Beginners Books

I am a rank beginner when it comes to yoga--I didn't even think about it until last year and just started taking classes this year (2001). This book provides a good introduction to Yoga Zone's brand of yoga--a mixture of three types: Hatha yoga (a physical form of yoga), Tantra yoga (a more philosophical form of yoga) and Ayurveda yoga (a healing form of yoga). The section on breath and breathing (an important part of yoga and life in general) is great and the descriptions and illustrations of the various postures are quite helpful (and take up the bulk of the book). Finger and Bingham have a very personable style of writing that makes it seem you are being spoken to, rather than reading a book.

This book was wonderful, easy to understand, and perfect for beginners as well as seasoned yogis and yoginis. As a yoga teacher, I find myself referring to this book while teaching my class. It's a great way to get yourself started in yoga, and keep you strong and flexible.

Excellent book!! Teaches you how to do yoga from breathing exercises, warm up, strength building and so on, all the way through to relaxation. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in beginning yoga.

like me! Completely new to the yoga scene, I saw this listed in the "Editor's Picks" as one of the top yoga books and decided to buy it based solely on that. And I don't regret it. Alan Finger takes you not only on an informative and practical journey into the world of yoga, but a gently spiritual one as well.

The book is nice quality, with easy-to-read pages and beautifully illustrated poses. I like how he emphasizes substance over form i.e. you don't have to *look* perfect to have a perfect yoga practice. It's the approach and the inner work that goes with it that matters the most.

The form he teaches (ISHTA) is an amalgamation of different yoga "schools", developed by he and his father(a master yogi) and taught in their Yoga Zone studios. He gives a 20 min. practice and a 40 minute regimen, with the option to customize it later when you feel more adept and comfortable.

As for me, I already have all the poses for the 20 minute series marked in red, pages bookmarked, and I plan to get the video tape as well, to get even more benefit from seeing it in action. So, if you're a beginner like me, this seems like a great place to start and I highly recommend it. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll practice more of that "ujjayi pranayama" breathing... ;)

I have enjoyed the benefits of yoga for several years, guided by excellent teachers. After moving to a new city, I found that I was ready to pass on some of what I know, by starting to teach. This book has been a terrific find -- reminding me to look with fresh eyes at things that I had once learned in class or in workshops which had since become "automatic". I found the writing, illustrations and photographs clear and useful, with enough detail to support good practice. The examples of "misaligned forms" are also wonderfully clear for the novice -- with a colleague or a mirror, an independent student could make good and safe progress. It is a valuable complement to the other books on my Yoga shelf.

I absolutely love this book!! Being a beginner wanting to learn basics about drawing everything from landscapes to fruit the book lets you explore the different methods and mediums. It's also a complete confidence builder and I was excited to run out a get a sketch book (which she encourages) to learn to become better. There is something in here for everyone and she makes it so easy to follow her step-by-step examples. You can choose your favorite medium to use, from charcoal to pastel pencils instead of being tied the medium she used in her examples, this is also a great way to see the differences between the textures of each medium. I borrowed this book from the library but I intend to purchase it to refer to as a reference! A must have for beginners and a great source for finding your favorite medium!

Jackie Simmonds wonderful pastel books have saved me more times than I can count and I can't say enough about those wonderful books so I won't even start. So, when I told my art teacher I'm going to England in the Spring she suggested I take a sketchbook along with my camera. Not having done any sketching beyond a quick thumbnail in class to check composition and value of a still life I felt panic set in. I didn't need to worry, as soon as I found that Ms. Simmonds had a sketch book I knew I'd be fine and she hasn't dissapointed me. This book makes it almost impossible to mess up. You don't have to work page by page through this book, just pick an example you like and with a little time, (as in a few mins!) you will have produced a nice sketch and it will encourage you to do more. This book is really inspiring and confidence building. Now I can't wait to go to England and I'm going to take 2 sketch books! Ms. Simmonds shows you that art doesn't have to be scary and gives you the confidence and inspiration to really surprise yourself with what you can produce.

I decided to do some sketching as a hobby. This book was perfecto. It is easy to understand and explains basic methods used. Simmonds explains exactly which parts of your subject to focus on and where to start. It also gives a good list of materials to use but simple pencils are all you need. I love this book because it gets me excited about sketching.

For the size and price of this book it is packed with very usable information. It is easy to read for young and old. The book details various media and materials and composition.

The demonstrations are very nice. I was very surprised at the variety of sketches from small objects to landscapes,animals, people,skies,water,etc.

I would recommend this book for beginners as well as those who have been sketching their own pictures for painting.

Sharon

The title says it all for this book. The author skillfully takes the reader on a step-by-step tour of basic sketching techniques. Throughout the book each project has detailed illustrations showing how the sketches should look as the reader follows along. It covers several drawing media including pencils, charcoal, pastel pencils, water soluble colored pencils, etc. The instruction covers basic sketching, shading, and composition techniques. Sketching subjects in the lessons include fruits, vegetables, natural forms, plants, flowers, trees, skies, water, landscapes, animals, people, buildings, people and the seaside. If you have had no art training and don't know where to begin or just want to try your hand at sketching then this is an excellent place to start.

Young Cam Jansen is a great series for young kids learning to read. Very fun with creative content anyone can appreciate. No worries about questionable content for your young reader. My kindergartener loves them.

My 7-year-old daughter and I read this book together. She loved it! Cam - short for Camera, because of her photographic memory - helps her friends solve mysteries. In this case it was a lost tooth. This book has 5 easy-to-read chapters. The story moves along nicely from chapter to chapter, and my daughter did not want to stop until we had read the whole book. She was able to follow the story line as we read and could anticipate what was going to happen. Words were sometimes challenging but overall, an easy read. We will definitely look for more Cam Jansen books to read!

You have to love Cam Jansen. When you're a kid, you read all of these stories about magic powers, mystery, and adventure. But everyone tells you magic can't exist. Cam Jansen manages to solve every case without the use of magic... she's a real girl. That's what makes her special and what makes you want to red more and more. Cam Jansen is a real kid superhero, and the thought that a person like her could actually exist... makes her the best kid detective ever!

I remember Cam Jansen from when *I* was a little girl (and I am 27 years old). I always loved reading the mysteries and couldn't put them down. Now I get to share Cam with my own daughter. The Young Cam Jansen books are perfect for younger children. My daughter is 4 and 1/2 years old and loved the book! She has been reading since she was 3 years old so this was right on her level. It was enjoyable for us to read together and also for her to read on her own. She listened intently and helped Cam solve the mystery. By really thinking and solving the mystery, it gave her such a boost... I think that is one of the great things about the Cam Jansen books... they are "easy" enough for the childern to solve and they can be very proud of themselves for using their minds to solve mysteries. I highly recommend Cam Jansen and Young Cam Jansen books! Parents, don't be surprised if you find yourself reading them, too!

My 3-year old loves the pictures and the story line, and knows just when to say "Click!" along with Cam.

We have most of the Young Cam Jansen paperbacks and recommend them unreservedly for other read-along parents, especially parents of young girls. Less-than-ideal personalities, personal conflicts and misunderstandings are all presented, WITH good resolutions, character modeling, and handling of sticky situations.

The main character is a self-confident, intelligent girl thinker and investigator, with a boy as her best friend. Not exactly typical, and not for ultraconservative parents who think that only boys should use their minds and have adventures.

One particularly nice aspect is that most of the stories take place outside of a public-school setting, recognizing that most discovery and meaningful social interactions take place outside of that institution -- a point not lost on homeschooling-minded parents.

This particular story is set in the Art class, where creativity and fun are the dominant theme, not the lesser aspects of the typical public school experience.

Get and read the Young Cam Jansen series! ...

We both enjoyed this book very much. My 8-year-old son likes mysteries and this was a fun one. He read it to me. Cam has a photographic memory and has lost her jacket in the pizza place. Will she be able to remember where it is? Recommended for grades k-2nd and ages 5-8.

Young readers will adore solving a mystery along with Cam Jansen, a girl who uses not super powers but the ability to think and remember!

When Cam's Dad takes her and friend Eric to the shopping mall to get some school things they stop off for pizza. Cam soon discovers that her jacket has vanished, but in a story that will keep young readers turning the pages, solves the mystery.

The cute illustrations show all the action of the story, and as an added bonus there is a memory game that will help Cam's readers establish their own abilities as a detective.

Cam Jansen and the Pizza Shop Mystery is a fun and easy read.

You have to love Cam Jansen. When you're a kid, you read all of these stories about magic powers, mystery, and adventure. But everyone tells you magic can't exist. Cam Jansen manages to solve every case without the use of magic... she's a real girl. That's what makes her special and what makes you want to red more and more. Cam Jansen is a real kid superhero, and the thought that a person like her could actually exist... makes her the best kid detective ever!

I like this book because it is a mystery. I like mysteries
and pizza too! This is a good book for kids who have learned how to read. I like trying to figure it out while I'm reading the book. Young Cam Jansen's books are a wonderful series.

I credit Young Cam Jansen with getting my girls to read. Most other easy readers do not hold kids' attention effectively but Young Cam Jansen have believable stories with easy-to-read lines. What could be better! I highly recommend the entire series. We have each title.

My grade 1-2 students enjoy this book every year. We read it on the 100th day of school and also do lots of the activities in the book. My kids especially enjoy making the hats with 100 things stuck on.

If you you are wanting a book that would grabb you and make you keep reading, read this book. It is just the most exciting book there is. Trust me on this. Have fun reading!

This is easy enough for my 6 year old and her best (7 year old) friend really likes it too. A fun read for the 100th day of school.

I read this book to my class on the 100th day of school every year. It's short, energetic, idea-inspiring, and the kids love the rhyme. It mirrors the way we celebrate the 100th day at our school, so the kids think it's fun to see another class celebrating in a similar way.

I had recently read this book because of a Creative Writing assignment. The reason I chose this book is because reading it took me way back to when my mind was early in the stage of the exploration of literature. I owned this book as a child, and reading it gave me another small perspective on how our own life and time itself progresses.
Robert Munsch uses humour in alot of his books and this is another one of those cases. For example, at the end of this book, the child's father is suspended in the middle of the kitchen by his toe with a long rope.
Munsch also uses a form of anticipation to ensure that the child >wants< to turn to the next page. For example, most of the pages in this book have sentences that end like: "He looked in the kitchen, it was empty. He looked in the bathroom, it was empty. He looked in the garage and..."
Not only can I look at this book from the perspective of just an ordinary reader, but also as a child; the intended audience of this book. Because of this, I can say the Robert Munsch did a wonderful job of creating literature that will intrigue children for many future generations

I liked the book 50 Bellow Zero. It is a very funny book.I liked when the kid started sleeping on top of the refrigerator.It was also funny when the dad was sleeping out side. I studied this book for seven months. After we studied the book we did a play on it.I would recomend this book to a little kid.

I read Robert Munsch's book 50 below zero. What did I think of it? Well I thought it was great! When [my reading buddy] and I read them 50 Below Zero, they loved it! They'd say stuff like..."That book was funny, good, and exciting!" [My reading buddy] and I also thought that the book was great too.
If I recommanded this book I'd recommand it to parents who sleep walk because the whole story's mainly about the boy getting his father back to bed, because he sleep walks.

Robert Munsch is a funny author with an easy style for the kids to master. If they learn to read one book they can read them all. Parents and teachers won't mind re-reading it over and over again.The illustrations are great, and the humor is funny.This author goes crazy with a sleepwalking dad. Great for teaching prediction,and easy to read to a class. The words are on one page and the illustrations are on the back so you don't have to read sideways(an important detail for tired teachers).He has over twenty books for sale and each one is better than the last.Check his picture on the back cover.He's a wild and crazy guy!

Engaging rhymes and recurring numberical refrain made this book a favorite of my 3 year old. Fun to read and replete with follow-on exercises building on the concept of "doubling". Highly recommended.

This charming, beautifully written and illustrated story helps young children understand the concept of "doubling" numbers. Each time the ants revisit the picnic, they bring more ant friends(in fact, exactly twice as many) to help haul the goodies back to their ant home. The simplicity of the story and each successive illustration with the ever increasing ant army subtly teaches the "doubling" concept. This is a must for any home library.

My son and daughter - aged 5 and 7 love this beautiful little book. The concept of continuous doubling of the number of ants that keep returning to the nest intrigues them. Although the book stops at 512, my children insisted that we keep doubling the number "up to infinity". Well, we kept on doubling until we ran out of paper!! The illustrations are wonderful, complementing this terrific children's treasure.

my four- and five-year old children love this book. it's one they request over and over again when it's story-time at home after dinner or at bed time. they love the little ants who invade the neighborhood picnic and discover a treasure trove of treats that they eventually haul little bits back to their labarynthian home. each time they make the trip they bring more ants, each time doubling their number. my kids very painlessly learned their first multiplication lesson - doubling the number each time. a very cleverly conceived, thoroughly enjoyable book.

There's lots more in this book than just recipes--great info on giving a cocktail party, etc. I especially liked the author's personal touch--like the stories about her younger days and learning that there's more to drink out there than just "house wine" or beer. Good appetizer recipes, too.

Someone gave me this book as a gift and it was a great surprise. It's almost as much fun to read as to make a party around. It's funny and packed with terrific drink recipes. Try the high-octane Havana Delight. It's like a Frappaccino...only much better!

I got this book so I could figure out how to make a mint julip for a Derby Day party. We had so much fun, we decided to work our way through a few of the other recipes.

Let me recommend the Chocotini -- chocolate liqueur and cocoa. Almost better than sex.

Meanwhile, the cosmopolitan, which gets a lot of attention on Sex and the City, is sweet and girlish for a woman who usually drinks scotch neat.

Anyway, if you're looking for basic bartending instructions or just a good time, I recommend this book.

Someone just gave me this book as a gift and it was a great surprise. It's almost as much fun to read as to make a party around. It's funny and packed with terrific drinks. Try the high-octane Havana Delight. It's like a Frappaccino...only much better!

This book prefaces itself in that its intended purpose is not to cover all types of firewalls (e.g.corporate), but just personal firewalls. There are some great dives into previously unanswered questions I had:

1. Would I run a SW firewall if my DSL router already says it has a firewall built-in (answer is yes for a home LAN or a DSP WAN connection, no for low-speed dial up...)

2. How do various SW products (McAfee, BlackIce, ZoneAlarm) compare.

3. How do various HW products compare (DSL modems vs. Cable modems).(From a security viewpoint, there is a clear winner--you'll have to buy the book to find out though or else if I told you Time-Warner would send out someone to unplug my cable in retaliation)

4. How do I test these things once I get them installed? This topic was worth the price of the book alone...he emphasizes doing both Before & After tests to verify that insecure connections just become changed to secure connections. How many people might just install the SW or HW & then wonder "Did it really work? "What's different now than before?")

Overall, more useful information than I ever expected to find in this little book!

In the current environment where cyberbaddies are lurking everywhere, anyone who connects to the Internet without protection are a direct danger to themselves and an indirect danger to everyone they communicate with. There are many ways in which a user can find protection, and one of the primary ways to be protected is to install a firewall on your system. A firewall is either a software or hardware device that scans traffic to and from the system and flags or blocks any that is deemed suspicious.
Written for the beginner, the technical level occasionally rises up beyond what the absolute beginner can be expected to understand, but that is not a negative. As most system administrators will tell you when they are overcome with a fit of honesty, the ignorance of users is the greatest single security threat. Therefore, in my opinion, if a user cannot reach the point where they can understand all of the material in this book, then they are a threat and a prime target for a cyber attack. I consider the material in this book to be an expression of the minimal level of competence and commend the authors for being right on the mark.
The initial segment of the book is a set of explanations of what firewalls are and why they are needed. In the second segment, some of the most widely used personal firewalls are described in detail, including how to install and configure them. The third and final segment is a discussion of general security concepts and tools you can use to test the security of your system.
An excellent introduction to the critical role of firewalls in securing computer systems, this book should be read by anyone who does not know the basics of protection using firewalls.

This books leaves a mixed impression. First of all, although the book is called "for absolute beginners", it is not written as a book for housewives who never saw a computer before. It is interesting, informative, and the reader is assumed to be knowledgeable and capable of making informed decisions. In fact, one has to have a certain understanding of Windows (yes, it is not oriented towards Mac users) and TCP/IP to understand what the author is talking about. The author obviously has very extensive knowledge of internet security, and the book includes much of his practical knowldge. The negative side is that less than 1/3 of the book is generic and applicable to any firewall, i.e., discusses why home networks need to be protected, and where are the potential areas of vulnerability. The rest is step by step description of how to install and configure several commercial firewalls. Frankly, I do not understand who needs all these details since installation/setup guidelines are always included in the software manual which one gets in printed or electronic form together with the purchased program, whereas it is an obvious fact that any particular version of the program gets obsolete very quickly. I doubt that any of the descriptions of software from the book remains relevant two years after the book came out in 2001. I would rather prefer to see more generic (and less dependent on the software version) discussion of how to take advantage of the features present in most firewalls (blocking certain protocols, applications, IP addresses, etc.). All this said, this book is "beginner's guide" only because it does not get into too many details of what exactly firewalls do, and how they do it. However, those few items which are discussed are covered in significant depth and on a good professional level.

If you have a high-speed always-on cable or DSL connection then you need a personal firewall to protect yourself and your computer or home network from Internet hackers. This book covers both hardware and software based personal firewalls, including ZoneAlarm, BlackICE Defender and McAfee. You'll also learn how to lock down Windows security and test your computer's defenses by using any of a number of free Internet scanning services. Best of all, with this book you don't have to be a security expert or even know what a personal firewall is to get started using one. Highly recommended reading!

I have been using a Tablet PC for a while, but haven't made full use of it's capability. This book has helped unlock some good tools and tricks to make best use of the Tablet.

I found this book to be really helpful. It has some great information on how to use the Tablet PC with all sorts of software and hardware, making it more useful than I would have guessed.

If you have a Tablet PC, or are thinking of getting one, this is the book for you!

Not only does it talk about some of the basic softwarepackages available for the Tablet PC, it also deals with some esoteric packages, as well as lots of hardware add-ons to make your Tablet PC hum.

If you want to know how to use your Tablet PC to best effect, the section on Usage Scenarios is really helpful. In this section, Mathews shows about 20 different job roles (Attorney, Technician, CEO, Engineer, Consultant, etc.), how each person uses the Tablet PC, and what applications and hardware options they can best utilize.

Since Tablet PCs are all about portable computing, there are also chapters on using wireless networking, and some of the neat new tools such as Microsoft OneNote. Speech recognition and handwriting recognition is explained and tips are given to get the best results.

And if you want to play with your Tablet PC, this book even talks about games and graphics packages that make your Tablet PC more enjoyable in Coach class.

I've read all of the Tablet PC books, and this is the best!

I am in love with my tablet pc. I am a medical student, in clinical rotations, and just love this toy. I wanted to know more about it, and therefore ordered this book. It seemed to be the best book available for my purpose. I am very happy I bought the book.

This book has all the information a new Tablet PC user needs to make the Tablet PC a powerful personal computing device.

The book starts out with the basics, then throws in Usage Scenarios, which show how different people use Tablet PCs. Then the author goes on to explain how to use the various features of the Tablet PC to the max. Finally, the book finishes with Office 2003 and OneNote coverage, then a review of various software and hardware that complement Tablet PCs.

All in all, this is a well-written book that's complete in coverage and easy to read.

Highly recommended!