Recreation Books

I'm shocked that so many reviewers raved. First of all, the calorie count was too low for me. I was very hungry. Personally, I believe when you get used to being very hungry, or you get used to quite a bit less food, it is a sign that your metabolism is slowing down. I've had the pendulum swing too often to go through that again. Secondly, I found the last repetitions of the exercises such unpleasant experiences that I dreaded working out as time went on, whereas in the past I would get happier about working out the farther into a program I went. Third, it is very rare to find a body builder, and they are the experts at shedding fat, who doesn't believe that aerobics should be included in training, or who recommends Superslow. Schwarzenegger even reported (long ago) that he and a training buddy tried slow reps and abandoned the technique because it was not getting them the results they were used to. Fourth, I resent that the cover model was a woman who didn't need to lose any body fat. In fact, she didn't have to follow the eating plan at all. Lastly, even though there is in the reviews an example of someone who kept the weight off, I really wonder how the majority of people do after this cycle. It doesn't seem to teach realistic life skills. It certainly is not a health benefit to limit your foods to such narrow choices. Modern hunter gatherers (who most likely eat more like early humans, whom we mostly likely resemble in metabolism) often eat nearly a hundred fruits and vegetables with vastly more natural fiber that you could get in this regime. In additon, my endurance in dance classes did not increase nearly as much as when I switched to weight training plus jogging with intervals of rope jumping. However, it's nnot a terrible book, and if you can take the low calorie count, it is better than programs that don't have a good exercise component. But don't beat yourself up if you hate it. You can always try it again later (if ever) when you more ready for the severity. Or do something that takes the weight off more enjoyably even if it is slower.

This book be da bomb. I know the girl on the cover and she still looks like that, and that picture was taken in 1992 before she tried out for a remake of FAME at the local hipadrome. I know this because that is my main man holmes baby's mama. For real though, she is 35 has 3 kids and still looks like dat. She ocassinally does the diet in the book and ocassinonally smashes down a couple big mac's from our local McD's and washes it down with a jumbo slurpee but still is a pretty hot mama. I guess I got a little off track, but I'm trying to hollar at yall and let you know that this diet does work. Give it a try and you too will be looking like my man holmes baby mama shell-dawg.

I too came upon this book while looking for something on weight training. The before and after pictures got my attention as well as the uphill trendline for female weight gain over time. I like being able to exercise effectively in the privacy and convenience of my home. The weight lifting is immediately rewarding as each session brings improvements. After three weeks of exercise and diet, the weight loss and inches lost becomes dramatic. I lost 13 pounds and many inches in six weeks. His diet recommendations are not very practical for someone cooking for a family; I modified the diet recommendations using other resources to maintain a 1200 calorie/day low fat diet. After the initial six weeks I have maintained the weight loss by lifting weights 2-3 times a week. This book appears to be a dumbed down version of the men's book, Living Longer Stronger, which my husband uses, in that it offers far less theory but I wouldn't call that a major drawback. The bottom line is that the program works. I have recommended it to at least 8 others.

It is a good program and I'm sure it does work as advertised, however there are some drawbacks. First, some of us can't use it. For instance, as a nursing mother I can't superhydrate until after I'm done nursing, nor can I cut my calories as drastically as advocated without jeapordizing my milk supply (I realize this is a temporary problem). My other major difficulty is that it is a 6 week program, and doesn't really provide much information or helpful advice on what to do when you're not following the program. Frankly I'm more interested in what I weigh a year from now, than what I weigh 6 weeks from now.

With those quibbles aside though, it's otherwise an excellent book and program.

This program works!!! it's not easy-it's not hard,IT WORKS, I have lost 100 lbs in 1 year and totally reshaped my body and changed my metabolism,Thanks to the TRUTH in this book!!!!!!!!!!

This book is just an "okay" introductory text on capoeira. A major draw back is the centeral focus on capoeira regional, a better text would be "Ring of Liberation" because it more comprehensivly covers capoeira.

The book Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form was not only well-written but was interesting as well. This book educates you about the history of capoeira, capoeira practitioners, and even a short summary of how Mestre Acordeon was introduced to the art of capoeira. I would highly reccomend this book to capoeiristas, as it was very helpful to me. Axé.

Amazing book, absolutely amazing. It is not for the person wanting to learn how to do capoeira, but for anyone, beginner or master, who wants to read a great history and personal journey.
It even travels into the spiritual, deeper significance of capoeira.
GREAT BOOK.

Mestre Acordeon takes you on a journey through capoeira, sharing his experiences and inviting the reader to use his imagination.
A truely inspirational piece from a truely inspirational master.

Mestre Acordeon's book has long been praised for its clear writing, for his thoughtful coverage of the history, philosophy, and artistic traditions surrounding this art-form. Other reviewers (see below) have noted that the book was among the first in English to introduce readers to these aspects of Capoeira, while also offering a glimpse into this one mestre's personal and life-long journey. Having assigned his book to students (both graduate and undergraduate alike), I have had ample opportunity to hear students' glowing reviews: most of these students had never heard of Capoeira, nor even seen it played, before having read his work. In retrospect, they (and I, too) consider this book an excellent way to delve into the topic. While there's recently been a flurry of new scholarship on Capoeira (at least 3 books in English have come out in 2005) that matches Capoeira's growing influence around the globe, Acordeon's book remains one of the best places to start one's exploration. Axe ASCAB!

wow, the set of fabled lands books are brilliant, they transport you into a whole new enchanted world where anything is possible. I would well recomend these books to everyone. I just want to know what happend to the last six in the series?, i,ve been looking for them everywhere!

The best solo RPG game ever!
These books create the most amazing fantasy world.
They allow you to roam about how you want to.
It was planned that enough of these books would be released to cover the map that is contained in each of this series.
However, I heard, that they charged too little for each book (in England I think they were just £5 or £6!!) so they couldn't finish the series for financial reasons!
An absolute shame - I do anything for the last few books!!

I strongly reccomend this wonderful roleplaying game. Absolutely non-lynear storyline, many different characters to start your game with and many mini-quests in the global quest.

I have been playing the Quest for more than 3 years, and it was a pity that only 6 books have been published. This is the most astounding Role Playing Games I have ever played. Specially for people who do not of RPG games on computers. I wish that Jamie Thomson and Dave Morris become aware of this and please publish the remaining 6 books.The descriptions in the book for places, characters and actions are so good that I have abandoned to play Fighting Fantasy Series. Best of all, for all readers, is that the adventure is unlimited and you can go back and forth.

wow, the set of fabled land books are brilliant, they transport you into a whole new world where anything is possible. I would well recomend this book to those of you who like to escape for a few hours into a land of fiction. I would just like to know what happend to the last 6 books in the series?, i,ve been looking for them everywhere!

This is a Great Book by Tina Zhang and Frank Allen on how to do Northern Wu Style Tai Ji. Having studied Wu Style Short Form for 6 months with Frank Allen I can honestly say that many things he taught me in person are explained in great detail in this book. All students of all styles of Tai Ji will benefit from reading it and incorporating its techniques into their daily practice. If you are interested in Tai Ji You Must Get This Book !!!!!

This is a great book on the art of tai ji quan (tai chi chuan). It offers an excellent overview of the internal martial arts principles of Wu style tai ji quan, and addresses the aspects of the art that contribute to good health and longevity. The history of the Northern Wu is very interesting and includes rare archival photographs. The form and practical application of the postures are well presented, as is the section on the Wu sword form. This is the kind of book you buy to keep as a lifelong reference as you develop the skills of tai ji quan - from knowing the techniques (zhao shu), to understanding internal energy and gaining tai ji quan power (dong jin), and progressing to the advanced level where the spirit is calm, happy, relaxed, and free to use flowing techniques at will (shen ming). (See Chapter 8.) I can't wait for the authors' book on Bagua, due out this summer!

Not only does this book offer a detailed description and clear photography of the Tai Ji Form and Sword Form, for these alone would be reason for those practicing or interested in Classical Northern Wu Style.
What makes this book invaluable for ALL internal martial artists is its direct and straight to the point explanations of the martial applications, how to apply the qualities of a Tai Ji practice to become more effective, and specifically what training methods the internal fighter will utilize in contrast to an external stylist. It is within these teachings that Tina Zhang and Frank Allen show their understanding of the complete art, integrating all the components into a whole... which is the essence of Tai Ji.

Although it is always preferable to have a teacher, this book goes a long way towards providing the images and text for learning Taiji on your own, which is an unusual occurance. The images are sharp and there are many of them. Using figure numbers, the images are linked to the text, which is as clearly written as is possible.

The introduction gives excellent background on the evolution of Northern style taiji and provides biographies of the people that developed and spread the art. The introduction is followed by a section on the Principles of Wu Style Taijiquan, which provides interesting information on the differences between the hard and soft, and the external and internal martial arts styles.

The Wu style described in the book consists of 83 movements with images covering the beginning and end of each movement plus images for all key changes in posture.

In addition to the Taiji form, the book contains a good section on Push hands, which incluses more than 50 images showing fighting applications using the Wu style movements.

The Classical Sword Form is also presented and the presentation is just as well done and extensive as the Taiji form.

The book is a well done, authoritative, excellent addition to the martial arts literature.

On the bookshelves of the martial arts section there are few books that can truly be called thorough and complete. The "Classical Northern Wu Style Tai Ji Quan" by Tina Zhang and Frank Allen in one of these few.

The history section is a concise look at the history of Tai Ji Quan from the perspective of the northern Wu style school. Instead of just regurgitating the usual legends, it tells an interesting story and gives the reader a quick introduction to the confusing and convoluted field of martial arts history. Unlike many Tai Ji books it actually has some new information, specifically about the Northern Wu style so that any Tai Ji player will get some new perspective on the development of the art.

The principles of practice are well laid out and to the point. There are many facets to be worked on here from alignments, to breathing, vision, and more. Very interesting are instructions on Compression and Expansion which is often absent in Tai Ji practice, yet is one of Tai Ji's most useful and enriching aspects.

The form is taught carefully with full instructions, yet not overlong or boring. Tai Ji enthusiasts should be able to make a close comparison of this with their own work and see how it is the same and different. The sword form is also fully taught and should also be quite useful for comparison.

A note on the combat applications. Any Chinese martial arts book that is missing the fighting uses of the form should be considered useless. This is where the hard gongfu training is demonstrated. The creativity and proficiency of the author is always shown best in the applications. Your form may be great but are your fighting moves silly and wrong-headed? In the case of "Classical Northern Wu Style Tai Ji Quan" the answer is decidedly not! The applications are a short section, but instead of wasting endless space on explanations, the pictures are worth a thousand words. Each shows the essence of a fighting technique, and almost all of the Wu style form movements are demonstrated in combative use. The demonstrations are clear and provide much fodder for exploration and experimenation by the reader. They are simple and direct so you can grab a friend and quickly get to work trying them out with no wasted time.

Finally the theory and translation of the Tai Ji classics in the end is of course another mandatory part of a good Ta Ji book. The special points of Northern Wu Tai Ji are also translated so the reader gets a small taste of what makes this style unique.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all Tai Ji Quan players, and all who want a close look at the intricacies of Chinese martial arts.

Sincerley,

Jess O'Brien
Oakland, CA

Flies like the Clouser minnow are well known and easy to tie, I
was interested to see how the man himself tied his flies.
The good photographs and step-by-step instructions make it easy to duplicate the patterns correctly.
Since these patterns are so succsesfull in both fresh- and saltwater I
regard this book as a must have for any flyfisherman.

I fish specs and reds in the flats, and when I'm not throwing top water, I'm using a Clouser...this book has led me to experiment with other than the Clouser standards with great success. The book is well written and the photography of the flies is superb. Glad I added it to my fly library, it certainly will be a classic.

Clouser's Flies: Tying And Fishing the Fly Patterns of Bob Clouser Highly recommended fly tying tutorial for Bob Clouser patterns. Tying sequences well illustrated with large, clear photos. Great for seasoned beginning or intermediate tyers wanting to advance their skills. Must have book to add to any flytyers library.

This book is an important read for anyone who fishes & ties Bob Clouser's flies; that would probably include everyone who flyfishes fresh or inshore salt water.

This book gives very clear instructions with great high res color pictures showing how to tie some of Bob Couser's most popular flies. He gives great advise on general fly tying techniques that will help you with other tying as well. It also goes through proportions and helps you to understand 'why' his flies are designed the way they are for better fishing. Pretty much one of the best fly tying books out there for specialty patterns.

This type of book needs to be in every household throughout the world not just the country!

Mark Bryan is my husband's cousin. I saw him on Oprah talking about his book and had to get it. However, it was out of stock. Mark sent me an autographed copy and I read it in a day. It was so helpful to me to learn to deal with some members of my own family, but more importantly with my husband's family. Now that I have the truth on where my husband "comes from", it is easier for me to understand how and why he thinks the way he does...that also goes for the rest of his immediate family. I am going to have my husband read this to help him work out his problems with his parents.

It was very touching and loving to hear about the extended family that I have not ever met. Jim and Mark's grandmother, Minnie, was an exceptional woman, and I can relate to her in many ways. I admire Mark for all he has done and for all he has accomplished.

He has been so supportive of us, but this book has really "tied the loose ends up" for me. The exercises at the end of each chapter are really thought provoking. I began to remember memories that I would have thought that I had forgotten forever. It is nice to know that they are there, and now I can incorporate them in with the "bad" so that the "bad" isn't that horrible. I feel that I have grown and matured, and am ready to Re-Frame and Remake my life. He is right...you can go home again.

This is a great read for anyone having a family or coming to terms with family problems. Bryan came from a disfunctional family and spent a decade of his life blaming his family for the letdowns in his life. Once he saw his family was not the problem and he was, he came to terms with his family and decided to become a member of the family again. This book mainly focused on the interaction between children and their parents, but it can be used with other relationships. This is a great read for any of us who have problems with their family, because it councils us in how to behave in the proper manner. As Bryan himself also states, he even has to work on how to see his family in the proper light. This gives great insight into family dynamics, and is useful reading for anyone.
I plan on using some of Mark's principles with my family. Family matters, and as Mark show, some of us have some pretty heavy baggage. Losing the baggage is a first step in coming to terms with your family. Good read and great advice.

Re-enter your family and find your own true loving nature with Codes of Love by Mark Bryan. Mark uses his own family life and the diverse lives of many clients and friends to help you change your personal family recipes from leftovers to exciting new meals that are deeply nurturing, satisfying and actually possible to enjoy.
Mark's carfully prepared program merges passion with persistence in order for you to digest your past and emerge in the present with new compassion for yourself and the other members of your family.
I personally used Codes of Love to graft into my being Mark's substantial experience in mending families. With Mark's vision by my side, I was able to find the courage, humor and new ways of viewing my past in order to enjoy and reconnect with my precious parents. I had been completely separate from my father (I thought) and almost totally separate from my mother for over twenty years. Mark showed me that they were actually never far from my heart or my mind.
During those twenty years Mark Bryan's wisdom paid various visits to my creative awareness through his books and through a one afternoon seminar in San Francisco. In book form, Mark Bryan and Julia Cameron came into my life first with the amazing Artist's Way and then with the profoundly transformative Artist's Way at Work. In the fall of 2002 my domestic partner came home with Codes of Love for me to use and hopefully help me find a better way to understand and forgive my family and myself.
Mark and his powerful books have brought me back into a full and loving contact with the only parents that I will ever have. Using Mark's words and work to reconnect with my parents has also set me free to engage in my own projects with more confidence, determination and respect for myself.
I sincerely hope that you can also use Codes of Love to further understand your past, free yourself in the present and rejoin your primal pack.
My parents are 80 and 81 and I also have a niece and nephew who are 10 and 13 -- we all needed to come together as an interactive and loving family before it was too late. Mark Bryan and Codes of Love were the ticket that eventually helped us to create the healing, to let go and to make merriment again with each other.
Working with the principles and exercises in Codes of Love gives us the capacity to strengthen our connections with ourselves, our partners,our families and with our worldwide families as well.

I received this book as a gift and it really helped me to see that I was interpretting things my family was saying and doing in a defensive and distorted way. This book has helped to re-examine these things and accept that my family loves me and just wants what is best. I have also tried to stop controlling family members, which has been something I was told and never believed until now. Hats off the the author for writing this insighful book!

As a machinist, and amature gunsmith, I'm fairly well versed on how to modify guns. However, there's no need to reinvent the wheel if it's already been done. Since this was my first 10/22 buildup, this book helped just by being able to see all the different possible combination of parts one could use for a modified 10/22. The accuracy tests with various ammo brands vs. different rifle mods give the new owner a great place to start. If you've been around modified 10/22's for a while, this info might not be too much of a surprise. But for the person getting into this type of gun for the first time, it is very informative, and time saving in the long run.

The first shipment was wrong, I returned it with a picture of the cover showing the thumb hole stock. Second book arrived, the same as the first.
Not the thumb hole stock, but the none thumb hole stock which I had. I want the edition with a thumb hole stock on it, even if it is just a new cover on the one I have.
Why is it people do not think, read and pay attention to what or why things are returned? I'll go to Barns and Noble at the mall and try there.
The first book is very, very good if you shoot and own a Ruger 10/22! It has more information, how to, where to find, about the 10/22 than any book I have found to date.

This book is a 'must have' if you own a Ruger 10/22 rifle. Very informative!

This book was well written and organized. I found it very helpful in answering some questions I had about my Ruger 10-22. It was a good value.

Excellent presentation of both text and illustrations. Material very helpful to both inexperienced shooters as well as old pros.

Outstanding product produced. I was just taken back on how small the book was. the picture was just looked bigger than it is. Other than that it has great resources.

This little book pretty much covers anything that can happen to a diver, and is specific to diving injuries from drowning to the bends to stings and bites. The best thing about this book, aside from the material, is that it is completely made of plastic and is impervious to water so you don't have to worry about taking it on deck with you or even carrying it in your BCD pocket.

If you forgot the information in that CPR class you took years ago this will refresh your memory.

If you dive and can't remember all the first aid you might need, get this little plastic book. It's small enough to fit in your BC pocket and sturdy enough to last forever.

It has the basics of first aid for most diving but DAN also has at least one other specialty dive first aid book.

This pocket guide is a handy reference for basic first aid - easy to read, small enough to be easily portable, and full of good basic information. The wide array of potential medical complications associated with diving are covered in understandable terms without getting too technical. Overall a great resource to have when heading to the water.

I was impressed with the water-resistant printing. However, the medical information is very basic. If you have training, this book is relatively useless. If you don't have training, I guess it would be useful if you happened to have equipment on-board. I would have liked to see more diagrams and much more information.

If you play golf and want to get a flavor for the vision of how a destination like Bandon Dunes became a reality, this is a must read. Bandon is one, if not, the most special golf location in the world. I have played in Scotland and Ireland and Bandon has a purity that few other locations can replicate. It feels like it has been there for hundreds of years and the book explains how it came to be. You will not be disappointed.

I have not read this book, but my Dad is raving about it. He is reading it prior to his trip to Bandon Dunes and he has never thanked me more for a gift. For the golfer in your life who is impossible to shop for--this is the gift for them.

Fantastic story, very well written. A must read for not only golfers, but for environmentalist and landscape architects also.

This book is the perfect gift for your favorite golfer. Even non-golfers and golfers who don't normally read will enjoy this story of dream golf.

We purchased this book for our son for Christmas, and it was a big hit!! He's already finished it and is loaning it out to friends and family. It's a wonderful book for any golfer with a love of the game, whether he/she has been to Bandon Dunes already or is perhaps dreaming of the day....

This is a wonderful book on weather. And the extreme values it gives are actually fairly interesting and fun to read about. Besides, we all like to know if we're in the middle of truly unusual weather.

The book starts with heat records for every state, both absolute maximums and July averages. As well as maps showing number of days with 90-degree (Fahrenheit) or higher temperatures. We learn about temperature-humidity indexes, heat waves, and even heat bursts. As well as extremes in temperature ranges. There's information about heat extremes in foreign countries as well.

Next we get to cold weather! Heat records for every state, both absolute minimums and January averages. Cold waves. Wind chill. And international extremes. Did you know that near Lake Vostok, in Antarctica, the temperature once reached minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit? Brrrr!

We learn about the snowiest cities. And then we get to rainfall records for a big bunch of American cities. There are also records for varying amounts of time. What's the record for rainfall in 30 minutes? It's over 11 inches! And it fell in Sikeshugou, China. And there's material about floods, thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes. As well as wind and fog!

There is a fascinating chapter on hurricanes. I vividly remember Hurricane Carol, which struck in August of 1954. And there's a picture of Providence, Rhode Island, after it was hit by the storm surge from that hurricane. There is also an excellent map of the American Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean coasts, with probabilities per year of being hit by a hurricane, as well as probabilities of being hit by 125 mile-per-hour winds or greater. The five areas that in 2004 that were "overdue" for a hurricane are listed. Of course, as any technical person knows, being "overdue" for a storm does not increase the chance of being hit, if anything, it decreases it. But it does imply that one may be less prepared for one when it does hit. New Orleans is listed as one of the five areas (it was hit by Betsy in 1965 and not hit again until Katrina in 2005). The book explains that the dikes protecting downtown New Orleans, including the French Quarter, from the water in Lake Pontchartrain would almost certainly be overwhelmed by a Category 4 or 5 storm surge. And that if they were, much of that area could be swamped under 20 feet of water. I wish that more people with the responsibility for protecting the city of New Orleans (or voting for its protection) had been more aware of this, so that some of the damage caused by Katrina might have been lessened.

I highly recommend this book.

This is a well written and fascinating book on weather extremes. I'm only about 100 pages into it, but I enjoyed it so much I wanted to make a brief comment.

Although the book is mostly about extreme weather phenomena, you'll also learn a lot about more normal types of weather, since if you understand how the more extreme storms are generated, you often can understand how the less severe ones occur as well. But this is done in the context of learning about the more severe and extreme types of weather, which I find an interesting approach. After all, there isn't much when it comes to natural phenomena that's scarier than a hurricane or a tornado (well, earthquakes and tsunamis of course are right up there too, but in weather, they're the kings :-)). I once read that a typical hurricane can release each second 100 times the energy in the first atomic bomb (which was a 20 kiloton bomb).

The book discusses weather extremes from rainfall to tornadoes for the U.S. and the rest of the world, including many fascinating topics, such as internally lit tornadoes that glowed with their own light. Witnesses reported orange lightning bolts coming out of the bottom of the spout which would then be sucked up by the violent winds into the interior, thereby lighting up the entire tornado. There are a couple of photos of these sorts of tornadoes, including a black and white one at night showing two luminous tornadoes that obviously had to be internally lit. Very cool stuff and my only complaint was there weren't more photos like this, but then these are very rare phenomena.

Also, the maximum winds typically don't exceed 325 miles per hour, and most tornadoes are usually more like 75-125 miles per hour. This is just one of the many very interesting topics covered.

Overall a very cool book on weather, and I'll have more to say about it later when I finish the book.

Best book on weather I've read since Bomar's Texas Weather. As in Bomar's book, the author understands that it's the unusual weather events that are of most interest to most people, and he doesn't fail to disappoint on that score. A must for all weather nuts.

This is an excellent book and affordable. Some other reference books are very expensive and don't have the great photos and data presentations that this book has (I still highly recommend the others, but they are not cheap). This book saves a lot of time and makes it easy to show other people exactly what you are trying to say, and they will be impressed with the quality of this publication. Excellent book in its own right and can easily double as a "coffee table book" and a great conversation starter.

This is an excellent book that should actually be used as an accompying text to a regular weather text. The cartography is superb and the data is listed in an easy to understand fashion