Woody Allen Books

Behavior Disorders of Childhood is an absolute must read for students in the field of child clinical psychology, school psychology, and child psychiatry. The content in this book will provide a foundation on which future learnings can be placed. It is very well written and full of details about the field of developmental psychopathology, causal factors, and particular childhood disorders. With so many claims in the pop literature, this book is a wonderful resource to help others understand what is true and what is not so true. I also recommend this book to parents who have an intense need to know the research in the field. Steve Curtis, Ph.D., author, Understanding Your Child's Puzzling Behavior: A Guide for Parents of Children with Behavioral, Social, and Learning Challenges

This book covers basic but interesting issues of Australian studies. At the same time, this is a good introduction of Aus society. This book is insightful not only researchers but also general readers.
Her way of writing is quite simple but adequate. Although my English is second language, I did not face any difficulty in reading this.
Good companion for studies, commuting etc...

Entertainer Steve Allen's son Brian shocks his family by joining a cult. Unlike many parents faced with this situation, Mr. Allen does not respond by hiring a deprogrammer or disowning his son. Instead, he makes a serious effort to find out why Brian has been drawn to this particular group, and tries to find positive elements in this group as well as the negatives. Mr. Allen is himself skeptical about organized religion, but since he makes it clear that he respects Brian and supports his right to believe as he chooses, over the years they are able to reopen the lines of communication and grow closer as a family. Obviously a labor of love.

This book is a collection of extracts from Bertrand Russell's many books and papers. In about 150 pages, the editor collected some of the wittiest remarks Russell has ever made. They sould be read bearing in mind Russel's own advice: "I sould not wish to be thought in earnest only when I am solemn". Indeed, some of the funniest quotes in this book are also the deepest ones. Add to that the ramarkable eloquence and clarity of Russell's writings (he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950), and you obtain a real treasure.

The contents of Russell's Best cover subjects as religion, ethics, politics and sex. Many of the views expressed in this book are obvious nowadays, but they were considered outrageous filth in conservative circles at the time of writing. Russell was a humanist and a pacifist, and he even spent some time in jail for that.

This book is a good opportunity for people without any training in philosophy to get acquainted with the views of a great thinker. The texts are so well-written that the novice can finish and understand the book in only a few hours. I cannot think of any other philosopher who could manage to do that.

So you live in Southern California and want to take your dog for a good walk in the out of doors. Where do you go? This is a problem that came up for me when my relatives from out of state visited and naively assumed they could take a dog pretty much anywhere. There are so many restrictions on dogs in this state that it can be downright daunting to take your four legged friend on vacation with you. Happily, you can find dozens of wonderful hikes in Allen Reidel's new book. You and your pooch are more than welcome on all of them.

Not surprisingly, this book does list some of the "dog beaches" where you can actually walk with your pet (unlike the remaining 99% of the coast), but the thrust of this book describes the many wonderful hikes open to your dog in the Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland National Forests. The multiple use policy of the forest service is much more open to pets than the other major state and national land agencies. And in Southern California, national forests offer some of the premier outdoor recreation in the state. Reidel includes some classic hikes in these areas: Knapp's Cabin, Mt. Baden Powell, and the Laguna Mountain Recreation Area are just some of the popular trailheads he describes. However, hikers will also find some remote and spectacular hikes to share with their dogs that are rarely mentioned in other guidebooks. Black Mountain, Cleghorn Mountain, and Kitchen Peak are some of my favorite trails. You can easily find yourself enjoying solitude on these trails even on weekends.

In all, this is an excellent book. I do have a few concerns however. In a few cases, I think mileages are too short. Also, Reidel suggests you should not walk your dog in areas with bighorn sheep. He then lists two trails (Baden-Powell and Toro Peak) where bighorn frequent. I'm not sure I understand that. But what I really don't understand are the policies that make a book like this necessary at all. Unfortunately, national parks and California State Parks have adopted an anti-dog (really anti-people) attitude about recreation. Their rationale is that dogs disrupt the "natural" wildlife in an area. And this is simply untrue. Dogs (wild and domesticated) have been around for thousands of years and they are a part of the environment. If anything, it is "unnatural" for dogs not to be in the wild. So, as you use this book to find wonderful adventures for you and your pet, consider a little political activism on behalf of "man's (and woman's) best friend." Maybe this state will eventually adopt a more enlightened policy and future editions of this book could simply be titled "Best Hikes in Southern California."

Of all the Western states, Montana surely has had more than its share of good writers. Here are short stories by 21 of them, each a well crafted and telling glimpse into the lives of modern day people living under that timeless Big Sky. Many of my favorites are here, especially Ralph Beer and Kim Zupan, neither of whom have written and published nearly enough fiction or nonfiction for my money. And there are many more: Jon Billman, Richard Ford, David Long, and the wonderful Maile Meloy whose poignantly conceived characters can break your heart. Tom McGuane is also here, with his bushwhacked perspective on just about everything.

Editors Kittredge and Jones happily include stories of their own. In both, as in several others, the melancholy shadow of Raymond Carver lurks in portrayals of lives lived on the ragged edge of lost hopes. But balanced against this is a redeeming (if sometimes misdirected) toughness that preserves a kind of integrity in the face of adversity. A gentle older man with a leg brace picks up a woman at a topless bar when his alcoholic girlfriend leaves him for a man from her past in Beer's "Big Spenders." An obsessive trout fisherman and aspiring participant in Little Bighorn reenactments takes a school teacher friend on a hilarious trip to Deadwood, South Dakota in Billman's "Custer on Mondays." The hapless narrator of John Canty's "Junk" gets a visit from his hard-as-nails ex-wife, and as an old Thunderbird figures into the story, the rest is literally a matter of waiting for an accident to happen.

A young rancher, living alone, becomes obsessed with a Hutterite girl he's never spoken to in Pete Fromm's "Hoot." In Jones' darkly angry "Jacob Dies," a down-on-his-luck cowboy goes on a desperate search for a runaway wife and buys a ranch of another kind. Relationships in most of the stories are tenuous and failing, though in Kittredge's "Do You Hear Your Mother Talking?" something hopeful materializes as a troubled man and a woman confront his failed nerve over a suitcase he is packing. Something similar happens for a middle-aged widow in Annick Smith's lovely autobiographical "It's Come to This."

There are two boxing stories, Neil McMahon's tender "Heart," about a boxer in bouts with two prison inmates, and Chris Offut's "Tough People," in which a gambler with designs on a young woman coaches her in a match with a much tougher woman. In Malanie Rae Thon's sorrowful "Father, Lover, Deadman, Dreamer," a father and wayward daughter live a lifetime of grief after a hit-and-run accident. Finally, there are "brokeback" undercurrents in Kim Zupan's "The Mourning of Ignacio Rosa," as a sheriff investigates the death of a gay ranch hand.

Not *all* of Montana's best by far, but a terrific sampling. For an introduction to many more writers from the American West, see Kittredge's anthology, "The Portable Western Reader."

Pamela Allen Brown's Better a Shrew than a Sheep is a well researched analysis of 16th and 17th century gender humor in England: both at the expense of women, and women's ripostes. Using plays such as Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Jonson's The Alchemist, lesser known ballads, wood cuttings and related archeological research, Ms. Brown argues that women during this period were not submissive to husbands; but rather had good ripostes and socially ostracizing jesting tools for use against cruel or philandering husbands. Though gender-centric it is not larded up with 20th century politically correct truisms: her focus regarding the literature itself is constant.
This reviewer has, admittedly, never read many of the plays she references. Prospective readers similarly unversed in Elizabethan literature should review some of the works she refers to. Comprehending her literary points (without reading some of the plays identified in it) can be as cumbersome as appreciating an entire symphony based on three bars. On the other hand, it is probably easier to read her book and understand the points she makes when she cites passages of ballads, than it would be to read an extremely annotated volume of antiquated ballads and try to make sense of them without Ms. Brown's assistance.
As dramaturgy for actors involved in Shakespearean productions or Renaissance festivals; or as historic backdrop for students of 16th and 17th century English literature, this is a very useful book. University English and drama departments and theater companies should consider including it in their syllabuses and libraries.

This is an excellent book....To me, loss of vision would be the worst disability to suffer.

Janet lost one eye as a baby due to cancer, and was told she would lose vision in the other eye in the near future. She was put into a blind school (which had a red door) when she was a child, and didn't understand why she was there. She was 33 when she finally lost her other eye - it had finally succumbed to the aggressive radiation that she was given as a child.

Janet was also adopted as a baby, and wanted to find her natural parents to see if the retinoblastoma was hereditary. When she was 18, she met her mother, who said she didn't want anything to do with her. Her father is a high-profile media personality in Australia. He finally accepted Janet as his daughter, and they now keep in regular contact.

This book is about Janet's journey through her childhood, and into adulthood with a vision disability. Worthwhile reading.

I discovered this book at my local library. It has since become a firm favourite with my little boy and me. We seem to take it out every other week. My two & a half year old asks for this book whenever he sees it. I'm thinking it's going to be better to just buy it.

The story is about a boy who makes a ball out of a ball of string so he has something to play soccer with. He "kicks it and kicks it and he kick, kick, kicks it" until the ball unravells. He imagines it is lost to him and goes searching for it. Then discovers it again after "roll, roll, rolling" it back up.

The best things about this book are the delightfully easy language and the lovely simple illustrations. My son asks for me to read it "again" every time. I don't mind when it's enjoyable for me, too.

Call me crazy, but Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street is perhaps the best children's book I have ever read. It captures the very essence of the seasons and of the heart. Anyone who reads this book will be touched by its sincerity and blessed by it's message. Anyone who has not read this book should buy it and read it immediately!