Roses & Thorns

Roses & Thorns

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man By Mark Kurlansky





While working as a fur trapper in Labrador, Canada, Clarence Birdseye encountered an age-old problem: bad food and an unappealing, unhealthy diet. However, he observed that fresh vegetables wetted and left outside in the Arctic winds froze in a way that maintained their integrity after thawing. As a result, he developed his patented Birdseye freezing process and started the company that still bears his name. Birdseye forever changed the way we preserve, store, and distribute food, and the way we eat. Mark Kurlansky’s vibrant and affectionate narrative reveals Clarence Birdseye as a quintessential “can-do” American inventor—his other patents include an electric sunlamp, a harpoon gun to tag finback whales, and an improved incandescent lightbulb—and shows how the greatest of changes can come from the simplest of ideas and the unlikeliest of places.

Review:

Birdseye:The Adventures of a Curious Man by Mark Kurlansky is the fascinating biography of the brilliant, yet modest, nineteeth century man whose name we know for frozen vegetables. Green peas are but a very small part of the story behind this intricate character. Clarence (Bob) Birdseye was a born “foodie” long before being so was a popular pastime in America. Although he had no college degree, he was a man of abundant intelligence and endless curiosity. He was an inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist. He patented over 300 inventions—many not related to the food industry, such as the reflective lamp that is still in use today. Birdseye was very articulate and persuasive. He was a man of high expectations, who was a leader in helping to establish regulations for quality and safety through high food standards. He became one of the world’s most famous and respected personalities. At one time, people everywhere were interested in the “next idea out of his kitchen or basement.”

I totally enjoyed reading about this kind, adventurous, and very likeable person who became a national and international figure. His own words sum him up best: “I am never bored because I am always prying into something which fascinates me.” I highly recommend this book to all!

Length:  251 Pages
Prices:
Print:  $15.95
Digital:  $11.99

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting. Rose & Rochelle

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