Papers Books

This book should be required reading in all large companies. I liked the author's style of writing -- felt like he was talking to me in plain english, not typical lawyer-talk. I am Sales Manager in a large marketing firm and most of the things that the author writes about were already happening in our firm. Now we will be able to take immediate steps to correct them. I don't understand why our outside counsel never admonished us about these things. Mr. Tapper's advice is so much more valuable than the cost of this informative guide to the world of litigation. He really does show you how what you don't know CAN hurt you and your company. Get this book, and keep it handy for continual refreshers.

I just finished reading this highly informative book, and recommend it without reservation. What I liked about it was its no-nonsense approach to showing you how easy it is to say and do the wrong things in your everyday work routines. It's written in plain-speak, laymen's terms. The author is an expert in advising you how to avoid the trouble spots that can make your words backfire. We all use emails and never think twice about their effect, but this book will change all that if you heed the author's advice about the traps in email use that can cause you and your company a lot of trouble, particularly when your company gets sued and your emails are resurrected during the discovery and document production phases of litigation.
What's nice is the realization that you're getting advice from a former in-house counsel who has seen the effects of managerial blunders, so the perspective is from the inside. You're not only alerted to email trouble spots, but to all kinds of concerns involving voicemails, how you handle confidential information, including laptop negligence, access to computer records, the way you write up reports, and an alarming wake-up about how we don't think twice about giving outsiders carte blanche to walk through our offices at night, touch our loose papers, and maybe even copy them--these are the janitorial service crews who clean our offices at night and empty the wastebaskets that may contain very confidential information as throw-aways. The chapter discussing this is worth the price of the book.
It's also a great read to learn about what your company should have in its Email and Internet Use policies, and how you can adopt a legally recognized program for "document retention," which allows you to clean out the accumulation of old, unneeded files and records. There's also a review of the McDonald coffee burn case and the Firestone tire defect debacle to show you the contrast of how to handle a media public relations crisis the right way, and how to keep trial lawyers from achieving punitive damage awards against your company.
I'm in an electronics firm with a staff of 10 supervisors and managers, and I'm buying a copy for each of them. It just makes sense for them to know how their words can have far greater consequences than what they think at the time they write them.

It's a wake up call on how to deal with your colleagues and the public. Loaded with useful information that s/b required reading for any mgr to avoid major problems in today's corp. environment. It is well written by someone who obviously has seen executives put their foot in their mouth.
I passed on my copy to my CEO and HR Head and told them to read this book asap. It was my recommendation that we weave the contents of this book into our mgmt training program.
I am a SR VP with a financial services firm and and had it instantly change my methods on dealing with people.

This book, for the reasons already mentioned by the other reviewers, is wonderful in its format and presentation of the information. I thoroughly enjoyed poring over the various albums presented and marveled at the unique creativity of each of their authors. As a person who creates scrapbooks, I admit feeling some sorrow that these albums have wandered far from their original "families," but at the same time, it gave me hope that there is an increasing respect for the folk art aspects of the "snapshot album" and that my albums -- if they go astray -- may someday be archived and revered like so many American handstitched quilts. So, I take solace in that the future my "art" is full of possibilities!

I have one small criticism: I would have liked to have seen the text printed in a slightly larger typeface. I found the small typeface difficult to read with my aging eyes -- but, I persevered and read every word!

This is a most interesting book, at least for people such as myself who have an interest in late 19th and early 20th century photography. Actually, I suspect it would also intrigue people who lack that enthusiasm but who have an interest in general social history of this period. A premise of the book is that photographs in albums are often times given added historical or literary meaning and visual interest by being placed into a personalized context by an arranger, compiler, and/or photographer. This context provides the photographs with an enhanced ability to create an historical account of a life, a portion of a life, an event, etc. - without being subservient to a text. Most of the albums presented do not have any substantial written commentary (and many have no written text other than labels for individual photographs), and rely on the images alone to provide the larger insights. The book is extensively and richly illustrated with examples drawn from the large and thoughtfully acquired collection of Barbara Levine. These examples illuminate and extend the clear and insightful commentary in the book.

The book also contains a very fine essay by the novelist Matthew Stadler discussing his ideas concerning the value of such albums that I was grateful to see, as these were ideas that would not likely have occurred to me, but were most insightful. This is a most pleasing inclusion.

The historical component of a picture is obviously improved by being placed in context. One of the most interesting features of this book then, is its visual demonstration of the wide variety of historical narrative styles that can be illustrated by albums, and even the way historical events can be illustrated without a "narrative" per se.

Definitely a valuable book for people who are interested in historical photographs. A small criticism, from my stand point is that I would have liked to have seen more albums filled with tintypes, but this is a _very_ trivial point when compared with the strengths of the book.

The cover is velvet, like one of those fancy Victorian-era photo albums. "Snapshot Chronicles" accompanies an exhibition at Reed College of innumerable photographs collected by Barbara Levine. The photographs are kept together as they were in albums of their original owners; or in the case of those not going with an album, in groups of similarly pictured individuals or similar subject matter. The source of the photographs was the Kodak Brownie camera introduced as a consumer item in 1900. This quickly led to an explosion of photographs of friends, relatives, yards and neighborhoods, vacation scenes, and varied activities (much as the cell phone has spurred new kinds of communication these days, one assumes). The photos were kept in "vernacular" photo albums; whose charm to later generations is explained by Willard Morgan, the Director of the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Photography in 1944, "The snapshot has become, in truth, a folk art, spontaneous, almost effortless, yet deeply expressive. It is an honest art...partly because it is simply more trouble to make an untrue picture than a true picture." The hundreds of simple, yet fetching snapshots were taken before the days when artists, photojournalists, advertisers, and propagandists started to make use of cameras for their own specialized ends. Thus, the guileless, popular, vernacular snapshots can be seen as an unwitting visual social history of the era too.

My kids love this book! We read it together and created "practice" peace cranes with plain white copy paper. Now, we're folding nice paper cranes to give with gifts this holiday season and to hang as ornaments. By following these instructions, even my three year old can fold a peace crane. The secret is in looking for all the other shapes (a mountain, elephant ears, a kite, an ice cream cone, a baby bird's mouth, a canoe, a wolf, etc.) that you find as you make each fold.

Mary Chloe Schoolcraft Saunders' Spread Your Wings and Fly: An Origami Fold-And-Tell Story is a rhyming children's book that teaches young readers how to fold a paper crane. Rapturous color illustrations by Carla McGregor Mihelich add a wondrous touch to this charming read-aloud book; the last two pages feature very detailed, step-by-step, text and pictoral instructions for crafting a crane that can flap its wings.

The art of Japanese paper folding is called Origami. It is an ancient art, a discipline that has entertained and amazed both children and adults alike.

I learned to fold the Origami paper crane when I was a teenager. It is something I have remembered all my life, and I have always enjoyed showing someone how to make one, or taken delight in seeing the happiness in a child's eyes as the piece of paper turned into a graceful bird.

Spread Your Wings and Fly is a positive affirmation book that you read as you learn to fold your paper crane. The beginning of the book discusses how the author learned to fold the crane and there is even a little history of the art of origami. She also discusses how to use the book and achieving the end result, a flapping version of the paper crane.

But it was getting into the story, into the folding of the crane that really grabbed me. The crane can be a difficult feat if not shown by someone who can patiently teach the art. Ms. Saunders has the pictures of folding the crane broken down into the easiest and most basic way of folding. I followed through, page by page, fold by fold, and while it is a little different than the way I was taught, I had no problem following and achieving a proper and working crane.

Then I went back and read the story. Each fold has a purpose in making the final product. Each time you fold, you are presented with a fold that life can offer you. Sometimes the fold can resemble the shape the paper has taken, sometimes there is a ripple in the fold. While a fold can remind you of a mountain, the mountain can be a big dream or it can be a small one. As you flatten the mountain out, you are reminded that dreams can be squashed also. Wonderful visuals to accompany the process of making the crane, to discovering the folds in your own life, and finally flying free with the finished crane, no matter how life folds for you.

This is beautifully written, well explained, and to top it all off, there are the excellent illustrations, quality print on glossy paper, all of which only compliments the entire work. Together, Ms. Saunders and Ms. Mihelich have given us a book that will provide parents and children with some quality time and some insightful mini-meditations for both of them. Or, if used by a child alone, it is time this child will spend exploring him/her self.

Give this one to your child, or grandchild, and see the delight in their eyes as they create something wonderful to fly to their hearts delight. boudica

I got this book for my children, however, my husband quickly picked it up and started reading it. There are planes that are easy enough for the children to make and intriguing enough for my oragami expert husband. The pictures are clear and easy to follow. My only complaint is now I have a house full of airplanes with adults and children flying them all around. Great book!

Stationery Flight gives good information about the dynamics of flight in general and provides 33 planes sorted by style. The majority are made from a single sheet of paper. My friends and their children found the diagrams helpful in succeeding with paper airplane making. The book shows line drawings of the front, side and top view to help shape the final form. Hours of great fun.

This is a terrific little book. Weinstein starts with the basics--the principles of what makes paper airplanes fly, and the principles of paper-folding that will be utilized throughout the book--and thenproceeds to show in perfect detail how to build nearly three dozen unique paper airplanes. Even the simplest ones are far more impressive than anything you are likely to have created on your own--and they fly a lot farther, too. As for some of the more complex ones--well, it's almost not even fair to call them "paper airplanes," as that doesn't connote the level of intricate detail and genuine beauty in one of Weinstein's finished paper fighter jets.

I thought this would be a cool book for my ten-year-old son. I was wrong: it's a cool book for ME, his 40-yer-old father! Which is not to say that my son couldn't follow all the instructions--they are laid out simply, in both text and accurate diagrams. It's just that I'm having too much fun...

Highly recommended.

I was delighted to find out that not only were F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories being narrated on audio cassette, but that one of the performers was none other than Robert Sean Leonard. Scottie is by far one of my favorite American authors. It takes an incredible talent to condemn the life you live in your literature, and when I think how he strived for excellence but fell victim to society, I can't help but pity him. His writing is so delicious to read as well. He has such wonderful similies and metaphors, and is so descriptive I can taste the wine, feel the rain and see the stars. The Jazz Age is one of my favorite time periods and F. Scott Fitzgerald captures it perfectly. You see the glittering side but then the glitter gets tarnished as it must. What is even better about this audio is that one of the narrators is none other than my favorite actor, Robert Sean Leonard (better known as Neal in Dead Poets Society and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing among other films). His voice is wonderful to listen to, even if you're not a fan of his acting. It's perfectly clear and flowing and it reminds you of listening to your parents reading you a bedtime story. The tape itself leaves you feeling as if you've been on an emotional rollercoaster. There's a nice beginning, then it peaks with conflict, the resolution, and then the end finishes as calmly as it started. Yet you've gained something from it. Fitzgerald has some incredibly phenomenal themes in his work. The odd part is that I usually don't like getting audio books, but I certainly reccomend this audio of The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald" It's worth every penny.

Surely an icon in the annals of American literature, F. Scott Fitzgerald produced a body of work which epitomized the Roaring Twenties. It has been said that his dominant influences were "aspiration, literature, Princeton, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, and alcohol." Nonetheless, his writing possesses an urgency, a bite, unrivaled by his peers.

Collected in this superb audio are nine of his early stories performed by accomplished actors. Broadway/film actress Blythe Danner reads "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," a narrative inspired by a lengthy letter Fitzgerald wrote to his younger sister, Annabel, in which he offered advice on how she could become popular with boys.

"The Jelly-Bean," read by Dylan Baker, takes place in Georgia. Fitzgerald credits his wife for her expertise in helping him write a portion of this tale involving crap shooting, saying "as a Southern girl" she was an expert at this endeavor.

The talented Peter Gallagher reads "Head and Shoulders," the first of Fitzgerald's story to appear in The Saturday Evening Post.

Also found in the collection are "The Diamond As Big As The Ritz," "Dalyrimple Goes Wrong," "The Ice Palace," "Benediction," "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button," and "May Day."

This is an exemplary combination of memorable prose and oral presentation, a remarkable listening experience.

I first became acquainted and fell in love with the work of F.Scott Fitzgerald when I read a hardback copy of The Great Gatsby in my early 20s. Since then, I have read Tender Is The Night and This Side of Paradise, so when I discovered this collection of stories by my literary hero, I floated up to the cieling. My favorites include The Diamond As Big As The Ritz and Bernice Bobs Her Hair, and anyone who has not already been introduced to Fitzgerald, either in English class at school or while browsing in a local bookstore, it's not too late to change your mind, and it is my sincere hope that you will love this man's work as much as I do!

We have checked this book out of our local library four times and renewed it several more times than that. It has many different planes from simple and easy to fold, to the more complicated bi-plane and even a Boeing 747. They all look remarkably realistic and to-scale when done carefully. Scissors, ruler, and glue are necessary besides, of course, paper. We need our own copy for my airplane-loving son.

all of the planes in this book fly great if you like planes,paper planes ,oragami ,you gota get this book

I stumbled across this book in a local library a few years ago in the oragami section and was intrigued. I had tried making accurate flight-capable airplanes before, but with little success. The simple approach that Schmidt uses makes the building process enjoyable, and while the planes produced are reward in themselves, the fact that they actually fly enhances the experience. While the planes aren't super-realistic, they are a definate change of pace from simple folding and precision cutting and bending. While the intended age range encompasses mostly grade/middleschoolers, the young at heart will still find enjoyment by adding details to the planes and having realitsic (paper) jet fighter strikes against their coworkers. This book is definately for anoyne with a passion for flying and/or folding.

This book is well written and reads very well. It makes a valuable contribution to knowledge and provides invigorating ideas to the teaching of the General Paper. With the many valid contributions of expert practitioners in this field, the book clearly provides very creative teaching strategies that have been tried and tested successfully. There is much cooperative astuteness in evidence and readers will find immensely useful the strategies/ideas/advice on both the theories and practices underlying this subject. The book takes amalgamate many variables such as integrating language and literature in inventive ways; serving with the language wants of lower ability students; broadening creative reading and interpretive skills across a spacious assortment of text-types and genres; and shows the ways in which students' rhetorical skills can be enhanced.

I am very impressed by the quality and depth of thought that this book demonstrates as I am fully aware of the importance of the General Paper in the context of education and in an increasingly globalised world like ours.

I would like to congratulate the Editors for an excellent piece of learning and I feel privileged to read it from the viewpoint of a learner. The strength and energy is so clearly evident even from reading the first few pages of this remarkable book. The book examines relevant concerns of the teaching of this subject in a practical, yet imaginative manner. It has also set theoretical assumptions side by side with practical, everyday observations and commentaries.

The book is a must-have for all teachers, teaching GP or otherwise - it helps us all to reflect on our ideas, approaches and techniques in teaching.

This book stands out among the plethora of academic 'guidebooks' and 'study companions' out there in the market, as it delves into several facets of GP teaching/learning/practice/examination preparation, leaving almost 'no stone unturned' in its comprehensive take on a seemingly manageable yet actually intricate subject. To me, what makes this book a must-have lies in the wealth of insider perspectives and valuable, relevant insights proffered by experienced practitioners in the know. There's a certain sense of 'personal touch' I get from perusing through the chapters of this book, made possible by very honest gems of wisdom and anecdotes shared generously by the contributing teacher practitioners. Therein lies the differentiation of this 'anthology' of GP teaching/learning strategies and tactics which any sensible, astute GP teacher/student could adapt someway, somehow to optimise his/her learning/teaching.

I shall conclude by declaratively asserting that, as and when I feel the need to sharpen/finetune further my present repertoire of GP teaching skills and strategies, I would readily consult the chapters of this book rather than any other teaching resource available out there. My convictions are pretty strong that this would be easily an indispensable GP teaching 'encyclopedia', especially to a 'rookie' GP teacher like me. In fact, I do hope that I would be able to contribute to a later edition of this book with my own insights gleaned from my personal experiences with the subject and pedagogy involved. This book has proven itself a potent platform for the exchanging of practitioner's ideas and experiences that would better nurture a congenial spirit of sharing and interaction across Singapore's Junior Colleges and other educational institutions.

TWO THUMBS UP!!

Gabriel Wee Kim Soon
(w.e.f. July 2006)
General Paper Tutor,
Raffles Junior College, Singapore

Many chapters come with tasks that enable teacher practitioners to try out activities in their classrooms. In fact, many chapters also include worksheet appendices to aid teachers. Given the treasure trove of resources found within this book, I am certain that this book will help allay anxiety among new teachers as it is written by teachers for teachers. The ideas contained within the book will also serve as a springboard for further discussion among the teaching community.

This book is very valuable along with "How Children Learn" by the same authoer. The author had deep insights into how a thoughtful and dedicated teacher can help students develop their own minds (as opposed to what most teachers do which is condition students not to think for themselves, and mechanically follow processes. One of my favorite essays is "Teachers talk too much." This essay emphisizes the need for teachers to get students to say things that are meaningful and are not in any sense planted by the teacher. Of course, students are usually conditioned to want to avoid the effort of having any original thoughts of their own, but they are still better severed by the willingness of a teacher to extract their thoughts. This is one example of the books insights, and the reader will find many more. The reader will also find that most teachers do not have the insights in the book.

Recomended for all professors, and all k-12 teachers, including homeschool parents.

In The Underachieving School, John Holt Shows us why schools can't be fixed. It's not a lack of money, too many students per teacher, too many societal problems, or any of the other ideas that have been blamed for the state of schooling. Holt shows, rather than tells, that schools can't be fixed because they are not a good idea gone bad. They were a bad idea to begin with.

Full of first hand accounts, this book shows the difference between learning and schooling; why schools are bad for children mentally, physically, and emotionally; why teachers talk too much and prevent students from real socialization; why tests are not only useless, but harmful; why schools turn previously well mannered children into "behaviour problems"; and so much more...

An excerpt from The Underachieving School highlights the problem:

"In school certain things are "spozed" to happen; the kids are "spozed" to sit still, be quiet, read the texts, do the workbooks, pass the exams. If none of these things happens, if the kids learn nothing, riot in the halls, drop out, that's OK, as long as you tried to make happen what was "spozed" to happen. But if you tried to make something else happen, even if, like Herndon's, your kind of order worked and your kids found things worth doing and actually did them, you're a threat to the system, and out you go. "

Many of us think that bad schools and student underachievement are a modern problem. They are not. Everett Reimer wrote about achievement problems in the 70s. John Taylor Gatto wrote about the 80s and 90s. Flesch, of "Why Johnny Can't Read" fame, wrote in the mid-50s. John Holt writes in the early 60s.

Read this book. Read Holt's others books. Read the authors above who came before and after Holt. Then you will have a broad picture, and will be able to truly understand, The Underachieving School.

The Underachieving School by John Holt contains inspirational and informative ideas on how to children should be properly educated, while retaining the respect and attention to how children actually do learn. Holt's interpretation displays to readers the difference between learning and schooling. Through author John Holt's original thinking, The Underachieving School is well written with clear and thoughtful style as result of Holt's firsthand experience with such issues. Highly recommended to all school administrations nation-wide, as well as parents, teachers, and educational government organizations.

I got this cute book for a present (I'm friends with an art lover who likes cats as much as I do, especially brown tabbies) and was really surprised to read the Library journal review when I came to Amazon to buy more copies for my neices and nephews. The fact that Amazon would leave that review right up front ahead of LATER reviews by real people, tempts me to buy elsewhere. Why is that Amazon??

Further, I can't believe a sincere library editor would pick apart every bit of the book like that - the pictures, the story, the history, the lessons! Why shouldn't a kitten be "predictably adorable"? Since when can't a children's book have humans that look "ameturish"? This isn't intended for a gallery. And how many kids picture books are "literary" works? This plot works just fine. Heidi is just one more person being mean and I hope she never screens books at our public library!

The National Be Kind to Animals Week is coming up next month and I think this book has a perfect message (though the exercises could be more explicit in this context). The illustrations are lovely, and I think it is just wonderful to give kids a pictoral tour of another country. It makes me want to go there, myself! They even learn something quite interesting about 'mean time'!

The world is getting smaller and people need to be more compassionate and conscientous in general; and we - in the USA - do not have the advantage that European youngsters have, living a short hop from a multitude of other countries where art, history, architecture, and culture go back over a thousand years. I think this book is a timely message and a good education for kids in more ways than one. Thank you Ms. Paine! I'm going to be giving it out for alot of birthdays this year.

I bought this book for several reasons. I enjoy cats and my son was in the air force in London, where I was fortunate enough to visit him. The illustrations are beautiful and brought back memories of my trip. I enjoyed the story line and the peace/cooperation theme certainly needs to be stressed today. I will use the book to share what I enjoyed in England with my granddaughters, they love cats too. I will use the illustrations to talk about our world today.

"Time For Horatio" is a delightful book for children with a valuable lesson about the importance of kindness and understanding in making the world a better place. The book also offers a delightful tour of London, and the illustrations are wonderful. I'm using it with my second grade students and they love it.

I love this book! why? because ADAM(WAR!)WARREN made it. He is the best (American)Manga writer/artist or what some say 'wartist'. The book has action, comedy, and the usual asian- manga flavor. I f you love anime/manga you must get this book. If it's ADAM "war!" WARREN made it rules!

Not only is the art the usual high quality for Adam Warren, but the story is also one of his best.

This is Warren when he's most intelligent. A great read for the casual reader, this story also offers a highly intelligent, satiric meta-story about the stupidity of super-hero comics (sic!). Well worth the read if you like your comics more intelligent than just mindless action.

The only complaint I can really have about this are the garish colors, but that is a matter of taste.

Excellent one-issue Elseworlds story by Warren, which details the adventures of a new group of "Titans" in the far-future. Plenty of action, light-hearted angst, and psuedo-religious/scientific babble to get the story going. Plus a number of engaging and interesting characters making up the team.

Especially interesting was the "appearance" of a current DC superhero and how Warren managed to incorporate him into the new Titans! From beginning to slam-bang finish, this story is well worth your time and money.