Games Books

We stumbled on the Eye Spy books purely by accident, but what a find! While we only have a couple of them, we get them from the library all the time and I can't say enough good things. My older son (almost 4) is into counting all the things he finds and finding things that rhyme. My younger son (19 months) will look at it with me, his brother, his father, and do the signs for the objects he knows. He has also learned more signs from these books as we "read" and sign the book with him. These books are terrific!

My 15 month old daughter loves all the I spy little books. I didn't think she would be ready for them, but after receiving this one as a gift, we've gone out and bought more. Although she loves to read, we find she seems to be more patient when we read this book and sits in our lap trying to spy for 20 minutes at a time (since we reread it).

My 2 year old daughter enjoys this book. She often ask for her I-spy book(s) again and again and sits and looks through the book by herself. It keeps her occupied and sitting still for several minutes and that says alot.

My son is always picking this book these days. He loves to find everything and does pretty well at 2 1/2.

Good starter I spy book for the younger spier in your house. I would say 3 or 4 would be the oldest.

Lucy Micklethwait is a thoughtful children's book creator. When her daughter was small, Lucy would sit with her and look at art books. They would talk about each item in the painting. While they may not have discussed the meaning, the first step in developing art appreciation and understanding is art awareness. What better way to teach a child awareness than literally let the child point out items in the painting?

Even though I am now a children's librarian bringing this book to you, in another life time I was a high school teacher. One course I taught was a kind of art appreciation. The first activity I did was post a dozen famous prints across the board, then ask students to pick their favorite and write why and least favorite and say why. Examining a painting without knowing a thing about it is the first step in art awareness.

In "I Spy" there are 26 famous paintings. The one on the cover is "Son of Man" by Rene Magritte (a man). The words on the left page inside the book say: "I spy with my little eye something beginning with Aa." On the right side is the painting.

Here is a sampling of other included paintings: Picasso's "Sitting Woman with a Fish Hat" (let their little imagination roam with this one!), Goya's "Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga," Matisse's "Interior with Etruscan Vase," Renoir's "Umbrellas," and Hockney's "A Bigger Splash."

What a wonderful way to reinforce the alphabet, introduce the child to masterpieces of art, show cultural and time differences in clothing, style, and customs. Perhaps at some point you could locate a book in the library which has those paintings. Take one at a time to discuss meaning, technique, painter.

Ms Micklethwait has several other books to consider:
Colors: A First Art Book
I Spy Two Eyes: Numbers in Art
Child's Book of Art: Discover Great Paintings, A
Animals: A First Art Book

This is not at all like the other books in the I Spy series - and at first I did not like it because of it. The other books have pages filled with tons of things, and you pick out certain items in the poem. This has a series of famous art pieces, and the thing to look for is very obvious... so from a "spy" standpoint it is not the greatest. BUT I do like that it is exposing our young children (5 and 3) to famous works of art. We have tried to make it more difficult by finding different things to seek out in each famous painting. Still, I don't know that I would totally recommend unless you really wanted to expose your children to famous art - your child would likely find a book from the regular "I SPY" series more entertaining.

I highly reccommend this book--it is an excellent introduction to the arts. Some of the references are a bit vague in terms of everyday language, e.g M is for Magpie or H for the teeny heart on the playing card. But it is quite easy to make a substitution or let the kids find their own match. My almost 3yr old son loves it! Thank you for this wonderful intro to a much larger and beautiful world.

My son is autistic and has always been obsessed with the Alphabet. This book is one of his all time favorites. He carries this around with him constantly.

This is a lovely book with which to introduce the alphabet and classical art to your child(ren). Each two-page spread contains, on the lefthand page, the jingle "I spy with my little eye something beginning with ... " and the upper and lower case of a letter of the alphabet, while the righthand page contains a large reproduction of a work of art by one of the masters -- Rousseau, Hogarth, Picasso, Botticelli, Vermeer, Sargent, Renoir, Seurat, etc. Kids can think about the alphabet while being exposed to some great art.

Terrific idea!

The Inner Game of Work is the best book I've read yet on creating an environment in the workplace for optimal learning and productivity. Thanks to this book, I now see how the 8 hours each day I spend at work can be personally fufilling instead of a chore. He points out how I can actually integrate my experience at work to acheive my personal development goals. This book provided the tools I need to maintain my quality of life at work independent of the negative situations that inevitably occur in the workplace. I have shared this book with many people at work. Some have remarked that they are feeling the culture at work beginning to shift. People remarked that they are feeling more purposeful and less stressed. I highly recommend The Inner Game of Work.

The true achievement of Timothy Gallwey is his 'putting his finger on the exact, right spot'. Not only the spot where our barriers in achieving our full potentials lie, but also on how to evade and avoid these barriers. His book on Work (after his books on Tennis and Golf) is very well written. Through his natural flowing writing style he is able to establish a paradigm shift with the reader. Then, throughout the book, he keeps the reader firmly attentive to 'the inner game' paradigm and makes the subject come alive using theory and stories as building blocks. Once you have read this book, you will never look at achievement the same way. Not for yourself nor for anybody else. This book is an absolute must-read for all modern workers providing understanding of how true fun, learning and achievement works from-the-inside-out. Do not be surprised though when this book will also positively impact your view on, and handling of, many other aspects of life outside your work. Get it; you will not be disappointed.

This book is unique from the many others on how to succeed at work, management, leadership, even life. All of the rest either give you great "principles" and urge you to pursue a higher purpose at work, or they are "packed with great ideas" for doing it better. This book is different because it is not preaching a principle or trying to sell you on the newest work fad.

This book gave me the insight, in simple terms, to learn my way of living up to any principle I choose, and then to determine if it really is a good principle for my work or the kind of leader I want to be.

The book teaches you how to work with your own best inherent desires and abilities in order to develop all the ideas, successful habits and best practices you will need. Not someone else's that they self-righteously prescribe for you, but your own genuine best.

So this is not about trying to implement the latest fad in how to be a highly successful professional and leader. This book is about a simple, elegant way of discovering and learning to be your best.

This book deserves more than five stars, because it explains how you can be most effective in learning, gaining experience, and achieving higher performance. The principles are based on Mr. Gallwey's earlier successful coaching experiences and books about the inner games of tennis and golf. That may sound like an unlikely way to approach becoming more effective at work, but it is unusually effective for those who have ever played tennis or golf by providing a visceral point of reference.

I could immediately relate to the book's ideas, because both my tennis and golf performances are hindered by the critical stream of commentary that flows in my head as I play these sports. Occasionally, I quiet the criticism and I play much better.

To me, the explanation of how to help someone improve their tennis or golf games, or do their work better was a real eye opener. If you encourage someone to simply notice what is going on during the performance of the act (where they strike the ball relative to their feet in tennis, the lie of the ball in golf, or the important circumstances of the work environment), the person will quickly and easily find their own solutions to becoming more effective. That made sense to me because I have been operating without taking golf lessons for about a year and a half now, and many parts of the game have improved in major ways. I have taken charge of making my own diagnoses of what I need to do differently, and have learned a lot that I did not grasp from taking lessons. That experience validated the author's approach for me.

The other reason it made sense is that in my own coaching activities with business executives about their work, I always find that people know the answer to their own issues if you can give them a more helpful focus to open their minds and help them recall information that they have observed in other contexts. That is exactly the coaching method that Mr. Gallwey describes in this book.

The model here is that our conscious minds tend to focus on harmful criticism that provides limited useful information about what we should be doing. On the other hand, our subconscious minds are very good at directing us when we let loose of the chatter from our conscious minds.

Mr. Gallway takes that observation and builds methods to help you set inspiring, authentic, and meaningful goals for learning, gaining experience, and becoming more productive. He gives you tools to shift you focus away from the concerns of the conscious mind, and how to coach others to do the same in their learning. He then links all of this to creating conscious choices to change your direction and behavior in ways that serve you better. To make this last step easier, he provides several alternative perceptual analogies to encourage you. The book has a series of effective exercises you can do to pursue those analogies. The book also provides many examples drawn from the author's consulting experiences to help bring the points home. I am sure that many of these will strike a familiar bell with you.

I plan to cite this book in my future writing, because it is an important contribution to how we can reestablish the wonderful learning capability we all had as children, in a way that is appropriate for adults.

Be sure to share this book with others you care about so you can learn to coach each other, as a way to reinforce your progress toward nonjudgmental learning. That will be a 2,000 percent solution for you both!

I also suggest that you reread this book from time to time . . . especially if you find that you are not accomplishing things as easily and as joyfully as you would like.

This book presents a fundamentally different view on working and learning. This other view leads to more pleasure, better performance and more effective learning in work. The ideas in this book are so powerful and relevant and Gallwey describes them so clearly that it seems virtually impossible nót to apply them. Gallwey's core message is: the traditional way in which we try to improve ourselves and our performance -through (self-)instruction and supervision- blocks what we try to achieve. To be more specific: an instructive, controlling approach to performance improvement does not lead to better but to worse performance!

After Gallwey finished his English study at Harvard University in the nineteen seventies, he went to work as a tennis coach. Doing that, he discovered that nearly all his pupils tried very hard to improve one aspect of there play that they did not like, for instance their backhand. They expected Gallwey to give them the remedy for their problem. First, this was exactly what he did: "hold your racket like this, stand there, hit the ball then", etc. He instructed pupils but noticed that they showed resistance to his instructions and that their learning did not go well. Then he noticed, to his surprise, that the performance suddenly was better when pupils stopped trying so hard to correct their mistakes but instead just played tennis for fun. Based on this observation that the 'forced mode' of learning was less effective than the `natural' mode Gallwey built his approach. His book `The Inner Game of Tennis' became a bestseller.

Gallwey proposed that the ineffective, instructive dialogue between coach and pupil also existed within the head of the pupil. While playing, the pupil continuously gave himself instructions and comments: "that was really bad, hold your racket like this, do this, don't do that" etc. Gallwey called the coach inside the pupils head SELF-1. In Gallwey's words: SELF-1 is the collection of internalised voices from the outside world. To whom then did this internal coach speak? According to Gallwey it spoke to the person him or herself. He called this spoken-to self the SELF-2. The best learning took place when SELF-1 was turned off. How is this possible? Gallwey's answer: While SELF-1 is busy giving vague and (too) simple instructions, SELF-2 is doing something infinitely more complex and precise: computing the curve of the ball, instructing muscle groups, taking into account the wind speed, the speed of the ball, etc.

Gallwey concluded that SELF-1 was a from of interference that led to nothing else than an underutilization of the person's potential. In other words: Performance = Potential - Interference. In still other words: don't let SELF-1 distract you from your task and goal!

Gallwey formulated a different, more effective and more elegant way of coaching aimed at achieving three things: 1) Awareness: by letting SELF-2 do its work the pupil can focus on collecting information on the critical variables in the task (where is the ball landing? How fast is it going? How is it influenced by the wind? etc) which leads to a greater awareness of the task; 2) Choice: it is essential that the pupil determines what he or she wants to achieve. Without this choice there is no direction and focused attention is impossible; 3) Trust: trust yourself. This goes for both the coach and the pupil. This refers to the confidence that SELF-2 will be capable of fulfilling the task.

Galwey gradually started to apply his approach to others field that tennis: golf, skiing, music and ...work. He noticed that the effects were the same. For instance: a salesman who stopped instructing and commenting himself became more effective. In seminars Gallwey draws a triangle with on the corners the words: performance, learning en enjoyment. Gallwey claims that each of these are of great importance in work and that they are dependent on each other. When you neglect enjoyment, this will eventually also lead to performance problems. What Gallwey says about the relationship between performance and learning is interesting. Performance leads to an observable change in the external world. Learning, however, establishes a change within the person who learns. It is precisely because of this that learning results are hard to measure. Enjoymentis important according to Gallwey because it refers to the relationship the person has to him or herself. If you appreciate yourself, you won't deny yourself enjoyment for a prolongued period.

Since his discovery Gallwey's most important ambition has been to let himself and others enjoy the freedom to express in their work who they really are and what they really want. He says that human freedom is nowhere more constrained than in the world of work. Nowadays, the most prevailing experience of work even seems to be: someting I'd rather not be doing if I had a choice. Gallwey says that striving for freedom at work is not the same as wanting to avoid responsibility or bosses. It is about choosing a way of working which shows responsibility to oneself. A way which is aligned with your choices and values. Gallwey uses the word 'conformity' to describe the situation when an individual gives priority to extranl demands above his internal fire. Doing this brings the security of doing and being like others but it puts out our internal fire and it diminishes our chance of satisfaction. If life decisions are based on external demands instead of internal demands, someting of the greatest value can be lost. The conflict between external and internal voices seems unfair. There is constant pressure from the outside world to conform. Sanctions, corrections, instructions, rewards, etc. are everywhere. The external world is so large and the internal so small. But the internal has one advantage: it is always there. An important step would be to understand why conformity is so attractive to us and how it affects our way of working. As an alternative to conformity Gallwey names its opposite 'mobility': the freedom to move in any direction without self-restriction.

The central idea in this book is that there is a better way of thinking about working and learning that comes down to giving more priority to our inner capacities and whishes and less to external expectations, norms and instructions. I think this is a valuable book. The author gives good and convincing examples of the inner game, for instance applied to the field of sales. In this time of extreme change good and new ideas about how people can learn and perform are wellcome. Gallwey delivers this.

Well, I can't say that I'm and expert at embroidery, but I'd like to be one day and this seems to be a good place to start. The book is very simply laid out, the instruction is very clear and it has very simple illustrations to go along with it. And it is filled with lots of great projects that seem easy to accomplish. I plan on using this as an activity that my 7 year old daughter and myself can learn together. Should be lots of fun.

My husband and I bought this book for our 8 year old daughter this year for Christmas. She has been wanting to learn to embroider for a while now. This book is very good! It is thorough and starts with the very basics. It covers much more than just embroidery though as well. It also covers needle work and cross stitch. The authors clearly explain all the supplies needed, how to work the stitches, and give great projects for the kids to do. It is a great resource and will be lovingly used for years to come. We bought some of the supplies listed in the book to make a little embroidery kit for her and she absolutely loves it. She is already partly through her first project. I highly recommend this book!!!

I recently purchased the how-to-book of Kids Embroidery, by Kristin Nicholas. It's terrific. The book is descriptive with step by step lessons on how to make an embroidery project. I have 3 girls, elementary school age that can follow the directions in the book. It's exciting to see the vivid photos of multi-cultural children in the book, as well as the illustrations of how-to's. I would recommend this embroidery book for anyone who'd like to give a gift to a child or adult, buy for themselves, or donate to a teacher's classroom for projects during school. This book will keep the kids busy for hours, and in the end, they'll have crafted a beautiful project as a gift or for themselves.

I enjoy this book and similiar ones that are based on a Waldorf-education approach to crafting. The projects are well-explained and useful as well as beautiful. "Kids Embroidery" is a down-to-earth book of crafting with easy to follow directions.

I've been a fan of Kristen's work for years. Her knitting patterns are fun and beautiful, so imagine my delight when I stumbled upon this book! This easy-to-follow book offers instructions on all of the different stitches that can be used to make all of the different colorful, creative, and innovative patterns she has designed. I'm 35 and I'm set to try my hand at this cool craft!

This book is pretty cool. It's like reading an encyclopedia of golf. I highly recommend it. The thing is, it only brings you up to intermediate level. If you want more help in deeper mentality of golf or simply play golf with more precision, read "How I Play Golf" by Tiger Woods.

Here is my suggestion: If you're new to golf but are excited to learn, skip Part 1 and jump to Part 2. Why do I say that? Simple. Part 1 talks about history, rules, golf courses and the "anatomy" of golf. They're good to know, but it can bore you from time to time and plus, it has nothing to do with the basics of golf yet. It's like reading soccer rules and how soccer is played. Knowing that can't improve your techniques. Duno also recommends hiring a professional & practice by going to the driving range. Personal preference: Everyone have their own way of playing golf and no one technique is perfect for everyone. If you read the simple techniques explained in this book, it'll get you a long way. Bottomline here is, save time and money by buying yourself a golfnet and turf and practice in your backyard or anywhere you have room to practice.

Part 2 is the perfect place to start if you want to swing that club! It's all about which clubs to buy, how to get good grips, aim better and understand basic swing fundamentals. It's my favorite part that is also worth reading it over and over again.

If you already know the basic fundamentals of golf such as golf rules and/or swinging a club but want to improve your short game, skip Part 1 & 2 and go on with Part 3. It teaches you how to master putting, chipping, pitching and hitting from the bunker. If that doesn't get your money's worth, go on to Part 4 (Become a Better Golfer) which talks about flaws to avoid, bad lies, hills, bad weather, etc.

Part 5 however is somewhat useless in my opinion. It talks about competing, differences between golf clubs, balls and what to do if you take a golf vacation. It's basically teaching you "what to do with your money once you're already a multi-millionaire." I mean, no-duh, everyone have their own preference how they want to take their golf game further. All in all, this book is worth reading and if you love golf like me, buy it just so you can read and reread it over and over again.

This book provided me with the basics of the game and the use of the tools, rules and other essentials and serves as a reference guide to this time. It is clear and simple and straightforward. It can help any new golfer to get into the game and help any duffer to refine his technique.
I recommend it highly.

I have only recently taken up the great game of golf. This book has been an indispensable aid. It explains all the basics of the game wonderfully, with outstanding illustrations and very clear step-by-step explanations.

Since I bought the book three months ago, I have probably read it at least five times - that many times I have gone back to it as a reference for the latest thing ailing my game. And I am sure that it will continue to assist me as my golf game progresses (hopefully) in the future.

I spent a lot of time at the bookstore comparing the different golf guides. This was by far the best book for the price.

This book is a gem. It is organized in a very practical fashion that allows you to focus on each aspect of the game. The range of topics is wide, going from the elements of the swing, the different shots, and all the way to strategy and conditioning for Golf. The book is written with practical summaries that allow you to keep key points in the foreground and get ready to play.

If you only buy one "how to" golf book, this should be the one.

When I wanted to get started with golf I picked up this book. Easy to understand, with simple instructions and explanations. It also has the clearest overview of the basic rules of the game that I've seen. Even the hardest part of any book on golf, the swing, is covered pretty well - I at least have the intellectual knowlege now to on swinging the club. Great book.

In Nunn's Learn Chess Tactics the exercises are organized by theme. Each section has an introduction where the theme is explained, a few examples are given, and then a series of tactical puzzles organized in order of increasing difficulty is provided.
Most sections, and certainly the most relevant ones (like the ones on pins and forks), provide a wide array of puzzles that ranges from beginner level to challenging (for me at least - a class C player). The solutions are clear and as far as I could see with no omission of major lines. The last section is a very good collection of puzzles of every theme, excellent for training your tactical vision.
The breadth of the themes that are presented not only strengthened my overall tactical vision (and my rating), but helped me pinpoint my blind-spots (for example, troubles spotting possibilities of trapping pieces, or tactical moves that are defensive in nature) and work on them.
I recommend this book without hesitation.

John Nunn's style is one of those we can name moralizing and lecturing. It's helpful in the way that it makes a man think of his / her every move. There's a plan of the game, tactics, strategy, and your personal goal as to the game. The book provides you with lots of information about the opening, middle game and endspiel routine, but the most important is how YOU would like to move in this or that position. You and the book become a union, which then helps you to escape the possible blunders.

This book give numerous tactical themes and plenty of exercises. Very highly recommended.

My young chess player says this book gives a great overview of each chess tactic. It begins the lessons with easy tactics and advances to harder and more difficult lessons rather quickly. A person who has been playing for about a year would find this book helpful. This book is not really for more experienced players. It will help the beginner become a better chess player (if you manage to work through all the exercises). And peeking at the answers without working through the problems won't do the trick.

I have quite a few books on tactics and if I had to start all over again I would start by this book. Not that this book presents a huge collection of problems, which it does not, but because it explains the concepts behind tactic motifs very well.
Each chapter starts with a clear explanation of what the tactic motif is. Quoting: "Like the fork, the discovered attack is a way of creating 2 threats at the same time. Unlike the fork, the discovered attack involves 2 attacking pieces".
After the explanation there are a series of real life examples, mostly taken from GM games, all of them very instructive. Diagrams start very simple with chessbase-style threat arrows, clearly showing the combination principles, and then going into harder and harder to find combinations in diagrams without arrows. Solutions are given with nice verbose explanations, leaving nothing behind if you didn't find the complete solution at the diagram.
The chapter introduction is followed by 50 exercises about the tactical motif. Again, diagrams start VERY simple (I would say beginners level) and slowly migrate toward VERY difficult positions (I would say over ELO 1800). Each problem was picked from real life and has an interesting call (example taken from a Fork exercise: Should Black regain the sacrificed piece with 11...f6 or 11...h6?). Unlike most tactic books, sometimes the combination goal in the harder exercises is only a positional plus or a pawn and I found this particularly interesting. The solution to each exercise is also very instructive for instead a short line Nunn takes time to explain what should white or black have played (sine lines included when the solutions allows it) and the what happened in the tragedy of real life (pretty funny sometimes... just like my ICC games).
Finally, a scramble chapter (66 diagrams with side to move) where you are in the dark and have to found the correct tactical motif(s) and/or combination of them in the correct order.
The book itself is of high quality, as all other GAMBIT books around. So far I could not find a typo or analysis error, the diagrams are of excellent quality and the book biding lets it open easily without leaving pages on the floor. Not the cheapest book around but the book material worths the price.
I give 5 stars for the didactics and quality of the contents. 5 stars for the book itself. 4 stars for the problem collection (as all greedy chess readers, I would love to have a bigger problem collection, specially so well explained as the ones already presented).

If you never studied tactics, pick this book first, then go elsewhere find other problem collections.

MacKenzie explains concepts like inventory tracking, CAP rates, and ROI in a way that makes them accessible and memorable. I will be recommending this book to my investor clients.

Marketopoly is an excellent primer to real estate investing. Consider it an antidote to the ubiquitous information out there in the form of books and seminars on real estate speculation, dependant on unrealistic appreciation. Mr. Mackenzie has provided in an easy to read and understand form, the basic metrics for analyzing a piece of investment real estate. For this he should be applauded. Will this turn the masses into successful real estate investors? No, but it will give the reader a leg up on the competition. Read this if you are considering becoming a real estate investor instead of a real estate speculator.

Mark hit's it right on with MARKETOPOLY!
Mark will help you invest in today's markets to win! Is it the right or wrong time to invest in Real Estate? Mark book will show you it is the right time in many areas. So start making money in today Real Estate Market after you read MARKETOPOLY!

In today's shifting and confusing markets, you can't walk in blind and expect to make money. This truly is the Holy Grail of investing in real estate. Concise, powerful and easy for even the novice to grasp. A must have.

Cap rates, net operating income, cash on cash, absorption, rental surveys, internal rate of return, job trends & demographics, etc. -- all important measures. However, in this book Mark simplifies WHERE YOU SHOULD START and enables you to quickly determine the "temperature" of the market before wasting unnecessary time on the other formulas.

This is the most informative/coolest book, if your looking to get involved in the music business, the book is aweosme, but the guys are even cooler

This book is a great education in what a music supervisor does and needs to know. The spotlight interviews are informative and give the reader a practical application of the text. The technical aspects of the job were eye opening and extensive. A must read for anyone who thinks music supervision entails picking songs from an iPod and placing them to picture. I have a greater appreciation for good music supervisors after reading Music Supervision.

This book came to me out of nowhere and consequently turned into one of the most inspiring, captivating, and education texts that I have ever read. In this, the summer of 2006, I have currently been working as an intern for MTV On-Air Promos. There, I met David Hnatiuk and overlooked his profession as a music supervisor. Having interest and aspirations for his work (being a music industry and sound recording major), I decided to purchase "Music Supervision".
So, I got it- I read it- and loved it!

Reading "Music Supervision" flat out bridged the gap between everything I learned at the University of New Havem concerning the music industry and sound recording and everything that was coming as new to me from MTV about broadcast television and its promotion. The books facets including, but not limited to: Legal Issues, Sound Design, Licensing, DAW discussion, working with producers/directors, etc. are all topics that I learned and dealt with at school and at MTV.

This coincidence of reflection between these that I encovered was simply amazing and will prove to be beneficial to my success and education at MTV and as a music student.

Aside from teaching me about my loves and interests, the book also took my vision of my career and future life, twisted and distorted it, and showed me it as I have imagined before. Now, since the book educated me on the subject and how to succeed in it, being a music supervisor is now a career path that I am interested in pursuing. It entails the music industry. It entails sound recording. And hopefully, it'll someday entail me.

Congratulations to Ramsay Adams, David Hnatiuk, and David Weiss. They have succeeded in writing a book that is highly informative, useful, and very insightful. Whether you are interested in pursuing a career as a music supervisor, or would simply like to do research on the profession, this book will far exceed your expectations. It's an easy read that features random interviews from experienced music supervisors that candidly articulate what the primary considerations are in selecting music, and shines light on the process of "spotting" and "auditioning" songs for placement, in addition to offering helpful advice on how to deal with challenges that music supervisors face in their position such as difficulties in obtaining master, sync and mechanical licenses; working harmoniously with egotistical producers and directors; managing creative conflicts; preventing legal problems; dealing with financial constraints; and marketing their services. A great educational and reference resource.

I bought this book because I wanted to learn how I can get my songs into movies and tv. I heard that was the best way to make money and get exposure. This book gave me the answers and even the names of people who select music for films and tv. I already got one of my songs into a film that competed in Tribeca Film festival. Some of the writing is a little long handed but the information is really right on. If you are a songwriter who wants to get your tunes into the movies, this is the book for you.

It's always good to see a differant take on the beginnings of the pokemon phenomenon, and this manga is no exection. It more closely follows the game rather than the anime, and somehow, this improves it. Although it is rather un-nerving to see an intelligent 'Ash'... Definately add to your cart!

This is a very nicely done book. It's not like the original Pokémon adventure. This one follows more closely to the Red and American Blue game. Instead of Ash and Gary, Ash is called Red and Gary is called Blue. There is also a girl named Green but she comes in a later book. There is also no Jessie and James, only the Team Rocket members you see in the game. Red is also a more mature and advanced trainer than Ash and Blue is wiser than Gary. Aside all this, there are only some other slight changes and basically has the same goal as the original story and is a great book.

Pokemon is the best book I ever read in my how entire life! Because I like the creatures.

The Pokemon Adventures series is a little bit different than the original, but still is excellent. A new character (Instead of Ash) is in the book. The storyline is very good and would definitely recommend to a colleague. An overall 5 stars. Definitely worth getting!

Pokemon Adventures is probably the best vision of the concept that's sponsored by Nintendo. For the record, I recommend buying these in the graphic novel format.

This is a great series. It's a more mature story that isn't exclusively aimed at kids like the cartoon or the other comic. There are elements in these stories that will appeal to all ages. Red and Blue, instead of being a couple of abrasive children, are more like rivals should be -- with a healthy respect for one another. They work together, even help each other along at times when they know there's more at stake than their own pride.

The story takes some turns that are far darker than anything the show would ever touch, and most of the characters from the show who appear here are, such as the Gym Leaders, are, instead of silly characitures of how people behave, real characters with a passion for what they do. Misty and Brock, incidentally, kick ass. Both Red and Blue are serious about what they do, and there's a clear reason that they win as many fights as they do, not just the "Ash is the main character, so of course he wins" mentality the show has.

Even better, as the series progresses, there is real character growth. Over the course of the story, Red goes from being a Pokemon lover with a heart of gold to a brilliant tactician who can use his Pokemon's abilities in ways nobody can imagine.

I recommend this for anyone with a passion for good storytelling, anyone who has played the game, and anybody who thinks the Pokemon concept is interesting, regardless of whether you like the cartoon. This is the best handling of the material you will find.

My 6 month old son enjoys this book. One evening, before bed, my husband called me into the room to show me that my son was pulling down the characters' hands to see their eyes! He enjoys Peek-a-boo with us, but I was really surprized to see him interact with the book like this. Of course he needs help to let go of the hands and not rip them, but I think I can say with certainty that he likes it!

My daughters loved this book. Both of them start to play peakaboo when I read this too them. They always laughted everytime I read the book.

I purchased this book for my son when he was about 10 months old and it's been a huge hit from the very beginning. His eyes light up when I ask him to get his "peek-a-boo" book. He loves to lift the hands to show who's hiding. It's a family favorite!

My son loves to play with the flaps on this book. There isn't much educational about the book, but he smiles when he opens the hands of each sesame street character. It is more of a fun book.

My 9 month old loves this book. He has a great time looking behind the flaps to play 'peek a boo.' I highly recommend!