Julie Brown Books

This is especially fascinating reading for anyone who has dabbled in genealogy, as we've all gone through the frustration of trying to link generations of families without more than the barest clues. This is the story of a house in a London suburb,Clapham. Built in the latter part of the 19th century, it's been a family home, rooming house and home to a cast of characters as diverse as the decades they occupied. Author Julie Myerson and her family all became interested in locating the descendants of the original occupiers and scour phone books, parish records and council documents in an attempt to flesh out the names and to make them real. What they found were ordinary people, living ordinary lives and some villians, family black sheep and con men. In the final wind up of the story, the author has included real letters from some of the hundreds of descendants of these folk, all adding their individual memories, which adds sauce to the pot! The only note of discontent that I had with the book was the typeface, Minion, in which it was printed...mean, squinty little print which made for uncomfortable reading.

The text is a hands on practical guide. It is not an in depth resource but is a fantastic starting place.

This book is a handy primer on dialysis written in simple language and useful for the novice as well as containing nuggets of information useful for the practising renal physician. The book is quite comprehensive as it covers almost all the aspects of dialysis and has good charts for summary of various aspects of dialysis. In short it is a valuable book, an essential aid in the dialysis room and well worth the money spent.

Peters continues the story in this sequel to "Revenge of the Snob Squad." In this book, the girls deal with budding romance as Jenny harbors a secret crush for Kevin Rooney, schoolyard god and member in good standing of the "in" crowd. Meanwhile Prairie enlists the help of the group to ignite a romance with computer nerd Hugh Torkerson (aka "Tork the Dork.")

This book and its predecessor give readers a welcome respite from books about "goody-two-shoes" groups of girls like the Sweet Valley High or Babysitters' Club series. They also deal with heavy subjects--social isolation, eating disorders and dysfunctional families--with a combination of seriousness and sarcasm that ring more true than the way these subjects are handled in "fluffier" books.

Highly readably. I did guess whodunnit early on, but I kept on turning those pages.

Our spiritual paths are wrought and forged from the crucibles of our lives; however, the wonderful thing is that there are also more innocuous reformations for that as well-books, movies, music, people, etc. Everything in life we experience is a rendering for our soul and our spiritual path. As we become conscious of this it is more congruously applicable. For the reason why I have decided to sojourn with that topic is due to the devastating feedback this book has received. It is not that the book should receive five stars or one, the issue is that if you feel that this book is resonant with your soul do not allow the reviews to obviate you from that position. Spirituality is the individual pursuit for one to understand the essences of life, it is not like religion, there is no solidarity.

For me this book was extremely thought provoking, I have thirty pages of notes subsequent to my reading. While I disagree with Zukav on about seventy percent of the book, merely reading it caused me to scribe my own interpretations of the topics that of which I disagreed. Unfortunately, my cerebral spam filter did not allow much of the book to be applied to my base program. I often times found myself pondering, in opposition, more than reading. I drifted off far more than I have with any other book and was "literaturally" placed in a comatose state much of the time. It was indeed, at times, strenuous to overcome the extreme disparity of ideologies between Zukav and me.

Now, I will delve into my severe disagreements:

- I disagreed emphatically with his interpretations of karma and reincarnation, and at times they were quite odious to me. His rendering of how a new life will pay the karmic ancestral debt of its previous life is not something I can fathom. For I feel that we "reap what we sow" in life whether we realize it or not. This may sound repugnant to the previous sentence, but I personally do not believe in karma.

- There was reference that a drunk driver being judged and sentenced is acceptable, but individuals who beat you nearly to death and are not prosecuted is non-judgmental good karma. If that makes any sense at all please further elaborate or correct me if I am wrong.

- I thought his coin of marriage as a "spiritual partnership" was a derivative of spiritual ingenuity and I now refer to it as that, but I found myself disgusted by some of his perceptions of what constitutes that. Specifically, I will refer to the last paragraph on page 125 and its culmination on page 126. To sum up his ignorant ramblings there, he basically says that it is ok for those two individuals to get a divorce, separate after six months or twenty years because the soul knows what it needs and that is acceptable. To me this is a New Age advocacy for promiscuity (which is a sad misrepresentation for the rest of us that are of New Age Spirituality), a dissolution of the concept of marriage and morally disingenuous and insolvent. Personally, if your love cannot bound you with your spiritual partner for longer than six months or twenty years then you have chosen the wrong individual.

- Should psychologist stop working? Zukav believes so, he says the issues that the psychologist work with are merely karmic debts and issues of an individual's past life. Should we not try to help them with the issues that they have? Are we not here to help, aid and guide each other?

- I also disagree with his theories that we escalate through species as we reincarnate and his perceptions of the elements of the soul vs. personality.

In closing on my disagreements I will say that I have found throughout the book that it has been proliferate on any given topic that what I agree with is contiguous to what I disagree with. Whether it be neighboring sentences, paragraphs or even chapters. This book was the first that I have ever experienced this very confusing paradigm. Overall, the vast disparity has given me the opportunity to further define my opinions and ideology on subjects that I had not yet given much thought to.

While I have found much of the book devoid of any possibility of resonance with my soul I have found a few things:

- The chapters of "Intention I" and "Relationships" were, for the most part, applicable to the way I feel and at times stimulated a state of spiritual euphoria.

- Inverting the pyramid to represent the calibration of life down to the soul elicited much enlightenment for me. Especially, being a conspiracy theory reader, seeing the pyramid used to represent the Caste System and the hierarchy of Earth so often. If this is a coin manifested by Zukav I do not know, but it was the first time that I have come across this representation.

- There was one quote extracted from the book that I was attuned to: "So powerful is the energy of the soul....In the creation of the personality, the soul calibrates itself, to take on the human experience."

In the end, the best books on spirituality that I have read are the ones written by the lesser known writers. Is it that the National Best Seller writers have just become avaricious and negate that very diagnoses? At times the unknown writers have a view that is not tainted by gold, and, at least by my perception, their writings are not commensurate to the National Best Seller writers-in a good way.

I found this book to be THE leapboard into spiritual understanding and empowerment. For me, Seat of the Soul is written in more of a philosophical and scientific language that I understand.
If one is to look at most of the books on these topics we would see that they are all speaking to the same ideas and philosophies. Just as we are all very different and yet the same, so are these books.
I would recommened reading this book as well as The power of now and A new earth.

This is a very special book, as are all of Gary Zukav. He has a unique perspective about life and how to live it. It will benefit anyone who choses to read it. Pass it on if you do purchase and read it. This book can help anyone who reads it.

This author offers a challenging overview "what is this all about?" without the religious dogma, allowing the individual time to make space in their own lives for other possibilites in spiritual choices.

The book was delivered in a timely manner and in GREAT condition.
Thank you.

I used this book only in Beijing and Shanghai, so I can only vouch for those two sections. The maps of Beijing were great, when they were there. Because the book appears not to have been copy edited, there are lots of references to more detailed maps there are not actually in the book.

Also, the Beijing section doesn't include some of the most interesting areas for tourists to visit. It seems like someone just did a google search on Beijing and listed the first few things that come up, regardless of their interest or relevance to tourists. A major park walking distance to the forbidden city surrounded by cafes, museums and excellent souvenir shops is simply not listed.

Shanghai was a little better.

It is a good book for dreaming though. I am keeping my copy so I can plan ahead for next trip. Before I actually go though I will be buying a different book.

We are independent travelers who usually travel with Lonely Planet. China is changing so fast it is hard to keep any guide up to date, but the travel and site information here was generally accurate and very helpful. I was disapointed in some of the restaurant recomendations.

I was born in China and lived there for more than 20 years. Since I moved to the States, I have traveled in China frequently on business and for family reasons.

I am planning a trip to China with the rest of my family who traveled in China only once in 2006. To help them organized for the trip, I was looking for a guide book. I browsed this book in a local book store. I was shocked to see that it contains so much value-judging commentaries about Chinese history, customs, government policies, etc. Unfortunately the authors seem to understand little about Chinese history, culture, politics, economy and business. Some of their commentaries are blatantly racist. In describing Chinese moving around in their own country (whether Tibet or Xinjiang), on their own free will, the book's use of "hordes" and "flood" is derogatory, if not plainly racist.

I do not intend to buy this book to brain wash my kids: They are going to China with an open mind and will be there to see with their own eyes and to judge on their own. Thank you very much.

I also found quite a few misleading information about some popular sites. Other readers have already commented on some of them.

So thanks to the authors for spending so much time on the commentaries and not enough time on providing accurate information for tourists, I am not buying this lonely planet.

I used this book during my second trip to China in summer 2007. We did not take any organized tours. We used it in Beijing, Shanghai and Hunan province and we took its advice and avoided Shenzhen.

That out of the way, I found the book eminently useful. There is enough Chinese script in it to show a taxi driver where you want to go by pointing to the characters. Every place name has a set of Chinese characters you can point to. The maps are particularly useful (of course), but I thought they could have edited out some of the color pictures for more maps. Can't get enough maps in a travel book.

I did not really read this book until we actually landed in Beijing. From there it was pretty much a thing I could immediately pick up, figure out and use to get moving. The descriptions of things are acurrate.

I'm not sure why some reviewers are complaining that the descriptions are too short or simple. China is a massive country of 1.6 billion people over a huge land with dozens upon dozens of cities -- more detail would double the book's weight.

If you have to go to China (which I wouldn't really recommend) then you cannot go wrong with this book. It's a starting place, and a savvy travelor will find one of the millions of internet cafes available to look up more things in depth, or just ask questions of other travellers or hotel workers, shop clerks, waiters, etc. Anyone who wants more information than this book offers should just book an organized tour for their entire trip and have their hand held the entire time. Or better yet, take a cruise. Otherwise, this book will get you started and the rest is easy to figure out. It's very easy to travel around China. My first trip I didn't even use a book or a Chinese-Engilsh dictionary or even the internet.

An exceptional travel guide. Do not count on the prices being accurate but the big picture is spot on.

There are two problems with the Lonely Planet guide: it is too heavy for a traveler; it is on the banned books list in China (but my copy was not taken in my last two trips).

Death by Lonely Planet refers to guiding thousands of tourists to a once untouched spot. The Lonely Planet guide is a blessing and a curse.

The textbook shipped quickly, and arrived in excellent shape. It has tons of sample and exercise problems to sharpen your calc skills.

It's a very good book which I really enjoy reading it. It's easy to understand and some examples are very specific to comprehend the problem.

I got this in panic through overnight shipping, it was at my door at 10 the following morning. Perfect condition.

This book is written for those intending to move onwards in math, rather than those who are learning calculus for practical purposes. In general, the book is not user-friendly and at times throws in "points of interest" about math and calculus that are not labeled well, and can thus confuse/ distract the reader. The book does not contextualize what it attempts to teach and as a result, forces the reader to skim a chapter to understand the general thrust and conclusion, before attempting a detailed reading. I do not know of better calculus books, but for one inclined to search, this is not the one at which to stop.

I am a college Calculus instructor, and I find this book terrible for many reasons. For students looking for a solid but much more inviting introduction to Calculus, I highly recommend Larson's book over Stewart's.

Here is a point-by-point breakdown of the faults I find in Stewart's text:

Clarity of Explanation and Content Level

Stewart's explanations are often verbose, unclear, and written at a
level too high for the average Calculus student. Several of my students
have told me reading the book only confused them and did not
clarify the concepts. An introductory text should offer simpler, clearer, and more concise explanations more appropriate to the typical Calculus student.

Presentation

In this day and age, students expect visually engaging presentations that will hold their attention. Stewart's presentations are drab and uninteresting. His book is everywhere packed with dense plain text and
formulas, giving the impression that Calculus is hard, dull, and very
complex, further intimidating students who are already scared of the
subject. Students are much more likely to carefully read a text that is
visually appealing and makes Calculus seem interesting and less
intimidating. This will also help reduce their anxiety over what many
already consider a very difficult course.


Readability

Another important aspect of presentation is layout and readability. Here
Stewart's text is again dismal: His pages are overstuffed with text and
graphics throughout the book, making it difficult to reference a
theorem, particular type of example, etc. It is hard to see where one
example or proof ends and another begins. The average student is not
going to read the entire contents of a section in full detail, but will
rather reference the topics s/he is having trouble with, in order to get
the details on a theorem or to find an example problem to help with a
homework exercise. This is very difficult to do in Stewart's text due to
the crowded and confusing layout.

Homework Exercises

Stewart's text is again particularly poor in terms of his homework sets in that he tends to offer a few low-level problems and then suddenly jump into extraordinarily difficult problems with no warning or transition. Stewart also tends to couch exceedingly difficult problems between a series of relatively straightforward ones, again without warning, which is very frustrating for students who find themselves struggling over what they think is an easy problem.

All in all, I strongly advise against this text, and would urge other Calculus instructors and mathematics departments to choose another Calculus book for their classes.

I rounded up. I'dve gone with a 4.5., mainly because I think that some points were belabored, but it was a hysterical memoir filled with mistakes and blunders, cursing and all-in-all a wonderful narrator. I think one of the paragraphs towards the end summed it up for me: "Sometimes, if you want to be happy, you've got to run away to Bath and marry a punk rocker. Sometimes you've got to dye your hair cobalt blue, or wander remote islands in Sicily, or cook your way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year, for no good reason. Julia taught me that." In other words, life is messy. And that's if you're doing it right.

This lady is funny, quick witted, especially insightful and brutally honest. And I'm not talking about Julia Childs. I found this book belly-laugh funny. Even if you don't like to cook, it's a good read.

This blog/book is like a bag of Cheetos. It's so yummy and cheesy and you just can't stop and you really should stop and you kind of slow down and then you feel full and then you have another handful and then you fold up the bag and start to put it where you can't reach it and then you eat another handful and feel kind of yucky and then you wish you'd never seen those Cheetos ever because they weren't really that good to begin with. You don't eat Cheetos again for a long time. This book is a tidbit, not worth the money.

This book made me laugh and has inspired me to get on my cooking and baking spree again. The story is raw and real and I like that!
If you love cooking and baking and aren't a food snob....you will love this book! Julie and Julia...Thank You!

Some of the negative reviews seem oddly fixated on the authors swearing (?) or having sex (?) or even that she wastes/spends too much on food. (Doesn't all gourmet cooking do that by definition?) Why blame that on her? She also lives in the most expensive city in the US - her salary makes her poor there, she isn't exaggerating at all. She is a young woman living in New York - duh. So she curses and drinks and talks about sex. Big deal.

But on to the book - This is an unadorned look at a journey in someone's life, which happens to involve cooking and the divine Julia Child hovering over it all as sort of a cooking life-coach/ fairy godmother.....it isn't a cook book per se. The focus is on a discovery of self - it's a memoir. If you are looking for the wrong thing in a book - why blame the book? Blogs are diaries - remember them, those unvarnished outpourings of life's melodramatic struggle? That is what this is, albeit a bit more polished. I though it was intriguing and read it all in a short time - I wanted to see how she did. Maybe one needs to be at the age of self discovery or open to changes in lifes plan to see the merit.

I loved it, you may not, But it is an interesting journey to read, very uplifting and real. Her writing brings you into the story, you feel a real kinship...And there's butter...lots and lots of butter.

*By the way, she isn't mean to 9/11 survivors families as claimed by one review. The woman is not Ann Coulter, just someone who had a rather thankless job wherein she had to field a lot of PR complaints over things she had no control over. The rebuilding effort of the towers site is a political football in reality. Lighten up, people. You are seeing things that aren't there. And the reason that she is upset about her biological clock is that she was diagnosed with a chronic health problem, PCOS, which she will have to deal with for the rest of her life, making her very prone to infertility and certain cancers. There is no cure, no effective treatments - look it up those of you who accuse her of whining. It's no picnic.

This is a solid book if your looking for information on the relationship between Apache, MySQL, and PHP. This is not a beginner's book, nor is it advanced. Rather its purpose is to explain how these three components work together, the combination of which is if not the most popular then close to the most popular basic framework used on the web. For example, all Wordpress blogs are based on the PHP, MySQL, and Apache setup. Plus, all three are free and can be easily setup on your own computer for development purposes.

If you're looking for a singular focus on one or two of the three, then you'll be disappointed. If you do not have any or very little experience with the web, then go buy a "for dummies" or an explicitly labeled "Beginners" book.

If you want to gain a solid knowledge on the Apache, MySQL, PHP framework, this book provides an excellent explanation with sufficient in-depth focus on each and how they relate to one another.

"PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One" is a good way to begin learning those technologies. It is simple enough and has lots of visual examples, code examples, tables, figures, etc to break down bigger concepts into manageable ones. Also, its an easy read. I normally don't rate anything perfectly, but I couldn't think of any reason why I wouldn't give it 5 stars. I must add though that I may be biased since I wasn't a beginner to PHP or MySQL and used this textbook for a grad course.

Like some others who left reviews, I'm a complete beginner to coding, php, mysql, and apache. Given that, I found the installation utterly confusing and spent three days unable to get past chapter 4 where the real content is. A tip for others like me, skip the manual installation. The author cautions about using pre-configured instances of the software, but I found WAMP5 to be a life saver. It's pre-configured and comes in an MSI file. However, as much as I hate to admit it, the struggles I faced in trying to follow the instructions did teach me a lot about the basic configuration, even if that wasn't the author's intent. Since then, I've found the content to be good and am gaining a fundamental understanding of the tools. I know this won't be the end-all php, apache, mysql bible, but it's a good place to start.

This is good for those who have incredible amounts of patience and like solving problems. The setup alone took at least three hours and a lot of searching on Google. Many important steps are left out (such as how to add and use a database from the MySQL command line, how to configure PHP to support mysqli, and how to configure Apache properly to support PHP.) The PHP functions used in this book are the mysqli_* family and require special setup in the php.ini file. There are no instructions however to set this up. Without this you can't write any SQL programs.

There are also numerous typos in the code. It's obvious that none of the code in this book is actually tested to see if it works. There are simple things such as variable name inconsistencies and function typos that throw off the whole script. When you're new to a progamming language these aren't easy to spot.

Overall, however, there is still plenty you can take from this book. If you have the patience the problem solving will probably cement the concepts more solidly in your brain because you will be figuring them out for yourself.

I am stuck on chapters three and four and can not continue with this book. I could not get Apache to work with PHP. In the "Troubleshooting" section of the book on page 58 the solution to getting Apache to work is this: To solve this problem, you need to stop the running server or change the Apache configuration to listen on a different port. Well, if you know how to do this, buy the book. If you don't, you are forever suck and can't continue with the rest of the book. I tried to change the ports and address as suggested in the book, but it didn't work. Be sure to read "Who Should Read This Book" in the introduction section of the book. I probably don't have the required experience to work the material in this book.