Win Green Interior Design by Lori Dennis

Book Title: Green Interior Design
Author: Lori Dennis
Genre: Interior Decorating
ISBN: 978-1-58115-745-1
Publisher: Allworth Press
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95

Green Interior Design offers suggestions for people who are interested in greening up their homes as they remodel and redecorate.  Chapter one introduces you to the author and answers the question of *why go green*. This chapter also explains how to tell if a product is green and different organizations that certify green projects.  It also has a very helpful glossary of commonly used terms that is very detailed.

Each chapter of the book focuses on a different area including furniture and accessories, fabrics and window treatments, surface materials, interior plants, appliances and plumbing fixtures, living rooms, bedrooms and nurseries.  There are also separate sections on green building, cleaning and maintaining interiors and landscapes.  I love the section on my favorite green designers, architects and builders.  What a neat look at the different decorating schemes and styles.

This entire book is packed full of helpful information that will guide you as you remodel or design each room. Not only is there a lot of information, the photographs are absolutely stunning.  While there is no way I could afford to duplicate the entire look of any of these rooms, there are tons of decorating ideas and themes that I can duplicate. There's a huge range of design styles from simple country to very modern so there is something to inspire everyone.

One of my lucky readers is going to win their very own copy of this book.  Here's what you can do for a chance to win:

To enter you must follow my blog & tell me why you'd like to win this book.

For extra entries:

1. Follow me on Twitter @scentednights & tweet about the contest. +1

Win Green Interior Design by Lori Dennis @scentednights #giveaway #win http://tinyurl.com/3wsortb

2. Be my friend on Facebook & post this contest on your wall. +1

3. Blog about this giveaway on your blog AND leave a link back to my site. +5
4. Leave a comment on a non-contest post on this blog. +1

5. Put my button or text link on your blog side bar. +1

6. Enter another of my current contests. +1 for each contest

7. Subscribe to my blog. +1
8. Follow the Blog Pop Blogs +1 each

1. Confessions of An Overworked Mom
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7. Still Blonde After All these Years
8. Dad of Divas
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10.Turning The Clock Back

Remember, to please leave a separate comment for each entry. And please enter only in the ways listed above. I reserve the right to delete comments not adhering to the above entry guidelines.  You must be 18+ years old & live in the USA. The last day to enter is 5/13/2011.

My thanks to the sponsor for allowing me to review this product.

As required by the FTC: I received a product sample in order to write my review.  I received no monetary compensation.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

Please note that  I am not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes. I have represented each sponsor with the expectation they will fulfill their prize and in a timely manner I will contact the sponsor regarding your prize(s). The sponsors, in most cases, are shipping their items to you directly. I will make every effort to assist you obtaining your prize but ultimately I am not responsible if they do not fulfill your prize win.

Book Review: The Final Summit by Andy Andrews

Book Title: The Final Summit
Subtitle: A quest to find the one principle that will save humanity
Author: Andy Andrews
Genre: Self Help, Motivational, General
ISBN: 978-0-7852-3120-2
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Suggested Retail Price: $19.99

From the book:

This is humanity's last chance.  Centuries of greed, pride, and hate have sent mankind hurtling toward disaster, and far from its original purpose.  There is only one solution that can reset the compass and right the ship - and that answer is only two words.
**************
This is the story of David Ponder, an average man in who lives in today's pretty messed up world.  He's average in all ways except one.  Years ago he met the Archangel Gabriel and had the privilege of becoming a traveler which is basically someone who has gone back in time to visit famous people.  Now, years later, the Archangel shows up at David's home again & lets him know that humanity has pretty much messed up their last chance at making a go of it. He tells David that God is considering just scrapping the lot of us and starting over again much like He did with Noah and the flood.  Gabriel tells David that he has been chosen to be in charge of a group of travelers who will have one chance to save mankind by finding the answer to a question.

David is whisked away and meets many of the greatest names from our history like Albert Einstein, Mark Twain and King David.  He, along with a select group of these people, are given five chances to guess what the solution is.  There's only one solution, it contains only two words and time is running out.

I have to say that this is the best book I have read in a long time.  I read a lot.  I review only a small fraction of what I read on this blog. I read stories from a variety of different genres but I almost never read self help books for enjoyment. They rarely inspire me to do anything.  This book is the one exception. It doesn't read like a self help book. There's no list of things to do.  There's nobody preaching at you about how you should change and how easy it is. There's no seemingly perfect person telling you why you should do what you should do.

This book reads like a story and an extremely engaging one at that.  I could not put it down. I literally devoured it in one morning and hushed everyone out of the room every time they spoke so I could concentrate and figure out the mystery of what the two words were.  I never even came close.  In the end when I figured out what the words were, I had tears in my eyes and I am not a weapy person. The way these words were revealed and discovered was truly inspiring. It was uplifting and motivating and immensely empowering all in one package.  If you read only one self help book in your life, read this one.

My thanks to the publicist for allowing me to review this book.

As required by the FTC: I received a product sample in order to write my review.  I received no monetary compensation.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

The Healthy Home by Dr. Myron Wentz & Dave Wentz

Book Title: The Healthy Home
Subtitle: Simple Truths to Protect Your Family From Hidden Household Dangers
Author: Dr. Myron Wentz & Dave Wentz
Genre: Healthy Living
ISBN: 978-1-59315-655-8
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Suggested Retail Price: $21.95

From the book:

In The Healthy Home, father and son team Dr. Myron Wentz and Dave Wentz walk readers room by room through a typical house, pointing out the surprising health risks posed by the everyday products and behaviors of any modern family.
**********************
The Healthy Home is meant as a guide and reference book to hidden household dangers including products and practices that we might use. It's broken down into five different chapters.  Each chapter details the different types of problems that might exist in each, specific room in your house.   Chapter one is a welcome to hidden household dangers and explains why the authors decided to write this book and where the idea for The Healthy Home came from.  It also explains why you should be concerned about having a healthy home and what you should expect to find in this book.

Chapter two is a detailed look at your bedroom from the mattress you sleep on to the clothes you wear. It looks at various synthetic fabrics and why we need to consider how our clothes and linens are made.  The author offers a list of fabrics to avoid and their natural alternatives.  The chapter will also urge us to consider our laundry products, electronic gadgets, lighting, temperature and air quality.

Chapter three is devoted to our bathrooms and focuses mainly on the chemicals in our personal care items including washing, moisturizing, shaving, brushing our teeth, oral care habits, prescription medications.  Not only does it tell us the areas that are dangerous in our lives, it offers suggestions for improving these areas by using different products or by lifestyle changes.

Chapter four focuses on your kitchen and includes everything form the food we eat , how healthy our diets are, how we prepare our foods,  the pans & kitchen tools we use, our drinking water, and other beverages we drink.    It also discusses flouride and water pollution.

Chapter five discusses our living areas and includes electronics, cleaning products, industrial waste, environmental concerns, tools for healthy cleaning, pets, and internet addiction.  The final chapter is all about our garage and yard and takes a look at contaminants found in the garage, patio, yard and beyond.  It also takes a look at pesticides and how to get enough sun without getting too much.

Each of these topics is discussed and we can come up with our own areas for improvement by taking the handy quizzes included.  Throughout the book are simple tips highlighted in orange that will help you take easy steps toward some of the problems included in the book.  There are also a number of informative websites in each chapter where you can go for more information on the topic.

This is a really fantastic reference book. You can start in the room you want and pick and choose the suggestions that best work for you. You take the quiz to see what they recommend and then using their suggestions you work on areas of your home that most need help. This is a really great way to learn what you need to do to make your home a safer place.

My thanks to the sponsor for allowing me to review this book. 

As required by the FTC: I received a product sample in order to write my review.  I received no monetary compensation.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

Article first published as Book Review: The Healthy Home: Simple Truths to Protect Your Family from Hidden Household Dangers by Dave Wentz, et al on Blogcritics.