This set contains almost everything you could want to start feeding a baby (everything except a breast pump). It would make an pleasing gift for a first-time mother. It includes various feeding bottles and teats, a milk powder dispenser, milk storage cups with lids (compatible with an Avent breast pump), thermometers, a sterilizer and a few other handy items, too.

The steam steriliser is simple to use: put some hot water in it, stack bottles inside, snap the clear lid shut, and cook the thing in a microwave oven for two minutes. The steam does the job, so no chemicals are required. It just about fits inside a normal sized microwave oven. If you keep the lid shut, the contents will remain sterile for 24 hours. As it is not powered, it is very light and small to take on journeys, and it takes very little time to prepare four bottles for a journey.

The soother with built-in digital thermometer is a very handy way to take the baby's temperature. The thermometer set, which includes an under-arm thermometer, soother thermometer, and a normal soother, all work well, but they seem a bit overpriced when compared to competing products. Also, once we had opened the very nice container they came in, it refused to shut again, making it a bit useless.

The feeding bottles work fine. However, the soothers weren't so great for our newborn grandson (3 weeks old). We found the teat did not have enough shape to stay planted (or whatever the technical term is) in the baby's mouth, unless he was laying well back. When held in a more upright position, or on his side, the soother just fell out. That may not be a common problem, but it's what we found.

At almost £100 the set is not cheap, even with so many items included. For someone on a tight budget, it may be hard to justify buying Avent, but we have found Avent things to be of good quality, and they last well.

I have been using this drive constantly for a year, and it has not let me down yet. It offers no real "features" as such - it's just a plug-in USB 2 drive. But it connects quickly, is responsive, and stands up to heavy use (i.e. contast read-write activity). The drive has travelled all over the place, been in the fridge (don't ask) and been shoved off the end of a few desks, but has so far suffered no ill effects, and I've lost no data. I had the entire drive encrypted with TrueCrypt for a while, and it worked fine with that, too. Overall, it's been a reliable drive. I've got two of these, and both have worked fine.

There are few cookery books that one can turn to and expect it to have a stab at almost anything you might look-up, but this one is almost it. While it does not cover every eventuality, and does have a few glaring omissions, (there's not recipe for plain fudge, for example), it does cover a wide range of starters, main courses, desserts, and so on. This is not just a recipe book, of course; it is a cookery course. As such, Smith augments her recipes with plenty of tips and advice, and provides instructions for performing many tasks, so your confidence builds as you try new things. I don't know anyone who has followed the course from start to end, or even used it as a course at all, so I can't comment on whether the course is any good. However, as a dip-into resource in the kitchen, it is worth its weight. It's a cook book in the traditional mould, focussing on the food and not the author; nor does it preach about lifestyle choices, saving the planet, or buying organic. Smith simply gets on with it, which is what you want when you are cooking under pressure.

There's a full index at the back, for recipes and ingredients, and the whole book is divided into ingredient-based chapters, making it easy to find what you want. It is hardbound, and with a thick glossy (wipe clean) paper dust jacket. It is built to last, which is a good thing because my copy gets plenty of use.

This is a frank and unflinching guide to the realities of getting published. The only doubts I have about it is that its advice sometimes clashes horribly with that given in The Writer's and Artist's Yearbook. It is packed with good advice, though. If you are thinking of getting published, I would certainly invest some time in reading this book before you write anything.

While this book will certainly help you to avoid the many pitfalls of getting published, I was left with the feeling that the publishing business is in a sorry state, and that the odds are almost hopelessly stacked against the budding author. The truth is that the odds ARE stacked, and that your wonderful manuscript will have to fight for recognition among a thousand others, so having the right strategy will be beneficial. However, there remains the tantalizing element of luck in getting published. So I wish you luck... you'll need it!

I bought this easel for use in my studio, mainly for producing pastel and charcoal portraits, for which it has worked very well so far. The easel is constructed solidly of blonde-coloured wood. the workmanship is a not great, with pieces that ought to line-up nicely being just thrown together off-centre and a bit wonky. The easel comes in an enormous box, about 2 metres long, though it is not as heavy as it looks. Once opened, you find various components to be assembled with the aid of some fairly useless instructions. However, if you use the product photo (here on amazon) for guidance, you can see how the bits go together.

Once assembled, the easel is really rather good. The base is solid, secured with a big bolt and lever, and allows it to be set vertically, or be leaned back at quite an angle. There is plenty of adjustment to fix a drawing board (not included) at any height. I am over six foot tall, so to get my paper at eye-level, the easel height must be adjusted upward to almost its full height. This means that it may not be suitable if your ceiling is low.

Having used this easel for a few months now, I find it sturdy and stable, easy to adjust, and the base is small enough to not get under my feet while I am working. It is not the best easel in the world, but I'd say it represents pretty good value for money.

This is a handy guide to protecting your bright idea by using the laws of copyright, patent, trademark and design. After introducing the benefits of legal protection, it describes each tool at your disposal in detail, mostly in layman's language. It provides many case studies and examples, so you may see how a particular form of protection works in practice, and provides an extensive glossary of the many technical terms involved.

Copyright and patent law is a huge subject, and one that no book this size could hope to explore in full. Instead, this book is perhaps most useful as a primer, so you are familiar with the legal territory and the practical steps you may take to protect your idea. To take music for example, it refers to music copyright, but does not delve into the legal complications that may arise over who wrote the lyrics or the tune, who played or sang on the recording, whose name is printed on the record sleeve, and so on. That said, if your idea is something straightforward, then this book will guide you confidently through the legal and practical maze to protect your idea. If your product is a bit more tricky to pin down, then you may still find this book a very handy starting point before you spend (or waste) money on what might be the wrong strategy. Given the potentially costly consequences of failing to protect an idea, I'd say this book is an indispensable starting point for a novice.

Fashion and costume are often considered merely incidental in history, but what we wear, the way we wear it, how it came to look that way, and what purpose it serves, are important indicators of Human cultural development. This book takes an in-depth look at this aspect of our history in typical DK style - with hundreds of colourful graphics, and concise but informative text.

In 480 lavishly illustrated pages, all hard-bound in a plush white velvet textured cover, this book shows and explains several thousand years of fashion and costume history, beginning in antiquity, and progressing through every major cultural age to 2012. The collection of art and artefacts that it presents is breath-taking. Every page is littered with colourful photographs of ancient relics, paintings, sculptures and jewellery, each piece annotated to indicate its important features. There are hundreds of photographs (many with close-ups) showing iconic garments, such as dresses, suits, hats, work-wear, uniforms and so on.

It oddly omits The Duchess of Devonshire who, in the 1700s, was an extraordinarily influential fashion icon, but in every other respect it appears to be very thorough indeed. It is a sumptuous treat of a book: big, heavy, glossy and a thing of quality. I did spot a couple of typographical errors in the early pages, which is a shame, but I can't let those small matters count against it. It is one of those rare coffee table books that genuinely has the wow factor. It would make a magnificent gift, but I certainly won't be giving away my copy.

What you get is a small hard drive with a couple of adapters, either of which you may click onto the end of the drive, to make it work with Mac or PC. If you are using Mac, just connect the drive and it works like a charm with Time Machine, doing a backup immediately. If you are using Windows, you'll need to download a driver from the GoFlex website. Install the driver and then reboot Windows, and you'll have added 1TB of portable storage space to your system, with rapid data transfer, too, if you are using FireWire.

The unit is finished in pearlescent silver, with a soft, non-slip silicone feel to it. There's a pale blue LED bar showing whether the unit has power, and another that flickers when data is being read or written. Other than that, and the serial number printed on the back, the unit is very simple-looking.

I cannot see why the adapters need to be so big, or why they are not included as part of the drive, even if that would make the drive slightly longer (which the adapter does anyway). That's the only criticism I have of this device. It is quick, compact and light-weight, and makes files easily portable between Mac and Windows systems.

What a pretty little book this is. Books for young children live or die on the merits of their illustrations, and the graphics in this book, by Mandy Sutcliffe, are excellent. In this, one of a series of books, Belle and her pet rabbit, Boo, discover what birthdays are all about.

This adventure takes in kite-flying, card-making, cake-making, balloon-inflating, and so on, as Belle shows Boo what makes a birthday such a special occasion. It would suit a child of five or six, who is starting to read, or would work well as a book to read to a child of six or under. The book is glossy on the outside and matt on the inside, with a box in which a child may write their name as owner.

It is not a wipe-clean or especially hard-wearing thing, but something to have and enjoy. It is a good size for a child to hold, and has a spine that won't break if the book is pulled open.

The illustrations are wonderfully done, with plenty of subtle colour and content to keep young eyes attentive, and plenty of things for a parent to point to and invite the child to comment on. It's educational, entertaining and delightful!

Having visited Tuscany a few times, and spent quite a bit of time in Florence, I have tried most of the major guides, but this one is the only that comes close to the DK Eyewitness Florence and Tuscany. It is colourful, concise, informative and pocket-sized.
It covers the highlights of all Tuscany, but focusses mainly on Florence. Inside the front cover is a fold-out street map and bus route map of Florence. Inside the back cover is a wallet containing a very nice map of Tuscany and Umbria, with an A-Z of interesting places.

The map is printed on thick and glossy paper, and stands up well to repeated use, without falling apart. There are smaller maps within the book, too, accompanying the text, which essentially comprises brief paragraphs about each attraction, referenced to the maps. The book's layers and clever categorization of information means that it may be useful in a variety of ways. Unusually for such guides, it also includes information about cycle touring.

Its various directories for where to shop, stay, dine, and so on, are very good. By using them, I have discovered a few places I never knew existed. On the other hand, it omits a few very fine restaurants that I have dined at in Florence. It's not an exhaustive guide, but is surprisingly inclusive for a book so small.

Overall then, this is certainly the equally of DK's pocket-sized guide to Florence, is in some parts much better than the DK offering, and manages to cover much more territory than the DK offering. I shall certainly be taking both books on my next stay in Tuscany, but I think this one will be the guide I refer to most.