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Free Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Free
How to Do Homework Without Throwing Up
Published in Paperback by Free Spirit Publishing (1997-01)
Author: Trevor Romain
List price: $8.95
New price: $3.00
Used price: $1.99
Collectible price: $10.00

Average review score:

OK book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-11
I bought this for help with my 6.5-year-old since he finally has homework and has been giving us a hard time. Its written for an older child to use as a guide, so wasn't all that helpful at this stage. Maybe in a few years it will be, dunno.

Homework
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-17
Very good book. Helps with getting kids to do their homework. It is a very good reference book. We have used it alot.

GREAT book!
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-15
My 11 year old son rolled his eyes when I handed him this book. I came back a half an hour later and he had finished it! He was so excited and told me so many things on how he can do his homework better. He said it was very funny also. He learned a lot and really enjoyed the book!

A spoonful of laughter
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-17
You know the phrase, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." Well, this book gives a spoonful of laughter to help the homework "go down" without "throwing up." The clever use of artwork and text really gets kids involved in getting the job done instead of spending so much time complaining. There are many practical ideas and they are presented in a highly motivational way. I suggest reading it with children and discussing it rather than just handing them the book.

The Best Book I've Read!!!
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-13
Nobody likes homework these days. I can say not even I do. Well the book I read was How to Do Your Homework Without Throwing Up by Trevor Romian. The book was all about homework obviously, it also explains why it's good for you, the purpose of homework, and why it helps us in school. It also explains to you the emotions and feelings you might get when you're doing your homework. People might get sad, confused, frustrated etc. Then you have to think they didn't come up with homework just to bug us.

I like this book because it's exciting and it's something I'm interested in. It's easy to connect in a way, because at times when I'm doing my homework I do get confused and think that homework is there for no reason and as your reading the book you can compare yourself to the book in several ways. I would recommend this book to people who like funny books but also books that you can connect to. If you like books that teach you a lesson in life, and what homework is good for, read this one!

Free
How to Take the Grrrr Out of Anger
Published in Paperback by Free Spirit Publishing (2002-12)
Authors: Elizabeth Verdick and Marjorie Lisovskis
List price: $8.95
New price: $4.80
Used price: $5.81

Average review score:

How to take the GRR out of Anger
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-27
This book gives good suggestions. I really like the high lights it gives on summary pages which can be used for teaching tools.

Good for working with individuals
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-31
Good for working with individual children (as a parent or therapist) but not so great for groups of young children. The ideas and concepts can be used to design other activities for groups, but a group of angry young students will not sit still to read this through with them.

Anger management
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-19
This is a wonderful guide for managing anger for children and adults. It teaches healthy ways to deal with anger. Parents and children should read and follow the advice.

Great book for little kids with anger issues!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-28
I have been using this book to help my two sons, ages 8 & 11, understand and control thier tempers. I have read several of these types of books to them and I feel that this one has been the most effective. The book is written with an appealing age appropriate sense of humor and the illustrations are fun for them to look at. This book contains all of the important themes about anger but is presented in a way that appeals to kids. I highly recommend this book to parents of kindergarten through seventh grade kids that have anger issues. Thanks for a great book!

Great Book to Indentify & Deal With Anger
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-28
This is a great book to help children identify the physical signs of anger and to sort out the emotion they are feeling. It also teaches strategies to "tame your temper". I made a "cheat sheet" for my son to use when he gets angry with anger strategies. My 7 year son with autism uses strategies suggested in this book.

Free
Ideas are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations
Published in Hardcover by Berrett-Koehler Publishers (2004-02)
Authors: Alan G. Robinson and Dean M. Schroeder
List price: $24.95
New price: $7.90
Used price: $3.40

Average review score:

Great Book on Idea Programs
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-28
Since my company has an idea program which I believe could be improved, I've read this book. It's short and to the point. It addresses the importance of small ideas for the improvement of the company and the engagement of its employees. It accompanies most of the points with real case stories which make the point even more compelling. Also very important is the chapter related to rewards and the counter-intuitive effects.

Employees with ideas = wealth
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-13
Alan G. Robinson and Dean M. Schroeder's IDEAS ARE FREE is for employers who would tap into the riches of employee ideas and insights. Employees are quite opt to recognize both problems and opportunitiestheir managers pass by - but most organizations don't encourage sharing such insights, much less reward them. IDEAS ARE FREE: HOW THE IDEA REVOLUTION IS LIBERATING PEOPLE AND TRANSFORMING ORGANIZATIONS shows how to tap this hidden wealth.

Highly recommended reading for all business consultants, corporate executives and departmental managers
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-04
Ideas Are Free: How The Idea Of Revolution Is Liberating People And Transforming Organizations by Alan G. Robinson (Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts) and Dean M. Schroeder (Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Programs in Management at the College of Business Administrations at Valparaiso University) is an innovative guide to saving money, effort, time and also provides an informative introduction to entirely new ways of doing business with front-line employees, making the most out of opportunities and maximizing the benefits of sound, effective management. Robinson and Schroeder aptly examine the intricacies of the business life and include an analysis of a more prosperous, ease-filled advancement for opportunities granted to all, and situational manipulation for a more competently finalized project. Ideas Are Free is very highly recommended reading for all business consultants, corporate executives and departmental managers.

Interesting ideas
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-12
The authors show how important it is to gather ideas and encourage people to think creatively. I wish they would have described more how they could gather these ideas more effectively.

Ideas are Free
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-22
If you are starting a suggestion process or revamping an established one, this is the book to read and apply. Robinson and Schroeder have boiled down a thousand pages of material and years of research on the subject into 218 readable pages.

Free
Pain Free 1-2-3
Published in Paperback by McGraw-Hill (2005-12-19)
Author: Jacob Teitelbaum
List price: $16.95
New price: $8.31
Used price: $5.99

Average review score:

Helpful
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-18
Incredible book! It has helped my mother, that has fibromyaglia, more than any doctor ever has! After a month she is better already! And she was in the worst shape of any fibro patient anyone had ever seen.

Good information
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-08
I received the book very promptly and it was in good condition.
The information is very good on what I have read so far.

Great book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-11
Great book. I have taken some of the ideas to the Dr and they have helped. Would highly recommend this book.

WOW
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-14
I would recommend this book to any one who has pain. Their are ideas that I have found nowhere else. This Doctor believes the body can not heal if it doesn't have what it needs to do so. If the cell lacks energy, how can the body heal? I have purchased this book for several people. Pain is a complex problem. This book has answers.

If you are in pain, this is THE book for you
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-21
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"Although both allopathic and natural medicines have their weaknesses, when you combine them, almost all pain can be effectively treated. It's the difference between having only one tool- say a hammer, which is like allopathic medicine - or a whole tool kit that includes the dozens of other healing arts available in natural medicine. A hammer can be a very useful tool, but unfortunately when all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail! It's much easier to get the job done safely and effectively when you are using all the tools available." (Keep in mind the author is a medical doctor!)

"I simply propose that you use the best of both systems. To make this easier for you, and to maintain objectivity, I have a policy of not taking money from any companies (natural or pharmaceutical) whose products I recommend. In addition, for the products I make, 100 percent of my royalties go to charity. There's nothing wrong with money, I simply don't want to get in the way of your getting well!" [Wow, now isn't that refreshing!]

"...most Americans are chronically dehydrated, and this can make you feel worse as well. I do not recommend that you count glasses of water; this is an annoying way to spend a day. Simply check in with your mouth and lips every so often. If they are dry, you are dehydrated and need to drink more water." (How many times have we all read that we have to have eight or ten glasses of water a day? Really, how many of us spend a day counting how much we drink?! What a practical solution to the problem!)

You will find this book engaging, informative and practical.

Free
Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project
Published in Paperback by O'Reilly Media, Inc. (2005-10-07)
Author: Karl Fogel
List price: $24.95
New price: $13.39
Used price: $10.15

Average review score:

Excellent logistical guide for any software project
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-03
Issues specific to Open Source are well-covered in this book. I found the section titled "Handling Difficult People" especially useful; his advice in this dodgy area is to act eloquent and keep feedback directed at the problem, not the person. If the person *is* the problem, nip in-public issues in the bud and contact the person directly to resolve the personal issue(s).

Fogel presents lots of down and dirty day-to-day details on how to create excellent software. Not just Open Source, either... the transparency built into the processes he describes are also useful within a company firewall.

Fogel places a huge emphasis on development by random unsalaried people, but I feel that most important and rapid development is due to corporate sponsorship.

Overall: excellent. Read it cover to cover, refer back to it often.

Step-by-Step for a Open-Source Project Manager
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-14
If you are thinking of starting/managing a project in an "open-source" model, this is the book you MUST read.

The book is very well written and goes over lessons learned of others that created their own open-source projects. Believe me... every step so you don't have to guess anything!

How to start, how to document, where to deploy the project, what people to invite, whether or not coding standards are necessary, democracy versus dictatorship, all of these questions are answered inside.

A friend of mine has told me that much of the information in this book can be seen for free in video in Google. It's worth looking for.

I read the book in 5 hours and i think my time was very well invested. I now believe that this model is not only suitable for small projects but to larger projects. The complexity of the system will not the an issue if you apply the rules in the book. I still have to try it though... ;-)

In my case, five stars is an understatement
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-27
Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about this book and we discovered each other very glad with it. First of all, the author has a lot of experience with the theme in question. Furthermore, Karl Fogel is very compelling with words. He knows how to write down his experience in a way that is pleasant, certainly due to a lot of writes he had made through plenties of open source projects.

With this book you will be in touch with topics like the needed infra-structure to setup open source projects, the dinamics of the open source community, strategies for packaging and releasing software, common issues that arise in open source daily development and how to workaround then, a brief about licenses (with properly links for more information on this topic); just to highlight some aspects.

This book was the first hand someone land me into the open source world. It's helping me in three ways: to extract more from open source softwares that already exist, to start my own open source project, and to look at software development through a new, different, and till now better perspective.

Hope this review helps you!

Required reading for Open Source project leaders
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-19
If you have already read pretty much everything that there is to be read about why you'd want to start, manage, fund or participate in an Open Source project, but want to know everything about how best to do it, then Karl Fogel's Producing Open Source Software is the book for you.

Drawing from his extensive experience with the Subversion project, Fogel provides in this book a comprehensive overview of all aspects of Open Source software development, covering technical, social, political, economical, legal, and managerial aspects.

While the book is more aimed at medium-to-large scale projects, especially those involving some kind of corporate entity, there is much in it that is applicable to most projects, excluding maybe only those little, one-man efforts that rarely become successful. But if you are the originator of one of the latter and, should it suddenly attract a wide following, you'd better be prepared to face the unavoidable problems that popularity brings.This book will come in handy in this case.

Here are, in my opinion, the strong points of the book:

* Providing a concise, yet comprehensive, overview of all aspects of Open Source development. This is really the manual of open development.

* Demonstrating that there is much in open development that is similar to more traditional, corporate-style software development (you cannot always rely on good will and volunteers), but also much that is different, in motivation, rewards and objectives.

* Putting the accent on the human aspect of development: mutual respect between participants is often the deciding factor in determining whether a project will thrive or fail. Since even the best of intentions sometimes are not enough to foster a peaceful, productive and collaborative environment, Producing Open Source Software contains a lot of useful, practical advice that you can follow if you want to keep developers happy and motivated.

"Must Read" for Open Source Participants
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-29
It's easy to make the mistake of viewing this book as "too fluffy" or perhaps too soft to be of any use to the practical user or developer of open source software. Nothing could be further from the truth: in a classic open source way, the author has compressed man-centuries of OS community experience into a practical working guide for anyone who wants to do something serious in this area.

Free
The revolution of everyday life
Published in Unknown Binding by Rising Free Collective (1979)
Author: Raoul Vaneigem
List price:

Average review score:

CAN DIALECTICS BREAK BRICKS?
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-27
The funds for cultural revolution rest in the coffers of a bankrupt society. That's not to say that change is meaningless. Raoul Vaneigem believes - along with the rest of the troupe from THE SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL - that if change comes from within the very culture being critiqued, then the only way to effect change is to change the way culture affects.

UNDERNEATH THE PAVING STONES - THE BEACH!

Urban renewel and changing the economic goal posts cannot prevent the inevitable exploding of the plastic society. Sometime. When the world becomes its own refuse the voices of refusal will echo down time until it pins the world against its own refusal.

If madness is the only remedy against the insanity of our contracting world, then THE REVOLUTION OF EVERYDAY LIFE might be a good guide. Its truth will speak to anyone whose heart is passionate, whose soul is strong, and whose mind is as yet still taciturn; it will help them express the homily:

I TAKE MY DESIRES FOR REALITY BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN THE REALITY OF MY DESIRES.

injects heavy doses of adrenaline into our resolve
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-22
I concur wholeheartedly that this is momentous writing:
one that is even now more critical and urgent than 40 years ago, when it was first published.

Each page offers words-thoughts that ricochet long after their initial bang! Here's a sample:

+ to work for delight and authenticity is barely distinguishable from preparing for a general insurrection.

+ the surest chances of liberation lie in what is most familiar. Was it ever otherwise?...
the living reality of non-adaptation to the world is always crouched ready to spring...
it confronts you at each self-evasion, it grasps your shoulder, catches your eye, and the dialogue begins...

+ docility is no longer ensured by priestly magic, it results from a mass of minor hypnoses...
ideological hypnosis is replacing the bayonet.

+ people who talk about revolution without referring explicitly to everyday life,
without understanding what is subversive about love and what is positive in the refusal of constrains,
--such have a corpse in their mouth.

+ if the word 'innovation' means anything it means transcendence, not camouflage.

+ consume, consume: we take ashes for fire.

+ the young are already old and everything we are building is already a ruin.

+ the obligation to produce alienates the passion for creation.

+ affluent survival entails the pauperisation of life.

+ the dictatorship of quantified exchange (market value) colonized everyday life... the bourgeoisie traded in BEING for HAVING.

+ the fight is unfair. words serve power better than they do men...
at this moment language swoops down on living experience, ties it hand and foot, robs it of its substance, ABSTRACTS it.

+ the system of commercial exchange has come to govern all of people's everyday relations with themselves and with their fellows.
every aspect of public and private life is dominated by the quantitative.

+ ideology still has one trick up its sleeve--that of posing false questions,
raising false dilemmas and leaving the conditioned individual with the worry of sorting out which is the truer of the two.

+ even when it is co-opted and turned against its original purposes, poetry always gets what it wants in the end...
no poetic sign is ever completely turned by ideology.

+ the long revolution means that we have to build a parallel society
which can counter the dominant system until such time as it is strong enough to replace it.

+ the fight for language is the fight for the freedom to love, for the reversal of perspective.
the battle is between metaphysical facts and the reality of facts:
i mean between facts conceived statically as part of a system of interpretation of the world
and the facts understood in their development by the praxis which transform them.

And on and on the explosive phrases go, injecting heavy doses of adrenaline into our resolve.

Even though I take exception to Vaneigem's advocacy of violent resistance,
his book comes the closest to diagnosing the cause of our present narcosis and, even better,
grounds the revolutionary turning on the rich dirt of everyday life.

How could we ever think it would be otherwise?

Good ideas overstated, bloated presentation
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-18
This book, along with Debord's "Society of the Spectacle", forms the core of the theoretical output of the Situationist Movement which emphasized the necessity of spontaneous, joyous creative activity to overcome the alienation and oppression of mass consumer culture, giving inspiration to the youthful insurrectionists of Paris '68.

The book is peppered with witty, canny, and memorable aphorisms on revolutionary struggle, and its emphasis on spontaneous activity motivated by felt needs for freedom and self-expression was at the time an important corrective to the Stalinist model of the revolutionary as selfless, altruistic drone. Vaneigem and the situationists go overboard at times in emphasizing the revolutionary value of selfishness, pleasure and spontaneity-- the shortcomings of 1968 are the proof. These shortcomings have been stretched to the point of parody in Hakim Bey's "Temporary Autonomous Zone" and the writings of the Crimethinc collective, but there are important elements of truth in them.

The presentation of the ideas is hobbled by Vaneigem's writing style-- you have to slog through 5 pages of bloated abstractions before coming across one of the keen one-liners that make the book worthwhile-- I think the ideas come across much more powerfully as street graffiti than in a 200 page manifesto. For a more palatable presentation of situationist ideas, check out American situationist Ken Knabb's wonderful piece "The Joy Of Revolution", available online or in his book Public Secrets: Collected Skirmishes of Ken Knabb.

"We have nothing in common except the illusion of being together."
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-09
No Amazon review can really do this masterpiece justice. This is simply one of those classics that will sweep you away, leaving you stunned that someone was able to so precisely articulate the mechanical alienation from self and palpable inner decay that you feel daily as you sit in your cubicle (wash, rinse, repeat) and mimic the farcical motions assigned to humans in modern industrial civilization--a hierarchical vaccum in which "survival" is contingent upon our economic value, obedience to Power and our ability to force others to either consume or produce. The dominance of the lie of economic value has poisoned every area of our lives and left us defunct as human beings, most notably stealing from us the innate urge to spontaneously create and give.

Vaneigem attacks the dead, vacuous nature of modern life with all of the venomous intensity conceivable. He does not misuse or mince words. Each sentence is filled to the brim with harsh truth, the sheer brute force of which will take your breath away.

[...].
I recommend at least printing it out to fully revel and enjoy the intensity, though!

intense
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-17
This is one of the most viscerally exciting political / philosophical books in history. You can't help but be swept up by the force of Vaneigem's appeals... and though one may not assent to all of his positions or specific interpretations, all in all you will have to say that he had managed to tap into something very true.

read it, ponder it... and get out and live. you have nothing to lose but your boredom.

Free
Safe Sex in the Garden and Other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World
Published in Paperback by Ten Speed Press (2003-03)
Author: Thomas Leo Ogren
List price: $14.95
New price: $9.02
Used price: $2.82
Collectible price: $14.95

Average review score:

Another great book!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-08
Anyone who has read Tom Ogren's book "Allergy Free Gardening" knows it is the bible of all allergy books. I recommend this book just as highly -- Ogren's scientific, common-sense approach to allergies is something that will benefit anyone with allergies, and anyone who has friends or relatives with allergies. I very highly recommend both of these books!!

A must read
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-08
Safe Sex in the Garden should be required reading for anybody that is in any way involved with making decisions on what plants will be part of both our public and private spaces. Statistics only confirm how pervasive allergies are in the Los Angeles area and the toll this condition takes on the quality of our daily lives and work. I wish for full disclosure from plant growers regarding the potential health impact of the supposed convenience of this cultivars and more widespread knowledge on what company each plant should keep. Thank you. This book could improve the lives of many of us.

Great for all your gardening pals!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-05-17
Tom Ogren's new book is a popular commentary on and addition to his first, groundbreaking book, Allergy Free Gardening. It is meant for both experienced and novice gardeners, and for all who may have a plant-related allergy. It is highly informative, and written with humor and style. Do get a copy for all of your favorite gardeners!

Fascinating - not dry reading at all
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2003-07-03
You have to love a book with a title like this. You might think a book about allergies and plant sex would be dull, but Ogren's writing style is lively and he knows how to convey information in a fun way. I wish he'd been my science teacher in high school! Everyone who's thinking about doing some landscaping, or has allergies, should read this. I know it's made me think more carefully about what I plant.

A must for everyone's bookshelf
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-09
This and Ogren's previous book, "Allergy-Free Gardening" should be on everyone's shelf, whether they garden or not. If you want to know why allergy incidence has quadrupled in the last few decades and asthma deaths have reach alarming numbers, this book explains it. Ogren's OPALS ranking scale can help us choose appropriate trees for our own gardens, plus he gives lists of recommended ground covers, poisonous plants, "super trees" and discusses pet allergies and all sorts of other relevant topics.

The book is well-written and easy to understand, even when your sinuses are clogged and your eyes are running.

Free
U.S. foreign-trade zones
Published in Unknown Binding by Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development, Laredo State University (1991)
Author: James R Giermanski
List price:

Average review score:

In the Beginning
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-26
I became addicted to Haim Potok's writing. Once I finish one of his books, I can't help it - I buy a new one. Amazing story-teller!

My Favourite Book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-14
This is a beautiful story; it is my very favourite book. I love it with all my heart.

A wonderful find
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2005-04-08
I too have read the more well known books of Potok. I picked up this one at a used book sale. This book is somewhat different from the others in that it it goes deeply into one characte's thoughts and emotions. One could label the book slow, but I didn't find it that way. I found the story of David Lurie's mother to be by far the most painful to read. As a reader, we are given only bits and pieces of this woman's very broken heart. Perhaps it's a sign of a wonderful writer that every character in this book seemed to warrant a book of his or her own.

"A Shallow Mind Is A Sin Against G-d."
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-04
I've never encountered a novel structured exactly like this one. The details given in the first 4/5ths of its length led a reader to believe In The Beginning was a story about a brilliant young Jewish boy and his family, their life in America, where the boy and his brother where born to recent Polish emigrants, and of the determined struggle this family undertakes, not only to establish their lives in the United States, but to honorably aid numerous Jewish families who wish to leave Poland and settle in New York. As the story of this family, the novel served a detailed, well-written tale that gave terrific insights into the psyche and values of east-European Jews in the early twentieth-century. The family thrives in the US in the prosperous 1920's, though the pre-school-age David is sadistically bullied by anti-Semitic local boys, and he lives to piece together the whispered secrets of his father's conduct as a one-time militant activist among Jews in the "old country." We follow this family into the Great Depression, when its fortunes declined, into World War Two, where its newly-discovered prosperity is scant comfort as its members learn of the Nazis' cruelty to family and acquaintances they left behind in Europe.

However, like a magician dealing out a slight of hand trick, Chaim Potok revealed the true story only at the very end of In The Beginning---and all else that came before this point was merely establishing the stage for the final act and a statement he wished to make on the subject of faith, reason, and evidence. The central character, David Lurie, due to his intellectual brilliance the shining star of his local school, stuns his family, friends, and classmates, by laying aside his Orthodox upbringing and upon college graduation becoming a secular Biblical scholar. Lurie announces his newfound conviction that the Torah was not given by G-d to Moses on Sinai, but was authored by numerous Jews across an indefinite time period, long after Moses' death. To Lurie's parents this is an act of unmitigated treason to all that is holy and life-sustaining in their world. That their much-loved eldest son, their pride and great hope, should plan to write skeptical books on this topic, and thereby "sin by making others sin" is crushing to them one and all. And only at the extreme conclusion of this 430 page novel is this revealed when beforehand a straightforward plot about Jews reacting to a changing world was what we had been lulled into expecting. The earlier tale of David's health struggles, his father's rise and fall, the immigration movement, and even at the end the horrors of Nazi Germany, all of that I found was Potok's subterfuge to sneak in an ending so different from what the deliberately-paced novel seemed to prepare us for that this work almost deserves to be spoken of as having some sort of twist at its shocking ending.

As always, Potok wrote well here and his characters and the setting were magnificently accomplished, but I was left feeling I had read two different books, one a family tale, the other a dissertation on modern Talmudic scholarship. I also strongly felt that the characters at the end, while bearing the same names they had 300 pages earlier, were not exactly the same ones I had been reading about as they advanced thru twenty harsh years in their lives. I also have read that this book is slightly autobiographical, so that deserves to be pointed out. This is a good book but it is slow-moving and spends much of its time inside David's head and the pseudo fantasy world which he inhabits, so be prepared for that. I also wish Potok had written a sequel, as he did with The Chosen. I ended up saying, "Yes, and what happens next?" Sadly, we'll never know...

Chaim Potok
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-04-05
Never before have I ever read something so influential, so vividly drawn before me. I am a huge fan of Potok, and after reading Asher, Promise, Chosen, and Davita, this obscure novel that barely comes up in Borders search is my favorite. It is a shame to see it is widely ignored.

Potok is a genious, and one can understand this brilliant man in this book. He is able to create a person, a character, that seems life like. You want to jump in the book to hug him, to stop him, or to help him. It is an impossible book to put down, and by far the best book I have ever read. He is the best author I have ever read.

I recommend this book to everyone. Everyone could use a little of Danny in their lives.

Free
Where's Waldo Now? Mini Hardcover with Free Magnifying Lens
Published in Hardcover by Candlewick (2002-08-01)
Author:
List price: $5.99
New price: $1.80
Used price: $0.26

Average review score:

My 3 and a half year old LOVES this book!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-18
I bought this book for my 3.5 year old as a party favor - and she LOVES it! There is a little plastic magnifying lens tucked into the front cover in a little pocket. Once we showed her how to take it out and look for Waldo, she does it over and over again. She walks around the house with her book, finds a nice spot to sit, takes out her magnifier, looks for Waldo, then once she finds him she finds another spot to sit in and does it all over again. It's really cute!

The pictures in the book are pretty tiny though, so it's a real challenge to find Waldo. It looks like they shrunk the images from the original version so they could fit them into the small book. I'm 36 (i.e. my eyes are not that bad) and I needed to use the magnifying glass in a bright room to find Waldo! The only downside to this book is if you misplace the magnifier, it's not as fun to find Waldo, but hopefully that won't happen to you.

Waldo Review 1
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-20
As all you Where's Waldo fans may know. there were only a very few of these books ever made. I for one just loved them all as a young reader. Now, years later and by shear luck, my son was given two of those old books....which he fell in love with and only wished for more. A few months later, I was again lucky and found two more in a local book store and purchased those. Leaving only two remaining....now collectors items.....these were practicly impossible to fine. After searching (what seemed like) endlessly, one day I decided to check out Amazon. To my surprise....There They Were! And at a price that I couldn't believe! And only 10 days before Christmas! I immediately made placed the order and within just a few days (less than a week at normal shipping), there they were on my doorstep. I couldn't believe it! We finally had the complete series of Wheres Waldo Books! And both books were in prefect print condition!
Thanks Amazon! And another big Thanks for helping make a little boys Christmas great!
Next time, I`ll check Amazon first!

Great fun for all.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-07
I purchased this for my five year old for Christmas. Before I could get it wrapped I was looking for Waldo! This is a great family book and really generates a lot of excitement for any age.

bought for the library
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-12
I couldn't keep this book. My son lost this book from the library. Looked for this book everywhere and finally found it at Amazon! Thanks Amazon! The book was really inexpensive too!

Fun book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-08
My four-year-old son loves Waldo, and we've had a lot of fun looking through this book EVERY night since he got it. It's his favorite book. There's so much to look for, more than just Waldo and his stuff -- there's Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, Odlaw, Woof and all their props, as well as 25 Waldo Watchers scattered throughout the book. From an adult perspective, the postcards aren't as much fun to read out loud, but overall I love sharing the book with my children.

Free
Witness: Voices from the Holocaust
Published in Hardcover by Free Press (2000-04-16)
Authors: Joshua M. Greene and Shiva Kumar
List price: $26.00
New price: $8.47
Used price: $4.50
Collectible price: $50.00

Average review score:

Gripping testimonies by Holocaust survivors
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-13
It has been more than 60 years since the Holocaust occurred, yet there can never be enough written about this tragedy, especially so since many of the survivors are diminishing in numbers. In Witness: Voices from the Holocaust, we are able to learn about this human tragedy of epic proportions that was the Shoah based on actual testimonies of survivors.

The book is very well-organised and is divided into chapters, i.e. Life in Europe in the 1930s, The Outbreak of War, The Ghettoes, Escape, Hiding, and Resistance, Deportation and Arrival, The Camps, Death Marches, Liberation and Aftermath. Apart from the compelling eyewitness testimonies [not just by survivors, but also in some cases Gentiles], there are also pictures that depict the lives of European Jewry before, during and after the war.

A compelling addition to Holocaust literature and though the stories themselves aren't lengthy, the horrors that they evoke is enough for us to reflect upon.

What a great and Compelling Book!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-30
This great, compelling story of historical drama and is told from many points of view from that time in history, the 1940's. The book is set all over in Germany and is told by many different characters. I really liked how the authors described in detail what they felt when,they were being taken to a concentration camp or taken away from their loved ones. This book is a collection of many autobiographies of the survivors in the Holocaust. I loved how this author put together these autobiographies in chronological order, so it was easy to follow. Witness does a great job of telling about the memories that the survivor's in the Holocaust have had for many years. It also helps you understand what is was like for the Jewish citizens and the huge impact the Germans had on people around the world. This book is for every person that wants to know what it was like in the life of a Jewish man, woman, or child during that horrible time in history.

This compelling book was Great!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-30
This great, compelling story of historical drama and is told from many points of view from that horrible time, the 1940's. The book is set all over in Germany and is told by many different characters. I really liked how the authors described in detail what they felt when,they were being taken to a concentration camp or taken away from their loved ones. This book is a collection of many autobiographies of the survivors in the Holocaust. I loved how this author put together these autobiographies in chronological order, so it was easy to follow. Witness does a great job of telling about the memories that the survivor's in the Holocaust have had for many years. It also helps you understand what is was like for the Jewish citizens and the huge impact the Germans had on people around the world. This book is for every person that wants to know what it was like in the life of a Jewish man, woman, or child during that horrible time in history.

profound, disturbing, a must read on the holocaust
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2004-12-06
I read this book several years ago and it had a profound affect on me. It is divided into three sections: life before, life during, and life after the holocaust for Jewish survivors. All the accounts are first-person narratives by the survivors themselves. I believe they were all interviewed on tape for a documentary. And then they put it into print to create this book. Something that surprised me was how prevalent anti-semitism was in the years before the Holocaust. Sometimes we think Hitler suddenly arose out of nowhere with his anti-semitism. But he was actually just "riding a wave" of hatred of the Jews. The Polish people were in particular very hateful of the Jews. It really surprised me how much they had to endure before WWII even began! This book was a compelling read - true accounts directly from those who survived the greatest horror of the 20th Century.

Private Horror!
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2002-06-26
As opposed to earlier commentators I do not come from a background rich in readings on the subject of the Holocaust and therefore Witness came as a unexpected mine of memories of people that had experienced the unimaginable.
My knowledge of the events of the Holocaust were almost exclusively from video documentaries and those documentaries had left many unanswered questions: questions about the Transportation, about the Marches after the camps closed late in the war, about the closing of the ghettos, about the long-term hiding, about the massive anti-semitism that greeted the survivors after the war upon returning "home" and finally the Jewish guerrilla bands that sprang up throughout eastern Europe.
The remarkable thing about this great exercise is the broadness of the interviews that compose the book: the authors assembled a very wide ranging collection of these interviews that spoke about all the topics that I had only heard snatches about in the video documentaries. It was all the more remarkable because these were all primary sources-they were not what somebody had interpreted but the memories of the people that lived the experience and because of this the book had an enormous impact on this reader.
I am a slow reader and the book absorbed me totally and I finished it in a matter of days.
If you read no other book about the Holocaust-read this one.


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