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According to CNET, Amazon's assistant Alexa in a battery powered bluetooth speaker. Now that it has a hands free option, it works well both as a way to take Alexa on the road and as your primary Alexa device at home.

To get the most out of your Amazon Tap, if you need to know what all Amazon Tap can do, these books can help.

Why Photographers Prefer Cloudy Days: Surprising and inspiring tips for photographers

How to color splash your photo, so that a chosen object is in color while all else is in black and white, emphasising the chosen object?

What is Light painting? According to LPB, "Light Painting Photography is the Art Form of using handheld lights to paint and/or draw in a scene while the shutter of a camera is left open during a long exposure photograph."

Photocritic is the author Haje Van Kamps site for all things photography.

Micellar Water

Lisa Niven of British Vogue calls this Bioderma Sensibio Soothing Light Face Cream for Sensitive or Intolerant Skin gentle, effective and affordable micellar water.  

What is Micellar water? Irish Times beauty writers Aisling and Laura call this Micellar Water, a new-age answer to lazy girl problems.

Norell Elixir - Fashionable American Ready-to-Wear

Norell Elixir is nocturnal just like its eponymous fashion shows by Norman Norell. Norman Norell is seen as the inventor of American Elegance.



Norman Norell's Sequined Gowns

Norell's spreads to not just fragrance but "Exclusive Vintage-Inspired Sequined Clutch Bag Exclusive Lipstick About Norell: Norman Norell and his legendary aesthetic translated the mystique of the French Couture salons to the showrooms of Seventh Avenue—revolutionizing American ready-to-wear."



For a limited time, Amazon Prime members qualify for a 15% discount, up to $15, on 1st purchase in Luxury Beauty.

A World to Care For: The Autobiography of Howard Rusk, MD

Howard Rusk's 'A world to care for' is an excellent book. Its his autobiography, but it directly delves into the rehabilitation for war veterans and disabled. It is intsructive to read how he felt the need for such a program, how he went about getting people's attention and funding.
It is strange reading of times when there were no antibiotics, anticonvulsive drugs.

At some point, paraplegics life expectancy was less than a year. His rehabilitation program has changed that.

It is interesting reading about the early prosthetic limbs- paper made temporary ones on...

This book is not just his story, but of many other doctors who made impossible dreams like walking for paralyzed people possible and of the disabled people themselves who did great things with their motivation.

I really like the statement- "When you work with a handicapped person, you've got to think of his abilities more than his disabilities."

The Invisible World National Geographic Video Classics VHS

I saw this video as a child of 13 or 14 years. I was mesmerised by it. The famous milk drop splash is all I remember of the content. I then thought it was worth stacking the name in my head.

Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant

Having read a little on Synesthesia in Diane Ackerman's ' A Natural History of Senses'.. I did believe Daniel Timmet's visual experiences of numbers and words.. A little into his childhood.. I was scared as to what will happen to him as an autistic child.. But with his diverse experiences in another country.. he has gone way far where he can answer the question of Allie Cone's(a mountaineer character) students "Do you know what its like when the only direction is down?"

A Place Called Home: Twenty Writing Women Remember

From the essays that stick with me, I realise that each writer had a different way of approaching 'home'. If some have recalled their childhood in connection with it, some have written about their experiences in having a home of their own.

The best I liked was Meg pie's 'The Lake' where she evokes a picture of her childhood personality that leaves the reader in bouts of laughter.

Jill McCorkle's 'Secret Places' has built a wonder land in just few pages, recalling her childhood.

Erica Jong's 'Coming Home to Connecticut' brings out her love for nature.

Carole Maso's 'the Shelter of the Alphabet: Home' had me in splits that her list of homes was never ending.

Rosellen Brown's 'Displaced Person' is a two fold essay. Her essay about home dealt with her identity and the way her grandfather's memories clinged to her, she has extended the concept of home from a mere house, to the people associated with it - the family.

I found 'On the Continental Shelf' difficult to understand. May be next time I pick this book again, I would have developed enough as a reader to get it. Such are the essays that you can read them anytime you pick the book after a while.

China Pilot: Flying for Chiang & Chennault

First, I like this book for all the new places and things that it introduced me to.

The book starts with Felix Smith's individual experiences, trying to sink in what this new place means.. soon it starts including his friends Earthquake, Buol's experiences.. by then the experiences have turned to event level as is with things related to war and nations.

The book does not get impersonal due to the many funny things that he narrates.. like a chef using Vicks Vapo Rub to get the mint flavor in an icecream.

Then there is this whole world of aviation, the pilots, the instructions to follow, their frustrations, who takes the blame for any crashes...

Father Morse in 'The Rebel Monk' subheading came across as a very lovable person.

In 'The Kingdom of Laos', one of the king's speeches translated makes one wonder as to why even non-aggressive countries have to become pawns in war.

Furthering My Education: A Memoir

The way part II of the book starts long after half of the book, seemed like poetry. Used to books slotted with about same number of pages in a chapter, I liked the spontaniety of the book. As is this unequillibrium... so is the distribution of events in Corbett's as well as his father's life. This book can be read in one sitting.

I did not pay much attention to the blackened, missing figure of the father on the front page until the story took that turn. We get to know him as an adolescent as well as a successful person later in life. It is interesting to watch the roles of Corbett as a hurting son and a father.
I found it appealing that corbett wrote of his struggle to get this book published.. others might feel it best skipped.

The best thing about this memoir.. is its not towards any goal.. but finds meaning by the time it gets wound.

America in the Twenties: A History

This is the first history book that got me laughing.. now is it the events or the writer? Every decade should have such a book on it, but it might not be this interesting. So many things happened in the time being referred to .. some unthinkable.All the interesting things have been caught right in their element. Getting the essence of big events in small chapters, really worked. What I like about this book is that there's a very human aspect to the events.. that later are remembered as major things or history.
I refer to things like the mention of exact revelatory moment, that caused Margaret Sanger to work towards birth control movement. The chapter 'Help!' on Ford is as good as it can get.
'Crosswords' is my favorite as it is on writers.
With so many different subjects.. its like fruits and nuts in the cereal of history..
The Denver Post is right in saying.."You wont put this down.." about this book.

Six Great Ideas

As you read this book, it will feel like a conversation with yourself. Some things are very conclusive. Given the starting point, you will reach the same conclusions as the author and not be very surprised to read the same.. as there is not much variation possible, especially when we are talking about limiting ideas like truth. The book wont seem an interesting read until your definitions are challenged or you have been introduced to a question like as Adler asks,"What, then,leads one to philosophy in the middle- not as clearly in the sphere of truth as mathematics and experimental science, nor as clearly in the sphere of taste as styles of cuisine or dress?"
This is a book which you can read years later and still find that it has something new to offer.

Interior Decoration for the Small Home

"It was impossible to forget that the (model) rooms were exhibition rooms only"
"The daily association (with furniture) alone can bring that(friendship)"

The chapter on rugs is excellent. It talks about all the kind of antique rugs available. How each is different. What scheme to use if you are using a patterned one. Why be careful with a plain one. Some of the methods of making rugs are very well explained.. like the differences between a Chenille and a Brussels

Even the chapter on furniture is very informative in terms of the prevalent kinds of wood, their costs and change in the styles over time.

This book is best enjoyed looking up images of all the objects mentioned.

The Ungarnished Truth: A Cooking Contest Memoir

Before I picked up this book, I only knew as far as cooking shows on TV - so interesting. In the book, the author while taking us through her journey of Pillsbury contest, gives an inside look into her approach to cooking.

While the contest did seem like an exam, post contest stuff of being rushed to and from shows, and what the author gathers about 'presentation on TV' makes one wonder about the make believe there.

As a cooking contest memoir, its interesting to see the focus on main incident maintained and not veering off into the whole life, but still relating relevant incidents to keep the story wholesome.

The best revelatory, ungarnished truth for me was when the author realised that the whole hype about the shows was about the hosts themselves.

Ellie Mathews was asked by Oprah, 'What did you bake?' when she appeared on her show as a winner of Pillsbury Bake Off contest with her Salsa Couscous Chicken. She thought,"Of course, I handnt baked a thing(in the winning recipe),but is a natural question,given the contest's name." Turns out that a list of ingredients for Curry Dinner Rolls started me on baking. True to the spirit of inspiring.

This is what I like about non-fiction: real consequences.

In the Womb: Animals

In the Womb: Animals by Michael Sims

Recently I heard that French bull dogs give birth by caesarian. I found that very surprising. Naturally, this book `In the Womb Animals' caught my attention, open to all the strange things that might be in the animal kingdom.

The author chose dog, dolphin and elephant and compared the time and stages of phases of development, from the beginning to where the offspring can stand on its own. He says that if all the considered babies were to start at the same time, then by the time an elephant baby sees the light of the day, puppy junior could soon be a mother.

Interlaced in these kinds of interesting facts, the author very comfortably pulls the information flow to different abstractions, talking at cell level one time, comparing minority mammals in their nurturing habits and so on.

The strangest thing I read was that Dolphins descended from land animals, and elephants from marine animals. There is even a picture of the terrestrial ancestor of dolphin. Pictures are the quick attraction of this book.

All along, there is a reference to the changes in the species due to evolution, which almost takes a powerhouse form - it should know, where the world is headed.

The Nature of Home: Taking Root in a Place

This book for one, will finally have you run for a field guide to birds. What with the mention of the different kinds of birds, the author comes across in different places. When you read something like 'Canada geese urge on fluffy yellow goslings that look nothing like their black and white parents', you cannot but help to want to know more about them. With the author moving from one place to another, not only is she finding her ultimate place, but also fixing the geography of birds. This for the bird lovers.

If you can handle more serious stuff, theres history of waste management interfering with water management requiring water treatment. Water is another major theme in this book.

The only way that I could do justice to this book as a reader was to follow the places on google maps.

The author's message about nature, its preservation, knowing local history of the vast resources comes across very strongly.

Its surprising to see adventures of mountain climbing and glissading along with the Erin Brockovichy work.

Some best chapters are on June Lake, CA and the chapter introducing Whatcom and Bellingham. Towards the end it slightly got difficult to read for me.

The Future of Nature: Writing on a Human Ecology from Orion Magazine (The World As Home)

Its an absolute treat to read essays that inform and make one see the short comings of modern life.

Consent of the Governed - must read. new concept - corporate cloaking as individual for rights.

The Black Mesa Syndrome - cant wait to read the book on Bechtel.

The Faux falls - something totally apart from the world famous cliche of Niagara.

The Edges of the Civilized world - ecotourism.

On Waste Lonely Places - poetic

The Riddle of Apostle Islands - what is wilderness? Do traces of human presence mar it?

Beyond Ecophobia - Steve Moore's interesting study on Earth week curriculum effect in classroom.

These Green Things - The San Francisco Garden Project of and by Cathrine Seed.

Designer Genes - if cloning is unethical, then this is super cloning.

The Pirates of Illiopolis - PVC

Winged Mercury and the Golden Calf - The other side of 'The California Gold Rush' coin.

In the Name of Restoration - questioning the real sense of projects.

The Idea of Local Economy - corporate way of life posing danger to vocation is not the only bad effect.

The Culture of owning - interesting concepts of 'polluter-pays' 'harm-benefit test'

Summer World: A Season of Bounty

The book goes like a true story of parts of nature.

Wood frogs: Their rituals(awake for only few months a year and still thriving) seem weird. The author doesnt just stop at this observation. He goes about setting up little experiments to prove or dispute the possible explanations.

Bald-Faced Hornet Nests: Hornet paper, a Talisman to ward off all evil predators from a vireo's nest.

The Blues: Why ants dont eat blue butterflies?

Mud Daubers and Behavior: Can you imagine being born in an encasement with food provided?

Artful Diners: Rolled leaf caterpillars and dried leaves with still a bit of green at a spot

The sketches and pictures add to the magic.

Between Earth and Sky: Our Intimate Connections to Trees

This book has loads of information on tree classification, forest classification, methods used to study dynamics of forest structure, air space, the similarities in the tributaries of rivers to branching in trees, study of epiphytes.
Wind breakers. Shade grown coffee. Significance of dead wood. Edge effects.
Insistence of demand for original oak corks for the oak tree conservation against being replaced by other trees in demand. This brings up a point to think of - utitlity with regards to conservation.
Ethnobotanist
Dendrochronologist
Canopy studies
Palynology - pollen studies
world tree
tree sitting
The broad range of poems on trees,show how in the Montverde forest - and in the book - the author has learned much by combining science, art and the humanities.

Stories in Stone: Travels Through Urban Geology

Floods can fill quarries with water. The development of gas lighting with its soot made people choose brownstone over marble.
Talking about Robinson Jefers house built in carmel Granite, the author introduces us to Terrane theory that explains geology of northwest north America.
In Deep time in Minnesota, one gets comfortable talking about the events on earth on the timescale of million and billion years.

A Life In Hand: Creating the Illuminated Journal

If you miss illustrations in books, whats a better way to go through the sketches and while you are at it learn a few things like contour drawings and gesture drawings. These workouts will get out the shy artist in you who has always wanted to draw but did not know how. Sort of like screaming to hear your own voice.
Exercises like field observation, memory walking,meditative sketching, capture the day, listing will surprise and satisfy you with their outcomes.
Examining negative space, varying psychic distance are other promising ways of entering the world of sketching .

Animal Magnetism: My Life with Creatures Great and Small

Lessons of love and their intelligence in sensing impending death or trouble are abound in books like A cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers. The author's first lessons from animals she lived with from her childhood are pretty much the same. So we can believe her lessons from her long experience with animals in foxhunting.
The news for me are the ones about dog shows antiquating some breeds by their nature, hunting behavior of owl, fox, listening to the animal, disabled animals being shunned, a child's tears might not get you a toy unless the toy is a suffering animal, hierarchies in herd and pack animals, patience, coat characterstic dependence on heat tolerance.