance encounter with quiet, alluring Merridy Bowman—a young woman similarly haunted by a tangled and catastrophic history—results in marriage, as two damaged souls unite to build a home, family, and livelihood far removed from civilization's bustle. Soon they are drawn into the unpredictable dynamics of small-town island life—and into the destructive orbit of an unscrupulous real estate agent who maintains a secret hold over both Doves. But when a shipwreck off the shore thrusts a troubled, possibly criminal teenage castaway into their world, Alex and Merridy's tenuously forged happiness is suddenly at grave risk, as they are forced to confront deeper questions about the true meaning of fulfillment.

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Price: $2.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

THE EDINBURGH VISITOR GUIDE is an essential reference for a trip to Scotland's capital The book features comprehensive listings of where to go and what to see, and is arranged alphabetically. The extensive range of attractions includes castles, historic houses, ancient monuments, museums, galleries, religious buildings, gardens, outdoor activities, nature, and wildlife. Each entry contains information on facilities, opening times, admission, directions, contact telephone number/website, plus a short description, and is numerically linked to one of a number of color maps. Special features highlight history, places, and events. An extensive index references both text and photos, and chapters are color-coded for easy reference to maps. Illustrated throughout with stunning color photography The Edinburgh Visitor Guide is the ultimate companion for tourists, day-trippers and residents..
Price: $11.01 [Notify me when price goes down.]