Educational Books

Although this is one of my shorter cookbooks, I absolute love it. The recipes are solid, impressingly good, fairly easy, and use a good variety of vegetables. I love Asian food; this cookbook makes it easy to enjoy items at home. The soups are wonderful, as someone mentioned.

Thanks to this book- no need to go to a thai restaurant again! My husband and I are cooking fast, delicious and authentic thai at home now. Before this book, I never thought it possible to make such great Thai food at home. Pictures in this book are gorgeous and make it easy to decide what's for dinner! The curry sauces are wonderful! BUT, IF YOU BUY THIS BOOK FOR NOTHING ELSE, BUY IT FOR THE MUSHROOM SOUP RECIPE ON PAGE 15!! 100% VEGAN (though you'd never guess) AND SIMPLY AMAZING! BEST SOUP EVER!!

As a vegetarian who LOVES asian food, this book was a dream for me. The price is right, and the recipes are wonderful and easy to make. The book itself is also just beautiful. The illustrations make you salivate, and the end product lives up to the image.

One of the things I love about this cookbook is that there is a picture on every page, which, to me, makes it a lot easier for me to decide what to cook. Also, even though the cookbook is fairly compact (95 pages), it still has many of the benefits of larger cookbooks with it's covers that open to a two page utensil and cooking tool guide, and back cover which opens to a three page Asian ingredients guide. The information in between the sections is also great.

Another great thing that they do with the recipes is give you nutrition facts, prep time, a not on if it's easy to prepare or not, if it's spicy, if it's great for company, refreshing, and also, a note to tell you that it can be prepared ahead of time, I think you get the point.

All in all, this is a great book for the vegetarian, or NON VEGETARIAN, who likes asian cooking. I'd have to say that this book is, penny for penny, probably the best Asian all vegetarian cookbook I have purchased!

Wonderful book. The recipes actually taste authentic. I have used for over a year and like the curry recipes especially. The only shortcoming of this one is that there are not enough recipes. I highly recommend

Thorough review of basic statistics and how to critically review an assessment instrument in easy to understand format. Also reviews many published tests.

The book arrived in a timely fashion and in perfect condition. Would recommend seller.

I was please to receive the text book on the date promised in mint condition.

This book is extremely informative about current educational diagnostics.

To let a multibillion dollar creation escape from you is something hard to get over. "Authoritas: One Student's Harvard Admissions and the Founding of the Face Book Era" is Aaron Greenspan's amazing story of having developed the enormously popular Face Book software, only to let it escape from his grasp to the benefit of others. Greenspan candidly lays out the inherently fascinating story of his life - the memoir of an idealistic young man with huge dreams and an innovative idea -- only to be betrayed and have his creation stolen from him, then exploited for millions. "Authoritas" is a highly recommended look behind the famous Face Book website, and a recommended addition to academic and community library Biography collections.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," Yossarian observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.

That is the famous line from Joseph Heller's 1961 novel, Catch 22.

Authoritas is the autobiography of Aaron Greenspan's adventures growing up in Shaker Heights, then attending Harvard, and then finding himself in Harvard's 21st-century version of Heller's Catch 22.

Authoritas is an interesting, fast paced and a times humorous read.

While at Harvard, Greenspan develops by all accounts the very first version of what is now the international website "Facebook."

Aaron Greenspan writes very well and really knows computing. With that combination I think we will be hearing a lot from Mr. Greenspan in the future.

Heller's John Yossarian would have loved reading Authoritas.

At some levels, the book is just an absolutely engaging story. At other levels, it shines a harsh light on uncaring, uncreative, and unimaginative people involved at administrative levels of education. At times, you'll be astounded at the depths educational administrators go to squash creativity, deny entrepreneurship, and cover themselves at the expense of providing service to education.

Aaron Greenspan graduated from Harvard. And although he is a successful CEO of his own company (Think Computer), his success came despite his Harvard education. In Authoritas you'll find Aaron struggle to avoid the crushing of the human spirit and the crushing of the innate desire to learn and his determination to provide compassionate assistance to his autistic brother.

Aaron's story is personal, engaging, and important.

This book is odd. It's well written and the narrative is compelling; enough for me to read it all in one go.

The stories of inadequate ego-driven teachers and students early on in the book are relayed well. The book's exposure of incompetence, back-scratching and favoritism from supposedly upstanding academic leaders is excellent. This is a good reason to read this book, and for excellently depicting an often overlooked part of academic life, this book deserves 4 stars.

The problem is, that's not why I bought the book. I was expecting a book about the "founding of the Facebook era" as the sub-title suggests. This, however, is certainly not a focus. From 335 pages in all, the name "Mark Zuckerberg" first appears on page 287, and any facts relating to Facebook's rise are within only the last 40 pages, mixed with of indignation.

Initially the author developed a system called CriticalMass that allowed students to rate their satisfaction of different academics at Harvard. Textbook Central, a textbook trading site, followed. Another system called FAStWebmail allowed Harvard students to access their official Harvard e-mail accounts over the Web. These were eventually rolled into a system called houseSYSTEM that included some other features like course preselection and calendars.

For a few chapters after explaining how these systems were developed, the focus is on how the administration and some other students considered houseSYSTEM to be insecure and flawed, due to its pseudo-requirement to have users' official Harvard passwords (in order for the webmail function to work) and a lack of proper SSL (HTTPS) security.

In dealing with these concerns the author showed a lack of technical knowledge. He protested that only an MD-5 hash of users' passwords were stored, but if this were the case, how did his system then access the users' official e-mail accounts? The author doesn't provide a proper level of detail to make a judgment as an independent reader, and the way he portrays it may just be very poor.

The author also says "Brian Wong is telling people that MD-5 generates 16-byte hashes, when it doesn't! There are 32 characters in all of them! Each ASCII character is one byte!" MD-5 generates a 16 byte hash (128 bits). That a textual hexadecimal representation of that 16 byte hash takes 32 characters does not make it a "32 byte hash."

The author has a habit of "quoting" his mental monologue, nearly all of which is negative in nature, and assuming whoever he's talking to is either an idiot or out to get him. The author's paranoia (warranted or not) permeates the last half of this book enough to make for uneasy reading. He also jumps to exaggerated conclusions. Shortly after the initial security concerns, the university decides that Greenspan needs to delete the password hashes he had collected so far and "forward the list of all those whose information you have collected" in order that those students could have their passwords reset. Instead of complying with this reasonable request, the author rants about how the users table has other information like phone numbers in it and asks "What, do they want those, too?" The e-mail he quotes requested a list of people who signed up for his site, not other details. This doesn't stop the author from eventually sending the whole user table anyway!

On the SSL issue, the text implies that a self-signed certificate was used, but the author appears not to understand the identification issues with this (though those who e-mail him appear to). It's a common theme that the author quotes well-thought-out e-mails and refutes them poorly. He argues that a wildcard certificate would be necessary - costing some $1000, though InstantSSL had them for under $500 at the time - not realizing he could use a regular SSL certificate (under $50) for the password transfer (the parts where security really counted), and a wildcard cookie for cross sub-domain authentication beyond that.

On Facebook, he seems to feel that Zuckerberg's developments, though independent, were a rip off of his own even though Zuckerberg is constantly quoted as remaining separate. houseSYSTEM did have a "face book" feature where pictures of students were located along with their names, but this had no social networking aspect. Zuckerberg's did. Nothing the author relays gives me the impression he "founded" the "Facebook" era.

On page 302, I feel that Greenspan attempts to blackmail Facebook. Despite considering Zuckerburg "inarticulate and naive," he suggested that he join Facebook. When told they needed an engineer with 15 years' experience, Greenspan highlighted Facebook's problems with ConnectU (who were suing Facebook for allegedly copying their idea and stealing code) and suggested that he had "grounds to sue both of you" before suggesting that if Facebook would hire him, he'd be on their side and help the lawsuit go away.

The last 20 pages are dire. The author claims that having a full Facebook profile "would have meant I endorsed intellectual property theft" without realizing that information willingly shared is not "thieved."

Lastly, the author appears to rub most people in the book up the wrong way. Other than his closest associates and his family, almost every social interaction seems to result in the author antagonizing someone or being ignored. In most cases, he relies on his father to write e-mails and letters on his behalf (mostly unsuccessfully), rather than fight his own battles. "If Mark can get $2 billion for my ideas, I should at least be able to get a couple million!" sums up what I see as a jealous, paranoid individual who, as it happens, has written a gripping and interesting book.

As good as this book is, I sense Greenspan isn't the sort of person to get over his envy and indignation, and it saddens me that his personality appears to restrict him from achieving all that he could be.

My 15 month old loves books and loves music and loves animal sounds. He brings this to me over and over to "read" it to him. Older sister likes to sing it to him too. I love the pictures and the theme of giving to others.

This is a very entertaining version of the old nursery rhyme. My daughter loves this book, and so do we. Its great for traveling, not too heavy like the board books. And its just long enough to keep her attention throughout the book!

I was fortunate to buy 4 hardback Iza Trapani books through a special offer at my child's school. This is my favorite of the set (the others books are The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and I'm a Little Teapot, my other favorite). All of these books are just beautifully done. Ms. Trapani takes favorite nursery rhymes and turns them into entertaining stories that just beg to be sung (she even puts the music on the last page in case you don't know the tune). Her exceptional drawings really add to the fun. My 5-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter absolutely adore these books and they are short enough that I don't mind reading them every night (only Twinkle Twinkle sort of wears me out singing it). Baa Baa also provides a morale to the story centered around not assuming and giving from the heart.

Baa, Baa Black sheep have you any wool? So goes the age old rhymn.But did you know it had verses about dogs, pigs cats and even a horse. Everyone is knocking on black sheeps door but all sheep wants to do is knit, knit, knit. The other animals feel black sheep is not being a good friend and neighbor but are they all too quick to judge their woolly pal? Children and adults alike will smile when they see what black sheep has been up to.THIS is my favorite of Iza Trapani's books. A must have!

I have read this book countless times, my daughter has loved it since she was about 7 months go, she's 2 now. We know it by heart! I would highly recommend it.

This is a great book with lively, fun illustrations and slightly repetitive text. Babies love it!

Fantastically sweet book which my eight month old already calls, "Baba". It is a lovely gentle book to read with your baby and see her chuckle as she looks in the mirror at the end.

Really cute book about babies. Cute illustrations showing the differences in all babies. Great way of teaching diversity...

While it lacks the depth of a Blue Guide, this book is a helpful tool for negotiating many of Egypts sites. We used it for our 8 day trip to Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel, and it served us well as an addition to the Lonely Planet guidebook.

Not since the famous Baedeker guide of 1929 has someone written such a comprehensive and lucid book about Egypt. Michael Haag writes with reassuring authority -- clearly he knows and loves the country well -- and with an eye for revealing detail and with a narrative ability that makes this book as enjoyable to read and as unputdownable as a good novel. This is the book to take with you to Egypt, and to read before you go and after you have returned. You could have no better companion.

The only way to really know the value of a guide book is to use it, and that is what I most thoroughly did during my five weeks of travel through Egypt. A marvellous book! A comprehensive, assured and thoroughly readable historical and cultural account of five thousand years of civilization, as well as being entirely practical for the traveler in every respect, so that whether concerning accommodations or ways of moving about the country or where to eat or to shop, I came to trust Mr Haag entirely. A trip to Egypt is the journey of a lifetime and you owe it to yourself to have with you this incomparable companion.

Michael Haag's Egypt is a substantive compendium of practical travel advice noting more than 240 hand-picked places for the traveler to stay, as well as over 150 quality tested restaurants, bars and cafes. Enhanced with color maps of Egypt and the city center of Cairo, 47 additional maps and site plans, full coverage of the new, state-of-the-art library at Alexandria, and a completely revised chapter on Nubia (including full details of cruise itineraries on Lake Nasser), and with a thoroughly "reader friendly" and eloquent text, Egypt is the complete, comprehensive, dependable, portable, indispensable travel guide recommended to tourists, businessmen, students, and anyone else planning a trip to the fabled lands, cities, and monuments of Egypt.

Plot: It is about a boy named Michael Bailey who has a lot of trouble at school and then he is never seen again. But then a new girl arrives and the bullying starts again. Does it get out of hand like it did the last time or will it stop before it gets really serious? Somebody really needs to do something about it, but can they?
Highlights: My favourite character is Alex becuase she is kind to the new girl and really sticks up for her.
Jasmine, Year 7, Wallingford

Plot: It's about a boy who gets bullied terribly by the Bridge Boys. That was a long time ago though. A new girl comes from Australia. She finds it hard to settle in. Will Alex help her?
Highlights: Alex is my favourite character because she is kind and friendly. My favourite part of the book is when we find out what happens to Bailey.
Weaknesses: I think the ending could be stronger.
This book is aimed at about 10-13 year olds and I think the book is fantastic!
Amber, Year 7, Wallingford

Plot: Michael Bailey suffered harsh bullying but that was one year ago and someone new is in town!
Setting: This is set in a primary school.
Hightlight: This book is brilliant how the author sets the mysterious feeling of what happened to Michael Bailey and how she puts you right in the middle of the situation.
Weaknesses: This book is great! But it takes a long time until you can find out the mystery.
It is fantastic when you find out the end, so I recommend this book to someone who likes Scooby Doo or Inspector Morse.
Kit, Year 7, Wallingford

A game. it started as a game. When a boy with the surname 'Bailey' arrived, he was different. A class of children picked up on this, and so was born, the Bailey game. A game of predudice. This game almost meant the end to the boys life. When he moved on, all settled.
Until...

...a new girl starts. Now, History is repeating itself, and it is up to one girl to save her new friend from the terrible fate of Robert Bailey, as a whole class of children, powered by predudice start the game again...

I thought that this is a great book for people taking the AP Statistics exam, but it may be too much if you bought the book a week or two before the exam in May. I would recommend it if you had lots of trouble with the course.

This book really covers relevant materials. You will find out that the formulae in the book are very helpful when doing the multiple choice sections. The practice tests are a bit harder, but if you can get a good score on that, you'll have no problem of getting a 5 on the AP Exam.

This guide gave a very thorough review of every subject on the AP Test. Especially useful were the questions at the end of each section, which give you more practice mastering the subjects you have trouble with. Also helpful were the five practice tests at the end of the book, which give you more than enough preparation for the AP test. One drawback about the tests, though: They only contained 35 MC questions, while the real test contained 40. Overall, an excellent book.

This book was recommended to me last year by my AP Stat teacher and I'm very glad I bought it. The questions in it do an excellent job of preparing for both the material and question type on the AP exam. I found the Barron's questions to be more difficult than the actual test!! Watch out for the short answers, though... the ones on the test seemed to come from left field.

Looks like it is going to be of great assistance to me as I prep for my SAT subject test(s).

Covers all the topics of the Math I, I just took it today and this Math book sufficiently prepared me for the questions I faced. As with all Barron's books the questions the questions in this were harder, so I was relieved as compared to the Math I test. The chapter reviews are very helpful and it dicusses each topic, although some are rarely even tested, this is a full comprehensive guide, and possibly one of the best guides you can purchase. If only I had had enough time to complete the entire book, it is a very helpful teaching and reference guide.

I used this book in conjunction with the Kaplan Mathematics IC and IIC study guide and the Real SAT Subject Tests and I thought it worked really well. The tests in this book are invaluable and though a bit hard, give very good preparation for the test.

I just took the Math IC test yesterday and I didn't encounter any questions I didn't know so that to me says this book was a success.

This book contain valuable material that not only gives a student an idea of what exam is actually about but really helps to improve the score. It does not replace a regular textbook or a good teacher, but still can help a lot. It is better tool for preparation to the math part of SAT then any general "all-in-one" SAT preparation book.

The book contains 18 chapters which cover most topics well and three model tests. Those tests are very important preparation tools and are well worth the money.

Chapter 2: "Tactics" is a really valuable chapter. It covers eight very useful approaches to solving SAP math problems. Exercises (with solutions) are good and as far as I can tell are pretty realistic. Three model tests are the real strong point of the book. Each of them is worth the price of the book alone.

Shortcomings are few. IMHO ideas of chapter 2 are not sufficiently reinforced in other chapters. The geometry section can (and should) be enlarged as this topic usually creates for student the most problems.

Also topics are treated as isolated without pointing to bridges between them (for example between trigonometry and geometrical problems).

Some neat tricks possible because a graphic calculator is allowed on the test (and it is IMHO a must ) are not covered. This is an area that needs another book and a lot of dedicated self-study as few high schools use it. Usage of HP graphic calculator can improve your results considerably. But the problem is that you need to master it. Other things equal it is better to use the calculator that you know well and get used to.

Highly recommended as an additional book to a good "all-in-one" SAT preparation book because math part of the test is the most important and most difficult part of SAT test. It can help to improve the score and at the same time save the family some money if (and only if) the student has adequate motivation to study himself/herself.

With very few supplies you have to find (cardboard, soda bottle caps, binder clips) on your own this is a terrific educational fun book/kit for children of both sexes!

The best part is that children are encouraged to experiment. When my nearly 8 year old son made "The Impossible Project", he got the lightbulb to light up but he couldn't get it to shut off. After undoing it and rebuilding it a second time he found success!

My five year old son bought this book and it has proved to be fantastic. He cannot do the experiments by himself yet- we've been big helpers. But he has learned a lot about how electricity and circuits work. With this kit he has learned that a circuit is a loop, how electricity moves and how to make switches. The motor is great fun just to run on it's own. I would recommend adding the Usborne Book of Batteries and Magnets when you run through the activities in here. The Klutz kit provides you with ALMOST all the items you need to do the additional experiments in the Usborne book. I would recommend this book for any kid who has an interest in electricity, motors or just plain making things go.

I got this book for my 11th birthday and I absolutely love it. My friend and I spent an entire day building many of the projects. The submersible worked well, but I had trouble getting the hovercraft to lift off. It's also possible to make your own designs work well. It's cool that they included a motor with gills so it can go under water.

I used this to teach my Webelos Scouts (age 10) how electricity works and make things go. They mostly had fun using the fan to make horrible noises cutting pieces of paper, but they got the point of the experiment.

Requires fine motor skills; may be difficult for some to do without adult help.