Sheep Books

My little girl can spend all day pulling back the flaps and discovering what is behind the door. Any child would really enjoy this book.

All of the "Rookie Read-About Science" books are great early readers for children. They enjoy being able to read the more difficult words and learn about the animals, etc., at the same time. This series was recommended to me by our children's librarian to interest my oldest son in reading. But I think all children would enjoy them.

This book is written with a great sense of humor and a great sense of reality. Starting with a brief discription of various cattle/sheep working breeds, Mr. Seis goes on to clearly describe how to train a working dog for sheep or cattle. He covers not only the very basics, but also includes information on dog health and housing. A must for anyone training an intelligent dog for ranch work. (the Australian vernacular is interesting also. Know what a dunny is?)

Charles Dickens was a great writer. A simple statement, easily and often made, but its correctness is confirmed and enlarged with each story that I read.

He was so good at what he did, and was so well-loved in his time, and so often imitated, that he is easily dismissed or parodied. No matter, He writes physical comedy, social commentary, irony, and pathos with a sharp ear for vocabulary and conversation and an internal clock for pacing that is nearly infallible.

This tale focuses on Coketown, an early industrial city blighted by its creating industry, its owning tycoon, its proto-organizing workers, its ambitious MP, and his morally-bankrupt protégé. Hard Times is considered one of Dicken's strongest statements against the grinding poverty of the unrestrained industrial might of the time.

This is not Dickens at his best. No offence to the narrator, who does a good job but I think the story itself is rather boring. Especially when compared with his classics "Great Expectations", "A Christms Carol" and "A Tale of Two Cities".

I picked up this book at B&N because I had just read two Jane Austin novels and I thought this would be a light read. I was wrong. The beggining and the end had a purpose in the story but the middle could have been much, much shorter and the ending made a little longer.

I liked the character of Mr. Bounderby. He was very well developed. I would even say over-developed, but he was the only one. How did Sissy influence the youngest Gradgrind? Why didn't we know of Mrs. Bounderbys inner turmoil till she ran to her father? Every character had something missing. What happened to Mr. Bounderby once he was found out? Why is Sissy so special and what did she really do for the family?

It was a long book where nothing much happened until the last quarter and when it finally ended I felt cheated because it lacked a complete story line and full characters. The story line could have been forgiven if I was more satisfied with the characters.

Hard Times was written in 1854 by England's greatest novelist Charles
Dickens (1812-1870. It is the shortest of his novels. The novel was originally published as a weekly series in "Household Words" periodical edited by Dickens. The novel reads quickly telling a story that is still relevant in our own post-industrial 21st century Western Society.
The novel is set in fictional Coketown set in the English Midlands. The first scene is set in a classroom where children are being taught by rote
learning. Only FACTS yells Mr. Gradgrind who has raised his two children the feckless Tom and the more impressionable Louisa to eschew the emotions of art and the heart to stick strictly to practical learning.
Enter into the town Mr. Sleary's circus. Cecilia (Sissy) Jupe is a young girl whose father is employed by Sleary to ride horses. He deserts Sissy who is adopted by the Gradgrind family. Sissy befriends the lonely lass Louisa. Louisa is forced into a loveless marriage with the bloviating humbug industrialist Josiah Bounderby. Bounderby has crafted a false story of a difficult childhood while disdaining the love of his mother who lives in the country.
We also met the tragic Stephen Blackpool a miner who is wed to an alocholic wife. Stephen is in love with the beautiful and kind Rachael. He will be framed for the robbery of Bounderby's bank which was really robbed by Tom Gradgrind.
The novel is divided into three parts covering several years. Many of the characters come to a bad end. The novel attacks industrialism, the state of British education and the necessity for entertainment in the lives of everyone.
All of Dickens fictions are worth reading. Hard Times is a good introduction to the second half of his career in which he moves to more serious themes. A Victorian classic which will be enjoyed by the discriminating reader.

Although not one of his more popular novels, Charles Dickens' Hard Times still stands as a classic among classics. Carrying on with his highly prolific writing style, this novel is a bit more bleak than his other renown works, but enjoyable from the start, especially with Dickens' excellent choice of character naming.
Suitable for most ages, this classic should not be passed up. And with the Norton annotations and notes, this edition will help readers understand better the context in which the author writes in.

This is my first Monroe book, so I have to be open-minded. I don't mind that the main character was unlikable. I don't mind that her friends and co-workers were the kind of people I tend to avoid. I do mind when authors bash the "African American Bourgeoisie". Charles Dickens is the master of the "noble poor" theme. With Monroe, I never felt that her character was noble, just an angry, bitter, self obsessed woman. Ann was her alter ego in the story. Ann, an African American woman with a college degree and could speak several languages. ..was evil? The message I got from this book was "you better stay away from college..young black women of America..it can mess you up, it can mess up your kids too." I guess I am not a fan of that brand of thinking. Success is not synonymous with selling out.

This was an ok book I expected it to be a lot better! But thats cool cause I am still a fan of Mary Monroe!

I really enjoyed this novel and whenever someone asks me to suggest a good book, I always recommend this one. Actually, the main character Trudy is kind of pathetic, she is stuck in a routine life, with a boring job and a boring man. After she is violated she decides to "take control" of her life and get a new job and a new outlook on life. Unfortunately, her taking control causes more trouble and she finds herself in another situation that leads to nowhere good. Even though Trudy leads a depressing life, Monroe makes it a very engaging story. I think a lot of women can identify with Trudy at one time in their lives or another. Life sometimes gets routine with waking up, going to a job you hate and coming home watching TV every day. But Trudy manages to spice things up and therefore allows the reader to do so as well.

Identity theft is a difficult subject for obvious reasons. Can you make your protagonist symphathetic enough for us to feel that their actions are justified? Can you make us dislike the antagonist enough, to feel that they are deserving of such treatment? I was interested to see how a story like this would work and where national best-selling author Mary Monroe, would take us in this her sixth novel.

If I had to use one word to describe this effort it would be "What?". It seemed to me that great effort was made to keep the main characters somewhat grey and likeable, instead they were underdeveloped and as a result, completely unsympathetic. I am still trying to figure out what compelling reasons the protagonist had for choosing to steal as she did. The death of her mom sixteen years earlier? Having a boss who acted like a boss and not a sistah girl friend? The antagonist, who was supposed to be an evil woman, was more a mystery than anything else and in my mind, was someone to be ignored, rather than seek revenge on. Freddie (Trudy's best friend and supposed voice of reason) was simply wishy washy. The lesser parts the characters had to play, the more stereotypical they became.

Ms. Monroe's writing is plain and painfully convuluted and the story often took off in tangents that neither moved the story along nor provided any insight. The climax was pat and rushed and ultimately there were no lasting reprecussions and no redemption for Trudy.

There is so much lost potential here. The opportunity to go deeper and create a compelling tale was lost. I am truly disappointed and frustrated. This is undoubtedly my first and last Mary Monroe novel.

I was so disappointed in this book! It's a very slow read and you spend most of your reading awaiting something to occur. I have been bored for the majority of the book. I am a reader who attempts to finish what I start. I have been reading this book since December 23, 2006. It is now, March 2007. If you purchase this book, buy it used. Better yet, you can have mine!

The first thing that must be said about "Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works" is that its purpose is simply not clear. If it's supposed to be a book for beginners to learn about type, it lacks effective headings, and (maybe most importantly) a glossary; despite typographic differences within the text, importance of information is not well designated, which leads one to ask, how is a beginner to know what's vital? Likewise, the exceedingly simple analogies re: Type in the main text and lack of info-richness show that this book is not for the expert. So who is this book for? Therein the problem.

"Stop Stealing Sheep..." is undeniably well-designed(read: pretty); it is clear that the authors put a good deal of time and enthusiasm into creating the layout, finding and creating visual elements and atmosphere for their book. Each page has a picture of its own, so out of the roughly 159 pages (not counting appendices), 77 of them have text, subtract the mostly blank title spreads and you have 65-70 pages of actual text. And the pages that do have text don't contain a large amount; If it seems like I am criticizing the info-density of "Stop Stealing Sheep..." I am; this book may very well be a stereotypical 'airhead': gorgeous, but lacking substance.

I would like to temper the above statement by adding that the side-bars do contain some very interesting historical facts about type; the meat of the book, it seems, is in these side-bars. Another aspect of "Stop Stealing Sheep..." that I enjoyed is that the authors give a lot of visual examples; every other-page highlights the fonts mentioned by setting them below the side-bar for the reader to examine (I spent much time with this book analyzing 'handgloves' written in different type). Another way the authors express their concepts is by "showing" them, i.e. in talking about type-faces for forms(i.e. applications), the authors gave an example of a form on the adjoining page -- the amount and quality of these examples are perhaps the trade-off for the lousy main text.

Not being a viable textbook, reference guide, beginner's primer, nor coffee table book, it is best defined as a 'browsable' just above a magazine. There are a lot of good lessons in the little volume, but they are hampered by poor organization. Still, I am not of a mind to condemn "Stop Stealing Sheep..." completely, though I will be forthright in saying it is not a worthy purchase. My recommendation is that typography beginners and experts make best use of "Stop Stealing Sheep" by perusing it at a bookstore, or checking it out at the library.

note: My review refers to Spiekermann, Erik and Ginger, E.M. . Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works. Mountain View, CA: Adobe Press, 1993 | I am aware of there being a 2nd Edition(2002) with some changes - this review does not refer to the new edition.

I am a relative newbie to the study of typography, but still this book is far too basic. I learned a single fact which I had always been curious about - that the letterforms of smaller-point type are different from (not just smaller than) larger-point type in the same face - and that is a pretty elemental thing that most people interested in type are already aware of.
More suprisingly, there are some serious issues with the layout and typography of this book. Some sidebars, which are in small type, are set in yellow. Small yellow print on white paper? Surely a legibility no-no. Also, each page serves as its own mini-essay (and I do mean MINI; on most spreads, only the right-hand page has any text, and even then sometimes only half a page) but lacks a headline, so the reader has no idea what the page is about.
The only useful element in this book is the various type examples, which could easily be found elsewhere.

I read this book for my first typography class at design school. It does a good job of giving the reader a feeling for different styles and personalities of letterforms. It is also written in a fun style that makes the book entertaining and easy to read for those just entering the design field.

The first time I saw this book it was in a fellow designer's bookshelf and I thought the title was humorous and very well targeted. Anybody who knows type understand the joke in "anyone who letterspaces blackletter type would steal sheep" and if you haven't heard of the quote nor get the joke then you are probably a type beginner who could use this book.

I don't agree with other reviews stating that the book is too basic and so it serves no purpose. Yes, it is basic, but 170+ pages of good basic introductory material. I would recommend it for student graphic designers, artists and multimedia designers who work with type but are not necessarily drawn to it. This book gives you the basics with a lot of examples and a humoristic approach that should keep you entertained long enough for you to grasp the ideas.

This is not a reference and it doesn't talk about advanced matters, but it will provide a tremendous wealth of knowledge to anybody new to type specifics. Sure one could get the basics from a 7-page pamphlet, but design is about making sense of the ideas and I can't imagine a beginner understanding all these concepts without the help of an array of examples such as the ones contained in this small book.

This is quite an interesting and humoristic little book that should be made a must read for all bloggers, web designers and other web 2.0 communicators. Erik Spiekermann and E.M Ginger bring a very educated viewpoint to the never boring debate of form v.s. function and substance v.s. style. There is no doubt that they're choosing style and more specifically the role of Typographic style on effective communication. A debate started quite some time ago with Gutenberg!

It was a okay, also took me too long to read. Too many character,too many story lines that made it harder for the reading flow. Pls keep the character down and the unnecessey story lines.I may give give a new book a chance.

"The Regal Sisterhood Book Club" selected "Like Sheep Gone Astray" by Leslie J. Sherrod for it's May 2007 "Book of the Month". The storyline of this book provided us with a wonderful discussion on many topics and prompted questions which made us all contemplate our way of life and thinking. Unfortunately, we all agreed that the book was just a little too "busy". Way too many characters to keep up with and the complications of the business deals made the read a bit tedious. This is a good example of a great writing idea, that did not work out "just right". Hopefully Leslie's next novel will be a better read.

this was okay read if it wasnt so long it took me longer than normal to read but the storyline was interesting a little different from a lot of the christain fiction i have read i like the suspense this author was trying to add to the story and then there was this unforseen twist. even thru there was way too many characters in this book they all play a part in the story.this was about greed and how it can control ones life.cash rule everything around me

I bought this book yesterday as a beach read because I didn't want a sappy romance. I finished it today. I agree with some of the others, it's way too long and has too many characters to keep up with. It wasn't that suspenseful overall, just a lot of fact finding missions that unraveled too slowly and I still had unaswered questions at the end. I hope that the next book is shorter and/or the plot is much more developed than this one was. I am sure that she'll take all of our reviews as constructive, not destructive criticism. I look forward to supporting your next book project!

The book was good. I think the author could have spent more time developing some of the main characters, also build more on the plot.

"The man who would be king" is Kipling's great story of two British ex-soldiers who concoct a nutty scheme to personally conquer an obscure Asiatic province, set themselves up as kings and rob the place blind. They decide to target tribal areas somewhere in Afghanistan...and we know what that means...Gardens of War.

Our boys make it, and impressing the gullible and superstitious natives with their rifles and military knowhow, they manage to subjugate several tribal areas and consolidate them into one kingdom. Unfortunately, they didn't factor in religion and women. Well they did, in part. They had made an initial bargain...no women, not until they get back. Well, one of our boys gets a little too full of himself and thinks he can indulge himself with a woman. It is a terrible mistake.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

We rushed out and bought this new version. I don't think it's a computer, but she's almost that bad! For a great unabridged read try the 1991 Dercum Audio edition read by William Barker who adapts the character voices adroitly, showing an uncanny ear for the British aristocrats. Although not the latest high tech I for one will stick to the best!

This is a great story, I highly recommend it. However, this recording is a digital voice reading it, so it completely takes away from the story. I love audiobooks, but this one was unlistenable. It was like having bonzibuddy read hamlet.

"The Man Who Would Be King" has not unreasonably been used to title many a compendium of Kipling's short stories, since it not only ranks as one of his best, but is also so well known because of the John Huston movie marvellously interpreted by Michael Caine, Sean Connery and Christopher Plummer.

The short novel first appeared in the "Phantom Rickshaw" in 1888 but was again collected in "Wee Willie Winkie and other stories" in 1895. Kipling for this work was inspired by the travels of Josiah Harlan, an American adventurer who claimed the title of Prince of Ghor in 1840 thanks to the military force he lead into Afghanistan (Read the instructive "The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan" by Ben McIntyre).

The story is built with a technique often utilized by Kipling of the picture and frame and is in itself a parable with many possible interpretations, as parables often are. A journalist of a local Indian paper meats a loafer on a train. The man, an ex-military asks him to contact a friend of his in a later date to tell him that he can't meet him presently. After a short time the two friends visit the journalist and tell him they intend to conquer an empire for themselves. Again after two years only one gets back and narrates the adventures the two have been through, that have ended with the death of one of them.

The frame of the story is Kipling's present day India with an established administrative empire and the journalist is evidently Kipling, the picture is Dravot and Carnehan's adventure in Kafiristan, the remote Afghan province they conquer for a brief period. The picture represents the early ages of the making of the British Empire that had relied on adventurers, dreamers and military men possessing superior technologies (arms) compared to the natives. The most evident moral of the parable is that once the English neglect their moral duty towards the native populations there is no sense in the permanence of the Empire and it is destined to fail, but many others can be hypothesized. Many critics have identified this story as a form of disillusionment of Kipling with the society he was living in at that time, while instead in his later life he was known to sustain British Imperialism.

One aspect that often goes unnoticed in this short story is the importance Kipling (a mason himself) gives to the underground tentacles of the secret Masonic network that consented the British influence in India and in European politics. If you happen to watch the John Huston film this is made very clear.

The novella is full of allusions, recalls, citations of different realities and it would take to long to analyse it in depth even though this effort will surely reward the reader. The "Man Who Would Be King" remains one of the milestones of the collective imaginary of our modern world where colonisation is far from forgotten.

Kipling's critics have long been regarded him as the "bard of imperialism," but the title is telling of his work. In many of his stories he has promoted the virtues of the Queen's empire and created marvelous tales about the adventures of explorers. However, in The Man Who Would be King, Kipling complicates his popular themes by implying a distinction between the cavalier, enterprising upstarts of early empire and the more entrenched, administrative empire that he personally knew.

The Man Who Would be King intersects the lives of the narrator (a stand-in for Kipling himself), the responsible and respectable journalist, with Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan, two adventurous misfits. Through the narrator, Kipling expresses nostalgia toward the earlier days of the empire, represented by Dravot and Carnehan. However, this fondness is tempered by the view that the attitude of the early entrepreneur-imperialists was naïve to the realities and responsibilities of administering an empire, embodied in the narrator. This distinction is seen in the cautionary attitude that Kipling takes toward Dravot and Carnehan during their first encounters, the rapt attention that the narrator pays to Carnehan's recounting of his adventure, and the ultimately tragic ends which both Dravot and Carnehan meet.

Dravot and Carnehan are caricatures, to be sure, of the enterprising spirit that so many British in India came armed with, each in search of their personal fortune and adventure. In his first meeting with the narrator, Carnehan declares, "If India was filled with men like you and me, not knowing more than the crows where they'd get their next day's rations, it isn't seventy millions of revenue the land would be paying-it's seven hundred millions." Of course, this is a persuasive technique that Carnehan uses to build camaraderie with the narrator, and it appears to be somewhat successful. The narrator seems enchanted with the attitude of his companion, prefacing their encounter with "he was a wanderer and a vagabond like myself." Of course, we know that the narrator is a newspaperman who spends long nights laying type for the morning paper, not vagabonding around, however he inserts this to demonstrate a connection with this wanderer.

Following this encounter, the narrator is approached at his office by the two who hope to gain basic information to allow them to go "away to be Kings." However, the narrator is instantly concerned that they are hatching a foolish plan and exclaims, "You'll be cut to pieces before you're fifty miles across the border," and "You two are fools...You'll be turned back at the Frontier or cut up the minute you set foot in Afghanistan." He is unable to dissuade them from their journey and the next day sees them off at the local bazaar, still expressing concern: "`Have you got everything you want,' I asked, overcome with astonishment." He hears little else of the duo for the next three years, and assumes them to be lost causes in their journey.

Unexpectedly, though, the unrecognizably disfigured Carnehan interrupts and recounts his story for the rapt narrator at his desk one night three years later. Perhaps partly because of his disbelief and partly due to his fascination with adventure, the narrator listens, attentive to the final detail, to the tragic tale of Peachey and Dravot. At the end, Carnehan produced from his bag "the dried, withered head of Daniel Dravot!" and then "shambled out of the office." The narrator finds the tattered figure on the street, and shows his loyalty to his fallen brother by driving "him to the nearest missionary for eventual transfer to the Asylum."

The ending of the story is particularly filled with allusions to Kipling's feelings on the matter of the British Empire. The adventurous Dravot and Carnehan represented an anachronistic attitude of the Empire that, fortunately or unfortunately, did not belong in the Empire of Kipling's day. They attempted their adventure, and though they were successful for a short time, they ultimately failed in their endeavors. The narrator, as the modernized colonizer, knew that tragedy was their fate and saw it as his duty to warn his brothers, and in the end care for them. This interpretation does allow for the sympathy that the narrator demonstrates when meeting with Carnehan on the train and when absorbing the details of their journey.

A slightly different analysis of Kipling's attitude suggests that Kipling has become disillusioned with the Empire as a whole. This puts Dravot and Carnehan as the embodiment of all colonizers, not simply earlier ones, and the narrator as a wizened British subject who has learned from the mistakes of his past. He cautions and cares for his misguided brethren, and knows that they will meet tragic fates, but he is still captured by the nostalgia of past days of enterprise and adventure. He longs for those days, but has the benefit of hindsight to know the sad outcome of adventurous hubris. In this interpretation, the crowned head of Dravot represents the caution to the current crown of the fate they may face if they do not reverse their imperial ambitions.

In either analysis, Kipling's adventure tale appears to be a sober warning to any "would-be" kings, be they British or otherwise. Ironically, this tale may be rather timely to Americans in light of the current military involvements in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kipling would likely, though sadly, be vindicated in the fact that history does repeat itself.

I eagerly await the release of each new Mommy Track book like I do Harry Potter! What I enjoy so much about Ayelet Waldman's heroine character, Juliet, is that I see myself in her. I, too, am a stay-at-home mom and life is anything but boring. Granted, she is much more of a sophisticated sleuth than I am, her character is one with whom moms can relate. Heck, even my 60-year old father loves her books! Her books are fun, quick reads that are hard to put down and will make you laugh out loud. And, that's a good thing in between reading my children their books, locating missing socks (my claim to sleuthing), and chasing after my busy brood.

I did not enjoy the last (before this one) book from Ms Waldman as much as I had enjoyed the first couple ones. She used to write funny and engaging stories. Her Juliet Applebaum character was a lot of fun and the writing fluid and refreshing. This most recent one seems to confirm that Juliet needs to retire. The story is long and boring and the author uses the book as a platform for her lamentation against about too many things. Ms Waldman did not even come with a very clever end. It makes us feel that she did not write for our enjoyment but to air her grievances. I would say "one thumb down" !

Ayelet Waldman's latest addition to her 'Mommy-Track Mysteries' requires no prior familiarity to prove satisfyingly vivid. Partners Juliet and Al are finally seeing their fledgling detective agency soaring with business; but even though they're seeing many types of cases, Heavenly has come to Juliet with something new: a dead sister and uncaring police - something far different from the usual insurance sleuth work. Heavenly is determined to solve the mystery, and brings Juliet and Al into danger in this exploration of a California sexual underground. Excellent characterization and swift action make for an involving leisure choice.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I'm a long-time Ayelet Waldman fan so I enjoyed "Bye-Bye, Black Sheep" even though the ending is not clear cut. I didn't mind that, though, nor did I feel let down because that really is how life is. It kept the book from being formulaic. I liked that she didn't stereotype the "street girls", just wrote them so that they're believable and real. And, yes, she was on her soapbox but I think she showed an insider's understanding of the true difficulties that some people experience. I also liked the plot twists because I truly had no clue who the killer was until the end. I DON'T think the book had as many funny parts as Waldman's books normally do, however, to me, it was still a good read.

I liked the story but the rants against society are what made this my last Ayelet Waldman book. I read one other and noticed ranting there but liked the storyline I decided to give her another try. I won't do that again.

The story with Heavenly was interesting and I don't mind the ambiguous ending. However when it gets to the point that I can skip an entire page of the author's opinions and not miss any story it's a bit much.

It's a shame, the author is a good writer, knows how to pace a story and can create interesting characters. I wanted to like this series. Unfortunately she takes away from all that she has going for her with the character rants.

Within minutes of my child getting this book the binding had already come apart. It's just a thin piece of fabric holding it together. I am very disappointed.

Great idea & very cute, as others have said, but ridiculously poor binding. I contacted the publisher, and they said they have fixed the binding problem and would replace mine for one with the new binding.

This book, along with the other chunky farm books, is a great book (in theory) for toddlers. It is short enough to keep your child's attention span. And the outside of the book is in the shape of an animal and can be easily handled by little fingers. My daughter loved to line up all her chunky books on her shelf and play with them like they were toys. I loved this book so much that I bought the whole set. However, my enthusiasm was quickly tarnished after the binding came apart on three of them. I have since taped the books with packing tape, but the books have never opened quite the same. They need to fix this problem because it is such a creative idea and the book is really cute!!!

My daughter (2 1/2) picked up this book at the San Diego Zoo. By the time we left the zoo 2 hours later, the binding had come apart. She LOVES the book and the others like it(cat, horse, rabbit etc.), but it is not a book to play with, but to sit on a shelf and look at, which is too bad for the children.

I adored the chunky farm books, and ordered several when my baby was small. However, now that my daughter is 17 months and actively looks at books herself, I have found none of the farm books to withstand time. The binding has come off almost all of them. They are great books for sitting on the top of a shelf, but if you hope your toddler to get much use from them, they won't.
Sturdy and long lasting they are NOT!--