Reviews Books

I lived in Germany for two years, and every morning I spent 30 minutes studying out of this book. After about a year I felt comfortable enough with my German to start learning a third language.

I tutor German at the university now. One of the main concerns my students have is that they just need more practice. The textbook their class uses provides very few exercises (almost none), so I started bringing to our tutoring sessions my old "German in Review" which provides MANY exercises for each lesson. I also soon found that this book was great at explaining concepts with which my students struggle, so we'll often read an entire lesson together in this book.

I used this book while in Germany learning German. I just read through the entire thing, wrote everything down, and memorized it all. It has everything in it. I couldn't have learned German without it. But, if you don't have a firm understanding of grammar and foreign language, it might be tough, as it is a "review".

This book is great. The price is high but I used after not using German for several years. It's simple and straight to the point with easy examples. For a school text or just review I recommend it.

This is really a good litte book, and thoroughly covers all aspects of grammer, some in clearer ways than my elementary German book. I used this book for my Intermediate German class in college, and found it dull and repetitive in the way we used it. We went way too slow, and some of the exercises get incredibly dull and repetitive if you do all of them.
The book is wonderful for people who learned German by living in a German speaking country and want to study the grammer closer, or as a self-refrence book for German students. I would not use it in a structured college class setting though.

I studied linguistics in college and have studied and learned several languages to fluency. This is the best grammar review text I have ever used. It's straight forward, comprehensive, well laid out and unusually readable. The use of green ink to illustrate examples and highlight what's important is especially effective. I wish it were part of a series that included similar texts for French, Russian and Italian.

Beautiful poetry about a very special little filly who was lost much too soon. I love the way this author puts her words together in such a wondrous way. She makes you really get a glimpse of what this racehorse was like. Prices are always great on Amazon.com as well as a fast delivery. Never had any problem at all. I even order other items from other commpanies other than books, and it's really a great way to shop. Try it, you'll love it!

RUFFIAN, is truly a breath taking epic of a true champion.

When we lost RUFFIAN, we lost more than just her. We lost
part of ourselves as well.

Courtesy of Outsider Writers, here are two reviews of Lyn Lifshin's The Licorice Daughter. The reviews are by Miles Bell and Leopold McGinnis.

Reviewed by: Miles Bell

Miles is a UK poet. I don't think he has ever met Lyn, nor has Lyn met him. In fact, I'm not quite certain Miles has ever ridden a horse. However, he does inform me that he has excellent teeth.


Ruffian was a phenomenal racehorse who broke the track record in her first race and was unbeaten in her next nine. As a 3-year-old in 1975, in an ill-judged race against that year's Kentucky Derby winner, Foolish Pleasure, she broke down while leading the "equine battle of the sexes", continued to try to race even with a badly broken leg, and couldn't be saved. Why should I care? you may ask yourself, and it was the question on my mind as I sat down with this book of poems about the life of "The Queen of the Fillies". After all, I'd no real interest in horses, and had never heard of Ruffian.

I had, however, heard of Lyn Lifshin, as I expect everyone in the small press has. Reportedly the most published poet alive, with more than 100 books to her name, she crops up everywhere there is poetry. I was unfamiliar with her work, and I must admit to being dubious about Lifshin's abilities; surely someone so prolific is just churning poems out?

It is at this point I must apologize to Lyn, for this book is fabulous for the most part, and it drew me into the story of Ruffian much further than I expected. There is a line early in Todd Moore's "The name is Dillinger" which speaks of a time "when horses were still magic", and this book succeeds in helping to explain some of the reasons horses can evoke so many indefinable emotions in people.

Comprising just over 100 short poems, "THE LICORICE DAUGHTER" (named after Ruffian's near-black coat) is actually one long poem in small sections covering the short but brightly-burning life of a horse acknowledged by many as the greatest female horse in history, from her birth, the separation from her mother, the glorious first races, to the tragic conclusion to Ruffian's career and life.

Lifshin writes with great passion for her subject without slipping too far into sentimentality, and the language she uses creates a mythology for Ruffian, as if she was/something in a dream/in the shape of a horse...

There are several other examples throughout of Lifshin using especially descriptive words to evoke a sense of "otherness" about Ruffian, supernatural, ghost-horse, black arrow, mystery, black lightning, and even mentioning Icarus and Pegasus, only to describe her again, finally, as just a trapped animal with wild eyes, as she was led, fatally hurt, to the ambulance after one race too far.

The pacing of the book is perfectly judged too, the poems increasing in intensity and speed like the horse herself, until the quiet last few poems lend an air of reverence more than deserved, it seems, such is the power and sheer story-telling mastery of the rest of the book.

There are a couple of small quibbles I have; the mention of EBay early on jarred me out of the quiet pastures of the 1970s I'd been immersed in, and there are a couple of occasions where descriptions of Ruffian veer towards anthropomorphosis, and I feel Lifshin is a good enough writer not to have to humanize the horse in order for the reader to empathize. That said, these are minor points and only mean I couldn't faithfully describe the book as perfect, just very, very good indeed.

In summary, I would highly recommend "THE LICORICE DAUGHTER: MY YEAR WITH RUFFIAN", as fine prose poetry and a terrific story/myth, well-told. As I reached the end I must admit to getting something in my eye and having to take a few manly deep breaths, before going online and reading all I could about Ruffian, the horse who lived simply to run.


Reviewed by: Leopold McGinnis

Pold is a founding member of Outsider Writers, and an all around Canadian literary icon.

113 pages, Texas Review Press

I was only vaguely aware of Lyn Lifshin when I was asked to review this book. I'd read an article of hers in a book in which we'd both been published and, a few weeks previously, a poet friend of mine who's opinion I respect raved about her work. When the opportunity to review Lyn's latest book (or second latest at the time of this writing - I think she puts out a book a month!) came up, I was eager to find out what my own opinion was.

The Licorice Daughter is poetry-novella based on the true story of Ruffian, widely considered the best female racing horse in history. I believe Ruffian was even featured in the Sports Illustrated top 100 female athletes of all time. (But not in the swimsuit edition, to my knowledge.) To avoid spoiling the book, I'll say no more than that.

When I realized, about 10 pages in, that this was a book about horses, or about a series of horses I began to regret my offering to review it. It's a subject area of which I have little interest, and yet the poems were good enough that I was enjoying reading it, so I figured that was all that mattered. It wasn't until about a third of the way through the book that I realized that this was all about one horse and, in fact, a continuing narrative. This piqued my interest greatly and, to use the obligatory cheesy book-review metaphor, it was a race all the way to the finish line after this point. Born after the events in the story, I wasn't aware that the story was based on reality until I did some research later, so this also kept my interest for quite a while.

There is a burning inevitability to The Licorice Daughter which I love, and makes the book a thrilling read.

While the book starts off a bit slow out of the starting gate, the book picks up a lot of speed by the middle and is running at full gallop by the last third, even though you know where it's going. Ruffian's story is an engaging one and Lyn does not do it a disservice. A lot of poets try to boost their poetry, or replace a lack of something to say, by co-opting an already existing story. Certainly this is legitimate poetic practice, however, often the poet does nothing more than dilute the strength of the original story for poetic gain. Lifshin, on the other hand, brings a lot to this little known (at least to me!) story, filling in or making up pieces that have not been documented by the papers and historians, and giving a real sense of the passion, the life, and the intimate hopes behind Ruffian and all those involved with her story, from the jockeys, to the fans and beyond. It's a sign of a remarkable poet who can improve upon a classic story.

The book is notable for a number of other features. One thing I enjoyed was that the poems weren't linked like chapters, but more like a grasshopper touching down as it hopped along Ruffians lifeline, allowing the reader to piece together a lot of the details. Often times two or three poems would cover the same event. Rather than being redundant, they offered different views of on singular piece of the story and this was quite refreshing. The book dances close to cliché on a few occasions (what books don't?), but never touches, and often blasts off in some wonderful directions. I particularly enjoyed some of the poems at the end that manage to tie thing like EBay to the story of this horse from 30 years ago. Unexpected and wonderful.

If I was a visionless corporate book producer, I'd target this book towards young girls. I wouldn't target it towards horse enthusiasts because they aren't a big enough market...and we all know that poetry doesn't sell anyway. Unless you're dead and your name is Bukowski. Thankfully I'm not and while this book would certainly delight little girls, it would also be a must for any horse enthusiast. But still that's narrow minded. This book is well executed, fun, a quick read, and contains a great and engaging story. I believe it would be a great book for anyone who loves poetry. Even lovers of sports (if you can convince them to give poetry a try) should like it.

I think the true sign of a good book is if you can get someone who isn't at all interested in the subject to like it. As someone who is highly contrarian, very critical of poetry about hackneyed overdone things like horses, and far from sporty or interested in things equine I greatly enjoyed this book, so I believe anybody will if they give it a try.

For any racehorse enthusiast, this is a must read. Lyn has put into poetry a beautiful, yet heart-wrenching story of this incredible filly. It only takes about a hour to read, but the words will stay with you for a lifetime. I saw the race "live", and I'll never forget it. Long live the memory of Ruffian!

For fans of the late, great Ruffian, this is a must read book. A sensitive, wonderful read about one of our country's great horses.

Finally this Australian children's classic is becoming available to Americans. I first read it 60 years ago and it has never lost its unusual charm. I read it to my children, enjoying together its wonderful illustrations by author-artist Norman Lindsey and its whimsical poem-songs: "It's worse than weevils, worse than warts/ Worse than corns to bear/ It's worse than having several quarts of treacle in your hair." My grandchildren are now enjoying the books (I had to order copies from Australia, and consider it wonderful that children today can more easily obtain the book). I consider it a classic of the first order--one of the greatest children's stories of all time.

Big tough talking penguins and talking never ending desserts, what more could you want? Ok, that, but this is a kids book, and one you should get if you have some (kids, that is, not talking penguins and puddings). There are the good guys, and there are the bad guys. Both are hungry, but the bad guys want to put out tasty pudding friend to nefarious ends, while the good guys just want enough dessert. Needless to say, the pudding is cantankerous.

Honestly, I'm no read-aloud wimp! And my kids are usually up for anything. They giggled like mad at the pompous puns of Mr. H.M. Wogglebug T.E. in the Oz books, and urged on my faux-Yorkshire accent in the Secret Garden. The century-old Australian slang and endless sea shanties of the Magic Pudding, though, just about did us in. It really is a magnificent flight of fancy, but there were just too many incomprehensible sentences to paraphrase and longggg songs to make up tunes for. Save this for when you're at your most daring and energetic, read-aloud parents!

The Magic Pudding is a fun-and-nonsense tale that has become my nine-year-old son's favorite book. It deserves to be published in the US so that American children can enjoy what has become a classic in Australian children's literature. If you enjoy Roald Dahl's books, "The Phantom Tollbooth," and "Alice in Wonderland" you'll enjoy this.

This book is part of the wonderful new series of republished children's books from the New York Review of Books. Over 80 years old, "The Magic Pudding" describes the adventures of a koala bear, named Bunyip Bluegum - the kind of koala who wears a high collar and spats - who falls in with a crazy cowboy sort of fellow named Bill Barnacle and a penguin named Sam Sawnoff.

Bill and Sam are possessed of a magic pudding (named Albert, if you can believe this), who regenerates every time you take a bite of him and changes into whatever flavor you like. Albert the pudding is much coveted by two evil villains who are constantly tricking our Heroes into giving up the Pudding, whereupon they must go and re-re-re-rescue it.

The characters and style are very reminiscent of "Alice in Wonderland," with Bunyip seeming a little White-rabbitish to me, and Bill and Sam sort of Mad Hatter and Dormouse-y. The effect is somewhere in between "Alice" and an old Loony Tunes in which Bugs Bunny constantly bewilders Elmer Fudd.

The whole narrative is punctuated with many whimsical song lyrics, like the poetry in Carroll's book. The lyrics make it a great read-aloud for the younger set, although older kids might be a bit puzzled by its style. However, everyone will be charmed by the Pudding himself and want one of their very own.

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.

"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.

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, 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.

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 a perfect introduction into the liturgy of prayer. It is basically a simplified version of the Liturgy of the Hours (simplified in complexity, not content). Each day of the week has morning and evening prayer. There are also prayers for mid-morning, noon, afternoon and evening. Also included is a very nice selection of traditional prayers (the Creed, Act of Contrition, etc.) as well as prayers for various occasions. At the end of the book there is a selection of quotes from the Rules of St. Benedict.

This prayer book is put out by the Benedictine community of Glenstal Abbey in Ireland. The book is a slim volume and is easily carried around. It is perfect for someone (like myself) who wants to develop the habit of prayer and needs a nice introduction to it. There is only one ribbon to move around and it just goes from one day of the week to another. The prayers and liturgies are fairly short and can be done in five or ten minutes. The prayers for mid-morning, etc., are perfect for doing in your car before or after lunch (in the parking lot, not propped up on your steering wheel).

If you are looking for a great tool to help you develop the habit of prayer and that is easy to incorporate into your home and work life, this is it.

Simple reverant prayers in the Benedictine tradition that brings the holy to the every day. A wonderful book to bring along whenever one is seeking a practice to remember the art of spiritual surrender.

I consider this a very meaningful addition to my collection of prayer books. It would make a wonderful gift for anyone on the Benedictine path.

The secular prayerful person may find in this prayer book a schema of prayer accessible to and useful for the person who cannot give up their day job for contemplative purposes. I keep a copy on my prayer table at all times, and find it very useful for constant prayer.

Unlike other such Books of Common Prayer or Monastic Diurnals, it is not overwhelming in its requirements. It gently and lightly suggests a system of prayer for every day of the week, and for the holidays, morning and evening, following the traditional monastic format which dates back before Saint Benedict. No wonder as Glenstal is a Benedictine Abbey.

It also includes much of the traditional prayers once so well known but now difficult to locate, in a very useful and handy lay out. Many of those traditional prayers heard at your grandmother-s knee and not heard since but cherished in memory are represented here, as well as suggestions for prayers at every occassion of the day.

Highly recommended for anyone wishing to introduce regular prayer into their lives (or the life which God has so generously lent to us) as a centering worship of recollection and peace in God-s love. An urgently necessary element of any prayerful life.

I have been looking for a good benedictine prayer book that is easy to follow, and practical for my Oblate studies, and the Glenstal book fits the bill. The monks of Glenstal really put clever thought in putting together this book of prayer for non-monks. Thank you for an excellent tool for lay-monastics, and anyone interested in a solid book of christian prayer.

This book was purchased for a college research project and it was just perfect. It talks of Kandinsky's color theory and how music and color co-exist. The seller was professional and I got the book when it was promised. I would order from this seller again...definately!

Wassilly Kadinsky was a 20th century painter and his CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL IN ART provides a blend of philosophical, spiritual and artistic reflection as it examines the premises and presence of spirituality in art. This new edition is a recommended pick not just for art students of modernism, but for readers of spiritual works: it includes letters between Kadinsky and Sadler, unpublished prose poems, and a fine attention to artistic reflection and analysis.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I enjoyed reading the book. At times it was over my head,but still it was worth the effort!!!!

Kandinsky throws his ideas out in a slightly esoteric manner. It make take a few rereads to really grasp the quality of discourse he presents. But, in the end, his commentary shines brightly through his comparisons of music to painting. The spiritual triangle is comparable to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It is important to remember that Kandinsky is not using the term "spiritual" in a religious sense.
This book is a very good read for anyone feeling slumped in their art making. And for anyone who wants to expose themselves to ways of thinking about art. By the third time I had read the material I had underlined and highlighted almost every line and filled all the margins with notes. The book is fantastic. It is especially good when paired with Hans Hofmann's essay "In Search for the Real." Although the ideas in the two books do not parallel. In fact the lines aren't even on the same page. Kandinksky's critiques of other familiar artists are very interesting too. Names like picasso and Cezanne pop up quite a bit.
I'll stop rambling now. Read the book, it is very good.

Kandinsky had risen to positions of influence in other disciplines (political science/economics and law) before directing his considerable intellect to painting. His insights extended into the historic 'meta' trends of the arts and sciences, including the physical sciences, and had his interests been directed more to the history and philosophy of science instead of the history and philosophy of art, he might have written Kuhn's observations regarding paradigm change a half century before Kuhn did: "Here and there are people with eyes which can see, minds which can correlate. They say to themselves: 'If the science of the day before yesterday is rejected by the people of yesterday, and that of yesterday by us of today, is it not possible that what we call science now will be rejected by the men of tomorrow?' And the bravest of them answer, 'It is possible.'"

Instead, Kandinsky extended the frontiers of painting and authored philosophic writings on the future of art that are among the most important of such works. M.T.H. Sadler, who translated this work into English, was a friend of Kandinsky's and was among his early admirers. The notes he has written in the front of the book (Translator's Introduction) are therefore more helpful than could be the opinions of many other critics, including myself:

"Anyone who has studied Gauguin will be aware of the intense spiritual value of his work. The man is a preacher and a psychologist, universal by his very unorthodoxy, fundamental because he goes deeper than civilization. In his disciples this great element is wanting.

"Kandinsky has supplied the need. He is not only on the track of an art more purely spiritual than was conceived even by Gauguin, but he has achieved the final abandonment of all representative intention. In this way he combines in himself the spiritual and technical tendencies of one great branch of Post-Impressionism.

"The question most generally asked about Kandinsky's art is: 'What is he trying to do?' It is to be hoped that this book will do something towards answering the question. But it will not do everything. This--partly because it is impossible to put into words the whole of Kandinsky's ideal, partly because in his anxiety to state his case, to court criticism, the author has been tempted to formulate more than is wise. His analysis of colours and their effects on the spectator is not the real basis of his art, because, if it were, one could, with the help of a scientific manual, describe one's emotions before his pictures with perfect accuracy. And this is impossible.

"Kandinsky is painting music. That is to say, he has broken down the barrier between music and painting, and has isolated the pure emotion which, for want of a better name, we call the artistic emotion. Anyone who has listened to good music with any enjoyment will admit to an unmistakable but quite indefinable thrill. He will not be able, with sincerity, to say that such a passage gave him such visual impressions, or such a harmony roused in him such emotions. The effect of music is too subtle for words. And the same with this painting of Kandinsky's. Speaking for myself, to stand in front of some of his drawings or pictures gives a keener and more spiritual pleasure than any other kind of painting. But I could not express in the least what gives the pleasure. Presumably the lines and colours have the same effect as harmony and rhythm in music have on the truly musical. That psychology comes in no one can deny."

Some aspects of Kandinsky's color theory are dubious, at best they cannot be universalized, and Kandinsky sees this. But other of his ideas and arguments are widely accepted among artists, even as being self-evident. Stating that "there is no 'must' in art, because art is free," that is, free to address external representations OR "the inner need," to merely chase after material 'objects' OR to wrestle with the mysteriously spiritual, to somehow meld the two visions OR to stay purely to exploration of the spiritual high ground, Kandinsky absolutely rejects the materialistic expectation of an art "explanation" that has been articulated by EO Wilson in his unfortunate daydream 'Consilience' (Wilson knows ants better than he knows humans, and is given to understanding humans to be essentially ant equivalents).

Anyone interested in art history, painting of the past century, or the relationships/correlations/divergences of the various arts (visual, musical, literary), as well as anyone interested in the meaning and purpose of art, or in the philosophy of aesthetics, should read this important book, perhaps more than once.

ya! it is expensive .. yet itu is a must book for all surgeons who would keep their surgical knowledge ..

This is a fundamental in a surgical education. Some changes since the last edition about 10%. It extremely well written.

This nook is an excellent review of the current surgical therapy. It provides quick and current references for both practising surgeons and trainees

This really is the best reference for surgical residents. The new version has had some fairly significant changes. Modern laparoscopic techniques have been added, the trauma section revamped, new chapters added, and certain chapters fleshed out compared to the last edition. In addition, a few colour chapter have been added, but if you purchase the online version, you get access to the colour images posted on the website. Nonetheless, a lot of the figures in the book have been reworked into a more user-friendly format.

This is THE book for a senior surgical resident to purchase. It is updated every 3 years, and reflects advances in techniques, preoperative and postoperative evaluation, and clinical management decision making for all of the commonly encountered problems in general surgery. The authors do not merely rehash the previous edition, but present the information in a clear, concise, and enjoyable text with good tables and images. It has been very helpful to me in my Chief year, and I expect it to help me pass my boards. A MUST HAVE!!!

This book is an excellent adjunct to use in studying for Step 2 CK. By challenging you with a gut-reaction recall type format, you will actively learn and reinforce important topics and associations. It's best used for a quick review in the final days of Step 2 studying to refresh your memory of all the high yield associations.

I found this book to be extremely helpful along with doing questions. It has high yield facts and it's easy to read. However, unlike other reviewers I wouldn't use it as my only source. This book does not go into a lot of detail, so you have to start with a solid background.

First thing first. I scored a 247 on Step 1. As many of you know that have taken the exam. The key is to know what to study for the exam since there is an infinite amount of information. Once you find the "tested" information you have to sit down and MEMORIZE. That is the key to these USMLE exams. For those that have trouble memorizing the necessary information, the best thing to do is to "do questions" so that way you can remember the key concepts. For Step 1 all you really need is First Aid for Step 1, Goljan audio, and Kaplan QBank + Qbook. That's it....

Now for Step 2 it is much different. First Aid is not as high yield as it is for Step 1. Even if you had First Aid for Step 2 in the exam room with unlimited time there will be information that is NOT IN THE BOOK. First Aid lives off of its Step 1 reputation.

For Step 2, I scored a 241. Which isn't spectacular BUT I studied for the exam during my interview season in January. I studied for 3 weeks. I memorized this book and did USMLE World questions. That is all you need. Most of the high yield information that is TESTED is not found in First Aid. Use your time wisely. My advice is to memorize this book, Step 2 Secrets, and do ALL of the questions (and read every answer explanation) in USMLE World. Keep in mind though there will still be questions that you have never seen but these will be fewer and far between if you use the "right" resources. Good Luck.

"Deja Review" was the reason I aced my USMLE Step2. Aside from doing practice questions, this is the only other resource you need to conquer the boards. It is extremely high-yield and concise... perfect for many students like myself who only had 2 weeks to study for the step2. The question-answer format of the text helps the reader actively learn and more importantly remember the material. I wish I knew about DejaReview back when I was studying for Step1. I highly recommend it to all medical students.

UCSD makes us take step 2 early on in the year and time is defintiely a limiting factor. If you are in the same boat, I would highly recommend this book. Even if you are not under a time crunch, you should still read this book to re-enforce facts you already know. The Q&A format is similar to that of Surgical Recall. I used a question bank and read this book to tie everything together before I took the exam. This book is very high yield, and works well as an adjuvant to a more cohesive detailed review source like usmle world q-bank.

After I took step 2, I passed the book onto a fellow panicked classmate going into derm and after reading the book, lets just say he didn't need an ativan or xanex hook-up before the exam. I read the book in 1.5 days (w/ several breaks) and my confidence defintely went way up afterwards.If you are worried about step 2, buy this book and you will realize that you know more from 3rd year than you think.

On radiology, my resident asked me what books I used for step 2 review. Being the slow person that I am, I didn't put two and two together. John Naheedy is now a radiology resident at UCSD and he is a nice guy. So besides donating to feed the "John Naheedy Foundation," your USMLE step 2 score will be higher than your step 1 score after Deja Review: USMLE STEP 2 Essesntials, guaranteed! Good luck on the exam! =)

I love these Official Guides for the X-Files. They tell the entire episode in just enough detail if you may have missed something or have not paid enough attention. They also have the "Backstory" so you could find out information you ay never have even heard of. They have quotes from the fabulous stars. I just wish they would have had more from and about the stars. Bt other than that they are fabulous. I have my rating as 5 stars but because of this I would pick four and a half if I could. They tell everything you need to know and more about the greatest show to ever air!

I love this book,I especially like the behind the scenes stuff, it's great.I recommend this book to anyone who is the biggest fan in the world to the show like me.It has a great picture of David Duchovny in front of the mirror (very cute). I have almost all of season 6 on tape so it was very interesting to read the behind the scenes stuff and see how they made the episode.I have all of season 7 on tape so I can't wait for the next book to come out.I am running out of blank tapes!

I admit to being a X-Files addict, and so this was necessary to try to understand the show. It, and its previous 1 through 4, have made my interest in the X-files grow as I finally got clues and tremendous answers in reviews and stories from many missed episodes. A lot of work obviously went into these books, and I wait eagerly for volume 6.

The End and The Beginning is just another great book in a great collection. It is one of the most descriptive guides yet, with great color photos and a play by play look at each episode from season 6. If you are a true X-phile, this book is a necessity. This is a great look at the series while Scully and Mulder were still on the same planet, so to speak.

This is definitely a must-have for any X-Phile, especially if you missed an important episode of Season 6. It contains a detailed summary of every episode in a mini novel-like form, with commentary about that episode. It's also great to have if you desperately want to view a Season 6 episode, but you didn't tape it. In this book, you can READ the episode. I know it's not the same as watching it, but it's something. And for all you 'Shippers like me out there, you can re-live all the greatest 'Shipper moments, like in the episode "Triangle."--the famous kiss, and Mulder's famous "I love you" line to Scully. And let's not forget the part in "The Unnatural" where Mulder teaches her how to play baseball, or in "Dreamland" where Mulder dances in front of the mirror while in the body of Morris Fletcher.

The book also contains colorful photos commemorating every unforgetful moment of the season. Now I can't wait for the next volume. I'm one of the unfortunate people who missed the Season 7 finale, where Mulder gets abducted and Scully announces to Skinner that she's pregnant . . .