North America Books

I live in North Carolina and I have been able to identify all the snakes, lizards, turtles, and frogs that I have found using this book. Good descriptions and photos to help you tell the difference between different species.

This book features clear plates with apparently well painted views of probably all the species of amphibians and reptiles occuring in Canada and the USA east of the Rocky Mountains, apparently also including those of Puerto Rico and introduced ones. Unfortunately, the plates of the third edition from 1998 are printed badly, with the colour dots not completely blurring in front of the reader's eye, and the pictures are a little tiny anyway. On the page opposing the plates are the common and scientific names given, as well as some important details of their appearance. Many species are represented with several images (e.g. from the side, from below; adults, juveniles), but this would probably be warranted for even more species.
The species accounts are, however, usually much too short, giving almost no detail about biology and life history of the species. Among them are, however, some colour photographs, whose printing resolution is usually also somewhat too bad, though.
The range maps are in colour and show the different subspecies in different shades, yet they are also somewhat confusing, because water bodies like the sea or the great lakes are not shaded differently from the land, so that their borders look like the state borders, and because the range borders have also be drawn in black (maybe for copying?).
Laudable is the existence of a general section about amphibians and reptiles and their catching, handling and captive care. This section would be worth expanding, though.
The third printing (1998) is/was, as already stated, not very good because of its low colour resolution and its maybe somewhat too small size, and it is/was bind only as paperback with relatively thick pages throughout.

Thank you for your timely shipping of this brand new book. I ordered it for a friend who is looking forward to getting it soon.

I have had this book for several years and absolutly love it. Not only is it nicely informative, it holds up well in the feild. I can not begin to count the number of times I have slipped (I generally keep it tucked in my waist band) in creeks on outings. After years of abuse, my cover is a worn, spine wrinkled and paged stained, but it's still solidly bound.

The book is great. Wonderful range maps, nice pictures, generally good ID characters. Could use some more info on larval amphibian identification though.

The book "Kiki's Journey" is a excellent story. It is about a little girl named Kristina (Kiki) who goes back to her Tiwa Tribe where her parents are from, to see her Grandma Santana and her uncle Tim.When she goes back to Taos Pueblo she forgets becuase she hasen't been there in a long time,ever since she was a baby. During her journey,Grandma Santana takes her for a walk after she comes out of the giftshop and tells her that she is still part of the Tiwa culture even though she lives in Los Angles. At night she thanks the Creator for making her an Native American and for her Pueblo. So,if you are going take a chance to read this wonderful book, your own journey will begin on the first page you read!!!!

The story of Kiki`s Journey was a marvelous story because she goes to see her grandmother and grandfather in her village. Kiki was from her grandmother's village, so she goes and visits. You should look at it. It`s for all ages.

KIKI'S JOURNEY WAS A TERRIFIC BOOK. KIKI'S JOURNEY WAS A SUPRISING BOOK. I FELT GOOD ABOUT IT.THE THEME WAS TO REMEMBER`YOUR PEOPLE. IT WAS A SAD AND HAPPY STORY AT THE SAME TIME.

A heart warming book for all ages, "Kiki's Journey" is delightful. It works as a story, a read aloud story, as a lesson in cultural differences, as well as a lesson of acceptance. The book would be great for kids of all ages, parents, and teachers. The illustrations are also a wonderful addition to the story.

Written by Kristy Orona-Ramirez and illustrated by Jonathan Warm Day, Kiki's Journey is a picturebook about modern Native American life. A young Tiki girl living in Los Angeles knows little about her traditional culture and heritage, as her parents brought her from the pueblo to the city when she was a baby. During spring break from school, she has the opportunity to experience the pueblo with her parents for the first time. At first she feels like a tourist in a place that should be home, but the more she learns and sees, the better she understands the proud cultural history and traditions that precede her, and above all, the importance of family ties. The boldly simple and colorful artwork is the perfect complement to this heartwarming story of discovery.

I gave this book 4 stars because it was'int one of thoese books that you couldn't put down to me. But I learned some stuf from it, like facts from the last american rainforest. Shelley Gill came to our school to talk about her books. She was cool. AND I MEAN IT.

I liked it because she took the story and made half a fact.She came to our school on Tuesday talking to us about herself.The book I wanted to talk is The Last American Rainforest is talking how the earth was before.

I like it.We learn things from it. I learned that Salmon come from trees.

I think when Mrs.Gill came she really inspired me in reading. Since Harry Potter #4 was the longest book I read.I tried to get all Shelley Gill books.But,I could only get one.So I got Tongass. I chose it because of its beautiful illustrations.

I liked when we read The Last american rainforest,because it was cool.I liked when she brougth the pictuers and the fallsools. The book was very, very, very, very good. I learend a lot of stuf.

Daughter of a full-blooded Navajo father and white mother, Lori Arviso Alvord grew up on a New Mexico reservation in a family that took pride in its native heritage, but followed few of the traditional ways. She attended Navajo schools but never learned the language; she knew her clan relationships and enjoyed the security of tribal connections but seldom attended ceremonies or understood the depth of meaning in the Navajo concept "Walk In Beauty."

Such a person might expect to shed the remnants of tribal culture on leaving the reservation to become a high-powered surgeon, a career that by its very nature flies in the face of Navajo precepts like privacy and self-effacement.

Indeed, throughout her memoir, co-authored by Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt, Alvord seems to straddle two worlds separated by an uncomfortable gulf. She first looked upon the deepness of that gulf at Dartmouth.

"For a girl who had never been far from Crownpoint, New Mexico, the green felt incredibly juicy, lush, beautiful and threatening." Unable to see the horizon, she felt claustrophobic. But the culture shock was worse. "I thought people talked too much, laughed too loud, asked too many personal questions, and had no respect for privacy." Navajos do not put themselves forward and cooperation is valued over competition. Not a good prescription for success at an Ivy League school.

At Dartmouth she began to feel her tribal identity more strongly and wonder if a kinaalda ceremony (a celebration of womanhood) would have helped empower her in such alien surroundings. But not until after medical school at Stanford, where she was forced to break numerous taboos (Navajo never touch the dead, for instance) and joined a profession where it is essential to ask prying, intimate questions and invade another's personal space at will, did Alvord really begin to explore the philosophical grounding of Navajo culture.

Becoming a surgeon at the Gallup Indian Medical Center, close to the reservation, Alvord notices that her patients do better when they are calm and relaxed, that harmony - even in the operating room when the patient is unconscious - is important for recovery.

She grows more interested in the Navajo philosophy that "everything in life is connected and influences everything else." To "Walk in Beauty" a person strives to live in balance, symmetry and harmony with everything and everyone else.

While this is an ancient precept, held in common with many other cultures and enjoying something of a renaissance in American medicine today, Alvord comes up with a particularly striking example. One of her surgery patients, a young woman, was the first to die of a strange illness that swept through the Navajo nation, killing 11.

A doctor working for the Centers for Disease Control, Ben Muneta, visited a medicine man, a hataalii, who told him "the illness was caused by an excess of rainfall, which had caused the pinon trees to bear too much fruit." There was "a significant deviation from the natural harmony of the world."

The medicine man showed a sand painting of a mouse and said that twice before in years of excess rainfall a similar disease had struck. " `Look to the mouse,' " he said. Weeks later the CDC determined that the Hantavirus was contracted from the droppings of infected deer mice. The deer mouse population had surged due to an excess of pinon nuts. "It was the rain."

Alvord's tone is quiet, reserved. It does not seem easy for her to describe the alcoholism of her charming father or the difficulties and generosity of her (married at 16) mother. Though she takes us to a nightlong ceremony for the sick and celebrates the strength her patients draw from medicine-man visits, she never explains why it takes her so long to visit a hitaalii during her own pregnancy. Or why she never approaches a medicine man to discuss cross-cultural treatments despite her growing conviction of the efficacy of the "whole body" approach.

While most of the book concentrates on her work and her struggle to reconcile cultures, she provides a wide, sad look at reservation life, beset by poverty and "white mans'" diseases. The long grief of history resides in the alcoholism and the self-loathing of so many - a balance that can never be put right.

At last Alvord leaves. Seeing it as the next natural step in her own "life trail", she returns to Dartmouth as a surgeon and a dean of minority and student affairs. At Dartmouth, she hopes, she can teach the Navajo "Walk In Beauty" principles to new doctors as well as working within the established system to bring better care to her own people.

I am full-blooded Navajo, I was taught to believe in my traditonal ways and it disappoints me that she has talked about very scared ceremonies.

Lori Arviso Alvord walks in two worlds. Raised on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico -- "the rez" -- she is the daughter of a Navajo man and a white woman. Carrying this dichotomy into her education and career, she went from the reservation high school to Dartmouth College, then found her path to Stanford University School of Medicine and a surgical residency in New Mexico.

As the first Navajo woman surgeon, she learned to integrate the science-based world of medicine and the spirit-based Native American culture. The importance of the singing cures, native healing practices, and other spiritual traditions was brought home to her when she observed her patients' outcomes. Surgical skill was often not enough when delivered without respect for the language, culture and spirituality of the Navajo patients.

The main focus of this memoir is Dr. Alvord's path to acceptance of the first Navajo principles: balance, harmony and wholeness, known as "Walking in Beauty." Along the way we learn a great deal about Native American history and culture, sensitively presented.

Dr. Alvord speaks of the cultural bases for Native American alcoholism and the prevalence of gang culture, monumental threats to the health and well-being of her people. The healing of these ills will never be achieved in the operating room alone, and many patients' stories illustrate this lesson effectively.

The outcome of Dr. Alvord's journey is signaled from the beginning, as is often the case with a memoir. While this may dilute the dramatic tension of her story, we're rewarded with a thoughtful and inspiring look at one woman's life and work, in all its contexts. I recommend this book to readers young and old who have an interest in the cultural aspects of medical care.

Linda Bulger, 2008

I picked up this book and I could NOT put it down. What a wonderful journey described here....how she interlocks traditional medicine with Navajo, how harmony and positive spirit is such a process in the healing world. You will not be disappointed with this read. I have shared this with all those close to me. Make it part of your list

--Dr Alvord writes about her journeys as a Native American student and physician. The book seems clearly designed for non-technical readers rather than the professional medical community, and there's little medical jargon. She uses her own difficult pregnancy and the death of a beloved grandmother as case studies in integrating Western medicine and Navajo ideas.
--On the one hand, it's worth reading this book just to hear such an inspirational story from such a role model. Dr Alvord tells her story with dignity and courage and she has many good ideas about listening to patients and integrating Balance and Harmony in our profession (although these ideas don't seem as radical or as rare within the medical community as she seems to imply, and I don't think she does anyone a great service by implying they are).
--On the other hand, the authors remained disappointingly abstract, even given the limitations of confidentiality and space. The stories of Navajo healing barely scratched the surface and the book was pretty scanty with practical advice that would help non-Native healers understand Native American patients. I'd love to have heard her perspectives on the magnitude of Native American health problems, how she handled the constant pressures of time and funding, or how she successfully used traditional Native American methods to help manage serious medical-social problems (i.e. alcohol use, diabetogenic diets, family pressures, basic compliance and responsibility issues, etc). In short, I'd like to have heard more about her successes.
--The book's perspective gives a good counterpoint to those who criticize Western medicine as too impersonal/sterile/uncaring/whatever, while they fail to demonstrate how to predictably improve things and still efficiently deliver technically competent health care to people with different levels of motivation and understanding. Western medicine works beautifully in its own niche, but it will be made to work less efficiently if we mess around with the wrong things. Perhaps medicine will improve if we balance the responsibilities of patients to live a healthy lifestyle with the responsibilities of healers to carefully listen to patients and then help them heal.
--This book did not practically help me to do this, so I cannot give it five stars despite my respect for her credentials. I do look forward to a sequel.
--Other books which may be of interest include Blessings (by Dr. A. Organick), The Dancing Healers, and Primary Care of Native American Patients.

This book seems to cover many great hiking areas in Sedona. It is quite explicit re: directions and information about the hiking trails. Great book for a person new to the area or even people who have been around awhile. Very informative!

I used this book for planning a 2 day visit to Sedona. I was extremely happy with the format. It has 2 pages per hike, with a high quality photo of what to expect for views, driving/hiking distance/time, as well as selections of their favorites. We didn't visit long enough to do a lot of the hikes, but we truly felt that we were able to select 3 hikes that were perfectly suited to our tastes and with nice variety. Overall, I don't think you could go wrong in Sedona, but I felt like this guide was well worth the price and only wish I could find similar guides for other locations. The Magnum's have done a great job, deserving of 5 stars.

The only shortcoming you may find is that their maps are very general and mostly help you find the trailhead (which was flawless). But, I prefer to have a quality map as well and I purchased the Emmitt Barks Cartography - Sedona Trails Map (not sure if it was on Amazon), and was very happy with it. Personally, I don't think you can create a detailed map inside the book for each hike, so I don't consider this a flaw to the book - just a bit of advice if you are planning a trip.

This book was very helpful in deciding which hikes to do. We were not dissappointed by any of the hikes. It was good that we knew about the pink jeaps ahead of time.

I have read five books about the Sedona hikes, all written approximately across the same time period, and this is why Iknow what I am talking about.I have also been to Sedona twice and know about it in a general sence. Short and sweet...this is the best all around Sedona hiking book filled with lots of bits about popular and unheard of hikes. This book is good because it is created by a Husband and Wife writer and photographer team who have lived in the area for years. The book includes maps of how to get to the trail heads and where the trails go from there. Also, descriptions of weather related to time of year and level of exertion required to do the hikes. The hikes that include VORTEXES are clearly marked. The photography is great. The five other books are best described by one or several of the following phrases: sickening and homespun; the writer as spiritual guru who is grandiose; might as well not bother; information repeated elsewhere ad nauseum. GET THIS BOOK

This book is good you want to look up a specific trail by name. I am more interested in researching trails in a specific area and found the layout of this book VERY frustrating. This book NEEDS a trail map overview where one can see where a specific trail is in relationship to the other trails. If you purchase this book make sure to purchase a Sedona Trail Map as well.

A must book for anyone who wants to understand why so many black boys and men seem to be targeted by the society for failure, criminality, jail, etc. I highly recommend it and the rest of rhe volumes in this series.

As an educator who strives to find direction on how to break the negative experience in pre K-12 education for a high number of Black male youth, I find this book, along with the other two in the series, to be informative and innovative when it comes to establishing a marker for administrators to use in order to monitor the teacher-student relationship and provide the positive environment that is necessary for all students, especially the Black male youth, to succeed.

This book is a must read for parents of African American boys and boys of color.

Reading this book revealed unfortunate truths that were not surprising to me at all. Serving as a public educator for over twelve years, it's sad but true as to why young black males at a very young age lose the desire, hope,and will to do better in school settings due to the facts listed in this book and many more since this book was written. I was overjoyed to see that Marcus Garvey Academy, a school that I taught at for eight years under the sincere leadership of Dr. Harvey Hambrick was mentioned. I was honored to read that Dr. Kunjufu took notice to how Marcus Garvey Academy in Detroit, Michigan and other schools assume pivotal roles in contributing to the solution to this horrible epidemic impededed on the futures and lives of young African American Males. Dr Jawanza Kunjufu did a great job at presenting multiple truths and the sad reality of how young black males are unfortunately targeted from the start.
Adra Young
Author of: The Everyday Living of Children & Teens Monologues

This an Dr. Kunjufu's many other books are exceptional in the fact that he details the facts straight to the point. I enjoy his methods of writing without pullng any punches. I wish that I had read this before my son started grade school, but now he is in the 4th grade and he went from being placed in special education, to a 4.0 dean's list GPA. God bless the power of prayer and guidance. Anyone can change their situation. I also just finsihed my Associate in Business, and I am in my Bachelor's Degree program right now for Marketing. Of course I will go on to the Masters programs and Doctorates. Learn for life...

"Please share a priceless thought through literature" "Give God the glory"

Thank You Dr. Kunjufu

Pictures and text to satisfy the most discriminating. Inspirational to this nature photographer especially interested in the overlooked/underappreciated aspects of the world around us so worthy of our attention.

Professor Brodo is one of the great living lichenologists, and in this book he brings his many decades long experience to fruition. Beautifully illustrated, readable, and very complete, it is probably the only work like it on the subject of lichenology. All the main groups and species get covered, and although this is a very technical area, it's written to be accessible to the non-specialist as well.

I had the great fortune to take lichenology from the late, great Dr. Harry Thiers, and the year I took the class (1984), it was the only lichenology class offered at a college in the U.S., which gives you some idea of how esoteric a subject lichenology is even for botanists, who are used to working more or less in obscurity and not having their area get the attention that other more glamorous areas of macrobiology get, such as mammology and ornithology, which are far more popular with the greater public. But for those interested in learning about this unusual and difficult area, this is probably the best book on the subject that has ever been published.

I have not often encounter such a beautiful and well put together book! Every page was filled with fascinating information and pretty much all species was visually stunning with lovely photos. If you like fungi, lichens, or even plants, this book is a must have. If you love art and photography, this book will be a wow. I display it on my coffee table and it certainly deserves to be there. The price is fantastic for this huge and colorful book! I highly recommend it!!

A coffee table book that you will be proud of! The most beautiful pictures I've seen on lichens.

Receiving this book was beyond all my expectations. I have not seen anything like this on this subject before. It is well-organized, detailed, and of highest class. The print quality is excellent. The book starts with an over 100-page general overview of the lichens before going into botanical keys and the description of individual species. The photography is just stunning. This book is for the scientist as well as the general nature lover.

I love the graphics and the paper that this book is printed on. Be aware that most of the cutting is pretty challenging, even for my first graders. If your child doesn't have great fine motor skills, be prepared to help them with the cutting. That being said, it is great for developing those skills that teachers don't have a lot of time to teach these days- like cutting and gluing.

My mom always said, give your kids a pair of scissors and they'll be happy for hours. She was right, but even more so with this book. When my oldest was in pre-K, the teachers encouraged us to have her cut, color, and draw at home to develop fine motor control and hand strength, as pre-writing skills. This book gives your kids something fun to cut, and by the end, they're cutting much more complex configurations, without pain. Highly recommended!

The only thing not to like about this book is why, at almost $7, could they not have perforated the pages?! I've bought coloring books at the dollar store with perforated pages. I'd take off a star for this, but the book itself rates 6 stars in my book...

My 3 yr old daughter is almost done with this book now, and we'll be getting more Kumon books - and that great Chicken Socks cutting book, too.

I teach three year olds. I bought this book to help them with their cutting skills and I really like it. I only have to say "Who wants to do a page out of the cutting book ?" and I have a full table and some waiting in line. They really like it.

I really am quiet pleased with this book, I know how hard cutting can be and to help my daughter. My daughter loves this book and the others we have and actually wants to do the work book or to go and do "homework" as she calls it.

The book starts out with very basic cuts and then as the pages progress the cut work gets more challenging. The artwork is cute and I can say that this book has helped my daughter cut with confidence and her cutting has gotten much better. She's only been in pre-kindergarten for 2 weeks and my daughter's teacher says it shows that we've been practicing cutting.

The other Kumon books we have and like are: Lower Case Letters and folding which is also another really neat task for your child to get good at and also has some really cool photos and pictures.
My only complaint is that I wish the pages where perforated for easily removal.

I know this already has great reviews, but I just had to write what an amazing job this book has done for my 5 year old son. I just gave him one page a day to cut, and I can't believe the improvement in his cutting. Even better, I never corrected him, just said what a great job he was doing (this is what the book says to do). I was skeptical that this approach would work, but it has!! Best money I ever spent on a workbook.

A ROAD WE DO NOT KNOW takes the reader on the June 1876 campaign against "hostile" tribes that ended, as every schoolboy should know, in the defeat of the 7th Cavalry at the battle of the Little Big Horn, a river also known as the Greasy Grass to the Sioux. Mr. Chiaventone's first novel is not a great work of literature but it holds up pretty well against a lot of other historical fiction. A ROAD is told from the perspective of captain and corporal, chief and warrior, indian and trooper, white and red. Wrapped in fiction, the author provides a plausible explanation for why and how the battle developed, a puzzle debated by historicans for over a hundred years. The novel explores General Custer's decision-making prior to the battle, when presented with information from his scouts, and during the battle, when pressed by overwhelming numbers of warriors. It makes for a fascinating read to be especially enjoyed by history buffs. Mr. Chiaventone also is able to get into the motivation and thinking of the Ogala, Hunkpapa, Cheyenne, Arapaho and other Indians engaged at the Greasy Grass, showing the reader how these native Americans viewed the world without dragging down the novel with unnecessary and distracting "spiritual" discourse. A ROAD is a realistic novel, describing the rigors of the campaign as well as the violence of battle. A side note is that some 7th Cavalry survivors of the Little Big Horn were later killed at Wounded Knee, where a total of 26 troopers were killed and 35 wounded. Highly recommended.

I've read this book with great interest and excitement. I also comuunicated with the author by email several years ago, and consulted many "experts" on Custer after I read the book. Most of the stories we've heard about GAC are pure trash. GAC was a great hero in the Civil War, for which he has not been given near enough credit due to the despicable stories that have been told about him in the years since the Little Big Horn.

His dear wife, Libby, spent the rest of her life trying to correct the defaming and hostile stories written about him. Because most of his family died at the Little Big Horn, only his enemies, such as Benteen and Reno, were left to tell the story. They were both jealous of Custer, and all the evidence points to Reno as the biggest flaw in the campaign, as he and his troops turned and ran in the face of an assault. This is explained in several writings about this event.

Custer did what most any soldier would have done in his situation. This book explains some of that, so I will not repeat it here.

Suffice it to say, read the book with an open mind, forgetting all the "disinformation" you've heard about him.

Why wasn't this book made into a movie? Well, if it had been an anti-Custer, or anti-American book, it would have been The left-wing, socialist, anti-American pukes in Hollywood would have seen to it. But, it is a realistic story not indulging in mythology or hate-mongering against a true American hero in the Civil War. Custer's conflict with the Grant administration over treatment of the Indians is also a truth Hollywood would not want to tell. That would undermine their hate for him.

With "A Road We Do Not Know" Mr. Chiaventone takes us, on both banks of the Little Big Horn River, as close to what really happened there June 25, 1876 as anybody will ever get. Chiaventone achieves this partly through extensive historical research and partly through empathy for the men involved in the events, all of whom, Indians and cavalrymen, emerge from this story as real people: There are no Noble Savages in this book nor is Custer represented as a fool. Chivaentone understands the "fog of war" and how it can blind otherwise valiant and experienced commanders: Eighty-nine years after the Little Big Horn the 7th Cavalary got itself into a similar debacle at a place called the Ia Drang Valley in Viet-Nam, and in 1965 they had air support and artillery. The only quibble I have about this excellent novel is the large number of footnotes throughout. They do not belong in a novel because they distract from the flow of the story. Someone at Simon & Schuster needs to be reminded of that: put 'em in the narrative, in the mouths of the characters, or in an "Historical Note" at the end of the book, but NOT at the bottom of the page.

I gave this two stars but it is a matter of taste. I was looking for straight historical fiction. To enjoy this read you must really be an avid fan of military fiction. For people with this interest, this might be five stars. For my taste, the author dwelt too much on the details of the military custom and practice that he reconstructed for the circa 1870s Seventh Cavalry. This amounted to the first half of the book and I got bogged down in it. But this preoccupation with military details ran through the remainder of the book and I think had the effect of dampening the climax. It seemed like there was more militaria than characterization so it was hard for me to be personally drawn into the climax. But I realize that this is exactly what some people want. I also felt that the characterization of Custer was a little too charitable based on the history I have read. I am a Native American and I got the impression form this book that Custer was almost benevolent in attitude towards Indians -- just a little egotistical. That's a stretch.

Not since May 29, 1981, the day I finished The Killer Angels, have I been so overwhelmed by the ending of a military action novel as I was by this book. It is fiction only because it supplies lotsa dialogue for June 25, 1876--the day of Custer's Last Stand. This book presents all the events as very concentrated in time, whereas I before reading it had the impression the events were spread over several days. I am confident this book is pretty accurate as to what happened. This is a very poignant book, and made me feel I was with the people on that fateful day. Most worthwhile reading.

Spark your Dream - is probably one of the most important books you will ever read. It is a book about, dreams, love, courage, faith, friendship and hope. Buy it, read it, love it, share it and you will want to realize your own dreams and encourage others to do the same. I have enjoyed this book so much,I read it aloud for my children, I bought it for all my friends and family. Even long after you put it down, it lives on in your heart and you keep referring to it and talking about it. It is a fabulous book.
We can learn a lot from Cande and Herman's way of looking at life and always meeting the world with an open heart and faith -they trust in the good in people and people around the world respond with compassion and love, eager to help them, no matter the walk of life be it the poorest peon in Peru or the richest businessman in USA. An important message that makes this world a better world. In our family we want to nominate the Zapps to the Nobel's Peace Price. Thank you for sharing this book with the world!
Anne and Hugh

I met the Zapps at Craters of the Moon National Park last month and bought 3 of their books from them right there. Knowing that it could only be bought directly from them I was a little saddened I couldnt buy more copies (due to my finances) because I have reccomended it to all my friends and literally have a waiting list growing but now that I have found it on Amazon I can buy more copies! These are truly incredible people and have given me so much inspiration to follow my own dreams. Nearly every page of my book has highlighter markings of the truly wonderful and inspirational things in this book that I look back on occasionally to remind myself of things to be thankful for, dreams to follow, how to love others, take risks, and live for your heart! If you read this Candelaria and Herman, please know how much you have truly inspired me and made a difference in my life. It was a pleasure to meet you and your beautiful family!
Erfellie

I've never written a review here before but I feel compelled to do so for this book! I am only a little over halfway through and I am already buying more copies to give as gifts to friends, and to my mom for her retirement/career change gift. I want everyone I know to read it! It is such an enjoyable read that one could read it for enjoyment alone. But the big thing I am getting out of this is exactly the inspiration that Herman and Candelaria meant when they started writing it: to figure out what I want most out of life and to just go for it and make it happen! My husband and I NEVER read the same books but we both read this one after he bought it from them at a festival last fall. He loves it so much that he gets upset if I leave it somewhere that our 2 year old can get it and bend the pages!

Never before have I read such an inspirational tale. Many others have spoken of the wonderful people these two are ... I could not agree more .. The story inspires me daily .. I thought I would offer another insight in how this book can be used to motivate others

Some nights my near six year old son likes to sleep in my bed with me .. before he falls asleep he asks me to read to him from Candy and Herman's book .. he wants me to read until he is fast asleep .. already he has learned the power of dreams and his own ability to bring his to life ...

I can not say enough about the beauty that lies with in these pages!

Shannon

This book is so inspiring. Anybody who has a dream, which is everybody, will absolutely love this book. It will encourage you to go out and chase your dreams. You won't be able to put it down as you feel you are truly taking part in this wonderful journey.