Ball Books

Tintin and Captain Haddock go to a psychic show. There an Indian fakir puts his assistant into a trance. She forsees a mysterious illness striking a photographer on a recent expedition to recover Incan artifacts. One by one the researchers on the expedition fall into mysterious comas. Near each lies a shattered crystal ball...

For some comic relief here Captain Haddock tries hard to be oh so proper (he has recently aquired his ancestral estate and title). He is fixated on wearing a monocle at all times. This is an involved mystery with many clever bits of detective work and technology used by the characters. This particular book is definitely the first of two parts and doesn't stand alone. At the end of this one Tintin and the Captain are off in pursuit of a potential villain. But we still don't know what was in the crystal balls or how it connects to the Incan curse, and a major character has been kidnapped and not reunited with the heros. So you will have to read Prisoners of the Sun to not be left hanging after this one.

If you are reading this to help learn French, Tintin comics are good for reading at a French 2 level. There are a lot of words that aren't basic vocabulary but it is still easy to follow the story because the writing and pictures tend to reinforce each other. The video can help with pronouncing as you hear the spoken French. However this is a two part mystery and you are going to be reading two books, so if this is overload then try another Tintin comic instead.

Here's what the book covers:
Chapter One: Dancing With Dogs?
What is Canine Musical Freestyle and Why is it So Much Fun?
A Little Background Music
Sometimes He Leads
Four Left Paws and Two Left Feet?
Chapter Two: Some Things You'll Need
Skills and Tools for Training Freestyle
On a Positive Note
And Now for the Good Part
An Obedience Moment
They Call it Drive
Chapter Three: Now That We Have Your Attention....
Techniques for building and maintaining focus
Back to Basics
Steppin' to the Beat
The Hand Target
Chapter Four: Finding Your Rhythm
Choosing Music
Match the Music to your Dog
Match the Music to Yourself
Match Your Dog and Yourself to the Music
Match the Music to your Audience
And Now Musical Selection
On a Serious Note
Chapter Five: Put on Your Dancing Shoes!
15 Basic Moves-an overview
Chapter Six: Stepping Out
How to Train the 15 Basic Moves You Need for a Freestyle Routine
The Heeling moves
The Circle Moves
The Lateral Moves
The Flashy Moves
Chapter Seven: Do you Mean I Have to Dance Too?
How to look good enough to dance with your dog-a few simple steps and tricks
Close Enough for Jazz
One, Two Three, One, Two ,Three
It's All in the Attitude
Chapter Eight: It's all About the Costume
How to look like a pro-wherever you go!
Play It Safe
To Glitz Or Not To Glitz
Let's Go Shopping
Don't Forget Your Dog
Chapter Nine: Let's Dance!
Choreograph your own freestyle routine from start to finish
But Where Do I Start?
Music, Again
A Skit or a Dance?
Creating the Dance
Moving in Space
Chapter Ten: Take your Show on the Road
Some ideas for showing off your new dance partner
Now Dance
You're On!

From the moment I first read a copy of this story, my heart was touched and I knew this story had the power to make an impact on hundreds if not thousands of people in helping them understand the purpose of our Savior's Atonement and the principle of forgiveness. Interestingly enough, I read this story a few weeks before my grandfather passed away. My grandfather was held captive throughout his life by paranoid schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. He was also a pedophile. The effects of his abuse had quite the ripple effect on my life and because of the experiences that I've had, I've learned much about our Father's plan of happiness and have come to rely heavily on my faith in God and the healing power of my Savior's Atonement. Forgiveness is something that has always come pretty easily for me, and I consider that a gift from the Lord. And when I read this story, my eyes were opened up to an entirely new view of my grandfather that helped me to come full circle in being able to love him unconditionally as a member of my eternal family. The message of this story impacted how I felt about my grandfather when I attended his graveside service along with my mother, which neither of us ever thought we would have any desire to attend. The Lord truly does work in mysterious ways.

My husband, age 67 with Parkinson's, spotted a mention of the author John Ball in his monthly Runner's Magazine. We "googled" John and found this book. Since my husband is a runner he related tremendously with John and was very uplifted by reading his book. This story stresses the benefits of both exercise and community in battling Parkinson's Disease. A good read, especially for anyone interested in running. I am not, but wanted to share the book with my husband. I'm glad I did as John is all about not only hope, but enthusiam for life.

Mike Jaffe is a natural baseball player. Unfortunately, his natural skills do not coincide with what he thinks he is best at. He is completely convinced that he is a quality pitcher, when in fact he is at best a mediocre one, able to succeed only in the lower minor leagues. His true skill is in hitting a baseball, where he is a superb power hitter.
Jug Slavin and Stan Davis, the manager and general manager of the Blue Sox, try to convince Mike that he should convert to an outfielder. He refuses at first, but eventually he reluctantly agrees. His batting statistics are superb, both in average and for power. However, his heart is not really in it and eventually he is sent back to the minors. Finally, after a taste of life as a second rate pitcher in the minor leagues, Mike realizes that he is being a fool and voluntarily goes to the outfield. This time, he truly wants to be an outfielder, so he is welcomed back to the Blue Sox with open arms.
Like all of Decker's other books about the Blue Sox, the main character has a major character flaw that he must correct before he can succeed. The book is a lesson in how to overcome your weaknesses, and demonstrates that talent without the right attitude is talent wasted.

My 10 yo son really enjoyed this book, going through the history, enjoying hearing about the unusual situations, challenging the 10 best home runs and disparaging the fact that so many of the listed ones were hit by stinkin' Yankees. It's the sort of book that he picks up on a regular basis and just browses though several times.

Superb book. Read many golf instructional books over the years and this tops them all on useful advice on the full swing.Doesn't depart from most traditional teaching radically but has weeded through the tips we all regularly read to get down to the real meat of hitting the long ball. Pete

As far as I can tell, there are just two editions. I have both. The 2nd edition was released in 1985. Both editions are heavily underlined and dog-eared from repeated readings.

This MIT professor has done a masterful job at describing the process of making predictions and forecasting. The book is extremely easy to read and is well footnoted. This is obviously a labor of love for this expert on forecasting.

You'll laugh at some of his stories of predictions gone astray or methodologies foolishly executed. There's not much math to this book (680 pages) but there is a lot of logic and thinking going on.

This book covers all the major forms of forecasting and discusses the pro's and con's of each method. It provides many, many examples of forecasts. He then analyzes them to back up his major points.

Then goes on to recommend why you should combine forecast methodologies to increase your accuracy. If you're an economist making forecasts on the economy, or if your a stock analyst making forecasts for Earnings, you'll enjoy this book. The book is aimed at researchers preparing forecasts for economics and social sciences. My interest was in the stock market and commoditiy markets. And I feel I was richly rewarded with this book.

This book gives you the framework to work within. Other books give the math background for each of the techniques.

The author has been very active in writing articles for journals and has helped start a journal for the forecasting field.

Must have book, if you make any kind of forecasts - including just forecasting your business's sales. I can't recommend it highly enough.

John Dunbar

A moving story of love and the misery of war resulting in so much suffering and pain. But no matter what war is current or gone into the history books there is an AMAZING MAGIC in FOOTBALL (soccer) as it UNITES the whole globe as ONE. This book is fantastic as it relates the human connection, the happiness and the incomparable passion and love that the GREATEST game in the world brings to people. It will move you, perhaps it will bring tears to your eyes as well as incredible joy and happiness. An international book covering several countries.
Highly recommended.

This is a WONDERFUL BOOK. Rick Ball with the help of illustrations by Paul Cox and editing by Mary Smith have created an excellent book on how to use mostly inexpensive materials to create functional furniture and fixtures. The book reminds us that buying expensive furniture is not the only way to furnish a home. The ideas from this book provide a wide variety of options for creating a home filled with clever pieces that show imagination and ingenuity.