Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Reference for Young and Old
Review: I plan on buying this book for every young bride I know. When I first looked at the list of daily, weekly, monthly, yearly housecleaning chores, I was overwhelmed. But I thought if I took this step by step , just start by doing the daily ones,then add the weekly ones, etc, it would all become routine after awhile. She recommends setting up a calendar of chores to be done. The rest of the book is a fantastic reference guide for laundering, refrigerating foods, ironing, taking care of china, wicker, etc. All the good things young and old need to know about taking care of their home. This is her advice, adapt it to your needs and circumstances.
Rating:
Summary: Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management redone for today!
Review: Loved this book! Gave lots of ideas and tips to increase efficiency. It's a modern Mrs. Beeton and would make a lovely wedding gift. Enjoyable reading and not at all condescending - more like a housekeeping mentor to refer and defer to. I never thought housekeeping could be so interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and engrossing
Review: I was reluctant to buy this book in the beginning as I thought it would be uninteresting. However, my husband has been wanting to buy it for a long time (he's a designer and liked the illustrations in it) so when our offer was accepted on our first condo last week, we went out and bought the book to celebrate! It turned out to be fascinating - I've been reading it in bed every night before I go to sleep. I don't feel that the author is patronizing at all. She gives good sound practical advice. Clearly you don't have to do every single thing unless you want to, but since she explicitly states that she was trying to create a "reference" book, you can't blame her for writing down the minutiae of housekeeping. (I don't feel offended because e.g. Encyclopedia Brittanica is so comprehensive). I enjoy reading the hints - even if I don't do everything she suggests, at least I feel like I know I could handle them if the situation arises. I was also really pleased to see that some things I've been doing all this while (like airing my bed) are sanctioned things she talks about in the book as well. And yes, I also figured out long ago that occasionally, it does make more sense to clean small areas by hand mopping them - perhaps because coming from an Asian family, we don't wear shoes in the house and hence pay more attention to the floor. Since I work, I don't really have the time to do heavy duty housework, but this book helps me to be more efficient. I'm really looking forward to moving into our new condo and creating a home!
Rating: 
Summary: Yes, but what would Betty Friedan say?
Review: I am fascinated at the number of positive reviews this book has received and the number of copies it is selling.In many ways the publication of this book marks a return to mid-20th century America, back when most women didn't work but rather stayed home and raised a family. Pretty interesting that we are seeing the publication of this book at the dawn of the 21st century....Aren't we supposed to be moving forward rather than backward? The author's writing style is a bit preachy and dictatorial. But when you get beyond that, the content is pretty interesting. This book tells you how to "keep house." That is, how to polish, shine, wax, fold, stash, store, starch, sew, mend, bake, roast, rake, dust, vacuum, scrub, etc. etc. Clearly this is a full-time job. There is simply no way any working woman could actually "keep house" as it is described in these pages while working full-time. The question remains: Is there space for a "room of one's own" within the present author's unnaturally immaculate and well-ordered home? The answer, it seems, is yes .... but only if it's very, very clean.
Rating:
Summary: Six of one, half a dozen of the other
Review: After reading the other reviews here, I see that most people loved the book, a handful hated it, and no one is in the middle. Here I am. I really enjoy the book as something to read and learn from. However, I feel my heart and stomach clenching as I read about dust mites (they are arachnids? Oh, gross!) and raw chicken contamination. We're buying a 5 bedroom house next month, and if I have to dust the hardwood floors ON MY KNEES, well, um...NO. But, I find some excellent stuff in this book--airing the beds, food contamination, washing the doorknobs, phones, and switchplates, etc. I'm taking what I can PRACTICALLY use, and letting the rest bounce around in my guilty head. It's a great reference, but certainly not a blueprint.
Rating:
Summary: a must read for anyone who owns a house
Review: This is a wonderful book. I leaned a tremendous amount from it and have started to implement several things--like airing out the room, installing GFC outlets, cleaning with the warm water, bleach, detergent solution, washing sheets on the permanent press cycle in hot water --just to name a few. I look forward to this book for years to come. It is complete in information and wide in its scope, well-written and comprehensive. Thank you for teaching all the things that have gotten lost in our fast-paced and often superficial existences.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have
Review: I must confess that I have a mother who scrubs her entire house from top to bottom every Saturday -- without fail. You would think I would have learned something -- but I just learned to hate cleaning. Now with my allergies, I have to learn how to do what I should have known all along. This book has helped me through every sticky problem I've encountered. I just love it. I would suggest, though, if you compound cleaning problems with general messiness, also get Julie Morgenstern's _Organizing from the Inside Out_, so that you can see the floor you are trying to clean.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book!
Review: This is an outstanding reference book for the novice or seasoned "homemaker". Being a seasoned homemaker of 32 years as well as a professional technical writer for 26 years, I feel that I know something of both writing and keeping house. This book is well written; the content is thorough and concise. The subjects are timeless. This would be an excellent teaching tool for any Home Economics classroom. For all of you professionals who would not dare to appear domestic in any way, don't worry, books are shipped in plain brown wrappers. I recommend that you buy this one.
Rating: 
Summary: A refrence I turn to again and again
Review: I have had this book for three years now and have found the information to be usefull, easy-to-find, and even an enjoyable read when I'm in the right mood. Both the bad reviews and the good reviews here have truth to them. Yes, it is chatty. Yes, the author does go on about her own life experiences. Yes, she does seem to forget some people are not able to afford the best of everything and in the quantities(6 sets of towles per person in household)she feels are "nessicary"...but still, it is a good book to have. This much information in one place about so many different realms of keeping house is so nice to have around when you need it. Although chatty, I found this to be an enjoyable personal touch to the book, a glimpse into how another person lives and thinks. The author also explains WHY she does things a certain way rather than demanding everyone do things her way or the highway. This is helpfull in determining if those same methods are best for me, and gives a guideline for determining what the best cleaning and organising method is for my own home. She also gives a historical perspective on how 'spring cleaning' came about, why it is mostly outdated, but that it is still good to have a cleaning overhaul of the house. This helped me decide that spring cleaning could simply be one extra chore added per week over the period of a few months, rather than cleaning like a madwoman for a week as I have known some people to do. I also enjoyed her section of mealtimes, and serving foods. While certainly more formal than what I will do for small kids at home, it inspired me with some great ideas for dinner parties and more formal occasions. This book was a great start for me in setting up my own cleaning routines and forming good habits which I have been able to better polish with the Flylady program(look up "Sink Reflections"). The attention to detail made me think of this in my home as well....and I found it wasn't that hard or time consuming to notice the dust and stuff that finds it's way to the corners at the baseboards and floor, and just wipe it up! It also wasn't that hard to take an extra 3 seconds to tuck up the corners while making the bed so they look neater. I may not agree with everything in the book, but where I disagree I just do it my way....all the while being well informed of why I'm doing it my way! :-)
Rating:
Summary: Very Comprehensive But...
Review: the index leaves a lot to be desired. There is a wealth of information here with a tremendous effort by the author to explain her recommendations. It's just fun to read, whether you think you're interested in the domestic arts or not. Since it is meant to be, among other things, a helpful reference manual, it is too bad the index isn't more robust. There are few cross-references and only a minimal attempt to include the many details mentioned in the text, so as it is now, you can't find them quickly again by using the index.
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