David Books

Read this book while its still available! Its language is so simple yet it touches you with a ferocity thats unthinkable!
I could relate to every charecter and that was the most freaky part!

The charecters in this book are rich and full of life. The plot is very engaging and what more can one say about a book thats so beautiful it makes you weep with joy!

Bravo Leavitt and the rest of you read it!

While not as good as his short stories, and awkward and somewhat amateurish in a few places, this is a good, strong first novel. Ideally I would give this one a 3.5, but since that's not an option, I'll err on the side of generosity. This novel explores coming out, family dynamics, and the selfish yuppie attitudes of the 80s.

This book was given to me by a co-worker who believed the subject matter and story would interest me. She was right. There are so many different issues dealt with in this book ranging from the struggle for sexual identity to the struggle of sharing it with you family.....to the ups and downs of living a life that is full of oppression and worry. There are many characters here with many different backgrounds. There is Phillip, the young gay man struggling to win acceptance from his mother. Elliott who fears commitment and leaves Phillip. Owen, Phillip's father who has to come to terms with his own sexual identity after years of marriage and living his life without being true to himself. Then there is Jerene who is basically disowned because of her homosexuality which is so common in this day and age and extremely sad. NO parent should ever do this to their child!!!!! UNCONDITIONAL LOVE is key! Jerene's new girlfriend Laura.....it is just a well written story on all levels.......my only complaint was the ending. There was no real closure. Other than that, I loved it!

Author David Leavit writes a brillant novel that I had a hard time putting down. While Phillip is confronting his changing relationship with his lover, Elliot, his father Owen is finally, confronting his homosexuality. Highly recommended. Each character is richly developed and textured, they feel like real people that you know. While the film is good, it uses London as a backdrop rather than the book's all-to-real-modern-urban life set in New York and in the transistion looses something.

I read this book for a class, and enjoyed it much more than I ever expected, especially in retrospect. I think it takes a little time to really get into, especially because Leavitt jumps back and forth between the three main characters and storylines, but once you get into the rhythm of the story, you are drawn in. Leavitt does a great character study of Owen, Rose, and Philip, and by the end of the novel, I felt like I knew them. Leavitt has an accessible wrting style, but the book itself is very literary and complex. For a first novel, especially, I think it's exceptional.

"Mayo Clinic Family Health Book" covers nearly everything that takes place in life from preconception to death. Diagnostic and treatment advice is easy to read and accentuated with diagrams and photos.

FOUND THE GENERAL INFORMATION OF SPECIFIC DISEASES AND ITS POSSIBLE TREATMENTS. VERY GOOD AND PRECISE INFORMATION.

We purchased the Mayo Clinic Eeference guide to serve as a family medical book. We are very pleased with the descriptions and information about comon medical issues. I highly recommend this book for individuals who want more information about common and not so common medical difficulties.

This is a book no household should be without. Very informative and helpfull. The index is great and the information is to the point... Excellent photos and drawings. Only drawback: a bit bulky!

The Mayo Family Health book is a "wealth of information."
My husband recently became ill and was hospitalized. We were able to pinpoint symptoms in the book which helped us along with our health provider get appropriate testing and treatment for his condition.

With healthcare today, we must be "informed consumers".
I have worked nearly 35 years in clinical laboratory medicine and I still learn something new everyday....this book certainly helps.

In "Mining Sacred Ground," David Knop delivers full helpings of character, plot and nuanced human interaction in an economical narrative that lurches swiftly ahead into a violent, narcotic, desert nightscape. You can't help but feel the dirt under the nails of a flawed and sympathetic protagonist as well as the harsh burn of whiskey that's as antithetical to this hero's cause as it seems necessary to his character and (we hope) eventual redemption. There is a bit of a magical effect at work here. The reader is pushed forward at an extreme pace into a place where few would choose to enter and yet these pages turn effortlessly. There's no going back, just an involuntarily headlong plunge into a reality more reminiscent of David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," with which Mr. Knop's work seems to share an ethos, than of Tony Hillerman's "Coyote Waits," which just happens to reside in the same geographic space. In a few short pages, the story's main plot line and seeds of secondary complications appear well into development. My greatest hope moving forward is for a level of story complexity that matches the vivid, inspired quality of the uninhabitable but vital world Mr. Knop has created with these deft initial strokes.

Just a small taste of what appears to be tantalizing fare. Author Knop cleverly introduces us to Romero, a hard headed, hard drinking egg averse cop. The start of a riveting tale with vivid and descriptive prose. I want the whole story David.

What strikes me most about David Knop's Mining Sacred Ground is the authenticity of his characters and the Arizona setting. The sharpness of the detail given in the story makes its people and places come alive.

Mr. Knop has an interesting, descriptive writing style that captivated me from the first page and had me wishing for more. In reading this I was reminded of works by Tony Hillerman: similar settings with a Native-American as the protagonist. In my opinion though, Mr. Knop's writing is faster-paced with a better command of the English language. I hope someday to learn how Romero solves the case and his personal problems.

I want to know more about Sal, about Romero, the bikers, the Apaches, and why Romero's wife stays with him. How do the bikers fit in? Did they (the bikers,) assassinate Sal? What's the connection with the Corps and Quantico? Will putting the assassins spent casing in a plastic bag as opposed to a paper bag influence the outcome of the investigation? What drives Romero other than friendship? In thirteen short pages, the author has grabbed my attention, piqued my curiosity and as I turned the page at two in the morning, pissed me off because there is not more grit to chew on. I want more.

Rare it is to find a guide so well crafted by a writer successful in his own right. I found this the perfect abridged bible for anyone with a career or contemplating a career in the musical theater. David Spencer's frank tone tears down the dream and shows the true reality of the business. With diligent and witty writing, Spencer's guide is as fun as it is rigorous. The author includes bits of his own writing process mingled with very generous advice on what works and what does not. It's reading list alone would recommend it. This book will make many a musical theater writer conscious of the hidden pitfalls prevalent in the business and so will, with an increase of its readership, increase the quantity as well as quality of musical authorship on and off-Broadway, a deed most needed.

You get the feeling the author cares about the reader's survival through life as well as on the perilous if rewarding journey of musical theater writing. The book is surprisingly also a brilliant textbook for navigating professional and private relationships as Spencer is of the clever opinion that success in any field requires such skill. Theater-goers may benefit as well from its clear picture of the creative process behind the large shows. No one interested in musical theater should be without this book.

David Spencer's book is without question the most comprehensive, concise and informative book on writing contemporary musical theatre I've found on the market to date. An astonishingly quick (and entertaining) read, the book covers all of the bases of writing shows, from the creative process to dealing with the business end of getting an original musical produced. It is also jam-packed with useful information regarding the 'knit-picky' details of standard conventions (such as formatting scripts, creating and distributing demos, etc) that are worth the price of purchase alone.

The book is well-structured into concise, easy to read sections that are easy to refer to when necessary. Appropriately titled a "Survival Guide," Spencer makes no attempt to create an 'everything-you-need-to-know-to-write-a-musical' guide; instead, he provides brief (but considerably detailed) insight into each topic.

This is not a book for a beginner who is looking to learn how to write songs, but rather for ambitious young artists who are serious about creating new musical theatre. There are entire books that deal with the considerations posed by individual chapters (such as musical forms, rhyme, characterization, etc) that supplant the information in this book; his list of suggested readings is very helpful. Consider this book to be the 'study-guide' for the test; there is no other book on the market that covers so much terrain with such detail in such a small volume. It truly has become my survival guide - thank you David Spencer!

I have read some books on writing Broadway Musicals which were quite good but this one has a direct clarity that demystify's the process of creating a musical. Good advice is given in every important area from story to page layout and fonts to the politics involved in collaboration. An invaluable tool for a writer that's seasoned or just starting out.

I am an aspiring musical theatre writer with no real experience yet, but reading this makes me feel like I have twenty years of experience under my belt! It seems that Mr. Spencer has thoughtfully included, out of his own widespread experience in the biz, absolutely every thought, information, helpful tidbit or advice that I think EVERY new or seasoned musical theatre writer will find very, very helpful. He is very intentional about sharing stories and information to help young writers avoid pitfalls and mistakes he once made, or is familiar with. Every chapter flows well, is thorough, well-structured, & intriguing to read. I am sure I will continue looking back to this for frequent reference as I continue pursuing this career. Thank you, Mr. Spencer, for this invaluable resource!! It is worth more than every penny!

THE MUSICAL THEATRE WRITER'S SURVIVAL GUIDE is, one the whole, an excellent and much-needed resource. This is not so much a book about how to write a musical, but what to do with it once you have written it. The most valuable parts for me were the sections dealing with collaboration. Author David Spencer discusses not only how to deal with writing partners, but also with the other collaborators, like the director, the producer and the designer. He also gives practical advice about the most effective way of presenting the reading and making the demo recording. He goes into great detail about what any material that you send out should look like. These parts of the book alone make it worth owning.

I felt that Spencer jumped the track toward the end with a lengthy discussion of setting up one's own recording studio, which would have been much better as an appendix, rather than in the main body of the book. My other quibbles with the book are the rather gag-inducing Sondheim worship and the author's frequent tooting of this own horn. (I found the section dealing with awards and grants depressing because it only pointed up the unlikelihood that material by a maverick like me would ever be considered.) There are a couple of minor errors (such as when he says that William Redfield played Rosencrantz in Burton's HAMLET, when in reality he played Guildenstern) and there is a glaring use of "principle" as an adjective, rather than "principal." But in general, I found this an invaluable book that absolutely needed to be written. Every serious musical theatre writer should have his own copy. This one is simply essential.

This is a fantastic resource and basically the bible of trigger point study. It is the fisrt emerically backed study that scientifically shows the benefits of massage therapy and specifically trigger point therapy. It is a valuable two volume set to have to reference.

I am a PT student and this book has been very useful in my studies... I also expect that it will be a great reference in my future career.

Posiedo gia la prima edizione(eccezionale)In Italiano.Gli autori sono semplicemente dei geni.Una guida irrinunciabile per la mia formazione professionale.

The book is very usefull in the everyday-practice for acupuncturists/physical therapists who work with dryneedling!!
Each part of the body is in a different chapter and therefore it's very easy to find the information you need!

When I received this book as a present for passing my medical masseuse exams, I thought I received a "how to fix it" book.
These books are much more for they cover anatomy, innervation, function, testing, reasons behind the pain, differential diagnosis, corrective actions all in addition to Triggerpoint Treatment.
The 2 volumes are a must have in your library for daily reference and/or study. The illustrations are a welcome aid to oneself or for explanatory purposes to clients.

This book is a must read for all entrepreneurs and their marketing department. If you're lucky enough to read this book before developing your business plan, you're going to benefit greatly. This book really helped our team dig at how we were developing and marketing our application and our business.

The examples of the book are unique and interesting, supporting the entire premise. Perhaps the best feature of the book is that it can easily be used as a checklist for your company, your product or your service. This book must be purchased by you and must be read by your staff.

I read this book at just the right time - I was in the crucial "needing to test my product on real people" (but not really wanting to) phase, and this book made me buckle down and focus on how important it was to talk with, poll, and listen to your potential customers. i.e. being "tuned in."

The process outlined in the book is somewhat simple, and is likely stuff we've all heard before, but it's presented in a way that makes you realize exactly how important it is to really tune into your customer base - whether you have a company, are a musician, pastor, leader, or just want to market yourself better!

Remove the examples from the book, and you have for the most part a collection of already known high level concepts without much depth. Granted, marketing does not have to be complicated and it should not be, but creating innovative products requires more than concepts. For example, the first step in the authors' Tuned-in "process" is "Find unresolved problems". OK, good point, but I knew that and you probably did know that too! How do I do it? The authors's advice: "ask the customers"! But I knew that too. Tell me more. "Ask your non-customers". Wow,I would never have thought of that. Tell me more. "Go to trade shows" say the authors. I knew that too. Tell me more. "Ask open questions", "Keep an open mind", etc. say the authors. At the end of this chapter and of most chapters, I fell frustrated of not learning approaches or tips I have not heard about before and of not learning more how to do it.

At the end of Chapter 4, I was going to drop the book, but the examples kept me going. There are at least 50 examples of Tuned-in companies from Disneyland to the Maganavox remote control that locates itself to the ubiquitous iPod. These examples are interesting by themselves. They are spread through the book to illustrate each step and to validate the entire tuned-in "process".

I keep putting process in between quotes because what the authors present is not really a process. It is more a framework. In addition, it seems that not one of the examples was actually the result of applying the authors' framework under their guidance. So the whole edifice is an after-the-fact analysis of successful innovations that serves to justify the author's framework. I would have liked to see at least one example of a product that the authors actually helped develop.

The book itself is an example of the framework the authors propose, and in particular of "Step 5: Articulate Powerful Ideas". This chapter develops the idea of establishing "memorable concepts that speak to the problems the customers have". The authors here eat their own dog food, and it is clear that they spent time thinking about how they should name that book and what memorable concepts they should articulate it in. "Tuned-in" is a sgood and simple concept that is repeated over and over throughout the book so that it sticks in your mind. There is an other one that is used over and over; it is "resonators" to designate successful products that resonate with customers.

In summary, the value of this book is probably in this Chapter 5. At least it is for me. We typically underestimate that the least number of words a concept can be described in, the more powerful it is. "Tuned in" is a useful concept to keep in mind to designate that idea that we need to be "tuned in" to the market and the customer. But you will need many other books and workshops to know how to do it. But, that's what the authors' core business is: delivering seminars! No doubt that they will have demand.

This straight-talking book is a great addition to any entrepreneur's bookshelf. When positioning a company or a product - or a candidate for public office, there are several rules to follow, among them: Who is your customer? What is important to your customer? And how does your service or product meet the "perceived" needs of your customer? The key words are "perceived needs." You must know what your customer is buying and why, and what they want to buy. You also need to know what they are not buying - and why. It's all about establishing authentic connections, or as Myers, Stull and Scott say, how we tell our buyer that we've solved their problems - so that they listen to what we have to say, buy our products or services, or vote for us. (The reviewer is author of two books:Personal Publicity Planner: A Guide to Marketing YOU and Top Cops: Profiles of Women in Command.)

I've been through the seminars on Practical Product Management delivered through the authors' firm (Pragmatic Marketing). As a CTO it was an eye-opener to see an approach to Product Management that meshed with the concepts of Agile Development in the software field. The two disciplines work well together to create software products that resonate with customers.

This book is not so much breaking new ground, but distilling years of learning into a simple introductory form for folks who might be interested in moving from an inside-out/command-and-control view of the market. It makes a strong empirical business case for doing things differently.

Highly recommended if you're starting a business, launching a new business unit or product line, or simple want to spark growth in existing efforts. You might even learn which existing efforts are not tuned-in and pull back on their funding so you can invest in products and services that the market wants.

This US Army / Marine Corps manual reads far more like a book than a dry piece of doctrine. This recent manual draws heavily on US experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as lessons from US and British experience in the Philippines, Malaya, El Salvador and Vietnam. I have read several other COIN manuals and papers before (Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife and Resisting Rebelion) and this manual contains a good summary of these books and other papers. It would be a good place for anyone looking to study insurgencies and counterinsurgencies to begin their study.

The book begins by cover basic aspects of insurgencies and counterinsurgencies. The book then goes in to integrating military and civilian agencies, the role of intelligence, designing and executing campaigns and training host nation forces.

One area that the book does not focus on is in depth case studies. Numerous examples are cited to illustrate points, but to really look at a conflict one will need to go to one of the numerous books listed in reading lists provided at the end.

I've long nutured a private grievance against FM 3-24, which suddenly broke surface when I read this delicious comment by Steve Cole in The New Yorker this week: "Its reception reflected ... the appeal of counter-insurgency among sections of the country's liberal-minded intelligentsia. This was warfare for northeastern graduate students--complex, blended with politics, designed to build countries rather than destroy them, and fashioned to minimize violence. It was a doctrine with particular appeal to people who would never own a gun."

A more scholarly analysis of FM 3-24's failings, by Andrew Salamone, appears in the August edition of the online Small Wars Journal. He thinks that the historical examples in the manual are too selective, and warns: "While the current application of the new doctrine appears to be showing signs of success in Iraq, at least in terms of metrics measuring levels of violence and U.S. casualties, our enemy's well documented strategic, operational, and tactical adaptability all but guarantees that current doctrine will be out of date for the next conflict and result in the well known axiom of trying to 'fight the last war again'."

The Counterinsurgency Field Manual is a surprisingly well considered text on the nature of insurgency and the points where the course of an insurgency can be influenced.

Something is (or should be) rather confusing about the U.S. military. Since the inception of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, the U.S. military has been involved with counterinsurgency operations almost constantly, at home and abroad. (Put this way, Americans were waging counterinsurgency since before there was a United States; the French and Indian War...) What is confusing is 'why isn't the U.S. better at it?'

Setting this underlying question to one side, this text sets forth a framework for understanding the causes of insurgencies, and for dealing with them. The full scope of cultural, economic, social, political, and other factors are addressed in considerable detail, along with approaches to influencing these factors to address the root causes of insurgency. It is a robust, comprehensive work that can provide an adaptable conceptual structure for anyone involved in counterinsurgency or issues relating to counterinsurgency.

The big question in my mind; Why did the Army have to manage developing this process, when more than half the work required to respond to an insurgency should be done or overseen by the State Department? Why do soldiers have to arrange economic reconstruction and infrastructure development? Aren't those folks at the State Department competent to do all this stuff?

E.M. Van Court

This manual should be required reading for any candidate for public office at a national level, as well as all foreign staff personnel. After reading the manual I was better able to understand the motivations and actions of the various factions within Iran today. It also re-enforces the idea that terrorism / insurgency is not just an issue for a single nation, but anymore is a global issue.

I believe this manual is an excellent overview of counterinsurgency strategy and some tactics. This includes the broad strategy as well as to the drill down for the units/teams/boots on the ground. Its stated audience is for battalion commanders and their staff and higher. I would recommend it to any soldier, sailor or marine regardless of rank and for U.S. citizens generally who have an interest in the topic.

According to the manual, the host nation (HN) and the counterinsurgency force (COIN) will win if they can provide security first, and then other functions of a responsive - responsive to the HN populace - HN government. Otherwise, the populace will seek security and services elsewhere (i.e., in insurgent organizations/militias). This is not necessarily a sequential ordering. While basic security is fundamental - once a baseline is reached - other governmental functions responsive to HN's populace's concerns should also be instituted, supported, and reinforced, while still improving and accelerating the improvement of the security environment for the populace. One example used is how insurgency organizations/militias can destabilize the security environment and create insecurity through terrorist strikes, in order to then be viewed by the populace as the cure to the insecurity by operating militias to defend against such insecurity, and thus try to gain popular support.

Bottom line: creation, maintenance and sustainment (or assisting/building up) of legitimacy in the host nation vs. the insurgent organizations is the contest and crux of the matter. Insurgency and counterinsurgency is a fight for the support of the populace (i.e., the big middle). This conclusion should have been clear by now - insurgency has been with us for a very long time. For some examples, in the West, you can go back to at least to Julius Caesar for lessons; see also Napoleon; in the East, you can go back to at least to Sun-Tzu's The Art of War.

According to the manual, to win an insurgency/counterinsurgency type conflict, requires staying power without intentional or unintentional signaling of wavering support for staying the distance, at least until the HN has achieved the "tipping point" in terms of legitimacy and popular support.

As an aside, there is a good appendix on Social Network Analysis (SNA), which provides a cogent overview of some of the key concepts for those not familiar with SNA or its use in war, conflict, or intelligence.

Rick Singer has outdone himself! If you thought his first book, "Your Daily Walk with the Great Minds of the Past and Present," was wonderful, you haven't read anything yet. Singer has taken the word "mindfulness" to a new level and shows us how to apply it to every moment of our lives. A Japanese Proverb says, "Beginning is easy, continuing is hard." However, they obviously hadn't read Singer's new book, " Eastern Wisdom for Your Soul: 111 Meditations for Everyday Enlightenment" -- Rick has made it easy to begin and continue. -- Sue Vogan, author/radio show host

Richard A Singer, Jr. has found a way to guide everyone fortunate enough to read his book YOUR DAILY WALKS WITH THE GREAT MINDS to a life of contemplation and enrichment, not by seeking out seminars throughout the world, but instead by relying on time alone with his secure companionship of selected words and accompaniments. He quietly and gently supports our capacity to improve our physical and spiritual lives while at the same time sharing words on a daily basis from famous thinkers that expand our survey of history and appreciation for the human spirit.

Singer draws brief but significant single sentence quotes from a wide range of people - from famous physicians such as William Osler and Freud, to news commentators like Dan Rather, to painters like Van Gogh and Picasso, scientists like Einstein, philosophers like William James and Nietzsche, composers such as Beethoven, writers like Henry James, poets like Emerson, Whitman and Frost, and the many inspirational voices of the past like Gandhi, MLK, JFK, and Mother Theresa. Opening each day's 'walk' with such a thought, Singer then offers a related meditational though, follows that with instruction to enter our responses in a journal, and then extracts a pledge from this exercise to make a difference in our own lives and in the global community.

Self-help books are many: some are trendy and some are timeless. This little portable volume is one that will last far beyond the year that it is chronicled to accompany. Once again Richard Singer extends a firm and wise hand to increase our awareness of the past, our place in the present, and our choices for a future, richer because of the time we have spent with his generous spirit. Grady Harp, July 08

Richard Singer's book "Your Daily Walk with the Great Minds of the Past and Present" will definitely change the way you look at life and become the person you were sent down here to be.
What can you look forward to when you get this book? The book is broken down into daily assignments...you read a quote from one of the great minds, then a short paragraph to guide you on your day along with a mind searching question which you answer. This short daily time enables you to gradually change your mindset and I have found that I think about my daily question and answer all day. I have a small notebook I take along with me and have all my short daily thoughts written down...which helps me keep the concepts I have learned so far fresh in my mind.
Another good thing is that Richard gives you a monthly reading assignment...a book written by a great mind, past and present. Having the whole month to read the assignment enables you to absorb the information.
I am gradually changing the way I look at my life and people around me have started noticing a change...more positive, more hopeful, more grateful to the abundance that I do have in my life...even if right now it's not the monetary abundance...but I am now hopeful and positive that that too will change very soon.
Thank you Richard...you have written a book that everyone can handle gradually...so even those who say "I have no time to read" can do this and will gradually want to read more.

Reviewed by Lisa Kisner for Reader Views (11/06)

If you have every wondered how to start finding peace within yourself, look no further than this book. Mr. Singer's book gives you the tools to change your life and be inspired to live each day to its' fullest. Day by day this book expands on wisdom imparted by a surprisingly diverse group of people, from well known spiritual leaders such as Gandhi to Jackie Collins, popular author. Mr. Singer provides you with a daily meditation based on the thought of the day. Questions for thought and personal journaling, as well as affirmations to carry through out the day, round off each day's mediations and help you find answers to your life questions. Also provided each month is a suggested reading that enhances the daily enlightenment exercises.

Mr. Singer walks the reader through his strategies for transformation. These include:

Modeling - gaining insight from the quotes and the people who said them,
Bibiotherapy - reading to gain knowledge and insight,
Mindfulness - applying the daily guidance throughout the day,
Journaling - express your thoughts and feelings in a personal notebook,
Visualizations- visualizing your transformation each day will help you achieve the results you want, and
Affirmations - internalizing and applying these truths throughout the day.

I found this book very easy to read. Every day's meditation can be completed in a few minutes. Subject and author indexes are provided should you have need for a specific topic of meditation on any given day. The suggested monthly readings fit well with the meditations and feature some of my favorite inspirational books. Each day's meditations, journaling exercise and affirmations related to some aspect of my life and challenged me to look inside myself and find my purpose. Every message was inspirational and left me wanting more. I found it impossible to read only one day at a time, even on my busiest days. I read the entire book in less than a week. Now, I look forward to each morning's message and journaling. Already I can say that I am further down the road to inner peace than before picking up this wonderful book, "Your Daily Walk with the Great Minds."

If you are a seeker of truth and knowledge, "Your Daily Walk with the Great Minds of the Past and Present" is a must read. The author created a masterpiece juxtaposition of both classical and contemporary thinkers most thought provoking works presented in a wonderful format which encourages the reader to record their own thoughts brought out by the myriad of masterminds presented so artfully in this work. The author definitely did his homework. An enthralling, mesmerising book, that no one's library is complete without. Do yourself a big favor; buy this book!

I used it teaching beginner lessons. It really helped me come up with new and creative exercises for the kids to do. You replace the jumps for rails on the ground for students that do not jump yet. I love it and use the exercises in this book all the time.

Brilliant diagrams, excellent keys, simply mapped out and laid out information for difficult and also the easiest of dressage manoevres. It's bound at the top for a vertical flip, with a hole punched down near the bottom so you can hang the book on a nail on your bulletin board or at home and keep it open while you study it. It has handy hints how to achieve positions and gives you ideas to improve certain flaws. It is by far the best book on jumping exercises I have read so far that is dedicated purely to jumping exercises.

Just about EVERY page has another full A4 riding arena on it showing the pattern where the horse is going, it shows crossbars and it shows trotting poles, verticals, gymnastics and where to place them, it shows where you should be directing your horse and what way to approach with an excellent use of diagrams and patterns which have a key right next to it so the design remains uncluttered and simple to read. It even gives you cheap alternatives to make some jumps yourselves and offers quick solutions. A best buy for anyone serious about jumping - or even dressage - to keep their horse supple and to keep their horse (and themselves!) from boredom. Brilliant.

The best how to book on ground poles and jumping that I have experienced. It's a great tool by an expert to keep your horses (young and old) interested as well as the rider thinking. Linda laid out the book very well. Good illustrations and great explanations accompany each exercise. The ground pole exercises are very helpful to use between jumping lessons. This one is a book to keep and give as a gift to a riding friend!

This book has so much info on different exercises and each exercises has little hits about when to use this exercise and what to watch out for while riding it.

This book breaks the demands or jumping down into a logical progression of skills until it takes the insecure beginning rider into a confident partner to the jumping horse. If these lessons are followed correctly, it can also take a training level horse into a skilled show jumper. This book is a must for anyone interested int he discipline of jumping.

Indeed, All We Are Saying: The Last Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono pulls out the punches. The book shows how far former Beatle, John Lennon, had come and where he was headed. David Sheff's "Playboy" interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono is the most fascinating piece of oral history about Lennon's life as well as the story behind every Beatle song. Sheff intimately takes reader through the studio, John and Yoko's Dakota apartment, and down the neighborhood coffeeshop sharing a cappuccino. All We Are Saying presents an extremely candid and frank interview that was held two months prior to Lennon's passing. Sheff reveals Lennon's growth and new beginning that would unfortunately be cut short.

All We Are Saying does not lack in humor and seriousness. This was the man, not the Sixties icon who sang against a "Revolution," who still had dreams and aspirations to accomplish at the time the interview was conducted. For fans of Lennon as well as the Beatles, this was Lennon stripped down and open for questions, and he merely tells it like it is or was. He expresses the breakup of the Beatles, and emphasizes that they were great, but they were in the past. He talks about the ups and downs of his individual experience from being a heroin addict to a househusband. He was living in the here and now, and the music that he was making at the time reflected that mantra. Though the references he made about the music scene now appear dated, Lennon was ahead of his game and kept up with bands, such as the Clash, Pretenders, and the B-52's. He even raves how the B-52's rip-off Yoko's style of music.

Sheff writes the interview in clear and picturesque narrative. For every new chapter, he introduces the reader to where the interview is going. However, the concluding portions of the book appear too rushed. Sheff appears to have wanted to discuss or at least learn about every tidbit about each Beatles song, which almost portrayed a to-do list, and at times it appears as if he did not want to run out of tape. From the transcript of the interview, Lennon appears too tired to talk about each and every Beatle song as he answers with yes and no answers. For the most part, Lennon wanted to speak about his new album at the time, "Double Fantasy", and new projects he was planning.

All We Are Saying is an important document of the life of John Lennon. For Beatle and Lennon fans, the book is quite ironic and sad due to the circumstance, but that should not stop any one from learning more about one of the most legendary artists of the twentieth century.

This for me is better than any other book because it is reading the acutual words that John said. He gives his own first hand comments on each song (no guessing what each song was about -- he tells you). When he can't remember (it was the 60's after all) John will say so. The most important thing he says is "get interested in your own life" meant in the very kindest way John wants to remind us that we can identify with him, we can love him, but to please NOT make him to focus of your life -- YOU should be the focus of YOUR life. His insights to life can help you acchieve insights of your own. John rules! But I am thankful that he reminds us it is not important to memorize his height and weight or other "facts" but rather to LIVE the life we have -- as I wish he had the option to do. American must stop naming cruel people and making them famous if we do not want more useful people to be killed by those who have little human value -- of course that is only my take -- I can't rule YOUR thoughts (and for that you should be glad ha, ha).

Get the book if you are a Beatles or John Lennon fan... ;-)

INCLUDES AN AMAZING SERIES OF QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSIONS, THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PUT IT DOWN! I WAS SURPRISED AT SOME OF JOHN'S ANSWERS; BUT IT DID MAKE SENSE COMING FROM HIM. I WON'T SPOIL IT FOR EVERYONE....SO EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT A DIE HARD LENNON FAN, YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED BY THIS FUNNY AND TOUCHING PIECE OF WORK...JUST BEAUTIFUL!

John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono give an excellent interview by pulling out all stops. Sheff's interview in "Playboy" with the pair is a vital oral history about the former Beatle's life and his insight on each Beatle song. Sheff takes readers on a Magical Mystery Tour through the recording studio; the Dakota and in and around the neighborhood. The interview is candid and direct; readers are given a clear look of and at John and Yoko.

John is shown, warts and all in real, living color. He is not glamorized nor vilified; he is presented as the man that he was. John Lennon was many things to many people; Sixties icon; musician extraordinaire; artist; spouse; father; author; actor; joker; interviewee; "militant pacifist," an oxymoronic term. John was a very complex man and this Rubik's cube of a book puts the pieces together in such a way that readers can readily assemble their image of John Lennon.

John makes no bones abut the Beatles being part of his past; he appears to want to move further down the Long & Winding Road without further Hard Day's Nights in re his Beatle history. It was also interesting to learn what groups and artists John liked and how he felt they influenced him.

Hats off to Sheff for introducing readers to each person in the interview. If there is one literary pitfall to avoid, it is never, repeat, never spring characters or real people onto readers without introducing them. That weakens a work and Sheff is quite adept at dodging this trap.

John appeared to be moving at a quicker pace in this interview; whereas Sheff wanted to discuss the Beatles more in depth, John gave one word answers to Beatle related questions and seemed eager to discuss his 1980 album, "Double Fantasy" as well as works he was planning after that.

This is a bittersweet book for Beatle and Lennon fans because of John's untimely death in late 1980. Even so, the book remains an excellent source of information about the man who founded the World's Number One Band, the Beatles and the man who made the world listen.

Listen to John Lennon.

My favorite Lennon quote comes not from this book, but from the Beatle's set during the Royal Variety Performance for the British Royal Family in 1963: "Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry." I love that, though I've been told you need to be raised in the British class-consciousness to fully appreciate the insolence of that.


I grabbed this book just out of curiosity, as a Beatles fan and a Lennon fan in particular. I read in a review that Lennon goes through the whole catalog of Beatles songs and comments on them. I thought that would be interesting to read. Yoko Ono was the least of my concerns, but they were and are a package deal. I bought into the popular cultural conception of Yoko as the villainess who broke up the Beatles. So the first thing that struck me, reading these interviews, is what an intelligent, sympathetic, and likeable figure she is, when heard in her own words, in the comforts of her home base. And the two of them together actually seem like a nice, well-matched couple, decent people who- against the odds- had found contentment amid the surreal circumstances of their lives. No doubt that they are eccentric in some ways, and some of their philosophizing has that post-Hippie, flaky, dated feel, as you might expect. They are artists after all. But at the same time, they surprised me at times at how level-headed they came off. Despite the near deification of the Beatles, it is John who continuously reminds us that they were just a rock and roll band that was in the right place at the right time and wrote some good songs. And they are able to honestly talk about the strain on their relationship caused by their celebrity. With all the typical defiant talk about letting people think whatever they are going to think, Yoko admits to the heartache of bad press: "It's a very strange thing that society can do that much to a relationship, but it does because we're social animals. We're social beings. A relationship is not isolated from society." "Society can break an individual. That is what happened." John, too, often displays the vulnerability buried within the armor of the iconoclast: "We're both sensitive people and we were both hurt by a lot of it." Enough time has passed for them to analyze the hostility garnered by Yoko, as a woman, when she began managing John's business affairs. John talks about the attitude towards Yoko at these meetings where she was the only woman, "They're all male, you know, just big and fat, vodka lunch, shouting males, like trained dogs, trained to attack all the time." Yoko is wonderful, chiming in with "I was emasculated." Then launching into her formulation of male aggressiveness, "you must have the womb-envy thing," she speculates. Men are aggressive to mask their intimidation and jealousy. After all, she notes, "we give life."

The most valuable part of this book, in which John systematically goes through almost every Beatles and solo Lennon song, is a concession John granted after blowing Playboy's scoop by giving an interview to Newsweek magazine. We get John's feelings about each of the songs as well as the memories triggered by them, what was going on in that period of his life and how they were written. Though John continues with the superficial model of `John songs' and `Paul songs,' we see that the truth is more complicated, they wrote the best of the Beatles "one-on-one, eyeball to eyeball... both playing into each other's noses." We see why they were great together (and why George and Ringo are two very lucky men to have been along for the ride) and why neither of them, as solo musicians, could produce songs that measure up well to the Beatles. There are several examples of the two of them contributing little touches to each others songs, the little shadings that profoundly deepen the work. Without Paul, John was mostly a writer of catchy tunes, superficial fluff with great hooks. Some of Paul's solo works come close to the best of the Beatles, but for the most part, he was missing the nuances- the melodies and tenderness- of Paul's sound. A song like "Michele" is a perfect example. Paul wrote a pretty little love ballad. John heard it shortly after hearing Nina Simone sing the blues, and he suggested the bluesy "I love you, I love you, I love you," bridge. Paul writes "It's getting better all the time," and John adds "it couldn't get much worse." Paul writes "We can work it out" and John adds "Life is very short..." Or conversely, John writes about "A Day in the Life," about a man violently killing himself, and Paul adds the sweetest little lick to ever float into a song from nowhere: "I'd love to turn you on." And so on. I particularly recommend this section as a morning commute read, riding the train with Ipod in hand, keeping the songs in your ears as you read John's analysis of them.

Of course, one can't read these interviews without being constantly reminded that John was assassinated just months afterwards. It gave me chills to read some of John's philosophizing in that light, "Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King are great examples of fantastic nonviolents who died violently. I can never work that out. We're pacifists, but I'm not sure what it means when you're such a pacifist that you get shot."

And the heartbreak is palpable when reading of the pride John took in stepping out of the action and becoming a full time father to Sean. "Here we are: I'm going to be forty, Sean's going to be five. Isn't it great! We survived!"