Languages Books

Cover to cover this book sails through the hype dispensing nuggets not to be forgotten!!! .Net and C#-aholics had breathed so much hot air, I was having trouble find a place to start. Once received I put everything else aside. I used to use arrays, types, RDS, and ADO to get the plumbing done but now its OOP, and serialization from now on!!! I got so many good pearls from this book its ridiculous.

I have been programming in VB since 1992 and decided to move to VB.NET when it was released but found the learning curve was immense - until I bought the book of VB.NET. This book is my Bible, it sits besides my computer all the time. Without delving into the VB language, it simplifies the transition to VB.NET for the experienced VB Programmer. It's not for VB learners nor does Matthew propose that it is. If you know VB this is the book to ease the quantam leap from VB to VB.NET - explained in logical steps with excellent examples. I have had to EMail Matthew with a few queries and the response is always prompt and helpful.

There are certainly other books you need in your arsenal - such as Francesco Balena's Microsoft Reference - but this one is a must.

I won't do a lengthy review... just read the other 5-star reviews and you'll get the drift. This book is so easy to understand you can learn without a PC in front of you (if you're a VB6 developer looking to understand .Net). The explanation of what ADO.NET is all about is worth purchase price alone. No chapter is super comprehensive, but it's a great text to get you rolling in VB.Net right quick. As an MCSD and MCDBA certified developer, I wouldn't write such a great review on just any book. Buy it.

There is so much that is lacking in this book. First, it is not user friendly. It is difficult to follow. Second, it simply does not cover enough information that one needs in order to truly be able to use .Net technology.

This book has a very good intention and concept - to introduce VB6 developers to VB .Net. In general it is a very good book. Not very deep, but good enough to start working with VB .Net and bee reasonably productive. So, if not for sloppy writing, I would probably give that book all 5 stars.
What do I mean by sloppy? For once, author uses terms object and class interchangeably throughout the book. Sometimes it is contextually understandable what he means, but often it might be very confusing, especially for people relatively new to OO. Then there are errors and typos in code examples. Some of them are also very confusing. For example: on page 80 author introduces the new VB concept - delegates. For VB6 folks this is something fundamentally new and strange.
In code example author defines delegate type and calls it ProcessFunction. Then he defines variable of this type and calls it ProcessDelegate. After that on the same page he shows how to use delegates and assigns value to ProcessFunction and retrieves value from ProcessFunction.
From the context one should understand that in the last two cases the variable ProcessDelegate should be used instead, and that this is just a typo. Yet, given that VB .Net now supports shared properties and methods, when Class (Type) name can be used where one expects to see Object (Variable), this types of mistakes are very confusing and annoying.
I would not go here into more examples of books imperfections. There are some more. Not terribly many, but enough to frustrate.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, if you have patience and some other VB .Net book to resolve inevitable confusions.
This could become a great book in its next edition if author takes time to make it a bit more accurate and precise.

I'm writing this review mainly because I couldn't find any other place where I could put my comments about the excellent service they offer at Amazon.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia is a magnificent work, and I'm very glad to finally have it; but it wouldn't have been so good if it hadn't been for the fast, neat, and professional service given at Amazon.
I live in Chile, South America, and my delivery date was due to August 20th. Despite the distance, my book arrived last Saturday, August 9th, in perfect condition, in a safe box with no flaws.
Thank you Amazon for providing the best service ever in international delivery. I completely trust them, and I certainly recommend it for anyone who'd like to purchase items internationally.
Keep on the excellent work! Thank you very much!!

Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language by David Crystal

Very British, packed full of facts, but eminently readable. Many illustrations and little sidebars keep it from being too dry. It's appropriate for the layman, but is still quite sophisticated. I recommend this book.

This book is somewhere between a reference and an entertainment. It has a large amount of material, some useful as well as other that is merely curious. It is beautifully printed, but the large format might be difficult to handle. Open it anywhere and you are sure to find something you did not know.

First thing I need to say is that this book is an overview of English Language and designed for average intelligent adults, not for serious academic settings. You'll notice plenty of photographs, charts, and such. It's quite fun to flip to any page and just start reading. It included a lot of contemporary figures, like pop singers, current politicians, and authors. It tried to make readers understand the older form of English culture by linking the current one to it. I must say this approach worked only so far as to get your feet wet. Again, it's an introductory sort of book, but still has many things we modern citizens don't know about English.

Buy the 1st Edition and save yourself thirty bucks.

It's got the same cover (but a different color), the same number of pages (506 pages) and is as far as I can tell, the exact same book. I'm tired of "edition inflation." Buy the first edition and save yourself a lot of money.

the chalk box kid

The Calk box kid









Crcc the walls where about to fall down Gorge ran to the other side



The Calk Box Kid by Clyde Bulla was about a kid named Gorge likes to plant and draw flowers .One

day Gorge moved to a knew town and a knew school but Gorge did not make any friends .Gorge did

not talk to anyone. Gorge got bulled by this kid named Vince because he said'' you think you school is

better then ours just because it bigger



My favorite part was when Gorge stood up to this boy named Vince. Vince was the meanest person in the whole entire school.



I think the author's purpose was to teach us to make friends, be nice to others, and to have fun at school.



I think a lot of kids should read this book because I give this book five stars. You learn some things like how to be a good friend and how to treat others like you want to be treated.
By Eugene



Crcc the walls where about to fall down Gorge ran to the other side



The Calk Box Kid by Clyde Bulla was about a kid named Gorge likes to plant and draw flowers .One

day Gorge moved to a knew town and a knew school but Gorge did not make any friends .Gorge did

not talk to anyone. Gorge got bulled by this kid named Vince because he said'' you think you school is

better then ours just because it bigger



My favorite part was when Gorge stood up to this boy named Vince. Vince was the meanest person in the whole entire school.



I think the author's purpose was to teach us to make friends, be nice to others, and to have fun at school.



I think a lot of kids should read this book because I give this book five stars. You learn some things like how to be a good friend and how to treat others like you want to be treated.
The Calk box kid









Crcc the walls where about to fall down Gorge ran to the other side



The Calk Box Kid by Clyde Bulla was about a kid named Gorge likes to plant and draw flowers .One

day Gorge moved to a knew town and a knew school but Gorge did not make any friends .Gorge did

not talk to anyone. Gorge got bulled by this kid named Vince because he said'' you think you school is

better then ours just because it bigger



My favorite part was when Gorge stood up to this boy named Vince. Vince was the meanest person in the whole entire school.



I think the author's purpose was to teach us to make friends, be nice to others, and to have fun at school.



I think a lot of kids should read this book because I give this book five stars. You learn some things like how to be a good friend and how to treat others like you want to be treated.
By Eugene

When you read this book you will be amazed! This book is amazing
to me and probably to you to.I mean I love this book it's amazing I hope you will like this book very,very much if you want to find out more information you'll have to read it!!!!!

The Chalk box kid teaches you a lesson about how to deal with life when
you move. It shows you that you can make a place your own. It was a wonderful book.Gregory creats a chalk garden. As 3rd graders we give it 5
stars!

This is my favorite book ever because it was about chalk and I like to write with chalk.

I like this book a lot because I like to write with chalk.I would also like to have a garden.

A wonderful book. I loved it as a child, and going back to read it as an adult I realize that there are a lot of things that I missed. I remember my teacher reading it aloud in class--wonderful!

The movie, although very nice, has only a superficial resemblance to the book. For one thing, it moves the time a generation or so back. For another, in the book both parents are alive, rather than Caracticus Pott's being a widower; consequently, there is no romance.

I could very well wish that a new movie be made, NOT a musical and following the original plot.

Just like when I was a kid at my moms knee listening to her read this to me I wsa again transported to another time. This audio is great. Kids and adults alike will fall inlove with this audio book. Some what diffrent than the movie staring Dick Van Dyke. which is always a welcome suprise.

It is a charming and delightful story that you will love to read to your children. I read this book to my 6 year old. She loved it!! We both wish we could find more books about this wonderful family and car.

I remember the 1968 movie based on this novel fondly, but had never picked up the novel itself until just the other day. I was surprised at how different the book is. Although Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang herself is very similar in both, the plot of the story is much different. I enjoyed this simple little story, with Fleming's humorous asides, very much. Those asides reminded me of the "Series of Unfortunate Events" books I have read and I would be interested in learning if Lemony Snicket drew from Fleming's story style for his own series. This is a fun, quick story that most kids will enjoy. I do, however, fear that the admittedly crude illustrations in my original edition would not be as popular with modern children.

The story of Caractacus Pott, his family, and that wonderful magical car is one of the best children's stories you will ever read. Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, tells a fantastic story about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the magical flying car that can even turn into a boat! It's a delightful story, filled with crooks and gangsters, and you won't be sorry you bought this fantastic little book. Should be added to every child's bookshelf. Just delightful! The book is so much better than the movie, eliminating that silly Vulgaria story. If you want to read the story Ian Fleming intended, you'll have to buy the book. You won't be sorry.

I bought this as a gift for my mom, and she loved it. It is a great book that keeps you interested, you won't want to put it down.

No te arrepentiràs, me encantan todos los cuentos de este libro, so tan originales y tan fuera de lo común, que te transportan a otro mundo en tu imaginación!!

Cuentos de Eva Luna arrived rapidly. I am reading it for pleasure and I'm not being disappointed. The book is well bound for a paperback, comfortable to hold, easy to read for a student of a second language.

A friend introduced me to this collection this summer. It's a relatively easy read for anyone with a college education in Spanish. Allende uses modern stylistic devices and vocabulary.

The frame is a Scheherazade set up... a series of stories about love relationships.

Some stories are a bit schematic and unsatisfying but when she hits paydirt, it's killer. I especially liked the stories 'Si me tocaras el corazon' and 'Walimai.' These felt almost like deep folk/ fairytales.

If you enjoyed A.S. Byatt's "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye," you'll like this one too.

What a collection of characters! An illiterate woman who sells words. A man obsessed with a little girl. A woman whose marriage was based on letters written by the wrong man. A woman who spends her life waiting for revenge. A rich man who keeps a girl prisoner. Rascals trying to break into society. A lonely dictator. Invisible Indians. Every character is flawed in some terrible way, and yet, somehow appealing. Somehow you become attached to each of the characters and you want to hear their stories. There is something absolutely magical about these stories by Isabel Allende, stories you can't put down.

What is her secret? I don't know. I think she writes with magic ink. But, there is something else, too. Her characters never give up. No matter how bad, how flawed, how actually depraved they may be, they keep struggling toward the light. And so, each of us, with our own struggle to escape from darkness, can relate to these people and their stories.

These are some of the finest stories I have ever read. I recommend the collection most highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

One of my Junior Engineers asked me some months ago about my process for debugging. This book gave him a much better answer than I did at the time. It pretty much exactly summarises everything I have learned in over ten years of embedded software development, and presents it in a very readable and compelling form. Highly recommended for all levels of developer.

This is an excellent book on debugging. Whether you're debugging mechanical systems, electrical circuits, or software, the methodology presented is extremely practical and systematic. The author presents nine debugging rules that can be applied to any problem. The text is well-written, engaging, and humorous. The author also included a wealth of war stories that are worth the price alone. Highly recommended.

Quite liked it. I now have a game plan for approaching bugs in a nonrandom manner (including intermittent bugs):


Understand the System
- Read all related documentation
- Draw a system diagram and understand how things are connected
- Know the capabilities of your debugging tools


Make It Fail
- Start from a clean initial state
- Consider automating lengthy steps
- Make it fail in situ; don't waste time simulating the environment
- For intermittent bugs: list possible factors and try varying them one at a time; output a logfile and look for patterns


Quit Thinking and Look
- Watch it fail
- Use Remote Desktop / VNC
- Add logging and monitors
- Don't start thinking until you've limited the number of possible causes


Divide and Conquer
- Binary search
- Use test data with an easily identifiable pattern
- Start at the failure point and work backwards
- If you discover other bugs that may be related, fix them before continuing your search


Change One Thing at a Time
- Don't panic
- Back out changes that have no effect
- Compare the logfile with that of a good system
- Check earlier versions


Keep an Audit Trail
- Keep a detailed written log


Check the Plug
- D'oh!
- Have the components been properly initialized?


Get a Fresh View
- Try explaining the problem to someone (or something)
- Ask an expert: co-workers, the vendor, documentation, bug database, the web
- Report symptoms (including possibly unrelated observations), but not your theories


If You Didn't Fix It, It Ain't Fixed
- Fix the root cause
- Make the problem happen again by undoing your fix

I worked with Dave Agans for over 10 years and I can tell you first hand the man knows what he's talking about. From developing hand-held controllers in the late eighties to single-board OS/2-based videoconferencing products to software collaboration tools, we have debugged problems of every ilk. Whether the problem was an FPGA bug, a faulty component in a board, a race condition in a device driver or a dangling pointer in a DLL, Dave always approached the problem with his same set of debugging rules, and they never let him down. Read this book. It's engaging and fun to read. But more importantly it will make you a better debugger, whether you're debugging hardware, software or your lawnmower.

This book is absolutely indispensable for anyone working in any job where things occasionally work in an unexpected manner. It's concise, funny, well-written, and full of immensely useful tips on how to go about debugging problems.

One of the great things about this book is that it's generalistic in nature, not specific. Agans's decades of troubleshooting experience has given him great insight on how to go about debugging in all sorts of environments, so he lays out nine rules for approaching any problem:

Understand the System
Make it Fail
Quit Thinking and Look
Divide and Conquer
Change One Thing at a Time
Keep an Audit Trail
Check the Plug
Get a Fresh View
If You Didn't Fix It, It Ain't Fixed

[...]

Debugging isn't an art performed only by folks with some odd genetic disposition, it's a critical craft which can and must be learned. I was fortunate to have some good troubleshooters as mentors during my days working radar inflight in the Air Force, but I've fallen out of many of the good practices those folks beat^H^H^H^Hinstilled in me. Agans's book is helping me pull out of the thrash and churn mode of debugging.

This book's only 175 or so pages long and is well-worth adding to your library. Actually, substitute "a critical addition" for "well worth adding". I'm also going to make sure this book gets added to the professional development reading list I'm working on creating.

I was fortunate to attend a workshop where Sonja and William highlighted several techniques presented in the book. I bought this book several months ago and it is not only helping me get through the dissertation, but has been an extremely helpful guide for writing articles for publication. It is easy to follow and the checklist for completing the dissertation process is very helpful. I have found myself picking up this book at various stages in the writing process and feel less intimidated in completing the literature review. A must-have book for doctoral students! It's a winner!

After reading Sonja Foss and William Waters's amazing book,I was re-energized by their clarity, energy, and road map metaphor they propose. I was so inspired by their approach, I decided to participate in their very successful Scholars Retreat (aka as Dissertation Boot Camp). It was as good, if not better than the book. After consulting with numerous dissertation writing texts and participating in various writing group sessions for graduate students and Assistant Faculty, I found Foss and Waters approach to be the most helpful. Their strategy gets to the heart of writing and finishing a dissertation. And if you're also a mentor seeking to work with undergraduate and/or graduate students with their research projects, this text will offer invaluable information on research and writing from multiple stages, ranging from initial conception of the project, to writing a proposal, coding data (which can include literature, ethnography, etc.), to writing successful chapters. And this advise is most beneficial to students (or any serious researcher), as well as lay professionals working on a book. While the book is surely intended for graduate students working on their dissertations, it will be helpful to other researchers and writers, and the numerous Professors and writing tutors committed to being good mentors.

Overall, this is the best book on completing the dissertation. And if you can, I strongly recommend participating in the Scholars Retreat.

Foss and Waters have written a book that seems destined to become a classic about how to finish a dissertation in a timely manner. I can't even begin to say how helpful this book has been to me during the writing process. Unlike other "how-to" dissertation guides that seem to privilege study skills and research techniques, Foss and Waters go over the nuts-and-bolts of writing. My writing output has literally tripled since reading this book. Destination Dissertation is a must-have for any serious graduate student.

This book actually changed my life. I am a doctoral student and I was stalled in the work of my dissertation due to some pretty serious life issues and I thought I was genuinely never going to be able to finish. I literally had hit a wall. I bought this book, feeling like this was a last resort, and decided to just surrender to their system. Why not just try? Their method detailed in the data collection and analysis chapter with the envelopes and labels is worth the price of the book. It led me step by step from a place of confusion to where I am now. And where I am now is on the verge of meeting with my committee for my defense. I am stunned. I went from "I have no idea how I'm going to do this" to "I'm done" in a matter of two months. It was this book. That's all I can say.

With so many dissertation guides available, it's tough to know which one to pick. The unique value of Destination Dissertation lies in its suggestions for overcoming real-world road blocks in the journey. Foss and Waters provide concrete tips and actual examples for dealing with common problems like an out-of-control lit review, making sense of mounds of data, negotiating with advisors and committee members, slow and painful writing, and plain old boredom. This book keeps the reader's focus on a manageable plan for breaking down tasks and moving forward. Highly recommended for graduate students in the thesis or dissertation process who want to get it DONE and get on with their lives.

Having grown up watching the classic television adaptation of the book, I have always had a great admiration for Pandit Nehru. A few years back I bought the book and it was sheer joy to read through and to get to know India personally. Even though I am an Indian, I would say, that I felt more close to India after reading this book. I would bet, this is one history book you will not put down for sure.

In today's perspective, when everyone is looking at and talking about India, there are lots of misconceptions. Unfortunately, most of us (Indians) have forgotten our roots and have no clear idea of our own country. I would bet you pick up randomly any number of Indians and ask him or her about the history of India, and everyone will come up with his own version, which is almost always far away from truth. I have to accept that I too belong to that category, but now with "The Discovery of India" by my side, I believe I won't go wrong. For instance, how many of us know that the real inhabitants of India, the real Indians were actually the South Indians (Dravidians) and rest of us are all Aryans the non-inhabitants? How many of us know that the so called caste "Kshatriyas", "Brahamans", "Shudras" had nothing to do with religion but was an indentification of one's occupation? How many of us know that the word "Hindu" didn't mean "a person who follows Hinduism" but "The citizens of Hindustan"?(Pardon me if I hurt someone, but that it is a fact. If you already know, then hats-off to you)

I personally believe, every Indian must read this book and more so every politician, the current bunch of people regardless of whichever party they represent, because none of them have any idea what India is all about. Unfortunately!!

This book is compiled from Nehru's letters to his teen-age daughter from a British prison. Reading Discovery of India gives a glimpse of the intellectual level of politicians who contetsted British rule in 40's. India owes it's recent "Hi-Tech" growth to Nehru and his vision of sustainable freedom through knowledge and education.

I read Nehru's treatise once when I was in 10th grade and appreciated little of it. I chanced upon the book again recently and decided to hash out the book from the first page to last. I was very impressed with his deep and insightful interpretation of various historical events in the 5 millenia long history of my country, and of his objective portrayal of the same. He was not overtly parochial as I suspected he would be, but was critical of my countrymen and of our culture and their actions when necessary, and lauded their actions when they were justified. Particularly interesting to me were his writings on the social evolution of our caste system, which is said to be a great problem, and is constantly criticized (particularly by the you-know-who's of the western world). However, Nehru showed that, the system in it's ancient and present forms are dogma-induced perversions of it's intended goal, which was to provide checks and balances to racial and class-based divisions that plagued other "more civilized" Hellenic and Saxonic/Nordic societies in Europe (he also pointed out that the caste system enabled ancient Indians to avoid the sick barbarity of the mass slavery of other human beings with minds and thoughts like our own, something which all civilizations other than India and those in the Far East have practiced on a nauseatingly copious scale). Also, I was impressed by his organized portrayal of the British Raj which, by all accounts other than those of the Europeans, was a savage massacre and rape of our land and people to satisfy the Anglo-Saxon bloodlust (while it did have a small number of benefits, it did not justify the claim of "Pax Brittanica"). If I were to paraphrase the British occupation based on his writings, I would have to say that his contention was that, while the British enslaved our people in order to "civilize" us, we wound up civilizing them, as, in the final analysis, they were amenable to reason and dialogue and consequently we were able to sue for our freedon through civil disobedience rather than wage bloody wars for it like other countries like the United States were forced to do.

However, one criticism for this work is that Nehru has often been a tad shaky on his facts. One might argue, of course, that his main intention was not to provide a litany of names and dates, but explanations and interpretations. But one must remember that history is a science as much as it is an art, and the scientific method entails detailed records of all the facts before providing an interpretation of them. Nehru is a little deficient on this. For example, he summarizes the spectacular rise of the Mauryan Empire in just 1 paragraph, without describing the palace intrigues that lead Kautilya to engineer the rather dramatic fall of the Nanda Dynasty and crown Sandracottus/Chandragupta Maurya as the Emperor after driving out the Celucid Greeks. He only touches the interesting bits about the invasions of Demetrius and the Scythians and Huns (though he does mention Mihiragula the Horrible), the mistreatment of the Buddhist monks by the Sunga Kings, and the grand achievements of the Gupta Empire that entail all that is finest about our people even to this day. Also, his portrayal of Muslim rule in India is somewhat biased, and he only describes the bad bits, such as the jizya and the pagan tyranny of Aurangzeb while glossing over the good bits during the reigns Emperors Akbar, Jehangir and all those chaps who tried to build bridges between Hindus and Muslims. He did not write about the reletavily progressive outlook of Indian Muslims (relative to the Persians and Afghans of that time) that laid to the establishment of the Ghulami (Slave) Dynasty in the Sultanate, when Iltutmish, a poor slave, rose in the ranks to become an Emperor, or of our first Empress, Razia al-Din (although the incompetence of the Tughlaq dynasty negated much of that later).

All in all, though, I'm glad I read this book as I know more about my roots than I did before.

Written by Jawaharlal Nehru for his daughter Indira, this book is an introduction to the history of India as well as an insight into Nehru's political vision during the fight for Independance.

The narrative framework is that of Nehru's stay in prison, which gives him time to write and look back on the history of the sub-continent, and on the Nationalist movement.
I find this work simply amazing. Nehru doesn't just tackle a few centuries of "Indian" (he actually speaks about a lot more than the present days India) history, he tries to offer a panorama through the ages, from the Indus Civilization (just discovered a decade or so ago at the time) to his entry in history. This history of India is eminently political, as the title proves it, since Nehru invites us to discover India, an entity that did not formaly exist yet. His presentation of the sub-continent's history aims at : doing justice to the incredible richness of the indian past and culture that was overlooked by the British (see MacCauley for instance), creating a history of the subcontinent as a "unified whole" (from Asoka to the Mughals and the British), and finally, summing up the nationalist movement's history.

However biased Nehru's view may be, his presentation of the facts is incredibly compelling and classifies this text as an uplifting testimony of his political views. No matter how much one knows about the more objective history of India, it is impossible to resist partaking in his dream of a unified country. This view might be criticized as imperialistic or just unrealistic since he thought of India as India + Pakistan + Bangladesh, nevertheless when reading this book it is possible to forget everything about history and share a bit of the fiever that animated Indian Nationalists of the Congress.

I find this book extremely informative as much in terms of Nehru's views as in terms of history. However you will need another source on the history to balance Nehru's unifying enthusiasm, for instance India a History by Keay is a very good read as well as an information packed volume (with nice photos).
As a final word I'd say that Nehru's take on the history of Islam in India is very intelligent in its attempts to minimize and expalin the gap that was starting to increase dramatically between the Congress and the Muslim League and is useful when trying to understand the origins of the Muslim/Hindu clash (here again, other sources are needed, but it's still worth taking in consideration).

There is nothing to say other than 'to understand India'- this is where you need to start. A book like this only comes along once in a lifetime and I'm glad I've benefited from its wonders.

I bought this book for my daughter when she was 12 months. Incredibly enough, she memorized it before she was two. She is now five years old, and I now have another 1 year old daughter. She also loves the book and requests that I read it to her every night.

I don't believe this book was in any way meant to be a "good parenting guide." I believe it was simply a story of a little boy who got himself into trouble, was angry at his mother and with nothing else to do in his room, he lets his imagination roam. In the end he realized he could have the best adventures far away, but he still misses the one person who loves him more than anybody else, his mother. I think this is a really good message for kids to learn, especially those who get into trouble more than usual. :)

My son is 4 years old and afraid of the dark and monsters. He enjoys reading this book (me reading it to him) since he likes the character actually visiting the monsters and overcoming them. I think its a great book for kids his age.

This was one of my favorite books growing up. I'm glad I was able to get it for my daughter in Spanish. The translation is accurate and consistent with the story as it is in English. Truly a classic!

This is one of the best books my daughter has. The translation is perfect...my daughter loves it!!! The illustrations are excellent and she totally gets the point of the story which is not to be afraid of monsters because they are probably more afraid of her 8-)

I bought this online guided by the good reviews, but the book proved dissapointing. Though pictures are very good, the story of a boy that gets sent to bed for bad behavior and travels to an island where mosters live, and where he reigns as his king, has absolutely no soul nor magic. Story starts with the boy mother calling the boy "a monster". I know raising a boy is challenging, but I felt uneasy about that language from a mother to his son. In short, the very short story seems focused on the boy getting away with everything he does: no moral, no tenderness, no warmth. AND my kids found the pictures alluring but the book boring. I bought three books, read all of them to the kids and asked them to choose their favourites to keep, and this one was last.

Two years ago, while in high school, I formed an Independent Study class with a couple other students to learn Esperanto. It's a relatively esoteric subject for most people, so we were worried we would be unable to find an effective text book. We ultimately decided on Esperanto from the Teach Yourself series, and were pleased beyond our expectations. I was amazed by not only how easy the language is to learn, but by the wonderful format and selection of vocabulary presented by the book. The book does not patronize you with repetitive material, and instead uses every page to pack in more of the language. Complete with wonderful appendicies (and a comprable dictionary), I felt that I learned more from that book than I did from my first three years of formal classes in Spanish. Although I have used a more advanced textbook since, shortly after finishing the TY Esperanto book, I had very little trouble tackling La Hobito (the Hobbit), Genesis, and poetry in Esperanto to test my success and build vocabulary. I fear, if interest fades or not enough materials like this remain available, this wonderful experiment with linguistics will die. Don't be afraid to help Esperanto stay alive, and Teach Yourself Esperanto.

I ordered this book through my local library, because I was interested learning about Esperanto. Once I had it, I realized I would need a permanent copy for myself. I searched everywhere on the internet for it, but because it is out of print the only place I found it was here, on Amazon.com. The price was $30.68, which is outrageous for a book of not even 200 pages. But I paid it, because this book really is priceless!
If you want to learn Esperanto, you need this book.

The Teach Yourself Series is a great modality for learning and/or acquiring a second language. Esperanto: A complete course for beginners, is exactly what it says! I have used other TY books, and the quality and level of material learned is excellent for adult learners either studying alone or in a group setting.

Definately worth the money.....recommended without reservation!

This was one of only two Esperanto books at my local Borders. I bought both, and loved this one. After merely months I can chat online and read web pages and (simple) books! I bought it without the tapes, which I didn't know existed until several months later, but that's my only regret. The alphabetized word lists in the back serve as a surprisingly helpful (for the size) dictionary until you buy a full one, which I still haven't yet. You can't go wrong with this book! Acxetu gxin! (Buy it!)

I only have great things to say about this book. I'm enrolled in a free Esperanto introductory course, and I just have to say that reading this book alone has helped me get further along than the class! Of course, I can't negate that the class has been at the very least synergistically helpful. I would recommend taking a class to anyone, but even if you do, or if you can't manage that luxury, this book will be just as helpful.