Bean Books

This book is hard to follow and doesn't have good examples. You end up needing a supplement like cliff notes algebra 2 to help you out and that was even better. College algebra is challenging but I know of way too many students who had to retake the course under this book. It just doesn't simplify the harder concepts.

This is a horrible book. I have taken the course 3 time and this book is not clear on the concept. even the professor say that the author is horrible.

College Algebra is quite authorative on the subject matter covered and helps the student grasp the key points as well as some of the finer points of Algebra. While I was in this course I had the most difficult time trying to find certain supplements the book suggested that were put out by the publisher. They had no knowledge of the material at the company but it was clearly stated in the text. All in all the overall text and message of the book was rather competent and illuminating.

Overall, this was a helpful practice exam that I found quite valuable towards passing the ARDMS Vascular Physics exam. In fact, I only had two other source materials from which to study, namely the Edelman physics book and another vascular practice exam by Lori Green & Lori Sens. These were enough to easily pass the exam on the first try. The Vascular Physics Review had over 3 times as many questions than the registry test so it was fairly thorough. However, some of the last sections could do with a few more practice questions to round out the topics. The explanations in the answer sections could be expanded a little bit as well, but there was enough to explain the more difficult concepts. At first I hesitated to buy the book but now I think it was money well spent.

This book was not worth the money or the time I spent working on it. I stopped wasting my time after the sixth chapter. Instead I studied Vascular Technology by Claudia Rumwell and that was all I needed. The questions in this book are outside the realm of what the vascular registry actually requires and I passed the test with a very good score. Also, the answers in the back of the book are mostly just references to other books, without many explanations.

THE DESCRIPTION OF THIS BOOK IS MORE FICTION THAN FACT. YES IT FOLLOWS THE ARDMS OUTLINE, BUT WITH SO FEW QUESTIONS PER SUBJECT IT PROVIDES LITTLE IN THE WAY OF PREPARING YOU FOR THE REGISTRY AND IS NOT WORTH THE EXPENSE. THE BOOK MAKES MORE OF AN EFFORT TO SELL YOU OTHER PRODUCTS RATHER THAN HELP YOU REVIEW FOR THE REGISTRY. THE CD ROM WAS USELESS, IT WENT STRAIGHT INTO TRASH.

The Reader's Digest Condensed version of "Doctor on Trial" is smart, quick-paced and formulaic: a good read with sympathetic characters. I'm surprised to find no record of it as a movie or made for TV drama.

Dr. Forrester, an ER resident doctor, gets entangled in a legal nightmare involving a stereotypical fat cat in NYC politics. The technical side of the audiobook is excellent -- little repeats at the beginning of each side, clear identification of cassette and side etc. But the story is sadly out of sync with any reality. Stereotypes abound, the brave young idealistic life-saving doctor, rural background and all: But how in the world would a resident get sued with no attending physician involvement? Where in the world were the supervising docs in that ER set-up? How can a doctor be so smart in her field of study and be so dumb as to go on city TV to "defend her case" against lawyer's advice and without her hospital's permission? How would a lawyer and a young doctor be able to stand for hours in a downtown neighborhood observing a drug dealer close-up without being accosted? The lack of basic research by the author into the subject matter he writes about, the stenciled characters and the cliche-laden, dead prose style combined make this into about the worst example of pulp fiction imaginable. It is disheartening to see what the genre supports.

this book was a fun read for me because I love history. I wanted to learn more on the research done by Fred Bean. He offered up some interesting ideas about what was really going on in Mexico.

This story gives a good prespective of the difficulties encountered in the U.S. Army pursuit of Pancho Villa . It supports the theory that Villa didn't attack Columbus N.M. but took credit for the action . Many of the deeds of the cowboy scout are hard to beleive . Overall this book is worth reading for it's unusual prespective .

This book is supposed to be a new edition but there are only a few articles that have changed. Some outdated ones still remain. Unfortunately, there aren't any standards for what constitutes a new edition. This is a shame because students pay more for books that are almost identical to previous editions.

I'm an instructor of Business Communication and this is the textbook we utilize for the class. I find that most of the articles in this book are good ones; however, there is a lot of repetition, especially when they are referring to the writing process. YAWN. Boring. How many ways can you reiterate "clear, precise, and to the point" as the main idea?

Otherwise, some of the other articles in there are great for those beginning in the world of business writing.

This has to be one of the worst Westerns I have ever read. This is the sort of thing a person might write after doing tequila shots at every Western cliche while watching Tombstone with Kurt Russell, then thinking, I can make up a better hero who can out-shoot Wyett Earp, out-doctor Doc Holliday and out-gay Mr. Fabian, carries the most powerful gun in the world and can paint to boot.

You can tell writers getting paid by the word when they start throwing in a lot of unnecessary words. In this book, nearly everything said is repeated 2 or 3 times. From the prologue describing the gunfight at OK Corral to the first chapter where the protagonist retells the story of the gunfight at OK corral to his gay lover (who dresses like a sailor), it is full of text or characters saying the same thing over and over again.

I am going to burn my copy of the book so no one has to be subjected to it.

Dr. Leo LeMat wants to paint Earps portrait but finds out he will have to use his gifted skill as a shootist first. you'll love this exciting book.

I thought Citizen Girl would be an empowering women's fictional account. However, what I found was the same as stupid, faux-women's novels like The Devil Wears Prada and Marrying Harry Winston or whatever that terrible book is called. The main character, Citizen Girl, is supposed to represent Every Woman, to be relatable and real. What is relatable is her post-college difficulty finding a job. What's real is nothing else. Girl is NOT a feminist- in everything she does, she's too meek or "nice" to demand what she wants, to even ASK what she wants. Not in a bitchy way, but to just SAY what she means, and to mean what she says. She is the OPPOSITE of a positive, modern feminist. The modern feminist neither rejects earlier struggles nor tries to emulate them. The modern feminist appreciates changes made in society, and yet realizes there's still work to be done. She doesn't complain about it, she doesn't ignore it. She does her part in her job and her community to refuse to acquiesce when she's presented with a sexist opportunity. She's open minded but not afraid to say no. She's brave but not hostile. She's open but not discriminatory. She recognizes the rights of both men and women to exist. THAT is citizen girl. Not that weak, confused character I see in this book. The perosn who wrote this book is as much a feminist as Phillis Schlafly is. I don't have anything against you as a person, but I'm disappointed that somebody like you got a publishing deal. Obviously, we still have a long ways to go to get real feminist fiction published.

Citizen Girl is an odd cross-breed, seeming to want to be chick lit, satire, and a novel with Serious Ideas all at once. It doesn't really work that well, but I kept reading out of sheer curiosity. Apart from the fact that the main character in their previous book was called "Nanny," is there ANY reason to call the main character in this book "Girl"? Is she really meant to be some sort of Everywoman (well, Everygirl)that we can all identify with? Well, if we all were young idealistic feminists with liberal arts degrees, struggling to comprehend the business world of New York City, then hey! We could all identify with her! But I think a large part of the reason so many reviewers don't care for this book is because the main character truly is hard to identify with. And the book isn't that funny. To sum up, I would only recommend this if you didn't have many other reading options.

I adored The Nanny Diaries, and so was thrilled to have some time this summer to read the second effort of the authors. Anyone looking for a similarly fun satire should run the other way if they see this book coming. There wasn't a single sympathetic or endearing character in my opinion, not even the "heroine", Girl. The quirky clichés of The Nanny Diaries are replaced with shallow, borderline offensive stereotypes. I'm a Long Island, New York girl- I have no problem with colorful language- but the over-the-top swearing and graphic, disturbing sex scenes serve no real purpose- they don't even make the book more interesting! I'm an English major, I inhale books every chance I get, but reading this was more painful than a root canal. Save yourself the trouble of seeking out this book, and just re-read The Nanny Diaries- your time will be much more well-spent.

I picked this book up at an airport right before a long haul flight. I was so bored with it I had to end up watching the crappy in-flight entertainment! I managed to finish it later on, and I agree with most reviewers, characters are unbelievably shallow, plot inexistent, and the whole book is filled with cheap stereotypes. This book is so bad I don't like to see it in my bookshelf but find it cruel to pass on, would certainly not submit a friend to that!

Absolutely loved the Nanny Diaries, Citizen girl was the ABSOLUTE WORST book I have EVER read, and I also have read a lot of books. Very general, very difficult to follow, and what is up with the random characters being entered???? Disappointing, but I'm still looking forward to their next book.

Come on, "I believe". You gotta be kidding. Does this guy truly believe the ghost of Babe Ruth has visited him and sent him on a devine mission to break the curse?

Sure dude, Babe has made you the chosen one. I think we have been growing something a bit stronger than beans in the old back yard.

~ I Believe!! Buy your Cubs World Series Tickets now. I will admit the inital premise of a die-hard Cubs fan being called into service to help "The Babe" break the Red Sox curse appeared to be a bit farfetched. But after reading Babe's Beans--the dreams of our author jump off the page. Great Illustrations. The author is able to make Babe's Beans come to life highlighting some of the lovable quirks we have come to learn about Babe Ruth's life. All in all...it is enjoyable, is amusing and when the Cubs fans decend on Wrigleyville in late October, 2005...all I will have to say is "I told you so".



Andy Gannon ~ WIRF









Phil Pash's Up & Down The Rock ~ The Rock River Times:



by Phil Pash

Babe's Beans Enjoyable: With the sold-out Cubs Caravan in Rockford tonight (Jan. 19) at Giovanni's, and the sold-out 20th annual Cubs Convention coming up this weekend (Jan. 21-23) at the Hilton Chicago, this may be the perfect time to talk about Babe's Beans, a locally-produced, pamphlet-sized book.

"Babe Ruth loved his first team, the Boston Red Sox. His ghost hated that his name was attached to the `Curse of the Bambino' and decided to do something about it. Taking a wrong turn on his way to Boston, the Babe's ghost ended up in Illinois, where he used ancient Chinese magic to enchant the red beans in the garden of a diehard Cubs fan.

"Immediately after the Red Sox captured the American League pennant, the specter paid a late-night visit to the fan and enlisted his help distributing the beans to the Red Sox Nation. With the beans safely in the hands of the faithful, the Sox stormed to the world championship for the first time since 1918.

"After the final out of the series, the Babe visited the Cub fan again and promised that the progeny of those beans would help the Cubs end the `Billy Goat Curse' in 2005."

That tells you a little about `Babe's Beans.' There is more.

It was written by P.J. Sullivan of Rockford, illustrated by Bruce Lewis of Rockford (you remember Mr. Mustache, don't you?) and published by Sultan Press of Rockford ($4.95). It has its own Web site of www.babesbeans.com, is available at Barnes & Noble book stores and already has gained some notice by being sold on eBay.

The original eBay listing was posted Oct. 23, 2004, after the Red Sox won the World Series.

To refresh (if you need any), the Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908, and have not played in one since 1945. With Boston winning in 2004, the Cubs now are all alone as the longest suffering team in baseball. Even the White Sox have done better-playing in a World Series in 1959 and winning one in 1917, two years before the Black Sox scandal.

Sullivan, who graduated from West High School in 1974, admits to being a life long diehard Cubs fans (poor guy). He says he's "not closely related" to Rockford's theatrical Sullivans (J. R. and James).

He says his senior year at West drew attention. He was sacked by principal Ivan Linnaberry as editor of The West High Owl (the student newspaper) "explicitly because of editorial cartoons lampooning President Richard Nixon. Principal Linnaberry was a staunch Republican who considered an attack on the president inappropriate subject matter for a high school publication, by his own admission. P.J. felt vindicated two months after graduating when President Nixon resigned abruptly in August of 1974."

Stan Buckles, retired columnist for the local daily, wrote several columns about the controversy, said Sullivan, who now has what he calls his first published work in Babe's Beans. It's enjoyable.

By the way, if you have missed the work of Mr. Mustache, Lewis has a Web site of www.mustachefunnystuff.com. He was on local TV from 1967 to 1981, and legions of kids grew up watching him.

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No reason to get this with the OCR back in print (with bonus tracks). These discs include dialogue (I guess that is the only plus). No liner notes, lyrics etc. Cheesy presentation.

While I agree that this double CD is pretty poorly presented and packaged (which is unfortunate given the cost), it does have some different songs than the original Bway cast (e.g. the reprise of "Hey Somebody") and the cast includes folks like Harry Groener (best known for "Dear John" but also an experienced Bway singer/actor). There is absolutely no question that the original Bway cast is better performed, better packaged, and a better value -- BUT if you like that CD and want to explore the show more, you will find something of interest here.

I have the original UK book from the '70's and have used it so much it's falling apart. It has some wonderful recipes that have become family favorites. I was prepared to throw it away for the newer version. But when I got it and started looking through it, I was disappointed. It's got nicer font than the old one but I thought in a newer version there would be color photos. Nope. And they have trimmed some of the content! I was kind of upset! So it really isn't the same book I thought I was getting. So for now I keep using the old book in the boring font with no photos but with the 20 or so pages included that they didn't see fit to print in the new version. And I'll just keep taping in those pesky pages that keep falling out...