W Books

This is a little treasure chest of wonderful stories that truly are uplifting. I really did enjoy reading this book!

I read SMALL MIRACLES, some years ago. This seems to be the same book, exactly, although, when I ordered it, I thought it was a sequel. I liked it better the first time around, when the anecdotes sounded more "golly-gee-wiz" than they do the second.

Miracles happen every day. Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal are angels themselves, bringing these fantastic stories to millions of people. Buy and read every single one of their books. Not only are they hard to put down, you won't be able to look at your life with the same eyes ever again!

A really lovely little book that helps even the worst days.

I found this unique book of coincidences to be remarkable. While the authors relate it to Jewish principles, giving a moral or rule at the end of each 'episode,' their statements are applicable to those of all faiths.
There were short, short stories, short stories and those a few pages long. But all showed the positive human spirit that exists in everyone of us if we give ourselves a chance and don't close our minds. Sometimea a bad choice becomes a great move. An ordinary act becomes heroic to those on both sides. And, almost always, WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND. There are no stories of coincidences that backfired, although one can be sure scores of these exist too. But the purpose is to bring joy, hope,
confidence and more open-mindedness to the readers, with the desire that they will share this with many more. A brilliant person with a promising
future suddenly gets terminal lung cancer. But the person telling it mentions some small act that was done, often out of common courtesy. And in this case, one of the six items the dying person wanted in his casket was a letter of encouragement from the teacher.

This is a book for teachers, educators and all who desire to be educated.
I acquired it for $.50 at a flea market booth, after just noticing the
colorful (but also bland) yellow cover. This is the best $5.00 expenditure
I've ever made. I'll share my copy with others and have ordered another
version. Whether you are in the dumps or feeling great, the stories will
heighten your consciousness and create more appreciation for your present lot. I am fortunate to have found it. Please consider my words. Advice
is worthless. Words from the heart can be meaningful. My heart speaks.

The book arrived in great time and is another classic of this famous and amazing author. It is all that was expected and I highly recommend it to anyone who is now, a C. S. Lewis fan or will be upon reading any of his works. Thanks gain to Amazon for another honest and quick transaction. Gary Krei

The Essay "The Inner Ring" moved my youngest daughter from the margins of middle school to its social center. Six years ago when she was in the sixth grade, we talked several times about a group of three girls that were the most popular in her school. Because she was so curious about the subject, I read her "The Inner Ring." She loved it. She asked many good questions, related the essay to her situation, and to her friends. By the middle of her seventh grade year, the group had expanded to six and because four of the six members of the group had siblings in the high school, the "six pack" was the subject of high school gossip in addition to being the coolest clique in the middle school. My wife believes that in reading "The Inner Ring" to mathematically minded Lisa, I gave her the rules she needed to become a permanent member of a group who all were starters on at least one sports team and continued to be close friends in high school.

I agree that this collection is often overlooked when considering the best works of CS Lewis. Among the essays, my personal favorites are Weight of Glory and Transposition. I highly recommend this book.

This book is actually a collection of essays. Lewis addresses various things such as, the glory of man as being a reflection of the glory of God, why he is not a pacifist (where he gives some pretty strong moral, biblical, and sensible arguments), speaking in tongues and various spiritual gifts (moreso on their implication, not on the technicality of each or what exactly each gift is), what he calls "is theology poetry" (or in other words, do we believe in theology just because the idea of a cosmic drama appeals to us), the affects of peer pressure and the gradual degradation of one's inner principles and also its positive affects when one surrounds him/herself with Christians, and forgiveness.

Overall a very enlightening read, in which many issues that are not commonly talked about are given attention. Not very long either, but packed full of insight.

There is a jacket blurb on The Weight of Glory from John Updike, who comments on both the comfort and pleasure afforded by Lewis. Neither should be underestimated. This is great devotional writing but it is also great writing, writing that is typified by Lewis' ability to deal with the weightiest of matters with a light touch.

It is a truism that our faith is reinforced whenever we see it embraced by great minds. Samuel Johnson believed that and it is interesting that Lewis often turns to Johnson for such reinforcement, as we turn to Lewis--one of the indisputably great intellectuals of the twentieth century. Part of that greatness comes from the stark clarity with which Lewis sees important matters. That makes his work accessible; it does not make it simplistic.

All of the lay sermons in this volume are trenchant, though 'The Weight of Glory' and 'Learning in War-Time' are exceptional. I especially like 'Is Theology Poetry?' and 'Membership' and find 'Why I Am Not a Pacifist' of particular interest and importance these days.

This is a book to be read, embraced, and shared.

I had an original post WWII copy of this book and gave it away when I moved from W.Va..... Boy, was that ever a mistake!!!! I needed a copy for an event here honoring the Veterans, and so I was very pleased to see this one in print..... Bill looks at war from the dogface's perspective, and I'm quite sure there's a Bill Mauldin in Iraq somewhere.... but he's tied to the Internet and I'm not sure if we'll get good pen and ink sketches outta him now..... Bill had the way of seeing the ironic, the humerous, and the just plain sorry, in the average G.I.'s battle to survive....... I'd recommend it to school teachers for a look at WWII (AND I'd hustle up some of the last survivors... that first hand look isn't going to be with us much longer).............the Students would actuall LEARN something useful!!!

I am very satisfied with my purchase.The book itself is a pleasure to look at.The drawings are just as funny as I found them as a kid.The writing itself is new to me,but superb.It will allways be among my favourit books.Again marvellous

Indispensable depiction of the face of the Second World War. War and the pity of war. The humour is in the pity.

It's a gift, the ability to draw, to have perspective, to create, to be able to portray human misery as humor, for a reader to see the image and words and turn to laughter. Bill Mauldin had this gift that gained prominence in a time of war where talents rise to their greatest heights or sink to their lowest depths.

Truth is portrayed in humor or the humor isn't funny. Sergeant Bill Mauldin, an infantryman, barely twenty, and serving in Italy picks up a pencil and anything he can draw on, and begins to sketch two characters named Willy and Joe, two, brave, disheveled, irreverent, likeable and crusty infantry soldiers that give meaning to the names infantrymen were referred to as: ground-pounders, dogfaces, legs, and grunts. Mauldin portrays their grim and grimy existence with fatalistic pictures and captions--or grunts. One called "Breakfast in Bed" finds one of them waking up under a cow's utters, or the one where both are in a rain-filled foxhole and Willie touches Joe's shoulder saying, "Joe, yesterday ya saved my life an' I swore I'd pay ya back. Here's my last pair o' dry socks," or with rain pelting down on a scrawny dog facing the opening of their make-shift shelter, one of them says: "Let'im in. I wanna see a critter I kin feel sorry fer." My all-time favorite is a drunk German staggering toward a hidden Willie and Joe, holding a bottle of schnapps, unaware that he is wandering into American lines: "Don't startle `im, Joe. It's almost full."

These cartoons show the comradeship that soldiers developed for each other that would last a lifetime. Each man knew each other better than his own family or spouse ever would, and they could see the good and the bad in everything. They would carry a wounded lieutenant back to safety because he wasn't a "salutin' demon," or curse the Germans as vile, evil Nazis for scuttling a large keg of cognac before their retreat. These soldiers were miserable without being despondent. They were scared without being cowardly. They complained about their predicaments, but carried out their mission as American soldiers always do--attacking silently. The viewer cannot help but feeling empathy and admiration for soldiers who sometimes spent thirty months "in the line."

Mauldin goes further than just making us laugh at the miserable existence of two men trying to stay alive. His real success is that his humor defines the very best and most humane in the human character when it is engaged in its most destructive behavior. It is also timeless. Seventy years later, civilians and servicemen can still see the gallows humor in Willie and Joe's death-defying predicaments.

"Up Front" is Mauldin's account, of what he was doing when he created a particular drawing, why he made sure to include medics, engineers, chaplains, and even Tommies. The writing is matter of fact, well-written, and interesting, but without fascination. That was saved for the cartoons. The author is explaining each one in his text. It's the drawings and the captions that make this book a winner and a conversation piece.

Bill Mauldin died January 22, 2003. Willie and Joe occupying a foxhole filled with water and several cubic feet of complaints, live on.

Think about this the next time you put on a pair of dry socks, and marvel at the simple pleasure of just how good they feel.



May 26, 2008 Memorial Day (observed)

In Memory of the Fallen and all our Gold Star Mothers--especially today.

Of course, this is not a novel. It's a collection of cartoons as they appeared in the Armed Services newspaper Stars and Stripes. The cartoon began to appear in 1944 as the invasion of Europe was underway and millions of Allied troops were fighting their way through Italy and France and into the heart of the third reich.
After a few false starts, Mauldin settled on two characters, Willie and Joe-infantry men. Willie and Joe (who were barely distinguishable from each other) were concerned with all the things that veterans said concerned them during the war. Lousy food was as much of a concern as enemy artillery, fear of cold, wet feet as annoying as the fear of death.
The cartoons, and Mauldin's self-effacing recollections together form a kind of narrative that is at once immensely personal and deeply historical. Mauldin was a pioneer. It was ten years before Cornelius Ryan The Longest Day: The Classic Epic of D-Dayturned personal narratives into history and almost forty before Ken Burns came along.The War - A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
Mauldin was, in effect, the only war reporter who was relatively uncensored. Since his cartoons carried no strategic information, his only worry was the military's possible perception that he might be lowering troop morale with his swipes at the brass and the rear-echelon. Fortunately, some American sensibility that 'it's good to laugh at the boss even if the boss is us' prevailed.

Up Front was one of the few books that my parents kept by their bedside. This is the book that helped the post-war generation remember the war as it was fought by the men who did the hard work. A quiet masterpiece.

Lynn Hoffman, author of bang BANG: A Novel

I already owned a copy of this book. My brother was home and borrowed it to make osso bucco. He is a chef and was thoroughly impressed with Ms. Stevens' book. I just ordered another copy to have sent to him for his birthday. I've only had rave reviews from food I prepared out of this book. I think it should be on everyone's bookshelf.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393052303/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title

I'm just an amateur, but this book seems to be the most comprehensive braising cookbook. Look at all the all-star chefs she has consulted. She explains the steps necessary to get a tender, flavorful braise and tells you why they are necessary. Loads of good recipes.
If you don't braise--you should--it makes the best dishes and is convenient for a group since you can do it ahead of time.
If you are going to braise, I think you could be wasting a lot of time and effort and missing out on wonderful meals if you don't have this book.

This is a superb book. Very well written thorough in its explanations and recipes with many varied recipes to choose from. Missed having lush photography to entice me more to cook, but a small omission in an overall impressive cookbook.

I've only had this cookbook for two weeks, but have already made 3 recipes from it and they all turned out amazing. The book is very well written and organized and it has a great variety of dishes from fun and different veggie dishes (The Butter-glazed radishes were a big hit) to old standards (the "Yankee Pot Roast Redux" was perhaps the finest pot roast I've ever eaten.) The wonderful thing about the book is it isn't just a collection of stellar recipes but a very readable discussion of technique, ingredients, and methodologies that will surely make you a better cook. I cannot recommend this cookbook highly enough.

UPDATE: After another couple months of making recipes out of this book I wish that I could give it another 5 stars. Every single thing that I've cooked from its pages has been a barn-burner. Do not hesitate to buy this cookbook.

I never knew what braising was when I bought this book. It caught my eye because it was so thick, and I thought "How can there be that much on braising?" Well, I have to say, buying this book has been the nicest surprise in my cooking. I have made the absolute best pot roast ever (I never liked pot roast until I cooked it following Molly's recipes). She does such a terrific job of not only presenting the recipes in this book, but EDUCATING you on what makes a good cut of meat, how to buy fish, what to look for when selecting vegetables, etc. You will learn a lot from Molly if you read the book.
Note that there are very little pictures in the book, which usually renders a cookbook useless for me. However, the way she has described and categorized the recipes, I have never once yearned for a picture to know if something will be good. I just read through the title and recipe and think "Yum, that sounds great!" She's really a great cook and teacher. Kudos to you Molly!!! I love your book!

Buy it. You will be a better cook if you read the first couple chapters and make sure you spend the money and buy a good pot. You won't be sorry.

As for the two star review, I'm certain that their version of the crock-pot pot roast is the reason I never liked pot roast in the first place (you probably need half a bottle of ketchup to stomach it). Pay no attention to that review.

I can't tell you how much I love this book!!! If you like chicken, the chicken fricassee is the best. Also, her pork chops are to die for!

Update: I've been cooking from this book going on three years now and I am still in love with it. One of the great things is not only the recipes and education she gives you, but just about every recipe she recomends a side-dish and a wine. How great is that!? You don't even have to think about your menu. She also starts each recipe with a story about how she came across the recipe, which really gives it meaning and makes me appreciate how wonderful good cooking is. Great job Molly!

When you read a good book, it should change your way of thinking or your way of viewing things. When I read Dream Real, it changed my life! This book made me realize some of the mistakes I was making with school. This book made me realize some of the mistakes I was making with sports. I was putting sports before my school work. Now, I realize that school is more important then sports. If I do well in school, that can take me just as far as doing well on the basketball court or the football field. My dream was to play pro basketball in the NBA. Now, I also want to be a doctor if I don't make it to the NBA. In order to become a doctor, school must come first. I never looked at it that way before I read Dream Real. Now, I know that school must come first and basketball comes second. Reading Dream Real, changed my life.

Paul Burns, 8th grade student, New York

My name is Mark Tomblum. I am in the 7th. grade. I live in a small town 5 miles outside of Dallas, Tx. I never really liked reading books and writing to much. I do like school but not reading or really writing. I go to an after school program and one of my teachers had this Dream Real book. She read a few pages to me. I wanted to read the book myself. My teacher let me take the book home. After reading this book I must say that it made me like reading. I really liked this book. I can say it changed my life. Football is big in the state of Texas. I want to be a success in life. I want to move on and play college football. Now I know that I must do good in my studies if I want to play football in high school and in college. I am using Dream Real for my book report.

Adults always say things like this or that book changed my life. I just thought it was there way of tricking us into reading because I never picked up a book "that I could not put down".

That changed when I borrowed this book. This book made me see alot of things more clear. Like how I really do not have a "game plan". I am "only" 13 but I am very very different now that I have a game plan in sports and life.

"Big L"

I love to read all kinds of books. My middle school teacher just gave me this book, Dream Real. I just completed reading it. I really loved this book. I can tell that Mr. Napoleon wrote this book from the heart. It takes a special person to share your personal experiences with the world. Mr. Napoleon is a special person, this is why his book is a great book to read. If you read it, you will learn something from it!!!

T.J. 8th. grade, The ATL

I play Pop Warner football in Newark, N.J. My coach gave this book Dream Real to my mother during the football season. I just got the chance to read it. Once I started reading it, I did not want to put the book down. I started to dream about playing football at the professional level. I really love playing football. My mother always talks about me doing well in school. After reading this book, I know how important school is to my future. Growing up in Newark is hard. I understand what Mr. Napoleon is talking about in his book. Growing up in the city is hard. Now when I think about sports, I will also think about school. I will work on doing better in school. I need to be smart to get what I want in life in the future.

Jamal grade 8 QB

As one who had a 'wounded soul,' I cannot tell you how much this book changed and turned around my life. I received it as a gift many years ago and I have now bought my 4th copy of the book, as the ones I have loaned out never 'come home', which speaks of how powerfully this book also speaks to others. In this book, Max tells of characters of the Bible as if they are actually people you know in real life; perhaps an aunt or uncle, sister or brother, friend or neighbor. His narrative is so possitive that no one can read it and not be affected. I consider it a must for any library!.

I read this book several years ago. It's one of the author's finest, in my opinion. I remembered it being so moving and convicting that I purchased a half dozen of them to use in a bible study group I'm now hosting. The book has scripture reference and discussion questions for each story in the back of the book. It's proving to be wonderful for promoting introspection, group discussion and sharing. Our group loves it.

I enjoy much of Max Lucado's writings, but this has always been my favorite. I have found much in this book that speaks to my life, and to many others. This was the first book I read of his, and one of the first I read as a new Christian. Its easy to follow and great to inspire.

Our Wednesday morning bible group read this over the summer and met weekly to discuss it. We all have had years of extensive bible study and, consequently, felt this book wasn't as "meaty" as we would've liked. We did have some lively and inspiring conversations about some of the chapters. An area of concern was the wording of some of the questions in the back of the book: we couldn't understand them! We had to take a best guess as to what Max was talking about.

I've read most of Max Lucado's books and this is not only my favorite by him but my favorite book of all time. (Well, except for the Bible.)

This book is helpful in some way for anyone who reads it. I have given this book as a gift for so many people going through a tough time and it has helped each one.

No one tells a story in quite the way Lucado does. It is hard to put his books down and this is one book that I read continually until I finished it. It is a book you keep and read again and again.

God has blessed Max Lucado with a gift of story telling and finding scripture that might be obscure or a special verse that God shows him and then opens his heart to a whole new and unique way of looking at and explaining its meaning in a way that is easy to understand. He brings about such deep emotions with his writing.

God has given Max Lucado a special gift and in turn God, through Lucado, will bless each person who read his books. This book is a must read for everyone. On a scale of 1-5 I really give this book a 10.

I have read many medical memoir books and this tops them all! I also recommend "Another Day in the Frontal Lobe" by Dr. Katrina Firlik.

This book is phenomenal. The author's recount of his neurosurgery training is both gripping and funny. Some of the patients he treated and what happened to them will be forever engraved in my mind. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed reading this book a lot. This is not a type of book I am used to reading but it is very well written. The subject is very intersting and Mr. Vertosick makes it very easy to understand for people like me, who does not know a lot about subject.

I highly recommend this book. I am an R.N. and my husband is an electrical engineer and neither of us could put the book down. I've read it twice already. It's very well-written and shows a side of surgeons you never see in the hospital.

Originally published in 1996, "When the Air Hits Your Brain," by Dr. Frank Vertosick, is a mesmerizing insider's look at "an arrogant occupation" whose practitioners operate on the spinal cord and the human brain ("a trillion nerve cells storing electrical patterns more numerous than the water molecules of the world's oceans"). A neurosurgeon must be supremely confident in his ability to get the job done; if he were to dwell on everything that could possibly go wrong during a procedure, he would be too terrified to operate. Because of the high potential for missteps, neurosurgical training is an arduous seven years of hell. Before he starts treating "brain cancers, spinal cord injuries, head trauma, [and] lethal hemorrhages," a trainee must endure a grueling regimen of study which includes repeated humiliation at the hands of verbally abusive mentors. This is not a profession for the faint-hearted, for when neurosurgery is unsuccessful, the results can be catastrophic. Even if the patient survives, his cognition, speech, movement, and vision may be forever compromised. In the words of Gary Stancik, a sardonic chief resident, the brain is like a '66 Cadillac: "It was built for performance, not for easy servicing."

Vertosick fell into neurosurgery by happenstance. He spent some time as a steelworker, majored in theoretical physics, and wound up choosing medicine by default. In the years to come, he would have to adjust to impossibly long hours, inadequate sleep, and hit-or-miss meals. He would become adept at performing quickly and efficiently under pressure. However, none of his earlier experiences would fully prepare him for the emotional roller-coaster that lay ahead. He was destined to endure a trial by fire when faced with such cases as a six-week old infant born with a malignant tumor, a twenty-two year old woman with devastating multiple injuries resulting from an auto accident, a Vietnam veteran with an intracranial aneurysm, and a twenty-eight year old pregnant woman with a lump of cancerous cells in her brain. Fortunately, Dr. Vertosick enjoyed some notable successes; he was instrumental in helping a number of gravely ill patients resume normal lives.

Although it is vital to care about and communicate with each patient, Vertosick argues that it is a mistake to become too personally invested in each outcome. Hardest of all, one must accept the unpleasant fact that even brain surgeons can commit colossal blunders. On one occasion, Vertosick sank into despair when one of his patients died because of what he perceived to be his incompetence. He could have given in to his torment and self-loathing and abandoned his career, but he ultimately decided to "stop moping over one postoperative death." In the words of the aforementioned Gary, "Yeah, it's a nightmare, but that's neurosurgery. Land of nightmares."

"When the Air Hits Your Brain" is impeccably and stylishly written, with fascinating asides about the complexities of medicine and the human body. Vertosick's wry and irreverent black humor serves as a welcome respite from the book's often grim subject matter. In his postscript, which was written in 2007, the author provides updates on the changes that have occurred in the last decade: by law, residents are not allowed to work more than eighty hours a week, aneurysms may now be treated without resorting to invasive surgery, and new technologies such as deep brain stimulation and "frameless stereotaxis (a kind of GPS system for navigating the brain)" are revolutionizing the field. This is an intelligent, moving, and enlightening book and one of the most powerful and intimate accounts that I have ever read on the making of a surgeon.

My 8 year old daughter is a huge Wiz of Oz fan. She has 10 pairs of ruby slippers she's grown out of through the years, every WoO Nutcracker, Barbie, doll we can find and every edition book we come across. This is one of her favorite Wizard of Oz books. She loves the detail about the characters, the pictures, the rich history reviews. Its a great book and Amazon is by far the cheapest place to buy it safely and new.

I'm a big fan of these annotated books, not only for their visual appeal on the bookshelf, but for their ability to transport me away from the everyday world. And you may think you know Oz because you can sing "Over the Rainbow" and "Follow the Yellow Brick Road", but I assure you, this book will take you farther into Oz than you ever went before. Unlike The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition, which is dense with text, this volume is packed with art and illustrations, including a lot of full color pages. The movie images floating in your brain take on a different hue when you see the illustrations which actually brought the Ozian creatures to life. As with all the annotated works in this "series", this one has crisp, cleanly printed pages, an artsy dust jacket that is pleasing to behold, and tons of Baum biographical information, and of course, lots of notations. If you are an Oz fan to begin with, you owe it to yourself to buy this book. If you just like children's stories and the history behind them, this is also for you. And don't forget: the book is better than the movie, anyway!

This is a wonderfully informative book. It has its biases, but they're of the harmless, author-worship variety. The only caveat I'd add is that this isn't the book to have as your sole copy of The Wizard of Oz. It's nearly impossible to read the actual story amidst the annotations. That's not a criticism: that is, after all, the purpose of the book. But if you've never read the story, or want to read it to your children, get a simple copy of the book as well.

The "Annotated" series is simply wonderful. Best of all, they are getting better and better all the time. My first was The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition and since then, I've gained a small collection of annotated books. These books were the original DVD commentary track. Now, it just seems strange when I'm reading a book and there's no footnote for further insight!

This was the second Annotated book I bought. The first two books I bought in this series represents the top two lifelong obsessions within fantasy: Wonderland and Oz (now, if only they'd do Neverland to complete my personal trilogy!).

Upon first reading, I'll admit -- this was a bit hard to start. Sure, it was interesting, but compared to the introduction to the Alice book, it seemed a bit rambling. It seemed like I'd never get through to the actual book!

Recently, I decided to give it another go. So, starting from the beginning again, I read. Age must change my opinion on things. It was no longer so rambling. I rather enjoyed the introduction -- in fact, wish it was longer!

When your first introduction to the Annotated series is Alice, a highly satirical book with a lot of symbolism, you may have expectations of all the secret meanings revealed. Don't expect it here. As is stressed in the introduction, this was a story purely meant to delight. While there are similarities in the ultimate purpose of writing it -- a boredom with the children's books of the day -- the two are completely different in their approach. Carroll used the book to make fun of the children's books of his day. Baum just wrote a good story.

So, therefore, the annotations have more to do with what was going on around Baum at the time, things in his life that may have had some influence, and criticism rather than the hidden symbols found within. You'll get a history lesson of turn-of-the-century America that we may not hear much. You'll learn about changes to the book made over the years.

The greatest thing about this edition is that it's a facsimile of the first edition. The pages aren't perfect -- there are age marks every now and then. But you'll finally be able to see what exactly made this book so novel in 1900 -- colors and text are reproduced in a way most editions do not. Most other editions using Denslow's drawings are usually incomplete with a more modernized setting for the fonts. This causes many pages of illustration to be omitted as the illustrations are a bit more difficult to reproduce when the original text is overlapping.

The accuracy of the reproduction may be a huge downfall for the annotations, though. Unlike most annotated novels where you'll find the numbers within the text and the annotation in the margins of the book, the numbers have been moved to the edges of each line of text with the annotations on a separate page. Probably, this was done to interfere with the original text, but it means that some confusion might come in when to look at a note. Two numbers may try to squeeze into a single line, which is a little awkward. Or, because the note numbers are no longer attached to the text, we won't know what words those numbers are attached to until we look at the next page (or a few pages ahead, depending on how long the note is).

This isn't quite enough for me to take any stars off, though. It may be an inconvenience, but it's no way to judge the quality of the book. In fact, the rarities -- bonus story, reproductions, and art in the Deslow Index -- more than make up for the structure.

This is an over-sized book, so if you want to add it to your Oz collection, it might be out of place a bit -- if you want an edition to fit in perfectly with your other Oz books, I'd suggest getting The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Books of Wonder) along with this just for casual reading or completeness on the bookshelf.

This book was purchased for my grand daughter who is 18 years old. She thoroughly enjoyed receiving it as a gift. She liked reading the "annotated information" while reading the story. It was a hit as a Christmas gift.

This atlas has real cadaver photos for all areas of the body. The fact that the pictures are real will help when studying for a practical exam in anatomy. The only negative aspect is there are around 50 pins per page which could be annoying when searching for a part you want to find.

The Color Atlas of Anatomy was recommended to me as a reference for designing implantables and surgical instruments.

As a non-anatomist, I found the illustrations and cadaveric photographs to accurately reflect my cadaveric surgical trials in the wet-lab.

I often referred to this atlas while designing an Achilles Tendon repair instrument and other orthopedic surgical instruments.

There are not very many books of this type of presentation to begin with so I must be careful here as to how I may sway your opinion of high priced books. Color Atlas of Anatomy has been a staggering companion to my study of Human Anatomy. After careful study of Grey's Anatomy for Students along with Clinically Oriented Anatomy I don't believe I was ready for what was presented in the fifth edition of Color Atlas of Anatomy. Astounding revelation. I don't know there may be a few of you that have actual access to Anatomy Laboratories but I must say everything is in the right place as far as what I was told in the books mentioned above but this book is something else as far as what you see is what you get. Color photographs make short work of any pedantic ravings of the layman's terminology. I never did get to go to any medical school in North America but I'm sure that any student there would agree there is no trick photography here.

There are 1158 figures with 1035 in Color and CTs and MRIs as well. All in 8 chapters and over 400 pages. This is not a book to leave out for the hackers to scoff and judge so keep it under your bed or better still in your locker at your Medical School.

Most of the Medial Schools that I want into have this required or recommended as a text and unless you can say something's changed in the last hundred days since 2007 all is as it should be.

I consider this book to be a must for any anatomy student. The pictures are exactly what you will see when you enter the lab.

In case it isn't clear from the description or title, this is an anatomy atlas made up of photos of actual human bodies. I don't know why we didn't have this in A&P. Fascinating, and a nicely produced book as well.

A wonderful book to aid anyone in the process of discovering who they are and how to find a path to their dreams. Barbara gives lots of positive reinforcement, but is surprisingly practical. By the time I had filtered through numerous chapters of discovery exercises, I was exhausted. I wasn't sure I would really find the focus I needed to define myself and articulate the next phase of my life. However, when I got to the chapter on defining "touchstones" the homework paid off and I found something at my core that defined everything I wanted in my life. Hats off to Barbara for her humor, style, and wisdom to make the process so enjoyable. Bravo!

I thought this book offered some different ways in the effort to learn more about myself. The exercises are thought provoking and easy to do and provide a good insight into my own thoughts, habits and self. I don't think it is ground breaking or the answer to the million dollar question "Who am I?" but it does offer exercises to learn more about self and I think it is an excellent read and book.

I had heard really good reviews of this book from many people I respect for their life vision and general success. It was a quick read, and while I'm not usually a big consumer of the self-help genre, I found it had a lot of very practical applications that helped me get a bit closer to discovering just what it is that I can contribute to this planet. I was reading Erckhart Tolle's A New Earth, which was a great primer in basic Buddhist concepts, but which I found didn't quite deliver on the promise of its subtitle: Awakening to your life's purpose. It did perhaps help to prepare me and make me more open to finding Wishcraft, which did a pretty good job of digging deep and really directing me toward the discovery and acceptance of myself as a creative person, and in turn, that creativity is a gift to share with the world and not stuff down in favor of more "practical," "useful," work. I found the emphasis on childhood and over bearing parents to be a bit much -- maybe because I come from the apparently rare position of having been encouraged to pursue my creative side from a very young age, but decided independently that it was too frivolous and self-indulgent to make my life's goal. I am grateful for my personal journey beyond my talents and into worlds that have only served to reinforce that I am indeed supposed to exercise my creativity. Wishcraft has some great tools that helped me take this realization to the next step, to decide exactly what it is I need to do to make my creative side an active part of my everyday life.

This was Barbara Sher's first book, but until now I'd only read (and loved) her follow-up books. I've read alot of other books on positive affirmations and projecting to the Universe what you want and was stunned to see that this "oldie, but goody" was really one of the most simple and straight-forward approaches to that concept.

Even if you've read lots of other self-help books, this classic is still one everyone should read.

I got the 1979 copy of this book about 4 years ago on a recommendation from a therapist who saw that I was drifting along with no real goals. I had tried college twice before (by this time I was in my late 30's) and each time quit because I didn't know what I wanted to do or to be. The "college career center" was no help whatsoever. The test I took there had me taking courses for industrial engineering, which I had zero interest in, but I figured maybe the test saw some hidden talent that I didn't know I had. Wrong. I started reading this book and doing the exercises and slowly discovered what it was that I wanted to be....an interior designer! I would have never thought of it in a million years without this book changing my way of thinking. I felt like it was a huge revelation! It was a relief to finally know, at the age of 38, what it was that I wanted to do! I started college again and had to quit after a year and a half due to a pay cut at my job. The old me, the pre-Wishcraft-reading me, would have just given up right then. Actually, I DID freak out for about a week. But the new me sat down and brainstormed like in the book and thought long and hard about what needed to be done to be able to stay in school and follow my dream. I'm happy to say that I only took a year off of school and am actually now in a better school. I've also been so inspired by the other reviews for this book. I have recommended this book to friends and will always keep my copy no matter where I go in life.