Ball Books

Pilates on the Ball: A Comprehensive Book and DVD Workout

I take Pilates from an excellent instructor 2x/wk. I supplement it with the exercises on the DVD that accompany the book. The instruction is very precise. There is consideration of back and neck injuries.

As a Pilates instructor, I always like reading more about other people's experience in Pilates, deepen my knowledge and enlarge my repertoire. This book has helped me do so.

For those just getting into Pilates, this book is an invaluable training tool. This manual will teach you all the basic exercises.

I really love this book and DVD. The book is considerate of people with all levels of fitness. The book begins with an introduction to Pilates and working with an exercise ball. She moves into a bit of history of Joseph Pilates and Breathing Exercises. Each chapter begins with a short story about a client she has worked with, a person she has met or herself. After several chapters with descriptions and pictures of exercises, she has several workout programs like a restorative program for people that have injuries, a basic ball workout and even an intermediate ball workout. Recommended for all!
Chapter Titles: Postural Exercises, Abdominal Exercises, Extensions, Pilates on the Ball Arm and Footwork, Restoration and Rebuilding, Stretching, Stress Management and Cardiovascular Exercises

If you have ever used an exercise ball, this book has nothing new to offer. I bought the book specifically for the CD. The CD is terrible - really no program to follow. It is so basic and doesn't take you through an organized routine. I looked through the book; watched the CD one time, and the book is now in my garage sale pile!!

Ball of Whacks, A Creativity Workshop in a Ball by Roger von Oech

I love toys and this one has me hooked. Thirty-six plastic pyramids are fitted with magnets so they stick together with a satisfying "clack" to form a variety of geometric shapes. The possibilities for creating stars, polygons, patterns, and random forms are limited only by imagination and accident. I mention imagination because you can try to recreate the designs in the accompanying 96-page information booklet. But accident, I found, was a much more satisfying process. The pieces seem to "jump" into place forming surprise designs that, like a stream of consciousness, lead to further discoveries. And this is one of the major intentions of this kinetic toy.

Roger von Oech is the author of A Whack on the Side of the Head, a book which describes the creative process and offers exercises to flex the inventive muscles. He designed the Ball of Whacks to take advantage of the connections between the hand, the brain, and the creative process. As our hands manipulate the whack pieces, our brain slips into a state of flow - critical for creativity. So simply maneuvering the pieces becomes the most obvious way to make this toy an essential part of your creative work.
In addition, the information booklet gives more than a dozen suggestions for inducing the creative process for individuals, partners, and small groups. Use it as you meditate. Think of it as a metaphor for a problem. Start a brainstorming session. Or just take a mental stretch break!

Learn more at www.thefirefly.org

The Ball of Whacks can be a valuable tool for distraction and refocusing the mind during pain due to illness and disease. My teenage son has suffered a condition that causes him intermittent pain, anxiety and distress. I am continually looking for something to occupy his attention during such painful times.

I have noticed that in mild to moderate pain, playing with the Ball of Whacks beautifully distracts him. His face relaxes, and he is engaged in creativity more than reactivity to pain, which seemingly allows his body to regroup as the pain often dissapates.

I suggest that the Ball of Whacks be more broadly considered a tool in 'pain management' for certain people and conditions. I could also imagine its usefulness in a hospital or clinic setting, like for individuals waiting to undergo chemotherapy. We are very grateful for this addition to wholistic care for our son!

I'm a tacto-phile, as well as a magno-phile, and this 'toy' is an excellent blend of creativity, simplicity and fun! The look and feel of the individual pyramids is very pleasant, and the fun of being able to take it apart and see what you can create is a blast! I wish I had two (or three!)

One word of warning to parents: Kids will want to play with this. I make it a point to never let my kids play with mine unless I am watching them closely, because the pieces would fit in a mouth, and are pointy enough that they could cause pain if applied incorrectly.

Magnets are just plain cool. We have our Ball of Whacks sitting on the coffee table and all of my son's friends pick it up and start messing with it. The challenge is to come up with a new design - it's not easy! There's a flying squirrel in the book, but we've not even got that far!

My kids love this toy. There are so many ways to play with it -- the magnets add an extra dimension to the creativity.

I have read over 50 of Agatha Christie's books. My goal is to read all of them. I was anticipating with pleasure the reading of this book because of the good reviews that it has received. I was very disappointed. There were far too many characters, and it was hard to keep them straight. The protagonists Bobby and Frankie were not particularly likeable. The mystery of who Evans was also turned out to be a disappointment. I had to force myself to finish it.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R20YQ5NGZIHQE8

The premise is a bit silly. Stop looking elsewhere; look nearby. But a bit thin. Other than that, everything quite good--and typical. Which is really good for fans.

While golfing during a foggy morning, Bobby's ball fell off the cliff. Instead of his ball, he found a dying handsome stranger whose last words, much to his wonderment and disappointment, were 'Why didn't they ask Evans?'. Armed with this query and his friend, the strong-willed Frances, they began to unravel the mysteries surrounding this man's death. What they only began to uncover proved to be dangerous and deadly.

With a lot of discussion and cloak-and-dagger-ish snooping around (there was a moment when Bobby had to climb on a tree and nearly fell) this novel is arguably Christie's fastest-moving novel. While she did give her characters some time to flesh out, the rest of the story sprinted past. In short, this novel can be finished in one sitting, but that one sitting, my friend, is the most fun sitting you'll ever have!

If you are looking for a challenging classic mystery problem try one of the next two, (MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS or THE ABC MURDERS) because this one is a light hearted romp.

The detectives in this story are Bobby Jones, 4th son of the local Vicar and Lady Frances Derwent, wealthy young socialite. The two had been childhood friends have renewed their relationsonship while dealing with the mystery. Bobby found a dying man while out golfing. The man's dying words were "Why didn't they ask Evans?". That simple question led the two detectives to ask many more, about the photo in the dead man's pocket, the family that came to claim the body and just who was the mysterious Evans to name a few. The answers takes the two from their hometown in Wales, where the mystery starts to London and then throughout the English countryside ending with a dash via car and airplane back home again for the final answers.

WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? is in the same spirit as THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS and the Tommy and Tuppence series. There are exciting adventures, false identities, kidnappings, fantastic coincidences and more which make this just FUN!

This book is amazing! Every single story is a joy to read! I'm largely a fan of her "Hainish" work, and the stories set in that universe are a real treat. Le Guin applies her usual intelligence to all of these stories, but she also succeeds in giving voice to some of these characters. She develops theme without sacrificing character. This is evident in "Mountain Ways" and "Solitude", where she gives us glimpses of these societies and their customs, yet she also gives us access to the characters and what motivates them. At Le Guin's current age, some writers have reached their peak and slowed down (or even have stopped altogether). However, Le Guin's still going very strong, even stronger, as this collection of novellas shows considerable growth in her writing since those important novels from decades ago. Also, she's been quite prolific over the past few years, also a very good sign.

Sci-fi book covers can be problematic at times. Some of them are downright cheesy. However, the design of this cover is brilliant! A human face with the eyes obscured doesn't allude to any particular character in any story. Plus, it is difficult to tell if the face is male or female, black or white. The face is simply human, and it emphasizes the humanity of the characters, which is very present in all the stories.

Overall, a must read! You won't be sorry!

This book is brilliant, a perfect combination of revisits to old worlds (Gethen, Werel and O) and introductions to completely new ones. "Unchosen Love" was just beautiful, as was "Paradises Lost", and the tales from Seggri were fascinating, if slightly disturbing. Although "Old Music..." (actually Werel in general) didn't do much for me, I've read all the others over and over. Highly recommended - I think this is easily on par with "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed".

Le Guin is a fantastic writer who deftly weaves a beautiful story of characters, plot, and setting with wholesome, open-minded moral messages. You feel like she's exploring the moral issues alongside you. Her explorations of gender, sexuality and diverse sexual relationships strike a chord with me as a gay man. Le Guin approaches diverse arrangements with an open mind, repeatedly bringing us to the point that love in any form is a wonderful thing.

Her story about a generation ship, Paradises Lost, turns the sc-fi cliche on its head. Living in such different conditions than we do today would certainly change a people in much the fashion that Le Guin imagines.

A highly evocative read, I don't just suggest you read this, I feel it should be required reading for everyone. It would certainly open many minds.

I tend to prefer novels to short story collections. I find short stories to largely be less satisfying and engrossing than novels. However, as a great fan of Ursula K. Le Guin, I could not help but pick up this collection. I recommend this book for fans of Le Guin's novels set in the Hainish universe. 6 of the 8 stories are set in different planets of the universe, some of which have been visted in previous works. If you haven't read Le Guin before, I recommend you pick up some of her earlier works, particularly The Left Hand of Darkness, before reading this one, to familarize yourself with the concepts, because she doesn't fully explain them here.

I like to term Le Guin's work as "creative anthropology." Ever since I read some of her nonfiction works about her life, particulary growing up with an anthropologist father, her fiction has made more and more sense to me. Instead of writing about actual societies, she invents societies and gets us inside of them, exposes to us essentialities of human nature via the alienness of different cultures. The stories are not plot-focused; instead you spend a great deal of time just getting to know these different places and people.

"Coming of Age in Karhide"
This story is a perfect complement to fans of The Left Hand of Darkness, as it takes place on the same planet of Gethen, where no one is either male or female; instead they take on male or female characteristics during "kemmer," 3 days of the month during which they mate. The rest of the time they are genderless and do not have sex. The story concerns the first kemmer of a young child on Gethen. The story is mainly a lighthearted look into Gethenian society, a somewhat different perspective than The Left Hand of Darkness.

"The Matter of Seggri"
This takes place on a world in which females vastly outnumber males. The sexes are strictly segregated and "men have all the privilege while women have all the power." It comes together in snippets from different Ekumen visits to Seggri and some inhabitents of the planet themselves, exposing the situation from several different angles. To me this story exemplifies the cruelty of trying to fit people into gender-based boxes, preventing them from growing into who they really are.

"Unchosen Love" and "Mountain Ways"
Both of these stories take place on the planet of O, in which marriages consist of four people (2 women, 2 men). Le Guin masterfully untangles the world of people for whom marriage is intertwining love triangles, exposing the core of emotion within.

"Solitude"
Le Guin terms this story a tribute to introverts. The people on this planet gain their energy from being alone rather than being together. For the Hainish mother of two children who comes to study this strange society, it is stifling, but her younger daughter manages to find the meaning in the solitude.

"Old Music and the Slave Women"
For me the most difficult to get into of the collection, this story takes place on Werel, which Le Guin previously wrote about in her collection Four Ways to Forgiveness. I think had I read that, I would have enjoyed this story more. It takes place on a world broken by civil war, a civil war focused on (you guessed it) slavery.

"The Birthday of the World"
Le Guin flips her usual trend of looking at other societies from the aliens' point of view, and instead looks at the aliens from the native's point of view in this story.

"Paradises Lost"
Although not at all similar to the other stories in a number of ways, this novella-length story is the gem of this collection. A group of colonists from earth is seeking a new planet to live on hundreds of light years away. But instead of putting themselves in deep freeze during the flight like in so many movies, Le Guin questions what if actually lived out their lives on the ship--bore children, died, then their children bore children and died, and by the time the ship reaches its destination, none of the people on board remember anything about life outside of the ship. A fascinating premise, this story is written in a totally different style than the rest of the collection and could probably stand on its own.

"Birthday of the World" isn't up to the usual standard of Ms. LeGuin's writing -- not in its present form, at any rate.

So, you might be asking: why do I feel this way?

Simple. It's too graphic in spots, and it's way too violent, and finally, the "f-word" is used repeatedly in a jarring manner for no apparent reason other than to shock.

Ms. LeGuin is above this sort of thing; she doesn't _need_ to make her points this way, and further, it wasn't at all what I expected when I opened this collection.

I'm a big fan of her work; I love "Lathe of Heaven" and "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed" and "The Wizard of Earthsea," and enjoyed everything else she's ever written.

And I suspect that if I had encountered these stories one on one, I would have liked them very much, and would have considered them thought-provoking and interesting (and probably wouldn't have been as put off by the graphic violence and swearing, either).

However, only three of these stories _work_ in this collection; the one about the kemmerhouse and the two about the folks living on O (the ones who make four-sided marriages). The other five all need expansion, in my opinion, and four of the five look like they could and should have been made into novels. The fifth, the final story (a novella, "Paradises Lost"), also needed at least 5,000 more words to explain various things left unfinished in the story, such as why the woman in it made the marriage she did and the like.

Those five stories, if I'd read them separately, might have evoked some of the same responses -- after all, I'm not _used_ to graphic violence in Ms. LeGuin's work, and I don't like the unnecessary bad language, either. But all five of 'em put together made me viscerally dislike and despise this book far more than I have disliked anything in the past ten years, mostly because there's just _too much_ going on.

Also, there's an odd juxtaposition of "message stories" going on. Simply put: I do not need to be bludgeoned about the head and shoulders to get the point, and so many "message stories" and stuff being _told_ to me rather than being _shown_ to me was distracting and displeasing.

And finally, between all the swearing (really, why did Ms. LeGuin have to use the term "f***ery" anyway? Why not just say "male brothel?" It's the same thing!) and the unnecessary uses of the term "be aware" in the last four stories (in one story, fine, but all the rest of 'em? Please!) which threw me right out of the reader's trance every time I saw it, I absolutely cannot recommend this work.

If you want to read it anyway, be aware that there is graphic violence in at least three of the stories, bad language in most of 'em, and that it is absolutely _not_ recommended for children under age 16 without parental supervision.

And if you're still insistent on reading it, my advice is to take these stories separately, and read 'em one at a time. Preferably one every few days to a week; that way you won't be _as_ upset when you're done reading this book.

Two stars.

Barb Caffrey

I didn't know exactly what to expect so was pleasantly surprised. The book uses great diagrams to show how to combine embroidery stitches with beads. It has an extensive number of examples that are described in easy to follow pictures. Would suggest this to anyone wishing to combine embroidery and beading for beautifuly embellished fabric.

The stitches are well explained and very nice. I was disappointed when I received the book and discovered the only color pictures were on the cover. I would have enjoyed it much more with a few examples of the finished work in color.

This is an excellent resourse for those who have done traditional beaded embroidery and want a challenge. This book emcompasses many embroidery stitches into the bead world and truly makes your piece unique. Thanks for all the research that went into this book.

Very nice color photos. Lots of beading stitches. Easy to follow instructions.

I'm very disappointed in this book. When the mail came, I was excited. That soon changed. I have a couple of other bead embroidery books and was told that this was a great book. The price is high, the cover is beautiful and there are 7 glossy pages of color photos toward the back. Other than that, the rest is cheaply made. Illustrations are black and white line drawings and the work is simply regular embroidery stitches with beads, nothing new. The cover and the price made me believe I would learn something or get ideas. Wrong.

My kids are voracious readers, and my son in particular loves the Tintin books. He began reading them in 3rd grade, and he still reads them all the time, over and over. I love these adventurous stories.

Many of us grew up on Tintin and love them for their great nostalgia value, and reminisces of childhood, as well as the brave values of a simpler, more clarified world of yesteryear.
This volume brings together three of the best loved Tintin classics in one handy volume- and for not much more than the price of one.
They are:
Red Rackham's Treasure:
Tintin and Captain Haddock prepare to depart on the search for the hidden treasure of Red Rackham, and are approached by an eccentric hard of hearing inventor, Professor Calculus, who simply won't go away.

His shark submarine is to prove invaluable in Tintin and the Captain's search, and Calculus will be a constant figure in all subsequent Tintin books.
They are also joined by the irrepresible Thomp(s)on twins.They take a ship to a remote tropical island and come across all sorts of interesting things like skeleton human remains of pirates, and parrots that have handed down from generation to generation, Haddock's vocabulary.
After much adventure they return home, where the real treasure is waiting and where Captain Haddock inherits the mansion Marlinkspike, his ancestral home, which was previously owned by the criminal Bird brothers (See the Secret of the Unicorn).
Another courful and action packed Tintin classic:
Tintin and Captian Haddock prepare to depart on the search for the hidden treasure of Red Rackham, and are approached by an eccentric hard of hearing inventor, Professor Calculus, who simply won't go away.

His shark submarine is to prove invaluable in Tintin and the Captain's search, and Calculus will be a constant figure in all subsequent Tintin books.
They are also joined by the irrepresible Thomp(s)on twins.They take a ship to a remote tropical island and come across all sorts of interesting things like skeleton human remains of pirates, and parrots that have handed down from generation to generation, Haddock's vocabulary.
After much adventure they return home, where the real treasure is waiting and where Captain Haddock inherits the mansion Marlinkspike, his ancestral home, which was previously owned by the criminal Bird brothers (See the Secret of the Unicorn).
Another courful and action packed Tintin classic.

The Seven Crystal Balls

On a train to Marlinspike, Tintin is reading an article about the Sanders-Hardiman expedition which has spent two years excavating Inca tombs.
A gentleman on the train warns that a nasty end will await those "busybodies violating the Inca's burial chamber", comparing their predicted fate to that of the archaeologists, involved in the Tut-Ankh-Kamen affair.
On his visit to Marlinspike, Tintin is re-united with Captain Haddock, who is playing the role of the country lord of the manor in his newly inherited mansion of Marlinspike.
Tintin and the Captain go see a show at the Hippodrome, of magic and mystery, where the psychic Madame Yamilah has a vision of the serious illness of the husband of one of the audience, who hapens to be the photographer of the Sanders-Hardiman expedition.
The psychic revelation proves to be correct.
One after the other each of the men involved with the Sanders-Hardiman expedition falls into a coma, with fragmented crystal shards next to them, in each case.
Tintint and the Captain then accompany Professor Calaculus to his friend Professor Tarragon, and in a strange occurance the Rascar Capac mumy on Tarragon's posession mysteriously disappears, and each of the guests is visited by a frightening dream of Rascar Capac entering their guest rooms and smashing down a crystal ball on the ground.
Professor Tarragon soon also falls into the mysterious coma, and then Professor Calculus disappears, leadin Tintin and Haddock's investigations to lead them to plan a trip to Peru, which sets the stage for the sequel to this comic, Prisoners of the Sun (The Adventures of Tintin).
The Tintin adventures are amazingly detailed and intricate for a graphic novel, and this one is filled with much intrigue, suspense and action failing to disappoint, and reminding us why Tintin remains popular after nearly 8 decades.

Prisoners of the Sun

First published in the original French in 1949 as Le Temple du Soleil (The Temple of the Sun), Prisoners of the Sun is the sequel to The Seven Crystal Balls.
After Professor Calculus is kidnapped in The Seven Crystal Balls, for putting on the bracelet of the mummified Inca Rascar Capac, Tintin and captain Haddock travel to Peru to find him. After getting no help from the police, and after an attempt on Tintin's life, Tintin and Haddock come across a young Indian guide by the name of Zorrino.
They then travel through mountain and jungle and eventually stumble across the hidden mountain temple where Calculus is imprisoned.
Sentenced to death by the Incas for defiling their Temple, Tintin tricks the Indians by timing their execution (of which date the condemned are allowed to choose) to coincide with the solar eclipse.
The terrified Incas then are convinced that Tintin has powers to control the sun, and release Tintin and his friends, giving them gifts and sending them home with Calculus.
The eclipse incident is a misnomer as the Incas, as s worshippers of the Sun and experienced astronomers, the Incas would have been able to predict a solar eclipse almost as well as any modern scientist.
Zorrino chooses to stay in the Temple.
Full of action. adventure and colour.

The Tintin series is a must have for everyone, especially parents. My children devour these books, and their reading scores are 2 grades higher. The stories are somewhat scary, but nothing compared to what's on T.V.

This collection includes 'Red Rackham's Treasure', which is the conclusion of The Secret of the Unicorn. It is a great story that changes the lives of Tintin and his friend Captain Haddock for the better.

I read these stories as a kid. They were already 'classics' then. They are even better now.

A very good book for those who enjoy the adventures of Tintin. It was in great condition.

We grew up reading these books. And I wanted to buy these for my son too. So as soon as he started reading some big books I ordered them and bought them for him.He loves it. He loves Captain Heddock,Thompson and Thomson. Wow what great stories and what great characters. Must read!!!!

I absolutely love this author but I had put off reading this book due to it being about "football" which I have very little love for, except for the SEC. I was so pleasantly surprised. I should have know that this author would not disappoint! She is awesome & the book was great. I highly recommend this book.

Love love love this book. I am a huge Nanci Kincaid fan, but this is the best of the bunch. If you are Southern, you will feel as comfortable as sleeping at your grandma's. If you're not, you'll have an insight that is real, not people trying to imagine what the deep South is like. This book chronicles twenty-odd years of Dixie, a SEC football coach's wife, whose identity is so entwined with her husband, Mac, that she is oblivious, by choice. She outgrows this identity, molasses-slow. Kincaid transitions seemlessly minutes, days, weeks and years page-by-page. I was completely satisfied with the novel.

When I started this novel, I thought Ms. Kincaid was suffering from a bad case of hyperbole gone to seed. Surely she was exaggerating in her portrayal of Mac Gibbs and his obsesssion with coaching football to the exclusion of everything else, including his wife and children. On the Sunday I finished this hilarious but ultimately sad novel, however, the esteemed newspaper of the east, the NEW YORK TIMES included a book about a football star in its book review section; and a football news story made its front page. I now suspect Ms. Kincaid may have been too kind. Her bio indicates that she has been married to two football coaches so she probably knows firsthand about that which she writes.

BALLS is set in Alabama, begins in 1968 and is told from the viewpoints of multiple women characters including Dixie Gibbs, Mac's long suffering wife; her mother Rose; her mother-in-law; other coaches' wives; a maid; et al. No males ever speak. They wouldn't have time anyway since they are too busy with the game of football. Ms. Kincaid divides her book into sections labelled "Pregame," "Kickoff," "First Down," "Second Down," "Third Down," and "Punt." She gets the times and accents right and certainly knows the lay of her land. You as coach certainly must recruit black athletes to play on your team, but what do you do when one of them gets your white daughter pregnant? Kincaid's universe is filled with cheerleaders, prom queens, Tastee-Freezes and the Baptist Church of course. (Although Mac's mother believes "the Lord" is working in his life, Mac opts for a career in coaching rather than in the pulpit.) His brother Marvin who is "different," has moved up east and rarely returns to Alabama. He doesn't want to embarrass his successful coach brother but does give his sister-in-law advice on hair: "'I mean, damn, girl, you got the same hairstyle you had back in high school. That pageboy is tired. You need a change.'" Dixie's mother Rose worries that her daughter is too smart, the daughter who thought her life was ruined when she was sick the week of cheerleader tryouts. She was elected homecoming princess anyway. "It was like you got to be commander in chief without having ever been a soldier."

Sometimes the constant changing of narrators gets in the way of the flow of Ms. Kincaid's story, but that is a very minor flaw in this often very funny tale. You can like BALLS even if you do not have the slightest interest in football since it is about anyone who sacrifices a family for a career.

BALLS, the 1998 novel by Nanci Kincaid, tells the story of Mac and Dixie Gibbs, high school sweethearts in Alabama. Mac plays quarterback for the Birmingham University football team during college and, after not being picked in the NFL draft, he turns to coaching as a means to stay connected to the game with his new bride by his side. He starts as a high school coach and gradually works his way up the ladder until he is the head coach of his college team, the HamU Black Bears.

The story, which begins in 1968, chronicles the relationship of Mac and Dixie through all of its stages: from the rosy beginning when living in a rundown duplex didn't matter, as long as they were together, to the later days, when Dixie and her two children begin to play second fiddle to Mac's team. The story is told in the voices of the women who surround Mac: Dixie, her friends, her mother, mother-in-law, and daughter, the wives of other coaches and the mothers of Mac's players.

BALLS is a novel about the Southern football tradition, where the sport is a religion in itself, where the holy day is Saturday and players are nicknamed "Miracle." Kincaid not only reveals what it's like to be a woman caught up in this tradition, always coming second to the game--she also reveals a darker side of the sport, where race relations are strategically upheld and corruption reigns supreme. Her female narrators touch on all of these issues in their narratives: love, marriage, sex, race, illegal activity. Their voices are exhuberant, their insights raw, poignant, and surprising. "I learned long ago that the big 'W', so sought after and revered, does not stand for 'wife,'" Dixie muses at one point late in the book.

BALLS is not just about the game--it's about what goes on before and after the game, from the perspective of the women in the stands who live the life of a coach's wife. It's about the politics of the game--recruiting, staffing, bribery. And foremost, it's about Dixie, who transforms from an inept new bride to a seasoned wife and mother and finally refuses to be second anymore. And it's about Mac, a good man who lets the job overtake him. And it's about all of the women who surround Mac, and the stories they have to tell. Kincaid balances her narrators successfully; her Southern women's voices are dead-on, and she is clearly writing about a topic that she's familiar with since she herself has been married to two college football coaches. Her insights about pressure from fans are also accurate--I know this because I myself live in a football town, where our hometown coach is alternately God or the devil, depending on if he puts a 'W' or an 'L' on the board for the team. Overall, BALLS is an energetic, sad, funny, and honest portrait of the life of a coach's wife, from first down to punt.

Being a fan of Nanci Kincaid, I am working my way thru her books with reluctance ONLY due to the fact I will soon run out of her reading material!

BALLS is a great book. The title may be a little misleading as when I first saw it I thought it would be a total sports book. How wrong! There are sports moments, but the story revolves around the women involved. READ THIS BOOK!!!

This book tells the story of Dixie and Max, childhood sweethearts who marry. Max becomes a college football coach and Dixie is left to tend to the children, home, and, sadly, herself. I loved Dixie and her Southern charm and Southern style. Her girl friends, mother, sisters-in-law, mother-in-law, friends, and daughter all help make the story flow and go.

This book is told in the narrative form, but what was most interesting was the fact that every woman involved in Max's life tells her story. Some of the "chapters" are one-half page long. This made the book so much more interesting and exciting being told from sooooooooooo many points-of-view. However, this form of story-telling DID NOT make the book confusing in the least.

As a NBA fan, I am constantly aware of coaches, their coaching staff, the job changes, the media, the love/hate affair that the public has with them. However, this book is from the WOMEN in their life's perspective and it is so good. When I see a coach standing on the side lines now I will think HIS POOR WIFE! There is SO much social status, politics, and CRAP involved, not to mention the toll it has to take on their personal lives. HATS OFF TO ALL COACHES AND THEIR FAMILIES!!!!!!!!!!

The women telling their stories are smart, wise, rich, poor, black, white, educated, uneducated, happy, sad, you name it -- how Ms. Kincaid was able to make each and every character DIFFERENT and have her own style and voice was amazing to me.

Don't miss this book. It IS good, as are all of Ms. Kincaid's writings -- check them out and read them. You will not be disappointed.

I was startled to see how long it has been since this book has been reviewed. Hopefully, people will find this book, read it, and enjoy it as much as I did!

Thank you! Pam {go PISTONS!!!}

I got this book because I needed something that I could do at home, since the demands of my job and the long commute have effectively eliminated my time to get to the gym. I made a really good choice in deciding to go with exercise ball training. It is more intense than anything I have done before, though people need to be aware that, in and of itself, this is not a weight-training/bodybuilding program. Combining it with a free weights program would be amazing, but don't expect to look like Rusty Joiner just doing these exercises and using 10lb dumbbells. I only have two issues with the book, one of which has been mentioned before:

1. There needs to be more photos/diagrams explaining the exercises other than just one monochromatic photo. Actually, a dvd companion would be the icing on the cake!

2. In the opening, they discuss everything about the accessories needed, how to inflate the ball, and needing to choose one that is the right size for your height...but NEVER actually tell you what sizes are for what heights. All it says is that your knees should be in a 90 degree angle when sitting on it. Unfortunately, these things usually come deflated in boxes, and I don't want to do the trial-and error method. While I am sure I can find it on Google or something, it would have been really nice if they had included a chart when they talked about inflating it...

Overall, it is a great book and program I would recommend. I was an athletic trainer years ago, and we used these things for rehab and balance training...it is nice to see them pushed out into the public sector in a professional manner.

Get a great core workout using an exercise ball and the tips in this book. Various routines will keep your workouts from being the same every day.

I bought this book along with a dumbbell handbook after I broke my foot and couldn't go to the gym with my funky foot
and this book helped me modify my workout and I at least maintained what I had in the sense of muscle and core strength. So if you have all your arms and legs without a fracture, I highly recommend this book.

I haven't purchased this book yet, but it sounds good and I might buy it, so I'll give it 4 stars because a rating is required to post a comment. To the reviewers who say the binding on the book is poor -- often when I buy a how-to book, I take it to a copy shop like FedExKinko's and have them put a spiral binding on it. If they're not busy, it just takes a few minutes, and it costs only a few dollars -- well worth the convenience of having a book that lies flat when open!

Tired of your same old workout in the gym. This book will give you some good ideas on mixing up your routine. Exercise balls are not just for sit-ups anymore. I had looked for a while for a book with just exercises using the exercise ball and this is the one. The dumbbell exercises that I do can be done on the ball. The added benefit is a core workout since you are using muscles to stabilize your body. The book has good pictures showing the exercise as well as text explaining the movements. The book is divided up into different sections dealing with stretching, using the ball in different positions. If you want a no nonsense exercise ball book at a good price I recommend this one.

Evan MacIan and James Turnbull. Once you have read this novel, they are part of you: their thoughts are yours; their blood flows through you. But it is not just the two incredible protagonists that stay with you for ever. Father Michael, Professor Lucifer (like it or not): you begin to see the world through all of their eyes, and your own sight is all the clearer for it. This is Chesterton at his best.

Whatever your doctrine, whatever your mind, your spiritual life will be transformed by this book. Chesterton's "Orthodoxy," while wonderful, can be quite inaccessible, as well as being often uninteresting to the non-Catholic mind. But in "The Ball and The Cross," Chesterton's views cannot help but reach you and transform you, whatever you believe. In MacIan's fervent and eloquent speeches on Christianity; in Turnbull's short and terse explanations of atheism; and especially in the old drunk beggar's words of wisdom, Chesterton brings eternal truths into his work with eloquence and style. This book is worth having and treasuring.

Someone (Belloc?) said only Catholics and atheists are willing to play their beliefs all the way out. All other spiritual postions are compromise. This amusing novella illustrates the point. The main characters, an ardent Catholic and a committed atheist, wish to engage in a duel to the death in defense of their beliefs. They are continually interrupted by a stream of characters representing all sorts of moral types. Although the subject is interesting, the narrative doesn't flow well: first you have pages of philosophical dialog, and then intervals of action and plot development of varying length. The result is great difficulty in keeping everything straight. Although the book contains the usual GK wit and wisdom, it is not as tightly composed as his better works.

A word about this (Dover) edition: hard to read. The spacing between rows of type is very narrow and the margins are very wide.

The Ball and the Cross, (1906), G. K. Chesterton's second novel, both entertains and intellectually challenges the reader. Early in the story two diametrically opposed protagonists, Evan MacIan, a devout Catholic and James Turnbull, a passionate atheist, are interrupted by the secular authorities before they are able to carryout a traditional duel by swords. They escape with their swords, but become subjects of a countrywide manhunt and the center of media attention.

Chesterton's absurd plot thinly disguises a witty, profound, and provocative religious and philosophical inquiry, one that resonates with today's readers as well as it did with readers a century ago. (I suspect that not that much has really changed. In our contemporary context non-believers still distrust sincere believers, perhaps even more so given the growth in Moslem extremism, the Arab-Jewish conflict, and Christian activism in American politics.)

The duel is continually postponed due either to the untimely appearance of police, or to unexpected encounters with an eclectic mix of characters, all apparently allegorical representations of one type or another. As the story proceeds, we readers find that the two duelists are more alike than different, as they both hold firm beliefs, in contrast to the secular world around them which has largely embraced relativism and more passive religious convictions.

I suggest that you also visit the other reader reviews as they offer nsightful and interesting perspectives. Chesterton brings out the best in a reader. His stories encourage us, even prod us, to consider and reflect upon profound issues and matters - although he does so in a witty, amusing, even whimsical context. Perhaps Chesterton is saying that religious and philosophical inquiry is simply too serious not to enjoy.

Entertaining and thought-provoking, the Ball and the Cross delivers a nice punch of Chesterton in a thoroughly amusing satire. I am continuously amazed at the genius of these beleaguered Englishment - Chesterton, Lewis, Belloc, Tolkien, et al. While the Ball and the Cross doesn't quite rival Lewis' Screwtape Letters in sheer creativity, it does tackle a more subtle theme.

Chesterton's comedic conflict in the triad of Christian/Atheist/Society is heavily relevant to today's Christian/Muslim/Secularist conflict, which I would argue is the defining tension driving world events. It is curious to see how even diametrically opposed Believers can ally against Disbelief or Apathy, or to see how seriously the Agnostic or Apathetic take the threat of sincere Belief.

I was a little stunned by Chesterton's luddite streak as it is expressed in the Devil and his machines, although this is not a surprise considering the turn-of-the-century changes in England, and would seem quite prescient over the next few decades of Total War. Still, given the modern secular alliance with neo-pagan nature-worship, I would probably draw the Devil hugging a tree rather than piloting an airship.

In all a rousing, entertaining jaunt through Chesterton's imagination and philosophy. I agree with other reviewers that Martin Gardner's Foreword should be read Afterward, but it is of great value and well written, and should not be skipped.

When I first began this book, I thought it was a bit boring and rather absurd. By the time I reached the middle I though it was rather witty and absurd. Now that I have reached the end of the book I think that it is extremely witty, profound, and wonderfully absurd. It was one of the most wonderfully rediculous books which I have ever read, ranking only with Chesterton's The Flying Inn in the level of absurdity. Chesterton manages to turn a very serious plot into a very rediculous plot (an attempted sword duel between a Christian and an atheist which takes place all over England, from cities to islands to insane asylums), fills it with witty and profound lines from both lead characters, and sucessgully provides a stunning rebuttal of the popular philosophies of his day (i.e. Nietzche, Tolstoy, etc.). This was my favorite Chesterton book until I read Manalive, and I seriously doubt that is has many rivals (or much competition at all) in the genra of profound absurd fiction.

Overall Grade: borderline A+

I purchased this book sortly after getting my first ball python. Let me tell you, I would be lost without this book. It has everything you need to know and everything you want to know about being a great ball python owner.

It has been argued that there is free and more fresh information on the web.
Well, that's exactly true. But the point of this book is to provide the amateur with a handy, basic, simplified guide to homing this pet. The basics of these herps hasn't changed. This to-the-point reference with good color photos only costs a couple bucks-well worth it.

If you have your mind set on buying no other snake except the ball python, then this is your target. Philippe De Vosjoli goes over everything you need to know: origins, appropriate lighting and tanks, what you can do if you can no longer keep your ball python, pictures of different ball pythons (this includes regular, albino, etc), and most important of all, diseases of ball pythons. He even writes about the famous ball python that was known to live 47 years and some days (and even then, they still don't know how old the python is). Philippe also confirms that, yes, even large snakes can fit in surprisingly small tanks. I've had my ball python for 3 years and he still lives comfortably in a 20 gallon tank. But don't let my boring cliche review make you buy this book, just look through some pages at a store and decide for yourself. But regardless of that, I strongly recommend this book. Later.

There's nothing new for advanced keepers here, but for those starting out, it's a cheap way to get basic care information. And it's an albino BALL python on the cover, not a Burmese as stated by another reviewer.

You can find a lot better and more up to date info on the web. Not particularly useful or informative, though there's a few nice pics. Check out The Complete Ball Python by Kevin McCurley for a real ball python book.