Games Reviews

The Out-of-Sync Child has Fun: Activities for Kids with Sensory Integration Dysfunction

Published in Paperback by Perigee Trade (2003-01-07)

Authors: Carol Stock Kranowitz and T.J. Wylie

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FOR THE KIDS

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-13

THIS BOOK HELPED ME ALOT TO LEARN HOW TO HELP MY CHILD AFTER WE KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON. GREAT REFERENCE TO HAVE AROUND.

The Out of Sync Child has fun

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-03

This is an excellent book for teachers and parents! It provides useful and very important information to work and deal with kids with sensory integration disorder

helpful, but...

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-24

I highly recommend the book "The Highly Sensitive Child" by Elaine Aron to get a different perspective (more positive) on the out of sync child.

Very useful book

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-07

As a teacher I found that this book had many fun and functional activities. I do wish this book had more activities for older (teenage) students with moderate to severe disabilities; but, a great book overall.

Best Book for Sensory Integration out there!!

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-09

I *LOVED* this book. It was such a quick read that I got through it in two days, *with* two kids underfoot, but there certainly was no lack in valuable content to read. This has transformed the way that I understand and work with my daughter, and she has had a diagnosis for sensory integration disorder for years! I reccommend this to *any* parent, even those without sensory kids....

Putting Out of Your Mind

Published in Hardcover by Free Press (2001-06-05)

Author: Dr. Bob Rotella

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A very different kind of golf instruction book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-17

Having already read "Golf in not a game of perfect" on the mental side of golf and found it very useful, I was very interested to see if this book would help me with putting, which has been my Waterloo for a few years. I am please to say that I may not have yet won the battle, but I am getting there fast.

"mental game of golf"

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-02

This is all about the mental side of the golf game focusing on putting. It was easy to read and understand and perhaps it would have helped me more if I had read it again. Not my favorite golf book.

"Putt" it There

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-12

Trust your first instinct when you hit the green, and learn to keep those negative thoughts at bay. This mental and technical guide to putting will help you improve your form.

Excellently presented

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-08

Very straightforward and comensensical. Seems everything we read these days is about positive thinking. And it does work along with a good basic set up. I especially like his instruction that once you are over the ball, don't wait there and let negative thoughts sneak in. Go ahead and hit the ball. He says to trust your first instinct when you read a putt and I have always found that to be true. Can't wait to put his recommendations into play.

Very Good Book

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-25

Any golfer (including disc golfers) would benefit from this book. It's a very good book!

The Rules of the Game : Jutland and British Naval Command

Published in Paperback by Naval Institute Press (2000-09)

Author: Andrew Gordon

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The perils of peace

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-19

On the eve of the decisive showdown with Napoleonic France, Admiral Horatio Nelson was offered the opportunity to select any officer from the Navy List to serve in his fleet. Nelson's confident, if not arrogant response was "Choose yourself, the same spirit actuates the whole profession." The end result was Trafalgar, one of the most decisive and strategically important naval victories in the history of warfare. A century later things were much different in the Royal Navy. The "long calm lee of Trafalgar" had taken its toll on the war fighting spirit and abilities of the British naval officer corps. When the navy failed to achieve another Trafalgar-like victory at Jutland in 1916 against the Germans former First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill commented "We had more captains of ships than captains of war."

In this substantively and physically weighty tome, Andrew Gordon sets out to discover how and why the mighty British navy could have fallen so far from the heights of Trafalgar to the relative depths of Jutland.

"The Rules of the Game" is actually two full-length, distinct books in one. The first is a highly detailed account of the Battle of Jutland. I have read several accounts of the battle before, but nothing compares to the clarity, analysis, and authority that Gordon delivers here. The sequence of the battle is told almost exclusively from the British perspective and includes an almost minute-by-minute account of both phases of the engagement - the so-called battle cruiser duel and the engagement between the main battles fleets.

Gordon pays particularly close attention to the issuing, receipt and interpretation of signals between British ships during the battle. Even after nearly a century the fog of war has not dissipated from the battle of Jutland. There is a general lack of reliable primary sources; many of the critical details are therefore subject to conflicting personal testimony, which were given in the years after the battle when an acrimonious debate among the surviving officers poisoned relationships and skewed perspectives. Gordon aims simply for truth and seeks neither indictment nor exoneration of the major players. In his words, "Jutland is not a 'zero-sum game' of credit and blame between Jellicoe-ites on the one hand and the Beatty-ites on the other." Nevertheless, Gordon's central conclusion is that the swashbuckling David Beatty was culpable of many tactical sins and failure of judgment throughout the battle. Most notably, he positioned the 5th Battle Squadron (consisting of the four new, world-class Queen Elizabeth class battle cruisers under Hugh Evan-Thomas) too far to the rear in the original cruising formation, thus ensuring that those critical ships could not be fully brought to bear if the Germans were encountered. And he failed in one of his core missions: providing accurate and timely information to John Jellicoe and the British Grand Fleet on the speed and bearing of the German High Seas Fleet once it had been engaged to ensure that the German "risk fleet" could be led into a trap and destroyed.

The other book - and the more important one - is a thoughtful and probing analysis on the effects of a long peace on military institutions and their associated doctrines. Gordon's basic thesis is that peacetime militaries tend to attract and promote "authoritarian" personalities, as defined by Professor Norman Dixon in his 1976 book "On the Psychology of Military Incompetence." In layman's terms, authoritarians are spit-and-polish, by-the-book types who thrive in the highly structured and hierarchical nature of peacetime armed forces. This natural tendency was reinforced and exacerbated by the advent of steam tactics and complex signaling that "had the effect of ritualizing the Navy's concept of battle in a way that ballroom dances were to ritualize courtship." The officers most associated with this school were the commanding officers of the British Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow under John Jellicoe and the officers of the 5th Battle Squadron under Evan-Thomas. Gordon notes that such authoritarian officers exemplified the Victorian and Edwardian concepts of chivalry. They tended to have close connections to the British royal family (e.g. Evan-Thomas was a life-long friend of King Edward), were often affiliated with the Royal Geographic Society and/or participated in dangerous polar exploration expeditions, and were often Craft Freemasons. Their concept of battle was one of highly orchestrated maneuvers depending on detailed signals emanating from the fleet commander.

On the other end of the spectrum were the "autocrats" (again, the term comes from Dixon). The archetype autocrat is the jaunty David Beatty. These are the men who scorned convention and, as a result, suffered from slower promotions in the peacetime navy. Beatty had the rare fortune to experience real combat as a naval officer while on a gunboat supporting the British at Omdurman in 1898 where he also had a chance encounter with a young Winston Churchill - two events that paid handsome dividends in his naval career. The autocrats embraced the Nelsonic concept of initiative and daring in combat. As Gordon notes and the autocrats stressed, "It was forgotten that at Trafalgar no tactical signal emanated from the flagship after the fighting started."

Gordon maintains that the decisive event that led to the failures of Jutland actually occurred a generation before the battle, off the coast of Lebanon in 1893. It was there and then that two British battleships (the Mediterranean flagship Victoria and the Camperdown) collided in broad daylight when an erroneous signal from the flagship was executed even though the obvious outcome was the sinking of the Victoria and claiming the life of the Mediterranean commander-in-chief, Admiral George Tryon. Tryon had been a passionate critic of the signaling culture then taking deep root in the navy and fought hard to inculcate instead a set of action principles that would guide individual behavior in combat much as Nelson was able to rely on at Trafalgar. Tryon had promoted a "TA system" that consisted of just a few signals to be used in battle when smoke, fire and fear would likely make the smooth transmission of signals difficult, if not impossible. The tragedy came to be associated with the dangers of maneuvering under the very loose "TA system" even though it was not in effect the collision occurred. The subsequent court martial forced the navy to consider the issue of blind obedience to orders, even when those orders will clearly end in disaster.

This is one of the best books I have read over the past few years. It has substance, style, and piercing insights into the nature of military organizations in times of extended peace. For anyone interested in military culture and military doctrine this is a "must read."

Phenomenal, unique study on Military culture and its impact

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-21

This is indeed terrific book. It does not only focus on
the battle of Jutland itself, but on the whys and wherefores of how things came to be. By looking back in time to the societal and cultural institutions of Victorian Society, how it influenced thought and conduct within the Royal Navy, we come to
understand how the British failed to destroy the German High Seas Fleet. The author skewers the officers for their blind obedience to the "Signals Book" and the lack
of originality in thought and deeds. There is nothing more insidious to military efficacy than a lengthy peace to promote
complacency and martial decay. Without a challenge to its command of the seas for nearly a century, the peacetime Royal Navy lost its Nelsonian touch and became a Corps of bureaucrats and spit and polish types, forever shuffling papers and scrubbing the decks. It became an absolute fetish and was the main criteria for advancement for career minded officers
to the detriment of actual war fighting capabilities. This and many other details are brought to light in this book. There is so much more to say, but best to grab a copy yourself and READ IT!!!

Unbelievable - Loved this book, a must for learning

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-12

This was a great book to read. It flowed well and was exciting throughout. I found the relevance in this work not only in how it explains what happens when peacetime complacence takes over the military, but also how it can be applied when examining leadership in business, especially big business. Those management styles that describe Britain's naval commanders from Nelson to Tryon to Culme-Seymour to Jellicoe and Beatty can easily be applied to the management styles of many of America's big corporations. I've always believed that the study of military history is critical in being successful as management within a big corporation. This is a must read for anyone wanting to understand management and command style.

I was glad that this work was not completely one-sided. Andrew Gordon stated how commanders like Sir John Jellicoe and Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas were in many aspects not up to leading a wartime battle command because of their reliance on central control and inflexibility to the fluidity of battle. It also showed how much of Lord Nelson's command style appeared in Sir David Beatty, but he does not hide the fact that Beatty made many big mistakes that led to the loss of two capital ships a few thousand sailors. Beatty at times is shown as reckless (the Battlecruiser Force lacked the targting accuracy when needed most and two battlecruisers were lost) and not a good communicator (he did meet with Evan-Thomas to explain what he expected of them and caused the 5th Battle Force to take much unnecessary damage). But, he was a courageous commander and did his part by leading (as ordered) the German High Seas Fleet to Jellicoe's Grand Fleet of over 35 capital ships. It also shows that despite his shortcomings, Evan-Thomas was a brave man and did his part during the fight with the Germans.

After getting into this book, I was hoping to read more on the German aspect of the battle, especially since Admiral Scheer almost led his High Seas Fleet to annihilation by the Grand Fleet not once, but several times during the battle. But, the fact that Andrew Gordon was a former British Naval officer and that his work concentrated on his organization, I can understand why he explained the British aspect of the battle. Plus, his main focus was not the battle, but how command style wholly influenced the outcome of this engagement.

A study of corporate paralysis in the crucible of battle

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-20

I have read many books of military history covering a variety of campaigns, but never have I read one with such breadth and insight as this. The enormity of the drama embodied in the moment the fleets met at Jutland is for the first time matched by an author's ability to depict a context rich enough to help us understand the influences which fed this cataclysmic misfire of naval strength.

Gordon focuses on the tension between doctrine's role as a useful tool for helping a widely flung set of commanders act in concert when distance, smoke, and angst prevent their communication and how a careless search for practical doctrine might invite a stifling dogma in its stead. As Gordon so fluidly writes of the malaise gripping the "fleet that had dozed unchallenged in the long calm lee of Trafalgar", the trust Nelson placed in subordinates had not long survived his death in that battle and its heir was an officious busyness centered on sparkle and conformity.

Particularly delightful in this work and an aspect not to be missed is the benefit to be realized by using two bookmarks when reading it, with the second preserving your spot in the end notes. Its 100+ pages of notes manifest a stringent and complete attribution of his borrowings, but a great many of the notes are not simply citations of others work but illuminating tidbits well worth savoring as you plow along the main text.

A new reader will also find that color has not been sacrificed in the rush to meet the obligations of covering so large a battle. My favorite anecdote was one of an untroubled officer on HMS Lion who, unaware that the Germans had truly been sighted, calmly finished preparing his sandwich as action stations were rung. The mental picture formed of his arriving on the bridge with mouth full and hoagie in hand is not unlike someone doing "the wave" in the audience at Ford's Theatre as Lincoln takes his seat.

I mean the 5 stars. I have given 5 copies of this book to people I know, simply to ensure that they might understand the mania for naval history it has fanned in my heart. If there is any justice in this world, this book will enjoy a massive new print run.

Relevant to Post 9-11 and the Road to War with Iraq

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2003-07-30

In the aftermath of 9-11 and the concerted efforts by both the policy and intelligence leadership in both America and the United Kingdom to both deny that 9-11 was a failure on their parts, and to "sex up" the dossiers leading to an unjust war in Iraq, I really like and recommend this book to anyone remotely connected to national security decision-making.

There are four major points in this book that neither the publicity prose nor the earlier reviewers emphasize, and I focus on these because they are the heart of the book and the core of its value:

1) Peacetime breeds officers, systems, and doctrine that are unlikely to stand the empirical test of war. As the author notes, every incompetent in war has previously been promoted to his or her high rank in peacetime. Systems are adopted without serious battle testing or interoperability (and intelligence) supportability being assured, and doctrine takes a back seat to protocol and keeping up appearances.

2) Technologists are especially pernicious and dangerous to future warfighting capability when they are allowed to promulgate new technology under ideal peacetime conditions, and not forced to stand the test of battle-like degradation and the friction of real-world conditions.

3) Doctrine based on the lessons of history rather than the pomp of peacetime is the ultimate insurance policy.

4) Robust--even intrusive and pervasive--communications (signaling) in peacetime is almost certain to denigrate healthy doctrinal development, has multiple pernicious effects on the initiative and development of individual commanders, and can have catastrophic consequences when it is severely degraded in wartime and the necessary doctrinal foundation and command initiative are lacking.

This is a very long book at 708 pages, and I would hasten to note that the book is worth purchasing even if only to read Chapter 25, pages 562-601, in which the author brilliantly sets forth 28 distinct "propositions". The balance of the book is extraordinary in its detail and a pleasure to scan over, but its primary role is to absolutely guarantee the credibility and industry of the author.

Each of the 28 propositions, one sentence in length with varying explanatory summaries, is compelling, relevant, and most critical to how we train both flag officers and field grade officers of all the services. Were the author so inclined, I would encourage him to develop the final chapter as a stand-alone primer for military leaders seeking to learn from history and avoid the dangerous juxtaposition of too much technology and too little thought. While the author draws his propositions from an excruciatingly detailed study of the Battle of Jutland and the British naval cultures in conflict before and after Jutland, this book is not, at root, about a specific battle, but rather about the constantly forgotten "first principles" of training, equipping, and organizing forces for combat. Hard to do in peacetime with the best of leaders, a tragedy in waiting with the more common peacetime pogues in charge. "Ratcatchers", the author's phrase for those who do well in war, are crushed by the peacetime protocols, and this is perhaps the greatest lesson of all: we must nurture our ratcatchers, even place them on independent duty to travel distant lands, but somehow, someway, keep them in play against the day when we need them.

She Got Game: My Personal Odyssey

Published in School & Library Binding by Topeka Bindery (2001-03)

Author: Cynthia Cooper

List price: $15.80

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I Would Recommend This Book For Every Mother And Daughter.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-23

Some people may shy away from this book because they think its about basketball. Wrong -- it's about life, about a person who happens to play basketball.

I think every girl should read this book, because it deals with Cooper's issues with self-esteem and confidence, overcoming poverty, and her pursuit of excellence. I also think every mother should read it, because the book shows how effective a role model Cooper's mother was to her. Maybe mothers and daughters should read this book together, and have discussions about it.

This is not an overtly Christian book, but Cooper is a Christian and does not hide her faith. It is not really an evangelistic book, though one can say it is pre-evangelistic.

A True Example of Determination and Self-improvement

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-14

This autobiography is one of the best, if not the best, that I've read. It's amazing how Cynthia Cooper writes her own story to motivate and make readers have more confidence. She's a real example of a true athlete hero, someone that can be a role model to all. Thanks to her and her success in the WNBA, she's given Women's Basketball a new meaning. Her determination and motivation to become successful is admirable. This book is really an inspiration to those who lack self-esteem and self-confidence. I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to anyone because is really interesting and inspirational. I'm proud of Cynthia Cooper because she's a real good representative of Women's basketball and a great example of determination and success. She also proved that with God's help, anything is possible.

She's got more than game!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-31

Cynthia Cooper could be a role model for anyone. She knows how to play the game of life as well as basketball: when to hold, when to fold, and a whole lot more.
What impressed me most? Signed to play in Italy, Cynthia didn't hang around being homesick. She took the opportunity to learn and grow.
My favorite scenes:

(1) New to Italy, she'd never even heard of famous cathedrals that someone asked her about. Later, she could have discussed the architectural history and features -- in Italian.

(2) She asked Ford to give her a marketing internship -- and she felt right at home with the men. I use this example a lot when I talk to parents who are concerned that their daughters are more interested in sports than school.

(3) She takes us behind the scenes of the championship Comets.

Hard to put down, well-written, honest -- the perfect gift for any WNBA fan or any young woman looking to her future, in or out of basketball.

She Got Heart

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2000-06-22

Cooper's book has made me relieze that nothing can turninto something. Also Cooper provides a positive role model for anyonewho wants to better themselves and improve their way of life. This is a book that can be enjoyed by all. There was problems growing up, college, overseas (work) love, and death of loved ones. This tells the reader that everyone faces problems at many different stages of life. Also how they could be overcome with the correct outlook. END

She Got Game : My Personal Odyssey

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-02

This book is about the story and life of a great know person and athletic. It has its good times and bad times. It tells you what happened in her life till the time she published the book. It tells you from her first time she touched a basketball until she became the leauges MVP. If you want to read a great story about a player and her good times and bad times this is the book you should read. It is for sure the best book I've read about a great person and a life she lived. You should get this book no doubt.

Tradition with a Twist: Variations on Your Favorite Quilts

Published in Paperback by C&T Publishing (1996-01-01)

Authors: Blanche Young and Young Dalene Stone

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Average review score:

Traditions with a Twist

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-06

This is without a doubt my very favorite quilt book. I have owned this book for several years. It was one of the first books I purchased, and it is still my favorite. I have completed a number of quilts using patterns in this book. Several have blue ribbons! I highly recommend this book to any quilter.

Lovely book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-06

I was pleasantly surprised to find out this is the book used on a Simply Quilts episode, which I had wanted to buy anyway. A good, fast strip method for making Trip Around the World, Blooming Nine Patch, and other patterns. Lovely photos, definitely worth a buy.

Certainly A Classic!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-08

I took a class with this wonderful, spunky lady a few years ago. She makes HUGE quilts, and this book has a great selection of variations. The sizes only include either very large, or baby. But the designs are so simple!

Very Useful

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-30

I love this book. I've made a couple of quilts using it and plan to make a few more. I've gotten nothing but rave reviews on the quilts I made using this book and I can't recommend it highly enough. I purged through my quilt book collection and got rid of most of them but this book stayed in my top ten list. The use of color alone is worth the price of the book.

beautiful quilt designs

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-13

Very clear directions and beautiful designs. Good ideas on blending colors. Great for beginners but interesting enough for the experienced quilter.

Dungeon Master's Guide: Essential Reference Information for Gamemastering Advanced D&D

Published in Hardcover by TSR Games (1979)

Author: Gary Gygax

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Average review score:

Great!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-13

Great book for any players. Yes, it's an older edition, but in my opinion, better than the newer editions they have now.

The Way It Used To Be Done

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-09

This book harkens back to the "good old days" when playing the paper and pencil D&D used to be new and fun. There have been several reincarnations of this manual and I've thumbed through them but they just don't hold a candle to the original, despite the fancier artwork and rule changes. I remember spending hours combing tables as I built a new dungeon. I am not at all happy with the direction TSR took after Mr. Gygax was booted out (or left, can't remember which) and one big loss was the original manuals. They are now up to version 3 something of the rules but I do not even know what they are because I just play computer games now. All I know about the new rules is that multi-class characters are easier to work with. It was an exciting time, a different era. I still have this manual and will always treasure it. If you can find one, pick it up just to see how things used to be done. Highly recommended.

An Excellent Resource

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-15

The wonderfully unique writing style of Gary Gygax shines through on just about every page of this book.

This work is an essential companion to the 1st Edition AD&D Players Handbook. It gives you combat charts, rules for followers, average sale values for magic items (something left out of the 2nd Edition Dungeon Masters Guide), general advice on how to run a game, several pages of artifact descriptions (fascinating descriptions that give amazing depth to the objects), random monster encounters for different environments and dungeon levels, random dungeon generation tables and even several pages of monsters from the monster manual in abbreviated form. This book is packed with great information from cover to cover.

Maybe what I like most about this book is its almost total lack of political correctness. From the nudity in the artwork (the topless mermaid on page 180) to the descriptions of various disgusting diseases and forms of insanity, it gives you a raw, gritty version of the game full of style and flavor. Unfortunately, this is something the Dungeons & Dragons game will never likely see again.

The only thing I dislike about the book is the combat system. Although playable, especially with a few house rules thrown in to smooth things over, its hard to get an understanding of exactly how combat is supposed to work just from reading the text.

If you can find a used copy of this book, I recommend you pick it up. It's definitely worth a read.

Player's Handbook (AD&D, 1st Ed. revised)

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-14

This is a great players' resource for refererencing some of the forgotten races and images that were updated and/or revised from 1st edition into the 2nd edition.

It is an historical find in terms of role-playing games, since these books are now in extremely limited numbers and are quite collectible. I purchased this book together with the Dungeon Masters Guide (AD&D 1st Ed. revised) and they are a part of my role-playing game collection.

With a few pages with pen marks and a slightly damaged hardback cover, I now have a decent addition to my RPG collection.

Imaginative First Edition, if almost unplayable in places

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-01

This is a fantastic book, if purely because it shows the roaming imagination of Gary Gygax. Future editions of the game have cut down on the unplayable aspects of the first edition (with elegant variations in bonuses tables for different ability scores, impossibly low level limits for various non-human characters, terrible encumbrance tables, etc) but the first edition contains a darker side which feeds the imagination and was supported by a fantastic group of modules. Worth getting whether you play 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3.5 or 4th edition as it contains plenty of detail on roleplaying and random things of interest. Almost like an unedited journey through Gygax's head.

Anno's Counting Book

Published in Paperback by HarperTrophy (1986-10-31)

Author:

List price: $6.99

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Average review score:

Best counting book ever

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-27

This is, quite simply, the best book I've ever seen for familiarizing small children with the numbers from 0 to 12 (not for teaching them to read, because there is no text). However, it needs an attentive adult to go through slowly with the child, inventing a story to correspond with the pictures. I doubt whether a child could get much from it if left to go through it alone.

On page 0 there is nothing -- just a snow-covered hillside. On page 1 there is one building, one adult, one child, one animal, one bird, etc. On page 2 there are two of everything, until, at page 12 there is a complete little village. The choice of 12 steps in the story is not accidental or arbitrary, but corresponds to the number of months in the year, so we start in the dead of winter, move to spring, summer, autumn and back to winter again.

Beautiful book, big!!!!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-25

the book is really pretty, there are just images so you can make up stories, it is unusually large for a book, great book I do recomment

Endless enjoyment

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-21

My sons loved this quiet book and asked to count the items in the lovely illustrations endlessly. Anno includes a bit of whimsy on the final page if you are thorough in your counting!

Anno's Counting Book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-16

I bought this "big" book to use in my Kindergarten classroom. There are abundant activities, found on the internet in an author search, for young children about counting, sequencing and comparing that can springboard from this excellent resource.

Anno's Counting Book

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-04

The book Anno's Counting Book is a great book for helping children with counting and learning basic math concepts. It helps with addition and subtraction as well as grouping items. The book starts at zero, which is one of few books that start with zero. This helps children grab the concept the zero is still a number even when there is nothing to count. The book goes all the way through the number 12. Children are also able to count the objects in the picture. Each object in that picture contains that number that is on the page.
The style of the book is very simple for young children. Each page contains one number. On that page there is only that specific number of items that children are able to participate and count along. On the left side of each page are counting blocks. The blocks can help children with their addition and subtraction by seeing how many blocks are missing or how many they have to add to make a certain number. On the right side of the page there is the written form of the number which helps children visually see what the number looks like. The illustrations in the book are also very colorful and detailed, but yet simple enough for the children to count the objects in the picture. As you go throughout the book, the pictures also change through the different seasons of the year.
The book Anno's Counting Book is a great wordless book for children who are just learning how to count. It helps with addition, subtraction, grouping items, and writing numbers.

Blackjack Blueprint: How to Play Like a Pro... Part-Time

Published in Paperback by Huntington Press (2006-01)

Author: Rick Blaine

List price: $19.95

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Average review score:

Gives me good information

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-18

The book presents the basic skill of card counting very clearly and it included many useful drills to sharpen the readers' skill. However in the latter part of the book it dwelled too much on building a team for professional play.

Great Book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-05

About as good a as you can find book on the fundamentals of blackjack and card counting. A book for beginners thru experienced players.

Blackjack Blueprint has it all

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-23

I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone interesting in learning how to play blackjack. Good for beginners, but also has good material
for experienced players. Very easy to follow. Has interesting stories about how blackjack teams operate.

The One Book to Buy

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-09

If someone could only buy one book on blackjack, I would highly recommend this one. I have been playing & counting for 15 years. This covers everything you need to be a winning player and then some. It also has something for everyone from the first-time novice to the seasoned professional (including some things I'd rather not see in print).

I have a hard time finding anything that was missed in this book, and it is written in straight-forward, easy-to-understand language. If anything is missing, it is the complex math that bogs down most of us anyway. Blaine instead offers up the best ways to make money, and that is what we are really after (at least me anyway).

This book is "SICK"....a must read....The real deal..

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-13

Hey its about time a guy put a book together like this*****.

I recommend BJ Blueprint as the first book to read when learning the game. Everything is clearly explained and the stories mixed in are fascinating. Five Star Rating from this reader!

GOOO Train..

Robert

Brain Quest Preschool

Published in Cards by Workman Publishing Company (1999-05)

Author: Chris Welles Feder

List price: $10.95

New price: $8.76
Used price: $2.75

Average review score:

My daughter loves this!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-07

And she wants to "play" with it all the time. While we're driving in the car or at home, my little one loves to go over the game. A definite home run for us!

appropriate for just over 4 year olds

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-25

My kids are just over four, they love this item. I'd say about 80% of the questions are ones they can answer at this age so I would not recommend it for a child who is closer to 5 unless they have some delays. Some of the questions are typical of intelligence tests where they question experience rather than ability. For instance, we live in a warm climate and my kids don't really recognize a lot of winter items.

The exercises and questions on these cards work much better than some of the workbooks I have purchased, even though they are aiming at the exact same goal (like seeing patterns).

Brain Quest Preschool

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-25

I love Brain Quest and so does my daughter! Parents spend the money, it is worth it! Two thumbs up, WAY UP!!!
Caring Mom on the Coast

fun activity

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-17

We have these now for lots of age groups and they continue to be a 'hit' with our kids. It's a nice alternative to a 2nd book or addition to reading with your kids. In our house it's considered "Dad's" thing to do at weekends.

Get for on the go

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-20

Need something to entertain your child at a drs appts or waiting for dinner to be served while dining out. This is the product for u!!

The Buck Book: All Sorts of Things to do with a Dollar Bill-Besides Spend It

Published in Spiral-bound by Klutz (1993-08-01)

Author: Anne Akers Johnson

List price: $14.95

New price: $3.98
Used price: $0.41
Collectible price: $14.95

Average review score:

my review of The Buck Book versus The Joy of Origami

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-07

I bought both 'The Buck Book' and 'The Joy of Origami'.
The illustrations in 'The Buck Book' were a lot more easy to follow than the directions/illustrations in 'The Joy of Origami' by Margaret Van Sicken.
In 'The Buck Book' there is an actual size dollar bill which makes it a lot easier to make the folds as you can line up the bill you are working on with the one in the book. I made all the folds after a lot of patience and practice. I am only a beginner origami folder. 'The Joy Of Origami' definitely leaves a lot to the imagination and I would not recommend it for a beginner.

Not what I expected

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-05

I was hoping for a step-by-step detailed description of how to fold the dollar, instead I had to pass this book to my brother who is an expert in folding the buck to use this book. But even he found some of the directions difficult to understand. There also weren't that many ideas suggested in this book. There are more ideas for folding the buck online than offered in this book.

A great intro to origami...

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-02

Having been at the beginner level of origami for many years--that is, I follow the ideas in the books and don't create my own--I have at least 30 books on subjects from origami boxes to modular (unit) origami to money origami. This is one of the best introductions to origami in general. Dollar bills are made of excellent paper with printing on them that helps you get oriented with the diagrams in the book. The projects make great gifts (and tips at restaurants, of course).

This book does not introduce you to the variety of "folds" (such as the outside-reverse fold and the rabbit fold) that are the vocabulary of the mainstream origami books, but eases you into the basics (including the inside-reverse fold without labeling it as such). You will enjoy the transition of your ordinary one-dollar bill into these little origami models, which are mostly three-dimensional (many origami books have you sweating and, 47 folds later, ending up with a flat two-dimensional depiction of some insect). Go to other books if this one inspires you to become an origamist. Or just stay here and have fun. And yes I know that insect origami seems to be viewed with a certain amount of reverence, but you get animals in this book also.

When you have folded your masterpiece, origami is fun in that you can unfold it and practice it again until you have it memorized, very useful for when you want to leave a "Dime-In-Ring" as a tip (this project will cost you $1.10--a bill and a dime).

I would not hand the book to a young child, as the activies probably work best with an adult helping those under 10 years old. The adult should have completed the model first.

I would recommend getting a bunch of new crisp bills from your bank. Ask the bank when they come in, as the book says they usually arrive around January. Just in case the US government has any plans to change the pattern on the one-dollar bill, that's another reason to hoard some of the old ones. However, bills that are fairly crisp but not necessarily brand new work very well, and you can find these regularly in change handed to you. When you receive nice crisp bills in change from a store, hand over a $5 bill and get five more crisp ones.

Lastly, as commented on already, the humor and the little facts about money are quite entertaining. Typical "Klutz book" excellence.

Happy folding.

Mike

PS Another book, also on an origami specialty but also for the serious beginner who wants to produce fun and useable projects is "Wings and Things: Origami That Flies."

Buck Book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-19

Very cute book--fun for all ages, or for all ages of people with a little patience.

Great fun!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-30

I got this for my 11 year old son. He already had some origami experience and really enjoyed it. He easily did the the first few projects, but had a little difficulty with the elephant and the peacock. After we looked at it closer, we were able to figure it out with little trouble. The book is very well written (and illustrated) and the projects are very clever. My son's main problem was that he was just using the pictures and wasn't taking the time to also read the directions. The spiral binding allows the book to lay flat while you work with the dollar. There are also fun facts included. All-in-all, it is entertaining and well worth the money. I only wish there had been a few more shapes to make.

Games Books