Rating: 
Summary: AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR EVERY HOME
Review: This book is the kind of book that is just worth owning. I intended to just browse through it but was hooked and bought it immediately. Once I got it home I was absolutely glued to it. It's really quite unusual and downright fascinating stuff! The book is helpful, practical, unusual and pleasureable. It covers such a range of topics that the topics themselves become part of the fascination of this book. One cannot help but wonder what it must have taken (and how amazing) for the author to have amassed this wealth of knowledge. The illustrations are wonderful as well. Extremely well done. Seriously, there is an actual 'pride in ownership' factor by displaying this book on your bookshelf.Of course it's an absolutely marvelous gift for anyone - male or female - at any age or stage in life. I myself was actually glued to its pages. I find it incredible that all that information could be in one place!! No one could be disaapointed owning this book, that's for sure.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference book
Review: I bought this book on a whim after having seen it reviewed in some magazine. Although I will probably never follow much of the advice that Cheryl Mendelson gives (i.e., how specifically to fold clothes), I do very much enjoy looking through it. Actually, I'm embarassed to say that I often pick it up to read shortly before going to bed. I especially enjoy the first sections on basic household cleaning (tidying), and also her section on food (good to know how long certain foods last).
Rating:
Summary: a beautiful book communicating a real love of home-making
Review: This is a book you will refer to again and again over the years and probably pass on to your children. On the other hand, you probably won't be able to part with it and you'll buy them their own copies instead! The author has a real love and appreciation for the value of home-making. She knows that taking good care of your environment is inseperable from taking good care of yourself and those you love. She expresses this in many ways, thus inspiring the novice and reinforcing the enthusiasm of the experienced. This book is filled with wonderful ideas and everyone with an interest in the subject will find something worhtwhile in it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Reference-No need to hate the messenger
Review: This is a wonderful reference book. It is not a novel and does not need to be read cover to cover. A lot of the reviews in here are proving Ms. Mendelson's point that successful housekeeping is disdained by modern women. Once again, feminists elevate themselves by disparaging women who don't view life in an office cubicle as Nirvana. To the reviewer who said she had a real life to live and could pay someone else to iron her sheets, well Congratulations. But there are some women AND men in America who can't quite afford to contract out the care and maintenance of their homes...And someone has to do that stuff. If you prefer to hand the job to some impoverished, uneducated woman, go right ahead. But please don't act morally superior while you are doing it. This is a useful book that teaches the reader how to do any household job they might have a need to do. Period. We don't all employ nannies and maids, you know.
Rating:
Summary: A great reference
Review: I received this book as a college graduation present this past spring and read most of it on the drive home. I gave a copy to friends as a wedding gift and recommend it to everyone. Taking an antagonistic view of this book is rather silly. Its purpose is a reference: "if you want to iron your sheets, here's how to do it." I certainly don't want to spend my time ironing sheets, as pleasurable as they may be; but when my friends' bathroom ceiling sprouted mold -- giving the whole apartment a nasty smell and making everyone sneeze -- I knew how to clean it off. And when my boyfriend's cat threw up on my down comforter in the middle of the night (first on the duvet, which i removed, then on the comforter itself), I was able to clean the comforter effectively and without great expense, thanks to this book. Its information helped me decide what types of sheets and upholstry were most sensible for me to buy, given my budget and time constraints. It does go into "too much" detail for most day-to-day housekeeping. It covers not only the 90% of activities that you do in a given week (which many other books do), but also the 10% that you may only do a couple of times a year -- which hardly any other books do. The book is nondogmatic: it doesn't say "to be a good person, you must clean your hardwood floors with the grain"; it says, instead, "if you have hardwood floors, you clean them best by sweeping with the grain of the wood." This book is not a manifestation of all that is wrong with our culture, and letting it upset you is a bit weak. Overall its tone is helpful and noncritical. Don't overreact and think that you are a bad person for not ironing your sheets; Mendelson certainly doesn't think so.
Rating: 
Summary: Thorough... Perhaps TOO thorough?
Review: Called by one book reviewer "Martha Stewart for the PhD crowd," Mendelson attacks the subject of household chores with a thoroughness and enthusiasm I find somewhat alarming. This book can be a helpful reference tool, but the author sometimes delves into excessive detail, that makes finding salient and truly helpful information difficult to locate. For example: having moved into a new apartment, I was curious to learn the correct way in which to best clean my wood floor. I had to skim almost 30 pages of a chapter entitled "Floors and Furniture of Wood and Woodlike Materials" before finding the answer.
Rating:
Summary: Thorough and informative.
Review: Mendelson has created the ultimate guide for keeping the modern house. It's got advice on everything: cleaning, decorating, ventilation, sewing, food and safety. Excellent chapter on linens! Although it's an entertaining read in small doses, I would consider it more of a reference book. Contrary to many opinions, is it not a book for fanatics -- everyone can benefit from this instruction. Surely no sane person would endeavor everything touted by Martha Stuart, so here you need only digest the advice that applies. Cheryl Mendelson is the Ms. Beeton of the the modern age.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful reference
Review: No book can be all things to all people, but boy this one comes close. I am a beginner in the art of making a house a home, but all my questions were answered when I poured over this book. From how to fold a fitted sheet, to how to set up an allergy-free household, everything was there. The author isn't pretentious, but gives the reader a goal to work up to, or suggestions to take or leave. I hesitated to spend the money on this book, now I am so glad I did!
Rating:
Summary: This book helps to turn a house into a home.
Review: I learned a great deal upon reading this book. There are some boring chapters about linens, but I am very busy and I read almost all of this book. It is well-written and thorough. I can't imaging anyone compiling the information into a more complete book. This book can teach a beginner about homemaking. Excellent, a very good book for young people getting their own place for the first time.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Source Book
Review: The current positive reviews cover the contents of the book well. I just wanted to add one more positive vote.
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