Gibbs Smith

Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone

Turquoise has been mined on six continents and traded by cultures throughout the world’s history, including the European, Chinese, Mayan, Aztec, Inca, and Southwest Native American. It has been set in silver and gold jewelry, cut and shaped into fetish animals, and even formed to represent gods in many religions. This gemstone is displayed in museums around the …

Learn more

Palm Springs Holiday: A Vintage Tour from Palm Springs to the Saltan Sea

This is the story of Palm Springs in its golden years, a city that had it all, including marvelous midcentury Modern architecture, fabulous fly-in hotels, and a swinging nightlife. Through vintage photographs, postcards, and other ephemera, Palm Springs Holiday recalls the Palm Springs area from the 1910s through the 1960s, where people vacationed in the desert, dined, danced, …

Learn more

Havana Before Castro: When Cuba was a Tropical Playground

Through vintage and contemporary photographs, brochures, postcards, and artifacts evocative of time and place, Havana Before Castro tells the story of the city that was the most popular exotic destination for Americans during the forty years between World War I and Castro’s revolution. See how Havana evolved from America’s Prohibition haven and rich man’s playground to a …

Learn more

Have Yourself a Punny Little Christmas

Q. Why did Frosty decide to live in the middle of the ocean? A. Because snowman is an island. Q. What do you call a bunch of parents standing in line to buy their daughters a popular doll? A. A Barbie queue. Q. An opinion survey in Alaska is called what? A. A north poll. Q. When you …

Learn more

Advice From a Country Farmer

Pure common sense in a no-fuss package. Dishing out witty one-liners and old-fashioned country logic the same way an old camp cook dishes out beans and biscuits, Roy English’s Advice from a Country Farmer is simply this―no-nonsense humor and wisdom from a country gentleman schooled in common sense and kindness. • “Most farmers work only …

Learn more

Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills

Living in modern society, we have become increasingly disassociated from the earth, from the essence of ourselves, and the need is awakened in us to return to the wilderness–physically and emotionally. We long to feel a sense of connection with our ancient roots. This urge is what has prompted man’s fascination with primitive skills: producing objects from natural …

Learn more

Wilderness Essays

Part of John Muir’s appeal to modern readers is that he not only explored the American West and wrote about its beauties but also fought for their preservation. His successes dot the landscape and are evident in all the natural features that bear his name: forests, lakes, trails, and glaciers. Here collected are some of Muir’s finest wilderness …

Learn more

101 Things to Do with Ramen Noodles

Expand your ramen repertoire with an amazingly inventive and unique addition to the million-copy-selling “101” series:101 Things to do with Ramen Noodles. Ramen is fast, easy, and filling, but what can be done to spruce it up and give it a whole new life? How about recipes like: Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup Summer …

Learn more

101 Things to do with a Pickle

This fun and zesty cookbook is full of recipes for making pickles as well as using them in a dill-icious collection of pickle appetizers, sandwiches, salads, dinners, and even desserts.101 Things To Do With a Pickle includes dills, gherkins, spears, chips, sour, and sweet pickles starring in recipes like Sweet & Sour Mustard Pickles, Bacon-Wrapped Pickle Poppers, Dill …

Learn more