Bryan Books

This book is an excellent resource to supplement boards study. I have been very pleased.

I decided to purchase this book as a supplement to the textbook we use in class. You know, you read the complicated textbook and then the supplement next. Not so any longer. This guide gets right to the point. Reading it before class has facilitated my understanding of lectures and comprehension of the required readings.
You don't have to be a medical student to derive value out of this book. I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.

I ordered this book the first week that classes started and received it the following week. The book was like new as promised and I had no problems with the seller throughout my buying process. I would highly recommend this seller! Thanks~

The book was in perfect condition--brand new, no markings in the text, in tact cover...plus free shipping!

I think this is the best BRS there is. I used this book for course exam prep as well as board review. It is a great tool to highlight important concepts, and it explains things in a simple and effective way with the right amount of information.

Being a long time Rich Mullins fan, I wanted anything and everything Rich Mullins I could get my hands on. This book, "An Arrow", by James Bryan Smith, gave me a whole side of Rich Mullins I never knew. But even more importantly than the man himself, this book points to a deeper walk with Jesus, and the struggles involved in obtaining that walk. This book is so inspirational. I've read it twice, and am now reading it a third time. I bought an extra copy to give away.

I was not able to put down the book until I finished it.

The reading I'd done on Rich Mullins previously taught me that he was an incredible person, but the book confirmed his devotion to Jesus Christ as well as his struggles to live faithfully. I was encouraged, amused, saddened, yet most of all inspired to keep contending for the faith.

The author's friendship with Rich Mullins came through - I only wish that it went into more detail and told me more.

I loaned the book to a friend, also a fan of Rich Mullins, and she said that it encouraged her greatly.

i highly recommend it to anyone whether your a fan of rich mullins music or just a christian who longs to have a deeper walk with God. Great book, inspiring, not shallow, deep, thought provoking, convicting. trust me if you ever buy a book buy this one. . you wont regret it.

The Book Arrow Pointing to Heaven is the most inspiring book I have ever read. I could not help but write "Amen," "Praise the Lord," "I need to read this again" or some other comment in the margins as I read the book. Having known Rich Mullins briefly early in his musical career, I knew he was someone different, someone closer to God than I could imagine, yet I had no idea just how close to the Awesome God he really was. This book, so well written by Smith, is a must for anyone that believes in God. It will take you to really knowing God in much the same way as Rich Mullins knew HIM - intimately. Perfect gift for graduation presents. I have given several with notes made in the margins of the gift books. Thank you for having such an all-inspiring-book! It is a MUST for persons seeking a better relationship with God.

This book gives insite on what made Rich Mullins such a unique person while giving you a glimpse of into his struggles and humble triumphs. This should be an inspiration on how to truely lived sold out to Jesus....not how to be perfect, but how to be passionate, committed, refining,learning, and searching.
Buy one for yourself and a friend, I did while reading my friend's book.
If you don't know Rich's music, thats ok, but you'll be tempted to get some afterwards...Go for "Songs 1 and 2" for starters.

Enjoy!!!! Its a very captivative read even for those who don't read alot!

BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT! It was recommended to us by a reading specialist.
It makes it very easy to recall definitions. I actaully bought it for my
6th and 3rd grader. They will read it for fun. LOVE IT!

I am very happy with this book. It's fun and easily to read, my grandson love it. He read it almost every day.

I bought it becuase the reviews are so positive and it's great! it's really easy and fun to recite words with these cartoons and I acutally color them when looking at them make more fun as well as keep me concentrated. I'd definetly recommend it if you consider yourself as a visulizer...just types of people who read best to learn!

This is a fun and easy way to learn vocabulary words. Who doesn't want to learn effortlessly? Now you can "read" cute cartoons and expand your vocabulary at the same time! I've been using this book with my students for years -- always good for a memborable laugh!

I have used these Vocabulary Cartoons since the first editions were available. I think the students enjoy this type of study. I have loaned many of my copies to students and colleagues. I am glad to see the extra vocab in the 2nd edition. I even have some of my own that I have added. This also makes a good project for the "talented artists" who may not enjoy studying vocab, but who learn as they provide cartoons. These students have fun as they learn. They work with students who provide the meanings and links. We highlight a synomym.The name Burchers comes to mind when I think of Vocab Study. You should invite students and teachers to submit their ideas. (I am retired, but I know this would be such a good project.)

People who have learned how to write properly organized essays in school might find the kind of writing that Wagner did rather loose, to say the least. I'm far more interested in rock 'n' roll as an artform that appeals to the contemporaries of those who are moderately talented than in the fine art of Mozart, but favorite songs can be done well no matter where they came from. Not half bad is more likely to be my judgment on anything I would like to hear. I have enough CDs to remind myself of music in many forms, but the creative tension involved in trying to write a review of a book like THE TRISTAN CHORD also reminds me of many things that are not in this book.

THE TRISTAN CHORD ~ WAGNER AND PHILOSOPHY by Bryan Magee starts out strongly with the idea that Wagner's work is based on an understanding of life that exceeds anything within the confines of philosophy or knowledge as it is contained in universities. Clearly Nietzsche acquired so many of his ideas from Wagner because Wagner had realized that ancient Athens was the kind of society he wished to inhabit, and the festivals at which tragedies were performed were so different from the commercial nature of entertainment values in modern global intellectual property that the context has to be explained to modern readers as follows:

... Third, human participation was also maximized, in that the whole community was involved. Dramatic performances were accorded the highest possible importance, a significance that was tantamount to religious - nothing that the community did was seen as mattering more, unless it was fighting a war. This attitude could scarcely be further from that of a bourgeois society towards its commercialized art. When Athens put on a play the entire life of the society revolved around it: the day was a public holiday, all other activities came to a halt so that everyone could go to the play, no one talked of anything else, attendance was free, the actors were maintained by the State; what we would call commercial considerations were totally absent. As Wagner summed it up in his essay `Art and Revolution,' published in 1849: `With the Greeks the perfect work of art, the drama, was the sum and substance of all that could be expressed in the Greek nature; it was - in intimate connection with its history - the nation itself that stood facing itself in the work of art, becoming conscious of itself, and, in the space of a few hours, rapturously devouring, as it were, its own essence.' (pp. 86-87).

Few adults in American society were able to offer young people anything as compelling in the 1960s, when Walter Kaufmann was writing and translating, but rock 'n' roll was having more impact. The Beatles are not listed in the index of THE TRISTAN CHORD, but one of their songs, `All You Need Is Love,' is mentioned on page 60, long after comments about the early Wagner opera `Das Liebesverbot' (p. 24) being in response to the intellectual discontent of the Young Germans:

In the arts they saw the classic figures of their immediate past, people such as Goethe and Mozart, as pre-revolutionary, and therefore antediluvian, no longer speaking to the condition of the young. ... They glorified love as it really was, the sexual intoxication of the young, and they saw it as socially subversive. To express it they wanted an art that was freely and frankly erotic. In opera this caused them to look away from Weber to the unabashed sensationalism of the French, and also, much more seriously, to the sensual, hedonistic lyricism of the Italians. Perhaps most important of all to the Young Germans as individuals, they wanted to live out these principles in their own lives, loving and expressing themselves as liberated beings, innovating boldly in politics and the arts, deriding authority, and free for ever from the stultifying conservatism and conventionality of their elders. (pp. 24-25).

The philosophy of Feuerbach is considered a major source for the setting of Wagner's `Ring' cycle of operas. I tend to associate this kind of catastrophe with the Vietnam syndrome of my generation, but THE TRISTAN CHORD links Feuerbachian philosophy of religion to picturing the gods as a gang of crooks. Just imagine, "Isaiah Berlin used to exclaim complainingly, `But they're just a lot of gangsters!'" (p. 54).

The interesting theme for me is the idea that Wagner did a lot of writing to generate the creative tension which he would like to turn into a form of art critical of his own society by composing music that would maintain a stream of consciousness worthy of the kind of life currently possible or imagined as a future ideal. "Because Wagner believed that we live in `a whole world of injustice' which was about to be swept away and replaced by `a righteous world' there is a sense in which he was living for the future." (p. 59). "Because the drama of ancient Greece is the art he is bent on re-establishing, and the opera of his contemporaries is the obstacle he is determined to sweep away, he is liable in a discussion of almost anything to dive off into the question of how whatever it is he is talking about relates to either or both of those things." (p. 91).

... The musical motives need not simply be repeated, they possessed infinite possibilities of musical transformation - the light hearted could be made tragic, the triumphant hollow, the confident full of foreboding, the loving grief-stricken. The potential for musical metamorphosis was protean, and also endlessly subtle. (p. 91).

Rock 'n' roll has filled many pockets with big bucks, but it is also carrying remnants of more than philosophy could say. The vocabulary was entirely different, but the simplicity of a chorus that kept repeating after verses that can go from bad to worse in so many ways, certain songs could be described as blues. Just one example is a song, `(Down to) SEEDS & STEMS (Again)' recorded in Austin, Texas, November, 1973, written Billy Farlow and George Frayne, who do vocals and piano for a group called Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, which was included on a collection of their songs `Too Much Fun' released on CD in 1990. A looser version on `Marijuana's Greatest Hits Revisited' has someone singing, "I have a few decent memories of what I was going to say. I'm down to seeds and stems again, hurray!" At times, it is nice to discover that the fun is going to stop and life can go back to being about something else. But for us, what else could there possibly be?

Someone once said that one has to be a philosopher to understand "Parsifal." The statement is not far from the truth. In fact, it can apply to Wagner's mature works from "Ring" onwards. Magee's book is then heaven sent.

That "Parsifal" is the antithesis of "Tristan" gnaws at me for years. To understand it is what I wanted out of "Tristan Chord." According to Magee, the contradiction can apparently be traced back to Schopenhauer's ambiguity towards sexuality. Schopenhauer, on one hand, celebrates sex as this quasi-mystical realization of life essence - the will to live. On the other hand, he expounds compassion, or the denial of the will to live, as the road to redemption. Wagner grappled with this contradiction when he worked on "Tristan," and reconciled it in "Meistersingers", and more interestingly, in an earlier work of his, "Tannhauser."

Needlessly to say, I am very impressed with Magee's rich insights, solid scholarship and sensitive treatment of German history and philosophy.

Some of my favorite chapters are as follows.

Chapter 4, Feuerbach's influence on early Wagner and "Ring"
Chapter 9, Schopenhauer's philosophy
Chapter 10, Schopenhauer's powerful influence on Wagner
Chapter 12, on "Tristan"
Chapter 14, on "Meistersingers"
Chapter 15, on "Gotterdammerung"
Chapter 16, on "Parsifal"

This is THE book on Wagner that I hoped would one day be written and which I knew could be written. The author has no use for post-Holocaust axe-grinding or ideological regard, and neither does he indulge in any of the by now ubiquitous but superficial kulturgeschichtliche approaches in which Wagner is one more symbol-player to be pigeon-holed and arranged (much like the props in Hans-Juergen Syberberg's "Parsifal" film), nor does he dish up Wagner with a sideorder of Marxist criticism. Instead you get Wagner as a living, breathing, thinking, and creating human being, a real man (no impersonal cultural forces here!) who encountered ideas and reacted to them in the completely unique way that his personality demanded.

In a way one can only appreciate this book if he has already spent time ploughing through even a fraction of the tendentious trash in print that attempts to deal with this man (e.g. Gutman, Millington, even M. Owen Lee at times). If you have done that, then you will really be in a position to enjoy what Bryan Magee has done, how he has done it, and what a tremendous debt we owe to him for presenting to us Wagner the man in all of his outrageous but fascinating complexity. This is a book for people who are interested in learning more closely what kind of man Wagner actually was (that, for example, he was a 'commanding' personality, what that might mean in real terms, and that, in itself, should not be held against him)and who are equally interested in distinctions being made along the way that really do amount to something and are not just so much critical hot air.

After you read this book, and if you have not already done it, read Michael Tanner's "Wagner" and enjoy hearing from someone who knows actually knows what he is talking about and has spent some time thinking about it instead of listening to the clowns who parrot the prejudices they've picked up from "The New York Times Review of Books".

Bryan Magee writes with enthusiasm and clarity. He's particularly good at explaining philosophy in layman's terms. According to Magee, Wagner was the most erudite of all the great composers, and his philosophical beliefs profoundly effected his compositions. His intellectual life can be broken into two main periods: the early, one of political radicalism and activism, and the late, one of resignation and mysticism.

As a young man Wagner believed that a revolution - a total annihilation of the existing order - must take place in order for people to start anew to build a free and equal society. This was the intellectual zeitgeist throughout Europe in reaction to the sweeping changes brought about by capitalist industrialization in the early 19th Century. It was, in part, a romantic longing for a simpler past.

In Wagner's first period two figures were his main influences, Mikhail Bakunin, the anarchist, and Ludwig Feuerbach, who taught that mankind created the Gods, or God, in its own image. This was not to dismiss religion but to appraise it seriously as something illuminating about human beings.

After numerous inconsequential attempts at revolution took place throughout Germany in the mid-1800's Wagner became disenchanted with politics. He immersed himself in the philosophy of his contemporary, Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer wrote a great deal about music and it occupied a large part of his philosophical outlook. Both he and Wagner shared an interest in Buddhist thought.

Schopenhauer maintained that human beings are the embodiment of a metaphysical "will", so that willing, wanting, longing, craving and yearning are not just things we do, they are what we are. And he believed that music was a manifestation of this metaphysical "will." Thus, music directly corresponds to what we ourselves are in our innermost being. Wagner's "late" period dates from his extensive study of Schopenhauer.

Schopenhauer wrote that music proceeds by creating certain wants which it then spins out before satisfying. Even the simplest melody makes us want to close eventually on the "tonic" and provokes dissatisfaction if it ends on any other note than that.

Schopenhauer gave special attention to a technical device in harmony known as "suspension," and this instantly appealed to Wagner's musical sensibility. The suspension in music is the penultimate chord, when what we had just heard was what we thought was the penultimate chord. This causes a sense of discord in the listener. Schopenhauer said "this is clearly an analogue of the satisfaction of the will which is enhanced through delay."

This inspired in Wagner the idea of composing an entire piece of music moving from discord to discord in such a manner that the listener was always in a state of tension waiting for a resolution that did not come. This would be the musical equivalent of the dissatisfied longing , craving, yearning that our being is. There could only be one resolution to it, the final chord that was the end of the musical score (and in an opera, the end of the protagonist's life). This would be a musical expression of the essence of humanity in the universe.

The first chord of Tristan is the most famous chord in the history of music: F, B, D sharp and G sharp or any chord of the same intervals. It contains not one, but two dissonances. It then moves to resolve one of the dissonances but not the other, thus providing resolution, yet not resolution. Thus as the music proceeds, in every chord shift something is resolved but not everything. This "partial satisfaction" yet continued "frustration" carries on through the entire work. The only point where all discord is resolved is in the final chord, which is the musical analogue of freedom from striving, freedom from the tension that is existence. It is like a mystical state of nirvana.

What made this double-dissonance chord so famous was that it, in effect, closed the door on the age of classicism. And it opened the door to impressionism, atonalism, and modern classical music in general.

It was under the influence of the Schopenhauer-Buddhist belief system that Wagner's late works, Tristan, The Mastersingers, and Parsifal were written. Actually, since most of his operas were written piecemeal with many interruptions (sometimes years in length), there are traces of the early and late philosophical influences in almost every opera. Tristan is the only opera that Wagner wrote uninterrupted from start to finish.

There are many more aspects of Wagner's life and work contained in this book. New insights are provided into the Nietzsche-Wagner relationship and the vexed anti-semitism of Wagner. It should be noted that although Magee believes the above conjunction of philosophy and music in Wagner, he is not dogmatic. He says late in the book that "one does not have to be familiar with Schopenhauer's ideas, let alone accept them" to appreciate the greatness of Wagner's music.

This book has added a new dimension to my understanding and appreciation of Wagner. I heartily recommend it.

I'm a careful fellow yet I make quite a claim in the title of this review; and I confidently stand by it. Wagner has stimulated an enormous bibliography, but most of it is biography and/or polemics regarding the man himself or else "way out" (e.g. Jungian) interpretations of his art. Surprisingly little criticism of real seriousness pertains to the actual music. Bryan McGee's book magnificently fills that gap.

It is not a musical analysis per se, but a study of Wagner's changing philosophical values and how they influenced his music...and there is no composer in history who was a more acute intellectual than Wagner and more influenced in his art by ideas. You cannot fully understand his art without this book...it is that seminal. And it does not pertain only to "Tristan und Isolde," despite the title. It covers the entire sweep of Wagner's output.

Mr. McGee brings to his text the virtues which previously made him an outstanding author in "popularizing" philosophy: clarity, honesty, common sense, and even-handed weighing of the evidence. I hesitate to say he "popularized" philosophy. That could suggest a "dumbing down." And that is definitely not this book. It is crystal clear for a layman yet it is a scholar's dream in substance...a rare combination.

The book is an absolute must for anyone who has ever been moved by Richard Wagner's music...and perhaps even for those who have wondered why the rest of us are so moved by it. I cannot recommend it enough. There are only two other texts in the last century which compare, in my opinion: 1) Ernest Neumann's multi-volumn biography of Wagner; and 2) Deryk Cooke's "I Saw the World End," (first published 1979), which is the definitive (if incomplete) analysis of Wagner's "Ring."

If you love Wagner's music, or want to investigate it, this book is both a delight and a "must."

I became interested in rife machines, and the hope that they might bring an end to my 13 years of Lyme disease suffering, after reading the chapter on electro-medicine in Bryan Rosner's second book, The Top Ten Lyme Disease Treatments: Defeat Lyme Disease with the Best of Conventional and Alternative Medicine.

At that point, I knew that I needed to purchase Rosner's first book for a deeper study of rife machine therapy. Since he recovered from a devastating case of Lyme using rife machines himself, and since he is an eminently-readable author, I trusted his analysis of rife machine technology.

My family and I have not been disappointed. Rosner's Rife Machine book has been our handbook not only for understanding rife machines but also many other supportive measures (especially detoxification of Lyme poisons and by-products) which must be employed if rife is going to work.

As with his other books (The Top Ten Treatments and the 2008 Lyme Disease Annual Report), Brian shines as a true journalist - objective and understandable. He does not minimize the suffering involved in recovering from Lyme (due to the Herxheimer reactions and detoxification regimens), but prepares the reader for them gently and honestly. As with his other books, he does not betray a loyalty to any specific rife manufacturer or Lyme treatment provider of any kind - although he does quickly and efficiently expose the reader to the names of the most reputable rife manufacturers, detoxification experts, etc., which streamlines the research process for very sick people such as myself.

Finally, he provides additional sources of information, many of them on the Internet such as Yahoo discussion boards about rife and other therapies, so that the reader can quickly connect with thousands of other real people with whom to share their woes and discuss viable treatment options. All of this helped me identify which rife machine to buy first in a matter of about 48 hours!

If you wish to find a real, possibly permanent solution to the Lyme infection ravaging your body, please consider the information presented in Bryan's book and also his second book, The Top Ten Treatments for Lyme Disease, which will probably help "close the circle" of complementary therapies to rife.

Please note: I am not a medical professional of any kind. Please consult your regular physician(s) and other health-care providers for information and relief if you believe yourself to have a medical problem of any kind. Also, please consult your regular physician(s) and other health-care provider(s) before attempting any treatment for any medical problem you believe yourself to have, including treatments such as rife machines and those described in Bryan Rosner's books, discussed above.

If you or someone you love has Lyme Disease or any other tick bourne illness, then you absolutely owe it to yourself or to them to read this book. I believe every Doctor on the planet should read this book! There are so many illnesses which truly are Lyme related, this is an epidemic which the world needs to be made aware of.
Rosner does a superb job of detailing alternative methods of healing and gives you a light at the end of the tunnel. If not for the information reavealed to me within these pages, I would have probably died of complications due to Lyme and it's co-infections. This is written by someone who has really done significant research and knows what he is talking about. I value every word of Rosner's books and this is another one that I would never be without!

As a person who has the difficult diagnosis of Lyme disease, I have to say that this book gave me a very clear view of exactly what I was fighting and helped me develop a successful game plan for treatment. I was even able to better educate my doctor about the disease and about effective protocols using electromagnetic resonance therapy. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has or knows someone who has Lyme disease!

This is the book that first opened my eyes to both fully understanding the disease and HOPE about what steps can be done to regain wellness. ALL BRIAN'S BOOKS & HIS ANNUAL REPORTS ARE A MUST for both patients and doctors!

Bryan Rosner has written two well researched and easy-to-read books, both for people with Lyme and for the health care professionals who treat them--The Top 10 Lyme Disease Treatments and When Antibiotics Fail: Lyme Disease and Rife Machines. Lyme disease is a difficult and debilitating condition that most often defies the best of what allopathic (Western) medicine has to offer. However, Mr. Rosner has offered us a variety of non-invasive, holistic, cutting edge methods, sometimes to be used in conjunction with more conventional therapies. Rosner explains what works, why it works, how it works, and why it may not work. I consider both of these books indispensable. They belong in the library of anyone who is seriously investigating this disease.

Nenah Sylver, PhD
author, The Handbook of Rife Frequency Healing
and The Holistic Handbook of Sauna Therapy

It took about three days for me to receive the book that I ordered from Amazon. And not only did it come in a timely fashion but it was in excellent condition. No surprises here and that's what I like to see. I would definately come back in the future, especially for the prices.

Carrying on the series smoothly, CIRCLES OF SEVEN answers questions from the previous books and still leaves enough suspence to have readers on the edge of their seat, waiting until they get the next book in the series. Never start reading these books if you have a busy day ahead, and most certainly do NOT start them in the late evening! You'll want to finish it all, even on pain of not enough sleep.

Very enjoyable, the series continues to be a very clean, Christian oriented fantasy series that even non-religious readers may be able to enjoy wholeheartedly.

This series just keeps on raising the bar. The book starts in high gear and never lets up. The final third of the book is just plain UNPUTDOWNABLE!!! Davis just piles on the tension and always is giving us more details about Dragons, Merlin, King Arthur and Excalibur. He very realistically adds to their Myths and makes it seem like this has been part of the Myths for all times. He is very creditable as he leads us along this fantastic journey! Adults who love the lure of Myths should give this series a try. They won't be disappointed.

Now, don't think. Do not pass go. Put this book directly into your shopping cart. The series of Dragons in our Midst is by far the best series that I have read, including the Harry Potter books(can't stand them now that I've seen six truly great books, the four in this series and the two Inheiretance books) And this is the best book in the series, by a single scale. This is definitely worth reading again and again and again. THIS BOOK AND SERIES TOTALLY OWNS!!! BUY IT!!!

The Dragons In Our Midst series is one of the best series of bookks that ther are, and Circles of Seven is the best book so far. Dragons In Our Midst makes Harry Potter seem extremly flimsy and shallow. (Which is actually fairly true in any instance. JKR was overpaid.) Anyway, THIS IS AN AWESOME BOOK!
BUY IT!

Garner's Usage is likely the single most useful and entertaining book on the topic. Little else needs to be said about it.

Garner's Modern American Usage My daughter attends law school at SMU in Dallas where Garner is adjuct professor. She says he is a great teacher. We ordered two copies. Yes, it's indispensible as a reference, but it also makes great bedside reading for us wordsmiths.

I ordered this reference based on an essay I read by David Foster Wallace titled "Authority and American Usage." In it, Wallace dissects the ongoing debate between the Prescriptivists (those claiming to defend the King's English) and the Descriptivists (those who claim language rules should reflect current practice rather than old rules), and he does so in the context of, essentially, a long-winded review of Garner's Modern American Usage.
The big problem with Prescriptivism is one of authority, or "why" their rules are what they are. The problem with Descriptivism is one of, well, spinelessness in the sense that rules cannot be based simply on "what everybody else is doing."
Garner, however, deftly walks the line between these two perspectives. He acknowledges common, accepted usage, but still has the guts to make "rules" where necessary. And when he does so, he resolves the "authority" question by logically and fairly arguing his case, rather than simply "that's how it is done."
In my limited reading of Garner's reference so far, I've found it to be amazingly thorough in its examination of everything from common errors to idioms to punctuation, and surprisingly down to earth for a linguistic reference.
Personally, I think everybody should have books like this. But if you write for a living or simply have an interest in language and grammar, this book is essential to your collection.

It's an English language-American, usage book, exactly what I wanted. Previous reviews were helpful.

Excellent

Being a layman, and not a wordsmith as some of the review-writers here, this will not be an eloquently written review, however the results are the same. I often hear people use words in a way that I believe to be incorrect, for example 'irregardless', but I'm never quite sure. A regular dictionary doesn't usually provide the explanations I'm looking for, and my curiosity goes unanswered. This book is exactly what I need when I question the usage of almost any word. It gives definitions, explanations as to why words are often used incorrectly, as well as pronunciations that are correct or incorrect, and often in a humorous manner! This book would be a must for any writer, but is also sure to satisfy the simply curious!

This is a beautifully illustrated version of _The Owl and the Pussycat_. My three-year-old son absolutely loves looking at the whimsical pictures of the fish and other sealife that are abundant in this book. The pictures are done with beautiful colors and have their own story.

What a beautiful version of Edward Lear's poem. I've always been a James Marshall fan, but this book is absolute tops for his illustrations. The colors are glorious, the characters, as his always are, deftly and lovingly handled. I understand that it was his last work, and it's a shame that it is out of print. Buy it, save it, and pass it around.

Jan Brett's Caribbean-inspired illustrations for the classic Edward Lear poem are teeming with life, and the effect is stunning. The colors, textures, and shapes are a visual treat. Each page also has a different pattern of "straw" border, adorned with a different tropical flower.

The pictures overflow with detail, to the point where there's even a sub-story (pardon the pun) involving two yellow fish.

I didn't give it the full 5 stars because the way the text is broken up across spreads makes it difficult to read the poem with any kind of flow, and because some of Brett's admittedly gorgeous illustrations could (and perhaps should) have had more of a connection to the text. For one notable example -- there's no pot of honey on the boat, and we never get a look at the money wrapped up in the five-pound note!

But there's no denying the beauty of the illustrations, and the Caribbean theme works surprisingly well. This is a great book for anyone -- for newcomers to the splendid silliness of the poem as well as for old fans of the poem who are looking for an edition with fabulous illustrations.

I have always liked Lear's rhymes, especially this one, but more than the rhyme, it's the illustrations in this version that I like. We live in Florida and all our sub-tropical and tropical flora and fauna is in this book, beautifully illustrated and very recognizable to my 3 year old daughter. Following along with the secondary story of the two damsel fish (I think they're damselfish, but if they're not, the fault is my fish identification skills, not Brett's illustration) is really fun for her too. A bit further south, but still full of recognizable plants for us Floridians, is another of Jan Brett's books, "The Umbrella."

I have the Audio CD that Eric Idle did and it was wonderful. I listened to it with my 5 year-old and we both just loved it. He could understand most of what was going on and I could explain the rest. I'll start looking for other versions, too. Like the original poem and the various hardcover book versions. It is a truly charming story with a playful use of words. There is humor of the best kind here: they classic kind with jokes and puns for the adults and kids at the same time (like the old bugs bunny cartoons). I recommed this with NO reservations!

So, before I begin my review of this product, here's our background... our son who is currently 6 weeks has had to be sent to the hospital with gas pains so severe that the emergency room doctors were concerned that he might be trying to pass a kidney stone. Turns out he was allergic to soy, we had tried breast, standard formula and lactose intolerance formula. He had a negative reaction to all (including breast believe it or not, I went through tests also to determine what was in my milk even though I was on a mild diet.... cause was deemed later on to be for a substance need, our baby needed rice formula). So..... we tried just the rice formula with the children's mylicon with the VentAire bottles.... somewhat of an improvement, but our child was still needing to go to the doctor weekly for checkups without much success, our pediatrician would even call us daily to see how he was doing. Constipation was questioned, but was never an issue. Our breakthrough occurred when we took our son to a specialist appointment and the lady asking us if our son had excess gas since she noticed that Mylicon was listed as one of his meds. I stated quickly yes and told her of our ordeal. I was told that she was the grandmother of 5 children and a mother of 3 and had tried EVERYTHING to cure their extreme colic. The remedy they found, Hyland's colic tablets, Dr. Brown's bottles, and rice formula. After the doctor appointment I went to the store to give these products a try....... and it was like an angel had spoken to us. Our child could breathe again and was longer tense in the body, as he was making progress against constantly trying to push. I know that I'm being candid but I am hoping that this will help other parents and children that have been or will be in our situation. We are on day 4 of the product switch and WOW, he's a brand new baby! If these products can help a child who's been hospitalized, hopefully these can help yours as well. Pedialyte also works as well to help calm the tummy. I've been using tylenol every 5 hours (excluding when he sleeps) for the first week and have been continuing to use the Mylicon to help with the surface gas. Burping has never been an issue, but his burps and toots have become louder and more productive, sometimes just shifting him in our arms can help him to expel gas! I'll be making this post in numerous areas in hopes to help people.

Hyland's colic tablets, Dr. Brown bottles, Enfamil AR Lipil, infant's tylenol, gas drops is literally our formula to success.

This is a good introduction to the problems of acid reflux, stomach motility disorder, and so called "colic." It explains how to determine if your infant has GER or GERD (gastric acid reflux.) It gives you examples/stories of other mother's experiences with their children. It helps you understand the condition and gives you knowledge and good questions that you can take to the pediatrician. It also helps you identify if you need to go see a pediatric GI specialist. I highly recommend it. Quick read as well.

Colic Solved is a must read for families, friends and caregivers to newborns. The information provided by Dr.Vartabedian, describes gastrointestinal reflux (GER) and gastrointestinal reflux disease (GERD) in easily understandable examples and frequent "tales from the crib". It should be given to every expectant family as a preventative measure. You don't know you need the book until you are caring for a screaming, irritable, difficult to soothe newborn. Although GER can be present from birth most parents begin to see signs of it at 3-6 weeks and then are bombard by grandparents, friends and even pediatricians attributing this illness to Colic. Dr. Vartabedian helps the parent understand the cause, signs, symptoms, treatment, potential problems, medications and tests for the care of their newborn who is labeled colicky when everything points to gastroesphageal reflux. I wish he had written this book seven years ago when my first grandchild had reflux but went undiagnosed. As a postpartum doula, I use the information to help the parents identify the reflux and describe what they are seeing to their Pediatrician. If you know a family with a screaming difficult to soothe baby buy this book now!!!

I bought this book after six weeks of misery with our second son. I had been scouring the internet and reading whatever I could about "colic". This is THE resource for anyone dealing with a miserable baby. If a baby is that fussy - there IS a reason for it! Underneath all that crying is a sweet little soul wanting to come out! Our son has both acid reflux and a milk protein allergy. I brought Dr. Vartabedian's book to my pediatrician's office and showed everyone who would listen. We ended up in pediatric gastroenterology and within 2 weeks we had a smiling and content infant!

Help yourself, help your child - buy this book and get on with enjoying your baby!

My son was about three weeks old when he started screaming in pain, hours upon hours. He was switched to a hypoallergenic formula, but continued to suffer and decline for another three weeks. I was calling the pediatrician constantly, telling them that something just wasn't right. After reading this book, every sign pointed to a rare allergy to the hypoallergenic formula. I finally highlighted those sections of the book and plopped it on my pediatrician's table. Not only did the book educate me, it educated my pediatrician. Thank you Dr. V!

For an action/drama focusing on a super team of heroes, look no further. If you haven't picked up The Ultimates yet, you don't want to start here. This is basically season 2 of the series and you'll be lost, but this is where it really takes off for me. Ultimates 1 was a very well done series and got this franchise off to a good start and Ultimates 2 still blew it away.

This is a testament to the skills of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch for giving us a mature look at super heroes that doesn't patronize the reader and pushes the realism as much as possible. Comics have certainly changed in the wake of popular serialized dramas like "Lost" for example and for the better. I couldn't be bothered to even watch NBC's "Heroes" anymore as it doesn't even come close to the action and suspense showcased in this book. Continued in this book is more focus on Hank Pym, Thor and Tony and Natasha's budding relationship. The whole team begins to fall apart due to a possible informant within S.H.I.E.L.D. but who's the traitor?

I enjoyed seeing cameos in here from Prof. X as well as Matt Murdock representing Dr. Banner in court. Helps to keep the Ultimate Universe feeling all encompassing with these crossovers. I enjoyed the dialogue between Steve and Jan as the Captain America of the 40's is still having a hard time adjusting to the 21st century. Those moments also help to ground it in reality. And that's what I'm enjoying so much about this take on The Avengers is how much more seriously I can take it than ever before. Comics are not just for kids anymore and The Ultimates is a prime example.

More of the entertaining destructive and self-destructive antics of the Ultimates. The general public now know that Banner is the Hulk, and his trial demands capital punishment.

Giant-Man is Ant-Man, Iron Man is married. There is the aftermath of the alien invasion to deal with, and now, Loki.

In a nutshell, "the Ultimates" AKA the Ultimate Avengers is far and away the best of Marvel's Ultimate titles, as evidenced by its top-rating among all of Millar's books. Interestingly, it rates higher than his other Ultimate titles...I think in general the tone is the most adult and most serious of the Ultimate books - closer to the new Battlestar Galactica or Season 5 of 24 than than to its comic peers.

While I liked Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate X-men, etc - this is the standard bearer of the line - even if you don't follow the avengers, this is an easy to grasp title. And Volume 2 is far better than volume 1!

Unlike the previous Batman collection I read (Batman: Officer Down), The Ultimates 2 collection was fantastic. Stories like these are what have started to bring people back to comics again following the disastrous market crash of the 1990's when people became fed up with generic art and horribly written titles.

This arc picks up 12 months following the last Ultimates book and much has happened in the Ultimates' universe. Bruce Banner is locked away and awaiting trial, Thor has broken away from the team, and Dr. Pym continues to try to find a way to rejoin the team. Captain America, Iron Man and the other Ultimates find themselves at the center of numerous debates concerning the problems with the American government and other nations pursuing super-powered groups and how they should be used, if at all. Although Bryan Hitch's art is quite strong, what separates this book from many other things on the shelf is the writing. I used to be highly critical of many of the comics being sold because the writing was often weak and depended so heavily on the art to carry the book. Now, in many ways, books like this and the work of Bendis and Miller keep producing, comics have reached the point where the writing is as strong if not stronger than the art, making the medium that much richer and more entertaining. Millar does a fantastic job of keeping an epic feel to everything and at no point do we lose sight of how all-encompassing a team that contains many of Marvel's most important icons should be. At the same time, we see the moments when everyone, including Captain America, seems all too human.

I think this is a fantastic collection and highly recommend it to seasoned and new comic readers alike.

i hated the ultimates 1 vol 1, the ultimates 1 vol 2 was a lot better but still not great.
the ultimates 2 vol 1 however is great. i still hate the idea of bruce banner being a scumbag, and there are a bunch of other ultimate universe things that carry into this that i don't like. but overall this is a great tpb and highly recommended.