J Books

David Wagner triumphantly conquers the daunting challenge of tracing the roots of Wildlife Art in America. As an avid collector of paintings, I have been deeply enlightened on the critical milestones and epochs of the art genre I love most. This book will certainly become known as the definitive history of Wildlife Art in America through the 21st Century.

"American Wildlife" art is much more than just an ordinary art history book. As a self-taught professional nature artist , I feel like I've just received the art history education that I never went to school for. "American Wildlife Art" will soon become, if it is not already, a treasured volume in the libraries of all who love our natural heritage and the wildlife art inspired by it. Awareness of nature has increased tremendously in recent years no doubt helped along by the many wildlife artists faithful to present their perspectives of creation. People of all ages and kinds enjoy nature and are to some extent knowledgeable about it. "American Wildlife Art" is timely. Every reader, expert or not, will be delighted by this unique combination of chronological text and superb reproductions which offers to inspire all who read it.

David Wagner's book, American Wildlife Art, is a wonderful resource, both for wildlife artists and admirers of the art form. His in depth research and rich illustrations are a great source of information for artists such as myself looking to the masters for inspiration and knowledge, and an equally good record for learning about the roots of wildlife art and how it's evolved.
I highly recommend it for the artist and art history fan alike. I can think of several friends and family that will be receiving this for Christmas!
Paul Rhymer

American Wildlife Art by David Wagner belongs in the library of any one interested in the representational art of North American Wildlife. This book gives the entire history of the genre and does so with thoroughness and authority. In fact, this book could easily be the text for an entire semester class in the art history of wildlife art. Honeycombed with beautiful images to support the text, the book gives the viewer a look at rare illustrations from the past as well as those from modern Master's. Two sections that I found particularly fascinating was the introduction by Robert Bateman on the "state of wildlife art today" and the thorough section that deals with Carl Rungius. American Wildlife Art is one of a kind.

David Wagner has long been recognized as the leading expert and art historian on the wildlife art genre. For the first time a totally comprehensive work has been done on the entire history of this popular art form. David spent 15 years researching this amazing book, which is truly a work of art in and of itself. A must for a collectors, artists, gallery owners or anyone else interested in the field.

It's worth picking up a copy, alot of information in there. Good thick book. Glad i bought it.

This book must have taken a life time of research and work. It is the most comprehensive and complete work on the Maya I have read. I was particulary interested in the Maya Calendar history and their methods of working the calendar.

This is by far the most comprehensive book about the ancient Maya. There are several excellent shorter ones; this is the go-to book for thorough reference. It has become almost as "classic" as Maya civilization. Sharer reminisces about being "hooked on" Maya studies by the third edition (by Morley and Brainerd, 1956); so was I, back when it was newly minted. How much has changed since. Scholars can now read Maya. We now can match written history, sculptured portrayals, and archaeological findings to identify the actual skeletons of some of the greatest and most famous Maya kings, such as Yax K'uk' Mo' of Palenque. We have entire dynastic lists covering centuries, for many of the major cities. We can use bone chemistry to find out what the Maya ate. All of this was almost beyond the wildest dreams of the 1950s.
The Maya turn out to have been as brilliant, original and creative as anyone ever thought, a truly homemade civilization, one of the few in a tropical forest environment. They are said to have "collapsed" due to ecological maladjustment, but this book notes that modern research shows the civilization lasted well over 1,000 years before the "collapse" around 900 AD, and it was a fairly local phenomenon. This local collapse was due to drought, warfare, and some ecological overshoot--too many people doing too much (including burning too many trees to make lime for stucco and cement). The Maya kept on. They took on the Spanish and often won. The last independent state held out till 1697, and Maya continued holding out in remote backlands; in 1846 the Mexican Maya rebelled again, and created an independent state, finally reconquered after 1900 and turned into the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. As for what has happened since, suffice it to say that 3 days ago I saw an election sign painted in huge letters on a wall in central Quintana Roo: "PRESERVE YOUR PRIDE IN BEING MAYA!"
There are very few errors in this book, but some need correcting in the 7th edition. Most are in the very early sections, and are often left over from previous editions. Page 5, 16th-century Europeans are said to be "secure in the knowledge that they alone represented civilized life...." No, they revered China, and knew plenty about India, Persia and Arabia. P. 9, coffee is said to have come "soon" with the Europeans; not till the 19th century, at least as a major crop. 23, Nahuatl loanwords reflecting rise of central Mexico in the Postclassic: Well, a lot of those Nahuatl loanwords came with the Spanish (who had Nahuatl soldiers with them). Page 33, caiman: The book confuses the animal called "caiman" in English, an alligator-like creature not found within hundreds of miles of Mayaland, with the crocodile, which is called "caiman" in Mexican Spanish; also, pythons are claimed as native to Mayaland! The nearest they get is Africa; evidently "boa constrictors" are meant. Then nothing till page 640, where a typo (apparently two decimal places missed) has given us a preposterous yield figure for beans (in the table at the top of the page). The yields of maize are also pretty high, though not ridiculous. There are a few other errors in the book, but nothing of consequence that I can pick up.
The book uses the "new" transcription system for Maya languages, but sometimes slips and uses the "old" system, and sometimes mixes them up in the same word (e.g. "dz'onot" on p. 52). One related annoyance--not Sharer's fault; alas, it is becoming standard--is respelling "Yucatec" in the new transcription system. "Yucatec" is a SPANISH word, with no excuse in Maya, and should not be respelled. (For the record, the Spanish coined "Yucatec" from a misunderstood Maya phrase and a Nahuatl ending. They also popularized some Nahuatl ethnic names for Maya peoples. These names, like Huastec and Aguacatec, should be spelled in whatever system in now standard for Nahuatl--not in a Maya system. Better yet, they should be replaced with the actual Mayan names, like Teenek for Huastec.)
The one place I would respectfully disagree with this book is on ancient Maya population. Sharer has "tens of millions" of Maya in the 700s AD and around then. On the basis of some years of field experience with (mostly modern) Maya agriculture, I don't think this is possible. Granted that the old myth of purely-swidden agriculture is long dead, "tens of millions" would require agricultural intensity of a sort found, in preindustrial times, only in the wet-rice lands of east and southeast Asia. Mayaland is small, and only some of it is at all fertile. Sharer's evidence is a couple of surveys showing high densities of settlement in particularly favored areas; not only are they atypical, there is no guarantee the houses discovered were all occupied at once. I would guess the peak total for Mayaland was between 5 and 10 million; at least, the agriculture I know would support that many, if it had some additional intensification of the sort well documented. Beyond that, all is speculative.
One more thought. The Maya were supposed to be "peaceful" back in my student days. Then, with reading the Classic Period texts, scholars found they were pretty warlike. This led to some exaggeration the other way. Fortunately, Sharer is far too careful and comprehensive a scholar to fall for either the "peaceful" or the "warlike" view. The "warlike" view was justified by the big monuments in the Maya city squares. These commemorated wars and victories, just as do those in town squares in the midwestern US. Alas, we lack the ordinary writings--the equivalent of midwestern newspapers, with their record of marriages, births, corn and hog prices, store openings, and the like. Surely the Maya had their equivalents. What interests me here is the incredibly long life spans of Maya kings. Many lived, and even reigned, for 50, 60, even 70 years. Compare that with the Roman or Chinese emperors or the kings of France. Clearly, Mayaland in its glory days was a pretty peaceful, healthy place--though, indeed, not the paradise dreamed by romantic archaeologists of the early 20th century!
The ancient Maya are still a pretty mysterious lot in many ways, and there is a huge amount to learn. We had better do it soon. Sharer provides a long, excellent, very disturbing account of the looting that has destroyed much of the Maya heritage and will destroy all of it (at least in Guatemala) if a massive effort isn't mounted soon.
On the other hand, nothing is more heartening than the number of Maya who are becoming archaeologists and ethnographers, and studying their own past. More power to them.

Had this book been less than half its size readers would end up learning much more about the Maya from it. Unfortunately, there's much too much that belongs in an Archeology 101 class here and by the time you get to some discussion of the Maya, you're half asleep. Those of us who are not reading archeology for the first time will wish the author had just kept his discussion to the Maya, as the title suggests he will, and assumed we understood the basics.

Personally, I'm still looking for a book on the Maya so that as I travel from site to site in Quintanaroo, Yucatan, Guatemala and Honduras, I will have a basic understanding of the site I'm driving to. I just booked a trip that will book me in the area of Chac Mool soon. I'll see what I can find.

By far the most thorough book on the Ancient Maya I have ever seen. It covers all the history and gives a great deal of arceological information. There is also a lot of information on the religious, social, and economic life of the Maya. The book covers in great deal the history of each Mayan polity and it is very well organized. If there is anything you want to know about the Maya it will be in this book.

For people who are considering a new career, or for those who have been laid off from what they thought was their "ideal position," this book gives a clear insight as to what opportunities are achieveable during transitional thoughts or actions. Rather than the perhaps "normal" let down of having your fabulous position eliminated, this book highlights the benefits and opportunities that are available to anyone who has been laid off or who just wants to move forward in personal and career enhancement.

This step-by-step book, the third in a series, continues the upward movement for self-improvement and career enhancement in easy-to-read steps. The exercises throughout the book allowed me to take an in-depth look at reality; to really allow me to look at where I have been, where I am today, and where I can go. There are no limitations as to where I can go using the positive structure this book contains. And what an eye-opener to get me from my comfort zone to career heights that I never knew existed.

This book is a must for anyone thinking of a career change, or even job enrichment. For me, this book opened exciting new challenges and opportunities and helped me realize my being laid off was just the beginning of new and exciting avenues for my career and personal growth.

EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT IT BUT THIS BOOK SHOWS YOU HOW TO DO IT. A CONTINUATION OF THE SNAPP SERIES, WE NOW SEE A GREAT EXAMPLE OF HOW TO MAKE IT WORK IN REAL TIME.
WHEN I WAS TEACHING AT THE JUNIOR COLLEGE I MADE THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES REQUIRED READING WITH FANTASTIC IMPROVEMENT RESULTS AND NOW IF I WERN'T RETIRED THIS BOOK WOULD ALSO BE REQUIRED.
I STRONLY SUGGEST EVERYONE WORK (DON'T JUST READ IT) THIS BOOK. IT'S THE HOW THAT COUNTS.

This book provides the simple, common-sense, and creative tools that are most likely to lead to success in today's working environment. These are the things no one tells you about when you're starting out, and that you need to re-think your career when you're changing (or forced to change). No book can promise success, but using this book's method in good faith is likely to increase your odds of attaining success.

This is a good book because it deals with what to do after you get the coveted job. A lot of books deal with getting a great job, but then what? Chances are, you're not gonna be at the same job until retirement.

I learned a lot from this book, like how to be a well-rounded employee. One needs to be an expert, entreprenurial and engaging. I'm only the latter, but it's important to be the first two also in order to get ahead.

I just got a new job recently and my boss gave me a large manual on how to work one of the intensive computer programs. In the old days, I would have let it collect dust on my desk. Now, in order to become an expert (and look good to the boss), I'm definately going to leaf through it and try to become more knowledgeable about my job -- and life-long career. It can only serve me well in the end.

Bravo to Eyres et. al. for sifting life down to a project-by-project basis. It makes it so much easier to swallow in smaller, well-planned bites!

My wife and I both found this book to be very helpful. She has just been "riffed" by a large company and I've fallen into something of a career rut myself. So we've been passing it back and forth. What I like best about the book is that it doesn't spend a lot of time belaboring the obvious, which so many business books tend to do. They take one or two ideas that might flesh out a long essay and stretch them out to the point of evaporating to make them into a book. After a while, you feel that the author is just saying the same thing over and over until he hits 200 pages. In contrast, "Career Continuation" moves along briskly so you never get bored or impatient. It also has a real nice focus on specific tools that you can use in making a new career choice. The layout of the book is pleasant to read too and easy on the eye in a way that makes it simple to find the things you want to work on. I also found value in the "Success Tips" which capture in a series of tables a lot of hard-earned wisdom. I also liked how the book stayed upbeat and optimistic without seeming too "Pollyanna-ish" or too "Stuart Smiley" (if that's the guy who was on Saturday Night Live.) All in all, we both found it a good way to try and organize a job search or major career change. It was well worth the twelve bucks.

I know this will sound funny, but here goes anyway....

I have four sons, ages 17, 14, 13 and 6. I first got this as a cassette when my first son was born in 1987. I started playing it as I nursed him at bedtime. It became a routine to play the tape for him each night at bedtime, alternating sides. He always settled right in to bed, wherever he was he always felt at home, comforted.

For each of the teenage boys, I did the same... thankful my cassette managed to last (prior to internet days). Now I have my six year old, and believe it or not, all three of the older boys actually sing the songs to and with him, and sometimes linger in the hallways to catch their favorite song at bedtime! They fondly remember the day when I tucked them in an pressed play.... Was it the singing night? or the music night? is a common guessing game we play. You know that this is an awesome tape when it's instrumental night and your six year old sings each and every word on cue as he drifts off to sleep!!! He even sings when he has his buddies spend the night for a sleepover - no embarassment whatsoever.

We are so thankful to the person who gave it to us so many years ago. I'm now ordering it as a CD, knowing that someday not so far off, I'll be Grandma....with the lullabye disc!

I can't even put it into words. We enjoyed this tape so much when my son was a baby! I hear the music now and it brings tears to my eyes. I would sit for hours, rocking him to this music and the songs are so beautiful. Whenever I have to buy a gift for a baby shower, I always buy this cassette because it's loved by everyone who receives it. Go out and get this tape immediately, I promise, you won't be sorry!

I'm surprised we didn't wear out this tape! My son is now 12 and we played this, together with classical music, for the first several years of his life! Very sweet - easy to sing along with, catchy tunes. I really missed it when we misplaced it - and just bought another for his Christmas stocking! BTW - he now has a very good ear for music.

My kids are now in their teens and still like this collection of songs. I buy it for every new mother I know and they just love it as we do. It's a must have!! It is just so beautiful

I bought this tape and booklet in 1998 when I had my first child. I am purchasing another now for my second child, because we played the other one so many times we wore it out. All of the songs are very soothing and easy to listen to. I love to listen to the instrumental side and sing to my babies too. This is one of the best children's tape we own.

I can just see Mr. Jorgenson playing the wise-cracking, dumb American tourist with European tour-guides! In this book, what totally "shines through," however, is his distinct knowledge of European history and culture. In Kregg Jorgenson's case, the pun, is the highest form of humor!

This book is awesome, Kregg is a great author and a better friend. He personally signed his first book for my dad who was battling cancer. His words inspired my dad every day. Buy this book, it is very entertaining!!!!

Great book to read! Mr Jorgenson had me laughing throughout the book. I really enjoyed his insights to traveling over in Europe, and his humor is just the best!

This book received an EVVY Award for humor and it is easy to see why. The author clearly loves to travel in Europe and clearly enjoys the people and places he visits and helps us enjoy them along with him. I love the line "Can I help? I speak a number of languages badly."

I read this book while traveling around Italy by train. I laughed out loud! Kregg, Thank you for sharing some of your travel experiences. I especially liked the Amsterdam rental-car-counter story. While waiting in line at the Uffizi Gallery, we witnessed someone with a similar "klein komommer" complaining to the entrance guards. Katherine plays a great straight-man!

This book is a "must have" in every dressage enthusiasts library. Another outstanding book by Ms. Loch.

I selected this book based on the reviews that have been posted. I was not disappointed in the least.

I've had this book for over a year and I didn't pick it out to read until recently. I had been focused on books directed at training young horses and I thought this book would be better suited for a future stage when my mare had at least mastered the basics under saddle. Boy, do I wish I had started this book sooner!
I found this book to be the perfect companion book to others I have on starting young horses. Primarily because it makes you think about what you, as a rider, are doing. It is all too easy to focus on the young horse, instead of yourself. But if you have picked up bad habits along the way, you'll be hindering your progress and frustrating your horse.
What I like most about this book, is that it gives you the horses perspective, how he feels about each movement and how you deliver the aids. It encourages you to breakdown each movement and think about what you are doing as a rider - are you asking correctly and using the aids effectively.
The first few chapters (literally the first half of the book) are excellent for training a young horse, or re-schooling an older one. The subsequent chapters build up through the levels, from Training Level to Grand Prix. I know this book will be well used.

Finally a book on classical dressage that really tells you HOW to do it. Sylvia Loch is fantastic. I recommend this book to those who sometime feel like the real detail of how to apply the aids is missing from other dressage texts.

I cannot adequately describe the beauty and accuracy with which she writes. Clarifying the aids, and the horse's biomechanics and perceptions with a truly classical constructive approach.

A truly helpful, different perspective with easy to understand content for all riders.

The photographer has really captured the feel of Ellis Island. A visit to the island is a must for people visiting New York. Whether this was the first stop for your ancestors on their arrival to the new world, or they came through other ports of entry, I think the general experiences were the same. All the feelings of expectation, fear, joy or the disappointment of making such a long journey only to be detained or turned back while in sight of the "promised land" are tangible in Stephen Wilkes' images.

As an artist, I purchased this after my artist friend showed it to me, to use as a guide for selecting particular colors and/or color combinations in abstract paintings. It is amazing that the light in the photos has been captured as it truly was--not altered or enhanced with SW to convey a particular mood. Everyone I have showed this to has been propelled to stop and look through every image in the book--it draws you in as you flip through the pages. The colors portray emotion. Content is one of a kind. Highly recommended.

I found this book to be stunning and thought provoking-I wondered about how frightened and angry immigrants must have been to be treated in such a way after what they went through before.

The pictures speak of the passing of time with such a quietness. One can only imagine the complete opposite when Ellis Island was a sea of humanity speaking and crying and hoping while glimpsing NY's famed skyline so nearby. So many hopes realized, so many unfulfilled.

I Love this book, the pictures are beautiful, the design and layout make the pictures and quotes very moving. As a photographer I admire the quality of the work, and the bright vivid prints. I love that most of the images are full pages, sometimes spread across two pages, with small text labeling the room, or part of the property. There are no frames, page designs, or paragraphs to take away from the imagery. For more information and details the photographer includes a section of thumbnails with descriptions, stories about the room, or the shooting conditions, or even bitd of history. The thumbnails and text are at the back of the book with an arial shot and map showing the layout of the buildings. It really helps to peice together the history of Ellis Island. The quotes including add to the emotion behind the images, and I like that they were on parchment paper, so that you can see the pictures behind it. The books are being enjoyed by me and my mother, who is very interested in the hostory of Ellis Island, while I enjoy it for the photography. Great book to own, everyone should have a copy.

Spiritual authors and teachers just seem to fill you up with spiritual materialism. Krishnamurti says what you're self does not want to hear. That is why his stuff can be difficult to take in. Unlike others who talk about ultimate reality and what not, he does not speak like all the dharma, and new age enlightenment, awakening books. I can imagine the Zen ancients agreeing with him, the zen masters that existed before Zen became full of tradition and baggage.

Krishnamurti should be taught in all the schools as an example of how to think clearly. The effect would be astonishing. This is an excellent introduction to his methods, and you will be well-rewarded if you read this book and take it to heart. If you were to break with tradition and attempt to explain Zen in logical terms, this book could be yours. K's robust sanity is a symbol of hope for an ego-ridden humanity.

This is another collection of short pieces that doesn't do Krishnamurti's teachings justice. To fully grasp & enjoy his teachings, you must go into each & every subject slowly & carefully, as he himself states in many different works. The pieces here are too short, & Krishnamurti's vocabulary & philosophy aren't fully explained. If you've read several of his other works, & are familiar with his vocabularu & philosophy, then this is a fairly decent book. If you're not, this isn't a good place to start.

I am reading these books in sequence so that I will be aware of any shifts in this philosophy as he progresses.

The reading here is easy, but the thinking is more difficult. Krishnamurti doesn't attempt to speak what people might want to hear, but speaks from his heart, from his innermost being. So he doesn't give an easy path to follow nor does he promise such a path. Actually, to provide a path for others to follow would contradict his philosophy.

The answer according to him is in self-knowledge, but that knowledge can not be gained through effort. Nor, says he, can it be passed on to you by a guru. It won't be found in books. (I can't help but be amused by those who emphasize that the Truth isn't revealed in the printed word, and of course they use the printed word to share this message with us.)

The first half of the book is comprised of writings and portions of talks. The second half consists of questions asked after his talks, and in his answers you will find repetition sometimes as he clarifies. He has a way of emphasizing the main points by asking "Is it not?" or words to that effect.

I admit to having difficulties with much of what he says, but this isn't criticism as much as a compliment. The very difficulties I might have benefit me so so that I learn through resolving them. If you don't get this book, do at least read some of his other material. You will be rewarded.

JK was a mystery. His life story was dramatic and his teaching controversial - so many people found his talks transforming and yet many also were disillusioned. I myself, who was too young, foolish and too far away to see the man when he was alive, have been puzzled by the fact that supposedly no one who studies his talks was deeply transformed, sadly admitted by JK himself.

But how could we measure his merit as a teacher by that fact alone? Twenty years after he died, everytime I read his words, the man came alive, sharp, passionate, uncompromising and compassionate.

He came to the earth pure and clean, and he learned the mess of the human psyche in order to teach; he was a deeply religious and poetic man, evident from his few talks after his realisation and before he disbanded the Order, but in order to talk to a wider audience, "his beloved" was reduced to "the nameless" or "that immensity" in his later talks, with only a very slight touch at the end of talk; he didn't study any religious traditons, not even the Bhagavad Gita, and his talks were all his own, which perhaps explains why many people found his talks hard to grasp, because they can't be put into any familiar systems which we have learned before.

How can we judge him or measure him? He reached and touched more people than anyone else in modern times; his talked "from the ground up", from this drab of life everyone lives instead of exclusively to long time spiritual seekers; and his words are the best guards against superstition, which goes hand in hand with spirituality.

I salute to you, Sir !

As usual, J.M. Dillard does a fine job of remaining true to the source material, while still elaborating on it. The story is an excellent one, with plenty of action and plenty of interesting science-fiction concepts for the more thoughtful to consider. It gives us a bit more insight into the "future history" between the near-collapse of civilization and the beginning of the Federation that has been hinted at but rarely detailed in various episodes of Star Trek, in various generations of series.

The plot and characterization are both excellent and the writing is fluid and professional. The book is a pleasure to read.

This is without doubt the best of all Star Trek stories, both in film and in print. It touches on many grand philosophical, scientific, and technological themes: machine intelligence (both in Commander Data and in the Borg), space-time engineering (the first time humanity has done this, via the efforts of Zefram Cochrane), the first contact from an alien civilization (the arrival of the Vulcans), the confrontation with true history (meeting Cochrane and finding out just who the man really was), and the ethics of highly advanced civilizations (the contrast between the Borg and humanity). This book and the film will without a doubt inspire many a young reader to take up the practice of science, and thus it will do the best job of all. Science fiction has the habit of coming true sometimes, but it also has the fault of underestimating. The future of humanity, as exemplified by the Star Trek crew of the year 2367, is a grand one to contemplate, but the true future will be much better: a world populated by humans and machines striving to be the best they can be; a future that is never static, for stagnation to intelligent life is an abomination. We will do genetic engineering of humans, to be the best we can be; we will do space-time engineering, to travel beyond any immediate confines; we will create intelligent machines, to be our friends and allies. All of these things we will do, and much more. Humans and all other lifeforms, organic or not, will be very different in the time frame set in this novel. But they will be restless, ambitious, and always yearning for more understanding, for more insight, for more knowledge: these traits will characterize the beings of the 24th century...and beyond.

This is, of course, the novelization of the highly successful Star Trek: The Next Generation film of the same name. First Contact refers not to first contact with the Borg, for, six years later, Picard still bears the mental scars of his assimilation in the form of Locutus, but to Earth's first contact with an alien civilization. It is a story that had yet to be told, although Captain Kirk and his crew had met the extraordinarily old Zefram Cochrane, inventor of the warp drive, in an episode of the original series; additionally, there had been hints that this pivotal event in human history took place some time after a terrible Third World War on Earth.

As the story begins, the Borg have attacked the Federation, with one of their massive cube ships making a bee-line for Earth herself. Picard and the new Enterprise-E starship defy Starfleet orders and rush to the battle, after which they follow a small Borg ship through a time portal which takes them back to 21st-century Earth. The Borg plan is to destroy the Phoenix, the spacecraft which Zefram Cochrane launches and, by way of its successful warp drive test, captures the attention of a Federation scout ship. If that pivotal event does not happen, the Federation we all know and love will never come to be. While half of the senior staff is planet-side trying to make sure the Phoenix launch happens on schedule, the rest of the crew find themselves battling a Borg infestation onboard the Enterprise herself. Data is captured, Picard is in danger of letting his hatred of the Borg overrule logic and reason, and we get to meet the Borg Queen. Personally, I've always felt that the introduction of the Borg Queen was a disservice to the greatest Star Trek villains of them all. The Borg Queen is a complete contradiction that introduced a level of individual vulnerability into a collective that was, up until this time, faceless and seemingly invulnerable.

This is an impressive novelization of the film, making it a worthwhile read to those of us who are already familiar with the onscreen story. In particular, it provides a great deal of insight into the erratic nature of Zefram Cochrane himself; in the movie, he came across as basically a drunk, but the novelization does a much better job of explaining his behavior. That alone makes this novel a natural and extremely beneficial corollary to the movie.

"And you people...you're all astronauts on some kind of...star trek?"

That line, uttered by Dr. Zephram Cochrane in both movie and novelization, has to be my all time favorite from the Trek film series. The most interesting difference between movie and book, as far I am concerned, is that despite James Cromwell's fine performance I found the film's Zephram Cochrane incredibly annoying. I never developed a shred of sympathy for him, because the background the film gave me - the Third World War and its chaotic aftermath - wasn't sufficient to make me understand him. I don't know, not having seen the script from which J.M. Dillard worked, whether she added "Zef" Cochrane's tragic battle with bipolar disorder (a disease that before the War had an effective treatment), or if it was among the elements that inevitably got cut as the film took shape. But I do know that for me, it made all the difference in being able to care about this character and root for him.

The book follows the film with little filler added except for background on Lily Sloane and Zephram Cochrane, which gives it a similar pace. They complement each other well.

Star Trek First Contact by J.M. Dillard was an excellent book. it showed emotion, fear, dispair, and anger. IT was a well written book considering it was made after the movie. I encourage all Star Trek fans to read this book and watch the movie.

This book is my 2 1/2 year old daughter's favorite book. She asks for it every night for reading time. She loves to say "Fix IT Duck" at the appropriate points in the story. The illustrations are great and add to the story. Make sure to pay attention to the pictures even on the non-worded pages (especially page1). I think this is the second book in a series of books about the Duck, Frog, Goat, and Sheep. I really like most of the books the the author has written.

This book is hysterical, my husband absolutely loves reading this book to our 3 year old daughter. Fix it Duck is passionate and believes there is a leak in his roof and goes to sheep for help. Hilarity ensues as Fix It Duck just ruins everything as he goes along but believes he is helping. The fun is at the end of the book when you realize that the leak started because Duck left the faucet on and he causes havoc as a result. We got a kick out of going through the book again afterwards and watching the frog try to track Duck down. Recommended very highly for the preschool set.

You can't help but love reading this book aloud to your little one! The rhymes, illustrations, and humor can't be beat. And there's something irresistible about "Fix it Duck!" My two year old always reaches for this book and when we get to a job for "Fix it Duck", he pumps his fist emphatically while singing "Fix it Duck!". I highly recommend this book, as well as Duck's other board book - Duck in a Truck.

This is a great book especially when you started with Duck in the Truck. Very cute story and great illustrations. Lots of detail in the illustrations that are fun to pick out.

What a wonderful story this is....poor Fix-It-Duck only wants to help and he keeps making things worse and worse. A delightful bedtime story you will enjoy again and again.