Interactive Books

In reading The Stone in the Sword, or the Quest for a Stolen Emerald, prepare to follow an adventure requiring both wit and skill. This fantastic book is filled with many hidden objects waiting to be found by the reader! The Stone in the Sword is a masterpiece for the whole family to enjoy -- a wonderful book to have on hand for a rainy day or a moment of boredom. The story follows Loefric, a young squire who while polishing his master's sword the day before the well-known winter jousting tournament, loses a precious emerald that is afixed to the sword. As the gem falls to the ground, Loefric's michievious monkey grabs and makes off with the emerald! Loefric is soon in hot pursuit all over the castle and beyond after his pet trying to retrieve the precious stone. He soon learns that it is not just a monkey that might want an emerald, and will he recover the emerald in time?
With wonderful illustrations that lend a perfect medieval atmosphere, this book is both exciting and hard-to-put down, and requires skill and concentration to help Loefric retrieve the gem in time for the tournament! And not only does one follow Loefric in his timely quest, they have to find and identify people and things along the way!!
This book is definitely, without hesitation a 5 stars book, enjoyable for ALL ages, to be read again and again with objects to find everytime! Get this book and you will not regret it!!!

The Sword in the Stone is a fiction book about a young, poor boy named Arther. He is a squire and is going to assist a knight in a contest. Auther meets Merlin, a magician. They become good friends and Merlin shows Auther all of his magic. Auther forgets the knights swords and has to find another sword quickly. Auther goes to the sword in the stone and pulls, and it comes right out. He is now hailed as King Auther.

My four-year-old son loves this book! He likes the "eye spy" aspect of the story and all of the clues that lead you through the book. The colorful and very detailed drawings will appeal to any child -- boy or girl. It is appropriate for his age, and I believe he will like it for a few more years. We recommend this highly.

My girls love this book - we often play along with the characters and they giggle themselves silly.

Pucker up, kids! The duck wants a big, noisy, juicy kiss! And he wants to give that kiss to a poodle who doesn't want it!

Funny illustrations, silly sound-effects from a sound-chip, and lots of hilarious words to read out-loud makes this book an immediate favorite with kids and parents.

Stop Kissing Me is not to be missed!

My 2 year old son can't get enough of this book. It quickly became his favorite book to read. This might have something to do with his mother always giving him kisses so he could relate to the Poodle.

This book is awesome. I bought this book, based on other reviewers on amazon who praised this book. I learned how to subnet and in a few short weeks, I have a great job, paying in six figures. Little does the other reviewer know that his beautiful wife subnets with me ever since I bought this book.

I learned to subnet using this book. Previously I was quite horrible in math and algebra, however this book teaches subnetting on a different approach. It was exactly what I needed. I must say that now that I have mastered subnetting, I have conquored my CCNA exam and on to bigger and better things. Thank you very much Keith Sutherland.

To say that this book helped me was an understatement. I was homeless and found this book in a box along I-95. After reading it I was able to take a test and becoem Cisco certified. Now I make a six figure income and have a beautiful wife who also loves to subnet.

This book is perfect for babies and toddlers who like finger food (raisins and cheerios and such) and like bright, bold pictures. Kids are directed to add raisins to the laminated pictures to complete them; all are easy to do. The artwork is brilliant.

My daughter and I have had more fun reading, counting, and eating raisins! She loves making her side of the page just like the "twin" on the other page! Wipes off easily! A great activity book for "one on one" time with your child! We Loved it so much we are buying more for Christmas presents!

I typically don't buy into the type of products that are aimed at advertising to my child. In other words, I typically would not buy this book that will convince my child that sunmaid raisins are the ones to buy. However, this is such a cute book that I bought it.

My son has enjoyed this book and has played with it. He pulls this book out when he thinks he needs a snack. He likes to put the raisins on the dog and then take them off and eat them.

Very cute. Great for eye and hand coordination.

Michael and Dennis Cohen have done a great job in this book to help beginning to intermediate users with the iLife suite. I am often called upon to help friends with their Macs. When they have questions on the iLife programs, I find it much easier to refer them to this book than to try and talk them through the problem on the phone or via iChat. Thanks to the Cohens for making my iLife as a consultant a bit easier.

Apple has long said it makes computers for the rest of us, and now with its iLife suite of tools Apple appears to be making software for the rest of us as well. The Teach Yourself Visually series of computer books seems to follow the same philosophy, but where TYV's offerings for more complex programs like Photoshop serve as "scratch-the-surface" introductions, iLife '04 really does look deep under the surface of Apples' popular suite of tools. My favorite section, perhaps because I know the least about it, is on GarageBand, which is the most exciting piece of software I've seen in years.

The Teach Yourself Visually books all benefit from strong integration of explanatory text with detailed graphics, but the text portion of this particular book benefits from clear, thorough, and often quite humorous writing. The author obviously knows the programs-more important, he knows how to communicate that knowledge to his readers (I believe he's the same Michael Cohen who writes the multimedia section of the famed Macintosh Bible). I highly recommend this title-for twenty bucks, it's a bargain.

Teach Yourself Visually iLife 04 is the perfect book for someone who wants simple, easy to follow instructions for using each of Apple's iLife programs (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, Garage Band). What makes this book different from all the other iLife books are the clear step-by-step instructions, all accompanied by full color screen shots and illustrations, for using almost every iLife feature. The tips that accompany each task save time and effort in using the iLife programs and point out special features that aren't generally known. This is the book to get if you want to learn how to use iLife 04 without having to become a computer scientist, or read pages and pages of text. Get this and start using the software right away while you read.

Dr. Wiggins has carefully formulated a guide to constructivist musical instruction that is accessible to all in the education field. The book is clear and specific, offering many example lessons and modeled approaches for classrooms. While the book is aimed primarily at elementary school educators, there are serious implications for music education at all levels. Do not miss out on the companion CD, an essential piece when using the sample lessons in the classroom.

While I have not had the honor of meeting Jackie Wiggins, I am never the less very impressed with this book. I especially found the first four chapters helpful. This textbook was referred to frequently during my recent Curriculum Planning class taught by Northwestern graduate, Dr. Michelle Kaschub.

I have studied with the one and only Dr. Jackie Wiggins and still have more to learn from her. She has helped me realize how much I will love to teach music. This book will surely help me through many a curricular dilema. How do I do this and still accomplish that? Yes it is possible!

If you teach music or plan to teach music in the future, do yourself a favor and buy this book. It will certainly help anybody, from the experienced teacher to the undergrad student waiting nervously to teach an entire class for the first time (like me).

This is a fantastic book. It's really easy to read and very entertaining, with lots of subtle lessons on differences and friendship. My husband (who's native language is Spanish) sometimes reads the Spanish parts while I read the English parts, and our son loves it. Highly recommended book.

this is probably the best spanish/english books we have. our son loves it, with the stuffed animals roaring and showing off to each other and the boys who end up laughing and being friends. i wish more people knew about this book. we found it in venezuela, and i have never seen it in the US nor could i find it easily on amazon. drawing are great and it's an upbeat, fun book.

This is a great book for bilingual kids....it isn't spanglish and it isn't a quick translation of something that was good in English. There are two boys in the book - one speaks English and one speaks Spanish - and they spend the book debating whose stuffed animal is more ferocious. A LOT of learning is packed into this cute little book...the debate is a sly way to sneak in important things like - up and down - colors - words for actions - and other typical toddler fare. But with this book, you get it all in one little book: two languages, many toddler concepts, and a nice moral!

This is a great book for relating theatre and the fine arts to technology. Not only does it cover teaching using technology, but it also delves into using the technology to create art.

This book is obviously ahead of its time, and a roapmap for things to come. So insightful that it practically read itself.

I admit I am a bit prejudiced in regard to this book (I am the editor) but I think Theatre in Cyberspace will be of interest to anyone who: 1) Wants to incorporate computer technology in their classroom; 2) Is Interested in expanding the bounds of theatre performance into cyberspace 3) Wants an historical record of what is happening with computers and the world of theatre, education and performance.

My daughter and I love this book. The pull out figures give her a way to contribute to our quiet time. I took the figures to an office supply store and had them laminated so they'll remain in good condition...and they have! A wonderful contribution to any child's library!

The perfect just-before-tucking-in book! My daughter loves it and asks for it every night. She carefully tucks each animal into the appropriate bed--and even chides Tiger for having too much cake at the birthday party. The only problem is keeping track of all the little paper cut-outs! I even thought of making a back up set on the color copier and having them laminated...but I'm not Martha Stewart.

This is a very nice story about friends falling asleep and tucking them into bed. My child enjoys tuckng each of the sleepy friends into the beds provided on each page and wishing each one a "Goodnight". When the story is over each of her friends are tucked in, and she is ready mentally to join them in going Goodnight! Each page ends with the same text "Let's tuck them into bed. Goodnight, [animal]." So the child begins to read along with you. I have a two year old, and she obviously does not read, but she expects that each animal will be tucked in and bid goodnight. Then it's her turn--and she goes without fuss!

I bought this book to help me decide whether or not to Tivo. This book quickly sold me on the features of Tivo, so I bought one. The book was very useful during setup, as well as operation of the Tvo. I agree with everything in the "Big Help" review, so I won't repeat it here.

This book is the place to start if you don't know anything about Tivo. I certainly did not when I received a Tivo box as a gift. Figuring out how it would fit in with cable box, video tape recorder, and dvd player was daunting. The booklet that comes with the Tivo player is a good reference but Rathbone's book provides a much more readable explanation of how everything works. It not only provides clear explanations on how to set up the equipment in a variety of configurations but also explains how to get the most advantage from using Tivo. The setup and operating menus are covered as well as how to "educate" Tivo to go out and select programming most suited to individual taste.

This book would be most useful if read before first getting Tivo as it covers the different options available. Also it explains what upgrades are available along with the URL's for ordering upgrade parts.

The book is laid out with the clarity typical of the "For Dummies" line with clear diagrams, tables, and illustrations. I suspect some smart manufacturer might start including a copy right in the box along with the spare cables and fold-out assembly poster.

An up-front caveat - I served as the Technical Editor for this book, so I can share the blame for any outright errors... I have no financial stake in sales of the book. That said, on with the review.

When I was first approached regarding "TiVo For Dummies", I was skeptical. I was an experienced TiVo user and I thought that the TiVo manual was pretty good. I wondered what such a book could add to be worth paying for. The answer turned out to be "a lot".

As easy as TiVo is to use, it is sufficiently different from the familiar VCR as to confuse many who are new to the concept of a PVR. I have seen many newcomers to "The TiVolution" plea for help with such subjects as: wiring to an existing system, setting up a Season Pass for unusual situations, tweaking the TiVo's settings to match personal preferences, using the networking options and expanding storage capacity. Andy Rathbone covers all these topics and more in a breezy, comforting style that is never condescending (the "For Dummies" in the title is not to be taken literally.)

"TiVo For Dummies" opens with a helpful introduction to the world of PVRs, and TiVo in particular. TiVo is a hard thing to explain to someone who hasn't used one. "It's a VCR with a hard disk!" Yawn. "Pause Live TV!" In the past, this has been argued as a big selling point of TiVo, but to my mind, it is one of the less interesting features. "Record your favorite shows, no matter when they're on!" Now you're talking. "Record shows you like that you didn't even know were on!" Say what??? (This is one of my favorite reasons to love TiVo.) Rathbone explains TiVo in a way that most readers will "get" - a worthy result in itself.

After discussion of the various types of TiVo boxes, the book walks you through installation and setup, with detailed explanations of many different configurations that go far beyond the manual's "reference book" approach. Next comes the most useful part - how to best take advantage of TiVo's many features to enhance your life. Really, most people who have TiVo will tell you that it makes TV so much more enjoyable, especially as you are freed from the tyranny of the networks' schedules. Rathbone illustrates clever uses of TiVo's options, some I had never considered before.

The next several chapters cover the TiVo Home Media Option (HMO), which uses a network connection to share recorded shows with other TiVos in your house and to view pictures and listen to music stored on your PC. At the time the book was written, HMO was an extra-cost option, but now it is free with the standard service. Rathbone walks you through setting up the network and enabling the feature, and then discusses various TiVo and non-TiVo tools for sending pictures and music to the TiVo.

The last major section of the book talks about upgrading the disk space on a TiVo, (easy to do if you are comfortable with adding a disk to a PC), and troubleshooting common problems.

The book ends with a collection of short chapters filled with tips and tricks, and some reference material, such as the differences between TiVo and a generic PVR.

If you are looking for information about "hacking" your TiVo, modifying it to do strange new things, this book is not for you - there are a couple of other good books on that topic, such as "Hacking TiVo" by Jeff Keegan. But if you are relatively new to TiVo, "TiVo For Dummies" will significantly enhance your TiVo experience and will reduce, if not eliminate, the small frustrations that some run into. Giving TiVo as a gift? "TiVo for Dummies" makes a great accompaniement!

And if you don't have a TiVo yet - read this book and see what you're missing! Chances are, you will soon be joining the TiVolution on your own.