Companies Books

Every time I read this my eyes well with tears from laughing so hard! Every mom, young or old needs this book. The comedy is side slipping and so true. With the stress of parenting someone needs to poke fun at these events and changes. I order several at a time so I can hand them out to friends. Don't think twice... get this book!

I love this book. I read it when I had my first child and picked it up again when I was pregnant with my second. It is a must for any parent. Lots of truth and humor. It is jam packed with little tidbits that make me laugh out loud!

I read this book during the final weeks of my first pregnancy. There are a lot of anxious feelings during this time and it was great to take a break and laugh for a while. Some of the stories made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. The only downside was that some of the things that were supposed to be funny were actually a little depressing. The section about your body after pregnancy is a great example. I've been looking forward to having my body back so it was a little disheartening to hear about your body after pregnancy even from a humorous source.

Otherwise the book was light-hearted and gave me a lot of laughter. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

I received this as a gift from a friend, and it had me laughing for hours. I would recommend for any first time parent that needs a laugh, especially moms on bedrest who could use fun read. I loved The Diaper Diaries!

My husband bought this for me right after our daughter was born. It offered me a few much-needed moments of laughter in what was occasionally a very intense and overwhelming time. I especially love the part about what it's like the first time you try to get your baby to the pediatrician's office.

This is by far the most thorough exegetical work I've found anywhere on the book of Romans. It is a masterful commentary full of pertinent insight and many nuggets of considerable import. My only negative critique is that this commentary is not more Pastoral. It is extremely useful (read "invaluable") for scholars, theologians, seminarians, etc., but is not nearly as easily digested and presented for Pastors or Sunday School Teachers or Church Bible Study teachers, etc. I only wish Moo had included more pastorally, but nevertheless this is a magnificent work and highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand Paul's message to the church at Rome. I would recommend that perhaps some other commentaries be included (even such trustworthy classics such as Calvins or Luthers).

Dougas J. Moo has written the greatest one-volume commentary on the Book of Romans!

Two other books by Moo on Romans are also helpful:
1. Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Survey (Encountering Biblical Studies)
2. Romans: The Niv Application Commentary: From Biblical Text to Contemporary Life

This commentary is probably the most exhaustive and careful study of Romans I have ever read (and I have read quite a few books on Romans). Douglas Moo stresses that the overarching theme of the letter to the Romans is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He says that Paul wrote Romans for a number of reasons: to defend his gospel against those who were accusing him of saying things like "Let us do good, so that evil may result." He also wrote to show that both Jew and Gentile are in equal need of the gospel, and that one cannot boast against the other. Paul also wrote to galvanize support for his mission to Spain (Romans 15).

Romans 1-3 shows that both Jew and Gentile are lost in sin without faith in Christ. Romans 7 shows the futility that Paul and other unsaved Jewish people in general experienced under the law, and Romans 7:24ff depicts deliverance through salvation in Christ.

Romans 8:29 means that God foreknew us in relationship, not that God foreknew that we would believe in Christ (I disagree, but this is Moo's viewpoint, and he argues cogently).

According to Moo, Romans 9 speaks of God choosing certain individuals to be saved because of His own purpose and grace, and not because of any faith he foresaw in His people. Jacob I have loved means "Jacob I have chosen," and Esau I have hated means "Esau, I have not chosen."

In a tour de force of careful argumentation, Moo shows from Romans 9-11 that God is not through with the Jewish people, and that "all Israel" in Romans 11:25-26 means that all the Jewish people alive at the time of Christ's return will be saved.

Romans 12-15 has ethical material found in a number of other Pauline epistles, and Romans 13 was written because Paul wanted to show that submitting to governing authorities was part of the pleasing will of God mentioned in 12:2 (although he leaves open the possibility of Christians responding to the government when it goes against the clearly expressed moral and ethical will of God.

The list of people in Romans 16 doesn't make for the most scintillating reading, but it shows that Paul's missionary ventures were not solo performances. He relied on others, both men and women.

What else can I say except that this is an awesome commentary. The heavy duty Greek stuff is mostly in the bottom as footnotes, but this is still a commentary I would recommend mainly for pastors and educated lay people. Moo's NIVAC offering on Romans may be a better choice for beginners.

I do not quite agree with the Calvinistic interpretations of Romans 8:29 and 9:22, especially since 9:30-10:21 make it clear that faith plays an important part of the process. In my opinion, God does not choose apart from his foreknowledge of the human response, and I think Romans 9:30-10:21 brings this out.

But otherwise, this commentary is exhaustive (and exhausting if you try to read it in a short period of time!) and extremely helpful. Thumbs way up!

Moo's commentary is good not excellent. I find he tends to chase rabbits. I would have prefered to have read more of his own thoughts on the verses as to so many different opinions of others. Over all he has done a good job, but I would not say his commentary is better than Hodge or Cranfield or some of the other older commentaries on Romans.

Moo is officially classed as a dispensationalist, however, it is known that he disagrees with a lot of traditional dispensational thought, as he is more progressive than most. For one, he is post tribulational in end time thinking, and believes in the 'now and the not yet' of the Kingdom. This book clearly shows that.
I am not a dispensationalist at all and yet I was amazed at the clarity and balanced thinking of this commentator. As he, himself states - he believes more in 'fullfillment' theology. And that's where this book is at especially in the murkey waters of ch 9, 10 and 11.
If he was as dispensational as one reveiwer above says, then Fee or the NIC committee would not have had him, as the niether the series or Fee are at all dispensational.
What Moo does do is bring traditional reformed / replacement thought toward a more Christocentric understanding of Israel as a people, who together with gentiles form God's one fulfillment people, and yet he also deals with the traditional dispensational thought that says Israel are God's earthly people and the Church His heavenly people ( or less in some cases).
I think Moo deserves credit for this book - it is outstanding, and will hopefully clear up a lot of the terrible dispensational mess in the West, and bring Christocentric fulfillment views rather than dual covenant views into people's understanding.

It is a nice book ... I don't make very many baby quilts ... but the few I do, I like this book because it is very simple.

The quilts in here are beautiful. They are also pretty simple to make. The patterns can be done quickly and I'm a beginner quilter. Like other people mentioned, the pictures are very helpful in selecting fabric and they're big and glossy so it's easy to see what the quilt will turn out like. This is by far the best of the Quilts for Baby books that Ursula has published. I can't wait till she puts out another one.

Book came on time and in good condition. I'd buy from this seller again.

I found that this collection of baby quilts offers the best options for simple quick quilts. I have always returned to this book everytime I make a baby quilt even though I have others to reference.

I borrowed this book from the library twice in a row, and am finally buying one for myself. Most of my books only get used once or twice, but I've made 5 of the projects from this book and don't see an end in sight. Awesome presentation (fun to read and browse through) and good value (very versatile).

When Hitler was asked about the possible negative consequences of the "final solution" in gassing all the remaining Jews in the world, he is reported to have responded by asking the question of "Who remembers the Armenians" who were killed by the "young Turks" at the end of the Ottoman Empire. While the numbers are in dispute, the reality is that over a million were killed outright or died of hunger during the campaign to exterminate the Armenians. But the real hidden holocaust took place over a decade later, when the Communist jackals running the "Evil Empire" in Moscow set about to eliminate the Ukrainians by systematic starvation, in far greater numbers than Hitler was able to accomplish with his ovens in concentration camps all over Europe.
Whoever Miron Dolot is, since he wrote this under a pseudonym for some reason, he lived a horror for many years that is incomprehensible for normal human beings. His description of the day-to-day struggle to exist under a system so evil that it boggles the imagination was very eloquent. Dolot talks about the neighbors who starved to death, families who engaged in cannibalism in order to survive, mothers committing suicide after the last of their children had died from malnutrition, frozen bodies stacked like firewood, roads littered with the remains of those who died trying to find a kernel of corn to ingest, and many other horrors that bring tears to your eyes. The Soviets did everything they could do to kill their opposition, including killing dogs and cats to keep them from becoming the last remaining food source for farmers who had no other option to stay alive. Even birds were shot from the trees to keep them from the starving peasants. But it was not limited to the Ukrainians; just ask the relatives of the millions of Chechens, Ingushetian's, and others who wanted independence and were rewarded with death in Soviet concentration camps called Gulags. Most of this story deals with a small Ukrainian village, but it is a microcosm of what happened in the Communist utopia under Stalin. Some of the stories from those who returned to the village after the horrors of being transported in cattle cars and escaped from the gulags are no different than the pictures of the same form of transport shown in many Holocaust movies.
But this story is far better than many of the holocaust films we have seen from Hollywood that concentrated on the one committed by Hitler. And why have we not seen this book on film to put all of the holocausts committed in the last century in context? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that McCarthyism still exists in its original form, when the communists controlled Hollywood in the 30's and apologists like Walter Duranty of the New York Times, who carries the label of "Stalin's Apologist" won a Pulitzer prize for his misreporting from Moscow about how great Stalin was. Ken Billingsley and his masterful book "Hollywood Party" shows that the real "blacklist" existed when loyal Americans veered from Moscow's party line, and explains Ronald Reagan's contempt for the communists who controlled his union until he won election to rid the union of these lice.
This is a great book. Hopefully someone like Mel Gibson will convert this to film for those who do not read, but are mislead by the Hollywood elite who condemn the USA and would have lasted two minutes under the Stalinist regime they glorify.

In 1929, Joseph Stalin ordered the collectivization of all Ukrainian farms. During the resulting upheaval, some seven million Ukrainians died of starvation. But, while it ended with mass starvation, the Soviet program of oppression started with property confiscation, arbitrary arrests, judicial and extrajudicial murder, and a whole constellation of unspeakable mistreatment.

One of the survivors of this holocaust was a young Ukrainian boy, who survived the conflagration and World War II, and succeeded in escaping to the United States. Written under the pseudonym of Miron Dolot, this heart-rending book tells the story of what he saw throughout the holocaust, and what he felt and thought.

I originally picked up this book because my own family, who were Russian Mennonites, left Ukraine before this time, but all of the relatives that stayed were annihilated to the last man, woman and child. Even so, I dare anyone to read this book and not be moved. The author does an excellent job of bringing the heartless insanity of this holocaust home to right where you live.

So, if you are interested in Russian or Ukrainian history, then I highly recommend this moving book to you.

This book is a record of what some daily life was like in the Ukrainian villages during the Great Famine.
It is his memoirs, so it cant really be judged for facts and such, but it seems very intresting to read, and accurate.
The numbers couldt be a tiny bit too high, but it might actually have been that, but we will never know due to the destruction of any documents concerning mass death in The Famine.
I say its a good book, but would only recommend it too people intrested in Russian History specifically, because its such a specific and narrow read on a subject, from a first hand account, which usually dont know everything. There are better academic books out there documenting the famine well, but this is nontheless a good read and history.

Excellent first hand account of the attempts of collectivization under Stalin; attempts that met with little or no success. I earned and received a Bachelor of Arts in History and this subject was never covered as well as it should have been. The "less hidden" Holocaust always seems to take center stage in this society. I became interested in the subject due to the flight of my paternal grandparents from the affected area prior to the full onslaught being felt.

It seems impossible that, in a place comparable to the American Midwest for rich soil, that the people who live there, millions of them, starve to death in spite of the bounty of their land. But their Ukrainian farms are collectivized by orders from faraway Moscow. The food is shipped to wherever the authorities decide it will go. This is not a dry history of bushels shipped and numbers of private farms collectivized, but a compelling depiction of lives progressively ruined as an ideology takes over. Families who resist collectivation are demonized as dirty, selfish kulaks, and are punished. The promises to the communities sound good, early on, but the resulting devastation of the Ukrainianian people that results ultimately reveals that there was not much in it for the people who worked the land.

I bought this book sight-unseen as part of Amazon's 4-for-3 promotion. When it arrived, my first thought was that it was way too sweet... "Oh Gag!" came to mind. However, I pulled it out a few nights later and read it to my baby girl at bedtime and liked it. I pulled it out again the next night, and the next. It quickly became one of our favorites. It is an especially nice way to end a day that didn't go so well - too much whining, too much stress, too much everything - this is a nice little book to share at bedtime to calm down, slow down, and relax.

My son thinks he is the boy in this book. This might be in part because I like to insert his name in the title and question that is asked in the book: How do I love you ______? I like to end with I love you ____. We own the board book version and it is a bedtime favorite. Our family discovered P.K. Hallinan (who does his own illustrations) when we purchased a copy of A Rainbow of Friends. Hallinan has written and illustrated several children's books; another of his books, similar to How Do I Love You? (though not quite as good) is ABC I Love You - this book has a brother and sister in it, so I can read it to my son and daughter together, and they can both be in the story. :-)

Reinforces the unconditional love between a parent and a child in a cute little rhyme. There have been times when my own kids have gone through one of the same things this kiddo goes through, and I quote part of the poem to them---for example "I love the way you act so brave when you fall and hurt your knee" or "and even though it may not show, i love you when you're bad." My kids love it, and I mean every word when I read it to them.

This book is so sweet. It makes me stop and appreciate all the little things about our boys that can drive us crazy.
"Even when you lose your shoes, I love you just the same," she says, and the picture shows a little boy in his church clothes with his pants rolled up like he played in the creek. I love cuddling with my little boys and loving on them while we read it.

Our 4 kids absolutely love this book, so do I! :)- This is a frequent request! What a cozy book!

I make it a point to read pretty much every book that comes out about Iraq and environs. Though there has been no recent shortage of first-rate books about the region, this one packs a punch like you wouldn't believe.

To tell you the truth, I haven't seen the book since I first lent it out. The guy I lent it out to lent it out to someone else and so on and on. That I have yet to get it back should tell you something.

The basic story is that Steven Vincent was your typical dingbat liberal living in the Big Apple as an art critic, believing that God was in his heaven and that all was right with the world . . . and that in particular Islam was a basically peaceful but tragically misunderstood religion.

Then September 11th happened, and in a fit of shock, grief, duty, and curiosity, Vincent hied himself off to desert lands as more or less a roaming reporter for hire.

The book relates his transformation from smug liberal to one who was truly concerned about constructing a fairer portrait of the chances for peace and progress over there.

So far, so good. And whatever you think of his politics, and whatever your position on the war is, and blah blah blah blah.

Listen: the thing that really pushes this book over the edge into the realm of greatest books I've ever read is what happened to Vincent after he wrote it. I won't spell it out here, but you can easily find out on the net.

God, knowing the real ending makes the final third of this book unbearable. Truly unbearable. Some of the most emotionally exhausting and harrowing reading I've ever done.

See, he meets this woman named Nour. And God! God! I can't take it.

Sparrow, O sparrow!

This book manages to deliver a concise, beautifully written account of Iraq, as seen through the eyes of Iraqis and foreigners living there in the early post-Saddam years. We hear from Iraqi men and women of all backgrounds, American "activists", soldiers, policemen, and clerics...to name but a few!
Mr. Vincent begins his journey on the highway that leads from Jordan to Baghdad. This highway gives the reader a pretty good idea of what Iraq as a whole will be like. On it, shiny SUVs and junkmobiles alike zoom at breakneck speed through the desert, avoiding roadside thieves and potholes. Should travelers need a break, they can lounge on one of countless picnic tables installed in years past on this road by Saddam's "planners", and refresh themselves with blasts of wind and sand under the 116 degree sun.
The author travels to Baghdad, the Sunni triangle, Kirkuk, Basra, and to the Holy Shia cities in the south. He reports the views of the cynics, and the disillusioned, as well as those of the (not at all scarce) intrepid optimists who persist in believing in the possibility of a democratic Iraq.
Mr. Vincent doesn't mince words as he describes the many unpleasant and even horrible scenes he finds throughout the country, but also of the growing pockets of Iraq reclaimed from destruction. Throughout he gives a very even-handed account, such that we can identify with both foreigners and locals, and with passionate Iraqis on opposite sides of many ideological wars.
I found his chapter on the Shiite pilgrimages and holidays, excellent. (In order to gain entry to these, he poses as an American Shiite, and must recite boilerplate Muslim creed in his broken Arabic). Here, we join him in his immersion and admiration of the Shiites' as he recounts their history of perseverence in the face of centuries of Sunni domination, but we also join him as he confides his more cynical verdicts on the Shia glorification of bloodshed and death he witnesses during several religious celebrations.
I also found his chapters on life in Basra outstanding. Here Mr. Vincent recounts his experience under the wing of a brave and iconoclastic Muslim woman, Nour, a Basra native. As his guide, she risks her reputation and indeed her life (she receives serial threats from those who view her as out of line), as she guides him to interviews with mullahs, fanatics, moderates, opportunists, party figures, and soldiers, and translates for him their warnings, criticisms, and their....occasional admiration, accompanied by pleas to carry on, and report the truth about Iraq and their dreams for its renewal as a nation finally free from dictatorship to us, the future readers of their story.

Freelance journalist Vincent first visited Iraq in September 2003. While other reporters sheltered in insulated compounds or heavily-fortified hotels of the "Green Zone," he lived and traveled in the "Red Zone," that is without security and among ordinary Iraqis. In all, Vincent has penned one of the best-written accounts of post-Saddam Iraq, one of the few that captures the debates, issues, and contradictory emotions that Iraqis are juggling.

In the Red Zone fills a void left by the many think-tank pundits, academics, and journalists who wrote books in the wake of Saddam's fall, where the Iraqi voice is often lost. Vincent's account has the advantage of bringing to light his encounters with ordinary Iraqis. Among other experiences, he was in Karbala when a series of bombs killed 140 in the city in March 2004; and while traveling in Basra, he was briefly interrogated by U.S. intelligence. He makes no attempt to cover the minutiae of daily Iraqi politics but instead takes a big-picture approach.

That said, In the Red Zone has its limitations. There is little discussion of the Kurdish issue and minor errors of fact pop up--for example, the date when Iran's Safavid dynasty began.

In contrast to the usual journalistic practice of adding color to an article by including an occasional man-on-the-street interview, usually conducted by an Iraqi assistant, Vincent provides a deeper insight into Iraqis. He introduces the reader to Qasim, a Baghdad art gallery owner who, because of a club foot, managed to avoid the carnage of the Iran-Iraq war; Assad al-Abady, deputy director of the Iraqi National Organization for Human Rights; a secular Sunni woman torn between her love of freedom and the "humiliation" of having it delivered by foreigners; a Fallujah policeman who swears blood lust against Americans after U.S. soldiers kill his son; a Shi'ite taxi driver still euphoric over liberation; and a Christian woman in Basra whom Vincent later learns had been raped in her youth by Saddam's police.

Vincent also spent time with foreigners. He details a long conversation with a Canadian antiwar activist who lectured him about U.S. "human rights violations" but would not condemn insurgent terrorist attacks on Iraqi civilians or visit Saddam's mass graves. Vincent also describes a surrealistic encounter with CodePink, an American peace group, during which one member doubted that Saddam really was that bad. He also notes the Iraqi reaction to Western peace groups. "How can people accept for so long the crimes of a dictator, then rise up to try and stop a war begun to remove that dictator from power?" one Iraqi lawyer asked. "Antiwar activists should examine their consciences."

Michael Rubin
Middle East Quarterly
Summer 2005

Although he died while free-lancing in Iraq, I am thankful that this great journalist was able to write this book before he left us. It is an extremely interesting look at life in Iraq, the Iraqi people, and the challenges we face there. I'm sorry about his untimely death, and wish he could have stayed around to write many more compelling and inspiring books such as this one. God bless his family and bless the memory of this brave man.

First, let me say that Steven Vincent died for this book. He was murdered because he wrote brutally honestly about the dark underbelly of Iraq, about how here (and much of the Middle East) life is cheap and what passes for culture twists minds and perpetuates continued ignorance in the majority of the populace. Steven is gone now, but his opus is still available and if you only read one book about Iraq in your entire life, then In the Red Zone should be that one book.

I read this book in one sitting, from cover to cover, all 240 pages in the span of about six hours. Everything you need to know about the war, Shia, Sunnis, Kurds, the occupation, what the future could hold - it's in here. The good, the bad and the ugly are all laid out for you. This book will be of equal fascination to both pro and anti-war readers because Steven didn't sugarcoat a thing when he wrote In the Red Zone. He didn't sugarcoat Iraq one iota and he died for it.

Life is cheap in cultures that glorify death. Steven found that out the hardest way. His death has a silver lining - Nour - his brave Iraqi intrepreter. She was shot by the same vicious parasites that killed Mr. Vincent but survived and is still somewhere in Iraq (as far as I know), guarded, silenced or both. Steven and Nour are microcosms of the relationship between America and Iraq. Read In the Red Zone. It will force you to make adjustments to everything you thought you knew. In the Red Zone is Chapter 1 in the story of 21st century. Other Americans and Iraqis will be stepping forward to write Chapter 2. Are you one of them? Which side will you step forward on?

This is not the best cookbook I have on my shelves, but I wouldn't want to give it up. I love to read this cookbook and learn how my ancestors prepared their food. There are many recipes presented as they were originally written with measurements offered in non-standard methods, for example as, "a teacup full". There are some surprising omissions, but all in all, it is a good cookbook.

One of the 3 basic cookbooks (Joy of Cooking, Better Homes & Gardens) you must have. Check out the blue cheese burger... worth the price. This goes out of print from time to time, so get it now.

What books you would grab as you ran out of a burning house? Remember that old parlor game? This is one on my list. My copy is stained and spine-cracked and I could not live without it. It's the standard by which all cookbooks should be measured.

According to the editorial material, this is Mr. Beard's definitive cookbook. He is a culinary journalist of the highest caliber, and this is his penultimate collection of recipes gathered over multiple decades of culinary journalism. While it might be an impressive compendium of recipes, it is no better than many other cookbooks of similar intention. It is an interesting historical document, but is also a rather mediocre culinary resource, despite its distinguished pedigree. Considering the author's celebrity status, I was rather under whelmed by this cookbook. I do recommend it, but not enthusiastically. It does function as an all-purpose cookbook for today's typical home cook, but you can do better.
La Cuisine: Secrets of Modern French Cooking
The gold cook book
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook: AnniversaryThe Joy of Cooking Standard Edition: The All-Purpose Cookbook (Plume)
Selected Recipes from the Saturday Evening Post: All-American Cookbook
American Heritage Cookbook
New Cook Book (Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbooks)
The Good Housekeeping Cookbook

There are 2 distinct aspects to this cookbook. Over time, it has been widely hailed as important cultural anthropology. It is also an extensive compendium of home cooking. Neither aspect is especially convincing, but together, they make a decent culinary resource. Its main strength: for those who like to 'entertain at home' (OK, this an archaic term also from the era of the 'housewife'; by this, read: superbowl sunday, sunday dinner with the neighbors, baby showers, cocktail/diner parties, celebrations where food is expected, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's/Father's day, etc.), and you need a source for reliable, decent recipes that will feed a crowd.

The recipes themselves are the weak point of this book. Mr. Beard has openly cribbed recipes from far and wide, and expertly assembled them as the good journalist that he is. He has a tendency to present several recipes that are only marginally different. This is a good sign, inasmuch as this indicates that the author has significantly altered the original recipe to fit a mold that he knows works correctly, and it also indicates that the author has tested it or a similar recipe (`authentic' is not one of the words I would use to describe the recipes). On the bad side, it means that the scope of the recipes is not as comprehensive as you might think by counting recipes or pages. There are substantial gaps, including entire categories of recipes you would normally expect to find in such an all-purpose cookbook. It also means that much of the original techniques in the recipes have been filtered through Mr. Beard's au courant (circa 1970) sensibilities. I am also not convinced that ALL of the recipes have been thoroughly tested by Mr. Beard.

I also note a couple of format deficiencies. The recipes do not specify the yield; you have to read the recipes closely to discern how many servings the recipe makes. The TOC of this book is woefully inadequate: it simply lists the chapter title. The chapters are thoughtfully divided into sections and subsections, but these are not listed in the TOC. You are more or less obligated to leaf through an entire chapter, which can be 100 pages long, to find something specific, or try your luck prospecting in the index.

The copyright of this book is 1972. It is mainly a collection of recipes of `home cooking' from the 50's and 60's. During this period, all females were `housewives', who did not go to work but instead got married, stayed at home, cooked, cleaned, and raised children. On the good side, the typical `housewife' had acquired substantial cooking abilities (not unlike the abilities expected of a newbie line cook applying for a job in a smallish restaurant) much superior to today's household, regardless of sex. There are many such collections of recipes, and Mr. Beard's effort is only fair to middling when compared to the competition. On the down side, this book has its share of recipes that are incomplete or vague, requiring the experienced touch of a `housewife' to make the recipe work correctly.

On the good side, this book is a valuable source of culinary anthropology, and it is this aspect that has made this cookbook justly famous. Throughout the book, Mr. Beard regales the reader with stories of what Americans ate, why they ate it, and how they prepared it. While this may be important to a writer or culinary journalist, it is at best an amusing anecdote for the typical home cook.

I got one of these when they first came out in print, in hardback, back in the 1970s I think. It's obvious when you look at mine that it has been well-used and loved. I bought a recent edition for my daughter who is just starting out in her own place. I haven't compared hers to mine to know how the editions differ, so my review is based on my old hardcover. If you are looking for a cookbook with the basics of classic American foods I would highly recommend this -- far better than Joy of Cooking. It would make a great wedding or shower gift. It is logically organized, easy to understand, and interesting to just sit and read. The basics of how to cook a turkey, how to choose and cook various cuts of beef, basic bread and cookie recipes, it's all there. The recipes are easy to follow and reproduce and I've had great results every time.

Hi:
This book is a very helpful guide for someone trying to start and understand a complex language such as Java. This book introduces us little by little to the confusing web of Java structures, procedures, objects, instances, classes...
Besides, it explains how to use some data structures and arrays, sometimes with very complex but understandable excercises that makes the reader produce a clear mind for Java's complex procedures.
The bad part is that is does not dig into Java graphical interface. Being this a very complex part of Java itself, the book does not tell us how to make panels, menus and many other features that are needed for simple graphical programs. Although it explains something about graphical structures, the explanations are not very good and sometimes you will have to look for another source to understand how it works.

I am not a programmer nor do I wish to become one. My interest in computers is driven by what they can and cannot do. My interest in Java springs from the many books based on Java that teach interesting things such as artificial intellenge, problem solving etc. So my view is based on what I learned how to do, not on if this is the best book for a coder.

Perhaps it would be best to state what this book is not first. It is not a complete guide to Java. There are many topics this book does not address at all such as swing. The Dietel book is denser and has many more details than does this one and might be more appropriate for a pure coder.

This is a book for beginners to Java. It does a great job of giving one a feeling for the language without bogging one's mind in all the gory details. It also did a good job of capturing my imagination as how to use the language to model things I am interested in. For me, this is superior to the Dietel book.

Another point worth mentioning is the speed this book can be read. I had no problem working through 1 to 2 chapters each evening. This ease of reading is do to three factors; good organization, good writing ability, and the focus on the main themes of the language.

Someone looking for a solid overview of Java would do well to buy this book. A hard core coder that is beginning with Java could use this book as a quick suppliment to the more detailed manual they are using.

As a knowledge of C would also be useful to me, I plan to purchase the author's book on that subject as well.

Let me start of by saying, if you want to learn Java to add it to your resume, do not use this book. This book is very very weak on Java graphics programming, which you will need to know. I would suggest a book that would help you pass the Sun programmer, or developer test. This book is intended as a textbook for an intorductory college class in computer science.

This book is great for learning Java as a college, or high-school student. I am using this book for AP Computer science. This book covers all of the topics, except for recursion. The author starts out with talking about what most people need to know about computers. He gets into programming by chapter two, and classes by chapter three. He explains classes very well, but you might need some help. Classes are much more well explained than in Java 2 for Dummies.

All in all this book is very good, even though I couln't get to know that much about GUI, or graphics programming. If you want to know about applets(this book focuses on applications) just read Appendix A. If you want a good approach to Java, than buy this book.

I've read this book cover to cover, and I think it is an excellent way to start programming in java. I think it is a wonderful introduction, my only gripes are that the new GUI interface, Swing, is not covered, only the older AWT. Also, this book is very weak on graphics programming, he never even explains how to incorperate java graphics into programs! He basically writes it off by saying its too complicated.

I came to this book with almost no programming experience but good analytical abilities. I wanted to learn the equivalent of what is covered by a CS1 course, and this book fit my needs exactly. This book is an interesting read, clearly introduces topics, and avoids unnecessary wordiness. The exercises and programming projects are thorough. There are always one or two more lengthy projects included in each chapter for those who want the challenge. I used this book to learn Java on my own, and I found myself eager to open it each day. I agree that there is no coverage of Swing, but there are other books devoted to that topic which one could move on to. I highly recommend this for those who are new to object-oriented programming and want their first taste of what this field is about.

Ferrets are very difficult subjects to photograph. Their insatiable curiosity makes them extremely bad models - cute to look at with behavior that is impossible to replicate and dispositions not given to taking commands. Thus it is easy for us ferret lovers to appreciate a well-done ferret calender, which Jeanne Carley's ferret calendars always are. They are creative, humorous, and they always capture the loveably curious nature of these wonderful little creatures. For those of us who have chosen to share our homes with these musky odored little thieves whose greatest joy is to tip everything over, I highly recommend it.

There's a magic quality to ferrets that shines through in their playful nature -- and Jeanne Carley catches it in each month of the Ferret Calendar. I can't wait to turn the page each month to see what wonderful little face will be entertaining my home. It's as though these little ferrets really can fly a plane or go disco dancing, or even bungee jumping! I recommend this calendar for everyone -- whether a ferret owner or not.

If you love ferrets, then you will love Jeanne Carley's "Ferret Calendar". The pictures are wonderful and there is enough space to write things on the individual days.

As a Mom, I get the Ferret Calendar for myself each year even though our kids are grown. I've been a Jeanne Carley fan since we first brought home a pet ferret 11 years ago, and I continue to be amazed at the originality and beautiful photographic quality in each and every calendar she creates! The 2008 calendar, "Ferret Motion," is wonderful! Since I check my calendar daily for birthdays, appointments, etc., seeing Jeanne's furry friends always starts my day with a smile and warm memories of our pet ferrets from the past!

This calendar is very imaginative and colorful. If you love ferrets it's a must but I think it stands on its own even for folks who are not fans of the little guys. These furry creatures have an innate sense of humor and seem to enjoy making us smile.

The story traces the life of Nick Romano from alter boy to cop killer,painting pictures of the disowned people and places in pre war Chicago.
To put it simply, this is a fantastic book. It is so readable;the pace never drops and Motley never loses the readers attention.Anyone from teenager onwards will enjoy reading this all time great novel and it will push them on to searching out and discovering other Chicago greats;Richard Wrights 'Native Son' or Nelson Algrens 'Neon Wilderness' for example.
A great story not only well told, but written how it should be.The original 'unputdownable' read!

This novel is Willard Motley's masterpiece. His subsequent books never approached the impact of "Knock on Any Door." The author set his novel on Chicago's West Side Skid Row. The book contains numerous Chicago street addresses and local references. Motley actually lived on Skid Row while writing the book.

Motley was an African American writer, but it might be difficult to discern this from his writing. As an author, he focuses so much upon his Italian-American characters that he seems to fade completely into the background. Motley once worked for "The Chicago Defender." He has been credited with creating the Bud Biliken character which gave rise to annual Back to School parade which is held in Chicago.

"Knock on Any Door" was adapted for a film with Humphrey Bogart and John Derek, but it had to be carefully revised for the screen. Much of the sexual content had to be removed or muted. Nevertheless, for readers and movie goers in the Forties, the material must have been considered somewhat shocking. The novel addressed several taboo subjects such
as adultery, capital punishment, communism, crime, gambling, homosexuality, illegitimacy and prostitution.

The success of "Knock on Any Door" inspired a sequel, "Let No Man Write My Epitaph." The second novel follows the character of Nick Romano's illegitimate son who may be following in his late father's footsteps.

Much of the Skid Row area along West Madison Street has been cleared due to urban renewal, but this sociological novel is still worthwhile and timely. I am somewhat surprised that Motley is not especially well remembered in his native Chicago. "Knock on Any Door" is a forgotten masterpiece. I had to find a worn copy in a public library to read a few years ago. It is good news, indeed, that the novel has been reissued in a new edition.

Of course there are writers that use their brains, and writers that write with their hearts...Willard Motley spills his guts all over the pages in every one of his four novels.

I first read KNOCK ON ANY DOOR when I was a freshman in high school, and got sent home with a letter to my parents for bringing "unacceptable reading material to school"!!! I have read that book at least three more times, and each time it is a belly punch. The Bogart movie did not do justice to this fine work.

I did not know Motley was African-American, until after I finished his thrid novel.

Willard Motley was not just a great novelist, he was what the heart and soul of this Nation should be.

I'm sorry to offer a counter opinion amongst all the enthusiasm, but if you are interested in this subject you really should read "Never Come Morning," by Nelson Algren. KOAD is an OK novel, neither great nor terrible. And I don't want to disuade you from buying it. However, it pales in comparison to NCM, a FAR superior novel written by a FAR superior writer. Put KOAD in your basket and then RUN, don't walk, to the Nelson Algren section and buy Never Come Morning. Now you have a one good and one GREAT novel in your basket.

I read this book 41 years ago , i was not very well educated my school only taught religion and self preservation, i left at 15 . One day i found this book on a bus and took it home it was on the shelf for a month or two then one night i started reading my first novel i could not put it down i found a new pleasure in life instead of going out every night hanging round with the gang and breaking the law for kicks i changed and i put it down to this book knock on any door, i found the author understood my feelings and it was so easy to understand thank you Willard Mottley