Brown Books

I had read many of Carlene Thompson's books, and this one is by far the best book I have ever read!! Just when you think you have things all figured out, the book takes an unsuspected turn that leaves you still trying to guess who the villian really is. I can say this, I nearly dropped the book when the villian was revealed!! Carlene Thompson is by far the best author of suspense novels that there is!! Great Book!!

I love her books but the ending on this one was too contrived. She keeps you in suspense throughout the book and you don't want to put it down; however at the end, I felt let down.

Have you ever read a book and had the ending freak you out so much that you threw the book across the room???
Well, that was my experience when I read "Black for Remembrance".
I am a very hard critic and rarely do I read a book that I can remember years later.
I have read an enormous amount of mystery/suspense and this is by far one of the best thrillers I have ever had the privilege of reading.
From the first page to the last, I was completely enthralled. There is not a slow part to the story.
This book will stay with you long after it ends. At least it has for me.
Carlene Thompson is a brilliant author.

I GENERALLY LIKE CHARLENE THOMPSON'S BOOKS, BUT THIS ONE INVOLVED A SEXUAL PREDATOR, ABUSING AND MURDERING VERY YOUNG GIRLS. IT WAS SAD. HE DESTROYED THE LIVES OF TWO BEAUTIFUL LITTE GIRLS. THE BOOK WAS WELL WRITTEN, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, BUT IT WAS DISTURBING. THIS BOOK TAKES PLACE 20 YEARS AFTER 5 YEAR OLD HALEY WAS FOUND DEAD. I HAVEN'T GIVEN ANYTHING AWAY. THIS SICKO IS NOT THE CURRENT MURDERER. AT THE END, WHEN YOU FIND OUT WHO IS, YOU'LL THINK HOW UNDERSTANDABLY SAD.

This is another page-turning, suspenseful mystery by this author. Her fans, as well as those who enjoy books by Mary Higgins Clark, will not be disappointed. The author is clearly a master of this genre.

When Caroline Corday lost her five year old daughter Hayley to a murderous fiend she thought that she would never recover from the tragedy. Twenty years later, divorced from her first husband, Chris Corday, she is happily married to David Webb. The Webbs have a teenage son and an eight year daughter, Melinda. Caroline's now idyllic life is turned topsy-turvy, however, when she starts hearing the voice of her dead daughter.

Suddenly, everywhere Caroline goes, something happens to remind her of that terrible day twenty years ago. Moreover, people who were in some way connected with the case of her dead daughter start becoming murder victims. A bouquet of black silk flowers, accompanied by the same spooky message, is left for them upon their death. As this spate of events makes it clear that Hayley's death is no longer a thing of the past, Caroline does everything that she can to ensure that Melinda will not end up as a murder statistic.

The only question is: who is doing all these terrible things and why? Read the book and find out. You will find your self compulsively turning the pages of this well-crafted suspenseful mystery.

This book is a hallucinogenic mind-freak that makes almost no sense at all--and it's great. My kids love it. I love it.

THE COLOR KITTENS is the story of two cats who paint. They live in a world in which all the colors apparently already exist, but yet they are the ones who have yet to make all the colors of the world. They don't, however, have any green paint, so there's no green in the world, but they really like green, because everything they already really like in the world is green. Their reality is a psychedelic and contradictory maelstrom of lyrical color, and then the cats have a long dream about color, and then they wake up and spill their paint, and then all their spilled paint goes out and gives color to the world which we saw..wait...didn't there world already have color...? Yeah, it did. What the...?

It's freaky, and it makes no sense at all, even internally, but it's really not about making sense or telling a coherent story--it's really about creating a world of vivid brightness, a world that connects from image to image in an associative, dreamlike way.

In that sense, this book is a lot like David Lynch's classic psycho-horror film, ERASERHEAD, in that it's more about mood and a dreamlike state than it is about progression or anything literal. It is, admittedly, much less creepy than ERASERHEAD, which is good, since it's supposed to be a kids book, and I don't want my kids to have nightmares. Like ERASERHEAD, however, the story, already very dreamlike, is interrupted and eclipsed by an actual dream, making the "reality" that bookends the dream seem all the more surreal, like something you were never really in and can never really return to. In ERASERHEAD, the main character goes from psychotic drudgery and responsibility, to having his head ground up into pencil erasers. In THE COLOR KITTENS, the cats who paint the world go from mixing paint to a tree that magically changes color when you count, and also to dancing easter eggs.

The book is lyrical, and delightfully weird, and almost biblical in its phrasing. "O wonderful kittens! O Brush! O Hush!" The illustrations aren't perhaps as memorable and trippy as Garth Williams' pictures in LITTLE FUR FAMILY, but they are good--simple and schizophrenic, straight off a Haight-Ashbury 1960s mural about the power of culturally diverse acts of community service.

I didn't like this book when I first read it to my daughter, but that's only because I'm an adult, indoctrinated by a lifetime of trying to make sense of everything. Once I read it from my three-year-old daughter's point of view, however, I could really see the appeal--the appeal of pure color and feeling, oddity and dream. It's a good book for kids in that way, because it's probably a lot like how most kids experience the world--not as a straight adult narrative, but as a wild wash of strangeness and the new.

If you have kids as young as two or three, pick this one up. They're sure to enjoy it, and you might find your mind stretched a bit from it as well. It's something else.

This little gem, written by Margaret Wise Brown (of Goodnight, Moon fame) the same year I was born, was read to me as a child, and it was a favorite of my own (now grown)children. The combination of her poetic prose and the wonderful original illustrations are transporting. I bought a bunch so I would be sure to have them on hand for shower gifts (I couldn't find them for the longest time.) A wonderful, wonderful book.

I absolutely LOVE this book! It's one of my childhood favorites, and I was excited to be able to replace it! The pictures are dream-like, and the book is great for introducing color concepts/words to young children. The book is so much fun; they'll read it over and over! I know I did! : D

Unfortunately, this isn't the full-sized book I remember from my childhood (it's a rather cheap imitation that probably won't hold up to multiple readings). But the pictures and story are still the wonderful ones I remember.

The Color Kittens (Little Golden Book) I am so excited!!! This was my favorite book my mother read to me in the late sixties. I have searched garage sales, etc hoping to someday find a copy. I searched for it on amazon.com and sure enough I found it. I felt like a little girl again when I opened the package containing this book! The cover is the same as I remember. I quickly read it to my little girl. It has it's own special spot in my china cabinet amongst many antique and childhood favs.

Since I will be seeing the Dahli Lama in September, I wanted to catch up on some of his story. He seems to be a very sincere and intelligent man with the well being of his people at heart. I was quite ignorant of the history of Tibet and found the book very interesting and well worth the read.

Don

Knowing nothing at all about His Holiness The Dalai Lama or Tibet/China relations I was eager to learn more. As a convert from Catholicisim to Buddhism, I was pleased to read that the Dalai Lama considers himself to be just a regular human, who was chosen to fulfill a specific role. After reading this book, you get the sense that he would be a very pleasant person to talk with.
On the downside, I was absolutely shocked to read about what the Chinese Government has done to Tibet and its people. Tibet is a peace loving country and to be in the army, was the lowest form of life. A 17 point 'agreement' was drawn up by the Chinese for Tibet. Members of the Tibetan delegation were forced under duress to sign the agreement and phony Tibetan state seals were used. Large Tibetan estates were confiscated and redistributed by the Chinese. After monks and nuns were arrested, they were forced, in public, to break their vows of celibacy with one another and even to kill people.
The Tibetan Freedom Fighters were no match for the Chinese army. Besides using bombers to obliterate towns and villages, the Chinese army also crucified, disembowelled, beheaded and buried many Tibetans alive. In order to prevent Tibetans from giving praise to the Dalai Lama on their way to execution, the Chinese tore out their tongues with meat hooks.
It was really disheartening to read about what happened to these people. I think this is a book that everyone at some point needs to read. It really opened my eyes.

Beginning in a world that was so alien to our present society, the current Dalai Lama commences his autobiography 'Freedom in Exile' with a detailed description of life in pre-occupied Tibet; a society that had managed to remain untouched by the effects of modernization and secularism that have moulded our civilization into its present shape. He retails his own experience of living in monastic Tibet, from his `discovery' as the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, to his eventual enthronement as the supreme leader of the remote nation.

However, it was with the 1950 occupation of Tibet by the People's Liberation Army that forced Tibet into the eye of the international community. The invasion by China and the subsequent demolition of Tibetan society piece by piece, and life by life, is recounted in astonishing detail, as is the inspiring efforts by the Dalai Lama in attempting to challenge the actions of the Communist Party of China, which included several personal meetings with the seemingly amiable Chairman Mao. Engrossingly, he explains the chain of events which eventually led to his exile from his native land, and his life-long commitment to championing the people of Tibet against Communist oppression.

The Dalai Lama is clearly a formidable writer, and details his life in an immensely holding fashion. While the Dalai Lama is a religious leader, and while there are sections of the book which explain Buddhist thought, `Freedom in Exile' is not a religious work, nor even a book about religion. It is, however, the self-told life of an influential, and seemingly incorruptible, political figure who defends his homeland and its people with an all-too rare intensity While it an obvious fact that an autobiography by the Dalai Lama will be biased towards the Tibetan cause, it is a much maligned truth that not all situations have two equally opposing positions. Anyone who takes the time to read this book should conclude with the same opinion.

Seeing the Cultural Revolution from the eyes of the Dalai Lama is very interesting and sets the stage for a very sad and imformative story.

This was the first book I had ever read by (or about) the Dalai Lama. I thought it was a great introduction to his life and his way of thinking. Overall I thought this was a great book. I think everyone should read it.

This is my favorite story to read to my kids. It's understated but smart!

McDonnell's newspaper comic is pretty hit-or-miss with me, since he can get pretty heavy-handed sometimes, but this book represents his absolute best work. I generally buy this (along with his "Just Like Heaven") as baby shower gifts, since it's always very well-received and always appropriate. I also have it on my own shelf and buy copies for friends who either are hard to buy for or just need a pick-me-up. The pictures are a delight and the simplicity of the story is just right. Highly recommended.

This is a wonderful story about how sometimes the best thing to get someone for their birthday is no "thing" at all. I love how the author gets the story across without using a ton of words--the text is nice and concise. My only slight disappointment is the style of illustrations. I know they're his trademark, but the small, 3-color illustrations don't always hold the interest of the youngest picture book audience.

Good message about real values in a world of too much stuff. My 4 yr old grandson loves this book.

This was the first book we bought to read to our son (he hasn't been born yet). We liked that it discussed the concept of nothing, and that it looks to be a book we won't mind reading over and over again.

This book by Mattieu Ricard really breaks down happiness. He differentiates between pleasure and happiness and how happiness is something that must be cultivated and practiced. Mattieu Ricard also gives a handful of in depth meditation exercises at the end of a few chapters. And he points out that you don't have to be a Buddhist monk to achieve enlightenment, but everyone can reach a better plateau of happiness.

I've got to admit that the writing is so deep that sometimes I have to only read a couple of pages and then take a break. But don't let that deter you. Within 1 or 2 chapters I was feeling happier than I think I ever have. And this from a mildly chronically depressed person.

It does rely heavily on Buddhism but it IS a Buddhist writing it )). For the ultra religious, don't worry. He does not shove his beliefs down your throat. It is just his examples are from his life so that are flavored that way.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested i attaining happiness.

Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill

This is the best book I have ever read on the subject of happiness. A real treasure.
Happiness is not a mystery but a possible goal for anyone who seriously wants to become a happier and better person. If you love science, literature and culture, Matthieu Ricard is the right guru for you.
A must read for everyone who loved his book "The Monk and the Philosopher".
A book you won't ever part with for you'll want to read in it again and again.

Inge Hohndorf

This book has been written by the world's happiest person. Neuroscientists have conducted various tests on thousands of people including the author and have come to the conclusion based on scientific proof. It is therefore necessary to keep that piece of information at the back of your mind when you read the book.

Every word in the book comes out loud and clear as having been created by a truly happy and contented person.

Simply by reading the book and following some of the exercises that the author suggests, you can transform yourself from a tense and neurotic being into a joyful, stress free person.

Though the author is a Buddhist monk, this book is not about Buddhism nor does it attempt to convert one to that religion. This is a practical, down to earth method to learn to be happy.

I read this book during a bout of depression. It is proverbial that Conspicuous Displays of Contentment push the depressed into even deeper despair more effectively than anything else. Yet I didn't find this book infuriating; it didn't drive me to suicide. No, I enjoyed it immensely and finished it rapidly.

The ramifications of the subject matter are endless. What ancient and modern Western philosophers thought about happiness; what they thought in Asia. The social conditions conducive to happiness, the brain-states that coincide with it. Then what the author's own Tibetan Buddhist tradition has to say about happiness and mental afflictions.

You only have to glance at the design of this book to know you're not going to get any great depth. But that's fine. Always room for compact and lucid accounts of Big Subjects. If you want reams of detail about neurochemistry or Buddhist meditation practices, you can find that elsewhere.

I have only two complaints. One is that, as somebody who has suffered from life-long severe depression, I didn't find anything here that would help me to be happy. Everything here I have seen before, and it doesn't work. It may work if you're already happy, but then, well, you don't need it, do you?

I suspect the reason for this lies in my second complaint. The author tells of his famous father, of his upbringing in elite French cultural and intellectual circles, hobnobbing with luminaries and jetsetters. When he finds all of this... somehow lacking, he toddles off to a sheltered enclave of Ancient Eastern Wisdom, where he hobnobs with the Dalai Lama and endless Rinpoches... (To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how you "hobnob".)

My point is: you Would be happy, wouldn't you? A book about Happiness would be so much more convincing if the author were the child of a Haitian beggar, born with a speech impediment, and... we don't want to get into sick humour territory, but you get my drift. If someone like That managed to be happy, Then I would be impressed.

I just purchased the full set of The Liturgy of Hours. If you don't know how "to pray as we aught" this is the answer. To think that you are joining millions of others who are praying the Liturgy at the same time. What a powerful prayer. I read the other reviews prior to purchasing the full set. I am so glad I did. If I hadn't been aware that there was a learning curve to reading the Hours I would have been very frustrated and would probably given it up as too hard. It definately does take some insruction to use it. Because of this I bought several books of instruction in the Hours. The very best is "The Divine Office for Dodos". What an outstanding book! If you are new to Hours you need to get this book also. Don 't mess with any other book.

Just think: with these four volumes, you'll be able to pray ANY of the prescribed hours, at any time and day of the year. Knowing that you're in company with millions of others doing the same thing is awe-inspiring and spiritually enriching. These are very easy to use so there's no excuse not to enter into the prayer life of the Church. Mass for me is made even better when I arrive early and read the Office. I personally find Night Prayer comforting and extremely nourishing-- it helps me get ready for the coming day, and soothes my conscience during the examination. If the set comes with the handy annual Index, helping you to find each day's prayers... all the better! Otherwise you can get that Index at a religious goods store-- it costs about three dollars.

This product is preciecly what I needed. In addition to the four volumes of the Liturgy of the Hours (Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter, Ordinary Time I & II) it included the St. Joseph Guide, the Supplement and inserts. This was just what I was looking for as I was heading off to seminary school.

The set was very well priced and the shipping being included definitely helped the sale. Being a new item, it is in excellent shape. I have told others about this and recommended they look to Amazon first if they are interested in purchasing this set.

Excellent edition. Easier to use than the one-volume Liturgy that the Daughters of St Paul put out. Comes with helpful accessories. If you can't afford to buy all four volumes at once, buying them one at a time is a great alternative.

I get a small gift for each of my children on mother's day to basically thank them for without them I would not be a mother. She is soon to be 13 and this was a perfect book for her. She reads bits of it each night and talks with me about it too. Great book!

not as impressed as i wanted to be... quotes weren't that great. good idea though.

This is a nice little book full of quotes for girls, women too. The cover says these quotes are "Empowering and inspirational" and I found that to be true. There are quotes here from women from all walks of life, like Rosanne Cash, Jane Bryant Quinn, Janis Joplin, to name a few, and there are even quotes by some people you've never even heard of, like Debbie Tsai, age fifteen who says, and I quote, "Life is like a bus: you can get on it and go somewhere, or you can just sit there and watch it pass you by." I for one am getting on the bus, you should too. And you should get this little book for the girl in you or the girl in your life.

After reading this book I have begun to think more about my life. It has really inspired me to be more outgoing and to take better care of my body by playing more sports.

I purchased this book several years ago, and just took it off my bookshelf to re-read it again - and I just have to say that I have truly enjoyed being reminded of the pearls of wisdom strewn throughout these pages!

"The Girls' Book of Wisdom" has 45 short chapters - each characterizing a different part of life. These chapters start off with a small but insightful discussion on that topic, followed by a bunch of really great quotes - some by famous people, some by not-so famous people, and quite a few from the teenagers of America. There really is a great variety of thoughts & perspectives - a great way to learn about thoughts/ideas you may not have considered.

Some of the chapters included are:
Self Awareness
Journal Keeping
Solitude
Loving Yourself
Confidence
Beauty
Health
Intuition
Leadership
Adversity
Optimism
Success
Happiness
Giving Back

And many, many more...

Overall, I found this book to be a fun, easy, insightful, inspirational read, and would highly recommend it to all those teenage girls out there (since much of the "pieces of wisdom" are geared to help you to grow into self-confident, self-sufficient women), as well as for women (there's a lot of great insights in there for us too - smile). It would be a great gift for someone to give their daughter &/or neice!

On someone else's recommendation, I bought and first read Jacob Brownoski's The Ascent of Man when it came out, 30 years ago, although unfortunately I was never able to see the BBC series on which the book was based. Then, when we had printed words on paper and images on film, and now, when we have electronic book reviews on Amazon, the book speaks meaningfully to the reader about all of life although, obviously, there's a litle bit more to the story since it was published.

Brownowski was a mathematitian and scientist. The book is simultaneously a history of science/technology and a history of the cultural evolution of mankind. An absolutely remarkable blending of knowledge from disparate disciplines combined into a seamless, infinitely interesting, very readable story. Unlike any "history" you've ever read, more like a non-fiction novel, highly recommended to all ...

I bought this book soon after the original television program was first broadcast and it's one I re-read often -- it remains one of my favorites. Although it is a very faithful (almost word-for-word and image-for-image) presentation of the material in the series, to have the information in a book to read at one's own pace (instead of being forced to absorb information at the pace of the television production), to carefully consider what Dr. Bronowski says, and to see what (if anything) it means to the reader makes the book an almost indispensable companion to the series.

As has been pointed out in earlier reviews, the high impact of this book (and of the television series) is the passion Dr. Bronowski brings to the material, how it's clear he truly believed that it is necessary for everyone to understand how the development of society is the product of generations of people pursuing knowledge ("science"), and that this understanding is critical to the future of civilization...the scientific imagination, standing always at the edge of the unknown and unsure, versus absolutism and dogma.

Now that the television series has been attractively remastered and is now available to the general public, the book has an even greater utility. The captions on the DVDs are very poorly done, to the extent that some of the errors make significant changes in Dr. Bronowski's statements and points. It's clear that whoever prepared the captions did not refer to the shooting script OR TO THIS BOOK! In other words, the book is important to correct errors in the captions. If one needs the captions this book is a valuable resource to ensure the viewer gets the correct words and, therefore, understands what Dr. Bronowski is presenting.

Previous reviews don't do Bronowski justice. He began as a mathematician; but after being sent to Hiroshima, as part of a team studying the aftereffects of the nuclear blast, he switched to biology. He was warm and articulate. A poet himself, he was one of the few people who truly understood the English poet William Blake, although (unlike most of his writing) his essays about Blake could use some explaining themselves. He was a highly moral man and did two original things you don't see many others even attempting: He saw the "doing" of science as an act every bit as creative as composing a symphony or writing a poem -- and he explained it in that way -- and he sought a structure for rationalizing morality and ethical behavior that did not rely upon religious precepts. The Ascent of Man is a very personal work, and it says so in its subtitle. It pretty much echos word for word what Jacob Bronowski spoke extemporaneously as he was sent around the world to the places he needed to be in order to explain the ideas he needed to express as he filmed his material for public television. Ironically, I said that very badly: I meant that HE could explain very complex notions with terrific elegance and simplicity. Period. By the way, the process of making the series for TV must have taken a toll, as JB died not long after completing the necessary travels. The Ascent of Man is all excellent but has many especially moving moments. Only one example occurred when JB walked fully clothed and shod into a pond at Auschwitz in acknowledgment of family and friends and fellow countrymen whose ashes were dumped there by fascists who laid claim to a handle on absolute certainty. Read this topnotch book, then find more by him. And if you're thirsty for more, try a little Loren Eisely as well. The accomplishments of humankind as explained by thoughtful scientists can prove wonderfully exhiliarating.

If you're looking for a book that will show you how man made it from day 1 to the present, while encomapssing ALL disciplines and not science alone, you've found the right book! It's is incredible how simply and interestengly Mr. Bronowski has accomplished such a feat. You won't be able to put it down!

This is one of the first, and one of the better, history of science sorts of series. If you enjoy history and science, then its worth watching. But the program, and to a lesser extent the book, in my mind suffer from a serious flaw: namely; that the author can not seem to divorce himself from his own religious views, which intrude at a number of times in the program. How can I take someone seriously who is speaking about archeological history, while at the same time speculating about the Biblical conquest of Jericho? There is a disconnect here that leaves you wondering. One can always quibble about what major scientific advances are noteworthy, and different authors have seized upon various individuals; but we have in this series nothing out of the ordinary. Looking at "Cosmos" or "The Day the Universe Changed" is much more fulfilling, from an intellectual standpoint, but its still worth purchasing and enjoying.

Shows how to make simple shapes into lots and lots of differnt things, from scenery to people and animals, simple and cute, fun for dad too :)

I love Ed Emberley and the techniques that he uses to teach drawing.

This book is my favorite because it's packed with all kinds of things to draw. Gumball machines, people in action, animals, trucks, planes, you name it.

You really can draw your own little world.

This would be a great gift with some paper and markers for the young budding artist.

I bought this for a friends son who is 7. This is the only Ed Emberely book that he didn't have. He loves them!

A world is right! So many things to draw in this book. Simple and colorful to enlighten young and old imaginations.

Great book for kids who like to draw but have trouble doing it freehand. Nice step-by-step instructions.