Languages Books

This book is really good. I had doubts obviously just like anyone would if you were to teach yourself a foreign language, but this book proved me wrong. It has excersises that i'm able to do correctly and it makes you think without being too difficult. I'm already addicted to this book because i'm learning fast but it does get a little more difficult later on which would be normal. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to start learning German.

I just received Joseph Rosenberg's, "GERMAN: How To Speak and Write It." It is an informal conversational text of Self-Study.

The book's format is extremely well engineered, and cleverly formatted so that even someone of my age can make sense out of what is trying to be conveyed to the reader. Unlike other books, I don't know if, I will ever really "finish" this one because of it's specific purpose, that of... constant learning. However, I would higly recommend this book to anyone who even has an inkling of interest in learning a foreign language, specifically, German. This is a very good book for an excellant price!

The only thing missing in this book is it's ability in..."giving the reader Time to use it"!

This book was the fifth one I acquired in a previously unsuccessful attempt to learn German on my own. When it arrived from one of Amazon's "other" sellers, I thought, "Oh no." My copy was so old it had a "standard book number" and an old, creased cover. But it turned out to be exactly what I had needed to steadily begin learning to speak German, and to make my German-English dictionary and the three other books useful references!
"German, How to Speak and Write It" provides, with its artwork and approach, the perfect jump-start to begin doing just what the title says. It cost less than any of my other German books, but it has been by far the most useful of all!

This is a wonderful book for beginners and more advanced speakers. Everything is clearly explained, and grammar is taught along with great examples. I also love the pictures. This book makes me want to sit down and take the time to do a lesson every day! I highly recommend it, and the price is unbeatable!

I read this book each day on the way to and from Language class on the subway in Germany. It was a great supliment and is organized in a way that made me look forward to doing the next lesson on the next trip. The material is a little dated, but I found that to be part of the appeal.

A great way to learn and maybe more importantly, hear the yoga Sanskrit terms the correct way. The CDs and book are both organized in a way that makes it easy to navigate and pick out what pertains to you specifically.

I have found this book very useful, informative and easy to use. I have found it a great aid in my yoga studies.

Easy to read, easy to understand. I couldn't put this book down.
If you have an interest in yoga and would like to know and understand the Asana Names.... you should get this.
I am not a yoga teacher, but I would also like to recomend this to anybody who does teach yoga. If for no other reason so you can say the worrds correctly and aslo be able to answer questions from students (like myself) who wish to know the what and why of asanas and chants.

As a student in Yoga Teacher Training, I found this book excellent. It is a clear and easy to find Sanskrit to English and English to Sanskrit on Yoga Postures, with simple diagrams, and pronunciation. The book includes to CDs
to help hear the proper pronunciation of the words.

I can't believe I have never reviewed this before! I've been a yoga teacher for - oh yikes, way too long to admit to but until I listened to the CDs that come with this book, I had been pronouncing things incorrectly. I guess my teachers learned the wrong pronounciation from others who didn't know...and on it goes. But my students know the difference now; hopefully, they will pass it on as some of them become teachers.
I've also used the book for tattoos. Just enlarge the writing for the artist...perfect.
Namaste

This book is right on the money! I've sold two articles since I bought the book a month ago.
I've been writing for eight years without a real focus. This book gave me a clear direction to follow.
Thank you, Jenna.

*I wish the book had an index and sample invoice...

Excellent book by an excellent author. This one covered everything that I have always thought missing in other, similar, books. Jenna is informative, without giving you too much and putting you on overload. This book is written to those who obviously have NOT gotten a writing career off the ground and she covers everything from that ground up... and she does it without jargon, without talking over your head, or down to the lowly masses below. Every concept introduced is defined AND you learn why it is important and when and how it will effect you. The exercises are not just exercises - they are geared toward putting you on-track to that desired writing career. If you have any desire to become an article/feature writer, I suggest this book become a part of your learning curve!

I read this book through in just a few days, and I'll be going through it a second time in a few days more. I am a freelance writer by trade, and Ms. Glatzer does an amazing job of teaching the ins and outs of the freelance world. And although I do sometimes hate her just a little for the ease with which she seems to gain national and incredibly high paying assignments, it only makes me strive to be more like her. Bless you, Jenna, for this incredibly helpful resource.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's good enough that I've been able to masquerade as a veteran while really a novice. No, I never lied, editors assumed. I just started rereading this book this week, and I'm gleaning even more helpful information the second time through, now that I know the lay of the land a little better. Thank you, Jenna!

Jenna is a great thought leader in this difficult, thrilling industry. She gives practical advice for those who want to make a real business out of writing. I get a lot of queries about how I stay in business--and I refer people to her book!

Quality hard cover book, absolutely the best Dr Seuss story of all time, IMPOSSIBLE to get in Australia. Order this book, it is truly the best thing you will ever do for your child, full of wonderful pictures.

This is a classic Dr. Suess book from my childhood. I have read it over and over again to my kids, and now I am reading it to my grandchildren. This book ranks right up there with The Cat in the Hat for entertainment value, for some reason it was a Dr. Suess book that wasn't as well known. Thank goodness my grandmother was a librarian and sent it to me for my 5th birthday. Your kids will LOVE this book, and adults actually enjoy reading it, too!

I thought I knew all the Dr. Seuss books, but this one came to my attention recently and I had never heard of it before. I bought it immediately in order to read it to my youngest daughter before she outgrows children's books. She loved the story and I had one more wonderful message to give her from Dr. Seuss, "Keep thinking of all the wonderful things that are possible!"

This is my favorite Seuss book (yes, I say that about all of them). Year after year I buy this for my friends' kids, but I think it's a great book for an adult library, too.

All you have to say is Dr Seuss. All of his books are excellent!

I have been learning ColdFusion for about 5 months now and have 4 books on it. So far I have this one and 3 others. And out of all the books I have on ColdFusion, I use this one and one other one the most. Even though it is written in ColdFusion MX, it still has a lot of good ColdFusion examples and descriptions on how to make some of the most popular applications. Great book if your looking for a book that is a little cheaper and still has a lot of great info. If your looking for the new breakthrough features of CF8, than mabye you should try somewhere else. But overall, a great book for the price!!

This book is the best Cold Fusion book to date. I use this book daily. The book contains clear examples without a lot of fluff. Can't wait until the next release.

Everithing you need to good programming in ColdFusion. Not to useful if you're interested in Server Configuration.

The only quibble I have with this book is that it is not long enough! Some parts just paraphrase ColdFusion documentation, which is not bad in itself but left me wanting to know more from the author about how he applied the feature to a project.

It would be phenomenal if the author could expand this book or, better yet, put together a new book of more extended examples called "ColdFusion Examples in a Nutshell," similar to "Java Examples in a Nutshell" by David Flanagan.

Having said that, I can now state that this book is a shining example of what a programming book is supposed to be:
(1) Well-Organized. Chapters are grouped logically.
(2) Well-Documented. Almost every topic has at least one example; a few have a complete set of templates to guide the beginning CF (ColdFusion) programmer.
(3) Well-Balanced. In addition to instructive code, the author also provides many in-depth explanations of ColdFusion and database principles.

About six months ago the company I work for recently moved to Coldfusion 5 server (holding off on CFMX until all the bugs are worked out) and since that time, application programming duties have been dumped on me. As a web designer and not a programmer, this was a more than a little worrisome. After trying to wade through Forta's Construction Kit, Hewitt's Core Coldfusion 5, as well as "Mastering Coldfusion 5" it was as if the light was turned on by Rob Brooks-Bilson's Programming Coldfusion.

By the by, those books mentioned are all great books. I own all of them. But when it came down to what I really needed to know and understand Bilson came through like no other. Great job Rob! Keep up the good work.

Usually, when I read a book on a programming technology, I expect to see some source code somewhere. This book is surprising in that regard because it only contains plain english from the first page to the last. There was a hint on the cover page by indicating that managers are included in the targeted audience. This feature has some merits but is also a pain at some other places.

When presenting software to programmers, the most straight to the point way to present the material, it is with source code and I feel that at some occasions, a function definition would have replaced pages of explanations. On the other hand, it is easy to get lost in pages of source code filled with error condition handling code where a simple paragraph of plain english would have been enough to communicate the general idea behind a software module.

With these remarks in mind, this is why, as a programmer, I did not like the first few chapters describing COM basics and really appreciated the last chapters covering OLE compound documents, ActiveX and the usage of COM by MS Internet Explorer.

If you are interested in COM this is a must read. Clear, easy to follow, accurate explanation of the concepts. If you are interested in code look at Don Box "Essential COM" book, but read this one first.

This book is a deep survey of COM within 300 clearly written pages, and many many pictures and schemes. If you are looking for code examples etc. it is NOT FOR YOU. But if you want to understand what is COM, what are COM related technologies; if you are looking for best introduction, it has no rival.

This is an all around good book. However you will not be able to produce any code after reading it. It will give you an introduction to COM, OLE, and ActiveX technologies. You will especially not be able to use the OLE interfaces after reading this book, you will just have an idea of what they are. Buy it, I recommend it, just know what you will gain from it.

This is one of my favorite books. This book gave me an excellent understanding of COM architecture. It's concise and has just the right amount of info. If you are looking for a ready made set of code sample to cut & paste in your project or if you are more interested about 'how' than 'why' of COM then this book is not for you. I have recommended this book and also lent my copy to many. I couldn't keep the book down. An excellent read. David Chappell has done a great job!

I bought this book for work. It left me with a good understanding of Multicast and Raw Sockets, the two subjects I was mostly interested in.

The Best series of books to learn Network programming from. The BEST in the world. Nothing comes close.

If you are reading this review you probably are looking for a comprehensive text on socket programming. Look no further. This is the One. You can stop reading reviews trying to find the perfect one and go hit the Add To Shopping Cart button with confidence. Detailed, comprehensive and clear. A favorite.

This book consists of "in the trenches" information Mr. Stevens learned over the years by reading source, testing thoroughly, documenting extensively, and assembling carefully all this data into one heck of a book on Unix programming. I feel certain in declaring that many who've developed code on Unix know instantly of Stevens' works. This update to his book appears just as thorough.

I do agree with a previous reviewer who was unhappy with the code samples' dependency on a header file in the back of the book. It's a clumsy technique, but it's difficult to imagine another way to accomplish the goals of including the header.

This book is excellent. I had previously bought "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment" by the same author and I loved it so now that I have to do network programming in Linux I got a copy of UNP. The book is well organized and has a lot more information than I expected (Raw sockets, Packet capture, IPv6 etc). Everything is explained clearly and with a lot of examples. It's a shame that the author passed away because I would buy any other book he wrote. Buy this book, it's expensive but It's so professional that is a "must have" for anyone that's going to be programming network applications in UNIX systems.

Thank you, Richard Stevens. Rest in Peace.

Kylene Beers has done an excellent job of collecting and introducing a number of strategies and other practical tips to help teachers, parents and anyone else interested in improving kids' abilities to read. Although this book was used as the textbook for one of my college courses, it does not read like a typical textbook at all. I would recommend this book to anyone in or outside the classroom.

I have not read this book nor am I a teacher, but have a question. Does this book help with other professionals and adults? For example someone who knows science and takes Calculus improves comprehension analytically? Or someone who knows spelling and now uses shapes for math may help in identifying, say, words? So, not to just teach the kids how to read but to help them with their profession (outside of just teaching) or with their everyday activity/living too? Sorta like self empowerment. Thanks! Steve
Sorry for the negative rating. I just want to be indifferent about it and I cannot put zero stars.

I am a fist-year English teacher serving in a low-performing high school (based on states tests scores)in an inner-city public school district. I struggled to teach on-level text to below grade level students. Once I found this book, I felt like I had a master teacher standing next to me as I taught me students how to use strategies to create meaning from text. The title of this book is befitting of its content because when my students lacked comprehension, I had specific strategies to aid their understanding. Direct instruction of these strategies is based in cooperative learning. Hands down, this warmly written book equipped my students with the ability to comprehensively read any text that any teacher gives them.

Main contents of the book covers reading strategies, vocabulary, fluency, phonics, literary discussions, the reading process, philosophy on direct instruction of reading strategies, and cooperative learning.

This book provides excellent practical advice for teachers and specific strategies to help middle and high school students who struggle with reading. Most teachers will find this book easy to understand and apply to their day work of endeavoring to get kids into literature, regardless of whether or not the students are independent readers.

This book has a lot of ideas to help teachers of middle school and high school. It contains examples of many strategies for phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

If you are stuck on a particular student and can't figure out what to do to help them, read this book and find help.

This book is also good for content area teachers who need help with their struggling readers.

This book covers all the things your english teacher forgot or that you forgot. A great refresher book that everyone should have in their book bag. Great for all ages!

I purchased this for use at home as we home-educate our children. I thought this would help me to brush up on my grammar skills, but my kids immediately picked this book up and started using it on their own. It is very user friendly - an easy read for any age, and a great review for middle and high school students. My 14 yr old uses it as a reference when she is writing. Highly recommended!

Painless Grammar is completely different from any typical grammar stuff! We tend to label grammar as boring, but I noticed something totally different from what we learned at school; it doesn't involve any dull and/or old-fashioned structures at all. What really intrigued me was the last chapter dealing with how to e-mail! Actually, I like that chapter best in this book. That was the least I'd expected! Facial expressions and abbreviations drew my attention because both of them are expressed differently from Japanese. I think using them sometimes helps you enjoy e-mailing your friends. Of course, I know too much use of them confuses readers, though. I bet dealing with e-mail is a down-to-earth and up-to-date approach to attract readers!

Read and then keep at your desk within arms reach when you write. This book is perfect for those grammar stumpers.

This book's title jumped out at me at my local bookstore. I had to have it for myself, but mostly to see IF this was a book I could recommend to others.

Now I know: Every household, office and student should have this book--if you want to write correctly, with confidence.

Written for middle grade and high school age, the book is designed "so grammar doesn't hurt," -no matter your age.

Painless Grammar covers:

- Parts of speech.
- Building and punctuating sentences.
- Agreement (between subject and verb; between pronoun and antecedent).
- Words: Misused, one word or two and confusing pairs.
- Editing.
- Email guidelines.

So, do you ever find yourself at home or at work wondering whether "its" or "it's," is correct, or how to use " and ` -or whatever your "grammar challenge is? The down-to-earth examples make Painless Grammar fun and a learnable moment for any age.

As an editor, I find frequent misuse of certain words, commas and semi-colons, plus run-on sentences--many things we learned in middle or high school, but forgot or need a refresher. Read a few pages a day, or use it as a resource when you aren't sure. However, I have found that many people "think" they remember the rule, but don't-so keep this book handy.

I recommend you buy several copies for your kids, home office or work. The clarity of the examples are complemented (yes, it is an "e") by the ease of finding answers.

Armchair Interviews says: Almost everyone can use this useful resource.

Blockbuster Plots: Pure & Simple is my security blanket for writing novels, short stories, and speeches. Through Martha Alderson's guidance, I am able to create page-turners with confidence. My undying gratitude to the author/teacher.

Any artist worth their salt has to have a solid working understanding of the rules of their craft. A painter has to know about brushes, colors, shapes, lines and light. An oboe player has to know how to cut a reed in addition to learning to read music and play with others in the orchestra. For some reason, though, writers seem to start out thinking they don't need to know anything more than how to put words together, that the story will simply come out of their imaginations full-fleged and wonderful.
Baloney.
Whether you're just starting your novel, or working on the third draft, you need this book. Ms. Alderson has a great system to teach writers the complex struture of good plots. She's also an incredible teacher. If you get a chance to come to California or to attend a writers conference where she'll be speaking, I highly recommend her class.

I first learned about this book from my critique group. Several members had it and after borrowing one, I just had to have a copy of my own. The book's techniques for plot at both the scene level and the overall story level has helped my deepen my plot in ways I could have never imagined on my own. I am forever grateful for the book.

I find this book very useful, easy to understand language and examples of ideas are given. Have revised one writing project using this method and it now has more scope and depth.

This is my first time giving a review for a book. I was compelled to do so because my expectations for the book were high based on past ratings. Was the book and the author's tools for plotting helpful? Yes and No. Let me explain my take on it. The scene tracker, although simplistic, listed some areas that one should chart in order to be aware of gaps that one may have in certain scenes. I especially liked the concept of tracking the emotional change and how important it is to have "change" and "conflict" in each scene or it needs to be reevaluated or discarded. I give the book 2 stars just for learning that aspect/tool in scene tracker. There is more to scene tracker, however, I will not give it away. You'll have to buy the book. The scene tracker makes the purchase of the book worth it.

On Plot Planner, the only thing I found helpful was connecting individual scenes together above & below the plot planner to make a line if only each consecutive scene can be connected thru cause and effect. If not, then again, those scenes need to be reevaluated or discarded. For bringing that "Aha" into light, I give the book another star.

However, the book notes under the PLOT PLANNER section on how to plot THEME and EMOTIONAL Development. The author only records those aspects under scene tracker. SHE DOES NOT track it under the PLOT PLANNER. Unless I failed to understand her diagrams; theme and emotional development are not tracked on the PLOT PLANNER. She refers back to her SCENE TRACKER for those 2 aspects. So in essence, it is not the PLOT PLANNER that is tracking them but Scene tracker. I guess that would be fine with THEME, as you can make a connection with all the Theme points for each scene and come out with an overall sense of what the theme is or what scenes support the theme. But I fail to understand how the Emotional Change in each scene can demonstrate the protagonist's character arc or journey of emotional changes on the whole through the scene tracker (although it works for each individual scene). But the author's premise is that it is tied into the PLOT PLANNER and I didn't see where she connected those aspects into that tool.

What is recorded under PLOT PLANNER is just a visual of individual scenes divided by the beginning, middle, and end sections of the story. All in all, still a valuable tool, but I already had some knowledge of this.

However, throughout the book, the author spreads out tidbits of basic information on plot and the such which is helpful for the novice which I would have liked if she had delve into more detail. She tickled my palette for more knowledge.

I guess the supposed beauty of the book lies in it's simplicity. However, she gets off tangent in several areas (saying that she has gotten ahead of herself) and if you seek clarification of what she is talking about she refers to you to her DVD or website or she just barely touches the surface on it. In fact, almost every other page, along the side bars, her DVD is mentioned. The book at times seems like a disguise for marketing her DVD. I understand that authors need to self promote, but the amount of self promotion in this book became distracting. Perhaps just putting a footer on each alternate page with her website address would have been more appropriate than on the sidebars.

In addition, she left alot of white space on the sidebars which could have been utilized more efficiently to dispell more information.

If anyone has seen her dvds, please post a review and let me know how you liked it. I'm tempted to buy one, hoping that she does go in deeper with her tools. I think she made a very good attempt to what she was trying to accomplish when she started the book with the SCENE TRACKER (EXCELLENT tool that can be really tailored to suit your needs and she does emphasize that). But once she got into the PLOT PLANNER, I think she needs to clarify it a bit more and make the examples at the appendix more coherent in the sections of theme and emotional development.

Overall, its a good book to have for a reference. The scene tracker is excellent and having more developed examples of the plot planner with more detailed explanations would have been golden.

Her website and Blog has a wealth of information that is basically a reiteration of about 1/3 of her book.

I have emailed her requesting clarification on some of the above and will update my review according to her response.

***********UPDATE - October 12th***********

Martha Responded to me on her Blog! She explained how the Character's Emotional Development & Theme can be tracked through the plot planner. It was so simple that I simply overlooked it. Along with her website, her book delivers! It is great to see an author who supports what they have written in such expedited fashion. If Amazon would give me the ability, I would upgrade my rating from 3 to 4 stars. Not 5 you may ask? Well, the self promotion needs to be cut a bit (lol) and it would be more helpful to have color examples of her tools to see how she tracks the different aspects of plot, and for her to expand a bit more on what she delves in the book (like how she does on her site). There's just so much good stuff in her book, but she doesn't go into it as deeply as I would have liked. But overall, I am very pleased. Any further explanation you might need, you can find on her site and blog. Her tools are excellent. I highly recommend.

2 other books that I would also recommend to supplement with the Plot Planner is Dara Mark's "Inside Story: Power of the Transformational Arc". Also, a great book on Endings which also gives an overview to story structure is Drew Yanno's "The 3RD Act". It is simple and to the point and the 30 question checklist at the end of the book makes it a good investment!

Happy Plotting!