English Books

Okay, so this is probably as preachy as Dr. Suess gets, and it just might get on the nerves of some people, but the tree hugger in me salutes him for it, even as he paints a grimmer picture of environmental destruction than Al Gore ever thought of.

Even so, it's clearly Suess with his imaginative worlds and funny characters.

It's a solemn book of warning that it pretty darn good into scaring kids into being careful with the environment.

And that's not a bad thing.

I could not wait to present this lesson to the class this year. Teaching seventh grade and the 5 themes of geography this book lends itself to many of those themes but mostly human-environmental interaction (how human interact and change the environment to fit their needs). Not only does this book show that but it really visualizes how we negatively impact the Earth for our own selfish needs. Again my students are in love with the facts that I am reading them a storybook and after the discussion they see that it isn't a plain, old storybook but it really does have a significant meaning.

Review by Sherry North, Author, Because You Are My Baby

While most Dr. Suess stories are pure fun without any heavy message, The Lorax delivers an extremely blunt lesson on ecology. What's amazing is that Dr. Suess does this with a narrative that is engaging, entertaining and ultimately inspiring. You might think a book with such a heavy message could be a turn-off to young children, but I have found the opposite. My preschoolers find this story absorbing. I think they understand there is something truly important at stake, so the book means more to them than other Dr. Suess titles.

Is it a coincidence that Thneed rhymes with Deadly Sin #3? Growth for the sake of growth is where we are today. This too shall pass, UNLESS....

Dr. Seuss, turned holier-than-thou by his elevated status in society, decides to preach to us about the evils of industrialization. Does he realize that the many millions of copies of "The Lorax" were all made in factories, using paper that came from trees?

I began learning Spanish 16 months ago on a very informal basis, largely due to my changing work environment. I have purchased some instrtuctional CD's and Spanish for Dummies and Spanish Verbs for Dummies. The 'dummies' series does offer information about culture and provides an excellent phonetic reference for correct pronunciation of words. Both were interesting and pragmatic.

This book, [Spanish Verb Tenses] was recommended by Amazon. I read the reviews and found the price to be reasonable enough to try the book. I have found the book to be very user friendly. The concepts and gramatical basics are covered, but the exercises are enjoyable. I have since purchased Ms. Richmond's other two books: one for vocabulary and the other for pronouns. Each have delivered the exceptional discussion of language. They highlight both the similarities between english and spanish as well as the decisive differences. I feel that these books will provide me with skills to be more confident to speak spanish to native speakers in a gramatically correct manner. Thank you--

Teaher recommended. Great little book to help with verb tenses.
This book is easy to use.

I wanted know is this product was suitable for my requirements. I needed a publication which would assist in my ability to converse in Spanish. As the verb conjugations in this language are complicated I needed something to refer to at any given time. I found this book most helpful because it helped me to bring back to mind things I had previously learned while living in Spain, which I started to learn late in life and therefore not so easy to retain. I recommend this publication and others in the series to anyone who is determined to continue using this language.

I would recommend this book along with Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions for any level learner of Spanish, but I'd advise you to have a little bit previous knowledge. It's really cheap, explains every important concept in a very simple way and includes lots of exercises to practice. I've been using this book since the summer after I finished my first year of Elementary Spanish at college. I think it was very useful, especially in my second year of Spanish when I still didn't understand many grammar concepts but was given a text book written entirely in Spanish. This workbook explains things very clearly in English, which is important for beginners. Now that I am close to fluent in Spanish, I still use this book now and again to look up things I'm fuzzy on, and I definitely plan to use it to help me as a Teaching Assistant for students next year.

Use this book as a companion to whatever book/CD (grammar, vocab. Rosetta stone etc.) you are using to learn Spanish. I've finished the Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish volume 1, and know a little bit of Spanish now. But if you are a beginner-beginner, this book may not be right for you. Especially, it may be very challenging for a new student to translate English into Spanish. Every section ends with a "translation/traduccion" exercise. In the first unit, you have to translate a whole paragraph--about 10 sentences of English--into Spanish.

Example from the 1st Unit translation exercise: "Marcos lives in Montana. His mother works in a school where she teaches music and phys. ed. In the morning she plays the piano, sings, and practices with the band."

If you started Spanish yesterday or today and are able to translate this in Spanish, you are definitely a genius. Without finishing the Level 1 of the Rosetta Stone, I would never have been able to translate it.

This is a fantastic book with a lot of exercises. No question about it. But if you are a beginner-beginner, use this book as a companion (not as your primary source) to whatever CD/books you are using now.

Life the Universe and everything it is. This book will change your life for ever on many levels. Well written social comedy. It's too bad Douglas Adams is no longer on this earth, truly one of the great writers of all time.

i really enjoyed the movie, and had always wanted to read the book, so i finally purchased a copy to read.of course many think you should read the book before seeing the movie version, but i become interested in the book until i'd seen the movie. i'm glad i finally purchased one, much more info, and behind the scenes. i'm still reading it, but am very impressed soo far. i'd recommend this book to anyone.lots of fun.

This book is the ultimate litmus test as to whether the reader is ready to be happy and have joy in his life, or whether he wants to keep crying in his beer.

If this book does not have you falling down on the floor laughing, then chuck it in.

I realize I'm probably one of the last people on the planet to discover this wonderful book, but I got to sing its praises, too. One of the best books I've read in a long time, and fitting as I am also suddenly into Doctor Who, which is quite similar. The Earth is destroyed one horrible Thursday in order to build a hyperspatial express route, and Arthur Dent and his friend Ford (who was stranded on Earth for fifteen years) start hitchhiking around the galaxy. Never have I read a book so clever and imaginative (dealing with the meaning of life pondered by mice, nuclear bombs turning into sperm whales, depressed robots and hyper-friendly computers) with such a clever and hilarious style (pokes great fun at our little species). Grade: A+

Our friend here is simply the best humorist printed on paper during the second half of the twentieth century.

Mark Twain and Bierce Ambroce should see him as a counterpart in heaven (or hell) I recommend this book to any reader, even if that English is not their native language, like me.

I give major props to Ms. Brown for the excellent work she put in for this novel. The thing that grabbed me most was that this was one of the few novels that was based on the DRUGS that infected our community, but also detailed how it affected everyone involved in the DRUG life. It didnt just detail the rise and fall of a drug dealer, or the trials & tribulations of a crackhead. It viewed what it was like to be a mother of a crackhead (Jada's mom), or the daughter of a woman with low self esteem(Ava). The book involved so many characters- Sunny was a diva, but she too had her faults. This book outlined how drugs effect everyone around you. I really loved how even after Jada got herself together, she too was human and fell back into temptation only to make it to the top again.
The ending was great. I appreciated that Jada & Born didn't live together happily ever after, or that Born didn't get killed in a drive by shooting. Tracy Brown kept it real from the beggining to the end. I have read this book at least 5 times, you would never think that this book is 496 pages!

This book was an extraordinary read and definitely a page turner. Jada and Born's story are so real and I'm sure similar to a lot of people whose lives involve drugs in some way. The book involves drama, suspense, romance, action all in a story that is far from being a fairy tale and very realistic. The book offers a history of almost all of the characters and helps you understand why they became who they are. Our book club read this book for September 2008's discussion book and all of the members were unanimously blown away by it. I would and have recommended this book to any reader. I plan to read more Tracy Brown books in the future.

This is the best book that I have read in a couple of years. It is a must read. The last book that I felt this way about was Noire's G-Spot. This story is about a young woman with a broken soul that goes through the trials and tribulations of life. She goes through and loses so much in her story just to get back to the top. I cried when she started getting her life back in order. This story is so bitter sweet. It was perfect from beginning to end. I absolutely loved this book.

This novel starts out typical enough - two teenage girls hanging out with two teenage boys in a house all alone with their hormones running wild. That's where typical ends.

Jada and her sister Ava's reality is a cycle of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse brought on by their mother Edna's boyfriend. Edna chooses to blame herself and her daughters for the abuse and sets them all up for a life of pain.

Jada starts smoking weed with her friend Shante and they advance to mixing it with crack under the false impression that they wouldn't get hooked. This is the start of Jada's crack addiction.

Born is the son of Leo, a notorious hustler. Born looks up to his dad for being the most admired man in the hood and wants to be just like him. That is until Leo falls prey to crack addiction. This changes Born's outlook forever. He can't believe his dad could be so weak.

Jada and Born cross paths after she has kicked her addiction. Both are skeptical about starting a relationship but can't deny the sparks between them. When Jada finds the strength to tell Born about her past, against his better judgment Born allows Jada into his heart. The condition is that she'll never go back to crack again or it's over. Jada agrees to these terms believing that love will conquer all. The problem is, Born is a hustler and deals in the very drug that took over Jada's life. He can't watch her 24/7 and doesn't seem to realize that having crack in front of Jada is like putting food in front of a starving person and telling them not to eat it.

Born and Jada's love story is so intense it jumps off the pages. Tracy Brown does an excellent job of making you feel for the characters. You'll laugh, cry, and root for the characters to be together but just as in life everything doesn't always turn out as planned. At first glance this book may seem long but once you start reading you won't pay attention to what page you're on. The length is necessary to understand how Jada and Born's upbringing affects the choices they make and that love doesn't always conquer all. If you buy this book it will not disappoint.

THIS BOOK WAS VERY WELL WRITTEN. I ENJOYED IT FROM PAGE ONE. Although it is a long book to read, it is so well worth it. This book never got boring at all. I recommened that everyone read this book.

I recently bought another copy of this book as the first one has fallen to pieces from much use. It's not your typical language text and not for rank beginners but it certainly gets the points across in an easy and often humorous manner. The lack of an index is a minor annoyance, and who has ever died from having to flip through the pages of a book?

GREAT BOOK!!!! Buy it if you are trying to advance from an intermediate speaker to an advanced speaker ... very useful

Perhaps the only book dealing with spanish grammar I enjoyed reading. The author does a wonderful job of not bogging down in technical jargon while instilling the difference between knowing the technicalities of a language and being FLUENT in a language. It was profoundly helpful!!

My son is serving a Spanish speaking mission for our church. He is wanting to improve his Spanish and has asked for my help. He told me this book was recommended to him. He has thanked me for all the help I have sent him, so I assume this is a good help.

This is a book that I have been searching for. Most of the books I have come across only give very "stiff-sounding" vocabulary and idioms. The author of this book seems to be someone similar to me in how I learned Spanish; 10 years of school and college and then going to Spanish speaking countries and dating Spanish women. He is very good at explaining a lot of things that are culture related. For example, the difference between "nice" and "not so nice" people in Spanish are differentiated as buen educado and mal educado.

What I hate about most Spanish/English dictionaries is that words are not necessarily translated properly and I noticed that reverse lookup from the Spanish and the English sections sometimes don't correlate (saca puntos, which is pencil sharpener is incorrectly translated in the English section of many dictionaries to corta lapices). What I really find more valuable at my level is a Spanish dictionary with Spanish translations. This book is a valuable as that type of dictionary.

So far this is the best book I have found for my level of Spanish.

This has been one of my favorite books to read to children since I was young. It is just a really fun story!

My 6 year old son loves this book. It is a short story and keeps his attention.

We are very happy with this purchase. we were a tad surprised at the size of the book, yet that has been some of the fun of reading it. We have known this story for years and it was nice to add it to our library.

This was my 20 year old daughter's favorite book when she was little. I am attending a baby shower where we are supposed to get a book instead of a card, and since it's for my first grand niece or nephew I wanted to give one that meant a lot to us. My daughter said there was no way she was giving up her copy, so I had to buy a new one. Even after all these years, my daughter and I can still quote over half the book. I was just thankful I was able to find a copy.

This book was my fave when I was a kid so I wanted to buy it for my daughter. I thought I was just buying a book......not the case. This is the biggest book I have ever seen! Literally! I have to store it behind the dresser. If I had known it was going to be this size I would have continued looking. It wasn't clear in the product info how large it was. Overall, I still love the book.

The first time I read this, I simply did not get it. But then I read it again with an open mind combined with my own fond memories of picking huckleberries in the Idaho mountains and soon was more acclimated to this charming little rhyme. The repetion of vowels is great for little ears and the pictures truly are wonderfully whimsical. I still don't get it, but it certainly is darling.

I found this book on Amazon based on execellent reviews and looking for entertaining books for my 18 month grandson. This book rocks. All kinds of rhymes, which is fun for the reader (grandma) as well as the listener, artwork is very cool so that every time you read the book (20 times a day) you can point out a new frog here, an elephant in tights there, choo choo trains in silhouette after seeing them full of berries. Bottom line - berries are yummy and a great berry story is awesome - and this book celebrates berries.

Although the rhymes as nice and the content of picking various berries come into play - I think the pages are way too busy with lots of illustrations that distracts the story and causes focus problems.

I love this book. I love the rhythm of it, I love the note at the end, I love the dedication - love it.

Unfortunately, I've yet to get either of my nieces overly involved in it. They'll sit through it, but they won't request it :(

So I've had to take a star off what I'd normally rank this book as because, in my house, it's just not doing its job. I don't know why they don't love it, they just don't.

This book was a favorite with our first child 10 years ago, and we just bought another copy for our 1-yr.-old! I love the flowing, rhyming prose, and the illustrations allow for so much discussion and interaction. As with Dr. Suess books, I find myself repeating the words throughout the day (like when we're eating berries!) I definitely recommend this book!

This was such a great book when I read it many years ago. I've recently gotten ahold of a copy and have to say that it's still a great read, especially when we are surounded by object in our daily lives that seem capable of their own thoughts and motives. It's also nice to see young people painted in such a way where they're not just miniature adults but actual kids reacting well to tough situations. I always wanted to learn more about what happened to Ellen and Otto and imagined they both continued to be self-sufficient individuals who went on to do quite well for themselves.

The Silver Crown by Robert C. O'Brien is a wonderful fantasy about a girl named Ellen Carroll. Ellen wakes up one day and finds a silver crown on her bedside table. Shortly after, her house burns down with her family inside. Not knowing what else to do, Ellen decides to hitchhike to her Aunt's house. But then she finds the person who burnt down her house is stalking her because he wants to kidnap her and take her silver crown.

The book begins with Ellen receiving a silver crown in the mail on her birthday. The next thing she knows, her house has burned down, her family is missing and people are willing to engage in mayhem and murder to find her. Ellen decides she needs to visit an aunt and sets out on foot to find her. She eventually meets up with a somewhat mysterious young boy and they attempt to solve the mystery of the crown and get Ellen to safety. This book was written in 1969 and at times it really shows. For example, that Ellen wears pants briefly and gets messy is considered striking within the book. However, in the end the book is driven by Ellen's determination and will.

I first bought this book when I was 12 years old at a book fair at school. I absolutely adored it and read it repeatedly for the next year. I gave it away to someone and never got it back. Only recently have I thought about it again and decided that Amazon was the first place to look for it. When I had read it again I couldn't believe how much of it I remembered from many moons ago. It was the first book to capture my interest in fantasy writing and I have never looked back since.

I first this book when I was about 12, and it remains on my shelf to this day (I'm now 35.) I highly recommend it for kids who enjoy fantasy books. Yes, it's dark and has genuinely creepy moments in it--but I see no reason that should discourage young readers or their parents, as it's an extremely engaging tale of a little girl battling the forces of evil. Resourceful girl characters are in short supply in children's fantasy literature, so this shouldn't be passed over.

The issues raised in another review here (regarding the unhelpfulness of adult authority figures in the book, and Ellen's bad descision to accept a ride from a stranger) would be points well taken if this were a book for 5 year olds. However, any child old enough to read and appreciate this book should be well past the point of learning that policemen are generally good and that hitchhiking is unwise. Give kids some credit! And give them good books, like this one.

Flight possesses a seductive mystique and "Fate is the Hunter" is one of the few books that has ever really truly captured flight's essence.

It is not only pilots that look skyward at the sound of an aircraft or slow down a little as they drive past an airfield. Similarly, Gann captures what is almost intangible and presents it to the reader with an immaculate style that will engross all who read it.

Gann carefully blends the worlds of the philosophical and aeronautical. In this mix, the reader looks out from the cockpit to at times see better within themselves.

A true classic.

Owen Zupp. Author: "Down to Earth"

www.owenzupp.com
DOWN TO EARTH: A Fighter Pilot's Experiences of Surviving Dunkirk, The Battle of Britain, Dieppe and D-Day

This is the memoir of one of the first 300 airline pilots in America. It tells the story of the development of the airline industry and the Air Transport Command during World War II. It is well-written with wit and pathos. I enjoyed the read.

One will see why this was and remains one of the best works of fiction in any genre, but especially aviation. A great book that every pilot has in the bookcase. I also highly recommend, Flying North South East and West,
a non-fiction book that I think is destined to become an aviation classic.
Flying North South East and West: Arctic to the Sahara,

This book reads about as exiting as the monotone drone of a window box fan on a hot sweaty summer night. Gann's style seems didactic to say the least. Muddling through the first chapter I fell asleep and woke up just in time to learn of a near miss in the plane Gann was flying. However in all fairness, most books are written like this, full of details and tangents before coming to the point. Who can get through Moby Dick or Les Miserables without wondering where the authors are going? One should only read books like these if he has a bad case of insomia.

If one is looking for the plot to the movie: Fate Is The Hunter, forget it. This book has almost nothing in common with the excellent screenplay written by Harold Maud except for the title and some flashbacks. Of course it is always a disappointment when the movies don't follow the books, which are usually better than the movies; this case being one of the exceptions.

The paperback book is not an abridged version of the hardcover. So don't try searching for a used copy as I did. It's just a waste of time and money. Quite frankly, I'm sorry I bought the book.

This is one of those books that has a sneak ending - best appreciated by reading through at a steady rate (which only makes sense once the climax of the book is revealed). The stories, anecdotes and tales seem almost trite and mundane - but build to the showdown, for me a life lesson. Flying is revealed for the joy it is, for its wonder, the thrill of a good landing when one has fought the good fight aloft in peril of ending badly. Gann wrote the thing with a purpose - and it wasn't to entertain you. He is like a grandfather with good advice, and he hits you with a zinger to make the point. You will be grateful, either gender, any station, rich or poor.

To 'stall' is human, to measure divine, is the key message from this book that highlights the tendency of us humans to resist change and thus accept less than perfection from our selves or our organizations. By naming `stalled' performance drivers - tradition holds you back, disbelief of new possibilities based on past experience stops you, misconception of actual facts, perceived unattractiveness of other options, poor communications, bureaucracy or just plain procrastination stalls things - the authors supply motivational materials so the reader will consider their eight-step process for 'stall-busting'.

1. Understand the importance of measuring performance
2. Choose an important process to measure
3. Find best practice for that process
4. Move beyond best practice
5. Imagine the world if perfection of the practice were possible
6. Act on this perfection now
7. Match people and rewards to induce perfection
8. Repeat steps 1 thru 7

As the authors say, most everyone talks about continuous improvement, but talk is not action. If it gets measured, it gets done, the saying goes. For the authors, if it gets measured, it gets improved. I should measure the time taken to read books and write reviews; well, maybe tomorrow.

Dennis DeWilde, author of
"The Performance Connection"

The 2000 Percent Solution is not merely a strategic business thinking book but something more. It is a book that can lead you to find your personal stalls and eliminate them so that free from them, it will be easier to discover and eliminate the organizational stalls. These steps are essential in the effort to apply the author's suggestions for obtaining the 2000 percent solution and finally achieve exponential business success. The book is very comprehensive, it contains sixteen chapters. In the 1-8 chapters the authors explain the various kinds of personal and organizational stalls and propose an effective busting method, while in the rest chapters, there are various techniques for achieving the 2000 percent solution. It a great book!

How fast? Lots of tools to retread wheels of enterprise to increase productivity are in The 2000% Solution. This is not a one read book, but a series of valuable clear disciplines to habituate. Thank God for humor- the spoon full of sugar.

Don Mitchell makes a point, illustration from a wide range of business vignettes threaded with the funny sides of life. The flow of information is linear to me, one point connecting to the next. Some business reads are jumpy and harder for me to follow. I became self employed in 1973, (not knowing the term!) by 1979 hired my first employee. When recognizing I was in `business' I joined the local Chamber of Commerce and began reading business books. Some helped me sleep, not this one!

The 2000% Solution is the first book that has given me a quantum leap thinking process, to think in big significant moves forward. Dr. Mitchell gives simple methods to `do' these processes. One action I took was to chart my actions by the hour for several days to review what I am doing and what actions move me forward. This uncomfortable process is powerful.

Most traditional reads are usually from one person's view of one business or industry. The 2000% Solution malleable big leap `thinking process' alone is worth the read. The value of real stories of real people in real company activities- well - that makes it real to me.

The best thing reading this is FUN- the humor! Some are deliberate jokes and cartoons strengthening points made- then there are the funny real stories happening in business. Many times I laughed out loud. Humor is the no-calorie whipped cream on this delight!

I found this book a great help and have read it several times. It defines in simple terms how to unstall your life and business. It sets out a plan to find and eliminate various types of obstacles or stalls that impede the success in your business or personal life. The book has helped me reorient and remove the obstacles that are a hindress to the exponential growth that is possible within any business. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a way to get out of a rut and start moving forward and upward again

I first read "The 2000 Percent Solution" as part of a course for a Rushmore University doctoral program. It sparked in me the desire and determination to get more "bang for the buck" from my efforts, and provided a clear 8-step guide for doing so.

The guide to creating 2000 Percent solutions essentially helps you to see differently, and acknowledge the reality of your personal and organisational biases. It helps you undertake a wider search than you normally would in the quest for a solution. And it doesn't leave you content with the best solution you may have found, but has you project into the future to "see" what the future best practice is likely to be, and then begin now to implement it.

Applying the authors' ideas to my personal circumstances helped free my mind (an ongoing, never ending process) of a number of personal stalls and led directly to the creation of a management training and consulting company. And in spite of limited capital, the momentum of my take-off amazes acquaintances.

I keep my copy of "The 2000 Percent Solution" in my office, within easy reach, because I intend to read it over and over, to create an upward spiral of exponential gains in my life and work.

The skill of creating 2000 Percent solutions is a valuable one. Combined with the ability to engage in continual business model innovation (as taught in "The Ultimate Competitive Advantage" by Mitchell and Coles), it will guarantee business success long into the future.