French Student Dictionary for your iPod

McGraw-Hill’s French Student Dictionary for your iPod (MP3 CD-ROM + Guide)

I requested this from Mini Book Expo, a site I have come to love. See, I’m a bibliophile and my husband has said I’m no longer allowed buying books. I’ll admit it – we have six full size bookcases in our house, with double rows on some of the shelves, and three small bookcases. That adds up to a lot of books.

At any rate, I don’t need to buy them if I can get them for free!

Right now, I’m playing around with McGraw-Hill’s French Student Dictionary for the iPod. It’s a neat idea. The files take up a great deal of space, though, and the transfer to iTunes isn’t automatic. We’re getting lazy, I think, but stuff like this should be automatic. The disk is really just three folders full of mp3’s*. I’m impressed with the clarity of the words. There are no definitions, no explanation of the words, simply the English and French words, repeated twice.

Searching for a word – out of a very, very long list – is not a simple thing, either. By the time I find the word I want, I’m more likely to just Franglish my way through. What I have found useful, though, is to set it to play a list of words the way I would play songs. I’ve done this with my iPod, but I’ve also played them in iTunes on my computer.

I have mixed thoughts about this product. I want to like it, but I really have to wonder just how useful it is.

I’m going to give it three stars out of five.

Diets for Healthy Living – Book Review

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I discovered an interesting site: Mini Book Expo for Bloggers . The idea is that you can claim up to two free books, read them, review them on your blog … and then get more.

During August, I read a book called Diets for Healthy Healing; Dr. Linda Page’s Natural Solutions to America’s 10 Biggest Health Problems .

She begins the book by discussing the importance of whole foods and herbs and stressing the importance of food to your general health. There’s a lot of really good and interesting information in there. The health problems which she claims a proper diet can help are numerous. First, there’s a Basic Stress Detox Diet, then Allergies & Asthma, Arthritis, Blood Sugar Imbalances, Cancer, Digestive Disorders, Heart Disease, Stroke & High Blood Pressure, Immune Defenses, Osteoporosis, Weight and Fat Management, and Women’s Imbalances. Finally, she adds “bonus” diets for Anti-aging, Beauty, and Optimal Nutrition for Children.

I have problem understanding how they are “bonus” if they are included in the book.

I have to admit that I enjoyed a lot of this guidebook/cookbook, although I shudder to think what most of her recipes would cost. As well, she relies very heavily on things which simply are not food. I showed the book to my brother in law. After leafing through it, he said, “So, you can’t follow her diet unless you live in her neighbourhood?”

How’s this delicious-sounding drink with the Pretentious Name and Frequent Capitalization?

Purifying Vitamin C Flush (This recipe works for Basic Stress Detox, Respiratory Infections, Immune Power, Childhood Diseases)

• 1 cup strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 cup mango or pineapple chunks
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/4″ slice, peeled ginger root
• 1 kiwi, peeled
• 1/4 tsp. vitamin C crystals (See? Thing which is not food)
• Juice. Makes 2 servings.

Okay … “Hey, kids, Mommy’s made up a batch of Purifying Vitamin C Flush!” I’m sure that’s going to get them running. I’m just not sure which direction they’ll be running. It really does sound delicious. How about just calling it Yummy Strawberry Punch?

It gets worse. For the Allergies & Asthma treatment, the suggested dinner is a baked potato with Bragg’s Liquid Aminos and a fresh salad with lemon-flax dressing.

Every diet contains a huge list of supplements, like “Earth’s Bounty O2 Spray” (goes on the soles of your feet every two days to keep tissue oxygen high), or Crystal Star Breast & Uterine Fibro Defense caps, or Herbal Products and Development Power Plus Enzymes. I couldn’t make these names up. They’re for real.

The Perfect Fiber Breakfast for children contains almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, prunes, apricots, papaya, oranges, and a banana. The fruit is cooked first and then mixed with the nuts and seeds. Sure, every kid I’ve known really wants stewed prunes and nuts for breakfast.

I’ve seen a few recipes in there that I’m going to try, although perhaps with modifications to make them a bit less expensive. However, as a book on “diets for healthy healing”, I’m giving it a big thumbs-down.

One Star out of five