V Books

With their fingers on the pulse of American life, the authors of "Parents At Last" have captured the essence of the most important challenge facing us today - creating and nurturing families. While the media focuses on the breakdown of the family, this book focuses instead on creating family in its many forms - adoptive families, blended families, families who experience the wonders of cutting edge technological fertility. Through it all the underlying truths of family shine through: humor, communication, and most of all, love.

This book offers hope & compassion to many people with the goal of creating a family. As the Mother of a stillborn son 18 months ago and with added discouragement of not yet conceiving again at age 35+, this book offers hope that there are alternatives to building my family should I need to go that direction. It's nice to know that I'm "not alone" in this quest. It was also wonderful to hear about the book on the "Today" show; that's what prompted me to purchase it.

"Parents at Last" is written in a way that engulfs the reader. It is truly lighthearted and enjoyable to read. I purchased it as a gift for my husband, hoping that it would give additional encouragement for our quest to build our family. He also has enjoyed reading the book very much. After purchasing the many infertility and adoption books that we have, it was nice to be able to read a book that was easily read and didn't inundate us with medical jargon.

The photographs in Parents at Last were the first gentle tug at my heartstrings. Helen Kolikow Garber artfully illustrates the 32 family stories told mostly in the first person. The black-and-whites illuminate the painful, joyful tales of how people create families in the late 20th century.

...Organized in four sections to reflect the process of family growth, Parents at Last carries the reader from home to home, detailing the agonies and ecstasies of parents with their children. From the authors' introduction, I was already choking back tears over the blessed connections and sacred lessons learned when a grown-up deliberately chooses to form a family. The adoption stories touched me the deepest, marked by those fabulous pictures of mostly dissimilar faces that share a knowing love.

Often throughout Parents at Last, grief is dealt with and resolved. Pain is accepted and released. Challenge is rife and drives many of the families to fulfill their loving desires. ...The unique stories in Parents at Last are filled with truth, hope and beauty.

So, while you might buy Parents at Last for its gorgeous photos, be sure to read it too. The beauty reaches beyond the page.

--Jeanne McGough, IVillage.com Book Club

As an adoptive parent I found the stories in Parents at Last to ring true. It was so encouraging to see many different kinds of families gathered together in one book. There are many ways to go about creating a family. The only constant is love and commitment. Several of the stories reflect the parents feeling that their child was meant to be theirs. We also experienced that faith as we searched for our daughter 5 years ago. This is a beautiful book that I plan to share with our adoption support group.

Not a big book, but large on the value that it brings to the workplace. Highly recommended and well worth its cost.

If your an employer looking to improve your hiring decisions this book, along with the related test as "keirsey.com", is for you. The Quick Guide along with the Keirsey online test will provide quick and accurate insights about potential hires. Now even small businesses can have the type of beneficial info once available only to larger businesses. The book will also help you to have a better understanding of yourself and those around you.

This is terrific if you have any desire to learn the personality types around you.
Take a break from guessing... give yourself a tool.

This is a small book that goes to the point, It have a section for each type of personality that have a small description of it, the way that they solve problems, their style of leadership, their creative expression, how do they work on teams, how the have to deal with stress, how they learn, and tips for personal growth. Also in the later chapters, this book have two pages that describes the team roles that each personality prefers.

I am a certified instructor for Myers-Briggs and have read many of these books about type. This one has it all! It's easy to use as a reference and practical. I reccommend it to anyone who uses Myers-Briggs at work.

Absolutely hilarious. I enjoyed this book immensely. Milt Pupique has truly revolutionized humor as we know it. I even bought copies for my family.

This book makes you expand your mind and think in directions that you may have never gone. Very humorous and enjoyable.

One truly incredible book, a major tour de force in humor.

Simply put, the creation of this book lies well beyond the capabilities of the human mind as we know it.

Ergo, Mr. Pupique must be an extraterrestrial... and a mutant one at that.

I bought REVELATIONS thinking that it was a good religious book. In this day in age of uncertainty, I was looking for some answers. But it seems that this book is not religious; it is not even serious.

I gave it to a friend in the hopes that someone might enjoy it. She seems to love it, and keeps quoting me passages. The 4-stars above are an average of my review and hers.

This book gives no answers, only jokes: humor-jokes.

One truly incredible book, a major tour de force in humor.

Simply put, the creation of this book lies well beyond the capabilities of the human mind as we know it.

Ergo, Mr. Pupique must be an extraterrestrial and a mutant one at that.

This book is all you will need for renal pathophys your 1st and 2nd years. It is small and doesn't look like much, but is extremely well written. THis is all I used for my 2nd year renal module (with a little robbins on the side), and I nailed the exam. I recommend for any med student.

Helps for reviewing material that is kind of obscure. I preferred reading Robbins Basis of Pathology to get a good glance at the material.

Excellent book as a primary text for both pre-clinical renal pathophys and clinical rotations. Highlights important clinical pearls and practical information for the medicine wards. Highly recommended.

This was readable over the 4-week renal block. It made a huge difference in learning physiology, which was covered during the first two weeks and apparently confused a good deal of my class. I didn't go to class and instead learned almost all the physiology from this book, and I did well above average.

Though the text can be a bit dense and overly wordy sometimes (Glomerulonephritides chapter), it does an excellent job at explaining pathophysiology. Pictures are in B&W though, so if you're just looking for nice slides, pick up Robbins. If you're looking to gain understanding, pick up this book.

Even after all these years, this book is an essential for world music lovers, from novices interested in learning more about something they just heard off the radio to seasoned music lovers interested in rounding out their collections. This encylopedic work (the first volume in the series) gives a brief survey of the different music traditions of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, divided by country, region, style or ethnicity. Each article was written by different authors, so obviously there is some variation, but they include very thorough details on the history, culture, background and style of the music, along with a sample discography at the end. Most articles include one or two profiles of famous artists from that country.

The first section, Europe, covers almost every country in Europe, as well as giving articles on the Saami people of Scandinavia, Gypsy music, regional cultures from Spain (like the Basques and Galacians), and Bhangra, the festive dance music of Britain's Punjabi diaspora! Everything you would expect is here, like Spanish flamenco, Portuguese fado, Greek rembetika, Norwegian fiddles, Scottish bagpipes, Celtic music from Ireland, Swiss alp horns, the haunting vocal music of Bulgaria and so forth. There are also quite a few surprises hidden in here too. Much of this section tends towards the folk, for obvious reasons.

The Middle Eastern chapter covers the music of Turkey, Iran, Israel, Armenia, Georgia and the Arab states (except for parts of North Africa), as well as Kurdistan and the Sephardic Jews. Theres alot of variety here, from the classical Arabic pop music of Oum Kalthoum, Fairouz and Abdel Halim Hafez, to modern Egyptian pop like Amr Diab, Natacha Atlas, and Hakim. Along the way, theres also the haunting sound of the Armenian duduk, Nubian music, Persian and Turkish classical traditions, Lebanese dabke, dervish rituals, Georgian polyphonic singing, Sephardic romances, Iranian-American pop music and Palestinean folk songs (which is great to see them acknowledge that Palestine DOES have a unique culture). This section is very good, with a very rich mix of traditions and cultures.

The biggest part of the book deals with Africa, with a very strong emphasis on regional pop music. Some countries (like Libya, Somalia and Namibia) are sadly overlooked, but all the powerhouses of African music are hero... Ethio-jazz, Algerian rai, high life from Ghana, Congolese soukous, Malagasy pop from Madagascar, Kenyan benga, South African gospel, Nigerian afrobeat, Senegalese mbalax, Moroccan gnawa, mbira music from Zimbabwe, Kabylie Berber music, east African taraab, recordings of the Pygmy people of Central Africa, Mande music of Mali... so much gets covered here, including numerous lesser known traditions (like the music of Zambia, Sierra Leone, or the Indian Ocean). Its by far the most exhaustive part of the book, full of great information, important artists and numerous CD recommendations.

Over all, its a wonderful introduction to the vast (and sometimes confusing) world music scene. The book was written in the late '90s, so some of the information is a little dated and a few REALLY great new artists or CDs aren't mentioned, but thats a minor detail. In fact, many of the CDs mentioned in the suggested listening section remain best sellers today! Theres also the occaisonal trend of focusing in on pop music or CDs more readily available in the west, but again, theres nothing wrong with this. Think of this book more as an introduction or a guide book and you'll be fine. Once you get into world music, or even just a particular culture or region, you'll be good. So check this book out and see what you like (or don't like).

I love having both volume one and two. They have much useful information. But speaking about the Netherlands where I lived for 35 years as a professional Surinam musician: I didn't like the part about Surinam music because it was very uncomplete. The writers didn't mention the two best known Surinam bands Fra Fra sound and the Ronald Snijders band. They only mentioned traditional style groups like Carlo Jones band pretending that the others are jazz, which is ridiculous.
Every other country mentions it's musicians and bands who fusion their worldmusic with jazz, like Cuba's Irakere, Brazil's Milton Nascimento, Argentina's Piazola, South Africa's Dollard Brand and so on. But in case of Suriname they simple cut that important part away. This also happened in part two. Sad and incomplete, because the mayor part of the innovation, promotion, touring and study comes from these new style bands.

Ronald Snijders (flutist-composer, writer, drs ethnomusicolgy)

I love this book - it would be utterly useful to everyone except the MOST savvy World Music person with a big ol' advanced degree.

I do a radio show of Arab music (WHPK 88.5 FM in Chicago!) and consider myself an educated aficionado, and I refer to it CONSTANTLY. This is truly the current ultimate guide to World music - just great. They are righ when they say "your CD collection will GROW" It will!

Although I wish that there was even more room to fit in all that's needed. I do notice that, for instance, there has since this volume a separate pocket-size one for Irish music, and no doubt others. I studied the areas I was most familiar with to see if any surprises emerged. A couple each time; unfortunately, these were impossible to find on cd (cassette even out-of-print in more than one instance) if you lived more than a few miles from the musician, I reckon!

This inevitable let down between supply and demand for those outside of the countries who want to hear the music does frustrate armchair listeners like me. Go to the Egyptian chapter, for example, and you'll find that most of the genre's picks are bootlegged as tapes in the market stands. Since 1999, I gather that this tendency keeps growing given filesharing and cd-burners, so I'm not quite sure how one would find much of the music on smaller regional labels today even from reputable importers.

This evolution aside and perhaps beyond RG's survey, this does whet your appetite for music. But be forewarned that much of it comes at quite a price from the net or a music store, if you're lucky enough to find what you want. The illustrations in the text, the sidebar profiles, the list of merchants appended: all these represent a labor of love and a fine reference source.

I do wish, finally, that RG had kept their guides on the Net (as it had at least with the Rock Guide in the later 1990s) so they could be updated as CDs go in and out of print.

Walk inside the universe of World Music is not easy. You have the feeling to moove in a jungle of names, titles and unknown instruments. A Guide is necessary to understand and help you for orientation. This book is good for primers and experts, speaking about generes, origins, musicians and their best records. From the 1994's first edition the new release is more rich and reflects the high number of World Music records released in the last five years. I think you are in presence of the best guide you can buy today on the matter.

I received this book from a dear cousin of mine during a time in my life when I was going through a rough patch. It was hard to read at first because of my fragile emotional state--that being said however, it also helped me to read some of the stories because they opened up a side of me that had stayed hidden for a long time. It took about 2 months, but I finally felt ready to read the whole book and it was truly wonderful. It was an emotional roller coaster--but an inspirational one that I needed.

These stories are heartwarming and encouraging, and even better because they are true. They are all wonderful stories. Some of my favorites are "Safe-Keeping", "The Baby Blanket", "The Wallet", and "Truly Free".

I think this book was great cause it told stories that inspired me and some made me feel happy and some mad me cry. I just think the auther writes wonderful stories that touches other people's hearts. Great Job!

There are several books that enlighten you, and this is surely one of them. Then there are books that change you, books that you take with you for the rest of your life, and these you must share with fellow seekers. These are the books that have unconditionally inspired me to be a better person and that I recommend to anyone searching for inspiration. The first is "The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho" this book is all about a shepherd trying to find his treasure. In the end he realizes his treasure was the journey, the people he met, the souls that touched him(How beautiful!) The second is "Siddhartha by Herman Hesse" A brilliant tale of a man who gives up everything for a journey of enlightenment. On his journey he meets the Buddha, he meets ascetics, and he meets his...(I wont spoil it for you). The last one is for kids, but it is still beautiful. "The Butterfly by Jay Singh" is a tale about a caterpillar in search of her smile! One day this caterpillar realizes she can no longer smile anymore because she is living an inauthentic life. She musters the courage to leave the Silk Palace to find her smile and discovers a whole new world that was hidden from her. Buy them, read them, be inspired!

This collection of stories was an amazing celebration of womanhood, including stories of love, life, and tragedy. This compilation covers all the bases of a woman's life from poverty and love in the heart-wrenching story "Christmas in the Silver Egg" to the humorous "I'll Never Understand my Wife," which deals with marriage. A Second Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul is satisfying, refreshing, and warmhearted.

There are many papers and review articles about the quantum well intermixing and its applications to photonics. This great book selects the most important articles in this field. It covers the milestone work in the early stage of quantum well intermixing as well as advances in later stages. The editor is a highly respected scientist in this field, he chose the most relevant articles which are useful for both beginners and experts in this field. This books includes articles on materials, physics, and devices aspects of quantum well intermixing for photonics. This is a "must" for anyone who is interested in quantum well intermixing.

This is a very useful and helpful book for a beginner and an expert.

As a beginner I found this book a very useful introductory material. The author made a carefull selection of the most important papers in the field of QWI.

This kind of a book was needed on the market for a long time.

This is the first comprehensive review of the QW intermixing. The book gives introduction to basics of QW intermixing for people who are just starting to study this, as well as a variety of in-depth studies on more advanced level.

Looking back on Shadow Star's first volume after I've read up to its eleventh, it really is amazing how misleading this series is. It's wonderful, deep, and unique--but misleading. It seems to start off as a shojo or magical girl tale, with some hints of Pokémon here and there. But once a few more characters are introduced, it plunges straight into the abyss and never really leaves.

Despite the fact that from a lighthearted beginning blooms an impossibly creepy and disturbing alien horror, the first volume of this wonderful series is great nonetheless. It tells the story of the energetic sixth grader Shiina Tamai, who discovers an otherworldly star creature while swimming off the shore of a small island during summer vacation. She names the flying, shape-shifting alien Hoshimaru and takes him home with her. On the flight home after an encounter with a sword beast that almost destroys her plane, and once she gets back to the city, Shiina quickly learns that Hoshimaru is only one of the dozens of psychic critters that have come to Earth. Her new, painfully shy friend Akira Sakura is also linked with one of these beings (called shadow dragons), and that not all shadow dragon owners are so kind... and many will not rest until they wipe out the laws of the world and rebuild the planet to their own liking.

From start to finish, it's a fantastic journey through the human psyche; every single one of the people with a shadow dragon is a fraught teenager with deep secrets and twisted desires. This shows exactly what kids would do with the power to kill, crush, slice, and blast their way through all of their problems.

Setting up the complex plot to come, in volume 1 Shiina is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl, she and Akira learn of each other's young shadow dragons, and a single boy begins devising a plot to bring down a nearby aviation company. Coupled with smart dialogue and a thin, sharp art style, here Shadow Star begins outlining some basic points while catching readers off-guard by its happy nature. As a satisfying opening that keeps you interested and exposes more key points than the manga, kicking off very complicated and mature stories rarely gets this good.

Shadowstar combines the cute with the disturbing. Kitoh's character designs are different from most other manga artists in a positive way. He employs views and perspectives that raise him a cut above other artists.
Take Tsuda's Karekano as an example. While I enjoyed the storyline, ideas, and character designs, the artist employs many still shots and head on or side views. Kitoh shows a wider repetoire techniques.
Through the series, I found the main characters realized and the mysteries compelling. If you like volume 1, 2-5 do not disappoint.

It starts out looking a bit like Totoro, begins to look magical girl, then takes a left and heads straight for the twilight zone. This is great manga with real characters. Shiina is lighthearted but determined but very unlike Sailor Moon. Akira is disturbing, she makes this series definitely not for kids! There are secrets behind secrets in this story and I can't wait to see more.

i really like this manga, its about Shiina a normal girl who gets rescued by Hoshimaru, a strange starfish thing. this manga can be dark at times, and a little grusome, but its also very light in parts, and cute. i really enjoyed reading this, and the next book, and i recommend it.

A young girl named Shiina vacations in the summer with her grandparents and discovers a strange, star-shaped creature under the water just offshore. Swimming in an unsafe area, she nearly drowns, but the creature saves her and she secretly adopts it. Meanwhile, shape-changing "dragons" are making their presence known, causing chaos in the skies. And an older, disturbed girl Shiina meets in her kendo class may have a connection to her unearthly companion.

What does it all mean? "Starflight" provides the setup and introduces the characters, but answers will come later. SHADOW STAR begins like a lighthearted girl's adventure, but soon takes a darker turn. I am looking forward to seeing the mystery unfold in future volumes.

For those who have been following the serial in Dark Horse's SUPER MANGA BLAST, this collection reprints material from the first six issues.

I planned to read a chapter a day when I began this book. Well, throw that out the window -- it's not possible to put this book down. The story is compelling, humorous, and true to life. The characters are so real, I found myself casting stars to play each one when the movie comes out! I cannot wait for V.W. Williams' next book!

Shadows Of Trickle Creek is an excellent book with captivating characters and a plot that grabs you and won't let go. A true must read.

This story pulled me in from the first paragraph. Great writing and descriptions make the characters come alive. Leavened by humor, the tension builds to a satisfying climax. I'm living in Texas and have lived in a small town and she nailed both, with kindness and humor. I hope this talented author keeps writing.

Shadows of Trickle Creek is Vickie Williams' stunning debut novel. Set in the Big Thicket of East Texas, the book is filled with details and skillfully written descriptions that showcase the beauty of the area and the author's love of Texas. The plot is intricate and fast paced and the characters are strong and yet very human. V.W. Williams is a new writer to watch out for and I'm eagerly awaiting her next release.

Keep up the excellent work!

Diana Driver

Involving you immediately in its characters but slowly unpeeling their depth, this novel drives toward the gradual explication of a sinister plot in a small Texas town, but its real appeal is the grasping of different believable but iconic characters for self-respect. Not unlike Texas itself, it is vast and complicated but boils down to a few simple truths. Its two most enigmatic characters are an honest cop fleeing the chaos of his past, and a hard-working country woman attempting to discover hers, but they are complemented by insightful beef-jerky-tough older ladies and a town full of familiar personalities. As our publishing industry spirals into the increasing irrelevance of niche publishing and empty drama, it is refreshing to find an independent author with this much tenacity toward storytelling in its most vivid form.

This is a remarkable oportunity to rediscover the work of the underestimate John Buscema. Great storylines , in a luxous volume.But I missed more Jack kirby works with the surfer

I haven't read a Surfer story since I was a kid... I loved this book! I read it in one sitting (rainy Sunday afternoon) and was transported back to 1968...still a "carefree kid". The stories have held up well and managed to hold my interest. I you read comics as a kid, or still read them, I would recommend this book...Enjoy!

This book contains the first 18 issues and Bonus material of the Silver Surfer written by Stan Lee. While the modern Silver Surfer is sometimes a bad character in these first issues he is something like a saint and he is suffering human prejudice but never giving up to help. He examines the human race in order to understand human behaviour. The Silver Surfer therefore is not a character you can easily identify with but the moral and message of the stories and the way the Surfer views the humans is absolutely interesting and very thrilling. Issue 1-17 was drawn by John Buscema. I know his work on the Avengers which is great but these Silver Surfer stories are by far his best work. Buying this book means buying the very best of John Buscema. In addition the printing quality is superb and the book is oversized.

I ordered this from amazon several months ago. About one month ago they informed me it would not ship until some time in 2008. I am not sure why they are still selling it if they are having that much trouble shipping it out. Just go get one from your local comic book shop. It's worth it.

This huge book reprints all 18 issues of the original Silver Surfer comic book series from the Silver Age of comics (including the letter pages), plus a Surfer back up story from Fantastic Four Annual #5 and a Surfer parody from Not Brand Echh #13. The Silver Surfer happens to be writer Stan Lee's personal favorite character. To quote Stan from the book's intro: "Perhaps the Silver Surfer comes closest to being the ultimate, quintessential superhero. The virtue of his character, the purity of his soul and the nobility of his actions, coupled with the altruism of his motives, are virtually without parallel--unless one returns to the root of all goodness, for perhaps only in the Holy Bible itself does such morality exist." Stan used the Surfer to articulate his own beliefs and convictions, as the Surfer soared around the Earth soliloquizing about mankind's faults (particularly prejudice and bigotry). Pretty heavy stuff for a superhero comic book. The Surfer was a tragic figure, as he regularly faced fear and hatred wherever he went, despite the purity of his motives. Another tragic aspect of the comic was the forced separation of the Surfer and his ladylove, Shalla Bal, who still lived on their home planet of Zenn-La. But I don't want to give the impression that this comic book is all talk and no action. There is plenty of action, as the Surfer battles villains like the Stranger, the Abomination and his archenemy Mephisto. Through the typical Marvel Comics misunderstanding, he also battles heroes like Thor, Spider-Man and the Human Torch. All this is beautifully illustrated by John Buscema, with the exception of the last issue, which was drawn by Jack Kirby. This review ran longer than I intended, so I will wrap it up by recommending this book to all fans of Marvel Comics.