Programs Books

I'm very lucky to find this book, because it will helps me to learn English. But I think it's good also for everybody because the book teach us the correct name of the things that we need day by day.
It's my second by at Amazon and I'm very happy
Cordially,
Luzia

This is the kind of dictionary I needed. When you want to know how to say a concrete concept you will understand better if you use this picture dictionary.

Please review the book I ordered its call word by word picture dictionary, second edition

I was lucky enough to be in a situation where my adult ESL classroom had enough in-classroom copies for all students to use during classtime. I used this almost everyday. It's a fantastic way to teach new vocabulary, especially when you combine its use with other teaching tools, such as acting out motions. I often had my students use the books to quiz each other. This is a good resource, and if you can get enough copies for everyone in your class to share, DO IT!

I host foreign exchange students and the first few weeks this helps them out till they get just a better grasp of the English language. Most come with a very good understanding, but if they need to go to the doctor's or something this picture dictionary is just the thing to help out. It is useful around the house also.

Yoga is a perfect remedy for anxiety.The book Yoga RX gives you the tools you need to improve your bodys reaction to stress.Everything is explained in a professional but clear manner and gives you simple breathing methods that are extremely helpful.Thank you for this great resource! Lisa Marino TX

Yoga Rx is a user-friendly introduction to how Yoga Therapy adapts the practices of yoga to the needs of people with specific health problems. It is an important book for bridging the gap between yoga teachers, doctors and other health professionals. Both busy doctors and their patients will benefit tremendously from reading Yoga Rx. As a companion to this book, I recommend Yoga: the Path to Holistic Health, by B.K.S. Iyengar, which illustrates the use of props in therapeutic yoga programs.I highly recommend Yoga Rx to teachers of all traditions. 100 Sun Salutations to Larry Payne and Dr.Richard Usatine for writing this empowering book! Suza Francina, author, The New Yoga for People Over 50 and Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause.

As practicing Yoga therapist, perhaps my best recommendation is to note that I have spiral bound my own copy and some of the pages are becoming a bit dog-eared.

This is a well written, sound introductory guide to Yoga therapy, written by two of the Western leaders in this emerging discipline. The text has an elegant simplicity, reflecting years of experience. I especially appreciate the thoughtful allopathic medical advice and wise lifestyle counseling well integrated with the Yoga practices. I also appreciate the extensive resource guide and the many academic references. The book as a whole provides much insight for students, yoga teachers and other health care practitioners wanting to explore the many possibilities for Yoga for health and wellness as well as an alternative or complementary therapy.

As a teacher attempting to work with individuals as a whole, however, I remain somewhat uncomfortable with the connotations of the title of this book. Yoga therapy is not a set of mechanical prescriptions for common ailments. That sort of cookbook assumption does a disservice to the breadth of the discipline, the role of a teacher and the many dimensions to each student. The authors, of course, know this well. Larry Payne has done much pioneering work in Yoga therapy and in bridging this discipline to the allopathic medical community.

In my view, the practices in the book are more illustrative of general principles applied to specific individuals and situations at a point in time rather than prescriptions that can be easily generalized. In that sense, this book may be more appropriate for the experienced Yoga therapist who will be familiar with various caveats, alternative approaches and broader dimensions to Yoga practice.

For example, chronic lower back pain is probably the most common complaint brought to Yoga therapists. The practice suggested in the book should be helpful to many in "typical" situations and I have used it successfully with some of my own students. Few students are typical, however. For many students that particular sequence will be too strong, or too gentle or too long, or contains a contraindicated movement, such as the twist. In real life, many students will have other important health considerations besides unspecified lower back pain, e.g., a different limiting injury, excessive stiffness or flexibility, difficulty breathing, depression, perhaps even much experience in Yoga from another tradition, etc.

Many students will have, or will soon develop, other goals for practice besides pain relief. Increased physical & psychological strength and private spiritual support are two common, but much different aspects of Yoga practice that can be woven in or stimulated from therapeutic applications.

Finally, perhaps more than a technique, students may most need a relationship with a teacher who will see them as a whole, something they might not find in the conventional health care environment.

From those perspectives, there is no substitute for working with a well-trained and experienced therapist. Finding a qualified practitioner, however, may be difficult. This is common with many emerging CAM therapies, but perhaps especially acute in Yoga. There are no standards for Yoga therapists and few in-depth training programs.

An obvious companion to this book is Yoga for Wellness by Gary Kraftsow (from the same teaching lineage). Compare, for example, the much stronger sequence for working with the lower back in that book and the emphasis on case studies. Together, these two books provide a rich, complementary perspective on Yoga therapy.

For those interested in Yoga and complementary and alternative medicine, I recommend The Yoga of Healing by T. K. V. Desikachar and Dr. Arjun Rajabopalan. Also The Best Alternative Medicine by Dr. Kenneth Pelletier. For broader and deeper perspectives on Yoga from the same lineage, see The Heart of Yoga by Desikachar and Yoga for Body Breath and Mind by A. G. Mohan. Practicing or aspiring Yoga therapists should be subscribers, or course, to the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, co-founded by Larry many years ago.

This book is a comprehensive, intelligently written, and accessible resource for all those interested in their health, yoga, or both. I enthusiastically recommend this well written, easy to read, and easy to understand book.

Any Yoga practitioner and teacher should feel privileged that this book is made available. The authors bring out their experience in dealing with ailments of the body applying Yoga in such great detail. A host of common and not so common ailments are covered - explanation of the relevant anatomy, examples of people they treated with Yoga and the routines used.

As a Yoga teacher I find this book immensely (that is just an understatement) helpful. I routinely use and refer this beautiful presentation to address my student's concern. The authors understanding and respect for the (patient's) body and a diverse audience a book can reach is evident in the routines which are mild and curative, in the precautions and helpful wholesome practices that can also be followed.

The publishers have done a terrific job in the quality of the photographs, printing and the overall book itself. Another jem of a book about application of Yoga for what is needed most today. The authors and publishers have truly done a yoeman service by making such content available.

Our family and circle of friends have a wide variety of kids' ages, from two years old to fourteen. This book contains many activities that can be split up among age/capabilities of the kids involved, making it both useful and fun for everyone. Even older kids outside of the recommended play activities can participate by helping get things ready for the younger kids.
There's very little that can't be set up during the course of an average toddler's nap time, another plus. Highly recommended for anyone who needs to wrangle a diverse age/capability group on a weekend afternoon.

I wish I would have known about this book earlier. We could have been having this much fun sooner! My son is turning 3 and it is perfect for him. The layout of the book is great. It lists the supplies you need, details variations you might opt for, and lists resources.

I really like the resources being listed. I plan themed days in advance and I look for the books and/or videos listed in the resources at the local library to help with the theme for that day. For example if it is "airplane day" I look up books and videos on airplanes at the library so we can learn about them before we dive into the other activities.

At first I thought "wow this book has so many themed day I will never have time to do everything listed". Now I see that some themes really only work planned in advance but others work well at last notice. I mean we all know with toddlers events are unpredictable!!

Great book for anyone with children or those caring for them.

Well organized. Comprehensive. Creative. An excellent resource for teachers, parents, and caregivers. As a mother of girls aged 4 years 9 months and 3 years, I was searching for activities that they both would enjoy and that I could adapt to their different levels of development. This book is a lifesaver! For each theme, the author, Pamela Waterman, provides several Art projects with simple instructions, a few Indoor activities, suggested Musical activities or songs to sing, activities to do Outdoors, Books to check out from the library or buy, Videos to rent or buy, and special snacks to make. All theme related. Most using supplies that are easily found around the home or inexpensive to purchase. There is even a section called Hints for Your Own Situation that includes tips for older children. You can follow the themes from A to Z, or skip around to various favorites as I do. With 52 Weeks of Themes, here are a few:
Astronomy
Bugs
Circus
Detectives
Firefighting
Hair
Musical Instruments
Pirates
Restaurant
Surprises!
Theater
Wheels
Zoo

I was pleased to receive my copy of this book as it provided me with many valuable tips, games and ideas to occupy two very active children and their friends.

The style of the book is easy and comfortable, giving valuable advice in how to constructively occupy growing minds in an appealing manner.

The children, and their friends, have enjoyed many of the activities, so far, and I'm sure will continue to do so.

Thanks to Ms Waterman for this invaluable resource.

Absolute Best Play Days, by Pamela Waterman, is an extremely valuable resource for planning themed activities for children. This is a book that we librarians will use to get ideas for our 2-to-6-year-old story times. We like to structure our story times around various themes and the ideas presented in this book are great--really creative--and also very do-able! That's definitely a plus! Thanks!

THE ACTUAL REALITY OF JENNIFER JAMES is a hilarious novel reminiscent of the popular Georgia Nicholson series, only even better. It has more of a plot, and Jennifer is a lot smarter than Georgia. Both, however, are hilarious and very British!

Jennifer's school, London Road Comprehensive, despite being described as "bog-standard," has one exceptional thing going for it: It's about to be featured on a reality television show in which celebrities, teachers, and students will compete for top prizes in front of the entire country. Which would be exciting enough even if Jennifer wasn't a huge part of it, but she's one of the dozen student contestants competing for a scholarship to the prestigious St. Willibald's College, a boarding school with much higher academic standards than London Road Comprehensive--making it the perfect place for overachiever Jennifer James.

Of course, being on constantly camera is not as great as it sounds. Cameras are more than a little invasion of privacy. They make Jennifer's life--particularly her rather nonexistent love life--more difficult than it used to be. Is it really worth it, putting up with it all to go to St. Willibald's?

THE ACTUAL REALITY OF JENNIFER JAMES is laugh-out-loud hilarious, but at the same time a very intelligent and interesting novel. It's certainly an original story and very well-written. Add to this wonderfully funny novel a cast of fantastic characters, and you've got a brilliant book. I can't wait to read more by Gillian Shields!

Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce
02/15/2007

When a new British reality TV series begins filming at London Road Comprehensive, Jennifer unwillingly becomes a contestant alongside her peers, her teachers, and eccentric celebrities. Two kids per grade (except for the highest year) are selected to participate, with the student prize being a scholarship to an elite school. Jennifer doesn't want to be on the show, but she has been selected to represent her grade. So has Tallulah, who is as cruel as she is pretty - and she knows it.

This book is written in diary format. Nearly four hundred pages in length, it is unlike many other stories about reality TV shows because Jennifer doesn't watch herself on TV. She can't. Her mother doesn't permit televisions in the house. This allows the book to be more about Jennifer and less about television. She is a reluctant participant in this crazy game, and readers will root for her.

It took me a few pages to get into this, but I absolutely LOVED it and couldn't put it down after the first chapter. It's hilarious, quick-witted, modern and smart. Great characters and all i could think is: I can't wait for the movie! (which i don't know if there will ever be one, but if any production company is smart, they'll buy the rights!)

Fantastic, hilarious, moving and compelling. I could put it down and it never once let me down. A must, must read.

What do you get when you take the idea for an in-school reality TV show and cross it with a character reminiscent of Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicolson? One of the freshest and cutest novels around, THE ACTUAL REAL REALITY OF JENNIFER JAMES.

Jennifer James is not the most popular girl in her not-so-posh school, London Road Comprehensive. Boys may not necessarily notice her and her family may not come from money. But the one thing that may be working for Jennifer is when the newest reality TV show, Down the Bog, comes to her school and offers one lucky student a scholarship to St. Willibald's College. This could be the chance for Jennifer to finally go to a good school, and all she needs is to be entered into the competition--but it may not be that easy.

How the show works is that they choose two kids per grade and have a group of celebrities act as teachers at the school. The entire time, cameras will be showing all the action that is happening inside the school, and each week there will be a certain competition that the contestants and celebrities will have to compete in. And each week, viewers will call in and the one student and the one celebrity with the lowest number of votes will have to leave.

Fortunately, Jennifer is oddly enough chosen to be a contestant. But that may be the only good news. There seems to be many struggles that Jennifer is going to have to face, like the very popular and very rude Tallulah, bullying her way through the competition and practically causing Jennifer's life to be miserable. Then there's Marcus, the guy who Jennifer has a crush on but who also seems to be on Tallulah's radar. And then there is Jennifer's feminist mother Jocasta, who hates the idea of Jennifer being on a reality show. For now, trying to win the competition could be the hardest obstacle that Jennifer has ever faced.

THE ACTUAL REAL REALITY OF JENNIFER JAMES is witty, fun, and very compelling. Readers will get so attached to Jennifer that they will desperately root for her all the way, whether she wins or not. Gillian Shields captures the true essence of how it feels to want something very badly and to do the greatest thing to get it. The one thing that was on my mind during the reading was hoping for there to be a sequel to this fantastic book.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

Although the title suggest otherwise, Advanced Rails is really required reading for anyone using Rails - beginners and gurus alike. The information provided is excellent, with essential tips and sound advice. In particular, the chapters on routing, security, internationalization and database issues are well worth the purchase price. Like Obie's The Rails Way (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series), this book should live on your desk in your workspace. What's missing? Well, it would have been nice to see information on Git considering the effort put into covering source control systems. It's also surprising that there is not more on testing techniques and issues. But overall, this book is fantastic, and chocked full of juicy info you won't find in any of the other Rails books currently available.

This book is almost worth it just for the first chapter's dive into Ruby metaprogramming, but the rest of the book doesn't disappoint. Ediger delivers useful advice regarding available methods, alternatives and considerations that all serious web developers should take into account.

This book should be non-optional for all Rails development teams, as it has some of the most sane and sober treatment of relevant topics I've ever read in a single book. From security to databases to deployment, this book gives the reader a solid foundation in nearly all of the major disciplines involved in building web applications.

As Ruby on Rails rocketed into the development community's hearts and minds a few years ago, the number of books on the subject climbed with it. However, a lot of these books were introductory in nature (Agile Web Development with Rails, Beginning Rails, Build Your Own Rails Applications, etc.). What's a budding Rails-head to do once they've gotten the basics down? Books like Advanced Rails -- which was released late last year by O'Reilly - aim to fill this void.

Author Brad Ediger has been kicking around the Rails scene since the pre-1.0 days. Though not a Rails "luminary" necessarily, he certainly qualifies as an advanced user. He is CTO for a Real Estate tech company called Tasman Labs and runs a web design (and Rails consulting) firm called Madriska Media Group. He seems like a sharp cookie and a decent writer.

Advanced Rails covers quite a bit of territory, going for breadth rather than depth most of the time. Each chapter covers a classic, pivotal development concern... well, at least most of them do. The chapters are as follows:

1. Foundational Techniques
2. ActiveSupport and RailTies
3. Rails Plugins
4. Database
5. Security
6. Performance
7. REST, Resources, and Web Services
8. i18n and L10n
9. Incorporating and Extending Rails
10. Large Projects

By "Foundational Techniques", Ediger is referring to Ruby and Rails techniques, principals and patterns like Metaprogramming, Don't Repeat Yourself, and Functional Programming techniques. The chapter also goes into a fair amount detail about the Object/Class/Module relationship. A bunch of this may not be particularly new material for most Rails users who've been at it for at least a few months. However, it's still nice to have all this stuff in one forty page chapter... good to have handy to refer to. Also, there are some nice nuggets in there that could save you some head-scratching. For example, what's the difference between Kernel#lambda and Proc.new? The answer is that, if you *return* a value from the block passed to Proc.new, the calling method is exited as well, abandoning any code that you might have after it.

If the first chapter feels like it's leaning towards a reference work, the second chapter -- which digs into all the goodies offered by ActiveSupport and RailTies -- pretty much falls over right into reference-land, complete with a method-by-method listing of features added to standard library classes. This may seem even more like just putting api docs available online into print, but Eidger defintely adds a bit more explanation. And, I haven't really seen anyone give a rundown of just what the heck RailTies does. That's the library that provides the glue to pull together the more famous Rails libraries to make it all work together as rails: generators, initializers, etc. There is definitely some interesting and not necessarily readily available information here.

Chapter three covers Rails Plugins, and is quick and painless. It explains the common files and directory structure in a plugin and talks about how Rails loads them. It also talks about using Piston instead of svn:externals to manage plugins and show some example plugins.

The following three chapters cover more of the classic eternal problems faced in running high-traffic sites: databases, security, and performance. These really make the most sense in an "advanced" book; they are the "brass tacks" that everyone must get down too if they go beyond the "toy app" stage. Ediger talks about the strengths and weaknesses of the various popular database systems. He also goes into the benefits of using the filesystem to store data, which is largely because web servers can make use of fast system calls to dump files straight into the TCP socket. He also covers some advanced db features like composite keys, stored procedures and clustering.

The security chapter isn't all that long and a lot of the info it covers can be found in beginner Rails books... SQL injection, cross-site scripting etc. However, the book would be remiss to not include this material and it is presented in a concise and complete manner. This would be good to refer back to now and then to make sure you haven't slipped in your security awareness. Ediger also doesn't hesitate to make specific recommendations, like "whitelist rather than blacklist".

He also jumps right into recommendations while writing about performance optimization in the next chapter: "Algorithmic improvements always beat code tweaks", "As a general rule, maintainability beats performance", "Only optimize what matters", "Measure twice, cut once". He then goes on to cover specific tools and techniques for uncovering your bottlenecks, from a quick explanation of basic statistics to using httpperf, benchmark, and Rails Analyzer Tools, improving database calls (using indexes and "include" on finders), and the various caching solutions. There is plenty of good information in this chapter; also a good bit of reference next time you need to track down a logjam.

Chapter seven covers RESTful Rails, from the very basic theory as outlined by Roy Fielding to exactly how Rails has chosen to use these concepts, and is the longest chapter in the book. The amount of coverage REST gets seems questionable since Rails has been very heavily into the RESTful approach for over a year and embraced the philosophy so thoroughly that it's hard to imagine anyone using Rails today without being exposed to the concepts.

On the other hand, one can still wire up verb-oriented actions in routes.rb and might be able to get away with ignoring all the RESTful goodness. So maybe there are some out there that can benefit from this chapter. Plus, having such thorough, theory-to-practice coverage allows the chapter to stand on its own as a solid reference to the whys and hows of RESTful Rails. It also has one of the better sections on RESTful routing that I have seen (routes being one of the more mysterious and sometimes frustrating pieces of Rails).

Rails has gotten plenty of grief for its lack of official support for Internationalization and Localization, but in Chapter eight, Ediger lays out the options, such as gettext, Gibberish, and Globalize. He is most enthusiastic about this last library and it does appear to be quite powerful, including support for translating strings, translating model fields, localizing numbers and dates, and even recording what needs to be translated by saving them in the database. Creating multi-lingual websites is a hard problem in any web-development framework and most other frameworks have plenty of head start. However, Ruby and Rails certainly isn't without options and it will only get better.

The next to last chapter of Advanced Rails runs through a number of alternatives to the standard components of the Rails framework. On the database end, it covers DataMapper, Ambition, and Og, giving this last one the most attention. For alternatives to ERB templates, Ediger talks about Markaby, Liquid and Haml, all in a very brisk fashion. He also talks about using traditional Rails components -- like ActiveRecord and ActionMailer -- outside of Rails applications. The chapter closes with a discussion of how to contribute to Rails (hint: submit a patch... don't just bitch!).

The last chapter is called "Large Projects" and covers some useful information about working on a Rails project with a team, beginning with version control (though anyone who is writing code that covers more than a single file and *not* using version control is just plain insane). This starts with a quick overview of Subversion, however this feels like it is really a set up for making a case for "decentralized version control". Ediger does a good job of explaining these concepts, using Mercurial for his examples. This seems a bit unfortunate, since many people on the Rails core team have embraced Git and it is looking like Rails will eventually move its repository to Git. However, Mercurial has a reputation of being more user-friendly, so that may have influenced his decision. And it's useful information regardless.

Chapter ten continues on to discuss avoiding migration numbering collisions, issue tracking, keeping Rails and required gems within a project, web servers, load balancers, production architecture and deployment tools like Capistrano. This is all covered in a fairly quick fashion so don't expect a lot of depth.

That last sentiment came up often while reading this book. It often felt like Ediger was trying to get every possible Rails-related topic into the book that he could, but didn't want to come out with some 1000-page behemoth. Plenty of the topics mentioned don't have much more coverage than you could get with a quick "googling". However, there is something to be said for being exposed to a lot of tools, projects and concepts in one go, even if the exposure is sometimes superficial. I definitely found reading this book worthwhile and will keep it around to refer back to now and then. I don't know if I'd go so far as to label it required reading, but then again books on web frameworks rarely are.

With 'Advanced Rails' the O'Reilly family of Rails books is looking to add a Rails book that talks about some of the extra stuff you can do with this great technology. At 300+ pages long this isn't a book with 'Learning' in the title, rather it assumes that you have some fundamental Rails knowledge and are looking to improve your skill set.

Chapter Overview:

01. Metaprogramming
02. ActiveSupport and RailTies
03. Rails Plugins
04. Database Stuff
05. Security
06. Performance
07. REST and Web Services
08. i18n and L10n
09. Incorporating and Extending Rails
10. Large Projects (Source Control and the like)

Rails is a powerful framework but it isn't an easy one to always understand and get working. If you are looking to use Rails in your web app and want to get better at understanding the ins and out of it, this book can really help fill in the blanks.

If you want to become a better Rails developer/admin pick up this book and get better immediately.

**** RECOMMENDED

For a programmer who doesn't work in an office full of rails gurus this book answers a ton of questions I would like to ask, but have no one I could ask.

Half of the book is bits of rails wisdom mixed in with recipe like code snippets.


A very timely book for me. I especially like the further reading sections at the end of each chapter. The book is new enough that all the links are current, and I have learned a few nuggets of knowledge from these as well.

The section on globalize was immediately useful on one of my current projects and returned my investment in the book many times over.

No wonder amazon only has one left today.

I recently bought all the box sets of X-Files DVD's and have been watching them in order when I came across this book on Amazon. It was a valuable source of information and trivia for all the episodes for that season. I only wish I had gotten the earlier volumes of this series and that it had continued for seasons 8 and 9.

After a much anticipated wait, I was glad to have this book appear in my mailbox shortly after it delayed in publishing. Happy as a clam I thumbed through the pages, seeing each episode written in a "short story" style with dialougue taken from the scripts. I am also glad to see that they kept the title "all things" in lower case, as Gillian Anderson had when naming the episode she had written and directed. I have all season guides and I must say this is one of the best ones put out.

This Book would have to be my all time favorite that only adds to my collection of vol.3-6 now. If you want more x-files, and want to learn more about Season 7, I suggest buying this book. Of course, like the other volumes it has in-depth details of each episode as well as black & white pictures to accommodate them. There are eight pages of color pictures: X-Cops, Je Souhaite, Fight Club, FPS, and, Hollywood A.D.. Very Cool! I enjoy this book very much, despite the delay in publishing, but beleive me, it was worth the wait. There's also the back story of why the ending of Requiem was kept a secret, why Chris waited until the last day of shooting Requiem to write the finale, and why only 2 people knew of it's true ending. . . . All in All, an Excellent Book to add to your X-Files Paraphernalia!

This book has great photo, dialogue each show, the cast, interviews, and intersting facts about the show. This is a must have in any one x-files colection.:) :) :) :) :)

I had some apprehensions about this book before it even came out. First, the release date for this volume was pushed back, which is not typically a very good sign. And second, this volume was being drafted by Marc Shapiro and not Andy Meisler (who did such a wonderful job with the previous two volumes). But after having read through it, I can happily allay any apprehensions about this book not living up to its predecessors. Volume 6 in this series is just as good, if not better, than those volumes that came out before it.

Marc Shapiro does a great job in delivering the goods behind every episode. I was very impressed with this from Andy Meisler, and Marc Shapiro doesn't disappoint. There is interesting background information on all the episodes - things like the time-crunch in making "Requiem" and the fact that Gillian Anderson had to wear a wig in a car scene in "The Goldberg Variation" because it was shot after her hair stylist had sheared off her lovely locks.

Included in this book are eight full-color pages of images from the seventh season. Those images selected are fine enough, but they only focus on about four or five episodes, which doesn't do such a great season justice. It would have been nice to see more of a mix - some mythology episodes ("The Sixth Extinction" and "Sein Und Zeit") and stand-alone episodes ("En Ami" and "All Things"). But this is a minor detraction from an overall sharp-looking book.

Any fans of the series should have this volume sitting on their bookshelves. This is a must-have, and it is an enjoyable read. Well worth the wait in the time it took to get it published.

The Anonymous Disciple is for anyone struggling with an addiction of if they have a family member who is addicted. My brother has ALS and has been in AA for many many years. I taped this book for him including my laughter and my tears. He loved it and his care giver loved it. I want to thank the author for writing such a moving story of MAN.

Mary M. Shanks

Excellent book, and though it stands alone, it may be best to read after reading "Father Fred and the Twelve Steps: A Primer for Recovery" since Father Jim followed fellow Jesuit Father Fred through the doors of AA recovery.

I found this book difficult to put down, as it started by introducing some "unknown" speaker at an AA meeting (Fr Jim) through the eyes of a "newbie" third party, and and then immediately took the reader back many years to a desperate Fr Jim in a near-hopeless situation. The book takes us through his struggle in recovery, Fr Jim's work among the "disposables" (institutionalized alcoholics and addicts) and how together they became healthy, both in mind and spirit. A really inspirational true tale.

You will not regret reading this book.

I have been in recovery for many years, and have always thought that sober alcoholics (and drug addicts) have much to offer. This book, "Anonymous Disciple," is a triumph of the human spirit. There is hope for even those who are near death with their disease (addiction). The book renews my faith in God and in humanity.

My daughter gave Anonymous Disciple to me as a gift on my 12th sober birthday. Never in my life have I read a book that has had such a tremendous personal impact. This is much more than a book on recovery; it's a journey of one man's life, which was willing to be used for the benefit of others. This book will definitely create personal introspection, and cause the reader to think, "What is my commission, and how can I be used to help others?"

This was really a beautiful book about a Jesuit priest (Father Jim) getting sober. I think anyone in recovery, regardless of their religious beliefs, would be touched by it. I had so much gratitude after reading it!

Mr Freiler was my teacher this year for AP Euro. As one of his fellow teachers said, "Mr Freiler really is the man who wrote European History." His book really help prepare anyone for the test. I would use it to prepare for my regular test in his class and was able to really good on them. He breaks everything down for you so you don't have to be boged down with the some details of other books. His system of giving you the information helps you see everything in a clear light. Freiler you are the man!!!

this book is great for review and highlighting major points to expect on the ap exam

I've taught AP European History for 10 years and never recommended a review text to my students, until now. Unlike other review texts, the AP Achiever is comprehensive; well balanced in terms of political/diplomatic, intellectual/cultural, and social/economic history; user-friendly; and even entertaining at times. Freiler manages the broad scope of European History with humor, clarity, and the expertise of someone who has been on the inside of creating the AP Exam. I strongly recommend his text for both students and instructors.

This is a very concise review book that basically covers anything and everything you need to know for the AP exam. Throughout the whole course of the school year I Struggled to maintain a B average in the class, due to the fact that I never touched the text. This book saved me on the AP test. With diligent application and studying of the material presented, there is no reason as to why anyone would even need to bother with the text book. I managed a five, and actually found the test to be relatively easy due to the information i got from it. The chapters are reviewed in Chronological order, and end with 10 review questions that are good estimates of one's understanding of the chapter. There are many essay examples throughout, and detailed explanations of why they were good or not. The practice tests in the back were also very good examples of what appeared on the AP test. The only qualm I had with the book was a lack of an index of key terms; this wasn't too big of an issue, since the chapters were organized nicely, but this would have been a helpful addition. All in all, the review book is great as both a companion and as a stand alone review of the material in the course.

The AP Achiever is a very solid review book. If used in context with a good text, notes, and other supplements, it should help students to earn an extra point on the test.
Like all review books, it's not enough by itself.

Great supplement to your textbook. It has material relevant to the examination. It includes a list of vocabulary the teacher can give to students and exercises to prepare them for the AP Spanish 4 examination.

The newly updated (written in 2006 or 2007) version of this workbook, which our AP Spanish teacher provided us, was extremely helpful in preparing for the 2008 AP Spanish exam. All the activities, including the narratives, dialogues, reading passages, speaking conversations, and speaking presentations, were very similar to those on the actual AP test. This workbook also has extensive reference material, such as commonly used verbs, idiomatic phrases, conversational phrases, grammar rules, that also help in preparing for the Spanish exam. If your teacher does not use this book as a supplement to the class like mine did, I would buy the answer key and the audio CDS to get the maximum benefit from this book. If you do the majority of the activities in this book well, you will most likely earn a 4 or 5 on the actual exam!

AP Spanish: Preparing for the Language Examination is the book which my class has been using for the past few months in preparing for the AP Spanish test. The book has comprehensive practice for several aspects of the exam, covering many topics. The book appears to be excellent review and great repetitive practice in prearing for the AP exam.

We use this book in my AP Spanish class. There are tons of pictures, reading passages, and other exercises that match the AP Spanish test. I feel like I'm learning a lot from this book. By itself it would not be very helpful. If you're enrolled in an AP Spanish class and/or using other review materials like Barron's or Princeton Review it should be quite helpful.

This book is one of the best preparation materials and definitely worth the price, but there are no answers- anywhere. Also, the audio CDs do not come with it.

I rate this book just a slight notch above the KQED AYBS book, simply because the creators of AYBS had input in this project. It also highlights the bit players who appeared on AYBS, otherwise the two books do a fine of episode, character, and actor bio's. But the before mentioned book does a slightly better job at reviewing 'Grace and Favour' and the Australian AYBS version..., so you have to buy both :-)

For those of you who have the Are You Being Served? book by Adrian Rigelsford--are you free? For those of you who don't, are you also free? Well, gather around everybody, and that also includes special Grace Brothers board members.

This 25th anniversary book by Richard Webber with the two co-creators of the show, Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, is basically an update of the previous book, but in a slightly different format. The story-by-story synopses are there, but instead of the * to **** ratings, there are memorable dialogue bits, that are always good for a laugh or two.

New material: familiar BBC performers who made guest appearances (mostly as hapless customers) on the show, with a short bio on each one. However, why was Gorden Kaye, who later starred in Lloyd and Croft's French Resistance comedy, 'Allo 'Allo, excluded from this section? Also, an episode-by-episode list of guest appearances.

What really perks me are younger photographs of the stars. They are recognizable but it's interesting to see how they looked before they joined Grace Brothers. And Lloyd and Croft's personal observations on the stars are filled with the fondest and highest respect.

There are bios on some of the minor but regular performers, such as Vivienne Johnson (Mr. Grace's nurse), Milo Sperber (Mr. Grossman) and Benny Lee (Mr. Klein), as well as those in Grace And Favour.

There are some updates. Inbetween books, Arthur English, who played Mr. Harman the packing department head, died in 1995, as did Billy Burden (Mr. Moulterd), in 1994.
However, the icing on the cake is the list of hot dolly bird secretaries who appeared throughout the season. My favorites: Penny Irving, the luscious redhead who appeared during the show's peak era, Louise Burton, and the Barbie Doll Candy Davis, who now got a Master's degree and is teaching. Wow, brain and beauty! How rare! Another hottie, Debbie Linden, sadly died in 1997.

My recommendation: get this AFTER the Adrian Rigelsford book to get the optimal enjoying effect. You'll be right as rain then.

This lovely and indeed comprehensive tribute book commences with an introduction by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft (co-writers of the series) and a foreword by Lloyd's ex-wife (and two-time guest), Joanna Lumley, and it is sure to be treasured by fans of this entertaining British comedy.

What makes this book so enjoyable is the amount of participation author Richard Webber has received from everyone involved in the production (from writers, directors, costume designers, etc., to the actors themselves), and the book is filled with their many anecdotes. In the case of deceased actors Harold Bennett (Young Mr. Grace) and Arthur Brough (Mr. Grainger), assistance has been provided by their son and daughter, respectively.

The book includes a detailed history of the series--how it came about, how the actors were chosen, why certain actors left the show, how certain effects were achieved, and so on. Also included are chapters on the stage show, the movie, the 90's sequel (Grace and Favour also known as Are You Being Served? Again!) and a look at the success of the show (and its US and Aussie spinoffs) abroad.

My favourite parts are the four-page bios of the original cast, which includes b/w and sepia photos of the actors at various ages and stages in their careers. (A priceless inclusion are the childhood photos of most of these actors). This is followed by one-half- to one-page bios of "other memorable characters"--the maintenance men, the replacements for Mr. Grainger and Mr. Lucas, Old Mr. Grace, the nurse, and the canteen manageress. There are separate chapters for the secretaries and the lift girls with brief quarter-page bios and tiny b/w photos of each. Finally, there is a chapter devoted to "familiar faces" which contains brief quarter-page bios & tiny b/w photos of every actor to have appeared as a guest on the show.

The book also includes a complete episode guide, often with a particularly memorable snippet of dialogue from the episode being summarized or a "memory" from one of the cast of crew. An episode guide and brief quarter-page bios are also provided for Grace and Favour. Finally, there is a detailed index.

The book is a 10" x 7 3/4" 176-page hardcover printed on thick, good-quality paper with a matte finish, and it contains many b/w and colour photos throughout.

In conclusion, this is an attractive, well-researched, well-written, comprehensive and thoroughly enjoyable look back at one of Britain's most popular comedies and at the cast and crew who made it so memorable. Very highly recommended!

For those of you who have the Are You Being Served? book by Adrian Rigelsford--are you free? For those of you who don't, are you also free? Well, gather around everybody, and that also includes special Grace Brothers board members.

This 25th anniversary book by Richard Webber with the two co-creators of the show, Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, is basically an update of the previous book, but in a slightly different format. The story-by-story synopses are there, but instead of the * to **** ratings, there are memorable dialogue bits, that are always good for a laugh or two.

New material: familiar BBC performers who made guest appearances (mostly as hapless customers) on the show, with a short bio on each one. However, why was Gorden Kaye, who later starred in Lloyd and Croft's French Resistance comedy, 'Allo 'Allo, excluded from this section? Also, an episode-by-episode list of guest appearances.

What really perks me are younger photographs of the stars. They are recognizable but it's interesting to see how they looked before they joined Grace Brothers. And Lloyd and Croft's personal observations on the stars are filled with the fondest and highest respect.

There are bios on some of the minor but regular performers, such as Vivienne Johnson (Mr. Grace's nurse), Milo Sperber (Mr. Grossman) and Benny Lee (Mr. Klein), as well as those in Grace And Favour.

There are some updates. Inbetween books, Arthur English, who played Mr. Harman the packing department head, died in 1995, as did Billy Burden (Mr. Moulterd), in 1994.
However, the icing on the cake is the list of hot dolly bird secretaries who appeared throughout the season. My favorites: Penny Irving, the luscious redhead who appeared during the show's peak era, Louise Burton, and the Barbie Doll Candy Davis, who now got a Master's degree and is teaching. Wow, brain and beauty! How rare! Another hottie, Debbie Linden, sadly died in 1997.

My recommendation: get this AFTER the Adrian Rigelsford book to get the optimal enjoying effect. You'll be right as rain then.

I have watched this show for years and this is such a great book. There are episode details and bios, and even customer bios. Joanna Lumley from AbFab was in the show a couple of times.

If you like AYBS, get this!