Publications Books

Easy reading and great guide to becoming vegetarian and even vegan. Highly recommend for those just beginning. Also recommend as a refresher for nutritional needs.

This book is fantastic, it goes over many vegetarian issues and teaches you how to eat to get the maximum benefit from your food.

This is an excellent book for anyone wanting to change their eating habits and improve their health. highly recommend this book

This book is extremely comprehensive. It is the first book about becoming vegetarian that I have read but I am completely satisfied that it covers all the requirements of a vegetarian diet. I would also recommend this book to non-vegetarians, particularly those seeking to reduce meat intake and increase nutrition from plant foods.

This is a good book with a lot of good information. The problem with the book is that it has an agenda. If I didn't know any better I would have to think that the author was a member of PETA. Keep the politics out of the book!

This is an old, elementary textbook on ordinary differential equations presented in the format of lessons. It is clearly written with the student in mind and has a lot of elementary applications. Students who are studying this subject for the first time will have no difficulty with the book.

I feel compelled to write a review even though many others have already written in praise of this book. The ultimate accolade: If only I had this book when I was an undergrad taking differential equations, man I would have been the star student! In a misguided quest for "purity", I chose the math department's ODE course, and at the risk of offending mathematicians (for whom I have the utmost respect), all the talk about Wronskians was about the only thing I remembered of the course, only to find later that they are almost completely useless (at least in physics, am I wrong?). Heavenly thanks for Tenenbaum and Pollard, now decades later, I finally understand what differential equations is all about.

The only small criticism is the number-labelling (sp?) of almost everything makes for some clutter in the text. Otherwise, as many have said, this book is VERY WELL ORGANIZED and super for self-study. I have purchased two copies, one for my library and one for my 10-year old daughter whom I hope will find it as attractive and interesting as I did.

Finally, once again thanks to Dover for re-pubishing at reasonable cost so many great books, among which is this particularly outstanding volume. Maybe some sort of prize or recognition should be given to Dover for their contribution to the spread of knowledge.

I certainly enjoy reading this book.
An excellent applied mathematics text book for engineers and scientists.

This book is rigorous but understandable, it truly does provide an exhaustive survey of ODE.

In an Intro to ODE course I took, we used the Edwards and Penny book merely as a reference for exercises and concepts. Most of the instruction was done primarily from the instructor's own books and from what he felt was more useful for the class.

Trying to read through the E.&P. book was painful at best, and useless at its worst, so this text became invaluable to say the least. This book does the job where the E.&P. book did not, to top it off it has plenty of exercises and detailed solutions for sample problems. This text covers about 70% of that course. It falls short of 5 stars because although the material in this book is presented with detail and clarity, its approach to an ODE course is outdated. Modern topics such as Fourier series, exponential matrices, systems of 4 or more equations linear nonlinear or dynamic, are things that are brought up in a typical ODE course taught today which are not mentioned in the book(I assume this was considered too difficult to solve by hand in the age when math software for the freshman was nonexistent).

This was the ultimate book about the power of forgiveness. I loved this story and the characters in it. Susanne one day answers the door to her home only to find a teenager who claims to be the daughter of her husband. Talk about a slap in the face. The details as they come together weave a story that brings about a lot of emotion in this family as they work through the intricacies of how to deal with this new situation in their life. How can a marriage handle such a blow? How will their children handle it? The gamut of feelings in all the characters is played out in such a way as to bring this family through twists and turns that might not otherwise have happened. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it. Definitely a great read.

Miralee tackled a tough topic and wove a tale of highs and lows for this family. Imagine your day starting out like any other and by the end of that day a girl has shown up on your doorstep claiming your spouse is their parent. It would be life changing.

That's what happens to Susanne when she opens the door on her birthday waiting for her husband, David, to get home. The person who drops off Brianna doesn't even wait around long enough to see if someone answers the door.

When David arrives home to celebrate Susanne's birthday she has her own surprise waiting for him. She has sent their 2 children and this other "daughter" to her mom's for the night. David then has to wrestle with the truth of his past and his life now.

Miralee did a great job bringing out their emotions and as you get to know Susanne and David, you understand why they react like they do. I for one would've flipped my lid, but then again, that's just me. Miralee kept these people, including their children, great grandfather, and grandma true to their character.

In the end the reader learns about healing, forgiveness and acceptance.

When a happily married couple with two kids suddenly is suddenly slammed in the face with a 14 year old reality, can their sanity and marriage survive the trauma?

Susanne Carson and her husband David have a marriage that is starting to falter just a bit due to their religious differences. David is so patient, and the reader cannot help but love this guy. Susanne is pretty headstrong, and sometimes I wanted to smack her.

A screech of tires and a knock on the door changes their lives forever when 13 year old Brianna announces her Mother is dead and she is there to stay with her father, David. Suffice it to say that shock and terror were only two of the emotions felt by this family, along with anger, hurt, panic and fear.

David never tries to deny the existance of a one night stand with the child's mother, but he fails when trying to explain to this wife. They both feel he was less than truthful when he kept this little secret to himself.

This is a story so possibly true, with feelings laid out for all to see through reading, that nothing is spared to the reader. One sees the emotional, physical and spiritual side to all the characters who are involved. Accepting and loving describe the children and Grandpa. Confusion seems to dominate their future when Brianna's uncle reappears in their lives. A horrible horse accident throws yet another burr into the already mixed up feelings of the family.

This first of the series is an excellent look at marriage, religion, children, sex outside of marriage and the influence of several family and friends. It also features, plainly, that old saying from the Bible "you reap what you sow"....eventually the cows come home.

I am happy to become acquainted with this new author, and will put her books right up there in my special group of authors on my "must read" list. Thank you Miralee, for this first book, and hopefully a second is on the way.

Reviewed by Leslie Granier for Reader Views (5/08)

Susanne Carson is supposed to be spending the evening celebrating her birthday with her husband David. Boy does she get a huge surprise when a ragged-looking teenaged girl knocks on the door and says her mother has died and that David is her father. Shocked and in disbelief, Susanne hopes this is a hoax or a misunderstanding, but since the girl (Brianna) resembles David so strongly, she knows it is the truth. Together, Susanne and David must decide how to handle the situation to do what is best for their own children, while not abandoning Brianna. After a life-altering decision, they learn to embrace the gift they have been given by putting their lives in God's hands.

The author does an excellent job of allowing the reader to feel what the characters are experiencing. Susanne's anger with David for his unfaithfulness and the resentment she feels toward Brianna for showing up and disrupting their lives is realistically portrayed. David's difficulties in accepting Brianna led him to become a passive decision-maker about her future. Instead, he burdened Susanne with formulating the plan on how to handle the situation. Brianna's feelings were also well-documented. She did not want to get close because her mother had always told her that her father did not want her. It's ironic how the other children (Josh and Meagan) had no difficulty accepting Brianna as their sister. It is funny how children sometimes need to teach adults how to behave.

This book will appeal to teenagers and adults. It contains a strong message of the importance of turning control of one's life over to God. It reminds the reader that we can not change the past. Instead, we must accept what has happened and decide to move forward while keeping the best interests of everyone involved.

"The Other Daughter" is a well-written book that will trigger deep emotions in the reader, regardless of which character he or she associates with most closely. It will leave readers thinking about how they might handle a similarly difficult situation. This would be an excellent choice for a reading group because there are many situations in this book that will allow for intense debate.

This was an awesome read, one that will stay with me for a long time to come, for it truly stirred my emotions right to the core of my existence.
This story was about a couple enduring trials through the unexpected arrival of a young girl at the front door. This young girl would change all their lives as the story unravels of who she is, and where she has come from. Their reactions and interactions as well as their inter most thoughts play out in a emotional drama that will make it hard for you set this book down as the story unfolds.
I felt it was the first book that I have read that really showed life from a Christian perspective.
How, you ask? It showed the difficulties that people not only face in real life situations but also what we struggle with inwardly in our Christian walk. It clearly shows the different mind set between a believer and a non-believer and how that effects our relationships.
I highly recommend this book! It certainly sets a new stage for writers of Christian novels to attain. Excellent!

I have made it a habit this year to get through many of the classics on audio book during my daily commute. I picked Pilgrim's Progress since it was one of the most influential English books ever published, and I wanted to see what it was all about.

The audio book was published by Blackstone Audio and the reader was Robert Whitfield. The reader did an excellent job and was very easy to listen to. He did some characterization with his voice that made it easy to know which character was speaking. I was a little worried about the older style English, but it gave me no problem. It probably helps that I am familiar with the King James Version of the Bible. Overall, listening to this book worked out very well.

This is the first book length allegory that I have been through and I thought it was an excellent way to teach. There is no doubt which principal each character is supposed to represent by their name, and their actions represented that well also. I can understand why so many families had this book in their libraries. As far as Christian doctrine goes, there are a few things that some would disagree with, but most of the principals taught are still generally accepted today. The path to God's presence is filled with opposition, but there is help available and the reward is worth it.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to understand an important part of our heritage, and to see what an effective tool allegory is.

I love this book. It was written from a jail cell in the 1600s. This version is the original so the text is difficult to read at first but I would not want a watered down modernized version (which can be purchased). I find if I read in chunks it starts to flow nicely. The characters have names like, "Evangelist", "Piety", "Talkative", "Faith", etc. So you know just where someone is coming from. I have marked up this book with pencil just like I do my scriptures! It is like reading one long parable in story form! Cool book. I'm glad to have found it.

We've read this book to our son and he has really enjoyed it. He doesn't yet fully understand everything and we had to stop and explain a lot to him, but it is something that we plan on reading over and over again as our kids continue to grow.
I read a review that stated that a main flaw in this book was the lack of one on one relationship with Christ. I can understand what they are saying, but I think what you have to keep in mind is that while we are here on earth and in our day and age we do not physically see Christ. He was once here walking and living on this earth, but He is now in heaven. He uses other means now to maintain a personal relationship with us. For example, we can know Christ through His word and through prayer. Just as in the book, He often also sends other Christians along in our life to help us and encourage us. This book is a good example of a walk of faith. We can't see and physically touch Christ right now, but when we are in heaven we WILL see Him just as Bunyan talks about in the book. Christian persevered in his walk without physically seeing Christ and he was rewarded in the end for his faith. For now, how much greater our reward is for those who have not seen Him and yet believed!

Enthralling. This book will help every Christian deal with the battles of being a Christian in this life and all the struggles that go with it. It teaches you never to give up even when you feel like you can't go on. Life's struggles are not a new occurrence, but as timeless as human existence itself. It teaches you not to be too concentrated on your struggles, but to look at the great prize which is Heaven and not be distracted or enticed by the struggles of life nor the easy way out. Excellent. It is a must read for every Christian.

The first time that I encountered Christian and his pilgrimage was as a preface and a family favorite in the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Unfortunately, it was not until twenty-something years later that I actually got around to reading the book itself. If I were you, I would not wait that long.

The first part of the current combined book appeared in 1678. Bunyan, a nonconformist Protestant minister who was imprisoned for preaching without a license, wrote at least the first part of the book in jail. The second part was first published in 1684. It is likely the most popular allegory ever written, and is still one of the best selling books of all time.

What makes it so popular? The obvious key to its popularity is its simple, crisp style. Even accounting for the language changes between the seventeenth century and now, it is not a struggle to read Progress and it flows well for the modern reader. Although the book is allegory, the characters are full of little realistic details that make them feel quite human. Incidentally, I was reading this book as I was walking some of the old pilgrimage trails of Europe and it was interesting to me how vivid and applicable his version of the pilgrimage experience is. The Slow of Despair rang remarkably true, as did characters such as Talkative and Mr. Worldly Wisdom.

The Oxford University Press edition is bound with a scholarly introduction which is, for a change, worth reading. It also came with explanatory notes and a glossary which were helpful for the modern reader who is not familiar with the everyday language of the period.

As the leading civilian authority on the U.S. Secret Service (and President Kennedy's interaction with the agency), I was much interested in this book by Richard Reeves. I am a big fan of Mr. Reeves---in addition to a great book on Richard Nixon, he is a great writer and speaker. You can't go wrong in purchasing this fine book. vince palamara

Jackie Kennedy is said to have given copies of this book to her children with the advice, "If you want to know your father, he is in this book." Reeves was said to be surprised at her endorsement and commented. "I wasn't terribly flattering to Jackie in the book."
Well worth the read.

After reading this book, I feel that I come out understanding the Kennedy presidency in better terms. While Sorenson and Schlesinger wrote impeccable accounts on the admininstration, they are somewhat distorted, and make Kennedy out to be a hero. This well-written and higly researched account, I feel to be the definintive account of the administration. It shows the flaws of President Kennedy, and the true personality of the man in the White House, his battle with Addison's disease. Kennedy was a very inexperienced leader at the beginning of his presidency, and I don't feel that it really dawned on him until the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

This detailed account covers his meetings with Premier Krushchev, how he dealt with South Vietnam, and the apparent sickness that came upon him after learning of the death of Ngo Din Diem. You also see that Kennedy was very much a womanizer, almost to the point of obsession it seems. This book deserves much attention, and for anybody who has never read about President Kennedy, an excellent start.

This book is a well-written chronological account of Kennedy's presidency. Minimized is the personal gossip and inuendo while highlighted is the decision-making style of JFK and his entourage as events unfold. You get a sense of what it's like being thrust into the vortex of events for which no president is totally prepared. The writer attempts to reveal President Kennedy as both more and less than the Camelot charisma would have you believe. Thoroughly enjoyable and informative must-read addition.

President Kennedy did not have the easiest presidency imaginable: big issues abroad including Cuba, Vietnam, Berlin, the nuclear arms race and test ban treaties with Russia and the highly contradictory issue of integration at home were all begging for his attention and often at the same time. This biography gives a good insight into the way decisions were taken and that there is a lot of on-the-job learning involved. It is in a sense shocking to read that the way a superpower is run is not that much different from the way an average manager runs his group of a few people.

I found it slightly disappointing that this biography deals exclusively with the presidency of Kennedy, not his formative years as a student, a soldier and a senator. But all in all a revealing insight into the presidency of a man who, after his assassination, become a posthumous hero.

Buy this book immediately if you have a sincere interest in dream practices. The information is appropriate for the beginner as well as the advanced yogi. Don't waste one third of your life in the sleep of ignorance. Make it the fertile pure land it is when seen clearly.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche presents Tibetan dream yoga in full detail, and most importantly, fully contextualizes its practice in the Dzogchen spiritual tradition. As I slowly worked my way through this illuminating book it increasingly dawned on me that this work was not only the clearest practical manual on dream yoga ever penned, but that it ranks as one of the most enlightening spiritual treatises I have ever encountered. The author starts by outlining the conceptual foundations of Dzogchen teachings as related to dream yoga, then presents preliminary practices necessary for developing the "mental muscles" needed for genuine engagement in the rigors of dream and sleep yoga. Then comes the meat of the text, where Tenzin Wangyal elucidates all the elements for the complete practice of these esoteric yogas. He repeatedly stresses that the ultimate aim must be a consistent abiding in clear, non-dual awareness, or "rigpa"--throughout waking, dreaming, sleeping, and ultimately in dying (bardo). As heavy as this sounds, the author actually carries it all out with the light touch of a true master. He gently leads the reader into a realm of wondrous mystery...

I highly recommend this Book on Dreaming and Sleep. It's very enlightening.

Very hip writing about PREPARING FOR DEATH... Amazing material being able to see life as a dream and hence waking up in your dreams to transcend death, and the subject of a new Hollywood big budget sci fi film, CONVERGENCE, by a director named Wake.
Simple and beautiful. Achieves what Casteneda makes complicated. But we know this one is real.

I think this is a really good book to get some alternative info on lucid dreaming. I still prefer Stephen Laberges EWLD, but this one is great in a different way. I'm not into buddhism. And if you don't have any experience with buddhism, then it's not very easy/clear. You'll just have to ignore some of the buddhist slang to get the best out of it. Anyway, it's nice to read about the subject from a different angle.

There are some that believe Catholics worship the Virgin Mother. There are some they believe this book is filled with blasphemy, yet reading this book I found none. I found a book that taught that Mary helps us build a deeper and meaningful relation with Jesus. This book is about how Mary is part of God's will.

The book may be a little hard for some to read, but do not be worried. It is filled with so much rich and beautiful text, that will have you want to know anything and everything about Our Lady.

This book gave me a phrase that I will hold close to my heart:

Maria Numquam Satis " Of Mary, there is never enough!"

This is the best book written about Mary. How simple! Easy to follow and great inspiration for my life and devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. If you love her, your love will grow deeper. You most buy this book and certainly feel more attached to her. Seller is excellent. Buy at ease from them. GOOD PRICES!!!

I have spent the past four years discovering my Catholic faith after spending decades chasing professional goals of far less importance.

I have found this book to be the most important "writing of the saints" book I've read while on this four-year journey.

I highly recommend reading it slowly and prayerfully, and making the formal personal consecration. For me, this has been a life-changing discovery for which I am very grateful.

This is an important book. I am a recent convert to the Catholic Church. I grew up in a protestant denomination and Mary was someone who appeared for a couple of weeks at Christmas and then faded back into the dust of first century christianity. She was just one of many players in the drama of God. This book blows that shallow understanding to bits. Over the past year I have been getting to know my Mother. This book came to my attention only recently and I can not put it down! I will say this, one must read this book with faith. This is a very deep book, yet beautifully simple. It is a love story of devotion and courage. This book is a high calling to know Jesus in a way one may have never imagined possible.

Peace,
Keith

This is, in my opinion, the greatest single book ever written on the Blessed Virgin. It is, in reality, like a compendium of all that the Holy Catholic Church had taught on devotion to the Blessed Virgin up to that moment, although nothing has really been added since then. In 215 pages it explains everything you need to know about TRUE devotion to the Blessed Virgin - it even explains false devotions, such as hypocritical devotees etc - and the crucial importance, by the will of God, of Mary in salvation history. You can clearly get the impression when reading this magnificent book that the author was not really the one who physically wrote down the words, St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, but in reality the Holy Ghost himself acting through this servant of God. This book is an absolute must for anyone who wishes to better his/her spiritual life. Needless to say, I think everyone should read this book - sinners and saints alike. For sinners, as a way to escape from spiritual ruin, and for saints, as a way to reach perfection which otherwise is very difficult to reach without a deep devotion to Our Lady. This book definitely has the power to change the life of the one who reads it. As St Alphonsus de Liguori stated, "Only God knows the good that can be done on a soul by reading a good book" and this book certainly falls in this category.

This book couldn't have come at a better time for me. It seems the Lord knew exactly what I needed when I visited my library 2 days before a mission trip, 2 days following the tragic death of our beloved pet Nadia. As I read the book, I kept my Bible close and it all made perfect sense. I received such peace from God through the teachings of Ms. Buddemeyer-Porter. I thank the Lord for this answer to my prayer.

A wonderful review not only of scripture, but also how well-known theologians down through history agree: You will see Fido in Heaven. I cannot rate this book high enough.

If you have ever lost a pet or know someone who has, then, aside from the Bible, this is the ONE book you really should read and share. Since it came to my attention on Amazon, I have gifted this book several times always with the same grateful result.

"Will I See Fido In Heaven" is an adult way of looking at the loss of a dear pet. This book is thoughtful, and somewhat comforting. Nothing would be more comforting than actually having the lost loved-one back by one's side. However, this book is as good as it gets.

There are many believers in Christ who do not believe that we will see our pets in heaven. I must admit that before reading Mary's book, "Will I See Fido in Heaven?", I felt this same way. As an animal lover and Christian, I was willing to accept whatever God's plan was for animals eternal destination, whether it be that life would just simply end, or that their souls would dwell along side those of us in Heaven who believe in Jesus Christ. Mary uses sound scripture to back up her beliefs. God's word is true and without error. If we choose not to believe His word, then we will miss out on the blessings He intends for us to have and enjoy. If you love animals and our Lord and Savior who created them, read Mary's book. You'll be glad that you did.

This is the most amazing book I've ever read. Huffaker makes you feel like you are riding along with the fabulous characters. Whether wielding a Cossack sword or shooting a Cowboy's six-shooter you are part of the action. His character development brings you into the heroes mind's and by the end of the book you are in love with all the characters, despite their tremendous flaws. I can't say enough good about this book. Its a masterpiece.

Beware! If you love Western novels, this book will become the standard you measure them against. It has it all...my most recommended book to family and friends. I NEVER leave a copy unbought.

The "I don't read Westerns" crowd raves about it, too. No one understands why this hasn't been made into a movie. It is timeless, just wonderful!

I just finished reading "The Cowboy and the Cossack" for the umpteenth time. My twin and I read this book years ago and we loved it! However, over the years we lost our copy, so, I bought her one as a surprise Christmas gift. Boy, was she thrilled! We've been reading it over and over. The story and characters are truly awesome! You must read it. It is a jewel!

I read this book ages and ages ago and loved it so much that I looked for it in every public and military library I was near as a traveled around the world for twenty years in the Air Force. It's become so hard to find, that I finally purchased a used copy a couple of years ago. I am a voracious reader, but normally do not read Westerns. However, this is one of the best books I've ever read. It's essentially about friendship, honor, loyalty, etc., but it rises above cliches because the characters are so unique. It (and anything else by Huffaker) needs to be re-published.

I'm a voracious reader (not particularly of Westerns) and this book, which I read 15 years ago remains as one of my all time favorites. If any book deserves to be reprinted, it is this one! A must read!

I've used a number of books to learn Japanese over the years, and this was not the first or the last, but I immediately recognized it as the most important as a learning tool and as a reference for beginners. It gives the reader a clear and concise tour through the fundamentals. It doesn't teach you "street" Japanese, but that's better learned on the street - not from a book. It would be best coupled with spoken Japanese lessons from a native speaker or Pimsleur audio (get the CD and make MP3s). Also, you don't need to learn how to read/write Japanese kana or kanji to use this book.

What it won't give you is a gentle cumulative approach to vocabulary, instead it just tosses you in the deep end. If you are serious about learning a language, that's OK - you plan to eventually learn all of the words anyway, so what matter the order in which you learn them? It's also NOT a good book for the tourist who wants a crash introductory course.

The best part? You get through this and then you can buy the Intermediate edition and continue toward fluency. Learn one word a day and you'll be fluent before you know it!

This book is great. It is as it says a dictionary of basic Japanese grammar.
This book explains grammar in a way that is very easy to understand. With this book and the "Dictionary of intermediate Japanese grammar", you will be set. I recommend all serious students of Japanese to get these two books. Then find a good Kanji study system, and follow that up with a good workbook, to enforce practice.

It is more than 1 year since the last review for this book was written here, but reading through all the reviews there seems almost only to be positive comments about this book (the few negative comments there are, are rather unimportant things). BUT this book, used wrongly, may very well teach you Japanese that has never been heard from a native speaker's mouth.

The information provided in the book is overwhelming and the explanations are almost too good to be true. However, depending on what you are trying to learn from the book, in may get you in big trouble.
I am currently living in Japan and trying to pick up the language, and one thing I have come to understand is that there is not only one Japanese language ... but several. There is spoken langauge (actually there are 2 spoken languages, formal and informal), there is written language in books etc., there is news paper language, there is subtitle language (this is a fancy one!) and there are probably many more.
This is not a unique feature to the Japanese language, that is not the point I am trying to make, but especially the difference between spoken language and written language in general is so destinctive, that you must be very well aware of it.

Now, what has all this to do with the book that this review is about? A whole lot!
One evening when I sat at the dinner table studying my host brother (I live with a host family) came down from his room, saw me and placed himself on the chair besides me. He asked me what I was doing, and I of course answered `studying Japanese`. I was reading some random entry from "A dictionary of basic Japanese grammar" and when I showed it to him he started laughing and asked me why I was studying weird stuff like that.
Of course I had no idea what he was talking about, so he explained me that what I was studying was not useful at all. He had only read it once in a book but never heard it in a conversation (he is 30 and native Japanese). After consulting my hostdad he agreed as well, the stuff I was reading was useless and waste of time to study.

That little incident made me start asking my Japanese friends about stuff I had learnt from this book, and a lot of the entries they told, they never used in normal conversation.
When purchasing this book and starting to use it as a study aid or grammar reference, you should definitely have some native speaker to ask, whether what you are studying is useful at all, because the authors of this book completely fail to provide any information on where you will find the grammar you are studying. Some of the grammatical expressions in book, you will never hear in a conversation and others are restricted to movie subtitles. So if you use this book without being critical you will end up with an understandable and grammatically correct but extremely odd Japanese.

As I said earlier the Japanese used in subtitles is a category itself. "Subtitle Japanese" is a paradise for people who has used "A dictionary of basic Japanese grammar", but you will never hear it in daily life conversations.
So please be careful to use this great but dangerous book!

There is a bit of a myth about Japanese grammar--that it is too complicated, too alien for the non-native speaker to ever really master. This is a myth that many Japanese perpetuate themselves, seen in unflattering characterizations of non-native speakers, or in the (unhelpful) praise lavished upon anyone who can speak Japanese to any degree, no matter how ungrammatical it may be. This is a myth that is also unfortunately and unintentionally perpetuated by guides like Jorden's "Japanese the Spoken Language" that do the learner a disservice by explaining grammatical points in a language better suited for a linguist than a language learner. For people like you and me, who want to surpass these low expectations and confusing explanations and start on the road to true fluency, "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" is an essential companion.

Let's face it--from the perspective of a native English speaker, mastering Japanese grammar is difficult. Very difficult. Don't trust anyone who says otherwise! Much is made of the difficult writing system, but mastering grammar is perhaps even more difficult and essential to smooth communication. Sure, learning the difference between "wa" and "ga" is not as sexy as learning how to write "love" or "raccoon dog" in kanji, but it's many times more useful on a daily basis. By providing easy-to-understand explanations as well as examples of both good and bad usage, the student is given a better understanding of basic (but still difficult-to-master) grammatical points. This dictionary does an especially good job of contrasting similar constructs that give beginning-to-intermediate (and even many advanced) students trouble (wa/ga, aida/uchi, ageru/kureru, hazu/beki, ni/de etc.)

Although I don't think it's possible to gain complete comfort and mastery of Japanese without living in Japan, or at the very least, interacting with Japanese people on a regular basis, this book is the perfect guide for explaining the nuances that a beginner might not notice, and an intermediate student might be aware of but not fully understand. This includes the deceptive "similar constructs" I mentioned before, words that are not easy to translate into English (sekkaku, darou come to mind), and other issues such as auxiliary verbs and onomatopoetic "sound words". Whether you're learning Japanese in school, living abroad in Japan, or even just studying on your own, "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" is an indispensable companion for your studies.

One last comment--there are a few reviews that have comments along the lines of "yes, but the Japanese don't really talk like this" to which I say, "You're missing the point." That's a bit like arguing against learning multiplication tables because in the "real world" there are calculators. Sure it would be nice to go directly from "Please give me that pen" to "Hey man, can ya grab that pen over there for me?" but language learning isn't that easy. If you understand the fundamentals of grammar, you will understand Japanese of all formalities, dialects, and other variations and transmutations. It is much easier to learn the shortcuts once you have a strong foundation because you are in a position to understand the nuances and principles involved. In other words, you know and understand what exactly is being "shortcutted". If you only learn the shortcuts, you will have a hard time generalizing your knowledge for usage out of a narrow, specific context. Worse, you might not even realize that you are even making a grammatical or etiquette mistake by misapplying knowledge from one context to another. The worst thing a language learner can do is to try to take shortcuts to "speed up" his or her progress without taking the time to build up a steady base. This dictionary provides that strong foundation that is needed for the serious Japanese language learner.

Personally, I feel that these two books (basic/intermediate) goes together in order to have a complete reference. If it's separated, it's like splitting elementary school's vocabulary and highschool's vocabulary into two dictionary. Which dictionary should you buy if you want to check for words that seemed to be in between these two levels. For example, words like "honor".

The other reviewers are very informative, so i'll just give you a good example of a grammar from the "Intermediate japanese grammar". (I chose intermediate because it can better express a more complete capacity of how the book work. (I apologize if you're a beginner audience)

"believe it or not" - nanishiro

Three ways to use it

#1. (sentence 1). nanishiro (sentence 2)
#2. (sentence 1). un, nanishiro...
#3. (sentence 1), nanishiro, (sentence 2)

Example for #1 (there are 5 examples for this particular grammar)

Ano hito ha kanemochi desuyo. *NANISHIRO* bentsu wo sandaimo motteirun desu karane. (In Hinagana)
(He is rich, you know. *Believe it or not*, he has three Mercedes Benz) (gives you translation)

Unlike regular dictionaries, I find the joy in flipping thru these grammar dictionaries just because it's easy to read and it's also informative. Other than *Nanishiro* in the previous sentence, didn't you also learn what kanemochi means?