landscaped entirely in edible plant, annotated with information about their biology, history and edibility. As a "roadside lure", she created Chomsky, the world's tallest garden gnome (13 feet and six inches high), as acknowledged by Guinness World Records. The project was designed to celebrate local agriculture, and is sited on Kelder's Farm, a 200 year old fruit and vegetable farm. The popular giant gnome and roadside attraction has become a permanent part of the family's thriving agritourist business. Completely Mad Her bestselling Completely Mad: A History of the Comic Book and Magazine (Little, Brown) was a 1991 selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club. For that comprehensive study, she interviewed many cartoonists, and Bill Gaines, publisher of Mad and EC Comics, gave her total access to his magazine's internal correspondence and filing cabinets. Speaking at the memorial service for Gaines in the Time Warner building on June 5, 1992, she described her research: I knew Bill for only four years, but in that time I came to know him well. When I began to write the history of Mad, I had every intention of maintaining a professional distance, but I hadn't counted on the steamroller that was Bill's personality. When my mother became ill soon after I'd begun to work and I had to return to my hometown to care for her, Bill called regularly to see how she was and to see how I was. And his calls lifted the spirits of everyone in the house. My reserve developed a crack. Then I was invited to join the Mad trip, this one to Germany and Switzerland. A research goldmine for me; all the Madmen would be in one place. They would be a captive audience. During the trip Bill mostly stayed in his room, sitting in his underwear reading mystery novels. It was pretty hard to be professional while chatting with the hulking half-clad man boisterously laughing. Publishers Weekly reviewed: Although basically celebratory and uncritical, art historian Reidelbach's detailed history of Mad mentions recent criticisms of sexist and homophobic material in the magazine as well as Mad'''s (and the comics industry's) contested policies on the ownership of commissioned artwork. Most amusing are descriptions of Gaines – who continues to run the profitable magazine as a 'benevolent dictatorship' – and his idiosyncratic management theories. See also Mad'' magazine References Sources Tribeca Trib: "Miniature Golf Course Makeover Starts with Dumpster Dive"