Review: Pretty Dang Good!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 6, 2014
Color me surprised! This book is actually good! I can't tell you how many free books I pick up, and how many of those are downright awful. This author is witty, readable and knows her material. In the first quarter of the book, there was nothing that jumped out at me as a glaring error. I can be a brutal reviewer when necessary, and I can't think of a single criticism. Maybe the author is a tad on the excessively cautious side, but I would expect that from somebody who is teaching new soapers.Onto the technicalities. This book doesn't quite get 5 stars, despite being well written. Upon running the recipes through Soapcalc, there were a few errors. All three recipes I ran had lye amounts lower than recommended for a 5% superfat. On most, the result is likely just a slightly higher superfat in the soap. The bastille soap, however, came out significantly different and would probably result in a failed, too-soft batch for beginners, which would be a bummer. Just double check the calculations and amounts to ensure success.Overall, I'm quite impressed. Depending on the retail price when this book goes retail, I would recommend it as a great learning or refresher tool. At .99 or 1.99, it would definitely be great to pick up. It's probably even worth it at a slightly higher price point; it's VERY thorough and the instructions make sense and are easy to follow.