Natural Language Books

Rebeccasreads highly recommends OCEAN WHISPER/SUSURRO DEL OCEANO no matter what your mother tongue is, because... other than the flyleaves & the opening poem in both English & Spanish, this bedtime story is told all in picture... gorgeous, dreamy pictures of the life to be found in the deep blue sea.

Of shells & sounds, fishes & water, whales & mermaids, aquariums & dreams, all exquisitely illustrated by Dennis Rockhill.

A lovely way to fill your children's minds as they ready for sleep.

Ocean Whisper / Susurro del Oceano is a children's picturebook featuring a bilingual English/Spanish poem about the quiet warmth of the ocean, and its colorful plants and creatures. The poem leads into an elaborate story told entirely through soft, gentle, deep-toned artwork of a young boy and his dreams of experiencing the ocean firsthand. A unique, vibrant, and almost purely visual experience of wonder, that will surely appeal to and instill an appreciation of the sea's wonders within children of all ages, even the very young.

June 26, 2005

This wonderfully illustrated picture book begins with a mesmerizing poem that will lead children to a boy's bedroom.

During the dark hours of the night - the boy and his room are transformed. Dreams give way for the aquatic world in which to come to life!

Illustrations are exquisite and as I soon found out - children will use them to conjure up their own unique tales of adventure! This little masterpiece is great for young and old alike.

Reviewed by Betsie

A series of pictures is introduced by a 12-line poem "Ocean Whisper." The poem relates a young boy's dream that he is a whale cavorting with other whales in the ocean. The pictures are scenes from his dream. Dennis Rockhill, the illustrator, uses an artistic technique involving sketching and multiple layers of the scenes to create illustrations that capture the similar undersea world and world of a dream. A picture of whales and a fishbowl the young boy looks at in his bedroom as he is trying to fall asleep spur his dream. Ages 3-6.

My 4 year old son loves this book.
I am intrigued to watch his eyes move about the page and point and discuss different things about the undersea world. This definitely strenghtens his imagination.
I am amazed at the realism in the illustrations. Especially the underwater reflectivity from the light streaming down into the ocean depths.

My 5 yr old loves to "read" this book with me and my 2 yr old loves to listen. The colored stars make my children laugh! It has wonderful repitition so it is easy for a beginning reader to excel.

My students in Japan, ages 1 and 2 years old, LOVE this book. I was really surprised. I thought the paper-cut-out artwork wouldn't grab them, but it did. The vocabulary was basic, but things they knew and could point to in the pictures. I turned this into a dialogue book because I found the sentences weren't enough. But even a month after we finished our work on this book, 2 of my students were still carying this in their book bags every day because they loved this book so much!

From the author of Goodnight Moon. Provides emerging readers with immediate success.

My 4 year old son LOVES this book! It's great for bedtime. He laughs when we see the animals with their sunglasses on watching the stars. Definitely recommend this book!

This is a wonderful book for children just learning how to read. The illustrations glow and pop off the page! A wonderful book for all!

This is a well written book, code is easy to download, and a number of topics. All in all though, the writing is clear and easily understood so it's well worth the money...

I am a Java web/search programmer who wanted to "get into" text mining. I found this book an excellent resource for this. Text Mining is a field in which active research is still going on, and other Text Mining books I have looked at reflect this - the authors expect you to have a certain degree of mathematical background to understand what they are saying. This book explains briefly the math behind each of the approaches, but it focuses more on the algorithms that result from the math, so it is easier to read.

Of course, a side effect of this is that the approaches described are not necessarily the state of the art for solving any given problem, but once you get the basic approach to solving a problem, it is relatively easy to find and understand the documentation on the web for the more advanced approaches, since you now know what you are looking for and how it differs from your basic solution.

The book does have a (fairly long) chapter where it covers the math background necessary to get started with Text Mining. If you understand the stuff in there, you will actually be able to think up solutions to text mining problems that are unique to your own situation.

The algorithms in the book are in pseudo-code, but the book comes with a CD (or download from the author's sourceforge project textmine.sf.net) where you can see working Perl code.

Overall, I think this is one of the most useful books that I have purchased in a while. It should appeal most to programmer types who have programmed in their language(s) of choice for a while in areas other than text mining, wants to get into text mining, and doesn't want to spend a lot of time relearning high school and college math before starting off.

Text mining is one of the most exciting subjects of the web, and too few books are dealing with it. This one is one of them, and it gives quite a few examples of text mining applications, like spam filters or search engine ranking algorithms. The style is easy to follow, and the concepts easy to understand given some maths background.

However, I expected more details, and a richer content overall, thus the four stars. This is still a good book.

Software developers learn how to mine information on the Web and turn it into valuable data; but developers need to understand how data mining works. For a programmer's application-oriented review, Text Mining Application Programming is the item of choice: it reviews text data, how it's found, and how search engines locate and gather it. Next, it teaches how to build spiders to crawl the Web, how to use the information, and how to monitoring it. Perl developers will find its Perl-based code useful, but it's not necessary to know Perl to run the software herein. An excellent guide to mining the Net.

There is an old expression that half of knowing anything is knowing where to find it. And there is little more frustrating to be looking at 'My Computer' trying to find what you know you have stored in a file somewhere. Well, perhaps just as frustrating is to go to one of the search engines and try to find something that you know is there but just don't know the proper words to find it.

In this book Dr. Konchady talks about how to go find data that is in text form on your system, on your network or out on the web somewhere. It talks about search engines, but also about other techniques that can be used only by programming.

The CD that comes with the book contains several Perl software snippets that help to find named entities, parts of speech, phrases and gives a summary of text documents. This area includes developing web crawlers that can be adapted by individual users to go out and find specialized information. It further contains an Open Source software package called Text Mine that is designed for mining operations. In addition it has utilities to build and enhance Text Mine and utilities to build and manage MySQL database tables. This is an excellent book on everything from the basic hints and types through some of the mathematics that underlies text mining.

His section on the nature of an English language Question and Answer system is the best I've ever seen.

Edith Hope Fine's Under the Lemon Moon is a book with a big heart. Readers of all ages will enjoy this modern day folk tale. There is much to be learned, and even more to be felt from the pages of this book. The beautifully rendered illustrations are a lovely compliment to the book's poetic text. Under the Lemon Moon is a touching, beautiful and memorable read. This book would be a great addition to your library- and a great gift for kids of all ages.

AFter hearing "Under the Lemon Moon" read aloud to a group of 15 kindergarten students, I knew my original assessment was correct - kids will love this story! The illustrations so enhance the author's tale that it is hard to imagine one without the other. The glossary is vital, and helped the children recognize the Spanish words in context. The librarian/reader fielded such comments as: "That girl is really nice",and "the old man shouldn't have stolen the lemons, but he wasn't bad". Then they discussed how many of the class liked to eat lemons without sugar. Several asked if they could check the book out - always the clincher!

This engaging book is a wonderful tool to help young children gain brief insight into Mexican culture. With basic Spanish included in a glossary, reading Under the Lemon Moon to your children may be the perfect way to stimulate interest in and discussion of foreign language. Perhaps more significant than exposure to other cultures, this entertaining tale teaches initiative, principles, and respect. The harmonious blend of captivating artwork and thoughtful plot make this story a must for all children over the age of three.

I have been reading "Under The Lemon Moon" to four-year-old twins before bed every night this week. When we read, they become entranced by the story. They also enjoy searching for the characters in the beautiful illustrations. There are many lessons to be learned from this story, including forgiveness. I highly recommend this book!

I have spent the last six months of my life learning as much as I can about parsing. I own half a shelf of compiler books, and I have flipped through the pages of half a shelf more.

No other book approaches the clarity and comprehensiveness of this book.

When you try to read most literature about parsing, authors tend to throw around a lot of terms without explaining them. What exactly is a "deterministic" parser, a "canonical" parser, a "directional" parser? Grune and Jacobs explain every one of these distinctions lucidly, and put all known algorithms in context of how they compare to the rest of the field. How do the algorithms compare in what languages they can parse, how fast they are, and how much of the work can be done ahead of time? The book addresses all of these trade-offs, but doesn't stop at asymptotic complexity: in chapter 17 (the comparative survey), they note that general parsers may be a factor of ten or so slower than deterministic methods, even though both are linear. This high-level overview and comparative survey are something I was desperately seeking, and I've found nothing comparable to them anywhere.

There is also a lot of important background information that other authors tend to assume you know: for example, did you know that when authors say "LL" they almost always mean "strong LL" unless they specifically say "full LL?" Are you totally clear on the difference between strong LL, simple LL, and full LL? If you're not sure, Grune and Jacobs will give you all the explanation you need to fully understand.

This book strikes a perfect balance between breadth and depth. All significant algorithms are covered, most with enough detail to fully understand and implement them, but Grune and Jacobs punt on less practical material like proofs or rigorous formal descriptions. That information is never more than a citation away though, thanks to the 417-entry annotated bibliography, which gives you not only references to source material but a paragraph or two describing their key results.

I couldn't be happier about adding this book to my bookshelf of compiler books -- it quickly became the book I refer to most often, and I thank Grune and Jacobs for this superb guide to this vast and diverse field of computer science.

After searching all over for a way to understand the translation field and looking the dragon book and all, this is a great find. I am a practicing software engineer with training in electronics (good old forgotten days) and did not like math classes. This book is a great way to make this topic approachable for a practicing industry developer. Admittedly is a difficult read but if you want to understand something it needs the effort. If you cannot read the # * + etc in the other compiler books this books makes it comprehendible.

The first edition is available at Grune's web site but this very much expanded second edition is not.

just google the first author. he has the pdf version online.

Ken Howard has written an excellent and practical guide to public speaking. From preparation to techniques to control and harness stage fright , this book provides solid useful tips that work for me. I have used this book to prepare for several large audience presentations and found the advice very helpful

Ken Howard, distinguished stage actor and Harvard U. instructor, shares his success factors in public speaking. He writes in a conversational tone and uses his personal experiences making this book easy to read and absorb. He gives examples to help reduce the fear of public speaking along with tips to increase memory. He explains how a speaker can share his/her insights in a professional manner and at this same time let your personality come through. I found Act Natural to be one of the more useful books that I have read on this subject. Paragraph headings include:

1) Making Fear Your Ally
2) Acting is what you Do
3) The Speaker Prepares - Structure and Storytelling
4) Discovering Your Photographic Memory
5) Getting Real - The Power of Emotion
6) Persuading Them
7) Taking Your Act into any Room
8) Letting Go
9) Some Concluding Words About Words

This book, written by Ken Howard, a star of stage, screen and television and an experienced teacher at presigious schools, breaks new ground for those of us who dread to face the frightening task of speaking in public.
Howard draws on his extensive background to give you effective methods to overcome stage fright (you really don't want to eliminate it.) His advice on developing your memory for any kind of speaking situation -- whether addressing a sales conference or handling a job interview, is outstanding.
Howard uses techniques advocated by famous actors' coaches to strengthen your performance and to do it naturally.
Readers of this book will be impressed with the improvement they will make.
In fact, as a long-time student of how to improve my public speaking, I believe you'll find some individual chapters worth the price of the entire book.
I know I did.

Idioms are everywhere, and often we do not know what they mean. This book is a great addition to any library reference section! Learn about the origin of animal idioms and sayings. See colorful pictures and interesting literal interpretations of these idioms and sayings. Great book!

Without a doubt this was the most intersting book I have read in years. I always wondered where those silly sayings came from - now I know. This book was well written and easy to read. I liked the illustrations as well.

I loved this book so much. It was clever and charming and I was chuckling all the way to the end of the book. It was interesting to learn how everyday sayings came into use and the meaning behind them. I can't wait to impress people with the new sayings that I learned as well. I have never enjoyed a pet book as much as I enjoyed this one.I would definitely recommend this author to everyone. I hope that she comes out with more books as fun and witty as this one.

This is a masterwork by Dr. Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski and Frederick G. Meyer that looks at the Roman cities destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 AD from the perspective of the Bay of Naples area's natural environment of the time. The many color plates in this large work also portray the artwork that was preserved in hundreds of houses and public buildings in Pompeii and Herculaneum. But the real focus of the book is the landscape, gardens, and fauna that existed in the Roman period. Millions of natural, as well as man-made, objects were preserved in the molten ash that fell on those towns and the authors have provided hundreds of illustrations of these items which add up to a comprehensive look at Pompeii's everyday surroundings--street, garden and rural hinterland. It's an amazing work the will be of interest to anyone who is a student of Roman history, architecture, botany or horticulture.

Dr. Jashemski is a professor emeritus of the University of Maryland which is currently involved in the excavation of the last town major town still completely covered by Vesuvian ash--Stabiiae. The potential to find some spectacular artworks on that site is considerable as it was the most upscale neighborhood on the Bay of Naples in that period.

Jashemski has worked for many years in Pompeii's gardens - and produced many publications. This volume not only brings together a summary of all of her work, it is complemented by robust ancilliary studies from experts in paleosols, pollen and fauna. Beautiful pictures, well-referenced - an academic book that also is of interest to other readers. THE must have of all Pompeii publications in recent times.

Partly art history, partly botany and zoology, and partly forensics, THE NATURAL HISTORY OF POMPEII is a beautiful comprehensive work including the writings of archeologists and others who have examined the ruins at Pompeii and Herculaneum with the goal of establishing the nature of daily life as lived by the inhabitants of the two doomed settlements. This collection of scholarly papers was assembled into a fine book edited by W.F. Jashemski and Frederick Meyer. Jashemski is Professor Emeritus of Ancient History at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she pioneered the field of ancient Roman garden archeology, and a former senior fellow at Dumbarton Oaks in DC which houses a wonderful collection of Pre-Columbian Art as well as stunningly landscaped grounds. Dr. Meyer is the former Supervisory Botanist in charge of the Herbarium at the National Arboretum also in Washington DC.

Selected chapters from the book cover a description of the site before the eruption in A.D. 79 based on the archeological, literary and Epigraphical Evidence. We know some of what we know about the fateful day owing to correspondence between Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, whose uncle Pliny the Elder perished in the catastrophe. Other chapters cover the flora and fauna of the area (both Pompeii and Herculaneum were affected). Archeologists have determined the identity of extensive numbers of plants (including trees, vines, edible foodstuffs and culinary and medicinal herbs), mammals, amphibians and reptiles, birds (grey parrots and love birds were kept as pets).

The book is filled with drawings and illustrations, as well as photographs of human and other animal, and plant remains; frescos from the villas and public buildings; jewelry and household items; and site shots including photos of the area surrounding the forum in Pompeii (including those taken from a balloon - with buildings clearly marked), as well as pictures of the archeologists at work capturing and preserving the natural material uncovered at the two sites.

If you are about to embark on a trip to Pompeii, have an interest in Roman life as it was lived in the first century, or an interest in archeological forensics, you will find this book enlightening, but perhaps it is more suitable for the Art History or Classics section of a school library than a coffee table book as one of my colleagues suggested.

This book is an excellent addition to both the professional and nonprofessional. The details in it are superb. I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the study of animal behavior.

This is by far the best book I have read on animal behaviour as it covers every aspect of about 20 species lives' in great detail and with simplicity of language, which makes it a great read for every animal enuthsiast. It contains avid description of animals' habits, from eating to sleeping to sexual behaviour, and why certain species behave the way they do. I suppose the only slightly disappointing aspect of this book is that it contains no photography whatsoever, although it does hold a good amount of illustrations. I was also not in favor of the fact that the author based much of her explanations on the theory of evolution. Otherwise, I think the book is successfully interesting and comprehensive.

This book contains information on the behavior of 20 completely different species from 5 extremely diverse locations. I liked the way it was organized, with many charts and great detailed information. It touches on so many subjects in detail, yet the information it holds is as valuable as if it was contained in 20 separate books. Wrote in a way any amateur to animal science can understand, I hold this book as invaluable.

I purchased a copy of this book, and was stunned with the quality of the book, and the imagination and creativity that went into it. My six year old daughter and I read this book together frequently. Not only do you get to see the beauty of nature, but it is seamlessly woven into a fun lesson in reading. This is a recommended purchase for all those who enjoy reading with their children.

The photos in this book are great. The poems are fun and creative. My five year old boy who is learning to read has enjoyed learning the alphabet with pictures of letter shapes from nature. It makes a fun game to find our own letters around the yard. Highly recommend this book for parents who enjoy spending time outdoors with their kids.