Graham Rose (1928–1995)

I have not played or ran a game so I this review is only a review of the book. I like the name but it is inaccurate, Paleo means 'old' which would mean very little technology. However the setting has lost cities and small settlements, even some farming so it should be 'Neomythic', Neo meaning 'new'. Putting that aside I liked the setting and thought that it would provide a great deal of variety for running a campaign. I have mixed feelings about the rules, not because I don't think they show more would work, they look good. But there are few tools or weapons and they tend to break easily. That might be realistic but I wonder how long you would be able keep things going before your players revolted. The art is fantastic and very evocative, I hope I get the chance to run this at some point. show less

I expected a wealth of information from this book, so I ended up disappointed. First, it turned out to be pretty slim for such an ancient plant, as lavender in the English Victorian era alone could be a book in itself. I also expected recipes for home remedies or cooking but the most involved it gets is telling the reader to add lavender oil to their shampoo or bath water, which leads to another reason I gave this book two stars: the author repeatedly tells the reader to put undiluted show more lavender oil directly to the skin, and even to put it on the tongue and lips. Essential oil needs to be diluted by water, oil or lotion as it's powerful and can cause skin irritations.
The different varieties of the plant are listed and there are many more than I knew, but without any photos at all in the book, it's another missing piece. The cover is pretty though. I feel bad about leaving such a review for a book about a happy subject, but maybe the author will make some changes. show less

Excellent ideas book - presents a 55 small garden designs illustrated by colour and monochrome sketches and photos.

Gives good planting plans and details of hard surfaces etc but does not go into details of construction techniques which some other books give.

Split into 4 main sections: creating a low maintenance garden, minimum care plants, labour saving devices and low maintenance technqiues.

First section covers principles and planning and includes a few low maintenanc plans.

Second section covers easy care trees, shrubs, climbers, perennials, annuals, bulbs, water plants, plus veg, herbs and fruit.

Third section presents 11 garden plans (colour illustrations) and planting plans with some photos.

Fourth section covers hard lanscaping and maintenance.