Joys of Jell-o Gelatin
General Foods Corporation
1981
We haven’t posted a Jell-o book in ages. As a Midwesterner, I can appreciate the sophistication of Jell-o cuisine. My mom would put marshmallows and fruit cocktail in ours. (Our family lived on the edge.) This book kicks Jell-o to the next level with the multi-colored layers on the front cover. Pretty darn sexy, right?
Princess of Wales
Fashion Handbook
James
1984
The Princess of Wales was an icon of fashion during her short life. I was in college when she married Prince Charles and many of us got up early in the morning to watch the royal wedding. Back in the day, I got the feeling that you could slap the picture of the Princess on any book and it would probably sell millions.
This book was more about her personal fashion sense and had more narrative than I initially expected. I honestly was thinking this was going to be very little text and more a bundle of Diana’s memorable outfits. The designer and fashion types would find this a decent choice, the Princess Di fans would probably be disappointed there wasn’t much in there about her specifically.
DOS for Dummies (3rd Edition)
Gookin
1998
For those of you of a certain age, DOS knowledge was essential if you wanted to use those fancy programs like LOTUS 123, Wordstar, and other early office software. Back then everything was command line, and knowledge of DOS around my office made you one of the top geeks. Even though Windows was around in the very early days of personal computers, I don’t think it was a norm in offices until the early to mid 1990s. I remember when I started back to work after having kids, and all of sudden everything was Windows. It took me quite a while to adjust given my previous experience.
Evidently, our Twitter account was hijacked. I got it back, but the followers, as well as posts, are gone (but not forgotten!).
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Scientific Analysis on the Pocket Calculator
Smith
1975
We have had other calculator books from the old days. Most of them, like this one and this one seemed to be pitching the same joke of spelling some clever words aimed at the junior high school mentality. This particular example is aimed at the science/engineering crowd. From what I can tell, it is actually pretty detailed. It is aimed at those who were of the pencil and paper/slide rule crowd that did higher level mathematics. I consulted with my mathematician son and engineer husband on this book. Husband said he hadn’t thought “about this crap since grad school.” Mathematician son commented that it was kind of interesting how they broke down how to work some seriously juicy problems using the calculator.
Dating, love, and romance are always available at your local library. We here at ALB want to make sure you are taking advantage of so many titles geared to help you manage your love life! (You’re welcome!) Our first post listed, Make your own sex toys has been gracing our Valentine’s list off and on since 2012. To this day, I still get a bit squeamish when I see people squeezing the vegetables and fruit at the grocery store.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Mary and Holly
Betty Crocker’s Hostess Cookbook
General Mills
1973
I know that COVID-19 puts a damper on any kind of entertaining, but just in case you are preparing for that day when we are all healthy, Betty Crocker has you covered. This book truly has some retro recipes I am sure you can’t wait to get started. A couple of my favorites: Olive Surprise Roast, Jellied Watercress Soup, Tomato Aspic Mold, the list just goes on and on.
Bonus! Just in time for Valentine’s Day, you can feast on all things pink. Your loved one will surely appreciate the effort.
The Troubled Tummy Cookbook
Recipes and Diets
Roth
1976
Aside from the dumb title, this book was just fine for the 1970s. The troubled tummy part of this is geared to diets for post surgery, and specific conditions such as heart disease and ulcers. During the 1970s and into the 1980s, ulcers were believed to be caused by stress and overly spicy food. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that a course of antibiotics to kill the bacterium H. pylori. (The story of finding a “cure” for the peptic ulcer disease is a fascinating story.) This truly makes a good portion of this book obsolete by the late 1980s.
